Castles in the Air

Every cloud has a silver lining

Title: Castles in the Air

Author: Kanata Saionji.

Genre: Romance/ Fantasy/ Family

Story Line: Is it possible for love to sprout after you get married? And what if your partner for life is a completely different personality with dreams of their own? What if all this happens in Royalty? What if a deadline is given for your dreams? What if…? What if…? Why don't we play this "What if?" game with our most favorite pair—Kanata Saionji and Miyu Kouzuki—in this fantasy filled adventure set in the 12th century?

Disclaimer: The Author does not own the characters. Everything is the sole property of whomsoever it was created by. However the story, in the general version, belongs to the Author.

Author's words: Enjoy the story to its extreme and please, the readers can make any sort of comment. Anonymous reviews are welcomed.

Story…

Episode 4

The Mid-night Pact

'What am I going to do?' muttered a brunette pacing to and fro in front of a desk laden with papers. It looked apparently like a study room as there were book shelves along the walls and pens and ink stands placed neatly on small stands along the shelves. The brunette looked at the papers and his sharp auburn eyes turned dull at once.

He walked slowly towards the desk and walked right past it to the window at its back. He pulled away the curtains and the moon's light fell on the snow on the grounds and it shined juts as bright as the moon itself, as though parts of the moon was spread all over the kingdom.

The brunette sighed and sat down on the chair and pulled a couple of papers towards him. He started to read one. His eyes narrowed with every sentence and even before completely one paragraph in the paper, his head fell on the table, on the paper he was holding with a small thump. Just then, the door to the study opened and an ash-green haired guy entered the room with large smile which disappeared at once at the sight of the fallen brunette prince.

'Kanata!' exclaimed the ash-green haired guy as he ran towards him. But before he reached the table, Kanata popped his head up and looked at the new arrival with one open eye. He closed that one too with a small sigh and asked, 'what do you want now Mizuki?'

'What do I want?' asked Mizuki amused and bend down to pick one of the papers that had fallen down whilst Kanata's head thumped on the table; he looked up at Kanata with the paper in his hands and asked, 'what are you doing here?'

'Where else can I go?' asked Kanata sitting up properly.

'Let me think…' said Mizuki and made a mock image as though he was thinking and said flustered, 'how about your room?'

'How can I go there if you guys offered it to her?' asked Kanata standing up and moving towards Mizuki.

'Offered it?' repeated Mizuki, 'that's her room, now…'

'Then how can I go there?' asked Kanata his eyes wide.

'Eh!' exclaimed Mizuki, 'you guys are married… you two have to stay in the same room… open your eyes!'

Kanata eyes flew wide open and he exclaimed, 'What… no way!'

Mizuki raised an eyebrow and Kanata started stuttering at once, 'anyway, you can't call that marriage… I mean... you know… we never… well, we never kissed'.

Mizuki gave Kanata one look and burst out laughing. Kanata turned a light shade of magenta and Mizuki finally stopped laughing after nearly five whole minutes of hysteric laughter. Kanata look flustered and Mizuki started to finally speak, 'I still can't believe that she actually fainted after that pastor said, "you may now kiss the bride"…'

'Well,' said Kanata, 'if she hadn't, I would have…'

Mizuki gave another round of laughter and controlling himself said, 'if that's your problem, she will give you as many kisses as you want, tonight…'

Kanata turned a deep shade of magenta and smoke started coming out of his ears. It looked as though he was on fire, 'what are you saying?'

'C'mon Kanata,' urged Mizuki, 'she's your Queen…'

'Not until the New Year, she's not…' corrected Kanata at once.

'What are you saying?' asked Mizuki with a blank look.

'Well, dad said it'll take time to transfer everything under my name and the enthroning ceremony will commence only on the New Year…' said Kanata closing his eyes.

'What's that got anything to do with Miyu and your marriage with her?' asked Mizuki.

'Well, if I'm not a King, she can't be my… well she can't be my Queen…' said Kanata blushing slightly.

Mizuki slammed his right hand against his forehead and said to Kanata, 'if you don't leave to your room in ten seconds, I'm calling Mikan…'

'Sheesh… I'll go…' said Kanata, 'why do all of you threaten me against your sis…?'

