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runicloreDon't Fall in Love
Author: Amber Michelle
Rating: K
Genre: gen
Warnings: n/a
AU/Canon: canon.
Pairing/Characters: Ryuuki, Uu Uu, Shuuei, Seiran, Juusanhime
Words: 823
Prompt: Prediction (250 words or more)
Notes: I fail at community prompts lately. :P
...............................................
Three years ago, Ryuuki wouldn't have guessed he would be poised to make his father's mistakes. He couldn't remember who it was that told him - Riou perhaps, or Shouka. When he asked his brother if it was true - was their father in love with someone else, someone he couldn't have? - Seiran said he didn't know. Ryuuki wasn't sure he believed that, but he didn't press the issue.
Don't fall in love was the only advice his father ever gave him. Now he understood why, though at the time he'd thought it an unreasonable demand.
"The eighth day of the eighth month is the most auspicious time within the next three moon cycles," Uu Uu said, rolling his scroll up. His eyes were barely visible beneath thick, white tufts of eyebrows, and they sparkled black. "The moon will be full, and the clan heads will have time to send tribute. It will allow the Ran clan to send a representative if they wish."
"They won't," Shuuei said from his place by the window, looking up from his book. He marked his place with a finger. "Unless you proclaim her empress - then they'll be obligated."
Ryuuki sighed and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't as if he had any other options. "We will only take one wife." If he was lucky, there would be only one child, and he would learn early what the true meaning of isolation was. He wouldn't have the child believing in illusions like love, companionship. "As such, she will recieve all honors."
Uu Uu nodded, perhaps in approval, and he muttered something about blue or lavender, and blue would be most auspicious. Shuuei gave him a long look that Ryuuki had to turn away from, seeking refuge in the reports on his desk. He wouldn't make his father's mistakes. The princess was a good match in many ways, pleasant, and-- and she understood, maybe better than he did, how the shackles of duty chafed. She loved another and yet here she was, offering him comfort and companionship and friendship.
"You never explained why," Shuuei said when the old man departed. He was still watching, book closed and laid on the go board. "Is it because she looks like Shuurei?"
"She doesn't," Ryuuki said, picking up his brush. "They're nothing alike."
.
When your mother died, his brother told him, there was a rumor among the other concubines. Everyone knew she was chosen for her appearance. She had no rank, no clan name, not a cent in dowry. He didn't love her, or she would have died before she could bear a child.
Ryuuki hardly remembered his mother. He couldn't recall her death, though he knew from others he was there. It must have been so terrible an end that the spirits struck it from his memory. His face remembered her slaps, however, and he couldn't help but flinch away when someone raised their hand in his presence, even when it was Shuurei and he knew she would never strike him.
She must have been beautiful, his mother, to move his father to take her as a wife when he had already fulfilled his duty many times over.
She must have resembled someone special, Seiran said. That's what they speculated. Maybe Shi Senka did not have ice running in his veins after all, and he made a foolish decision. Maybe that was why he didn't even acknowledge her death.
It should have stung to hear his brother say that, but Ryuuki felt nothing.
.
"Your majesty." Juusanhime greeted him with a smile when she answered his knock and stepped back, opening the door wide. "Coming inside?"
Ryuuki nodded and walked in, breathing deeply. She liked lavender, not cherry blossoms. A bunch was arranged in a vase on the table by the silver tea set, a blue silk ribbon woven between the stalks. "Change," he said when the door closed, turning to her. "I'd like to spar with you."
Juusanhime paused with her hand on the latch, eyebrows shooting up. "What brought this on?" Her eyes narrowed. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just because Shuuei won't."
"That has nothing to do with it!" Ryuuki turned his face away, chin high, but watched her in his peripheral vision. Her hands were on her hips. She wore layers of blue and white, finer than what Shusui was allowed, but not as elaborate as they would have been if she'd remained a concubine. "I won't marry a woman who can't protect herself," he said, turning his eyes forward. His gaze rested on the lavender.
"It's getting dangerous, hm?"
He nodded. "Will you wear blue, or lavender?"
Hmmmm. He heard her walk away, open her trunk. "Why don't we discuss that after I win?"
.
Author: Amber Michelle
Rating: K
Genre: gen
Warnings: n/a
AU/Canon: canon.
Pairing/Characters: Ryuuki, Uu Uu, Shuuei, Seiran, Juusanhime
Words: 823
Prompt: Prediction (250 words or more)
Notes: I fail at community prompts lately. :P
...............................................
