[Saiunkoku Challenge 36] Light
Feb. 5th, 2009 10:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
runicloreLight
Author: Amber Michelle
Rating: K
Genre: introspective again, gen-ish.
Warnings: eh.
AU/Canon: canon.
Pairing/Characters: Ryuuki
Words: 300
Prompt: blaze (300 words max.), due Feb.6
Notes: totally ignoring book 14.
Cross-posted at![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
saiun_challenge.
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Ryuuki avoided leaving his rooms after sunset. The veranda walkways were almost always dark, but never empty. Seien warned him long ago not to venture out even with a lantern.
Ten years ago, the cherry trees on the other side of the wall were set ablaze by fighting in the garden. A flaming arrow, misfired; perhaps a torch, dropped when its bearer was cut down.. Ryuuki remembered fleeing to the shrine of immortals and watching the blossoms burn, their pale petals blackening, crumbling to ash, his fingers curled around the balcony rail. The dark made his legs weak, the muscles floppy, but it was better than the red glow of fire licking at his windows and making the glass crinkle.
Do you want to be emperor? Shou asked him that night. Him, Ryuuki, the child nobody cared about. The fire by his pavilion was an accident; who remembered he lived there?
But it wasn't about what he wanted. Overturning Seien's punishment was the first thing he did as emperor, but it was all Ryuuki could do, the only way to plead with his brother to come back, not leave him alone. He would walk any dark hallway, brave any dark room, if Seien held his hand. His hair resembled early cherry blossoms, almost-white. Light.
The old bastard must have known what Ryuuki wanted. This was his idea of a joke: the throne in his grasp, Shuurei and Seien out of reach. Every path was dark when he tried to meet the old man's expectations. His brother followed Shuurei's light, but Ryuuki had to make his own.
No, he didn't want the throne. Still. But he would keep it, no matter how many cherry trees burned to illuminate the way.
.
Author: Amber Michelle
Rating: K
Genre: introspective again, gen-ish.
Warnings: eh.
AU/Canon: canon.
Pairing/Characters: Ryuuki
Words: 300
Prompt: blaze (300 words max.), due Feb.6
Notes: totally ignoring book 14.
Cross-posted at
saiun_challenge................................................
Ryuuki avoided leaving his rooms after sunset. The veranda walkways were almost always dark, but never empty. Seien warned him long ago not to venture out even with a lantern.
Ten years ago, the cherry trees on the other side of the wall were set ablaze by fighting in the garden. A flaming arrow, misfired; perhaps a torch, dropped when its bearer was cut down.. Ryuuki remembered fleeing to the shrine of immortals and watching the blossoms burn, their pale petals blackening, crumbling to ash, his fingers curled around the balcony rail. The dark made his legs weak, the muscles floppy, but it was better than the red glow of fire licking at his windows and making the glass crinkle.
Do you want to be emperor? Shou asked him that night. Him, Ryuuki, the child nobody cared about. The fire by his pavilion was an accident; who remembered he lived there?
But it wasn't about what he wanted. Overturning Seien's punishment was the first thing he did as emperor, but it was all Ryuuki could do, the only way to plead with his brother to come back, not leave him alone. He would walk any dark hallway, brave any dark room, if Seien held his hand. His hair resembled early cherry blossoms, almost-white. Light.
The old bastard must have known what Ryuuki wanted. This was his idea of a joke: the throne in his grasp, Shuurei and Seien out of reach. Every path was dark when he tried to meet the old man's expectations. His brother followed Shuurei's light, but Ryuuki had to make his own.
No, he didn't want the throne. Still. But he would keep it, no matter how many cherry trees burned to illuminate the way.
.