'Cause she's the only one you solemnly fear…' pointed out Mizuki with a smirk and added with a grin, 'have fun…'

Kanata turned bright red at once and his eyes vanished behind his bush of a brunette hair. He walked slowly out of the study room and made his way to his room located in the next corridor. He was thinking all the way to his room on what Mizuki said. A/N: In case you're wondering, it's about what he said before the marriage

'I want you to make sure that Miyu can continue her dream to become a minister'.

'What can I do about that?' thought Kanata and then suddenly an idea struck him and he couldn't wait to tell Miyu about it. So he rushed past all the doors in a sprint and as soon as he reached his room, he didn't bother to knock, he just opened the door, saying, 'Hey, I just figured out—'

He stopped in mid-sentence. Just as he was about to enter the room, Miyu was standing beside his bed and her face was deep red and her emerald eyes were beyond themselves with shock. Her right hand was across her chest and they had stopped in mid-way removing her snow white wedding dress. Her left sleeve was already half removed and her shoulders were open to the fresh air in the room. In short—Kanata walked in while she was changing!

'PERVERT!' shouted Miyu and Kanata slammed the door just in time to avoid a flying lamp which missed his face by inches. He was breathing very deeply and his arms were shaking a little. He had turned a bright shade of red, again and his heart was beating like crazy.

Inside the room, Miyu was as red as a newly bloomed rose and her heart was beating much faster than Kanata's. She quickly pulled back her sleeve and waited for a whole minute breathing deeply. After a few minutes, Kanata knocked the door and asked in a very low voice, which was barely audible, 'Can I come in?'

Miyu took a deep breath again and said in slightly more than a whisper, 'Yeah… c'mon in…'

Kanata slowly opened the door and came in red in the face. He stopped as soon as he saw her back in her wedding dress. He became speechless at once, exactly the way he felt when he first saw her walking down the aisle.

'Pervert…' ,uttered Miyu under her breath, but either Kanata's ears were sharp or Miyu's voice was loud, cause the next second, he pointed his index finger at her and said, 'hey… I didn't mean to look at you like that you know…'

'Then why didn't you knock?' asked Miyu with her hands on her shoulders.

'Excuse-me!' said Kanata sarcastically, 'I've been in this room for nearly fourteen years and I never had any reason to knock to enter…'

'Well, you have now!' pointed out Miyu shouting.

'You?' asked Kanata, 'you're the reason?'

'Of course,' said Miyu, 'this is my room now…'

'Oh please,' said Kanata turning, 'why don't you find yourself a room by the broom-closet?'

'How dare you…' started Miyu.

'I dare very much,' said Kanata with a smirk.

They both stood there glaring at each other for a whole minute and then after a few seconds broke the glance. They turned away from each other with an "Hmpf". After a few minutes, Miyu sat down on the bed, her dress covered most part of it and with difficulty Kanata also found a small place and sat down. It took them another few minutes to actually start a conversation.

'Hey,' started Kanata, 'I'm really sorry…'

Miyu looked at him and the same sense which she had the last time he had apologized to her passed through her heart. And thinking about the last time he had apologized, a vivid sentence which he had said the last time, echoed in her head.

'If I go out with Sandy, time just flies by…'

Miyu's felt a tinge of guilt at once and said to Kanata, 'I should be the one to apologize…'

'Why?' asked Kanata raising an eyebrow.

'Well, you know… I kinda separated you and your love…' said Miyu guiltily.

Kanata's face turned blank and he asked, 'My who?'

'Your lover,' said Miyu turning to him and a drop of tear appeared in her eyes and she said, 'I'm so… I'm really, really sorry…'

Kanata raised both his eyebrows and asked, 'so, who's my lover again?'

Miyu looked at him blankly and said, 'it's the girl called Sandy, isn't it?'

Kanata gave her one blank look and broke down laughing. Miyu looked at him amused and she asked, 'what's so funny?'

'Well, the fact that…,' he stammered between his laughs, 'the fact that you referred to my horse as my lover…'

He continued his laughter and Miyu turned bright red around her cheeks. After a few seconds, she joined him too.

'I really can't believe I was such an idiot…' said Miyu laughing.

'You're not an idiot, you know,' said Kanata seriously.

'Really?' asked Miyu looking at him.

'Yeah,' said Kanata, 'you're a loser…'

Miyu glared at him and hit him squarely on his head with a pillow.

'Ow… that hurt!' exclaimed Kanata massaging his head.

