For Tai Taiho
Disclaimer: Juuni Kokuki belongs to Ono Fuyumi. I hope she continues writing the novels soon.---------
The sky was clear and bright, but Keiki was troubled and confused. He had just heard from his little friend, the Taiho of Taikoku, a very shocking confession. Taiki said he had chosen his emperor without the revelation, that he was sure Tai-Ou was not the real emperor. Keiki's first instinct was to say 'that's impossible.' But then he held himself back. It was a serious and important matter, so he needed time to think about it.
Soon after he asked permission to leave from Tai-Ou and Tai's kokufu, Keiki bolted to the sky. He thought about heading to Mt. Hou and asked for Genkun's opinion, but he realized Genkun might not be present at the moment. While considering this, Keiki flied towards Mt. Hou anyway. Suddenly there was a cheerful voice that actually really startled him.
"Yo! Keiki!"
Keiki stopped and looked around. There was another creature like himself behind him. He was indeed flying above the country of En, so it shouldn't be such a shock to see the Kirin of En flying carelessly there. But still, Keiki was often amazed by the carefree and eh, lazy nuance of Enki's conduct.
"En Taiho," greeted Keiki, bowing his head down a bit. Enki's wagging his tail and flying around Keiki happily, making Keiki feel rather dizzy. "Where are you heading? Why don't you stop by at my place, it's been a while since we last talked."
Enki and En-Ou had helped him a lot during his search of his Empress, and because of that Keiki was indebted to them. Not wanting to trouble to his fellow Kirin and his Emperor any further, Keiki was about to refuse the offer. But then he thought that Enki might know more about Taiki's issue. So he accepted the offer, and told Enki that he indeed needed some advice from him. They then headed for Enki's residence. After they cleaned themselves and dressed up, Enki showed Keiki to a large, comfortable room where refreshments had been served. Keiki expressed his will to visit Kokufu and En-Ou first, but Enki waved that idea off so he had no choice but to start telling Enki the story.
"That's impossible." Enki firmly stated after he took the time to swallow Keiki's story completely, and he needed only about five seconds for that. Keiki sighed. "That's what I thought. It must be because Taiki didn't realize it when he felt the revelation, or mistakenly understood the revelation. Without revelation from Heaven, Taiki should not be able to bow down to Tai-Ou and give the oath. However, I found this hard to believe. I've never heard of a Kirin who didn't recognize its master instantly. What about En Taiho?"
"I've never heard about it either. We Kirin would definitely recognize our masters once we met them. This is indeed strange… But you said he's not like other Kirin, right?"
"Yes. Not only he was raised in Hourai and had only returned here recently, he's also a black Kirin. I wonder if these made the difference."
"So it's either he could mistakenly choose an emperor, or he simply missed seeing or feeling the Ouki. I think the latter has the biggest chance to be correct, no?"
"I agree. Taiki could already transform and subdue a shirei, and not just a common shirei but a toutetsu, so I'm still wondering how he failed to recognize his master. But mistakenly choosing an emperor is simply not possible, as long as he is a Kirin…"
Enki knitted his eyebrows, thinking hard. Then suddenly, he left his chair and sat on the floor, in front of Keiki. Keiki opened his eyes wide, bewildered by Enki's action. Enki put his two hands on the floor, and started to make a bowing gesture. He tried but couldn't lower his head. After trying for a minute or two, he pulled himself back and plopped on his chair. Keiki just raised one eyebrow and patiently waited until Enki could speak again.
"Phew… That was indeed impossible. Tentei has not changed the rules or something. I think what we need to do is to tell Taiki that he's not mistaken."
Keiki nodded grimly. "However, I don't think telling him would be enough. And I want to be certain that Taiki is just like us, that he indeed can not swear false oath."
