Drabble 1: To Be King
World: Clow Country
Characters/pairings: Touya, mentions of Yukito, Sakura and Clow
Rating: PG-13-ish (some bad language)
Notes: Originally written for 31days community on livejournal for theme June 5, 2007
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Of course Touya never told anyone how terrified he was at the prospect of his coronation. Who was there to tell? Not any of the servants or advisers, not the army of bureaucrats that had trouped across his vision since the king's death. Not Sakura – she was still grieving for her father and needed Touya to be strong. Ordinarily he might have confided in Yukito, but the latter was busy preparing for his own ordination as High Priest and Touya didn't want to bother him, so he worried alone.
Why should this tiny little desert kingdom accept a seventeen-year-old boy as its ruler? They had loved his father – wouldn't Touya be a poor replacement? Clow had loved and cared for his people, and Touya…
My people? Oh shit…
Who was he to rule, anyway? He'd tried asking Yukito that question once, and Yuki, bless him, had just given him an odd look before replying, "You're Touya, of course." As if that answered everything!
The night before the coronation he briefly considered running away, but immediately dismissed the idea as absurd. He couldn't abandon his people—
Wait a minute. Did I just think of them as "my people"? Did I actually think that?
Oh shit…
The part of his mind that had recently started to sound awfully like Yukito said: No, you've been thinking that all along.
And he could almost hear Sakura saying, with all the world-weariness of her ten years, "Onii-chan is such an idiot."
Of course. It's not like I'll be alone.
"Well, Father," he muttered, "I'll do my best." He thought for a moment, then added, "We all will."