Alright... this is the odd fanfic by me (and the very first one written in English, so be patient with my grammar and writing manner, ok? Thanks). Deals with a well-known 'Cinderella' fairy-tale, Seishirou Sakurazuka, brooms, glass eyes and other random things that belong to CLAMP, Asuka and such. I claim no rights to X, I just write weird fairy-tale-based fanfics with no purpose or deep internal sense.
Extreme OOC-ness, shounen-ai (mainly S/S, some F/K) and general mushiness ahead. You've been warned. ---Takibi, the author (e-mails go to vampire-takibi@mail.ru).
Seishi-Rella - The Fairy-Tale of Century's End
Once upon a time there lived a woman of amazing beauty and kindness, named Sakurazuka Setsuka. It was rumored that Setsuka had a part-time job as an assassin devoted to a mystical sakura tree, but our story isn't about that, or at least it didn't matter much. In those rough times, being an assassin was a rather harmless duty.
What does matter is the fact that the said beautiful and kind Setsuka had a beautiful and kind son, whom she named Seishirou. They and Setsuka's husband were an exceptionally happy family, but once a tragedy happened - Setsuka died under mysterious circumstances. No one figured out what were those circumstances exactly, but knowledgeable people say that it had something to do with a hand slamming through a chest. Or something else. At least it didn't matter much.
The grieving husband and father married again in a while, and this is how the young Seishirou ended up with a stepmother named Kanoe and her devious children, Satsuki and Kusanagi. Kanoe had a nasty habit of ordering the poor Seishirou around and making him do all the work around the house (which she, a shameless woman that she was, dared to rename into "The Chi no Ryuu HQ"); Satsuki had a nasty habit of not letting the poor Seishirou play with her computer and Kusanagi had a nasty habit of stepping on the poor Seishirou's feet every time they crossed paths. Had it been intended or not, poor Seishirou was in danger of being forced to use crutches to walk in near future. Indeed, how poor our poor Seishirou was.
More so, Seishirou was forced to sleep at the kitchen so that each time he woke up, he could start cooking food for his family right away. And for that reason he was called "Seishi-Rella", although one could only wonder what kind of a connection did that name have with sleeping at the kitchen. And as if those troubles of the poor boy's life weren't enough, he also had the devil's luck to lose his right eye. Because of that incredibly unfortunate event, Seishirou had to wear an eyepatch, and everyone mocked his ugliness mercilessly, although ugliness was probably the least quality he ever possessed. Truly, we can only have sympathy for the poor, poor Seishirou.
Once a king of the country where Seishirou and his family lived decided to arrange a spiffy and gorgeous ball. All members of the families of means were invited, and so was Kanoe, her husband and her children, but of course they had to leave poor Seishirou at home - nobody ever cared for him, besides his eyepatch was an embarrassing sight. Instead, he was forced to clean the whole house from sakura petals that had a disturbing tendency to fall everywhere he walked, and Kanoe didn't like flowers all that much. What a tasteless woman she was. So, in the evening the whole family dressed up neatly, including Kusanagi, and went to the royal palace, abandoning the poor Seishirou at home, all alone, with a broom in his overworked arms.
"How... humiliating."
With this outcry of pain and loneliness, the miserable boy started cleaning up the rooms, when he suddenly heard a soft melodic laughter, accompanied with a low predatory cackle. Turning around promptly, he saw a pair of... creatures.
Creatures were floating above him in the air, each supported by a pair of wings. One was dressed in a short white fluffy suit, had large amethyst-like eyes and a sweet beautiful face of a little angel, but strangely enough, was carried by demon wings; other was clad in tight black leather, richly decorated with metal, was smirking a perverted smirk and possessed a pair of large white angel wings.
Seishirou's perfectly shaped jaw dropped, so to say, with a loud thud. "And who on earth might you two be?" he asked after regaining the gift of speech.
"I'm Kamui, your Fairy Godmother," the violet-eyed beauty replied in a gentle voice. "And I'm... Kamui as well, your Fairy Godfather. Everybody calls me Fuuma though," the leather-clad angel added, grinning and hugging the Fairy Godmother's slim waist and causing her-... or rather, him, to blush lightly and giggle."We are your Fairy Godparents!" the two concluded in unison.
Seishirou rolled his eyes - or to be more exact, his eye. "Very exciting. And how come that my Godparents look two times younger than me?"
Kamui shrugged. "We're fairies, my dear. We're supposed to look young," he explained. "Otherwise how can we keep ourselves cute and pretty?" Fuuma asked then.
