Princess Kurama: The Sleeping Beauty
By Tanzy
Disclaimers: these characters aren't mine and this story is yaoi, if the idea of two guys romanticlly invloved doesn't fly with you, then I suggest you leave.
There was once a King and a Queen who longed for a child. They consulted magicians, sorceresses, even alchemists, but to no avail. After many years of waiting, they had a child at last. A noblewoman standing in the corner of the room saw the birth. When she saw the baby's head appear above the blankets, she saw fire red hair and wide green eyes. Rushing out of the room, she ran down the stairs and annonced to the assembled court that the King and Queen had had a beautiful daughter. Much to her chagrin, she came back up and discovered that the beautiful child was, in fact, a boy!
But the damage had already been done. Now the whole kingdom thought that the royal family had a beautiful princess named Kurama. Now at that day and age, it was custom for a child to have a godmother. But if the godmother was a fairy, it was extra luck. Hoping to offset the bad luck of Kurama's birth, his parents invited the seven famous fairies to his naming ceremony. Now there were actually eight famous fairies but the last one was a tad weird. Karasu wasn't your typical fairy godmother...err father. He was the president of the local chapter of the Society of Evil Stepparents. (Formally known as the Society of Evil Stepmothers, but they got changed because some of their members were indeed, stepfathers.) So Kurama's parents tried to think of an excuse not to invite him and somehow his invitation got lost in the mail (of the knight delivering it).
Normally Karasu wouldn't have minded, except that he hadn't done anything really wicked recently. Eyebrows were being raised at the Society. He had to do something truly evil soon or he might lose his position. So when his all-knowing spies told him about the ceremony, he saw a chance to redeem himself. Packing a few important truly evil things ™ in a bag, he set off for the palace.
Now the fairies, like the rest of the kingdom, were under the impression that Kurama was a 'princess.' The King and Queen had been too embarrassed to correct the mistake. Instead, they hoped that the fairies would notice Kurama's dilemma and use their wishes to help his plight. The dinner and ceremony went just fine. Soon the time came for each of the fairies to give their blessings.
"She shall be as beautiful as a rose," said the first fairy. She was old and blind, so she couldn't see that Kurama was, in fact, a boy. The Queen slumped into her seat and started crying.
The next fairy godmother saw the Queen crying and figured it was because the Queen was happy with joy over the blessing. So, hoping to outdo the first fairy, she stood up and proclaimed without even looking, "She shall have the nature of an angel." And down the line it went, each fairy trying to outdo the last, only do make the Queen cry harder.
"She shall have the grace of a swan," said the third.
"She shall dance to perfection," said the fourth.
"She shall have a voice like a nightingale," said the fifth.
"She shall grow the most beautiful garden," said the sixth.
Now Karasu had never been good at counting, he figured that all the other famous fairies had gone, so he dashed forwards and proclaimed to the King and Queen, "On HIS sixteenth birthday, he shall prick his finger on a spindle and DIE! Bwhahahahahaha!!!!!!" Karasu may have been an evil, old stepfather, but he wasn't stupid. He could tell immediately that Kurama was a boy, which made his evil deed all the more fun.
With that, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, rushing home so he wouldn't miss the next game of cards at the Society for Evil Stepparents.
The King and Queen turned desperately to the last fairy in hopes that she could undo the curse. Like all the other six fairy godmothers, she was old and quite deaf. So she had caught most of the curse, but not the part about Kurama being male.
Turning to Kurama, sleeping in his cradle, the fairy said, "I cannot undo the curse, but I can lessen it. On her sixteenth birthday, Princess Kurama will prick her finger, but she will not die." The King and Queen let out a sigh of relief. "Instead, she will sleep for a hundred years, and be woken up by her true love, a charming prince." With that pronouncement, the Queen fainted dead away.
And so Kurama grew up. Even though he wore princely clothes he was still occasionally mistaken for a princess. He had a voice that was low and melodious. But it was Kurama's gardens that were known all over the kingdom. Sixteen years passed, and one day while his parents were on a trip, Kurama was wandering around the castle. He came upon a tower the he had never seen before. Being the curious kitsune, he climbed up the steps. At the top of the tower, he discovered a room where an old woman sat spinning at a spinning wheel. Now the King had banned all spinning wheels to protect Kurama, so Kurama had no idea what the thing was.
"What are you doing?" Asked Kurama as he walked up.
"I'm spinning, want to try?" The old lady replied.
"Sure." Kurama said. With that, he sat down and tried. As predicted, he priced his finger on the spindle. Feeling suddenly ill, Kurama excused himself and hurried back to his room. On his way there, he fainted and fell into a deep slumber on the steps to his room. The seventh fairy appeared again and moved Kurama back to his bed. By now the fairy realized that Kurama was a guy and also realized that no prince in his right mind would wake Kurama up. So she pulled the bedcovers up to his neck and spread out his hair, making him feminely beautiful. Then the fairy cast a spell over the rest of the castle. All the servants and the King and Queen (having just arrived back) all fell into a deep sleep. Kurama's gardens became wild and took over the castle.
