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I think true love is never blind
But rather brings and added light
An inner vision quick to find
The beauties hid from common sight
True Love
Stanza One
Phoebe Cary
Whenever Suboshi did something stupid
like use his makeup for painting pictures, which he had actually done only
the day before, or take some of his clams to use as decorations on a box
that he had made for his elder brother, what Tomo usually did was to grab
the nearest solid thing that was conveniently at hand, give the boy a few
whacks over the head with it then drag him over to his brother where he
would yell at Suboshi for being a stupid little fool and at Amiboshi for
not being able to keep said stupid little fool under control.
Therefore, Amiboshi was somewhat
surprised that day to see the role reversed with Suboshi dragging Tomo
after him, a big smile on his face. His face. Oh gods..." Sh...Shun-chan?"
He wasn't sure if this was his brother. Sure the guy had the same
sandy hair as him, same build, he could even see bright blue eyes much
like his own twinkling with mirth but what had he done to his face?!
" Hello, aniki! Look what Tomo-sama
did!" Suboshi crowed happily, finally letting go of his grip on the older
seishi's arm.
Tomo, rubbing his arm where the boy
had held him, scowled down at him. " It wasn't my idea. He
just kept annoying me and annoying me until I wanted to brain the little
fool. The only thing that kept me from doing so was the thought that
Nakago-sama wouldn't be very pleased if one of his seishi ended up dead."
" And Seiryuu forbid that you displease
Nakago-sama, huh, Tomo?" Soi asked with feigned innocence as she examined
the tip of her braid. Feeling her fellow seishi's murderous gaze
on her, she looked up, and batted her lashes sweetly at him.
Amiboshi hadn't been listening to
the two, by now having developed the ability to tune out their constant
bickering. He just stared at his brother, still in somewhat of a
shock. " Please tell me this is some sort of illusion, Tomo-sama..."
" What's the matter? I think
I did quite a good job in applying the makeup..." Tomo perused his handiwork
thoughtfully, somewhat proud of himself. He had had a hard time keeping
the boy still on his chair as he had smeared the various colors on and
he thought that he had done very well under those circumstances...
" Don't I look good, aniki?"
Amiboshi didn't even grace that question
with an answer. It was...strange, to say the least, to see his brother
painted in much the same way that Tomo was, and right now, the only thing
that he wanted to do was to take Suboshi by the arm and lead him to the
nearest pool of water where he would be able to wash himself. An
awful thought struck him as he examined his twin: this was what he
would look like too if ever he decided to take after Tomo and try his hand
on some stage work, which, he reassured himself, wasn't bloody likely.
Soi watched the boy with some amusement.
" What in the world possessed you to do this, Subo-chan?" In her opinion,
one painted freak in the group was already more than enough, in fact
she would have preferred it if there had been none at all. They didn't
need another horny little fag in the group. Tomo kept her on her
toes more often than not as it was.
" I just thought it would be fun
if I got Tomo-sama to put his make-up on me." Suboshi explained.
He had always been fascinated with the things that Tomo put on his face
and had always wanted to watch him putting some on, though he never allowed
that. Tomo didn't like anybody looking at his bare face and so Suboshi
just immediately assumed that there was something seriously wrong with
it. That morning he had caught the older seishi in a particularly
good mood after a little tryst with one of the more handsome Palace Guards
that had caught his eye and had managed to annoy him into putting the makeup
on him. He had enjoyed watching his transformation, though
he didn't think he would like putting all of that stuff on all the time
like Tomo did. It was really sort of uncomfortable having all of
that gunk on his face.
" Make-up enhances natural beauty,
though in the case of these twins, there's not that much of that to enhance
in the first place..."
" Too much make's a person hideous."
Soi retorted, wrinkling her nose in distaste as she examined first Suboshi,
then Tomo. Particularly Tomo. She had seen the man without
all the paint covering his face before through a strange incident and though
she had never liked the sight of his painted face, she preferred it that
way because he was actually quite beautiful under all that junk, though
she would of course never admit to thinking that, preferring to die rather
than do so, and she would feel a whole lot better if Nakago wasn't made
aware of this beauty. Just in case.
" And yet you succeed perfectly well
in doing that all by yourself, without the help of any make-up!"
Tomo commented snidely mentally congratulating himself for winning this
round.
Suboshi prevented Soi from snapping
out any smart come backs that she may have had by letting out a loud cackle,
quite a good imitation of Tomo's blood-curdling chuckle. " Look at
me! Look at me! I'm Tomo!" He raised a hand melodramatically
to his forehead and let out a breathy sigh, " Why doesn't Nakago-sama ever
notice me? Why? Why?"