Seishirou blinked. "I don't know whom do you call cute and pretty here, just in case you don't mean the Fairy Godmother, but oh well... May I ask what are you doing here? I'm trying to clean up the house in case you haven't noticed." He waved a broom in front of them to support his statements.
"We are here to get you on the ball at the royal palace," Fuuma answered. "And put that broom down, you might hit the Fairy Godmother, and then I'll be forced to hit you back. We'll dress you up now."
Seishirou was mildly puzzled. "Did I say that I wanted to go there? I don't like parties all that much."
Fuuma frowned. "Look, my dear, we made our way here just to introduce you to the proper society, so don't even dare to resist. If your Godfather says that you're going to the ball, you are going to the ball. Is that stupid broom supposed to mock my haircut or what?!"
Seishirou sighed. "Alright, alright, I give up. But I don't have any decent clothes to put on..."
"Not a problem!" Kamui the Godmother smiled and pulled a gorgeous black coat... literally out of nowhere. Seishirou's eye sparkled with joy as he saw it. "Here," Kamui offered the coat. "This should look nice on you."
"Use this too," Fuuma handed him an elegantly shaped bottle of toilet water. "Eau d'Sakura. This smell gives me kicks," he cackled; the Fairy Godmother flushed and elbowed him lightly.
"Thanks," Seishirou bowed faintly and snatched the way the offerings - just in case the Fairy Godparents would change their opinions. "I'm off."
"Well then - hey, wait a minute!" Fuuma grabbed his sleeve promptly before Seishirou would actually go away. "Do you really want to go to the ball looking like that?!"
"Like how?"
"Like that."
Seishirou paused. "I have a cool coat and I smell nicely... and my hair was never a problem... what now?"
Kamui tried to explain it in a more delicate manner. "See... do you remember why weren't you taken to the ball by your relatives?"
"Ummm... because they're a bunch of morons with no taste whatsoever?"
"...No. Look at yourself." Fuuma offered Seishirou a pocket mirror. "What the heck is that thing you're wearing over your eye?!"
Seishirou pouted. "Could you be a tiny bit gentler?! Do you absolutely have to insult me?! What happened to the sympathy towards someone who lost an eye?"
Fuuma sighed. "My sentiments exactly. I'm just trying to say that this eyepatch... doesn't suit you. You aren't a pirate of the Caribbean Seas, my dear. Normally, people get themselves glass eyes if they have a problem like that."
Seishirou nodded. "I know. But you see, glass eyes do cost a lot," he replied with a little sigh. "And my stepmother isn't very good at paying me for everything I do around the house, even including all the cooking!"
Fuuma patted his shoulder. "I understand. Well then... Fairy Godmother darling, can we fix this?" He winked at Kamui; the Fairy Godmother smiled back. "Of course." With a light wave of his slender hand, Fairy Godmother produced a small cloud of stardust-like substance that floated around Seishirou for a minute and then disappeared with a twinkle, leaving the would-be ball guest completely eyepatch-less.
Instead of that, a perfect glass eye appeared where his natural eye originally was. Fuuma raised his eyebrows appreciatively. "I knew you'd do it neatly and nicely, Godmother-chan," he praised his partner's work. "Well, dear Godchild, what would you say about this now?"
Seishirou stared at his own mirror reflection in awe. "...Oh," he breathed out finally. "My, do I look irresistable."
"Yep. Just make sure not to forget who helped you at this," Fuuma noticed. "Okay, I believe now you're free to go and have fun - eh?"
Kamui whispered something into Fuuma's ear, looking a bit worried. Fuuma nodded quickly as he listened to him. "Uh-huh. I just forgot one thing - after the clock strikes 12, all of this spiffy stuff will disappear."
Seishirou frowned. "All of it?"
"Yeah."
"Including the eye?"
"Including - oh, Godfather-chan..." Kamui bit his lower lip nervously. "I just thought that the disappearing eye would be a tad... creepy."
Fuuma cuddled him lovingly and ruffled his fluffy black hair in a tender manner. "How careful - it's so much like you, my kitty..." The atmosphere around them turned pink and richly decorated with laces. Seishirou winced, but the two didn't pay attention for a while. Finally Fuuma remembered that he still has his Godchild hovering around. "So... make sure you slip away from the party before 12, and you'll be okay."
"What's the fun in that? Parties only start to turn better after 12!!"
