Title: Shield
Fandom: Fushigi Yuugi
Pairing: Soi-centric; Nakago/Soi
Rating: Light R.
Word Count: 491
Summary/Description: On the employment of the human body; Soi has been using hers since she was a child. It takes her years to divine its purpose.
Warning/Spoilers: Spoilers, I guess, for Episode 45. Some sexual stuff.
A/N: An attempt to characterise younger!Soi, and kinda explore why she is who she is. This was WAY different in conceptualisation than it was in execution, but WVA. Tell me if the writing seems awkward, or something? It does a little to me.
Disclaimer: I'm pretty sure Watase Yuu doesn't write fanfiction.
Soi has been using her body since she was little but a child.
The men who came to the brothel were not bothered by her skinny hips, frightened face, or the tears she shed; they sought out their pleasure in her small, blooming breasts, fine features, and small, tight passageway. Her cries of pain only spurred them on, and she grew up in the shadow of the ideology that sex was used for submission and control; her body a tool to give pleasure, but derive none.
The mark on her thigh did not remain a secret for long, and soon enough, she was receiving training that would prepare her to become one of the vaunted members of the Seiryu Seishi. Her special lightning powers were built, honed, and refined until they were uniquely hers; specialised to her every movement. Her limbs grew long, tight, and muscled, her mass increased, and her body became a walking weapon, in every sense of the word; to kill for the Priestess, to protect the Priestess.
By the time she met Nakago for the second time, she was well on her way to becoming a young woman, but her heart still fluttered like a child's whenever he was near. By that time as well, she had also been trained in Fhangzang, and knew what her place would be among the Seven. She was nervous and trembling the first time she lay with Nakago, barely able to concentrate on repairing his body and raising his chi. She had been taught that this was a purely functional procedure, and so she was flabbergasted beyond speech when Nakago began to stroke her breasts from nipple to underside, and bite her neck gently, cold blue fire burning in his eyes. It felt like what her first time should have been like, and that day, under Nakago's firm hand and penetrating gaze, Soi discovered that her body was still hers, and in the steel hold of her general's arms, she could take just as much as she gave.
Soi spent years discovering that there were many ways in which she could use her body.
And yet… it is only here and now, several years later, her eyes a mirror of Nakago's as the sword pierces her clean through, that she realises what is her body's purpose, what is her purpose. The pain makes it hard to breathe, hard to think, even, and she is simply glad that in this last moment, she is lucky enough to have the face of the one she loves in her line of vision.
"At last… I could be… useful…" she manages, voice weak and shaking. He does not reply, blue eyes wide, and she has never loved him more. Clinging to the last vestiges of her strength, tears streaking down her face, she pulls herself up and pushes forward, trying to give him one last kiss.
Long after she dies, she is still his shield.
A/N: Thinking about it now, the message in this ficlet is sorta morbid. OH WELL.
Love to hear your thoughts. :)