" Well, what do you know?" Soi laughed,
" The boy has a future on stage!" Suboshi was a constant source of
amusement for her and it wasn't often that anybody saw him acting as childish
and carefree as this. There was just something about this particular
day that had them all on edge. All of them felt as though something
important and long awaited was about to happen. They just weren't
sure what that thing was...
" The boy had better shut up if he
wants to have a future..." Suboshi had been so engrossed in
his imitation that he never noticed Tomo's hand curling into fists by his
side and his piercing amber eyes getting progressively narrower and narrower.
" Well, hey there soldier!" Suboshi
went on, not taking any notice of the warning signals and resting one elbow
on the table before his brother, a suggestive smile on his face, " You
know of me, of course. Tomo, of the Seiryuu Shichiseishi. What
say we- Ow." Suboshi glared balefully at Tomo and slunked over to
his brother's side.
The painted seishi glowered down
at him as Amiboshi absently ran a hand over the lump that was beginning
to form on his twin's head. He hadn't known that Suboshi had been
around to hear his little conversation with that delicious little Akito
of the Imperial Guards, but the stupid boy had a habit of skulking around
the Palace unnoticed. One of the many, many things that he disliked
about him.
" You shouldn't hit the kid like
that!" Soi reprimanded him. Amiboshi seemed to tending to his brother
perfectly well on his own so she made no move to rise from her place on
a nearby chair.
" And why is that? It never
seems to have any effect anyways, hardheaded creature that he is."
" You can't just-"
" For once Tomo is right. The
boy deserves it most of the time."
All conversation in the room stopped
at the sound of the cool voice, even Amiboshi's murmured reprimands to
his twin. The tension became palpable. Nakago swept into the
room, gave Suboshi's face a brief examination, a small, somewhat amused
smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. " I suggest you wash your
face as soon as I finish with you. Though there is little improvement
in your appearance even without all that hideous makeup, I think I prefer
you that way."
" Yes Nakago-sama." Suboshi muttered,
unconsciously drawing closer to his twin.
Soi's eyes widened at the sight of
the blood that stained one edge of the cloak that the tall blond shogun
held in his hand. " Are you all right, Nakago-sama?"
He raised one eyebrow questioningly.
" Of course. Why wouldn't I be?" He followed Soi's gaze and realized
what it was that had caught her attention. " But something
important did happen today while I was out in the city."
" And what is that, Nakago-sama?"
Tomo asked, his voice a low purr. As usual, the man looked stunning.
How he wished that slut Soi wasn't around to come between him and the leader
of the seishi.
" I ran into some men attacking a
girl in one of the alley ways," Nakago explained, " A most unusually dressed
girl. She is like nothing like I've ever seen before. One might
even say that she appears other worldly."
" Other worldly?" Amiboshi repeated
thoughtfully, " Does that mean...?" Suboshi was as unconcerned with
this piece of news as always. He didn't see any significance in it
and didn't understand why Nakago was even bringing it up.
" I believe we've finally found the
long awaited Seiryuu no Miko." It wasn't often that Nakago smiled and even
when he did, it wasn't exactly the most pleasant sight in the world.
His smile just seemed...empty. Like his eyes. Completely devoid
of anything that might give away any of his emotions. " And just
in time too. Now we can take care of the Suzaku menace..."
" Can we see her then?" Suboshi
asked, finally catching onto the excitement of the others. He was
curious as to what this girl would look like. Would she be exactly
like all the other people in this world or would she have scales, blue
skin and six fingers in each hand?
" Not with you looking like that."
Once more Nakago's lips twitched mysteriously. " I don't think it
would be a good idea at this moment. She is still in shock and I
only came here to get you, Amiboshi."
" Me, Nakago-sama?"
" Yes. Your skills can finally
come to some use. Follow me."
Suboshi scowled as he watched his
brother trail after the blond shogun at a respectful distance. "
How come he gets to see her and I don't?" He asked nobody in particular.
Amiboshi got all the breaks. He had really wanted to see this Maiden.
" Hey, Amiboshi, be sure to tell me everything you can about her!" He called
out before his twin was out of sight.
~**~
His brother was going to be very
disappointed. He knew, from past conversations that Suboshi expected
the Seiryuu no Miko to look strange or at least different from what they
were used to in this world but to Amiboshi she just looked...well, normal.