Three years ago, Ryuuki wouldn't have guessed he would be poised to make his father's mistakes. He couldn't remember who it was that told him - Riou perhaps, or Shouka. When he asked his brother if it was true - was their father in love with someone else, someone he couldn't have? - Seiran said he didn't know. Ryuuki wasn't sure he believed that, but he didn't press the issue.
Don't fall in love was the only advice his father ever gave him. Now he understood why, though at the time he'd thought it an unreasonable demand.
"The eighth day of the eighth month is the most auspicious time within the next three moon cycles," Uu Uu said, rolling his scroll up. His eyes were barely visible beneath thick, white tufts of eyebrows, and they sparkled black. "The moon will be full, and the clan heads will have time to send tribute. It will allow the Ran clan to send a representative if they wish."
"They won't," Shuuei said from his place by the window, looking up from his book. He marked his place with a finger. "Unless you proclaim her empress - then they'll be obligated."
Ryuuki sighed and stared at the ceiling. It wasn't as if he had any other options. "We will only take one wife." If he was lucky, there would be only one child, and he would learn early what the true meaning of isolation was. He wouldn't have the child believing in illusions like love, companionship. "As such, she will recieve all honors."
Uu Uu nodded, perhaps in approval, and he muttered something about blue or lavender, and blue would be most auspicious. Shuuei gave him a long look that Ryuuki had to turn away from, seeking refuge in the reports on his desk. He wouldn't make his father's mistakes. The princess was a good match in many ways, pleasant, and-- and she understood, maybe better than he did, how the shackles of duty chafed. She loved another and yet here she was, offering him comfort and companionship and friendship.
"You never explained why," Shuuei said when the old man departed. He was still watching, book closed and laid on the go board. "Is it because she looks like Shuurei?"
"She doesn't," Ryuuki said, picking up his brush. "They're nothing alike."
.
When your mother died, his brother told him, there was a rumor among the other concubines. Everyone knew she was chosen for her appearance. She had no rank, no clan name, not a cent in dowry. He didn't love her, or she would have died before she could bear a child.
Ryuuki hardly remembered his mother. He couldn't recall her death, though he knew from others he was there. It must have been so terrible an end that the spirits struck it from his memory. His face remembered her slaps, however, and he couldn't help but flinch away when someone raised their hand in his presence, even when it was Shuurei and he knew she would never strike him.
She must have been beautiful, his mother, to move his father to take her as a wife when he had already fulfilled his duty many times over.
She must have resembled someone special, Seiran said. That's what they speculated. Maybe Shi Senka did not have ice running in his veins after all, and he made a foolish decision. Maybe that was why he didn't even acknowledge her death.
It should have stung to hear his brother say that, but Ryuuki felt nothing.
.
"Your majesty." Juusanhime greeted him with a smile when she answered his knock and stepped back, opening the door wide. "Coming inside?"
Ryuuki nodded and walked in, breathing deeply. She liked lavender, not cherry blossoms. A bunch was arranged in a vase on the table by the silver tea set, a blue silk ribbon woven between the stalks. "Change," he said when the door closed, turning to her. "I'd like to spar with you."
Juusanhime paused with her hand on the latch, eyebrows shooting up. "What brought this on?" Her eyes narrowed. "Don't think I'll go easy on you just because Shuuei won't."
"That has nothing to do with it!" Ryuuki turned his face away, chin high, but watched her in his peripheral vision. Her hands were on her hips. She wore layers of blue and white, finer than what Shusui was allowed, but not as elaborate as they would have been if she'd remained a concubine. "I won't marry a woman who can't protect herself," he said, turning his eyes forward. His gaze rested on the lavender.
"It's getting dangerous, hm?"
He nodded. "Will you wear blue, or lavender?"
Hmmmm. He heard her walk away, open her trunk. "Why don't we discuss that after I win?"
.
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no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 03:19 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 09:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 09:01 pm (UTC)Lovely work as always. Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY! XD
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Date: 2008-08-13 06:16 am (UTC)Thank you!
no subject
Date: 2008-08-12 09:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-13 06:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-08-22 05:45 pm (UTC)Thought it's kind of sad to know Ryuuki is marrying Jyuusan here.
no subject
Date: 2008-08-22 09:59 pm (UTC)It's a bit sad, but it also seems logical to me. She'd be good for him.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 09:25 am (UTC)Poor Ryuuki. But this is a logical progression.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-01 09:52 am (UTC)Ryuuki dug his own grave, unfortunately. But the more I see of Juusanhime the more I like, and the idea of the two marrying doesn't seem as sad anymore.