"Are you arguing with me?" Fuuma narrowed his eyes.
"No."
Seishirou has figured out a very simple yet not that well-known fact that night - fairies were the least creatures one could safely argue with.
* * *
"Ouji-sama?"
Seiichirou, the Prime Minister, bowed wearing a sincerely concerned look on his handsome face. "Ouji-sama, this isn't good. I've been watching you since the ball's very start, and I can tell you this isn't good."
The black-haired prince stared at the floor absent-mindedly, watching the dancers twirling around. "What exactly bothers you this much, Seiichirou-dono?"
The Prime Minister's face became even more anxious than before. "Uh, Ouji-sama - this is all about your behaviour - everyone in the court is expecting you to dance with someone, anyone." He cleared his throat nervously. "Which you aren't doing."
The prince shrugged and examined the dancing crowd. There was hardly anyone he would willingly talk to, leave alone sharing a waltz or two. He knew perfectly well that he was supposed to socialize for the country's sake (although he could hardly understand what the country's well-being had to do with the ball), but at the same time forcing himself to communicate with outrageously boring people was beyond him.
Prince Subaru, the heir of the Sumeragi Royal Clan, was bored to tears.
He stood up from his throne and walked casually across the hall, almost not noticing the people who started to bow frantically as he passed by. All of a sudden, his ears caught somebody's surprised voice - "Who's that? Look!" Just a bit curious, Subaru raised his head and gazed at the hall doorway.
A dark coated silouhette was there, bathed in the light.
He was tall, with a stylish haircut and broad shoulders.
Subaru felt that his jaw was about to drop down and make a hole in the floor.
The other dancers felt practically the same.
The silouhette, who, as you dear readers couldn't not guess, was no one else but Seishirou, glanced around the hall and grinned. He sure did impress the public, although shocking and astonishing people wasn't something he cared all that much about. But it was nice after all - much like in a fairy-tale.
Before he could go on admiring his own social skills, his single brown eye caught a sight of a slim figure staring at him from the crowd - an exceptionally beautiful figure to be exact. Seishirou sensed his blood boiling like mad - the young man was an image of perfection! He was slender and elegant, with a body that could be a serious competition to that of the Fairy Godmother her-... himself. His coal-black hair was neatly done and his face features were sophisticated and thin... but what was above it all, was the fact that the prince had a glass right eye! Seishirou felt that his heart was about to jump out of his chest. He could never imagine that the royal offspring could be just like him!
"Betting he never gets insulted for that," Seishirou commented mentally with a sigh and made a step towards the prince, whose face gained a lovely strawberry color out of happy embarrassment. "May I have this waltz, Your Majesty?" Seishirou questioned with a polite bow.
"Y-yes..." Subaru whispered, still unable to believe this was actually happening to him until Seishirou wrapped his strong yet gentle arms around his waist and they started the dance, following the romantic slow music. The atmosphere, as it was expected, turned pink.
The Prime Minister clutched his chest in utter astonishment and ran away. Seeing the prince dancing with someone who wasn't even on the list of well-known guests was beyond him. Kanoe, Satsuki and Kusanagi, Seishirou's disturbing family, didn't recognize him, of course; Kanoe passed out in a powerful nosebleed over her own stepson, Satsuki gave out some casual comment on his cloak and disappeared, accompanied by Lord Yuuto and Beast, who could never leave her alone; as for Kusanagi, he didn't pay much attention at Seishirou - he was busy courting Countess Yuzuriha and the new guest was out of his interest. The rest of the party, however, had their eyes literally stuck to the waltzing Subaru and Seishirou.
Seishirou himself was in a state of pure bliss. The prince's beauty awakened so many new feelings in his heart and mind (the majority being hentai ones). He snuggled the graceful boy and breathed in the sweet smell of his hair.
As for Subaru, he had a hard time trying not to pass out of reality - everything seemed so much like a dream. Whoever that stranger was, he was amazing. And that sakura fragrance that surrounded him... and his deep rich voice... Subaru settled his head on Seishirou's shoulder and sighed happily.
"...Your Majesty?"
"Yes?" Subaru replied in a dreamy voice.
"You have a beautiful... eye," Seishirou complimented him a bit awkwardly. He didn't really know what to say, but he felt that he had to say something, at least for the sake of hearing the prince's sweet speech once more.
"Thank you," Subaru melted. "Yours looks wonderful too."
"...Really? Which one?"
Subaru laughed softly. He was so... adorable, that stranger. "Either of them."
