I got the idea when I was on the Routemaster, bus No. 9 this afternoon. The bus went passed Burlington Arcade, and I just recorded the picture that I saw and downloaded before, which Iruka was a tailor. Then that's the whole plot come from and that I just felt that I could see Iruka and Kakashi in the modern form, meet at the bus, when they were tracing the stories behind their great grandfathers' diaries.
As always, I am just borrowing the name, the appearance and possibly the personality from Kishimoto sensei's manga, Naruto. All my writings are just for my own fun and that Kishimoto sensei has the right to the characters.
Yanvi
23/07/11
p.s. FYI Earl of Feversham extinct on the year 1963. The reason that I chose this Earldom was that I just felt that I liked the surname, Duncombe. This is a randomly pick that I made out of the blue moon, so nothing related to the reality. This applies to Earl de Grey as I picked up the name for the list of Earldoms in wikipedia. It is just a name, nothing related to the historical figure.
p.s.s. For some of the part, I have tried to follow the history, but then, if just following the history, nothing will be right, as there were no Japanese tailor and definitely no Japanese amongst the noblemen. So this is just a twist that I have made up. Although I have spent some time to research on historical factors, I won't really stress about it, though maybe one day, I will try to amend it. However, it is only a short story, so just relax and enjoy, as I really cannot write a bad ending anyway.
Chapter 1 Inside a tailor, Burlington Arcade, Piccadilly, London, 1892A grey Landau stopped at the entrance of the arcade on the Piccadilly. The beadle in grey coloured coat hurried to the carriage and opened the door politely. A silver hair young gentleman with his brown hair suite stepped out of the carriage. The suite waved at the groom and groom drove off the landau quickly. The silver hair gentleman did not wait for his suite and walked into the arcade. He stopped outside a small tailor in the middle of the arcade and the tailor opened the door when he saw him.
'Good day, my lord,' said the tailor, addressed the silver hair gentleman politely. He pulled out a sofa chair that was placed at the corner to the coffee table that was placed near the shop window. The suite quickly moved to the corner of the room and prepared tea for his master, while the silver hair gentleman sat down. 'Iruka,' shouted the tailor, 'get Lord Duncombe's clothes from shelf 'A' for me.'
A young man ran to the shelf the end of the shop and grabbed 10 pieces of clothing that hanged in wooden hangers. 'Father, Lord Duncombe's clothes.' He carefully passed the clothes to the tailor.
'Your son?' The silver hair gentleman, Lord Duncombe, asked, with his left eyebrow slightly raised. 'I have not seen him before.'
'Yes, my lord,' replied the tailor. 'He has just finished his apprenticeship with D&S in Savile Row. He would be the owner of this store when I retired.' He waved at Iruka, 'Iruka, come, you have to meet Lord Duncombe, our valuable customer.' He pushed Iruka slightly in front of himself, 'My lord, if you may excuse me, I have another engagement to attend to, and Iruka will be able to assist you.'
Iruka bowed at Lord Duncombe politely, but he did not say a word. He then quickly hanged all the hangers in a rack and waited at the changing area for Lord Duncombe.
Lord Duncombe got up and moved to the changing are once he has finished his tea. His suite followed and carefully unbutton Lord's jacket. Iruka passed the suite a waistcoat and he held the black dinner jacket in his hands. Once the suite placed the waistcoat on Lord, he carefully helped him to slip on the jacket. He carefully adjusted lord's tie when lord was studying Iruka's facial feature. 'Not a good-looking one, but an interesting one,' he thought in his mind. He looked at the mirror, the style of the jacket was slightly different from the usual one that he has, 'you sew the jacket?' he questioned. He had to say this young man has more talent than the father.
'Yes, my lord,' answered Iruka quietly. 'His voice is not a bad one though,' Lord added in his mind. 'Interesting.' He turned around and looked at all angle of his body in the mirror. 'Not bad,' he told Iruka, 'next time I will have you to sew my jackets.'
'Thank you, my lord.'
From then on, Iruka gradually took order Lord Dumcombe's order from his father, as Lord much preferred his work. Instead Lord Dumcombe visited the store; there were more and more occasions for Iruka to pay a visit to his mansion in The Strand. More they have met, the emotions for each other has grown. Although Lord Dumcombe was already married, he was never interested in his wife. Instead, he was more interested in Iruka. Their relationship then began to change. From just lord's tailor, Iruka has become the lord's secret lover. The lord would took Iruka to the gentlemen's club that he normal went, or he would invite Iruka to have afternoon tea with him at Forum and Mason, which was opposite of the Arcade. On the rare occasion, he would take him to the theatre in the Haymarket area.
