Flickering Flames

Disclaimer: Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime and its characters belong to their respective owners. In other words, I do not own them.

Author's Notes: Yes, another old fanfiction of mine (I'm telling y'all, I have nothing new to offer). I posted this at the Dress Up forums and futagohime LJ, so some of you may have seen this already. If not, prepare to read purely unedited and OOC Rein-centric story.

It was another night at Sunny Kingdom. Fine had been with our mother for the whole day, and she was currently at her bedroom chamber. Mother loved both of us equally, though she seemed to give Fine more attention. Likewise, I'm quite close with father, but it was days like this where I felt uncomfortable with talking to him.

See, today my father went to Jewelry Kingdom for official affairs. Whenever he comes back from performing royal duties like this, he's very exhausted and usually dislikes being disturbed or bothered. My uneasiness comes in interrupted his resting time, as he deserves to relax.

On a side note, I really wanted to go with my father today. I mean, Prince Bright would be there! I know I'm just seven, but I am certain that I don't have a just a petty crush on him. Oh, what I would do to see his caramel-colored eyes again! I can just imagine us at his beautiful castle's kingdom, singing a love ballad together. Ooohohh... I'd confess my feelings to him, and he'd-

"Rein?" a familiar voice called. The voice belonged to no other than my mother. She had entered me room in her typical clothing. She was carrying Fine on her back, who was fast asleep and in her nightgown.

"Yes, mother?" I apathetically asked. I know she didn't mean to interrupt my daydream, but I really feel a bit disheartened right now. She continued smiling at me, oddly enough. She never seems to get disturbed by anything in general.

"Your father wants to speak with you. He's in the library chamber right now."

"..."

Father? Hm, I wonder what he wants to talk about. I'd expect him to be sleeping right now, or at least reading a book in his bedroom. My mother moved a few inches closer to me and kissed my forehead. She then whispered, "I'm going to tuck Fine into bed, and I'll be going to sleep right after that."

"All right, then!" I softly chirped. "Good night, mom!"
"Good night, Rein."

As I exited my bedroom chamber, I briefly glanced at my mother, followed by Fine and my vacant bed. I really wanted to sleep and dream of Prince Bright, but alas, I couldn't do that just yet.

Our castle library wasn't very far away from my bedroom, thankfully. As I trotted further down the hallway, I noticed an auburn light glistening around the area. I bet my father started a fire in the fireplace. It was quite warm in Sunny Kingdom, but I suppose Jewelry Kingdom didn't have the fortune of good weather today.

I felt my heart skip a few beats the more the light became brighter. Maybe I shouldn't be getting tense like this, but father hardly ever talks to me after he's attended a meeting or dealt with his errands. Perhaps he wanted to scold me or give me a lecture about something?

Entering the library seemed a bit weird for me, especially because it was so late at night. I wasn't frightened by the emptiness or dim light, but this was the first time I came in our library this late. Usually, I'd come in here with Fine and Camelot early in the morning. Camelot always makes us study core subjects in here. Most of the time, Fine and I disregard what she has to say and goof around. Hah, I remember we made Camelot so mad on time that she screamed louder than a roaring lion!

"Rein?" a gentle voice echoed at my left. Ah, my senses were right in believing it to be my father's voice.

I turned my head in that direction, only to see an empty chair with many books piled up at the desk in front of it. I stepped over to desk, observing the spines of the various novels and atlases. One of them particularly caught my eye. Hmmm, A Maiden's Profile...

"Boo!"
"Aaaahhhhhh!" I screamed.

I fell on the hardwood floor on my butt. The only unfortunate part about this was the tumbling pile of books that were about to fall on me. Not to mention I was terrified and ready to burst in tears.

Ouch, that really hurt. The tears can wait.

"Rein, are you okay?" my father anxiously asked. I noticed that he was frantically taking the books off of me. I assisted him by pushing off some of them as well.
"Yeah..." I achingly answered. "I'm okay, but you really scared me, father!"
"Heh, I'm very sorry, Rein. I didn't mean to scare you."
"Oh, don't be! Ummm, mother told me you wanted to speak with me..."
"Ah, yes! I wanted to show you something!"
"Huh?"

Ooohh, I wonder what he wants to show me. Maybe Prince Bright entrusted him with a love letter. Nah, that couldn't happen... Well, maybe it could. I did send him a love letter anonymously last week. Oh my gosh, I bet he was able to tell that it was I who wrote that letter!

"Here we are!" my father piped.

To my disappointment, he wasn't flashing a love letter or anything that seemed like a means of confession from Prince Bright. Instead, he held out a dark red book that had the words "A Maiden's Profile" written in gold foil. Ah, I remember seeing that book on the desk a few moments ago. I noticed how excited he felt in presenting the book to me, which didn't make me feel all that bad about not getting something from my beloved prince.

"What's that, father?" I curiously asked.
"This is a book I recently bought at the Jewelry Kingdom's main bookstore. They have a very nice variety of books! I skimmed through this one and thought you'd really like it. It's about young girl and her romance with a prince from a faraway kingdom."

After his last sentence, I inspected the book in greater detail. It was nicely presented, but I bet it'd have a lot of difficult words I wouldn't understand. The story intrigued me, but I would've preferred something a bit more adventurous or scary. Still, I'm sure the book was pleasant.

"The book seems very nice, father." I responded. "I would love to read the book, but I think it would be hard for me to read."

My father lightly chucked and said, "Of course it's hard for you to read, silly. That's why I called you here. I thought the two of us could read it together. That way, I can explain anything you find difficult to understand."

"It's a long book, though."
"Well, we can meet every night like this and read it!"
"..."
"Rein? Is something a matter?"

I was completely speechless at his offer. I've never seen my father so enthusiastic about something (other than the time my mother gave him a huge star constellations book for his birthday). I finally mustered up the remaining amount of consciousness I had and looked up to him.

"Nope, I'm feeling perfectly fine." I squealed. "Let's start reading it right now!"

My father sat down on one of the armchairs in the central area and gestured me to sit on his lap. I hopped on and situated myself between his arms. He then cracked open the book and began reading the first page.