Title: Troubled youth
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Author: kira
Words: 300
Rating: K+
Summary: Soma feels unloved and his grandfather tries to help…
Warnings: none
Author's note: Since his grandfather was nameless, I have chosen to call him "Basant" (the Bengali form of Vasanta) which means "brilliant" or "spring" in Sanskrit. Vasanta is the name of the Hindu god of spring.
888
"What's troubling you, Soma?" Prince Basant asked as he came over to sit down next to his grandson.
"Nothing," the fifteen year old said moodily as he stared out the window at the rain. Monsoon season had started and the young prince hated being confined to the palace.
"I hate the rain too," Basant said, surprising his grandson by changing the subject.
Soma nodded as the silence settled between them like a living thing. After a while, the fifteen year old shifted in seat to lean against his grandfather. The prince's loneliness ate at him until his craving for companionship became an all consuming desperation. He hated feeling that way and he was grateful for his grandfather's genuine affection.
"Grandfather, why do they hate me so much?"
"Your parents will find you a wife soon enough, Soma," Basant replied, being deliberately obtuse.
"That's not what I meant," Soma said peevishly.
"Soma…"
"My own father has no idea who I am and my mother cannot even give me the time of day and you say they don't hate me?" he replied, surprising the elder Bengali with the depth of his bitterness.
"They don't hate you, my boy."
"They do too!"
"Your father is old-"
"You're old too, Grandfather, and you know who I am!"
Basant sighed as there was no answer to that.
"My mother," he said, his voice braking on the last syllable.
"Oh, Soma…" Basant said softly as he put an arm around his grandson.
The fifteen year old pushed away from him. "All I want is for someone to like me…"
Instead of stating his love for him, Basant said, "That is all anyone wants, from the lowliest Sudra to the highest Brahmin"
Soma nodded. "Why do they treat me like that?"
"I wish I knew, my boy…"