They often met up at Lord's mansion or the store as Iruka's father has passed most of the business to him. However, it was not safe, as it was against the law. They sometimes met in the dirty part of East London, in the dockland, as it was the place for criminal, outcast to go for, which meant that there was less probability that people who knew them would see them.
However, the good time did not last long. In 1895, Marquess of Queensberry has put a court case against Oscar Wilde. Their relationship was no longer safe anymore. When Lord Dumcombe thought they could still be together secretly. Iruka rejected the proposal. It was because Lady Dumcombe has managed to find out from the servants. She has met Iruka privately with her maid. The only reason that she did not make the case public, as she did not want to ruin her Lord's reputation. She asked Iruka to leave the Lord for the sick of their future child, as Lord has the responsibility to maintain his bloodline. But as he never touched his wife, he would remain childless, as Iruka was a man, and he could not give birth.
Iruka thought about the whole situation for a very long time. He knew that the twisted relationship has to come to the end one day, it was that he was too weak to let go. He made the decision when Lord Robinson, Earl de Grey invited him to be his personal tailor in his mansion in the countryside. It was the best option that Iruka could have, as he knew that if he stayed in London, the whole situation would never resolve. He sold his store secretly. When he signed the contract, he could not dare to beg his father's forgiveness. For a man, he sold his family's property, the store and the family's reputation. But he has no choice. He left London when Lord Dumcombe was in France, as he has business to attend to across the Channel. Iruka left a letter with the butler the evening before he moved out of London.
When the Lord was back in London, he was shocked to know that Iruka was no longer in London. He went though all the places that he could think of, but no sign of Iruka. When he went back to his mansion, feeling alone and frustrated, his butler passed the letter that Iruka wrote:
Dear my Lord,
By the time you read this letter, I have already left London. We should have ended our twisted relationship ages ago. You have your responsibility towards your family and I have mine. It was wrong from the start. Also, I could not bear to see if this made public like the poor Mr Wilde.
I rather wished that we had the chance to be just purely friends. I rather we could be friends this life and also for the next life, rather than become your lover. I rather become your suite then your lover, as I then will have the right justification to look after you, to care for you. My feeling was always there, but I have to say I could not physically be there. By the time you read this letter, I have already got married. You could hate me, if this is much easier for you. Just pretend I have betrayed you. As someone said, 'between the keys on the piano, there will be always white, with one piece missing, the whole story will not be completed.' I have betrayed you and myself, so that we could both fulfilled our duties.
The thing that I wish for, I could not dare to ask, nor you could afford to give.
Farewell, my Lord.
Yours faithfully,
Iruka
Lord torn the letter angrily. He didn't know whether he was angrily at Iruka or himself. He threw the broken pieces of the letter into the fireplace. He watched the piece burnt and become ashes. He stared at the fireplace for the whole afternoon. He felt trapped and chained. With his wealth, his Earldom, his wisdom, ironically, nothing he could do. The gifts that he has had chained him down, has torn them apart. He already missed Iruka; he missed the time when Iruka called his nickname in bed. 'Kakashi,' said the young man in bed, he recalled, when they first slept together. He remembered all the good time that they have spent together. He sighed. There was nothing that he could ever do, like one could not get back all the water that has been splashed out. He regretted, but he did not know which part he regretted. He should have prevented the whole situation. He knew Iruka well, and he should have thought of this, as seems it was so logical for Iruka.
He hid his emotion deep in his head. A year after the incident, he has already had a son with his wife. He has fulfilled his duty to the family, and by the end of that winter, he committed suicide and left a diary deep inside the family library.
When Iruka saw the news on the newspaper the day after, he had committed suicide on that night, knowing that he could then once follow his Lord again. He left a diary with his newborn son. In there, the last line he wrote:
My son, forgive your father's selfishness, but the only thing I have ever wanted was my Lord. If you ever find your love, please don't let go.
I have loved you, as I always will be, this was why I have chosen to leave my Lord, so that you could come to this earth. I have loved you, my son, and so as your mother.