Seishirou giggled helplessly and thanked his Godparents in mind. He had to do something for those two later.
The pair leaned closer to each other, almost touching faces. Countess Yuzuriha, who was constantly peeking at them from the corner, nearly burst into tears; Satsuki blew her nose and clutched Lord Yuuto's sleeve. It was becoming so sweet...
Booom.
The huge wall clock struck 12.
Seishirou eeped very non-elegantly and backed away from Subaru.
Subaru raised his eyebrow in surprise.
"So-... Sorry!!" Seishirou exclaimed and rushed to an exit. "It was a wonderful ball - gotta go now - see you later, Your Majesty!" He had to escape the palace before his magically created outfit would disappear and put him into an uncomfortable situation.
"W... wait!!" Subaru was shocked and upset to no end. "Why are you leaving me?!"
"I'll explain it later!" Seishirou yelled back, running downstairs. He couldn't tell when exactly that 'later' would take place though - it didn't matter right now, he was in too much of a hurry.
As he finally left the palace, his coat faded away... not leaving him naked though, as he would expect. Instead, his normal boring everyday clothes reappeared. As for his glass eye, it was missing. Seishirou sighed and took his eyepatch out of the pocket. The party, as sad as it sounded, was now over for him.
* * *
"Do we have any cream left, my love?"
"A bit."
"How about finishing it now?"
"It's all up to you, Fuuma," Kamui replied and curled on the Fairy Godfather's lap like a kitten. "You know that each time we get to use cream, the one who actually tastes it are you."
Fuuma snickered. "Sorry, sorry. But it's so nice in combination with you - ARGH! Seishi-rella, what the hell are you doing here?!"
He quickly threw a blanket over the Fairy Godmother and himself as he spotted Seishirou's gloomy face. "Aren't you supposed to be partying?"
Seishirou sighed and pointed at the clock. "It's 12:20 already."
"Oh," Fuuma nodded, understanding. "And as it was supposed to be, you left the ball. Okay... so how it was?"
"Aaaah..." Seishirou flashed a dreamy smile that, one had to admit it, would look almost dorky had it been anyone else other than the Sakurazuka clan descendant. "I met a wonderful young prince."
Kamui looked curious. "Was he pretty?"
"Nobody can be prettier than you, darling," Fuuma purred, scratching his beloved's small ears. Seishirou grinned. "He was really pretty... too bad I didn't even get to tell him my name."
Fuuma rolled his eyes. "Stupid. What were you thinking about, anyway?... But I don't think it matters... it's not like the prince is going to search for you over the whole country."
"Oh," Seishirou was a bit disappointed - he did secretly expect his glamouros waltz partner to try and contact him once more. But the Fairy Godfather sounded rather logical nonetheless. "Fine," he snorted. "I'm going to take a nap. And I will not do the rest of house cleaning today."
Kamui shrugged. "Nobody forces you to, my dear. Good night."
"G'night," Seishirou mumbled and walked away to his room, leaving the Godparents alone with all their cream-involving activities. No need to say that the two were quite satisfied.
Meanwhile in the palace...
"He dumped me," Subaru muttered, clenching his fists and doing his best to prevent himself from sobbing hysterically. "He dumped me."
"Calm down, Ouji-sama," the Prime Minister begged. "You can't possibly get so anxious about some person who didn't even mention his name! He most likely doesn't deserve so much attention from you!"
Subaru shook his head. "He was... he was... so handsome."
"Ouji-sama, you aren't listening to me."
"And his voice..."
"Ouji-sama."
"Ouji-sama!!" A boy with ruffled black hair and a cute young girl popped out in front of the prince.
"Sorata? Arashi?" Subaru raised his head to look at his two servants who handed him a small box. "Ouji-sama, we found it at the palace entrance. We believe... this was left by that man."
Subaru flushed and opened the box with trembling hands. Inside of it, a round glass object was glittering.
"It looks like... a glass eye," the Prime Minister commented and cringed. "Ouji-sama, this is a little... disturbing."
Subaru didn't listen, as usual; he closed his eyes and pressed the box to his heart. "Oh my God, I prayed for this! Now we surely can find him!!"
"What?!"
"Seiichirou-dono, this is a clue! Now that we have this glass eye, it'll be much simpler for us to find its owner? Isn't it wonderful?!"
Subaru's healthy green eye was filled with so much hope and joy that it caused Sorata and Arashi to sniff happily, and even Seiichirou felt much nicer than before. Now they only had to find a proper way to make an announcement about their search...
