Tenchi Muyo belongs to AIC.
Another lost fic.
Leaving It All Behind
"Brother? Are you all right?" Ayeka asked as she found, Yosho, known on Earth as Katsuhito Masaki, standing on the shore of the lake near the Masaki home, staring out at the water.
"Hello, Ayeka," he greeted her, not turning to face her.
"Is something troubling you, Yosho?" Ayeka asked softly.
He nodded. "There is." He turned to face her, the moonlight reflecting in his glasses. "Ayeka...there are things I've been hiding from you, things I need to tell you."
"Brother," Ayeka said, "You're beginning to frighten me."
"I *am* frightened, Ayeka," he said, taking her by the shoulders. "I believe...I have done you a horrible wrong."
Ayeka smiled. "Yosho, I've long forgiven you for leaving Jurai..."
"Not that, Ayeka." He took a breath. "There's more." He led Ayeka to the nearby dock and sat down, allowing his feet to hang over the edge. Ayeka sat down next to him.
"Yosho, whatever it is, you can tell me."
"It was so long ago," he whispered. "When you arrived here, I was so afraid that you had come because you had found out."
"Found out what?"
"That I didn't want to marry you."
She smiled and shook her head. "It was a shock to find you as you are, Yosho, but I understand now, and it's all right." She took a breath and smiled for his benefit. "Do you miss Jurai? The palace?"
"Honestly?" he asked. "No." She looked at him in surprise. "Back on Jurai I never felt as I do here."
"How is that?"
"Free." She blinked. "I was never really free on Jurai, no matter how much I tried to make it so. I was a hellraiser in case you've forgotten."
She giggled. "I hadn't. You were constantly embarrassing father, but mother and Aunt Funaho saw something in you."
"A king," he finished for her. She nodded.
"They were determined to bring that king to the surface," she remembered.
"I still remember."
"I was so worried for you. I thought that madman would kill you!" she told him.
He laughed. "He nearly did, but it was good for me. It helped make me who I am." He took a sad breath. "I'll be forever thankful to him for that."
She watched him look up at the stars. "I remember how I met him..."
"He picked a fight with three Marines," Funaho sighed. "He's lucky they didn't kill him. If one of them hadn't recognized him, they very well could have."
Standing at the window of her office as Commander of the Royal Bodyguard, Queen Misaki sighed and nodded.
"My son," Funaho said sadly, "Is turning into a disgrace."
"He's just young," Misaki told her, trying to comfort her sister in marriage.
Funaho shook her head. "It's more than that. It's as if he doesn't care. I don't know what to do with him." Misaki could tell Funaho was close to tears. Yosho had never been an ideal son, but he had always shown respect to his mother and family. Now...
"Funaho...My sister..." Misaki, just beginning to show in her second pregnancy, walked up to Funaho and hugged her. "I want you to leave."
Funaho blinked. "What?"
"I want you to leave the planet for awhile, and I want you to leave Yosho to me."
"But...I..."
"Sister, you must trust me. I have some...experience...in this. Go to Belegast. Take Ayeka with you. When you get back, Yosho, Tsunami willing, will be your son again."
"But how?"
"Leave it to me," Misaki said, leading her to the door. "I will do what I can."
Funaho nodded and walked out the door. Misaki sighed and went to her desk. She paused a moment before activating her comm system.
"I would like to send a comunique addressed to Alyen Trevallis," she told the comm unit. "Alyen...I need you."
Misaki smiled and rose from her throne as the elderly man entered the room. His short, white hair was speckled with traces of blue, the same blue that could be seen in his white beard and moustache. He walked with a cane, and Misaki could just make out the slight limp. Despite this, he stopped before her and bowed unsteadily.
Misaki rushed up to him and stopped him, helping him back up. "Since when do you bow to me, Sensei?" she asked him with a smile.
"Since you put a crown on that bubble head of yours," he told her, smiling tiredly.
She laughed. "You are still an arrogant, old, ass who could never teach me a thing I didn't already know!"
He hugged her. "Misaki, dear, how are you?"
"Better now that you are here. I need your help."
"So your letter said," he told her, a trace of his Jurain Northlands accent seeping into his speech. "How may I serve Her Majesty?"
Misaki smiled and sat down on the steps that led to her thrown, a very unqueenly thing for her to do. The man leaned on his cane and waited.
"My nephew, Yosho. He's...like I was."
"A conceited, air-headed, bitch?" the man asked.
Misaki fought back a smile at the man's lese majesty. "That covers it rather nicely, yes. He needs guidance, but I fear my sister cannot bring herself to...be as cruel as it will be neccessary. My husband is rather busy with affairs of state, and it seems that I..'am not his mother,' as he likes to point out."
"You want me to educate him in the world according to Trevallis?"
She nodded. He smiled.
He took a few steps and admired a nearby painting. "I will broke no interference...from you, from the mother, from His Majesty," he warned her.
"There will be none."
He paused.
"Help him, Sensei," she pleaded. "Help him as you did me. He's to be the next king of Jurai, but more importantly, my daughter's husband. I would like my daughter to marry a man of good character."
