Disclaimer: I do not own the anime Le Chevailer D'Eon or its characters.
Walking in on that scene in the last chapter will leave an impact on a hot-blooded youth like D'Eon.
11. Season of Flowers
"D'Eon…" Anna was calling him. D'Eon opened his eyes. "Anna?" His long-time girlfriend was wearing her Catholic schoolgirl uniform. Wait, she was unbuttoning that uniform blouse. D'Eon tried to sit up but his limbs refused to obey him. Anna stripped to her black lace brassiere and matching panties. The redhead smiled as she straddled his hips. D'Eon immediately felt an ache in his loins. He realized he was as naked as a baby bird. His ankles and wrists were tied down. Anna was holding a whip.
"D'Eon darling, if you don't behave, I will have to hurt you…" she purred. She was wearing a leather choker with spikes. D'Eon could feel his heart beating against his ribs in anticipation.
"Wakey-wakey, D'Eon de Beaumont!" Durand bellowed into D'Eon's ear. The young man leapt out of his blankets. "Don't do that!" D'Eon shouted at his roommate. Durand was chuckling as he shaved. "We need to get an early start today… oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt your nice dream? Your nice, wet dream?"
The bulge in D'Eon's pants was too much to ignore. Muttering under his breath, D'Eon retreated to the bathroom to relieve himself. Max had spent the night with Lia. Goodness knew what they were up to in their suite all night.
"You know, you really should ask Anna to help you with that… They say self-relief can cause insanity and blindness," Durand teased. "How come both you and Lia went to the same school and grew up in the same house but Lia is so much more liberal? I remember the time Lia and I went skinny-dipping in…"
"I am not hearing this!" D'Eon clapped his hands over his ears. "Checkout time is eight, D'Eon. Grab some breakfast and leave your luggage outside the door for the bellboys to pick up by seven-thirty…" Durand said as he combed his unruly mane. D'Eon stopped brushing his teeth. He rinsed his mouth.
"What time is it now?"
"About seven forty-five…"
D'Eon made a mad dash finishing his morning ritual and cramming his belongings into his suitcase. It was too late. Durand's luggage and that of everyone else in the TV crew had been whisked down to the lobby. It was up to D'Eon to bring down his own luggage to the lobby for loading.
"Excuse me, is this the luggage trolley for the French Vee-TV crew?" he asked the young bellboy Ichimura Tetsunosuke. "Hai," the youngster chirped. He happily took the suitcase from D'Eon and loaded it onto the trolley. Whistling merrily, he pushed the trolley to the parking lot. Contented that his luggage was in safe hands, D'Eon went to join the buffet queue. He did not see his suitcase slip off Teillagory's camera equipment unnoticed by the bellboy and behind a potted plant.
"Trust you boys to sleep in," Teillagory chided as D'Eon wolfed down a riceball on the go. Durand was tucking into a bento. Sakamoto was belting out a jaunty ballad. Lia and Max clearly had an exhausting night. They were dozing contently in the back seat. Robin was playing a Japanese card game with his grandfather, Katsura Umeko and Sara.
"Say, why is that old lady joining us?" Durand asked.
"She's hitching a ride to visiting a friend at the flower farm you Frenchies will be filming. I hear there's a French tadpole there so you frogs will croak along just fine," Sakamoto teased. "Quit it with the frogs bit," Durand said. Sakamoto only chortled. "Well, you were the one who started doing the frog-dance the other night…"
"I was drunk!" Durand protested. He sat up and his bento tray flipped, spilling squid-ink soy sauce all over D'Eon's pale blue shirt. "Oh dear, we will have to wash that out or it will stain," Umeko warned. They stopped at the next rest stop, where D'Eon made a horrifying discovery.
"Shouldn't you get dressed?" Lia asked when D'Eon emerged shirtless. "My luggage is gone," he fretted. "You could wear Durand's or Maxxy's clothes…" Lia suggested.
"No way!" There was no way he was wearing Durand's outrageous clothes. Wearing the clothes of the guy who was bedding his sis was just icky in his opinion.
"Or would you prefer mine?" Lia frowned. D'Eon was being difficult. "Well, I do have a spare shirt in my kit…" Teillagory volunteered. The spare turned out to be a T-shirt sporting a bull's eye and the slogan 'Open Season'. "That one, I like," Sara smiled appreciatively.
"Sakura-chan!" Umeko also ran to the young woman at the little shop at the entrance of the farm. "Umeko-basan!" Shinguji Sakura looked up from the dried flowers she had been arranging. Behind the store, endless purple hills of lavender bloomed. "Iris-chan," Umeko beckoned to a golden-haired girl trying to hide behind a large rocking chair. "Come on, don't be shy…"
Iris' eyes lit up when she saw the teddy bear Sakamoto took out from his van. "There, Iris-chan. Here's Mr Teddy for your birthday," the van driver beamed. "She's my French teacher's granddaughter. Her ma transferred here as an accountant for the farm," he explained. The other members of the farm are starting to converge on the film crew, drawn by the commotion.
"Whoa, is that an angel I see?" Durand gazed appreciatively at a young woman in a sundress who was making her way through the fields. "Maria Tachibana, the owner of Tachibana Farms," Sara introduced.
"Enchantez," Durand did a bow and took Maria's hand in his, bestowing a kiss on it. "So shall we get down to business with the filming?" Maria said coldly. "The flowers must be harvested soon. Kohran told me that she has the machine fixed up to start oil extraction." A bespectacled girl in grease-stained overalls waved from a nearby shed.
