A Sorta Fairy Tale

by Obsidian Eclipse

Feedback: Please? If you've got any questions, skepticism, praise, can I hear them? ^^

Rating: PG13 for now, then later, R

[Now] A Life Long Thing

The memories are as ripe in my head, never fading as if from a distilled watercolor painting.

It is snowing, and it is cold and wet. The land is quiet, all is still. Yet despite all of this, I see the glacier beauty in it all.

A sudden shudder goes through my body, and my silk robes are not a match for the icy wind. Why did I come back here? I might be missed, though I doubt it. Nakago has his share of the two adoring, fighting lovers. I had murmured some excuse and fled, as I had done so many times before.

Though some time has passed, I doubt that those senshi have forgiven me. My foolishness.

But I know why I wander back. Whom I privately call, "my red-haired god."

Impulsively, I climb a tree, hoping to get some sort of shield underneath its snowy, thick branches. The limbs are slippery, but I sit on a fairly high perch.

Why did I agree? Had I possessed the gift of seeing into the future, would I have done the deed in exchange for the outrageously heavy bag of gold? No, I suppose.

The Suzaku senshi in me cries out in disgust, repeatedly, but my heart is as heavy as that gold. I was so arrogant, I reflect. So proud and willful. I suppose I still am, but... did I change? Am I different? Did time, somehow, change me? Like the willow sign on my breastbone, yanagi, did I bend and sway, nodding to a different direction?

It does not seem so.

I lean back against my tree, and hug my arms around my slender, shiver-racked body. Yet I still do not move, still lost in my thoughts.

I was supposed to be called Nuriko, but the Suzaku senshi that I had come to know so well was pained at the thought of calling me that particular combination of syllables. I understand that there was an original Nuriko, one of an incredible strength and caliber, and was killed in his line of battle. For which then I was called. I had never known my parents as a young girl, only my abusive and slave-driving aunt, born into a backwards village some three-hundred li away from the Konan capitol. I was so little then. Then I learned to grow up. I hired myself as a maid, caretaker, and even a priestess, waiting for my particular clients to step out. That was when I started my plundering.

A self-satisfied smile appears on my lips. It was a good way to live, comfortable, until I was caught. The thought makes my smirk fade. And then he came.

Handsome, confident, the blond general made his way to my side. He struck a deal with me, paying me in advance. Saying that I alone was the new senshi of Suzaku.

Insane. But my blood ran with the universal language of money, and I agreed swiftly.

I had garnished everyone's trust, and then broke it. I attacked them, with my newfound telekinesis and, for a lack of better words, magic. Caught them by surprise.

The few more times we fought again were brief yet full of memory. But it was the last when he had captured me, tortured me.

I cannot explain it, not in logical words. But all I know is that I glanced into his eyes, felt something... and plunged headlong into a vortex of emotions.

I did not feel any shame before, until then. The things I did, the games I played, was I really that vindictive?

My name is Karasu. Raven. Everyone called me that, even him. The red-haired god. Whom I had cherished the thought that if I tried hard enough, he'd be mine.

Tasuki.

What is so special about him I do not know. He swears, was a bandit. Yet I see him differently, seeing him probably no one had before.

I slump against the trunk of my tree. My long, dark, almost blue hair is most certainly tangled. Tears come unexpectedly to my eyes, and I impatiently wipe it away. I hate crying.

The tears still fall, and I fall asleep like that, crying and leaning against the large tree that faces the large courtyard of the Konan palace.

* * *

"R'ekka Shi'en!"

I hear the voice in time and it is enough for me to jump off, landing smoothly on the ground next to the speaker. To my slight amusement though, his aim was intended somewhere higher above where my head was positioned.

I momentarily how his hair looks like fire, whipping in the wind.

I touched the fire and it freezes me, I muse ironically.

Tasuki gave me a glare, from those beautiful dark green eyes. "What the hell are ya doin' here?" he demands.

He does not intend to hurt me, I know. "I can ask the same question."

Tasuki rolls his eyes. "I was takin' a fuckin' walk, tryna ta clear my head. And I found you, sleepin' in that tree. What's yer excuse?"

I quickly shift my deposition in my outward emotions, and smile sweetly at him. "You didn't ask that when I visited you in your private quarters last time," I say, ending my statement with a purr as I stare defiantly back.

"That's not what I meant," retorts Tasuki, his cheeks reddening. I think it is adorable, and before he can react, I step forward and caress his cheek. So hot, despite the cold.

He instantly shoves me away, and I let out a throaty chuckle, unable to keep a mocking grin off my face.

"Yer my enemy. Why do you... do that?" he asks rhetorically, weakly, still glaring. It amuses me slightly to see that great Mount Reiku bandit is like this before me. But I do not play on that amusement.

"I think you know why," I speak seriously for the first time, my voice lower, and Tasuki glances at me in surprise. "I... have been visiting you for over two months. Couldn't... wouldn't you tell?"

Damn it. Why the fuck do I choose to stammer now? I hate the falter in my voice, the fact that I am unable to lift my eyes to him.

"Yer cold." I look up in surprise as Tasuki touches my snow-covered sleeve. "Yer shivering."

"I..."

"If ya come to my room ya might warm up. But ya better leave after that."

I cannot say anything; I just gaze at him in surprise, and part gratitude. The first time... the first time Tasuki had issued me an invitation into his quarters.

He starts to saunter off, then looks back at me. "Well, aren't ya comin' or not?" he demands crossly.

Something fills me. This feeling... could it be happiness? Gods, it'd had been so long...

Without a word, just a smile that keeps tugging at the corners of my mouth, I then follow my red-haired god.