He sighed and nodded. "Well, then I had better start immediately."
She smiled. "Thank you. I'll show you to his room."
"Whatever plans he has today, I want them canceled," he told her as they started down the palace corridor.
"It will be as you say."
"Who's his fencing instructor?"
"Master Cavaris."
"Fire him."
"It will be as you say."
"Good," he said. The clack of the end of his cane striking the floor could be heard throughout the corridor. They stopped outside a wooden door. "I'll take it from here," he said. With that, he opened the door and left Misaki standing in the corridor, hoping she did the right thing.
Prince Yosho was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of a great many things, women on top of that list. He rolled over and sighed contentedly.
His eyes flashed open as he felt someone grab him by the hair and yank him forcibly from his king sized bed. He hit the stone floor with a grunt and rolled into a wall. He looked up groggily and shook the hair out of his eyes.
"Who the fu..."
"So you're the bonnie little prince who thinks he's tough stuff?" a Northland's brogue asked him. "If you ask me, ya look more like the pompous, arrogant windbag the rest of the palace knows ya to be."
Yosho looked at the man who was now sitting on the edge of his bed as if he owned it.
"Guards!" Yosho called.
"Ah! I see, now! Not enough of a man to take me your own self, are ye?" He stood up.
Yosho growled at the insult and launched himself at the man. The intruder grinned and twisted around, bringing his cane around and striking Yosho in the rear end as he passed. Yosho yelped in pain and fell face first onto the bed.
Trevallis reached out and grabbed the prince by the hair, shoving his face into the mattress. "My name is Alyen Trevallis," he announced as Yosho struggled beneath him. "I am your new fencing instructor." Yosho's protests could not be heard through the mattress. "First, some ground rules. From now on, ya do what I say, as I say it, when I say it. Have no illusions about who is in charge here. Your name belongs to your father, your soul to Tsunami, but starting today, your bloody ass belongs to me! If ye understand, wiggle and grunt."
Yosho continued to struggle.
"Good! I'm glad to see we understand one another." He pulled Yosho up by his hair and threw him back off the bed.
Yosho sputtered and sat up. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
"I told you, your new instructor. And you will address me as Sensei."
"Like hell I will!" Yosho cried indignantly. "I want you out of here, or I will call the guards!"
Trevallis smiled. "Oh?" He leaned on his cane. "The great Prince Yosho must be saved from a tired, old man?"
Yosho shook his head. "Oh no! I'm not falling for that again!"
"So you're smarter than ye look! Who would've thought?!"
"GET OUT!"
"Tell you what, lad, if you can *force* me out of this room, you'll never see me again."
Yosho grinned and adopted a Ken-zi stance. The old man was able to surprise him once. It wouldn't happen again. "If you say so, old fossil." He attacked.
Twenty seconds later he was on his rear again, dazed. Trevallis was walking out the door.
"I want to see you downstairs in five minutes, otherwise, you skip breakfast."
It was an hour later that Yosho entered the dining room, dressed in his kimono and prepared to start the day. He didn't give much thought to the the old man's threat. Imagine! Some stuffy, old fossil giving *him* orders! He entered the dining room and found that same old man sitting with his aunt Misaki at the dining room table. He and the Queen were smiling and chatting amicably. Yosho approached, sat at his usual place at the table, and spoke to a nearby serving maid.
"You may serve breakfast now," he told her.
"You bloody well may not," Trevallis told the maid.
The maid looked from one man to the other nervously. Yosho glared at the man. "Who are you to be giving *me* orders?" he asked icily.
"I told ye, lad. I'm your fencing instructor, and you are now..." he checked his pocket watch, "Fifty seven minutes late." He pocketed the small, gold watch. "Pity...for you, anyway. Ye have a long day ahead of ye to be goi'n on an empty stomach."
"Kimiko," Yosho began, addressing the maid again. "Serve breakfast."
"Stand as ye are, lassie," Trevallis told her kindly, but firmly. The maid glanced at the angry prince. "Don't mind him, love, he's not in charge here."
"Kimiko, bring another cup of coffee for Master Trevallis, would you?" Misaki asked. The maid nodded eagerly and ran out, eager to escape the dining room.
"Aunt Misaki," Yosho began, "Who is this...person?"
Trevallis got up and circled around the table. Yosho remained still, confident that the obviously disturbed individual would not dare do anything rash in front of the Queen of Jurai.
He was wrong.
Trevallis grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved his face down to the table, pinning it there.
"I don't rightly know how things are done in the capital, lad," Trevallis whispered coldly, "But where I come from, a citizen of Jurai *bows* before their sovereign before they presume to speak to her." Yosho grit his teeth and struggled. Misaki sat there and watched quietly. She knew better than to interfere. "Now what do we say?" Trevallis asked.
Yosho, realizing he'd get no help from his aunt, spoke. "Your Majesty," he ground out, "May I ask who this madman is?"
Trevallis released him and sat back down in his seat. Kimiko returned with coffee and poured the old man a cup. "This is a very old friend of mine," Misaki told him. "A fencing master from the Northlands. Your mother and I felt you would benefit from his tutelage."
"No thanks," Yosho bit out.
"It's not a matter of choice, Yosho," Misaki told him. "From now on, Master Trevallis will be your teacher, and you will afford him the hightest respect."
Yosho stifled a laugh.
"He will," Trevallis said with a grim smile. "Trust me on that."
Yosho glared at him.
"Now, then, laddie," Trevallis announced as the two stood in the courtyard, "As my pupil, you will carry your weapon with ye at all times. You'll even sleep with it. I catch you without it just once, and I'll beat ye to just this side of death with it. Do ye understand?"
Yosho sighed. "Yes," he said lazily. Now he had to carry a sword with him where ever he went...wonderful. Even so, Yosho felt a slight glimmer of excitement. He had always liked the feel of wearing a lightsword. It gave him an air of sophistication and status.
"Good." Trevallis went to a large, canvas bag he had brought with him and reached inside. Yosho craned his neck to see inside, but couldn't make anything out. Trevallis grinned and turned back to him, Yosho's new weapon in his hands.
Yosho blinked in shock, then grit his teeth in outrage. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE!?"
Trevallis looked at him innocently. "Your new weapon? You don't approve?"
"It's...It's...It's hideous!"
That much was true. Yosho's "weapon" was just an oak boken, painted bright pink with little flowers painted on the blade in bright paint and highlighted with silver glitter.
"You expect me to take that *everywhere I go*?!" Yosho railed at him.
Trevallis nodded and tested the boken's weight. "Aye, I do, laddie. One time without it, and I'll give you the beating of your life. Remember that."
"It's unacceptable!"
Trevallis arched an eyebrow. "If you feel the weapon is defective..." Trevallis began, taking a step towards the prince, "Then we will simply have to test it." With a lightning quick move, Trevallis lashed out and clipped Yosho in the head with the flat of the boken's blade! Yosho staggered back, but Trevallis wasn't about to let him off that easily. He lashed out again, striking Yosho in the foot. Yosho yelped and began to hop on his other foot. Finally, Trevallis gave the prince a quick jab in the forehead, just enough to hurt Yosho without doing any permanent damage. Yosho hit the ground, moaning in pain.
Trevallis stood over him and admired the boken. "Aye, a fine weapon indeed!" He looked down at Yosho. "Now who looks more foolish?" he asked. "The man who beat someone with this weapon, or the man beaten *with* it?"
Yosho didn't answer.
Trevallis threw the boken on the ground next to him and went back to his bag, producing his own boken, one devoid of decoration. "Get up, ya bleed'n baby!" Trevallis chastised him. "You're not that hurt. Marines get beat harder in their first five minutes of training, so quit your bitch'n and get up."
Yosho took a hateful breath and got to his feet, the boken in his hand. "I hate you," he told Trevallis seriously.
Treval grinned. "Excellent! That means I'm doing my job!"
Standing on the balcony overlooking the courtyard, Misaki sipped at a cup of tea and watched as Trevallis systematically tore her nephew to shreds. Another serving maid, Yukari, appeared at her side, holding a tea kettle and watching the practice worriedly.
"Your Majesty, is not Master Trevallis being too hard on His Highness?" Yukari asked worriedly.
Misaki took an annoyed breath. She knew that this particular maid had a vested interest in Yosho. The two were sleeping together for all their attempts to hide it. "You haven't seen Trevallis be hard yet," Misaki told her with a slight smile. She knew from experience that he could be far more cruel...
The teenaged girl screached as if she were being murdered as the blue- haired man pulled her by the hair out into the palace courtyard.
"LET ME GO THIS INSTANT! I SWEAR BY TSUNAMI'S CLEFT I'LL SEE YOU SWING FOR THIS! LET-ME-GOOOOOOOOO!"
He did, picking her up and throwing her bodily into the palace fountain!
The girl sputtered and stood up, trying to climb out of the fountain. The man pushed her back in with a splash.
"Cool off!" he ordered, his Northlands brogue coming through in his anger.
"I'LL SEE YOUR HEAD ON THE END OF A PIKE BEFORE MORNING!" she screamed at him.
"Good!" he screamed back. "Do me the favor, lassie! Tis a better thing than listening to yere endless bitching!"
The girl pulled her wet hair behind her and attempted to collect herself. A princess had to act a certain way, after al...Ah, screw it!
"That can be....ARRANGED!" she screamed. "How dare you treat a member of the royal family this way!? Where's the respect due to your rightful sovereign!?"
"The respect I give is *earned*, Your Highness." He made her title a curse. "So's the disappointment."
"How dare you?!"
"HOW DARE YOU!?" he screamed back. "How dare ye call yereself a princess?! How dare ye ask Jurains to pay *you* homage!? How dare ye ask them to fight and die for a world, *YOUR WORLD*, and not give a damn about them!?"
She was silent.
