Kaiooshin-kai: A History
Book of Cups, part 4: Bridegroom of the Universe
A DBZ fanfiction by LadyRivka
A/N: Some quotes to set the mood for this chapter:
It took so long to remember just what happened.
I was so young and vestal then,
you know it hurt me,
but I'm breathing so I guess I'm still alive
even if signs seem to tell me otherwise.
-Tool, "Prison Sex" (Tool is the place to turn for shounen-ai/yaoi song lyrics, BTW….)
Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate;
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance of nature's changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
-William Shakespeare, Sonnet #18 (which, BTW, was written about a beautiful boy…)
Hoshiko, Dai Kaiooshin, and company tried to put their horror behind them in preparation for Ban'noh's big day. The day he would be married to the Universe, know all of its secrets. The day he would ascend to the throne of East Kaiooshin.
As the soon-to-be East Kaiooshin got on his new clothes (a long blue doublet with red trim and aqua sleeves, a red sash, aqua pants, and red boots), Hoshiko, Dai Kaiooshin, and Kibito prepared everything; Hoshiko practiced the initiation magick in her head, Dai Kaiooshin pulled a great feast for five thousand and a long red carpet out of thin air, to be rolled across the Eastern quadrant of the planet; and Kibito anxiously clutched a pair of potaras that he would give to the god when the time was right, hoping the petite purple deity would notice his assistant was wearing them too.
As Hoshiko ended her incantation practice, she went out to the tent where Ban'noh was getting ready. She noticed that a huge crowd of all classes, but mostly Ten'ue, was gathered around the red carpet, waiting for the god to make his entrance. Dai Kaiooshin was seated at the head of the dinner table, anxiously waiting for his replacement to arrive; and she could barely make out Kibito standing at the very end of the carpet, seemingly very nervous.
What's with you? she telepathically asked the Namae-nai.
I have one last chance…one last chance…I have so much trouble letting him go, knowing he will never love anyone again, ever! he replied.
Poor thing, she thought. But it's destiny, you can't do anything about it.
I suppose, Kibito mentally sulked.
Hoshiko went into the tent, wringing her hands in frustration. She hated to see people suffer like this, but she couldn't do anything about it. The ceremony had to go on.
"Are you ready?" she asked the young god.
"Quite. But I do not exactly understand this kissing ritual."
"It's the last taste of freedom you get," the mage explained. "All the girls, or guys if you're female, in which case you aren't, will come up and kiss you. And your male mentors will give you a little peck on the cheek for good luck. As far as I know, all the gods have had to do this."
"I see," he said, grinning his characteristic grin.
And Hoshiko saw what Kibito saw in him; intelligence, beauty, everything, conveyed by his bright, penetrating midnight-colored eyes and the manner in which his mouth curled slightly when he grinned. And her heart sunk for the Namae-nai. Honestly, she pitied him. As for her, she had moved on. She realized she wasn't going to get Ban'noh, not in a million years.
"Good luck, Kaiooshin-sama," she said to her charge, exhaling deeply. She then went up to the head of the dinner table where Dai Kaiooshin sat, in order to perform the ceremony.
The new East Kaiooshin walked out in stately grace, slowly measuring his steps across the red carpet. A few girls here, some there, would run up and kiss him gently on the cheek. Some were bold enough to attempt kissing the young god on the lips, but he just kissed their cheeks out of kindness. The crowd cheered and shouted "Good luck!" when he passed by. But Kibito still waited, more nervously than before, for what he saw when Kaiooshin walked steadily across the carpet was an angel, a state of idyllic grace and purity that soon would have a sign above his head that said, "Do Not Touch or The Universe May Go Very Haywire". He glanced down at the carpet, trying to distract himself. But it didn't work; nothing worked; his mind was still focused on the god he was assistant to.
Then he saw a pair of red boots waltzing across the carpet.
East Kaiooshin-sama's.
He looked up to see the young god's ebony eyes staring directly into his, as if to mock his feelings for him.
Kibito mumbled, "I have something to give you. A token of good luck. But you need to follow me, as I fear some people may dislike it. It's given some bad luck in the past, but you, sir, are a god, and you hopefully will transcend bad luck."
"What-what is it?" Kaiooshin asked.
"Follow me and you'll see," said the Namae-nai, still retaining a look of utter seriousness on his face as his insides began to coil in nervousness.
Kaiooshin, inquisitive, followed.
One out of the crowd, Kibito dropped a pair of solid gold potaras into Kaiooshin's hand. "Put them on," he said. "It's a reminder of your power."
Kaiooshin remembered these from when he was a child, and how Hoshiko wouldn't let him have a pair. He put them in his ears and sobbed, half out of the pain of the earring piercing his earlobe and half out of joy that someone finally gave him something that he wanted in his life.
He looked up at Kibito and thought, "Doomo arigatoo gozaimasu." ("Thank you ever so much.")
"Doo ittashaimashite" ("You're welcome"), Kibito thought back.
The light wind blew Kaiooshin's mohawk into his face, hair dancing above his eyes, still looking at his assistant. Kibito's heart pounded in his ears, deciding what he should do next.
He bent over closer to his boss…closer still…even closer still, telepathically communicating, You know how I feel. Let me show it before it's too late.
All he could pick up from the young god was a confused array of mental signals as he finally bent down and kissed him on the lips, gently, for a few seconds. Kibito stood up again, to find the lavender deity blushing and speechless.
Kaiooshin finally mustered the courage to speak. "I- I don't believe it. I just don't."
"Why not?"
"Because we were supposed to be professionals…"
"As we will be from this day forward. That was my last chance. I'll never do it again, I swear, sir."
"On your life?" Kaiooshin raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, on my life," said Kibito, still knowing that he would still have feelings for him after he took the throne in Universe-marriage.
The two returned to the crowd, and Kaiooshin rushed up to meet Hoshiko, who would perform the ceremony.
"Turn about, my son," said the mage, "so all may see you. Now is the time you will surrender yourself to the Universe and take it in marriage, yes?"
"Yes," said Kaiooshin without a shred of doubt about what he was doing.
"Now, to recite the spell, ever-binding," said Hoshiko as she cleared her throat.
Dear Universe, take this to your bridegroom be
And have him serve you in sovereignity;
Wassail and women shall he not need
And upon him nothing may feed;
May he be devoted to his work
Devoted, devoted everlasting be;
Devoted, devoted everlasting be.
With that, she raised her arms in jubilation, and a whitewash of energy came over Kaiooshin.
"Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce you to the new East Kaiooshin!" Around the central table, a whole planet could be heard applauding as Kaiooshin marched to take his throne in the East Quadrant.
But inside, one man still cried.
Kibito-san.
END PART 4
PART 5- More on Bibidi and Buu….I think…