Chapter Text
Eighteen Months Later…
You woke up, gasping for breath as you sat up quickly in bed. Your head felt dizzy from the sudden rush of blood and it took you a moment to register that you were home and in your own bed.
The weight of an arm wrapped around your waist brought you back to your senses. The warmth of a large hand moving slowly up and down your back in a comforting motion made you turn to your side. A small smile grew on your face at the sight.
“You okay?” Kuroo asked. He looked up at you through the messy fringe of hair that was splayed across his forehead. No matter what you tried to do, there was simply no fixing the permanent bedhead he sported.
You blinked slowly, shaking your head slightly to clear the fuzziness before answering him. “Yeah,” You mumbled. “Just a dream.”
“See?” Kuroo cooed down at the bundle in his arms, eyebrows lifting in a more animated expression. “Just a dream, Mama is fine.”
Your small smile split your face as it grew. You shuffled slightly, scooting yourself back against the pile of pillows Kuroo had propped himself against and leaned against his shoulder and gazed at your son. It still didn’t feel real, looking down at him, after all that had happened within the first few weeks of learning you were pregnant with him.
“And how is the little prince?” You asked softly, your voice lilting slightly as you brushed your fingers across his forehead through the strands of dark hair he sported. He looked exactly like Kuroo even at a year old, down to the messy hair - except his eyes. Your husband got his wish and your baby had your eyes.
“Fussy.” Kuroo grunted. “He heard you dreaming and wouldn’t settle down until I brought him into bed.”
“I can’t help it he’s such a momma’s boy,” You preened with a closed-eye smile, reaching out to take the sleeping child from Kuroo.
“Can’t blame him,” Kuroo smirked, leaning forward to press a kiss to your forehead. “We need to leave in an hour if we’re going to make it to Miyagi in time.”
“An hour?” You nearly shrieked, only managing to keep your voice down because of the baby in your arms. “You didn’t think to wake me earlier?”
Kuroo simply smirked as he slid out of bed, “But you looked so beautiful and peaceful.”
You made an exaggerated face of rolling your eyes at him, making Kuroo laugh. “Yeah, yeah,” You drawled as you too crawled out of bed, shuffling the one-year-old in your arms as you did so. “You have to say that, I’m the mother of your child.”
That made Kuroo let out a loud guffaw, his head falling back as his hands rested on his hips. “You have been much more than that to me for quite some time,” He smiled at you, a look of affection clouding over his eyes.
Looking up at him, your eyes studied his features, in particular the scar that sliced across his left eyebrow and split it in half. The memories of how he got that scar the same ones that had you waking up gasping for air. You reached up with a free hand and smoothed the pad of your thumb over the slightly discolored skin of the scar.
Kuroo reached to grab your son after a moment and leaned forward to press his lips to yours. “Go get ready, I’ve got him.”
You watched the two walk away, Kuroo mumbling absently to the waking baby in his arms. You smiled, humming to yourself happily as you entered the bathroom to get ready.
-
You hadn’t set foot in Tohoku in over a year and a half, regardless of Ushijima and his followers being cast away to work in the fields for the rest of their miserable lives. There had been plenty of opportunity for you to visit the region between the trials, but something in your heart kept you away every time. You weren’t above admitting there was still fear in your heart over what had happened to you.
You grasped at the pendant hanging from around your neck, mindlessly dragging it across the delicate gold chain it hung from until the smallest clink sounded and it hit the other pendant now hanging as well. After Alisa had returned the necklace to you, Kuroow as adamant about getting a matching pendant for Kanto as well. The two complimented each other well along with the jeweled K initial of your son hanging around your neck.
You looked up from your seat in the SUV as you grew closer to your destination in Miyagi. Across from you, Alisa sat with her legs crossed and flipping through pages of notes you weren’t even sure were about.
When the crown of Chubu was laid on your head, your father’s crown no less, you immediately turned to the girl who had helped you through so much and offered her a spot as your advisor. Of course, having no experience whatsoever in the matter, she was learning under the guidance of Aaron until he would step down in the next year or two. After everything that had happened, you wanted people around you that you could trust, and Alisa was just that.
You noted the way she too fiddled mindlessly with the pendant hanging around her neck, one that was identical to yours.
“We should arrive in the next twenty to thirty minutes,” Daishō said.
You stretched absently, bumping legs with Kuroo with a teasing wink. He reached over and gave your leg a reassuring squeeze, looking at you through his shaggy-as-always hair. “You good?”
You hummed an affirmative and reached to grab his hand and give it a squeeze. “All good.”
