Well, this story is somewhat different in tone from what I've written hitherto. It's set in Mediaeval Europe, and Akito the anime version. I don't usually do these little intros, but this one really needed specifying. So imagine Haru's a knight, Yuki's a kidnapped Prince held hostage, and enjoy!

In days gone by in a far-off land there lived a valorous knight. Though he wasn't even near the age of twenty, he was fair in form and strong in body, and could slay a bear in half a minute to oblige you; indeed, if you caught him in his good graces, he was the most sympathetic man you'd ever meet; but if you caught him in his bad graces, you might as well start running. His skin was pale and his eyes were dreamy, but the most marked thing on him was his hair, strange and double as his character. It was of two different colours: black and white.

He was a knight-errant; he lived nowhere and stayed nowhere very long, but, always clad in the immaculate white of mourning –for that was the colour of mourning back then- he travelled from place to place searching for one thing and one thing only that he held dearer than riches, fame or life itself. His name was Hatsuharu, and at the start of this story, he approached Castle Sohma, the house of the mighty but harsh Lord Akito.

"My good man," he asked a labourer as he approached him on horseback "Are you Lord Akito's vassal?"

"Aye, milord," answered the labourer.

"Is this Lord Akito's land?" asked the night.

"Aye, milord," answered the labourer.

"And is that Lord Akito's castle?"

"Aye, milord,"

"Thank you!"

"Godspeed, milord!"

And Hatsuharu rode forth. He was in a vast and fertile field of golden wheat and trees heavily laden with fruit; a calm river meandered through the field as the Sun set behind the far-off mountains, and the straight pebble road he was upon ended in a great rock in the field's centre. Around the rock were scattered the houses and shops of a large village, and perched atop it was Castle Sohma. Mighty Castle Sohma, with its great stone towers and its high walls, which guarded the one thing that Hatsuharu desired the most…

***

Inside Castle Sohma vast stone hall, in the dim shadows of twilight, Lord Akito was dining with his all his court. To his left was seated his steward, Shigure and to his right his doctor, Hatori; lower down were all his courtiers, and the table was laden with all manner of meats and fruits and many other victuals, as the gloomy confabulation drew them into the night, like it did every day in that castle.

Yet then, the routine was broken, for the great oaken door at the end of the hall was opened, and in came a page boy.

"There is a visitor for you, Milord" he said.

Lord Akito didn't look up; he paused for a moment before answering.

"A visitor?" he asked.

"Yes, Milord," said the page "He wishes to speak to you.

"Well, he'll have to wait," said Lord Akito, still not looking up.

"He says his name is Hatsuharu, Milord," said the page.

Then, Lord Akito stopped. And, composed, he let his spoon from his hand, and raised his eyes to the page with a look of interest.

"Hatsuharu?"

"Yes, Milord…"

"In that case," said Lord Akito "Let him in."

And he started eating again, as the page went to bring the guest. Amongst the people in the room, there was much discussion as to what was going on.

"Do you know him, Milord?" asked Shigure the steward.

"I know the name…" muttered Lord Akito, and he brought a small bit of food to his mouth; he didn't eat very much.

But he did know the name. He'd heard; he'd heard it many times; he'd heard it on his own bed, whispered amidst muffled sobs in the night, and he'd heard it shouted in desperate pleading moans in his own room…

Then the door opened:

"Sir Hatsuharu!" announced the page.

And, as everyone stood silent waiting to see him, this most important guest, in came Hatsuharu, clad in his white clothes with his white sword at his waist. He then bowed before Lord Akito, who was most interested indeed.

"Hail, Lord Akito," said Hatsuharu.

Lord Akito nodded politely.

"Sir Hatsuharu," he said then "Is that your name?"

"It is…" said Hatsuharu.

"Very well, then, my pageboy is not lying…" said Lord Akito "And what, I pray, brings you to these my splendid halls?"

"There is something in your castle which is not yours," said Hatsuharu.

There was a low murmur amongst the courtiers. What was this young man saying?

"Really?" said Lord Akito.

"Yes," said Hatsuharu firmly "You hold in your castle what is not yours!"

"Then you propose to rob me?" said Lord Akito.

"Not necessarily," said Hatsuharu with a grin "I've come to see if you really have it, and then politely ask for it."

"Ah!" said Lord Akito "Well, in that case, feel free to stay, sit at my table and sleep in my beds… Yet I warn you, there is little you'll be getting from me whether by the power of your words or the power of your sword. But come… we are not enemies, and I am no boar: sit and eat!"

He was grinning even more slyly than Hatsuharu.

Then, the murmur of the courtiers was even louder and more perplexed, as the knight in white sat at their table, and nothing distressing happened. Everyone was very curious, yet nobody did anything interesting, and indeed Hatsuharu was very pleased at the food.

"Why do you wear white?" Shigure the steward ventured to ask. "Whom are you mourning?"

"I mourn the loss of someone precious:" said Hatsuharu, plainly but seriously "Someone who was dearer to me than all the gold in the world."

"Oh," said Shigure "Is that person dead?"

"Gone, though I intend to search for them till the end of my days if I have to, and even after."

"Who is it?"

"My everlasting love."

***

Eventually, they finished eating. The servants and the kitchen maids took away the plates, and the courtiers sat at the empty table, not yet dismissed by their Lord, still wondering what on earth was to happen.

Lord Akito whispered into Doctor Hatori's ear.

"I want to have some fun, Hatori," he said with an evil grin on his face "Shall I bring the boy here? It's obvious he's come looking for the boy…"

"Milord, why should you taunt him?" said Doctor Hatori.

"Because I can," said Lord Akito "And because I want the boy to know I can."

