WARNING: One sided: WolfYuu, ShinMura and MuraYuu. We'll see how this changes in time. Rating also may change. .
.
Butterflies
Only a month after Yuuri signed the engagement termination document, the entire country, if not the world, was aware of the new piece of gossip. The Maou was, for the first time, available for the pick.
The only reason there wasn't a horde of suitors in the castle doorstep was because the procedure wasn't still finalized, and being that the case, the Maou was still, by law, off limits. That didn't stop a few of them though, but Gwendal had managed to scare them off, literally.
Yuuri found out, very soon after signing, that the entire castle was aware of Wolfram's decision before he was. On the bright side, he felt relieved not having to explain anything to anyone, but he couldn't help but to feel betrayed, even though he knew he deserved it.
Ken, on the other side, had found himself actually grateful there was so much to do to finalize a royal engagement. It had kept him busy enough and he was glad to take that specific burden off of Yuuri's shoulders. By this point in time the possibility of Shinou's soul still resisting was close to zero, he knew that well, but was trying not to think about it too much.
That morning two letters had arrived to Blood Pledge Castle. One of them announced the delay of the dam construction because of an earthquake, meaning Conrad wasn't coming back any time soon; the other, confirmed the presence of Rufus von Bielefeld in the roundtable scheduled for the next Monday. It had been the last one to arrive, and did not state if Wolfram was coming along.
Yuuri was re-reading the letter for the hundredth time when Ken opened the door to the study and let himself in.
"Any news?" he asked, resting his back on the windowsill of the window behind Yuuri, and receiving no answer.
Ken understood the conflicted emotions swirling on Shibuya's mind. He wanted to see Wolfram, make sure he was okay, but at the same time felt too embarrassed and ashamed too actually see him. He knew because he had his own mix of feelings to deal with.
Their trip to the shrine had only confirmed what they already knew, and now there was nothing left to do. Only the future of the shrine itself was left to be decided, Shibuya had proposed it was kept as it was, now only to serve the purpose of a grave, but Ken reminded him that keeping the priestesses there for just that reason wasn't necessary. Shibuya had insisted nonetheless.
Ken had the feeling Shibuya had only done this for his sake, to ease his pain of losing Shinou by leaving things unchanged, and he was thankful. But that wasn't the way a king is supposed to make his decisions. They argued about it, but as it always was, once Shibuya had set his mind on something, there was no changing his mind.
As for letting the country know of this, there was actually no need. Except for a selected circle of people, nobody knew Shinou still took a material form to show himself, and long ago he had given Ulrike his will of leaving the kingdom in the hands of Yuuri and his lineage. That was already a known fact to the people of the country.
Yes, this was a lost nobody would weep, only one man was left to carry the entire weight of this death beyond death itself.
A few minutes of silence passed by and neither Yuuri nor Ken wanted to be the one to break the silence.
It had been a rough week for them both and their shared pain had brought them closer together, a much needed friendly hand was always at their reach. No consoling words had been exchanged, silence and company were just enough.
A sudden joyful squeal in the hallway brought them back to reality. After exchanging a questioning look they walked to the door and peeked in the direction of the noise.
"Did you hear!? Did you hear!?" Doria was screaming while jumping up and down with sparkling eyes.
"This is so exciting! We can get so much information!" Sangria answered, just as effusively.
"They haven't come back to the capital in over seventy years! I have never seen them myself" Lasagna said while directing her gaze into the sky."I hear that when they come down is one of the most beautiful things in this world" she continued and the other two nodded in agreement.
"And what about the legend? Maybe now that Heika is no longer enga..."
At that moment Sangria was cut short by the sudden realization of two sets of black eyes peeping on her through a half open door. Before anything was said by the owners of those eyes the three maids had already ran halfway through the castle, into the kitchen.
.
.
.
...oOo...
.
.
.
"What the hell was that all about?" Yuuri questioned Murata, who was digging into his sandwich. They were eating lunch outside, just the two of them. Lately they did it a lot, Yuuri was ashamed to face Gwendal, so he did it as little as possible. The maids had practically tossed the picnic basket at them, and then locked themselves in the kitchen.
"Actually I wasn't sure until just a few minutes ago, one of the guards was apparently talking about it, and they must've overheard"
Yuuri looked at Murata, waiting for him to continue, since, as usual, his answer didn't really say anything. Yuuri had learned that, if he waited long enough, Murata would explain on his own.
"You see, every couple of year the butterflies in this world migrate for one country to the other" Ken said adjusting his glasses "Contrary to earthen ones, butterflies in this world live much longer lives, but they never stay too long in one place, so most people have never seen them. Probably someone saw them flying this way"
Yuuri thought about it for a second. So this scandal was about a bunch of butterflies that may or may not appear anywhere near them. What did that had to do with information, and with him no longer being engaged?
Ken saw the question marks appearing over Shibuya's head and wondered whether it was wise to tell him or not. He would probably go searching for the damned things and it wasn't the best of moments to leave the castle. Now, in the other hand, the possibilities of anyone actually finding them, were almost non existent so...
"There is a popular believe that, if you find the butterflies just after they descend from their flight, they'll reveal what's in your heart" Ken said, regaining Shibuya's attention. He could be so cute sometimes, just like a big eyed puppy. Ken cleared his throat to chase away the smile threatening to show on his face. "It is said that the color of the butterfly that sits on your shoulder shows the eye color of the person you truly love". That was probably one half of what the maids were talking about, now, the other half was the tricky part.
"But what does that had to do with me not being engaged anymore?" Yuuri asked, unknowingly reading Murata's mind, as he then realized for his facial expression. He was actually getting good at that.
"Well, there's this legend that says that if you find a black butterfly and present it to the Maou before the day of the descent is over, he or she will fall in love with you"
Yuuri choke on his juice.
"You're kidding, right?" He asked, hoping Murata was just messing with him. This country, this entire world was so filled with this kind of weird legends and wonts. Something like this was obviously impossible back on Earth, but maybe here the damned butterfly was cursed or enchanted and could actually make him fall in love with a stranger. Just what he needed.
Ken laughed but shook his head. This was real, maybe stupid, but real. He actually didn't know up to which point it was true, but it was definitely real.
"Don't worry, it is said that only one butterfly in every flock is black, and I doubt anyone can find it. But just in case, you should get as far away from them as you can, unless you want to get trampled by a mob of suitors" Ken said and noticed how a small light in Shibuya's eyes died out. He knew it, Shibuya wanted to see the butterflies.
"It's a shame though, they must be really beautiful..." Yuuri said and was surprised to see Murata chuckle for no apparent reason.
"Yeah, I know"
.
.
.
...oOo...
.
.
.
"You're still thinking about the butterflies, aren't you? It's already been five days. You should be worrying about the roundtable tomorrow" Ken said, mostly mocking Shibuya, he was actually glad he wasn't obsessing about the roundtable, it was the first of a large number of mandatory hearings for the official breaking of a royal engagement. It had never been confirmed, but Wolfram ought to be there, he had initiated the process, after all.
"I know but I'm curious" Yuuri said resting his head in one of Murata's pillows. He was making his daily visit to his friend before going to bed. To tell the truth, more than one time he had wished to actually just sleep there. He had discovered he really didn't like to sleep alone in that enormous room, and was reminded of how much that room actually scared him when he first got to Shin Makoku and Wolfram wasn't there.
But Murata wasn't a replacement for Wolfram. That he was sure of. Somehow their friendship was so utterly different it actually amazed him. With Wolfram Yuuri felt protected, the guy was unmistakably beautiful, but he was in no way fragile, and Yuuri knew that and also knew Wolfram would give his life to save his at any time. That wasn't pleasant to know.
With Murata it had always been what Yuuri would call a more normal friendship, that of two equals. Even if he was the reincarnation of the Dainkenja, Murata would always be the glasses guy from back on Earth. Also, ever since he came to live at the castle, Yuuri had discovered something he had suspected for a long time. Murata was much more fragile than he looked.
The always composed sage was actually capable of much more emotion that he ever imagined and was, always had been, lonely on the inside. Yuuri found himself feeling protective over his friend, he wanted to take care of him, ease the loneliness and his suffering he had been carrying for so long. It was such a refreshing change, to feel actually able to protect someone, to actually know what to do.
"Say Murata, don't you want to see them too?" he asked. Murata was reading some book by the window, in the desk the mockingbird had appeared, not once, but twice. Yuuri still hadn't told that to Murata, and he probably wasn't going to.
"Well, I have seen them before" Ken answered without thinking. Then he noticed Yuuri sitting on the bed and looking at him while frowning.
"No, you haven't" he said, stressing the word you. Ken laughed and thought it was really just like Shibuya to actually remind him he was Murata Ken and no one else.
"Yeah, I guess you're right" he said when he had managed to control his laughter and Shibuya was looking at him with the cutest questioning look, at least in his opinion.
Searching through his memories he remembered the first time his soul had seen the butterflies, a light blue one had landed on the Daikenja's shoulder.
"See! Why don't we go looking for them?" Yuuri said, almost jumping out of the bed. To be completely honest, he had a hidden motive for all this. No matter what Murata said, Yuuri was still uncertain. Murata was suffering so much, maybe he was really in love with Shinou, and the butterflies could answer that question.
It wasn't like him to be this nosy, he himself wasn't sure of why he wanted to know the answer to that specific question so badly
"I thought you had outgrown that phase by now. I hadn't hear you proposing irrational quests in a while" Ken said with a fake scolding tone, he actually missed that particular aspect of Shibuya's personality.
"Oh come on! Wouldn't you like a good adventure?" Ken thought about it for a second, truth is he wasn't the adventurous type, but he did enjoy Shibuya's face while facing one. Unlike Shinou, Shibuya never had a plan before acting, although Shinou's plans were never all that good either. Shibuya could shine even without the planning, he could truly smile in the face of situations that would break most people's spirit, he never gave up and he never let anyone behind. Most like Ken assumed Wolfram had once thought too, he would feel honored to follow Shibuya into the ends of the world.
When he was about to just give up and let Shibuya have his way, they heard a loud woman's scream coming from the courtyard. In less than a second they were both running down the stairs barefooted and in their pajamas, internally calling onto their respective marioku.
What they found waiting for them, was nothing like they had imagined.
It was the butterflies.
"No way" They weren't sure which one had voiced their shared thought.
It was almost impossible to see them descending in the dark, but once the light of the castle reached them they were actually more beautiful than Yuuri had imagined and Ken remembered.
Every maid, guard and in sum, every soul in the castle had gone out to see the spectacle. Hundreds of butterflies, in every color you could possibly imagine, were descending and finding places to rest in every flower, plant or person in the courtyard.
Yuuri unconsciously walked to the center of Celi's garden while looking up into the color filled night sky. Laughter and cheering could be heard from even outside the castle walls. It felt like a miracle.
Voices announcing the color of the butterfly that had chosen them or those around them popped out every few seconds, but even after all of them had come down, none had chosen Yuuri, and apparently no one had found the legendary black one either.
Yuuri felt somewhat disappointed, not because of the missing black butterfly, but because none of them had chosen him as their landing spot. He knew he wasn't in love at the moment, so according to the myth, it was understandable, but still. Even when he tried to pick one up from a flower, it had flown away from him.
Then he suddenly remembered, he had lost Murata on the sea of color at some point. He needed to find him, he needed to see if a blue butterfly was standing on his shoulder, only then he could be sure.
Trying to walk between the countless people that had gathered in the courtyard was almost impossible, he didn't want crush any of the butterflies either, so it took him almost five minutes to walk what usually would only take seconds. He looked up trying to see if he could recognize Murata's hair over the bunch of heads, and then he noticed a single butterfly still in flight, that seemed to be unnoticed by everyone else, but he couldn't distinguish what color it was.
He followed the butterfly into the deep west end on the yard. It flew slowly and circled every once in awhile, refusing to land in any shoulder it passed by. This side of the castle wasn't well lit, and it was becoming harder and harder for Yuuri to follow it, which made him wonder why was he chasing it in the first place, he had to go find Murata.
Suddenly Yuuri realized exactly where the thing was flying to, only a few meters away he could see his apple tree and there was someone standing just under it. The moon shone brightly in their direction, but the person was facing away from him, and Yuuri could only see his silhouette.
The butterfly had landed on the mysterious person shoulder and now Yuuri was more intrigued than ever. Then he heard a chuckle in a well known voice.
"So you managed to find me" it was Murata's voice, for a moment Yuuri thought he was talking to him and walked closer, enough to perfectly distinguish the scene, but then he noticed Murata was actually talking to the butterfly and offering it his index finger for it to rest on.
Yuuri was frozen on the spot, against the moonlight it was clear, he couldn't deny what his eyes were showing him.
That butterfly, the one that had chosen Murata wasn't blue, it wasn't blue at all.
.
.
.
Sorry, this chapter was shorter than I expected.
So you're probably thinking "Then what color was it!?", I think you can probably imagine.
I know this story has at least one more chapter, but I don't know how many more I'll do after that. Any thoughts plot-wise?
Now, an answer to an anonymous reviewer:
Grace: Thanks so much for taking the time to review! I'm glad you think that way, especially since I really didn't have much faith in this story when I started it, because of the pairings and of how I wanted to approach every character. I hope you can let me know what you think of this chapter too.
