Rainbow
By SMYGO4EVA
The quiet singing of the wind dared to break the sacred silence that made its presence known in the garden of Shirasagi Castle. It was the garden where the royal Empress of the country, Amaterasu, was sitting upon a stone bench, hands threaded and eyes cast down.
In deep thought, the Empress looked upon the endless cascades of cherry blossoms gently falling from the braches of the oldest tree in all of Nihon. The garden was the perfect place for beauty to be seen by human eyes. That was why it was so beautiful; the grass still untarnished emerald, the waters of the lake an unbroken aquamarine.
So peaceful, yet it could not break the illusion of peace and prosperity in her land, with worries of her sister Tomoyo and the warrior who stood beside her traveling to many dangerous worlds outside of the kingdom that he rightfully belonged in.
Souma….
The kunoichi who had always stood besides her, promising to protect her from evildoers, demons, and disasters alike. What would she do if Souma were to perish in the brink of war, stained by crimson and never to return, ever again?
As if on cue someone appeared behind her.
Souma, the ninja of war and wisdom, the embodiment of a contradiction if ever there was one, had finally arrived.
Amaterasu stood up, turned from her sitting place, and gazed upon Souma's face, which had been hardened over the endless years by constant battles.
"You came after all, Souma. I am pleased." The Empress whispered.
Souma let one leg bed bend behind her so she would kneel and bow her head before her Empress in the great respect that a ruler such as her deserved.
"I always do as you request, your eminence."
"Enough with the formalities, Souma. We have known each other for a long time now, so why don't you call me by my true name?" She asked as her eyes, as fine and rare as sapphires, took on a look of a friend instead of a great, high and mighty ruler.
The ninja raised her head and stood up, feet planted on the ground. "I know that as well as you do." Souma said, her voice growing ever colder and a bit unsettled. "But I only live to serve you, your grace, not to assume any other role than I already have."
"Any other role?" Amaterasu thinned her eyes, her mind slowly tilting on its axis. "You and I are both aware of the roles that you play, and the roles that I play. What we do does not change that."
"Yes, but what would everyone say if we start speaking to each other on first-name basis? Who knows what scandal would be conjured up by the people if they heard about this?" Souma replied, discomfort evident in her tone of voice and manner of speaking.
Looking up, she started shivering as the Empress continued to stare at her with those intense cerulean eyes.
Intense, filled with purpose and calm, almost tinged with what appeared to be of wanting and yearning in cerulean orbs that were her eyes.
The kunoichi felt her breath quicken and become sharp when she saw the Empress walk closer to her and lean in slowly, very slowly, so that their lips almost touched. She felt her brow moisten and her gloved hands clenching, the closeness of the two almost too much to even fathom at this moment.
"I…I mean…Empress….what would we do if people create tales about us? What would we do them?"
She felt the Empress smile softly upon her lips; they truly were close, too close for words to describe.
"Let them…"
Amaterasu held Souma in a tight grip and then kissed her lips.
The kunoichi swore that her heart skipped a beat.
She couldn't believe what she was experiencing; she, a lowly ninja sworn to protect and serve, was being kissed by the royal Empress herself.
The kiss…it was…sweet…soft, yet it belied true feelings of lust that were confused with love. It was lingering and tender, but it became more wanting when her lips nearly consumed the other woman's own.
Souma almost felt….euphoric….that her feelings were realized by Amaterasu herself, even if she didn't know about those feelings until just then. Still, she hadn't expected this impulsive behavior out of the Empress before.
No.
This was not of sheer impulse. Amaterasu had planned this meeting and she had planned this very kiss, all for the sake of admitting these strong feelings for her.
The kunoichi began to relax, kissing the Empress in return with a quiet tenderness in both thought and mind.
What was once black and white between them had just become multi-colored. But alas, the world would still think in only black and white and never in rainbow. The world would never come to realize that what was seen as forbidden was just as beautiful. That is their fate: that is their curse, and there was nothing the Empress or the kunoichi could do about it.