This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction. Do let me know what you think! Open to suggestions :)

Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Hana Yori Dango. I've just borrowed the characters for creating this story.

Prologue

The mirror never lies. Even today it faithfully reflected the one who stood in front of it. It was a special day; one of those in a mirror's lifetime when it gets the opportunity to reflect a truly beautiful sight. In front of the mirror, stood a beautiful young girl. But mind you, this wasn't any ordinary girl. It was Rajkumari Rithumbura, princess of the prestigious Rajgharana of Jaisalmer. And today was her wedding day.

Rithumbura sat quietly, lost in her thoughts as the mirror in front of her reflected her daasis dressing her in the regal bridal trousseau. Today she would don the customary scarlet saari with embroidery done up with a thread soaked of pure gold. Her ghoonghat that fell lightly over her face was made of the finest silk and was so delicately woven that it showed but a hint of the beautiful treasure it was designed to hide. Rithumbura was ornamented with heirloom jewelry that was passed down from the raanis maharaanis of the past. Amongst these heavy pieces of jadau, meenakari and intricate gold work was hidden but one simple band of silver that decorated the Rajkumari's ring finger on her left hand.

To anyone who saw her today, Rithumbura would have come across as a vision of beauty and poise. Her handsome Rajput warrior princess features enhanced with the right amount of kohl around her almond shaped eyes and crushed berries enhancing the lushness her mouth. She smelled of jasmine and sandalwood for she had taken the ceremonial bath.

But to those who knew her, or rather those who knew her heart, had a pretty good idea how looks could be deceptive. For deep inside this decorated bridal doll was a sorrow so profound which she was afraid would crack her facade of bravado and expose her vulnerability any moment now. But she would not allow that to happen. Today was a momentous day. Not because she was getting married, but because she was finally going to be united with her husband.

Maharana Gajendra Singh sighed. He wasn't a tyrant. He didn't want to be one. But what needed to be done was done. He was a Rajput king and to him nothing was more important than upholding the honour of his gharana. He hated to see his only daughter, the apple of his eye, Rithumbura, look like she was attending a funeral dressed in bridal finery. But then he couldn't do anything about it. The tears she was going to shed all her life were her own doing.

He had done everything in his power to bring up his daughter the way a Rajput princess should be brought up. He had given her every imaginable luxury and the best and finest education befitting a princess. She was accomplished in music, art, home sciences and as every warrior princess was, in swordsmanship.

But then Maharana had made a mistake. He was an ambitious man and had hopes of conquering lands far beyond Jaisalmer. And, in this task he wanted his daughter to be by his side as he forged ahead over foreign lands. Thus, in order to make his daughter a master of languages and proficient in the ways of other cultures, he had appointed, amongst others, several teachers from foreign lands. Amongst them was a young teacher from the Far East who would instruct her in the nuances of Japanese language and culture and later on, love. While the strict protocol of teaching a princess was followed with the teacher sitting in one room and the pupil behind a purdah so that the teacher could not lay his eyes on his student; fate it seems, had a clear disregard for this protocol. For the two young souls had not only managed to see each other but had also proceeded to identify the other as its soul mate.

The Maharana, as expected, was livid when he found out about his daughter's covert visits to her lover's quarters the moment the household would retire for the day. He could not even begin to imagine the implications of the shame his daughter had caused him. His honour lay in tatters and it was all his own blood's doing.

But perhaps if he would've rested a moment and tried to find out more about this relationship, he would have known that Rithumbura was a warrior princess and even though she had acted out of character and fallen in love...and that too with a foreigner nonetheless, her love was pure. She and her lover would meet at night, in the sand dunes of Jaisalmer, far away from the prying eyes of the world to express their love to each other in broken fragments of two different languages combining them to produce the sweet poetry of innocent love.

It was this young Japanese teacher who had taught her not only the intricacies of a complicated language but also how to live for herself, even if it was just for a moment. He had allowed her to dream of a future other than the one that was already chalked out for her – one filled with duty towards her father, her future husband and the land. IT was with him that she had experienced what it was to be free…young and in love.

But of course, to the Maharana, all this was insignificant. He only knew how to react like a warrior. Identify the enemy and destroy it. And that is what he had done. On the ominous Amavasya night he had ordered the young Japanese teacher to be murdered and his body thrown to the royal beasts, tigers who roamed in Maharana's private garden.

Rithumbura, for her part, had been unaware of her father's devious plan and had only heard about it the next day from her old nurse. What had followed the young teacher's death though was not something Maharana had anticipated at all. He had thought that after a few days of crying and moping around his daughter would come to her senses. And he had started building hope when she had not objected to the suitor he had arranged for her to get married to in a week's time after her lover's death. Little did he know that there was no space for hope in Rithumbura's life anymore.

"It's time," said the old nurse as she walked into Rithumbura's quarters to fetch her for the ceremony, "I've come to take you down to the mandap."

Rithumbura nodded. She knew it was time to leave. "I just need a moment alone. I want to visit Devi Maa's shrine before I embark on this journey into my new life," she said simply.

The old nurse helped Rithumbura to her feet, helping to gather her heavy bridal trousseau so as to allow her to walk comfortably. Outside the door to the shrine, the Rajkumari paused and asked to be left alone to enter the shrine.

Once inside, Rithumbura clasped her hands together and spent a moment in silent prayer. But she wasn't just praying, she was calling upon all the forces of nature to give her the strength to do what she had made up her mind to. She needed the strength for what she was about to do.

With one glance at the door to check if anyone was looking in, Rithumbura drew out a shining piece of metal which she had hidden in her trousseau while she sat quietly and obediently to be dolled up for her godforsaken wedding.

This piece of metal was a khanjar (knife) from her father's vast collections of weapon, it's sharp edge gleaming in the light of the hundred oil lamps that were lit in the shrine to celebrate the Rajkumari's wedding. Little did the lamps know that they would be providing illumination not for the birth of a new relationship but for the dying breath of the princess as she plunged the khanjar deep into her gut with only one word escaping her lips as she feel to the ground, her hennaed hands soaked in blood, drenching the simple silver band on her ring finger in blood; the same silver band her lover ad put on her ring finger beneath the stars as their witness in the desert.

The word that had left Rajkumari Rithumbura's lips with her last breath had been her calling out to her deceased lover, informing him about her arrival to the land where he had been sent to. All she had managed to say out loud was, "Rui!"

So Rui is already dead. Don't be disappointed! This story is just the beginning of an epic love story. Hang in there for the next chapter. I promise there are going to be a LOT of interesting twists and turns in this story! :)