MY SHADOW, MY SHOULDER, MY HEART
(Note: I don't own Saiunkoku Monogatari. I am just a fan.)
Chapter 1: Shady People
Ri Kouyuu cursed all the hallways and the walls as he walked around the palace. He had been late again for another appointment with the emperor. He knew that the emperor had wanted to talk to him this morning and he had been early, but it was almost noon time when he came to the emperor's office. When he got inside, no one was there, not even the servants who were assigned to clean His Royal Highness' bedroom. Maybe the emperor had gone to his royal businesses again and had been tired of waiting for him. And of course, the emperor has no right to wait. And so, he went out of the room and headed home.
Kouyuu had been walking away from the imperial offices when he noticed the emperor standing in front of a cherry tree in the garden. He was curious to see why the emperor just stood there as if nothing was wrong. He went over to the garden and stood behind Ryuuki, who turned around.
"Ah, Kouyuu, you are finally here," Ryuuki amiably told him.
Kouyuu frowned a bit. Of course, he had hated the setup of the palace. He had always hated large setups which make him stray. He bowed before the emperor and apologized for coming in late. Ryuuki forgave him and invited him to look at nature. The official became curious and looked at the tree that the emperor had looked upon. Kouyuu noticed black ants forming a neat queue going up the cherry tree. Then, Ryuuki remarked.
"I wish we could be like ants," he said.
"Yes, I agree," Kouyuu affirmed. "Ants are very polite and very hardworking. We will do our best to work all the more and strive to be excellent and to maintain politeness at all times."
Ryuuki remarked. "I wish we could be like ants which can walk on walls and barks of trees."
Kouyuu's eyes erupted. Was that meant as a joke? Or was the emperor fooling around again?
"Grrrr…," he silently fumed.
Ryuuki turned back to him and took delight on his official's facial expression. He was really amused that had Kouyuu didn't expect his response.
"Don't take it too hard, Kouyuu," Ryuuki said. "I just want to have fun sometimes."
And so, Kouyuu told himself to calm down. After all, he wasn't here for a joke but for the special meeting that the emperor had arranged.
"Your Highness, what was that important thing you had wanted to discuss with me?" he asked.
Ryuuki smiled and answered. "Well, it was just nothing. I miss the noise in the palace. I just wanted to talk with you or with Shuuei."
Kouyuu's face fell. He thought that what he had come for was something very important. It was simply another idle time. Yet, he noticed the serious expression on the emperor's face.
"I just feel lonely, that's all," Ryuuki said to him.
The young official looked at the emperor looking at the cherry blossoms then at the sky. He heard a great sigh escape the emperor's lips.
"I wonder how Shuurei is doing. I miss her already," Ryuuki absent-mindedly commented, forgetting that Kouyuu was listening.
Not far from the palace, a group of men were gambling. A young man with weird clothes and vegetable headgear was holding a set of cards and looking at his bunch seriously.
"Well, what have you got there?" one man asked.
The weird man flashed a wide grin before laying down his cards on the street. He had a full house, and his playmates got extremely jealous.
"Sorry, you all lost the bet," the weird man told his competitors, who all looked like volcanoes which were at the point of explosion.
The weird man walked away happy with all the money he got. Those fools were totally stupid. Foolish people gamble with money. Only the sly man gambles without using money. At least if he losses the bet, he still has his money. And so, he continued walking down the road when he met Seiran.
"Good morning, Ran Ryuuren," Seiran serenely greeted.
"Good morning, Seiran," Ryuuren greeted back. "How is my Soul Friend #1 doing?"
Seiran thought for a while before answering. He remembered that the weird man's soul friend was his ojou, Kou Shuurei.
"She is at home, preparing for Lord Shouka's birthday tomorrow," Seiran shared.
"I see!" Ryuuren exclaimed. "Maybe the emperor is going to bestow him with his own brand of royal lavishness, don't you think?"
Seiran smiled a bit. "Actually, I don't know. What I do know is that Ojou instructed me to invite you over for dinner tomorrow at their house."
"That I shall!" Ryuuren said. "After all, if it is an invitation from my soul friend, I simply cannot resist and must not resist it!"
Seiran sighed a bit. How eccentric this guy really is!
"And I guess I should perform at their house tomorrow," Ryuuren said. "Does that appeal to you?"
Seiran was taken aback. It was already everybody's knowledge that Ryuuren was strange and played his flute strangely. It was also a public knowledge that Ryuuren sometimes uses radishes as flutes. What could he be using this time?
"I had collected some leaves, fresh leaves you see, and I am going to make music out of it, like this," Ryuuren told him as he pulled out a leaf and demonstrated his listener how to make use of it.
Ryuuren used the leaf like a harmonica, but the music was far from pleasing. It sounded like children fighting over some toys and shouting at each other. Seiran had pleaded him to stop, and Ryuuren did. Then, he turned serious.
"I am actually thankful that you found me because I have something important to tell you," Ryuuren told him.
"What is it?" Seiran asked. He had noticed the change of mood.
As they walked on by, Ryuuren related that the people he had been gambling with had plans of kidnapping Shuurei after they had learned that she became the emperor's concubine. Maybe, the emperor had given her lots of gifts, including money, and that is what they are going to steal from her. They are also planning to kidnap her and hold her hostage so that they can demand money from the emperor. The concubine thing had really been a very, very long time ago already, but the rascals were still thinking that the emperor still provided for her.
"Their folly got the best of them," Ryuuren said. "They thought I was a stupid man and a crazy man considering the style of my clothes and the way that I think. They never knew that I instantly knew all of them by heart."
"So when are they going to attack?" Seiran inquired.
"They didn't supply that fact, though," Ryuuren said. "That's why I'll be on the run all the time to get in touch with them while silently getting in touch with you too."
Seiran thought that Ryuuren sometimes had good sense. He proposed that he is going to tell Ran Shuuei about it so the shogun can also relate it to the emperor.
"Not my Foolish Elder Brother #4!" Ryuuren replied in exasperation.
"Tsk…I'm still telling him anyway," Seiran told him, thus Ryuuren thought it was wise not to argue with Seiran.