Disclaimer: I do not own Hirunaka no Ryuusei.
Yuyuka stood in front of the window of her courtroom, crown perfectly level atop her golden hair, face fashioned in practiced apathy learned from years of wearing a mask as the local Lord of the region read off a list of the kingdom's complaints, requests, and newest developments. She listens idly, staring out the window ledge, her gossamer gown, almost translucent in this facet of sunlight, blows lightly with the breeze. Her emerald eyes gleam as she watches her kingdom work beneath her, people walking throughout the marketplace, bartering and bickering and gossiping. There were people in the fields working the land and children play-fighting with sticks for swords and planks for shields. Yuyuka sees that one boy is even letting a young girl dressed in boy's clothes ride him around like a horse, and that is enough to crack her emotionless fascade with a quirked lip.
The Lord says her name, a reminder to listen to him, and she flicks a glance as cool as ice his way. It makes him stutter, breaks his concentration so he has to look back down at the scroll in his hands and continue to read. She feels nothing. She never feels anything anymore, not even the heat of the sun currently resting on her skin, or the cool night air that failed to raise chills over her skin as it once had, so long ago.
Still she listened, her eyes focused anywhere but within that suffocating courtroom she had lived in her entire life. She watched the commoners working the land, each strong and sweaty and covered in grime, some lifting hands to wipe sweat and dirt from their brow, others resting against rakes to take a few seconds of unlabored breaths.
That's when she noticed him. Or, when she noticed him noticing her. Her eyes met his and were caught there, unable to look away. He held her there, a captive in royal robes, as he rested carelessly against the rake in his hands.
He was in overalls, one shoulder strap unfastened and hanging by his hips. He was covered in dirt and grass stains and his hands appeared almost a different color from the rest of his body they were so filthy. She stood straighter, locking her jaw and clenching her teeth, tilting her head up just slightly in a show of dominance. This was as natural as breathing to her, having grown up royal and regal and strict, taught to never look up to anyone, her mother had said, not even those with higher ranks than herself. She was no one's lesser.
And yet this boy, with his long blonde hair tucked haphazardly behind one ear, greasy and lank and in need of a washing, held her unmoving with a simple look. She couldn't see the color of his eyes from the distance between them but she could see the cocky tilt to his smile, pushing it into a jaunty smirk she felt was at her expense. He was tall and strong, built to work the land even though his frame was naturally lean. She wondered how she'd never seen him before, and she knew that she had never seen him before. She couldn't pinpoint it, couldn't deduce a definitive reason, she just knew: he was not a presence she'd have forgotten.
She watched, incredulous, as this commoner lifted his hand and gestured for her to come to him. Just a single curl of his finger, beckoning her to his position, accompanied with that same stupid smirk. Chills raced down her spine and back up again, making her stand straight up, unmoving. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe him. He, a commoner, had the audacity to beckon her down to him, there in the fields, where a royal would never dare be seen? She felt the urge to flee, to escape his gaze, picturing herself turning back to the Lord in the room only to find herself glued to the spot, her feet planted surely and without intention of movement. She was stuck there, well and truly stuck in his gaze, and yet she could now feel the sun on her skin, a warm kiss of welcome as it continued to move towards the mountains in the distance. The breeze played with the ends of her hair and tickled her cheeks, which were flushing red and hot under her skin.
Then the bells of the nearby church began to chime, loud and melodic throughout the kingdom, proclaiming the time for work to end and families to return together. They snapped her right out of her trance, her gaze jumping towards the bell tower before returning to the worker's. For Yuyuka, it meant returning to her studies, alone as always. The boy turned to glance towards the church, his smirk dropping as he shielded his eyes from the sun. The Lord had just concluded his findings and was dismissing himself, to which Yuyuka nodded and quietly thanked him before turning away from him in dismissal and back to the fields before her.
But when her eyes searched over the land she found the boy was gone, like an apparition, once there but never to return. Frowning, she rested her hands on the ledge and leaned out, peeking this way and that, waiting to spot the dirty overalls that insolent kid had been wearing. No one had ever looked at her so boldly, and more, had the audacity to smirk at her as if her presence was a joke. No one had ever made her body react so viscerally, either.
As she continued to look for him, unknowingly disappointed when she couldn't find him, hundreds of feet away the boy himself continued to watch her. He grinned, shaking his head and rubbing the back of his neck as he turned to head back home. His bones creaked and his muscles ached, as he had worked three shifts today rather than his usual two. The money was good, though, and he knew he had to do it for the sake of his family.
But it hadn't been so bad, really. He smiled, tilting his head down as he walked through the crowded market streets, his grin hidden in the shadow of a nearby building's veranda. It hadn't been so bad, because he'd been able to catch a glimpse of their soon-to-be Queen, as beautiful and stoic as the rumors had claimed, and yet even then they had not lived up to her true appearance. He remembered that mask she'd worn up in that tall tower as she looked at him, filthy and low-born, and it made him laugh. She'd even raised her nose up at him, he thought, laughing even more. Togyuu raised his face to the fading light prefacing dusk and reveled in the heat that laced his skin, thinking of flickering emeralds and shifting gold.
And of cracking porcelain masks of stoicism with dangerous kisses.
A/N: It might come as a surprise to some of you, but I have a lot of feelings about HnR. And tbh, most of them are actually not Togyuu/Yuyuka, but rather, Mamura/Yuyuka...the only pairing I truly care about in HnR. (weeps)