Father
Janauray 1899
Chapter 2 London, summer 2011Kakashi has found out his great grandfather's diary long time ago. He read though the diary without telling his father, as he felt that his father would not be please to hear it and would not even want to have this diary exist. It would only cost scandal and pain to the family if the story was made known. They have no longer kept a mansion in The Strand. There were only shops and hotels over there. The family have moved into a mansion in Richmond instead. But Kakashi spent most of the time aboard. It was seldom that he has time to browse around in central London. Since he read the diary when he was 15, he began to start look out for a brunette that has a scar across his face. Although he knew that it would be highly unlikely that he would able to meet such person, he could not held his interest and it cost him no harm anyway.
He has been to the places that his great grandfather bought his secret lover to. They were just typical tourist places, nothing really special; though he thought maybe during the glorious days, things were different. Since he has some spare time during his visit in London this time, he decided to visit the places again.
When he was in British Museum, he saw a young man that fitted the description of the tailor that his great grandfather has described. But he didn't put a note in his mind. However, when he walked passed the same person, he thought, as the young men that he saw were so alike, he was certain that he has bumped into the same person. Although he would like to talk to that person, the timing was never right. When he turned to look for the man, he loss his sight in the crowd. When he thought the man was walking towards him, there was always random reason that he has to make a turn. He was quite frustrated and so he decided to get the bus and left the crowd on the pavement.
Luckily, he saw the Routemaster approached. It was rare to see Routemaster these days, as there were only 2 routes that still used Routemaster in their services. He popped onto the No 9 bus from Royal Albert Hall and sat causally and looked outside from the window absent-minded. He didn't draw back his attention until a black hair young man sat in front of him. He peaked at the journal that the young man was reading. It was his great grandfather's handwriting. It was impossible that he could recognise his great grandfather's hand writing wrongly as he has read the diary for more than hundred times since he first got hold of the diary 10 years ago.
He was stunned that he has found the man that he has been looking for. He trapped Iruka's shoulder gently. 'Sono… Iruka-kun?' he asked politely. Although he didn't know the man's name, he believed that the name Iruka would ring a bell, even if he was not named Iruka.
Iruka looked at Kakashi in concern. 'Why would this stranger know my name?' he thought, 'but he looked like the lord that my ancestor has mentioned.' He opened the page that has the sketch of Lord Dumcombe. He lifted up the diary and compared the person that was in front of him, 'you are Lord Dumcombe?' he questioned, but his voice was bit shaken, as he couldn't believe it.
Kakashi scratched his head uncomfortably, 'Yes, I am.' He offered his right hand to Iruka, 'Iruka-san?'
Iruka quickly grabbed Kakashi's hand and shake politely. 'Nice to meet you, my Lord.'
'Me too, nice to meet you.'
The EndEpilogueAlthough my husband felt that they would be together again as lovers, I doubt, as I felt that the Iruka in Victorian period wished that he could be friends with Kakashi, so that he could have a reason to care and love him, so I just felt that they will be friends, but slightly more than friends. But then, the reason that I decided to end the story at the point they met is that I would like to leave you, my dear readers to decide what they will be afterwards. Their lifeline has once again overleaped with each other's, but then, you will never know whether it is done with good or not.
In addition, for your information, the only 2 routes that Routemaster serve are No 9 from High Street Kensington to Trafalgar Square, and No 15 from Tower Bridge to Trafalgar Square. They cover the main tourist places like Kensington Palace, Hyde Park, Green Park, Piccadilly, Charing Cross, Covent Garden, St Paul Cathedral, etc. I used to take that bus, No 9 all the time when I was living near Royal Albert Hall. I have lots of ideas when I was on the bus, but never managed to figure out a plot, other than this time. When I was on the bus last Saturday, I could vaguely see Iruka and Kakashi on the bus, just like Ms Rowling, as I remembered in an interview, she saw Harry Potter on the train. It was kind of like that. I 'saw' Kakashi sat next to me, looking outside the window mindlessly; and Iruka, the tourist with the old journal of his great grandfather in his hand, and a tourist handbook on top, trying to figure out his way.
Also, Forum and Mason is one of my favourite place to shop tea and coffee, and since it was popular since the Victorian age and it was just opposite of Burlington Arcade, so just popped that in as I could imagine them to have tea there. [lol]
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