A/N: Desert!AU, multiple pairings, with more characters appearing later in the story.
I apologize in advance for the possibility of grammatical and any other kinds of errors, also for the possibly slow updates in the future.
The Dancer
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Prologue
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In a land where sands dominated most of the area, an oasis was the thing closest to heaven. Amongst these oases, one was particularly developed and well-known. It was controlled by the Red Flames clan, with lower clans serving as the pillars of the hierarchy. The oasis was a place so full with life that it seemed like a completely different world from the rest of the desert. People called it the Oasis of Miracles, where green was commonly seen and rain fell throughout the year.
And in this particular oasis, a troupe of travelling entertainers had just settled in. While setting up their belongings in the place they rented, the dancers animatedly chatted to each other. It was overally lively—except for a gloomy boy who stayed away from the rest of them.
The boy was thirteen of age. Blessed with extraordinary features, the boy was a stunning beauty. His hair had the faint color of blue, almost silver even. The round eyes had the color of the sky and were framed with long eyelashes. His small, full lips were the color of cherry blossoms. But the most distinguishing feature of him was his fair skin, which—unlike most dancers who were olive-skinned—was pale white. With such features, it was extremely easy to spot him in the crowd—should have been that way, actually. Weirdly enough, it was actually hard to spot the boy who was so keen on trying to be invisible. Thus, his beautiful features merely supported him to be a ghost-like presence.
His name was Tetsuya.
Although he was thirteen of age already, he had no title. After all, he was an orphan, taken in by the matron of the troupe at the age of eight. Someone with no family and no accomplishment like him had no right for a title. A title was for those children of big clans and for those renowned fighters or wanderers.
So he was Tetsuya. Just Tetsuya.
And he's fine being just Tetsuya. He didn't want people to recognize him. It was his natural instinct to want to keep hidden, away from prying eyes, and it had been that way ever since he was taken in by the troupe. In his earliest memory, he remembered having a family and he could vaguely recall that he hadn't been so scared of people's eyes. Then for some reasons he didn't understand, one night his mother told him to run—to live—and after that everything became hazy, until he met the matron. The matron had found him on the streets and decided to take him in because of his beautiful features. This boy would definitely sell well in the future—was what she had thought. So she made him a dancer. But Tetsuya didn't want anyone to recognize him—his instincts told him to stay low. And so, even until he was thirteen, he had yet to have a customer asking for him.
His matron wasn't happy about this.
She threatened the boy that if in this new oasis he didn't get a customer asking for him within a month, she would have him beaten up and left on the streets to die.
But Tetsuya didn't want to die.
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End of Prologue
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