'Serves you right!' said Miyu folding her arms.

Kanata gave her a cold look for a whole minute and then said, 'hey, I want to tell you something…'

Miyu looked at him dully and asked, 'What now?'

'I figured out a way to get out of this mess…' said Kanata excitedly.

'Really' asked Miyu with an equal amount of excitement that seemed to have sprouted out of nowhere. She asked, 'how do we escape out of this stupid marriage?' showing her right hand in which shone the diamond ring which Kanata had put through her ring-finger.

'Well…' started Kanata looking at an identical ring on his right ring-finger, 'that's it… we have to adjust to it for atleast a year…'

'Why a year?' asked Miyu raising an eyebrow.

'Well, I was going through one of the laws that dad just passed and then thinking about it later, I figured out that if I pass a law that makes it impossible to let us be together,' he said, 'then, we can get separated, no problem…'

'Why can't you do it now?' asked Miyu, 'why, wait a whole year?'

'Well, I read that a fresh king cannot pass a new law until he attains atleast a year's experience,' he said, 'unless if it is an emergency… and moreover, dad will freak out if I do it immediately and he'll get back his throne…'

'When did you become this witty?' asked Miyu with a raised eyebrow and a grin.

'Hey, I'm a Saionji,' said Kanata, 'I'm smarter than some silly girl who wants to be a minister…'

'Why do you keep doing this to me?' asked Miyu getting up.

'Well, I don't really know,' said Kanata and added, 'sit down… I'm not finished'.

'Hmpf,' he muttered and sat down again, 'so, what kind of a law is this?'

'A law that states the following,' he said and closing his eyes recited, 'No Member of Family or Royalty shall be allowed to be a part of the court or the judiciary except the King himself who holds the throne'.

'What?' asked Miyu, jumping down from the bed and on her feet, a smile caressed her face as soon as she realized what he meant by that law.

Kanata smirked and standing facing her said, 'and now all I have to do is carry out my duties diligently and I'll be allowed to draft a law and all you have to do is to become a minister… easy huh?'

'What if I'm unable to pass the test?' asked Miyu after a second thought.

'Well, I'm dead sure that you won't fail,' said Kanata closing his eyes.

'Believe that I'm not a loser now?' asked Miyu.

'Well, now that you mention it,' said Kanata with his finger on his chin, 'if you loose, I'll kick you out myself saying I don't want such a loser of a Queen…'

Miyu glared at him for a moment and it turned into a smile at once and she said, 'thanks a lot'.

Kanata turned blank for a second. Her smile kind of made his heart skip a beat and make him lose his voice. After a few seconds, he finally found it and he muttered, 'Mizuki wanted me to help you… so, you should thank him and not me…'

Miyu gave him a huge smile and said, 'I'll thank him when I become a minister…'

Kanata smirked and said, 'I'll go to bed then'.

'Hey wait…' she called.

'What?'

'Do I still have to wear the ring?' asked Miyu.

Kanata looked at her for a second and said, 'I think you have to… if you slip it off even for a second, atleast one of the servants is bound to notice and you know, word travels fast in the kingdom…'

Miyu sighed and said, 'alright then…'

'G' Night,' said Kanata as he turned again to leave when she called him again. He got frustrated and asked, 'what is it now?'

She was a little taken aback and with a low voice asked, 'I was just wondering where you were going to sleep…'

Kanata raised both his eyebrows in thought and replied, 'in the study room…'

'Um… you should take some blankets with you then,' she said and picked him some blankets from the bed.

Kanata took then and with a small smirk asked, 'is there anything else?'

'Yeah,' she said smiling, 'just one more thing…'

'What is it?' he asked smirking.

'Happy Birthday Kanata,' she said smiling and closing her eyes.

Kanata's heart missed another beat and his stomach felt as though a thousand butterflies were set free inside and somewhere inside the castle the clock chimed midnight. He shook his head to the amazement of the blonde and said, 'you took your time…' he managed to mutter before he left the room with a burning face.

But at the door, before closing it, he stopped long enough to say, 'and… I'll never forget this birthday…' he turned facing her and with a smile said, 'for many reasons…'

'Why am I feeling this way?' thought Miyu as her heart started to race really fast.

End Episode 4

Tune in for the next episode of

CASTLES IN THE AIR
Every cloud has a silver lining.

Thought: "Give God what he deserves and not what is left"