DISCLAIMER: The characters belong to Sai Yukino and Kairi Yura, Kadokawa Shoten, Madhouse Studios, etc., i.e., not me.
I'm just borrowing them for a while to spin a tale
Submitted to Saiun Challenge's November 2008 Prompt, Faith, +1,500 words, and won Second Place :)

That Which Does Not Kill…
By firewolf
November 2008

It had understandably been thought that the powers of the Emperor's Twin Flowers were crippled. After all, Ran Shuuei had been demoted and furthermore disinherited from the Ran Clan. And Li Kouyuu had been dismissed as Under Secretary of the Department of Civil Affairs, and made a very public declaration of placing his loyalty to the emperor above that of his adopted Clan. Neither had rank and status in the Courts, nor a direct clan affiliation any longer.

Most enemies of the throne recognized this diminished status and were scornful that Emperor Shi Ryuuki refused to set them aside as his advisors. As much as their first appointment had been a credit to his office, their continued status as his Twin Flowers when they held so little influence and power was now seen as personal favouritism.

Ryuuki's detractors really should have left things well enough alone. However, one bright spark apparently had not been satisfied with the now lowly status of the Emperor's Twin Flowers. Former Official Sai wanted it brought lower, and in his actions committed a mistake of horrendous proportions.

Sai was smart enough not to direct his attention at Li Kouyuu. Although Li was not given the Clan name, stories of Kou Reishin's love and protectiveness of *his* son had been increasingly spread across the land by members of the Kou clan themselves as a warning to others that Li could still call upon his father's personal support. Sai also remembered too clearly Reishin's whispered words to him regarding his enacted revenge for an affront paid to Kouyuu many years earlier; a settling of scores which eventually saw Sai's removal from office. Sai did not want to attract the attention of the Kou Clan's head again.

Still, Ran Shuuei had not been an easy target, and Sai easily lost half of his mercenary forces during the man's abduction. With the remainder slaughtered when the Emperor himself lead his troops to the man's rescue. However, Sai had foolishly thought the sacrifice worth it since the abductors were wiped out to the last man and he hadn't needed to pay them for their excellent work; for he had heard whispers that the mercenaries who survived Ran Shuuei's seizure took eager retribution upon their helpless captive. And it did not take a creative mind to imagine the abuse that cowards would heap on an erstwhile dangerous man as Ran Shuuei, when they had him powerless to stop his assailants. So it was a shattered wrack of a man whom Emperor Ryuuki eventually rescued and brought back to the palace.

As had been correctly predicted, the Emperor's powers and influence were little use to track down the mastermind of the craven assault. However, the same could not be said of the Kous. And Li had known this when he approached his father to beg his assistance. It was a request Kou Reishin did not refuse. Furthermore, Li's father even set aside his infamous animosity of the Ran Triplets to share the knowledge his spies had gleaned. The tales of their joint vengeance for the harm inflicted upon the Emperor's Twin Flowers were to make men shiver for decades to come.

The Kous had the clout to completely ruin Sai and to ensure his family would take generations to rebuild, if the current generation managed to survive this lifetime. The Rans enacted a more personal retribution, and in doing so forcefully reminded the general public that although Ran Shuuei was disinherited by the Clan, he was still the younger brother of the Clan heads. It was whispered that it took Sai a month to die. And even then the Ran brothers thought his death too quick. However, the man's body could only endure the torture meted out to it under their expert care for so long before it finally failed.

Unfortunately, revenge could not unmake the damage inflicted upon Ran Shuuei. The small mercy that he was still physically intact could not be compared to the devastation enacted on his soul. And the healing of his spirit would take a woefully longer time than the healing of his physical wounds.

However, Ran Shuuei would and did heal over the many months and years to follow. Li demanded nothing less of his fellow Twin Flower. For to this end, Li Kouyuu was to make himself inseparable from his best friend.

No matter the numerous times Ran Shuuei had screamed at and cursed the man, and tried to distance himself in those early days, Li stubbornly stood firm and steadfast in his resolve to stay by his side. Where other friends had long fled in hurt and confusion to give the man the space he demanded, Li alone remained unmoved.

To the relief of all, Ran Shuuei eventually relented and accepted his loyalty. And thankfully, finally began then his journey to heal.

Significantly, that day also marked the new era of strength and solidarity for Emperor Ryuuki's Twin Flowers. For through this agonising time, Li Kouyuu had come to discover within himself the unchangeable conviction and spirit of determination necessary to stand firm in his beliefs to enact the reforms of his ruler; building then with each passing day a well earned reputation for ruthless efficiency and results which would carry him fast up the ladder of the Civil Service. On his part, Ran Shuuei had learned to coolly channel the anger and frustrations of his wounded soul into battle and strategy; quickly ensuring his steady and swift climb in the ranks of the military. And always, the closeness between Li and Ran was such that the Twin Flowers grew together in perfectly matched power and influence.

