[June 10] [Saiunkoku] Sublime
Jun. 10th, 2008 07:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runicloreSublime
Author: Amber Michelle
Day/Theme: June 10 - an operatic tragedy
Series: The Tale of Saiunkoku
Character/Pairing: Senka, Houju
Rating: K
Words: 519
Notes: The surnames of the Yellow and Crimson clans have the same pronunciation: 'Kou.' Houju is from the Yellow clan.
.............................................
Senka left his office shortly after noon, when lunch had passed and most of the officials would be inside working. Ro had the Kou boy running between departments like a servant with tea, sweets, and washbasins, and while he was better off than Kou Reishin, who was given the unenviable task of cleaning the stables, word had it Houju suffered more humiliating attention from the senior officials.
It was his posture that inspired such, Senka decided when he found the young man in the cherry grove. Kou Houju walked with his head down and his hair loose, arranged to fall over his face. From the back he might easily be mistaken for a woman the way it flowed long and inky over his back to brush his knees, but the shape of his hands gave away his masculinity, and his shoulders were still broad and held back proudly.
"You should tie your hair back," Senka said, folding his hands into his sleeves as he approached. "This style is inappropriate for court."
The boy turned abruptly, face drawn in a frown, and then his eyes widened almost comically behind his screen of hair. "Your Majesty," he said, dropping to one knee and bending his head absurdly low. His hair curled in the grass.
"On your feet." Senka watched him unbend slowly and rise, face still tilted down and away, and reached out to lift his chin. "We prefer to look our subjects in the eye."
The boy flinched but did not try to avert his face again. He had the look of a child caught doing mischief, his eyes widened slightly, the pupils dialated, perhaps in fear. This was the face blamed for the failure of nearly two hundred examinees during the national exams, claimed to be so stunning it robbed men of their ability to reason and, in extreme cases, rendered the victim unconscious. Rubbish, he'd thought, and Senka saw no reason to change his mind. It wasn't the face of an angel or a demon, or enspelled by the Hyou clan as one wild claim would have it. Kou Houju was blessed with flawless skin and a symmetry of feature very appropriate to his clan. That was all.
Senka released him. "Your essay on restructuring provincial commerce was impressive. Claims regarding your sabotage of fellow examinees appear to be exaggerated."
Kou Houju's forehead creased with another frown. "Their stupidity has nothing to do with me."
"Clearly not, when Kou Reishin and Tei Yuushun managed to pass in spite of your influence." The branches above shifted in the wind, whispering, and brought the sound of other voices to his ear. It was time to leave. "Your friends are coming." Senka examined the boy's features again, and thought he understood what could be so distracting. He tempted the eye to plot every centimeter, to compare the shape of one eye to the other, or the curve of his cheeks or lips; to find a flaw somewhere, anywhere, to prove he was human. "Respect begins with oneself, Kou Houju. We hope your head will be held high next we meet."
.........................................
Author: Amber Michelle
Day/Theme: June 10 - an operatic tragedy
Series: The Tale of Saiunkoku
Character/Pairing: Senka, Houju
Rating: K
Words: 519
Notes: The surnames of the Yellow and Crimson clans have the same pronunciation: 'Kou.' Houju is from the Yellow clan.
.............................................
Senka left his office shortly after noon, when lunch had passed and most of the officials would be inside working. Ro had the Kou boy running between departments like a servant with tea, sweets, and washbasins, and while he was better off than Kou Reishin, who was given the unenviable task of cleaning the stables, word had it Houju suffered more humiliating attention from the senior officials.
It was his posture that inspired such, Senka decided when he found the young man in the cherry grove. Kou Houju walked with his head down and his hair loose, arranged to fall over his face. From the back he might easily be mistaken for a woman the way it flowed long and inky over his back to brush his knees, but the shape of his hands gave away his masculinity, and his shoulders were still broad and held back proudly.
"You should tie your hair back," Senka said, folding his hands into his sleeves as he approached. "This style is inappropriate for court."
The boy turned abruptly, face drawn in a frown, and then his eyes widened almost comically behind his screen of hair. "Your Majesty," he said, dropping to one knee and bending his head absurdly low. His hair curled in the grass.
"On your feet." Senka watched him unbend slowly and rise, face still tilted down and away, and reached out to lift his chin. "We prefer to look our subjects in the eye."
The boy flinched but did not try to avert his face again. He had the look of a child caught doing mischief, his eyes widened slightly, the pupils dialated, perhaps in fear. This was the face blamed for the failure of nearly two hundred examinees during the national exams, claimed to be so stunning it robbed men of their ability to reason and, in extreme cases, rendered the victim unconscious. Rubbish, he'd thought, and Senka saw no reason to change his mind. It wasn't the face of an angel or a demon, or enspelled by the Hyou clan as one wild claim would have it. Kou Houju was blessed with flawless skin and a symmetry of feature very appropriate to his clan. That was all.
Senka released him. "Your essay on restructuring provincial commerce was impressive. Claims regarding your sabotage of fellow examinees appear to be exaggerated."
Kou Houju's forehead creased with another frown. "Their stupidity has nothing to do with me."
"Clearly not, when Kou Reishin and Tei Yuushun managed to pass in spite of your influence." The branches above shifted in the wind, whispering, and brought the sound of other voices to his ear. It was time to leave. "Your friends are coming." Senka examined the boy's features again, and thought he understood what could be so distracting. He tempted the eye to plot every centimeter, to compare the shape of one eye to the other, or the curve of his cheeks or lips; to find a flaw somewhere, anywhere, to prove he was human. "Respect begins with oneself, Kou Houju. We hope your head will be held high next we meet."
.........................................