"Ye disgust me," he told her, and walked off.
She sat in the fountain and blinked, unsure of what to do. His words had stunned her into silence. No one, *no one*, ever dared to speak to her that way. She blinked in surprise upon realizing that some of the moisture on her face had not come from the fountain.
She was crying.
She felt...ashamed.
Dejectedly, Princess Misaki of Jurai climbed out of the fountain and went in search of her fencing instructor...
To apologize.
Misaki smiled tiredly at the memory. Alyen Trevallis had been the cold splash of water she needed. He had taught her that being a good ruler meant that one must first be a good person. He had insulted her, degraded her, humiliated her...
And she was thankful for it.
She turned from the balcony and descended the stairs to the courtyard. She smiled when she heard Trevallis berating his new student.
"Och! I can hardly believe ye're a man, let alone a Jurain!" Trevallis was telling him as Yosho stood up again. "I dinna believe ye're taking me serious, lad." Yosho growled and got to his feet. Trevallis smiled. "Then again," he said, "I guess that's what I should expect from a *half-breed*!"
Yosho screamed and charged, swinging his boken violently. It was obvious that this wasn't sparring.
This was war.
Trevallis blocked a slash and nodded. "So, that's ye're button, is it?" He knocked the prince in the gut with the pommel of his boken, then picked him up and threw him into the fountain. Yosho sputtered as he surfaced.
"You're angry," Trevallis told him. Yosho seethed. "Good. Never buy into what these southlanders say about keeping control of your emotions dur'n a fight. You need that anger to fight down ta fear. Just be sure ye don't lose control of it like ye just did."
Yosho clambered out of the fountain. Trevallis looked up and noticed Misaki. He bowed, leaning on his boken for support in lieu of his cane. "A good morning to ye, Your Majesty."
Misaki smiled. "And you, Sensei."
Trevallis frowned at Yosho. "Boy! Show yere sovereign the respect Her Majesty deserves, or by Tsunami's left tit I'll put ye in that fountain again!"
Yosho considered calling him on it, still outraged about his insult, but decided not to. He bowed to his aunt. "Good morning, Aunt Misaki."
Trevallis knocked his boken against the ground, making a rather loud crack. He continued to frown at Yosho.
"...Your Majesty," Yosho amended.
Misaki smiled. "Good morning, Yosho. How is your training going?"
"The boy is bloody useless," Trevallis told her disdainfully. "Ye should give 'em a pair of Guardians....like other princesses get."
Yosho growled. "It's only been twenty minutes," he bit out.
"I get more fight outta me wee students! And most of them are only eight years old."
Yosho bit back a retort. He knew what this man was doing. He was looking for Yosho to give him an excuse to humiliate him again. Well, he wasn't going to fall for it.
"I watched from the balcony," Misaki told them. "I thought Yosho did rather well."
"Aye, well..." Trevallis agreed, grinning at Misaki, "Fer a mere *girl*," he finished.
Misaki glared. Then, to Yosho's surprise and horror...
Attacked!
Misaki's blue lightsword ignited with a *snap-hiss* and came down on Trevallis, only to be met by a purple lightsword as the old man blocked. Misaki's sword darted out twice more, and twice more Trevallis blocked. Yosho watched in amazement as Trevallis and his normally gentle aunt sparred before him with naked blades. What amazed Yosho was the fact that neither one was giving any ground to the other. Finally, after one last failed attack, Trevallis nodded.
"Good, lassie," he told her. "I'm glad to see rear'n wee ones hasna dulled your skills any." His lightsword disengaged.
"You'd be surprised," Misaki told him, dousing her own sword. "Now then, what was that comment about 'a mere girl?'"
He laughed. "That always was yere button. I could get a reaction out ye simply by implying it."
Misaki smiled.
"Yosho?" Misaki asked innocently. "He's doing fine."
On the screen in the main hall, Funaho looked concerned. "Are you sure?"
Behind Misaki's back, just within view of Funaho, Yosho was being viciously attacked by an elderly man with a boken, who was chasing him around the room. Yosho was jumping over chairs and tables, trying to enough space to fight back.
"He's fine," Misaki repeated. "How's Belegast?"
"Well, Ayeka's having a wonderful time."
"Mommy!"
"AYEKA!" Misaki cried as Ayeka's face appeared on the screen. "HOW'S MY LITTLE AYEKA!?"
Ayeka giggled. "I'm fine, Mommy."
"Are you having fun?"
"Yup! It's great! Aunt Funaho took me to see snow!"
"Snow?"
Funaho nodded. "We went to Sout'ou mountains."
"That's wonderful, honey!"
"Auuuuuggggghhhhhh!!" Yosho cried out. Funaho blinked and tried to see past Misaki's smiling face to find out what was happening.
"So when are you coming back?"
"Um...I suppose as soon as we can."
"Don't hurry, Sister."
"I miss you, Mommy."
"I MISS YOU, TOO, HON!" Misaki kissed the screen.
Yosho was gagging, gasping for breath behind her.
Another lost fic.
