Title : Playing with fate
Genre : Prequel
Summary : one random encounter on a nice spring afternoon leads to an interesting situation
Notes : This one is dedicaced to Shineko, who first introduced me to this very random pairing
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It might have been hazard, or it might have been fate. Either way, they had very little in common. A known face, a known name, and maybe a couple of classes shared in the years gone by - nothing more. But spring carried questions on its wind that put the whole world in different tension; and filled them with a need to affirm their will over destiny.
"Good afternoon, Magami-chan." The young boy was polite and smiling as she had always seen him. Not that they had had many occasions to share words before. "I didn't know you liked Ueno Park."
"It's the season to visit I heard.", she answered dryly.
"What about the campus' many parks ? They are beautiful too. And less crowded.", He observed.
Yes, the Clamp Campus parks were indeed beautiful in spring. She had walked in them often enough the years before, spending sweet hours in sweeter company, making foolish plans for the end of high-school. They were supposed to go to college together. They were supposed to escape their family's clutches and live together, determine their own life together. Nothing could have been stronger than the two of them, could it have ? But here she was with her high school's degree in her bag, and Saya was nowhere to share the moment with her. Which was exactly why she wasn't in Clamp Campus, partying with her classmates to honour the end of the school year. She was in no mood for rejoicing.
"What are you doing here yourself ?"
Too bad their well-mapped plans for the future hadn't included Saya's surprise pregnancy and hurried wedding. She would have felt furious, if it hadn't hurt so much.
"I always felt strongly tied to Ueno Park and come here often. It's a tradition of a sort. I like the atmosphere here : modern, urban people enjoying nature, it's an odd contrast.
She gave him a sharp look. "You're an oddball, Sakurazuka-kun. You're always very amiable to talk to, but whenever there's a gathering, you remain on the fringe."
The smiling boy merely shrugged. "I like to observe people."
"Do you learn much that way ?"
His grin accentuated. "I like to think so."
"Oh, really ?" Her bad mood threw her in a mocking stance. "What do you know about me ?"
He caught a fleeting petal that was dancing in the wind and studied it.
"I know... There was that girl, you were always hanging out with. But she hasn't come to the school for one year."
"She's got married.", she said darkly. "I still see her."
"Yes, but it's not the same. You're resentful about that."
"Why would I be ? Marriages are happy occasion." She said lightly. All right, maybe not so lightly.
Sakurazuka smiled at her.
"Because you wanted her for yourself", he said, as if stating the obvious.
Well... maybe he was more perceptive than she had thought.
"And you're angry at your clan."
She narrowed her eyes. "They want to decide all of my future already. Because we're an old family, and everyone's future is forecast, they think they can rule my own destiny."
He nodded. "I see what you mean. My own family isn't very different."
Of course, there were many of the old magical clans in Clamp Campus.
"Doesn't it bother you ?"
He paused. "Not really."
"Don't you have plans for yourself, ambitions that do not fit with your duties ?"
"I'll go to college to study biology. I plan on becoming a veterinarian, but that will not disrupt my role as the clan leader."
"Veterinarian ?", she said, surprised. "I would never have guessed."
He smiled with mischief.
/ "Mama, Mama ! Look at the penguins ! They are so smart ! Look ! I want to become just like them !" /
"It's an old dream of mine. I always liked animals."
"So there's no prophecies stopping you from doing what you want."
He looked beyond her, his gaze focused on another memory. "There might be, but if there is, I'm willing to play the game, we'll see what come of it. What is the one that so troubles you ?"
She bit her lips, pondering, then started : "The Sleeping Princess has foreseen I would be the mother of a child who would bear the weight of the world on his shoulder. Because of that the clan elders are already trying to find a proper husband for me. I don't plan to let them decide my fate."
The boy, who had thrown his own wager at destiny earlier that day, looked at her with curiosity. "What do you plan to do then ?"
She looked away, formulating her own hazy thoughts aloud for the first time. "Even though it's too late for me and I will never have what I want the most... If I have a child I don't want him to be the puppet of destiny or my clan's plots. If I have a son I wish for him to be able to decide his own fate, and make his own choices."
She set back her eyes on him.
"And I certainly don't want to marry a man chosen by my clan because they think he will be the pliable tool to make my son what they want him to be."
Just because Saya had agreed to a marriage of convenience because she was pregnant didn't mean she had to do the same. If she couldn't marry the woman she loved, then she wouldn't marry at all.
Sakurazuka looked amused. "Then who will be your child's father ?"
Hmm, hadn't thought about that. She blushed.
"I might help you with that", He said with dark humour. "After all I don't have a heir yet. I might not need one, but I better prepare for the possibility. I have no intention to raise a child however, so I could provide for all you need while letting you totally free to decide his education."
She almost fell over. That was a very forthright proposition. She suddenly remembered she knew next to nothing about Sakurazuka. Was he just trying to mock her determination ?
"Why would you do that ?" She asked suspiciously.
"Let's say I'm curious about what you intent to try. I'd like to see as well if it's possible to bet against fate." He said quietly, the mysterious smile dancing on his lips.
Well, if that was the case, she was determined.
"I'll think about it, Sakurazuka-kun."
It might have been hazard, or it might have been fate. Either way, they ought to have remembered being careful with what they wished for.
-- owari --