Shoukun leaned over the small, round face of her daughter, a mirror of her own in so many ways, and yet so much her own little person too. She pressed a gentle kiss to the tiny forehead and felt the intense heat rising from her daughter's skin.
"Shuurei, my sweet, my life," she whispered, the words tangled in misery in her throat. She wrung out a wet cloth, pressed it against the little girl's bright red cheeks and draped it across her forehead. The child stirred and called for her mama and then drifted back to a fitful sleep.
"Madam, I'll stay with her. You should rest," Seiran stood beside her, the expression of an adult, scowling seriously, painted on a child's face.
"Ah, Seiran, when will you smile for me?" she sighed and pinched the boy's cheek, until a slight, blushing grin tugged at his lips. "Well, then, my young man, if you'll be with her, then perhaps I will rest."
"Good night, my lady," Seiran bowed formally and slid onto the seat beside the bed that Shoukun had just vacated.
She turned in the doorway and smiled at Seiran fussing over the little girl who mumbled his name sleepily. He adjusted the blankets, reapplied the cooling cloth to her forehead and hummed softly to the sleeping child. Shoukun knew that for Seiran, Shuurei was the living embodiment of all the love that had been stolen from him throughout his young life. She listened and watched, his lilting voice soothing and gentle, his almost-man's hand wrapped around the tiny fist resting on the bed.
Overwhelmed by the loving scene, Shoukun scurried away to the garden so she didn't disturb her beautiful children. She wandered among the roses she loved so much and resolved the doubt in her heart. Sheltered under the fluttering cherry blossoms whose petals fell like tears, she sat on a bench and watched the moon's reflection in the pond tremble in sorrow for her. Night wrapped her in its comforting cloak while she wept.
"Hime, here you are. Seiran said you'd gone to rest," Shouka came upon his wife sitting quietly in the garden.
"I'm going away, Shouka," she stated blankly. He stopped in his tracks and stood still looking down at her.
"Away?" he finally said curiously. "Ah, perhaps when Shuurei is well…"
"I'm going alone…" she interrupted. "As soon as I can."
"Wh…where? What for?" he moved closer, his steps faltering.
"You've always known who I am, Shou," she continued, watching the koi shimmering through the pond in the moonlight. "You couldn't have thought I would stay forever. It was only a matter of time."
He remained silent and still as the clouds of confusion cleared from his mind.
"Why, Hime? Why…now…after all this time?" he asked in a low, wavering voice. "What about Shuurei? Seiran?" he advanced on her, suddenly angry, and grabbed her by the wrist where she sat.
"Release me, Kokurou," she demanded, her eyes turned upward to his menacing expression. He swallowed the tension in his throat and loosened his grip on her.
"Have I…done something?" he asked softly and touched her cheek with gentle fingers.
She clenched her eyes shut, forcing back the guilt stabbing her heart. His touch always ignited an answering heat in her, and now was no different, despite her efforts to pull away from him.
"I've never held you, imprisoned you…never…" Shouka stated, his voice husky. "You have always been free. No matter how many times you left, you were always welcomed home." She could only nod. "This time…" he dropped to his knees before her and clutched both her hands in his. "I beg you not to go." He bowed his head. "I won't ask for me, but for Shuurei and Seiran. They need you."
She stared down at the bowed head before her, anguish filling her eyes with tears. Her hand hovered, trembling, above the sleek, black hair. She had only to stroke the silken strands and he would be comforted. He would pull her into his embrace, and she could pretend for a little while longer.
Shuurei.
Her fingers hesitantly withdrew into a fist, and she stood and brushed past him. She kept her back turned to him and clamped a hand to her mouth until she could compose herself. She bit her lip and steeled her resolve.
"I could never be called a dependable mother, now could I?" she pitched her voice higher than normal, so it sounded light. "They will perhaps be better off without me. Perhaps you might find a new wife, one to be a true mother to them. They deserve that." Her voice trailed off at the end and her stomach lurched.
Suddenly, his iron grip pinched around her arm, and he jerked her against his chest, imprisoning her in his arms, unrelenting fingers biting into her back.
"There'll be no other woman, not for me, not for them," he hissed and his fingers slid into her hair and held her while his mouth seized hers, moving over her forcefully, parting her yielding lips, his tongue plundering her gasping mouth.
No, no! her mind screamed as her body melted against him, her hands sliding around his shoulders, her fingers wandering into his hair. She suckled his lips, tasting his sweet kiss, writhing against the hard body pressed against hers, soft and pliant to his touch.
"I can't breathe without you, Hime," he hugged her and buried his face in her long black hair tumbled over her shoulder.
"Ah, Shouka, I love you so," she replied, surrendering to the matchless joy she felt surrounded by his love.
"I won't let you go," his voice shook with desperation.
She pressed her cheek to his, mingling their tears, kissing away the salty sorrow.
"Shou…Shouka…" she pleaded, sobbing as her heart cracked, "you must let me go."
His arms tightened around her, constricting her breath. "Shou…" she whimpered, "our baby is dying."
He pulled back from her and stared at her with stricken eyes.