Leaving It All Behind
"Brother? Are you all right?" Ayeka asked as she found, Yosho, known on Earth as Katsuhito Masaki, standing on the shore of the lake near the Masaki home, staring out at the water.
"Hello, Ayeka," he greeted her, not turning to face her.
"Is something troubling you, Yosho?" Ayeka asked softly.
He nodded. "There is." He turned to face her, the moonlight reflecting in his glasses. "Ayeka...there are things I've been hiding from you, things I need to tell you."
"Brother," Ayeka said, "You're beginning to frighten me."
"I *am* frightened, Ayeka," he said, taking her by the shoulders. "I believe...I have done you a horrible wrong."
Ayeka smiled. "Yosho, I've long forgiven you for leaving Jurai..."
"Not that, Ayeka." He took a breath. "There's more." He led Ayeka to the nearby dock and sat down, allowing his feet to hang over the edge. Ayeka sat down next to him.
"Yosho, whatever it is, you can tell me."
"It was so long ago," he whispered. "When you arrived here, I was so afraid that you had come because you had found out."
"Found out what?"
"That I didn't want to marry you."
She smiled and shook her head. "It was a shock to find you as you are, Yosho, but I understand now, and it's all right." She took a breath and smiled for his benefit. "Do you miss Jurai? The palace?"
"Honestly?" he asked. "No." She looked at him in surprise. "Back on Jurai I never felt as I do here."
"How is that?"
"Free." She blinked. "I was never really free on Jurai, no matter how much I tried to make it so. I was a hellraiser in case you've forgotten."
She giggled. "I hadn't. You were constantly embarrassing father, but mother and Aunt Funaho saw something in you."
"A king," he finished for her. She nodded.
"They were determined to bring that king to the surface," she remembered.
"I still remember."
"I was so worried for you. I thought that madman would kill you!" she told him.
He laughed. "He nearly did, but it was good for me. It helped make me who I am." He took a sad breath. "I'll be forever thankful to him for that."
She watched him look up at the stars. "I remember how I met him..."
"He picked a fight with three Marines," Funaho sighed. "He's lucky they didn't kill him. If one of them hadn't recognized him, they very well could have."
Standing at the window of her office as Commander of the Royal Bodyguard, Queen Misaki sighed and nodded.
"My son," Funaho said sadly, "Is turning into a disgrace."
"He's just young," Misaki told her, trying to comfort her sister in marriage.
Funaho shook her head. "It's more than that. It's as if he doesn't care. I don't know what to do with him." Misaki could tell Funaho was close to tears. Yosho had never been an ideal son, but he had always shown respect to his mother and family. Now...
"Funaho...My sister..." Misaki, just beginning to show in her second pregnancy, walked up to Funaho and hugged her. "I want you to leave."
Funaho blinked. "What?"
"I want you to leave the planet for awhile, and I want you to leave Yosho to me."
"But...I..."
"Sister, you must trust me. I have some...experience...in this. Go to Belegast. Take Ayeka with you. When you get back, Yosho, Tsunami willing, will be your son again."
"But how?"
"Leave it to me," Misaki said, leading her to the door. "I will do what I can."
Funaho nodded and walked out the door. Misaki sighed and went to her desk. She paused a moment before activating her comm system.
"I would like to send a comunique addressed to Alyen Trevallis," she told the comm unit. "Alyen...I need you."
Misaki smiled and rose from her throne as the elderly man entered the room. His short, white hair was speckled with traces of blue, the same blue that could be seen in his white beard and moustache. He walked with a cane, and Misaki could just make out the slight limp. Despite this, he stopped before her and bowed unsteadily.
Misaki rushed up to him and stopped him, helping him back up. "Since when do you bow to me, Sensei?" she asked him with a smile.
"Since you put a crown on that bubble head of yours," he told her, smiling tiredly.
She laughed. "You are still an arrogant, old, ass who could never teach me a thing I didn't already know!"
He hugged her. "Misaki, dear, how are you?"
"Better now that you are here. I need your help."
"So your letter said," he told her, a trace of his Jurain Northlands accent seeping into his speech. "How may I serve Her Majesty?"
Misaki smiled and sat down on the steps that led to her thrown, a very unqueenly thing for her to do. The man leaned on his cane and waited.
"My nephew, Yosho. He's...like I was."
"A conceited, air-headed, bitch?" the man asked.
Misaki fought back a smile at the man's lese majesty. "That covers it rather nicely, yes. He needs guidance, but I fear my sister cannot bring herself to...be as cruel as it will be neccessary. My husband is rather busy with affairs of state, and it seems that I..'am not his mother,' as he likes to point out."
"You want me to educate him in the world according to Trevallis?"
She nodded. He smiled.
He took a few steps and admired a nearby painting. "I will broke no interference...from you, from the mother, from His Majesty," he warned her.
"There will be none."
He paused.
"Help him, Sensei," she pleaded. "Help him as you did me. He's to be the next king of Jurai, but more importantly, my daughter's husband. I would like my daughter to marry a man of good character."