"Seishi-rella!" Kanoe slammed the door open, looking all energetic and in highest spirits. Her children, Satsuki and Kusanagi, seemed just as gleeful. "The ball was incredible. And there was that spiffy young man - too bad the prince snatched him away," she added with a light frown. "He left the palace all of a sudden, we were so surprised! Did you do the cleaning?" She pointed at the broom that was resting at the corner.
Seishirou, who was still sleepy, rubbed his forehead. "No. I was tired."
Kanoe growled. "This is not an excuse."
"...so?"
Kanoe was dangerously close to getting mad. "Oh? This is all you can say? Well, young man, I'm afraid you're going to be working at the kitchen for the whole day tomorrow! That's it! Let's go, kids."
She, Kusanagi and Satsuki snorted in unison and walked upstairs. Seishirou yawned and returned to the kitchen where he slept, ignoring their threats. It wasn't that important now... his broken heart concerned him much more.
"...What are those two fairies doing in MY bedroom?!!"
* * *
"Ouji-sama," Seiichirou pleaded. "Do we have to check every single home, even the suburbs? Whoever your handsome stranger might be, he sure belongs to a respectful and rich family. We don't need to go to the slums."
Subaru looked determined. "No, Seiichirou-dono. We need to visit every house. I won't forgive myself if we miss him."
Seiichirou, Sorata and Arashi groaned. It was the first time the prince ever got so excited about anything. He used to be such a calm and collected man... before.
"Let's check out this house," Subaru offered, pointing at an old mansion at the street's end. "I promise that we'll have a break after that."
They walked up to the door and knocked on it. A tall dark-haired woman who looked sort of familiar came out, nearly pushing Subaru with her breasts of quite a significant size. Before the guests could introduce themselves, she recognized the prince. "Oh, Your Majesty!" she exclaimed in awe and bowed deeply. "It's such a honor to see you at our humble house."
Subaru smiled lightly. "I'm pleased to meet you too. Um... we have a question for you and your family," he explained as they walked in.
"Alright!" Kanoe (and one could easily guess it was her) answered. "Satsuki-chan! Kusanagi-kun! Come here! His Majesty himself visited us!"
Her children ran down to the hall, accompanied by the Fairy Godparents, who never bothered to leave the house after all. Subaru examined the gathered people carefully - no one looked at least remotely like the stranger of his dreams, but he still had to ask everyone. "You see... we're searching for an owner of this glass eye." He pulled out the precious box and demonstrated the content to everyone. "Could it possibly belong to any of you?"
"That's not mine," Fuuma answered before anyone could do it instead of him. "My eyes are fine and dandy. And the Fairy Godmother doesn't need any of those either."
Satsuki squinted her eyes, staring at the box. "Does being short-sighted count?"
"No."
"Okay," she sighed, telling herself that the prince wasn't any better than Lord Yuuto after all.
"Kusanagi-kun?" Kanoe questioned. The tall man laughed. "No, no way."
Kanoe played with the glass eye carefully, tracing it with her long fingers. "Hmmm... I kind of remember owning something of this kind..."
Arashi frowned at her. "Madam, we need honest answers. Is this your complete family, by the way?"
"Oh, actually it is - oh?"
"What's going on?" a tired and sleepy voice asked as Seishirou stumbled out of the kitchen, massaging his temples. "What's with this fuss in the... morning...?"
His yellowish-brown eye met the prince's emerald one. They stared at each other for a moment that seemed like eternity, as the atmosphere was slowly coloring pink.
"...is... that... you?"
The sakura fragrance filled the air as the prince jumped Seishirou with a heartfelt squeal.
The End
Epilogue
Subaru and Seishirou got married, and Seishirou was happy till the rest of his life because he finally got rid of his eyepatch; as for Subaru, he was mainly happy thanks to his spouse. The Fairy Godparents got officially married as well, because Kamui dreamed to become a bride since early childhood. Satsuki found happiness with Lord Yuuto and is now more known as Lady Kigai; Kusanagi and Countess Yuzuriha eloped to live together in a village, far away from the noisy city. Sorata and Arashi never separated since those days, and the Prime Minister already had a family then, so he had the least problems with all those numerous weddings.
As for Kanoe, she was so deeply shocked with her stepson's sudden success that she became dissatisfied with life and spent the rest of her days in grief and despair, blaming herself for practically everything. Moral? That's what you get for being a nasty stepmother.
The Real End