With the passage of a hundred years, the legend of a sleeping prince had changed. With a little help by that seventh fairy, the legend changed into that of a sleeping princess. Karasu, because of his truly evil deed, was able to keep his position. He even eventually became the regional president.
Now there lived a certain prince who was foul tempered. He traveled from town to town looking for treasure or ways to increase his land holdings. One night, while he was sitting in a local pub, he overheard a man retelling the talk of the sleeping princess.
"Why the hell would anyone want a princess?" The prince asked.
"Well Prince Hiei, they say if you wake her, you'll get the greatest treasure imaginable." The man replied. "A treasure of true love." It was well known in the village that this particular man was a hopeless romantic, but Hiei had already disappeared on the words of treasure.
Arriving at the castle, Hiei regarded the greenery surrounding it. A little black dragon, a little black dragon there, and that garden was trimmed back. Quickly searching through the castle Hiei discovered that no particularly great treasure was hidden anywhere.
Going up the last tower, Hiei spotted Kurama. It was the last room in the castle that Hiei searched. Looking around, Hiei couldn't find any treasure. Looking at the sleeping "princess," Hiei admitted she was indeed beautiful. But he had no intention of waking her up. The last thing he needed was a simpering princess. Snorting, Hiei turned and started walking back down the tower. He suddenly found himself tangled up in vines that had mysteriously regrown themselves. The last thing Hiei noticed before he lost consciousness was that the vines seemed to be moving him back up the stairs.
When Hiei regained consciousness, he noticed he had been moved back to the bed. He was draped over the sleeping princess. Swearing under his breath, Hiei turned to hop off the bed and was confronted by a solid wall of vines. The plants rustled threateningly and Hiei snorted. One tendril emerged from the rustling wall and pointed at the sleeping princess Kurama.
"If I wake the princess up, you'll let me go?" Hiei asked. The vines rustled in affirmation. Reaching over, Hiei slapped Kurama across the cheek and shook him, but Kurama didn't stir.
"Wake up!" Hiei yelled into the princess's ear. Another tendril emerged from the wall and brushed itself over Hiei's lips, then brushed over Kurama's. "What?! Now, wait a second here! You didn't say I had to kiss her." The vines rustled annoyed. Hiei huffed, but he bent down and touched his lips to those of the sleeping princess.
An electric shock passed through Hiei as his lips contacted. The princess' green eyes fluttered opened and they looked at Hiei. He jerked back and a faint blush stained his cheeks. Kurama sat up and the blanket pooled in his lap. His thin, cotton shirt clung to his very *flat* chest. Hiei's glittering red eyes opened wide.
"You...you're a...?"
"A man?" Kurama stated dryly. "Itoshi, didn't you know I was a sleeping prince?" Hiei shook his head in negotiation. Hopping off the bed, (the vines had disappeared) he made for the door. "Don't you want to claim your treasure?" Hiei paused at that statement. He begun to turn around to ask the other prince, but he suddenly found himself pinned to the floor by the redhead. Hiei paused in his struggling and glared.
"So what's this treasure everyone keeps talking about?"
"The treasure is called Kurama."
"Is it worth much?"
"More money than exists in the world."
"And where do I find this Kurama?"
"You don't. It's sitting right on top of you."
"Nani?"
"Ore wa Kurama desu. Yorishiku." And with that, Kurama pounced.
"Wait a sec...ahhh..."
When Kurama and Hiei had gotten better 'aquatinted,' they left the tower and went to search the castle. But the castle was completely empty. It seemed that not only had the fairy godmother mistaken Kurama for a girl, but she had also miscalculated on the sleeping spell. The rest of the castle had woken up several months earlier and was living in the nearby village. The King and Queen were very happy to have their son back (along with their castle.).
And so the prince and the...prince lived happily together for the rest of their lives. Karasu, on the other hand, retired soon after from the evil stepfather business. He built himself a little farm and raised foxes for the rest of his days. And the fairy godmothers? Well, they continued to get older and deafer until one dissatisfied client turned them all into frogs. Clients these days, no respect at all. Geez.
Author's Notes: Wondering what craziness inspired this fic? Well one Sunday I was watching Uresai Yatsura on my local PBS station. (Yay for KTEH!!) So I'm sitting there, and the title for that night's episode comes up. It was "Princess Kurama, the Sleeping Beauty." I nearly died laughing when I saw the title and so the idea for this parody was born. I thought to myself 'self, what if Kurama was sleeping beauty, what would happen?' And well this was the result!