You knew Kuroo didn’t one-hundred percent buy your words, but wasn’t going to press on. As his first act of new ruler, Daichi had declared that the royal family (and by default the capital) would move from the Shiratorizawa castle to where it originally was located when his ancestors ruled - a sprawling estate in the mountains called Karasuno. You were thankful to higher powers that you would not be forced to attend a crowning ceremony in the same place you’d been held captive, you weren’t sure you’d be able to make that trip.
Crawling out of the car, you were immediately bombarded with two voices, not even getting much of a chance to steady yourself after sitting for four hours straight.
“Where is he?”
“Hello to you too,” You brushed invisible dust from your dress as Tooru Oikawa, King of Okinawa, and Suki both entered your personal space. “I’m doing fine, things are good in both-”
“Yeah, yeah,” Oikawa brushed off your words with a wave of his hand. “Where is my godson?”
“Your godson?” Suki grabbed Oikawa by the wrist and pulled him back to face her. “I think you mean my godson.”
“None of this was ever agreed upon.” You waved your hands around to try to interrupt their bickering, as amusing as it was to see Suki and Oikawa go up against one another. “Besides I think it would automatically go to-”
“Kosuke would hate living on an island, what is he supposed to do there?”
“Ko-chan will attend his father’s alma mater, learn to be a fair and just ruler, get a tan - would you like me to continue?”
“No, no, he is attending the royal academy his mother went to-”
“Guys.” You tried interrupting again, looking at Kuroo who was only watching with an amused look on his face. Kiryu came up and shook hands with Kuroo, watching his wife and now-Queen argue with another ruler of the country over someone else’s child. “How long have they been at this?” You asked.
“Days.” He answered.
“Since the moment we all got here.” Iwaizumi, Oikawa’s head guard grumbled from a few feet away as well.
“Let’s just leave them to it,” Kuroo chuckled as he grabbed your hand and led you away. Suki and Oikawa didn’t seem to even notice the group had left and were still going at it even as you entered the palace doors.
You entered the ballroom where the numerous other guests of the many kingdoms were milling about and getting to know one another. Later that night would be the official crowning and feast for Daichi, you’d arrived early for social hour.
“It would appear you’ve lost a few.”
Turning around to face the source of the voice, you broke out in a grin and stepped into your cousin’s waiting arms. Kita grinned and hugged you tightly. It had taken months of reaffirming him that nothing that happened to you was his fault, but sometimes you could still see the guilt there.
“Suki and Oikawa are arguing about who Kosuke’s godparents are.” You rolled your eyes and you stepped away and made space for Kuroo and Kita to shake hands.
“Where is the lil’ dumplin’?” You looked over Kita’s shoulder to see the twins looking at you expectantly, although you weren’t entirely sure which one had asked the question. Oddly enough, Kita’s two guards were unabashedly obsessed with your son. When you explained to them that he was back in Chubu with your parents they both visibly deflated, tuning to one another in hushed tones to probably complain.
To your surprise, when Kosuke was born, it wasn’t just your kingdom and Kuroo’s kingdom that celebrated the day. Many of the surrounding kingdoms celebrated the start of a new life. With Ushijima convicted of his war crimes, it was like a weight had been lifted off the shoulders of the entire population and everyone was ready to celebrate moving on.
“What about you and Aran?” You returned your attention to your cousin. “Are you still looking into adoption or a surrogate?”
“You really have no personal filter,” Kita chuckled. “But we’re looking. Might wait a while, having so many new babies in the family is really taking a toll on our mothers.”
“No kidding,” You mumbled, thinking about how your older brother was absent from the ceremony today because of the birth of his own child.
“(Y/n)!” You cringed at the sound of your name being called over the crowd gathered in the ballroom. “Settle this once and for all!”
Kuroo placed a warm, comforting hand on your neck with a smile as you looked up at him for reassurance. Oikawa stormed up to you, Suki hot on his heels, still bickering back and forth about one thing for another. Now it sounded something like which of their own children Kosuke would end up marrying.
“First of all, he’ll get to pick who he wants to marry. If he even wants to get married.” You calmed them down, as the small group around you gathered to listen in. “Second of all, if you both have kids well, that won’t be an issue.”
A pause hung in the air, Oikawa’s eyes narrowed in suspicion as Suki pursed her lips in thought. Kita simply shook his head, knowing where you were going with this.
“What’s that supposed to mean…” Suki trailed off, reaching back in barely-contained excitement to grab at Kiryu.
You sighed heavily with a smile and slipped your arms around Kuroo’s waist, encouraging him to be the one to talk. “Well,” He started, looking down at you with a look that was nothing short of pure reverence and love. “We’re having another baby.”