"Oh, do hurry, or we will lose out to the competition!" a haughty-sounding woman called out. "Well, Sumire-san. Inviting them over was your idea," Sakura retorted. "It's good advertising. Next year we will be full of tourists…" Sumire pointed out. "The washroom is that way… and where's the famous Lia de Beaumont?"
"Right here," Lia nudged her brother forward. "Goodness! I never thought she was a twin!" Sumire exclaimed. Teillagory's T-shirt was baggy enough to hide D'Eon's male figure. His long blond ponytail did little to help him. "She does look better-dressed on TV…" Sumire frowned. She turned to Lia. "Oh, Miss…"
"Dion, as in Celine Dion," Lia lied. "Well, for your bad rash, we have a terrific lavender-scented cream that does wonders for rashes arising for allergies…" Sumire happily took Lia by the hand and took her inside their store. Here was a chance to make a sale.
"Lia, shall we start?" Max asked D'Eon as he held up D'Eon's next on-screen outfit. It was a long dress in the French pastoral style with a matching sun-bonnet. "Aw, you will look so pretty in that," Iris remarked. "I could help do up your hair. Nothing much, just some soft curls," Sakura offered. D'Eon almost died of embarrassment.
"Come on," Umeko urged. "It will go better with that dress. You sister had her hair done up the same way when she came to our resort." She dropped her voice to a whisper. "I got news from the resort. They found your bag in the lobby and have it under lock and key in the left baggage room. You'll get it back on the return trip." D'Eon gritted his teeth and vowed never to accept another free holiday courtesy of his sister.
Finally they started the shoot under the watchful eye of Maria Tachibana and Max. Sakura had managed to give D'Eon some soft waves in his hair to go with the damned dress. Meanwhile, Robin made did card tricks to entertain Iris. Umeko and Lia shopped in the little floral products store, buying several bags of Tachibana farm products.
"Lavender was introduced to Japan from France in the early 20th century. In post-war Japan…" D'Eon started his speech as he strolled between fields of fragrant flowers. The first insect barely stirred his notice. The second one made him nervous. Then to his horror he saw one, no, five hives abuzz with bees. The large-built beekeeper waved to them. She was kitted out in protective gear.
"That's Kanna. She's our beekeeper. We are looking into developing lavender honey. The bees are really quite placid," Maria explained to Max. "No sudden moves, stay calm and you'll be fine," Max reassured D'Eon. They were almost done with the shoot. It was a wrap if D'Eon could manage the last part without panicking thanks to the bees in the vicinity. "Just walk calmly out of the camera frame," Teillagory added.
Kanna was harvesting honey from the hives and the bees were looking a little agitated. D'Eon carefully put one foot before the other, trying to avoid the bees that strayed into his path. "Shall I use the smoke?" Kanna asked. Maria shook her head. Sending a cloud of smoke into the frame would ruin the shoot. D'Eon almost collapsed into Durand's arms as soon as he was out of the frame.
"CUT!" Max shouted. "Well done, mon ami!" D'Eon was thankful there was no killer swarm after him this time. "Want to try our honey?" Kanna offered. She held up a large comb that was dripping with honey, bees and larvae. "Sure," Max sampled a bit before passing it to Durand, who declined it. Teillagory tried a bit and swore the bees tasted nutty. D'Eon shuddered at the sight of the bees and retreated for the safety of the store.
"Don't mind Lia, she's allergic to beestings…" Max lied. "Funny, I thought she did a show on bee-sting therapy…" Maria asked.
"Well, the bee stung me, not her. The rest was all camera tricks," Max lied smoothly. He had almost forgotten about that news item on alternative therapy they covered.
"Aw, look here. Leapfrog," Sakamoto nudged Durand. Robin and Iris were playing a childish game of leapfrog around the back of the shed. "Isn't that sweet... but not as good as your frog dance. Come on, boy. We are hitting the road. Get your girlfriend's email and you can chitchat later," Sakamoto called out. Robin went crimson in the face and tried to stand up, forgetting that it was Iris' turn to leap. The girl tripped and fell on top of Robin's head.
Sakura and Durand immediately went to help both children up. Durand dusted Robin off while Sakura ushered Iris indoors to treat a nasty scrape. "Say, Robin. What did you catch the colour of her panties…" Durand whispered. "I think it was white lace… wait, I didn't see nothing!" Robin replied, blushing furiously. "She's just a baby."
"Actually, Iris should be a year younger than you. She also did some acting in Paris, on stage. I thought I recognized her from Le Miserable set a few years back. I did some sound work there… She was Cosette," Durand nudged Robin. "Go for it. You need to wash that knee too." Robin nodded and ran indoors.
The crew piled into the van and headed for lunch. D'Eon was relieved to be out of that dress and back in his pants and T-shirt.
Author's Notes:
Introduced the following characters from Sakura Wars
Shinguji Sakura – Japanese. Here she is a worker on the form.
Sumire – Japanese. Here she is a business partner
Tachibana Maria – of mixed Russian-Japanese parentage. She acts as the leader of the group. Here she owns the farm.
Iris – French, youngest of the group
Kohran – Chinese, mechanic. Here she is still a mechanic
Kanna- from Okinawa, here she is the beekeeper.
A pretty dress and getting introduced as Lia by his sister. It isn't D'Eon's day. Bees and honey. Possible long-distance penpal for Robin?
I really recommend going to Hokkaido in mid-July. That's when the lavender is at its best and same for a lot of other flowers.