"Very well, Milord," said Doctor Hatori.

Then in a tone jovial but overflowing with malice, Lord Akito addressed his court.

"Shall we have some music?" he asked "Shall we be a bit entertained?"

There was general acquiescing; but Lord Akito wasn't satisfied.

"What does our guest say?" he said, looking Hatsuharu in the eye. "Does he want to listen to some music?"

"Hey," said Hatsuharu coolly, not wanting to show weakness "It's your castle…"

Lord Akito laughed.

"Very well then," he said "Bring in our musician!"

And as Hatsuharu wondered what was going to happen, a pageboy went to fetch the musician; apparently, he wasn't a very sociable musician and hadn't been eating with the company.

"I'm sure you'll love him," said Lord Akito.

Yet when the door opened, all thoughts disappeared from Hatsuharu's mind. His heart froze; it forgot everything, the castle, the food, the courtiers, the searching of half a decade, and overflowed with only this instant. He couldn't believe who had just come in.

"You called for, me, Lord Akito?" said the musician.

And this musician was the fairest youth you'd ever have seen. He wore the finest clothes in the castle, though they paled in comparison to him, and carried a lute strapped to his back. He was obviously of royal ancestry, though humbled by the blows of fate. His hair was pitch-black, and his white complexion was frail and tender, but more beautiful than the sunlight drying the dew off the roses; yet his face wore a deep and surrendered melancholy, and his eyes seemed to beg mercy of anyone who looked at them.

When he saw Hatsuharu, the musician froze in shock and stopped in the middle of the hallway while his jaw dropped; and when Hatsuharu saw the musician, he could only bring himself to mutter but one word as the two young men looked in disbelief.

"Yuki…"

This was the lover he'd been seeking for five endless years.

Akito broke the spell:

"Sir Hatsuharu," he said "I present to you my court musician, Prince Yuki! He is of royal blood, you know, a born Prince! But he's been living here with us for almost five years now…"

Hatsuharu didn't answer.

"What is it?" said Lord Akito "Has the cat gotten your tongues? I hear he's a very unlikeable person, so I wouldn't be surprised…"

Hatsuharu still didn't answer.

"Milord," interrupted Yuki then "Please… may I be excused?"

"No."

"I beg you…"

And the sound of Yuki's voice immediately wrenched Hatsuharu's heart. He would have defended him; he remembered the old love they had for each other. He would have then and there brought out his sword, and freed the boy, slaying everyone that got in his way. Yet he knew he was in a heavily guarded castle whence he could not escape, and that he would sooner or later be overcome; and then God only knew what horrors awaited poor Yuki.

Lord Akito, for his part, was overjoyed with what was happening, and he smiled Hatsuharu such a smile of sadistic malice that it was visible he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Nonsense," he said playfully "You shall play!"

"But…"

"Play!"

This last time, Lord Akito's voice took a threatening, serious tone.

Then, Yuki surrendered and put his lute in front of him. He looked at Hatsuharu in the eye, with that sad look of desperate, lost, hopeless and surrendered love; he'd been whispering Hatsuharu's name amidst muffled sobs when he didn't sleep night, and he'd been shouting it in desperate pleading moans when terrible things were done to him, yet now that he'd come, he saw it all to have been in vain. And so, Yuki began to play.

When he strummed one chord, all the courtiers, servants and guards of the castle were silent, and when he strummed the second chord, they were moved almost to tears; and then when he began to sing, the very stone upon which the castle stood sighed, so beautiful and sad was his song, a song both he and Hatsuharu knew and sang from the days of the carefree, happy love of their boyhood; only Lord Akito wasn't moved.

And this was the first verse of the song:

"Ah! Leave me not to pine

Alone and desolate

No fate seemed fair as mine

No happiness so great

When Nature day by day

Had sung in accents clear

This joyous roundelay

He loves thee, he is here

Fa-la-la Fa-la-la-la

He love thee, he is here

Fa-la-la-la-la-la"

And this was its second verse:

"Ah! I must leave thee here

In endless night to dream

Where joy is dark and drear

And sorrow all supreme

Where Nature day by day

Shall sing in altered tone

This joyous roundelay

He loves thee, he is gone

Fa-la-la Fa-la-la-la

He loves thee, he is gone

Fa-la-la-la-la-la"

On the last fa-la-la, Yuki's voice broke, and a tear rolled down his cheek as he strummed the last chord.

Then, every one was silent. The first one to make a noise was Lord Akito, who clapped joyously. His attendant soon joined in, and so did the doctor and all the courtiers moments later:

"Bravo, bravo!" he said in a mock-praising tone "Beautiful! But why do you cry, silly boy? It's only a song… Play us some more!"

"I… I can't..." said Yuki.

"Play us some more!"

"It's too much to bear…" said Yuki.

"Play!"

"No!" cried Yuki finally; and he broke into tears. Then, not controlling himself, crying, he got up and ran out of the room, his heart shattered in a thousand pieces.

"Well…" said Lord Akito "I'm terribly sorry, but this sort of thing happens to musicians and Princes… they're far too sensitive!"

And then, he looked at Hatsuharu with his old malevolent smile, happy, for he'd accomplished exactly what he wanted: he knew Hatsuharu had come to fetch Yuki, and he'd shown him perfectly well that Yuki was his and that he could do whatever he wanted with the boy.

Well, I do hope you liked it; this is the first part of an intended trilogy, I pray that you R&R. Also, the song is by Gilbert and Sullivan, from the Pirates of Penzance –they're talking modern English, so they might as well sing slightly less modern English-, you can find it on video sites as "Stay, Frederic, Stay" or maybe as "Ah, leave me not to pine".