Love Through Time
By HalKJAkiko
Genre: Yaoi, AU (first three chapters), drama, romance, sap
Pairing: going to be major RuHanaRu
Status: on-going 3/9
A/N: This will be the last chapter where it is AU, Slamdunk characters are coming up in next chapter! But I'm making less and less sense! Help!
Anyway, if you have noticed, the titles of these three chapters formed a sentence: I'll Follow You, Just Like We're Destined to Meet, Across Time and Universe.
Now, it's time to thank people!
My beta-readers: you know who you are! Though you all only beta-read my first chapter but still, thank you! Sorry for forgetting to thank you in the first chapter.
Nian: Thank you for being the first reviewer! I thought this fic would be of no help! No one reviewed but then yours came! Thank you. And here is the third chapter.
Sereneione: wow! Unique name. Anyway, yar, I did borrowed the name Xue Ke from a TV drama and Feng, well, another borrowed name. Thank you for reading!
Olivia Y: yoz! You got the Xue Ke character right! It is from Qiong Yao's story. Just liked the name and yar, I borrowed the story too. XD
And yes, sometimes I think those lines from HuanZhu Ge Ge are too... well, you know, the perfect kind of love lines... but well, aiya, I really want Rukawa and Hana-baby to have perfect love! XD
/.../ thoughts
Chapter III: Across Time and Universe
Queen Ling sighed as she saw her precious daughter staring into the space again. Advancing closer, she could see that the Princess was holding something close to her heart and her lips were lifted in a tiny smile. Princess Xue Ke had this dreamy look on her face and her sapphire eyes were not focused.
The Queen's eyebrows drew closer but her eyes softened for her heart ached to see the apple of her eyes like that. She knew the Princess was devastated but Xue Ke had been behaving in a weird way ever since her meeting with Feng four days ago. The Princess would stare into space often and smile, mumbling to herself. Maybe her love for Feng was deeper than she and the King had thought, but the Queen would never let a commoner marry her precious daughter. And she deeply believed that once Xue Ke and Yun married, Xue Ke would find what a wonderful boy Yun was and forget Feng.
"Xue-er..." she called out but not really expecting an answer. True enough, the Princess continued mumbling to herself. Queen Ling turned Xue Ke around to make her look back at herself.
"Xue-er!"
"Oh, