Inspired by (1956) The King and I, (2005) The King and the Clown and (1956) The Court Jester. If you haven't read the manga (or watched any of these movies), you may not catch some references and jokes. But if I wrote this right, it shouldn't matter.

For those new to my writing, if you see a misspelling/grammatical error/OOC-ness/bad story telling please tell me asap. If no one says anything I'm going to assume everything is perfect or no one is reading this.

1 O'clock Curtain

Welcome to the thick and rich lands of the Ootori. Their lands spread open and far, even possessing some minor mountain regions. Thick forests, wide farmlands, rocky rocks. Despite the fact the royal family was quite obviously Japanese, they lived in a western castle. Stones walls, stone floors and wooden banisters. They were not an artistic family, so all of the royal houses only had the basics. No major theme changed in any of the estates aside from their royal crest and colours. A bare wall may have a tapestry or a warming (and concealing) curtain, or for real practicality a torch for light (electricity was a rarity in these days and was seen only as dangerous forbidden magic). Most of the money went to staff, defensive walls, and law enforcement directed by the Haninozuka.

I dare you to conquer that shit.

The King was cursed with an unhappy wife. I will leave the reasons why for now up to your imagination. But when she left him (after their heated court date) she took the King's distant summer home and left her three sons and one daughter to the King. The King then blessed his lawyer for having awesome lawyer-ing skills. The daughter would be married to a price from another kingdom of his choosing. To gain more power and to loosen bitter ends with the rival company- I mean, rival kingdom.

His two eldest sons were great treasures in themselves. Doing everything they were asked without question and skillfully. At times it seemed almost pointless to have meetings with them, as they would always echo in agreement. They were like clones of himself. He was so pleased with this, he saw no need to attend to his youngest son who's distant personality made the King feel it would be a waste of time to work with.

Besides, he had everything else under control. It was all planed out when it was time for the King to retire (or worse). If they didn't kill each other the eldest son would get the East Kingdom, the other would possess the West Kingdom (see, they were so unoriginal they couldn't be bothered to give fancy names to their important sectors).

Unfortunately, since the Queen left him with one son too many the King had to plan what would happen to the third son. After all, he couldn't split his kingdom into thirds! It just wasn't an even number! There were too many added math/power problems because of it!

It also didn't help that the King was a manipulative asshole, which is why his wife left him. And why the first two brothers were boring as hell, and the last prince was left with avoiding the occasional assassination attempts. The King wouldn't even grace him with his own presence. Their conversations came second hand from servants' mouth and letters written by servants (early cellphones and email, if you will).

His sister and close servants have tried softening the blows. Offering gifts claimed to be directly from the king himself; things from small trinkets to fine steeds, but the prince knew better. But he accepted them just the same. After all, it is not their fault. Everyone would be left to scratch their heads, it was hard to fool a child who seemed to know everything.

But his closest servants, Hotto, Tachibana and Aijima knew if things continued on this course, the shadows were only to get darker. They watched the boy grow up, accompanied him at every class and meeting. They saw the potential he had, if only his father would would give him a chance. The King wouldn't, and with a child this smart, bored and oppressed the three servants knew they were witnessing the calm before the storm.

"Do you not think, Tachibana, that my father and my brothers have had their fun?"

The first two brothers had quite a lot of nicknames. It comes with the going to be king thing. The youngest brother had only one. Which was fine, it fit him quite nicely in an unfortunate way.

The downfall of a great kingdom was being planned.

One could argue a kingdom with suffering civilians was not great, but what else could one label a kingdom that had such a powerful hold of the land? Hotto, Tachibana and Aijima agreed that the rule was harsh, but they feared that their removal will be even more catastrophic. They and the mistress did not want to see the young prince to echo in his father's footsteps. But who was to say? What could be done? The boy never showed much emotion.

Surely there was someone out there to match his wits, someone who could show him the brighter side. They knew with the right lighting, even a shadow can smile.

The prince had snuck into the prisons to meet a girl who was to die. A foolish peasant who spoke up against the king and his unfair laws caused the death of her mother. He gave her and glance and said nothing. She watched back, her eyes strong with loathing.

"Can you feel anything, Shadow Prince?"

He told himself that he didn't care. A sentence that was repeated more than he cared to count. The downfall of a great kingdom was being planned, and she was the key. Unfortunately for the shadow prince, he would be putting the wrong key in the lock.

"What are you doing?" The girl's eyes softened as she watched the boy struggle with the iron door.

"Hush you foolish peasant, what does it look like I'm doing?" He hissed as he continued to try to twist the key in the lock.

But be quiet, he hasn't figured that out yet.