Eventually, there came a time where it seemed to many in the Court of Saiunkoku that the Emperor's Twin Flowers no longer needed words to communicate. For it appeared the men knew each others' mind so well, a barely perceptible glance could convey to their counterpart volumes of information which might otherwise take others hours to articulate. This was when the Twin Flowers became most respected by the officials of the Court. And marked the moment when Emperor Shi Ryuuki began ushering Saiunkoku into what historians would later identify as the Golden Age.

The enemies of the throne were to remember and curse the late ex-official Sai then; for it was their belief that the Emperor's Twin Flowers had been mostly harmless before he precipitated the change. And it had been their expectations back then that it would take the two men another decade or more to slowly regain their powers and rank. With the inferno lit within them by the 'incident', however, Ran Shuuei and Li Kouyuu had remade themselves in the astounding span of just a few years; becoming in this short time a formidable force greatly feared yet loved and respected by the citizens of Saiunkoku.

Older officials would suggest that the Emperor's Twin flowers were only settling into a long overdue maturity and seriousness with regards to their positions as the Emperor's Advisors. However, close friends of the two men knew better.

Among themselves, their friends were to quietly mourn the changes in Li and Ran. For they knew that their simpler and more carefree approach to life and love was now lost to all time. As it was, Ran Shuuei rarely smiled anymore; neither did he offer to flirt harmlessly with men and women alike, as he had once done before that fateful abduction. And Li Kouyuu seldom bickered with Ran as well, since the subject of his nagging had oft times been over the man's flirtatious and playfully indolent nature.

However, the one tiny glimmer of cheer which their friends could see was the steadily blossoming light of faith and love between the Twin Flowers. They were never to hear of it, but the little spark had started when Li Kouyuu shared with Ran Shuuei a tale from his childhood, so as to convince the former General that the aqua haired scholar did indeed understand his troubled spirit and the agony which raked his soul for what was done to him. And that shared secret had given Shuuei the faith that it was possible for him to heal; the assurance that he had not been sullied by what was done to him; and the hope that he could learn to accept love in his heart again.

With the gift of this knowledge, Ran Shuuei had at first dreaded ever meeting with Kou Reishin again. He knew that it was proper that he did to thank the man for the invaluable assistance in his rescue. However, he was also wary of meeting yet another who would look upon him with pity. And with his past experience with Kouyuu, Shuuei knew that Kou dono more than all others clearly understood the suffering he now endured.

To his surprise though, when they met, the man's eyes held not pity and understanding, but expectation and challenge. And this, far more than the kind sympathy offered by others, bolstered Shuuei's spirit to prove himself worthy of the love and support offered by the man's son.

In time to come, Ran and Li's friends would eventually grow used to the new 'quiet' nature of their affection and love. For few doubted that Ran Shuuei had deliberately acted like a flirt in front of his best friend because he wanted Li Kouyuu's attention, and enjoyed their almost daily bickering. Now though, the soon to be reinstated General had the confidence to understand that Senior Official Li never held his beloved far from his thoughts.

Ran Shuuei came to recognise too that the silence that oft times settled between them was a comfortable and comforting thing. For Li was a man of few words. And Ran was discovering that he cherished and loved far more their quiet time with each other reading in the Emperor's gardens, or just sitting together and staring at nothing at all.

It was to be an observation shared by many others. For owing to their renowned status as the Emperor's Twin Flowers and their remarkably attractive countenance, Li and Ran were to find themselves the preferred subject of many artists; with more artists favouring portraits of the men together rather than apart.

It was even rumoured that a portrait of the two men by a famous painter was nearly the cause of the termination of the tentative truce between Kou Reishin and the Ran Triplets. Fortunately, as the tale went, Ran Ryuuren had intervened by out bidding the two bitterly fighting parties, then gifting the portrait to his Bosom Friend #1. The Triplets could not complain because they technically won the bidding war through their youngest brother. And Reishin had nothing to gripe about either since he could see the painting whenever he visited his beloved Aniue.

All, however, agreed that the artist had shown skill beyond belief in the rendition of her masterpiece. For she had captured perfectly the quintessential quality of the relationship between the Emperor's Twin Flowers, in her portrait of the two men sitting upon the grass in the shade of a flowering Sakura tree, sharing a plate of manju and cups of tea, with the rays of the setting sun gently illuminating their features. That it was a relationship built upon faith, hope, and above all... Love.

~owari~

Thanks for reading.
Cheers, firewolf