He examined her closely under half
lidded eyes as he played his flute, the haunting melody echoing throughout
the huge chamber that the Seiryuu no Miko had been placed in. She
was really quite pretty, he thought, despite of the ugly bruises that marred
her face. Poor thing. How horrible it must have been for her,
being brought into a new world, the first people she encountered being
a group of thugs and now she had Nakago to contend with in the bargain.
Well, at least he would be there to help her adjust somewhat. Suboshi
and Soi were pretty agreeable too. He wasn't so sure about Tomo.
Or Nakago, for that matter though he guessed that the Shogun would do nothing
to harm her, as long as she was useful.
He wondered when she would wake up.
He wanted to know so much about her! He wanted to ask her all about
what her world was like and how she planned on bringing peace to Kutou.
He would have to get to know her. He was her warrior after all.
He stopped playing his flute at that
thought, a small smile touching his lips. The Miko had finally arrived.
This was it. This was what he and his brother had been waiting for.
From now on, everything would be all right!
" Amiboshi."
At the sound of the familiar voice,
he abruptly wiped the foolish smile off his face, and brought his
flute up to his lips once more. Amiboshi winced as he let out an
unpleasant, piercing note, not having had the time to recover himself upon
hearing Nakago addressing him.
" You appear to be losing your touch."
The shogun commented as he came to stand beside the younger seishi.
He looked down thoughtfully at the girl lying on the bed. Good.
At least she was asleep now.
Hesitantly, Amiboshi asked him, "
Do you think she will be all right, Nakago-sama?" He squirmed slightly
under the piercing blue gaze.
" Of course. She has to be."
He replied matter of factly, as though there was no doubt about this at
all , though really, she was in rather bad condition. He had been
just in time to prevent those men from taking advantage of her but he hadn't
been able to stop them from doing any damage to her entirely. " She
will-"
" Nakago. You haven't introduced
the two of us yet."
He frowned slightly at this interruption
though when he turned around to face the person that had spoken to him,
his face had reverted to it's usual expressionless mask. " Forgive
me, Heika."
Heika? Upon hearing this, Amiboshi
dropped immediately onto his knee. After a few seconds, he risked
a glance upwards, curious to see what the Emperor of Kutou-koku might look
like. He immediately redirected his gaze to the marble floor though,
when he saw a leering, flabby face staring right back at him. Well,
he had expected an Emperor to look somewhat more noble and...handsome than
that. After all, weren't they always hearing about the beauty of
that Emperor of the Southern Empire?
" His name, Nakago?" The Emperor
Shoukitei wet his lips slightly as he glanced down appreciatively at the
kneeling figure of the boy. How could he have missed this one?
He was really quite beautiful with his tawny hair and slim, well formed
body. His gaze drifted over to Nakago. Though of course
none could ever compare to the little Hin boy. Pity that he had to
grow up.
Nakago had not missed the man's perusal
of the boy and his only thought right now was to get Amiboshi out of there
as soon as he possibly could. He could take a pretty good guess at
what that dirty old Emperor was thinking. " Amiboshi of the Seiryuu
Shichiseishi, Heika. Right now though, he is needed elsewhere.
I will call for you if I need you, Amiboshi..."
" What's the hurry?" The man demanded,
casually resting a hand on one of the seishi's slim shoulders. Noticing
that little Amiboshi had gotten somewhat tense, he began to rub the boy's
back, which only succeeded in increasing his discomfort. " Your Maiden
is here now, Amiboshi."
" Ye...Yes, Heika-sama." He wondered
if it would be awfully rude if he pulled away. Nakago solved his
problem though by grabbing his collar and jerking him up roughly onto his
feet, ignoring the slightly annoyed look on the Emperor's face.
" Go now, Amiboshi." Nakago snapped
at him, much to his relief. " Tend to Suboshi. I believe he
had a run-in with Tomo."
Why couldn't Shun-chan ever keep
himself out of trouble? He bobbed down into a quick bow and made
his way towards the door of the chambers as quickly as he could without
actually having to break out into a run. He was glad to be out of
there, the Emperor made him uncomfortable.
" What a pretty boy..." The Emperor
commented absently as he watched the retreating figure.
Nakago said nothing. He merely
turned to examine the Seiryuu no Miko once more, resolving to himself that
he would keep the ' pretty boy ' away from the Emperor Shoukitei from now
on. After all, it wouldn't do for one of the seishi to end up hurt.
Not while they were still needed.