He sighed and nodded. "Well, then I had better start immediately."
She smiled. "Thank you. I'll show you to his room."
"Whatever plans he has today, I want them canceled," he told her as they started down the palace corridor.
"It will be as you say."
"Who's his fencing instructor?"
"Master Cavaris."
"Fire him."
"It will be as you say."
"Good," he said. The clack of the end of his cane striking the floor could be heard throughout the corridor. They stopped outside a wooden door. "I'll take it from here," he said. With that, he opened the door and left Misaki standing in the corridor, hoping she did the right thing.
Prince Yosho was sleeping peacefully, dreaming of a great many things, women on top of that list. He rolled over and sighed contentedly.
His eyes flashed open as he felt someone grab him by the hair and yank him forcibly from his king sized bed. He hit the stone floor with a grunt and rolled into a wall. He looked up groggily and shook the hair out of his eyes.
"Who the fu..."
"So you're the bonnie little prince who thinks he's tough stuff?" a Northland's brogue asked him. "If you ask me, ya look more like the pompous, arrogant windbag the rest of the palace knows ya to be."
Yosho looked at the man who was now sitting on the edge of his bed as if he owned it.
"Guards!" Yosho called.
"Ah! I see, now! Not enough of a man to take me your own self, are ye?" He stood up.
Yosho growled at the insult and launched himself at the man. The intruder grinned and twisted around, bringing his cane around and striking Yosho in the rear end as he passed. Yosho yelped in pain and fell face first onto the bed.
Trevallis reached out and grabbed the prince by the hair, shoving his face into the mattress. "My name is Alyen Trevallis," he announced as Yosho struggled beneath him. "I am your new fencing instructor." Yosho's protests could not be heard through the mattress. "First, some ground rules. From now on, ya do what I say, as I say it, when I say it. Have no illusions about who is in charge here. Your name belongs to your father, your soul to Tsunami, but starting today, your bloody ass belongs to me! If ye understand, wiggle and grunt."
Yosho continued to struggle.
"Good! I'm glad to see we understand one another." He pulled Yosho up by his hair and threw him back off the bed.
Yosho sputtered and sat up. "WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"
"I told you, your new instructor. And you will address me as Sensei."
"Like hell I will!" Yosho cried indignantly. "I want you out of here, or I will call the guards!"
Trevallis smiled. "Oh?" He leaned on his cane. "The great Prince Yosho must be saved from a tired, old man?"
Yosho shook his head. "Oh no! I'm not falling for that again!"
"So you're smarter than ye look! Who would've thought?!"
"GET OUT!"
"Tell you what, lad, if you can *force* me out of this room, you'll never see me again."
Yosho grinned and adopted a Ken-zi stance. The old man was able to surprise him once. It wouldn't happen again. "If you say so, old fossil." He attacked.
Twenty seconds later he was on his rear again, dazed. Trevallis was walking out the door.
"I want to see you downstairs in five minutes, otherwise, you skip breakfast."
It was an hour later that Yosho entered the dining room, dressed in his kimono and prepared to start the day. He didn't give much thought to the the old man's threat. Imagine! Some stuffy, old fossil giving *him* orders! He entered the dining room and found that same old man sitting with his aunt Misaki at the dining room table. He and the Queen were smiling and chatting amicably. Yosho approached, sat at his usual place at the table, and spoke to a nearby serving maid.
"You may serve breakfast now," he told her.
"You bloody well may not," Trevallis told the maid.
The maid looked from one man to the other nervously. Yosho glared at the man. "Who are you to be giving *me* orders?" he asked icily.
"I told ye, lad. I'm your fencing instructor, and you are now..." he checked his pocket watch, "Fifty seven minutes late." He pocketed the small, gold watch. "Pity...for you, anyway. Ye have a long day ahead of ye to be goi'n on an empty stomach."
"Kimiko," Yosho began, addressing the maid again. "Serve breakfast."
"Stand as ye are, lassie," Trevallis told her kindly, but firmly. The maid glanced at the angry prince. "Don't mind him, love, he's not in charge here."
"Kimiko, bring another cup of coffee for Master Trevallis, would you?" Misaki asked. The maid nodded eagerly and ran out, eager to escape the dining room.
"Aunt Misaki," Yosho began, "Who is this...person?"
Trevallis got up and circled around the table. Yosho remained still, confident that the obviously disturbed individual would not dare do anything rash in front of the Queen of Jurai.
He was wrong.
Trevallis grabbed him by the back of the neck and shoved his face down to the table, pinning it there.
"I don't rightly know how things are done in the capital, lad," Trevallis whispered coldly, "But where I come from, a citizen of Jurai *bows* before their sovereign before they presume to speak to her." Yosho grit his teeth and struggled. Misaki sat there and watched quietly. She knew better than to interfere. "Now what do we say?" Trevallis asked.
Yosho, realizing he'd get no help from his aunt, spoke. "Your Majesty," he ground out, "May I ask who this madman is?"