"The doctors have exhausted all their treatments, and nothing I do works anymore," she explained through her breathless sobs. "She's slipping away from us. Our little Shuurei."
She braced her hands on his chest to steady herself as her anguish consumed her. She had eternal life, but not until this existence had she found life worth living, in the love of this man and the child he had given her.
"No!" he grabbed her by the arms and shook her. "I won't permit it!"
"Not even Kokurou himself can stop this!" she clutched his arms desperately. "I wanted to spare you," she explained between sobs. "I wanted to leave and make you hate me. Your anger protects you, Shou. I wanted to give you a shield, something to arm yourself."
"I would lose you both?" he pulled her closer, his fingers biting into her arms.
"No, no…a trade," she panted, trying to stifle her tears. She pressed her hand against his face. "You know who I am. I can give my life to our daughter. I want to."
"Hime…" his voice cracked and he stared at her with terror in his eyes.
"I know…I know, my sweet boy," she stroked her thumb across his trembling lower lip. "There's no other way to save her."
He bowed his head, and she felt his fingers grappling her arm and shoulder in an iron grip. His body shook with rage and sorrow, and she stepped closer and gathered him against her. Her hands moved over him and comforted him in the ruins of his shattering world.
"Won't you let me save her, Shouka?" she whispered against his cheek when his breathing steadied. "We gave her life together once…can't we do it again?"
His hands slid over her arms up to her shoulders, fingers flitting across her jaw, threading through her hair, as if memorizing her. His eyes drank in her lovely, imploring face and he clutched her against him.
"You know, Shou," Shoukun stroked his hair and smiled. "She should never have been possible, but she's the promise of our love, isn't she?" She felt his arms tighten around her back. "No one would believe such a promise possible between two such broken people as we are, and yet there she is, so beautiful, so full of spirit…"
"She's like you," he muttered against her cheek.
"And like you," she laughed. "Quick-tempered, passionate, devoted. She'll be a handful to raise when she has her strength."
"Your strength," his voice cracked.
"Mm…yes…and she'll need your strength too, and so will Seiran. You'll be my strong Kokurou, won't you? The only man strong enough to set Bara-hime free."
"You're my strength," he implored, cupping her face in his hands.
She smiled and slowly shook her head. "No, but I'll not give all my strength to Shuurei…here's a little for you, my love…" She leaned up and placed a soft kiss on each of his tear-stained eyes. When he opened his eyes, they glowed crimson in the darkness. She smiled at him proudly, lovingly.
"Whenever you're in danger, whenever you protect those you love," the rose princess declared, "I'll be with you, there in the eyes I love, the eyes that looked on me with such desire and affection. No harm will come to you while I'm in your eyes."
"I love you…I will always love you...always…" he vowed in an urgent whisper that danced across her lips and stole her breath.
Any other words were consumed in gentle kisses and lingering touches, and the wolf and the rose gave their final promise to each other in the garden one last time before dawn.
Some time later, Seiran woke to tiny fingers prodding his head.
"Seiran!...Sei-raaaaan," the little, high-pitched voice demanded his attention. He blinked and raised his head from the bed, where he'd sat at Shuurei's side all night.
"Shuurei!" he exclaimed, his eyes wide with surprise, following the movements of the energetic child.
"I'm hungry! Manjuu-manjuu-manjuu!" she bounced on the bed, her cheeks a soft, healthy pink, her eyes clear and bright.
"Be still! You're sick!" he tried to calm her down and make her lie back, but she popped right back up again.
"Where's mama? Where's papa? Seiiii-ran, play with me!" she bounced again.
"Madam! Master!" Seiran ran to Shuurei's door and called out down the hallway.
"Here now…what's all this fuss?" Shouka was the first through the door.
"Papa! I'm all better!!" Shuurei beamed at him.
"My, my, Shouka, aren't we blessed to have such beautiful children?" Shoukun came up behind him, beaming her pride and love at the boy and girl playing on the bed.
She wrapped her hand around her husband's trembling fingers and squeezed tightly, as they watched Shuurei climb onto Seiran's back, whipping his long hair like reins. After a moment, Shouka's hand tightened on hers, and then, with a brief caress of his thumb, he let her go.
"Shuurei! Seiran's not your horse!" Shouka lectured her and moved forward, whisking his rambunctious daughter from the boy's back. "At least not until he's had his breakfast."
"Manjuu-manjuu-manjuu," Shuurei chanted, as Shouka carried her out of the bedroom.
"You're supposed to say 'please,'" Seiran corrected her as he followed behind them.
Shoukun listened as their voices drifted away further down the hallway toward the kitchen, her eyes welling up. She stooped to pick up a ragdoll with long black yarn for hair and large, brown buttons for eyes. Cradling it in her hands, she pressed a kiss to its small round face, before placing it on Shuurei's pillow.
"My daughter, my life," she whispered and smiled softly.
"Mama! Come quick!" Shuurei exclaimed from the doorway. "Papa broke the manjuu!"
"Good heavens!" Shoukun gasped and rushed behind Shuurei down the hallway toward shouts of "Watch out!" and "Get some water!"
And life moved on.