Again, Enki knitted his brows. He then snapped his fingers. "I know. We shall prove it to him. For that, we need someone who could ask quite a big favor from Tai-Ou. Someone important enough to test Taiki." He then called a guard and gave him his instruction. "Go and summon Shouryuu. I need to have a word with him." The guard quickly bowed and left. Seeing Keiki's mouth was agape, clearly from shock, Enki laughed. "That was just a joke to piss Shouryuu off and to let him know that I want to talk to him. Of course we'll go to his place instead."
"Does En Taiho plan to ask En-Ou's help in this matter? En-Ou must be very busy…"
Enki grinned. "Nah, he would gladly use any excuse he could find to run from governmental meetings."
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Just like Enki predicted, En-Ou was eagerly willing to help them out. From sometime before En-Ou had wanted to meet the new Tai-Ou, for this new emperor was someone he had met before in some interesting occasions. En-Ou was riding the best kind of Suugu, while Enki and Keiki rode on their fastest shirei. Enki and En-Ou flied a bit a head of Keiki, because Keiki was so deep in his thought.
It is his nature to be thoughtful and careful, and he just could not help being worried about Taiki. What a poor thing that little Kirin was. Keiki was afraid that this might be a sign of some bigger problems. How could Taiki not feeling the Ouki? How could he not recognize his master? It's not possible, but what if Taiki truly chose the wrong emperor? But they had concluded that being so young and inexperienced, Taiki had failed to recognize the definitely present ouki. However still, being a true Kirin and led by the revelation, Taiki was 'forced' to choose his emperor even though he firmly believed that Gyousou's not the emperor. Keiki would stick to this conclusion. Before this, when they met each other in Mt. Hou, Taiki was so sad because he couldn't do what other Kirins do, and now, he was so down because he sincerely believed he had acted against the Heaven's Will…
In front of the troubled Keiki, Enki and En-Ou chatted rather cheerfully. At first they talked about nothing in particular. Then someone started to tease the other. Then the teasing turned into dissing, and the next moment, they were throwing demeaning words to each other heatedly. Enki, who this time lost the verbal war, at one point secretly reached for something from his bag. He could only find a big, ripe peach which he stuffed into his bag in case he got hungry on the way. Without further thought he threw it to Shouryuu with all his might. Shouryuu who was busy laughing at his victory, was taken by surprised and the peach perfectly landed flat on his face.
Ahahahaha, laughed Enki sheepishly. He didn't think that it would actually hit Shouryuu, so he was nicely surprised himself. Shouryuu slowly and calmly wiped the destroyed peach off his face. That actually hurt, he thought. You little… And surprising his suugu, the shirei and of course Enki, he jumped off his mount and using his royal magical power, flied and landed right behind Enki, on top of the shirei. Then he tried to strangle Enki with his two hands, leaving Enki hanging, lower half on his shirei, and upper half floating in the air, supported only by Shouryuu's hands on his neck.
"Say you're sorry, you ungrateful brat!" Shouryuu pressed harder. "Nooo waaaay!" Enki managed to shout.
Meanwhile, Keiki somewhat saw this whole thing but it didn't register to him, since he was deep into more important matters. So he just stared blankly at the two persons who acted like they were spoilt ten, instead of half a millennium.
Not too long after that, Enki and Shouryuu were laughing their hearts out. Shouryuu didn't return to his suugu, but instead he stayed sitting behind Enki, hugged his Kirin fondly, though his Kirin kept protesting half-heartedly all the while. Then they finally entered Tai's border.
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Tai-Ou was understandably surprised by these unexpected guests. After they all gave their greetings to each other, and after Gyousou expressed his gratitude that En-Ou had bothered to pay him a visit, En-Ou went on with their main objective.
"Please forgive my rudeness. I wish for an audience with Tai Taiho. And there's a big favor I have to ask from Tai-Ou."
When Gysousou gestured his approval, En-Ou continued,
"I wish Tai-Ou would order your Kirin to prostrate himself before me."
Gyousou raised his eyebrows. This was truly confusing. He was knowledgeable enough to know that it's not possible. A Kirin could kowtow only before his emperor.
"Please believe that I hold no ill intention. This is something that must be done for your Taiho."
Gyousou looked at Keiki, who nodded, and quickly understood that this was something Keiki saw necessary for Kouri. Gyousou realized there's something serious that's been bothering Kouri, and that's why he requested Keiki to visit his Kirin. So Kouri had talked to Keiki. Gyousou was relieved, but at the same time smiled rather sadly. So indeed there's a problem that Kouri just couldn't tell him, but could tell Keiki about. Though Gyousou's quite curious, he held himself from asking and simply nodded his agreement at En-Ou.
Keiki silently let out a relief sigh. They had agreed not to tell Tai-Ou about this matter before it's proven that indeed, Taiki could not swear false oath. No matter how slim the chance would be, if in fact Taiki could prostrate himself before Shouryuu, then this matter must be brought to Genkun before anyone else knew about it. It would be best for Gyousou not to know about this matter for the time being. Fortunately, Tai-Ou was wise enough to understand that they had no other intentions than to give their help.
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Keiki looked at the little kid as coldly as he could muster, though he could imagine that it wouldn't make much difference because people had said he usually looked cold anyway. Enki and Shouryuu, being playful creatures they were, played their parts wholeheartedly. Tai-Ou looked sterner than usual, and Keiki could guess it's because he felt bad for forcing his precious Kirin to execute such a ridiculous order. As Keiki predicted, though the little Kirin looked dismayed, he didn't understand that it's just not possible for Kirin—well, at least all other Kirin— to fully bow down before anyone else beside their own emperors.
When it's obvious that Taiki could not prostrate himself before Shouryuu, the three of them secretly breathed out their relief. Again Tai-Ou barked his order, which made Taiki's small body shrink even smaller, which of course made his emperor feel worse. Keiki was about to ask En-Ou to put a stop on this show, when he saw En-Ou stood up and walked towards Taiki. En-Ou then forced the little Kirin to bow down before him with that big hand of his. Keiki could only gape in horror.
Unlike Keiki, Enki could actually understand the action of his master. Shouryuu just wanted to make sure that Taiki simply 'could not', and not 'would not' bow down to him. Shouryuu was just lacking the sense of delicacy as always. However, seeing Tai-Ou who jumped off his seat, looking torn between trusting his royal guest completely and kicking his guest's butt to safe his kirin, and also seeing Taiki who looked so miserable, Enki decided to forcefully stop his master at once.
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It all turned out well. Keiki had convinced Taiki that he had not mistakenly chosen his emperor. He had also informed everything to Tai-Ou, who besides looking genuinely surprised, didn't show any indications that he blamed Taiki even the slightest. Keiki stood silently while Taiki looked at his master with such relieved, adoring big eyes, and received a warm, caring look from his master in return. Keiki was truly happy for Taiki. Though he still wondered about Taiki's inability to recognize his master, he decided that it's nothing important and shoved that thought aside.
Looking at the two pairs of Kirins and masters, Keiki could not help feeling a lump on his chest. Jealously was not the nature of Kirin, and he indeed did not feel such an emotion. It was just hard, the problem he had with his empress. And in this case, no body could help them. In addition to ignoring the country's affair completely, his empress had started to see him in a different way that made him uncomfortable. Unlike En-Ou and Tai-Ou, his master had failed to see the fact that he was not a man, but a Kirin.
But Keiki also put the sad matter aside, and returned his attention to his little friend. Taiki was looking interestedly at his master, En-Ou and Enki, who were conversing about some serious stuff. He shook the kid's hand and asked him to stroll around the garden together. He would like to teach more things to this little Kirin, to teach him as much as he could. Enki then joined them, leaving En-Ou and Tai-Ou to talk passionately about the detail of their next duel.
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End
Note: Thank you for reading. Please take the time to review, let me know what you think about this story, or show me typo/other mistakes. No need to be too kind with your comment just because there are (truly) too few Juuni Kokuki fanfics around:)