Trevallis released him and sat back down in his seat. Kimiko returned with coffee and poured the old man a cup. "This is a very old friend of mine," Misaki told him. "A fencing master from the Northlands. Your mother and I felt you would benefit from his tutelage."
"No thanks," Yosho bit out.
"It's not a matter of choice, Yosho," Misaki told him. "From now on, Master Trevallis will be your teacher, and you will afford him the hightest respect."
Yosho stifled a laugh.
"He will," Trevallis said with a grim smile. "Trust me on that."
Yosho glared at him.
"Now, then, laddie," Trevallis announced as the two stood in the courtyard, "As my pupil, you will carry your weapon with ye at all times. You'll even sleep with it. I catch you without it just once, and I'll beat ye to just this side of death with it. Do ye understand?"
Yosho sighed. "Yes," he said lazily. Now he had to carry a sword with him where ever he went...wonderful. Even so, Yosho felt a slight glimmer of excitement. He had always liked the feel of wearing a lightsword. It gave him an air of sophistication and status.
"Good." Trevallis went to a large, canvas bag he had brought with him and reached inside. Yosho craned his neck to see inside, but couldn't make anything out. Trevallis grinned and turned back to him, Yosho's new weapon in his hands.
Yosho blinked in shock, then grit his teeth in outrage. "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT SUPPOSED TO BE!?"
Trevallis looked at him innocently. "Your new weapon? You don't approve?"
"It's...It's...It's hideous!"
That much was true. Yosho's "weapon" was just an oak boken, painted bright pink with little flowers painted on the blade in bright paint and highlighted with silver glitter.
"You expect me to take that *everywhere I go*?!" Yosho railed at him.
Trevallis nodded and tested the boken's weight. "Aye, I do, laddie. One time without it, and I'll give you the beating of your life. Remember that."
"It's unacceptable!"
Trevallis arched an eyebrow. "If you feel the weapon is defective..." Trevallis began, taking a step towards the prince, "Then we will simply have to test it." With a lightning quick move, Trevallis lashed out and clipped Yosho in the head with the flat of the boken's blade! Yosho staggered back, but Trevallis wasn't about to let him off that easily. He lashed out again, striking Yosho in the foot. Yosho yelped and began to hop on his other foot. Finally, Trevallis gave the prince a quick jab in the forehead, just enough to hurt Yosho without doing any permanent damage. Yosho hit the ground, moaning in pain.
Trevallis stood over him and admired the boken. "Aye, a fine weapon indeed!" He looked down at Yosho. "Now who looks more foolish?" he asked. "The man who beat someone with this weapon, or the man beaten *with* it?"
Yosho didn't answer.
Trevallis threw the boken on the ground next to him and went back to his bag, producing his own boken, one devoid of decoration. "Get up, ya bleed'n baby!" Trevallis chastised him. "You're not that hurt. Marines get beat harder in their first five minutes of training, so quit your bitch'n and get up."
Yosho took a hateful breath and got to his feet, the boken in his hand. "I hate you," he told Trevallis seriously.
Treval grinned. "Excellent! That means I'm doing my job!"
Standing on the balcony overlooking the courtyard, Misaki sipped at a cup of tea and watched as Trevallis systematically tore her nephew to shreds. Another serving maid, Yukari, appeared at her side, holding a tea kettle and watching the practice worriedly.
"Your Majesty, is not Master Trevallis being too hard on His Highness?" Yukari asked worriedly.
Misaki took an annoyed breath. She knew that this particular maid had a vested interest in Yosho. The two were sleeping together for all their attempts to hide it. "You haven't seen Trevallis be hard yet," Misaki told her with a slight smile. She knew from experience that he could be far more cruel...
The teenaged girl screached as if she were being murdered as the blue- haired man pulled her by the hair out into the palace courtyard.
"LET ME GO THIS INSTANT! I SWEAR BY TSUNAMI'S CLEFT I'LL SEE YOU SWING FOR THIS! LET-ME-GOOOOOOOOO!"
He did, picking her up and throwing her bodily into the palace fountain!
The girl sputtered and stood up, trying to climb out of the fountain. The man pushed her back in with a splash.
"Cool off!" he ordered, his Northlands brogue coming through in his anger.
"I'LL SEE YOUR HEAD ON THE END OF A PIKE BEFORE MORNING!" she screamed at him.
"Good!" he screamed back. "Do me the favor, lassie! Tis a better thing than listening to yere endless bitching!"
The girl pulled her wet hair behind her and attempted to collect herself. A princess had to act a certain way, after al...Ah, screw it!
"That can be....ARRANGED!" she screamed. "How dare you treat a member of the royal family this way!? Where's the respect due to your rightful sovereign!?"
"The respect I give is *earned*, Your Highness." He made her title a curse. "So's the disappointment."
"How dare you?!"
"HOW DARE YOU!?" he screamed back. "How dare ye call yereself a princess?! How dare ye ask Jurains to pay *you* homage!? How dare ye ask them to fight and die for a world, *YOUR WORLD*, and not give a damn about them!?"
She was silent.
"Ye disgust me," he told her, and walked off.
She sat in the fountain and blinked, unsure of what to do. His words had stunned her into silence. No one, *no one*, ever dared to speak to her that way. She blinked in surprise upon realizing that some of the moisture on her face had not come from the fountain.
She was crying.
She felt...ashamed.
Dejectedly, Princess Misaki of Jurai climbed out of the fountain and went in search of her fencing instructor...
To apologize.
Misaki smiled tiredly at the memory. Alyen Trevallis had been the cold splash of water she needed. He had taught her that being a good ruler meant that one must first be a good person. He had insulted her, degraded her, humiliated her...
And she was thankful for it.
She turned from the balcony and descended the stairs to the courtyard. She smiled when she heard Trevallis berating his new student.
"Och! I can hardly believe ye're a man, let alone a Jurain!" Trevallis was telling him as Yosho stood up again. "I dinna believe ye're taking me serious, lad." Yosho growled and got to his feet. Trevallis smiled. "Then again," he said, "I guess that's what I should expect from a *half-breed*!"
Yosho screamed and charged, swinging his boken violently. It was obvious that this wasn't sparring.
This was war.
Trevallis blocked a slash and nodded. "So, that's ye're button, is it?" He knocked the prince in the gut with the pommel of his boken, then picked him up and threw him into the fountain. Yosho sputtered as he surfaced.
"You're angry," Trevallis told him. Yosho seethed. "Good. Never buy into what these southlanders say about keeping control of your emotions dur'n a fight. You need that anger to fight down ta fear. Just be sure ye don't lose control of it like ye just did."
Yosho clambered out of the fountain. Trevallis looked up and noticed Misaki. He bowed, leaning on his boken for support in lieu of his cane. "A good morning to ye, Your Majesty."
Misaki smiled. "And you, Sensei."
Trevallis frowned at Yosho. "Boy! Show yere sovereign the respect Her Majesty deserves, or by Tsunami's left tit I'll put ye in that fountain again!"
Yosho considered calling him on it, still outraged about his insult, but decided not to. He bowed to his aunt. "Good morning, Aunt Misaki."
Trevallis knocked his boken against the ground, making a rather loud crack. He continued to frown at Yosho.
"...Your Majesty," Yosho amended.
Misaki smiled. "Good morning, Yosho. How is your training going?"
"The boy is bloody useless," Trevallis told her disdainfully. "Ye should give 'em a pair of Guardians....like other princesses get."
Yosho growled. "It's only been twenty minutes," he bit out.
"I get more fight outta me wee students! And most of them are only eight years old."
Yosho bit back a retort. He knew what this man was doing. He was looking for Yosho to give him an excuse to humiliate him again. Well, he wasn't going to fall for it.
"I watched from the balcony," Misaki told them. "I thought Yosho did rather well."
"Aye, well..." Trevallis agreed, grinning at Misaki, "Fer a mere *girl*," he finished.
Misaki glared. Then, to Yosho's surprise and horror...
Attacked!
Misaki's blue lightsword ignited with a *snap-hiss* and came down on Trevallis, only to be met by a purple lightsword as the old man blocked. Misaki's sword darted out twice more, and twice more Trevallis blocked. Yosho watched in amazement as Trevallis and his normally gentle aunt sparred before him with naked blades. What amazed Yosho was the fact that neither one was giving any ground to the other. Finally, after one last failed attack, Trevallis nodded.
"Good, lassie," he told her. "I'm glad to see rear'n wee ones hasna dulled your skills any." His lightsword disengaged.
"You'd be surprised," Misaki told him, dousing her own sword. "Now then, what was that comment about 'a mere girl?'"
He laughed. "That always was yere button. I could get a reaction out ye simply by implying it."
Misaki smiled.
"Yosho?" Misaki asked innocently. "He's doing fine."
On the screen in the main hall, Funaho looked concerned. "Are you sure?"
Behind Misaki's back, just within view of Funaho, Yosho was being viciously attacked by an elderly man with a boken, who was chasing him around the room. Yosho was jumping over chairs and tables, trying to enough space to fight back.
"He's fine," Misaki repeated. "How's Belegast?"
"Well, Ayeka's having a wonderful time."
"Mommy!"
"AYEKA!" Misaki cried as Ayeka's face appeared on the screen. "HOW'S MY LITTLE AYEKA!?"
Ayeka giggled. "I'm fine, Mommy."
"Are you having fun?"
"Yup! It's great! Aunt Funaho took me to see snow!"
"Snow?"
Funaho nodded. "We went to Sout'ou mountains."
"That's wonderful, honey!"
"Auuuuuggggghhhhhh!!" Yosho cried out. Funaho blinked and tried to see past Misaki's smiling face to find out what was happening.
"So when are you coming back?"
"Um...I suppose as soon as we can."
"Don't hurry, Sister."
"I miss you, Mommy."
"I MISS YOU, TOO, HON!" Misaki kissed the screen.
Yosho was gagging, gasping for breath behind her.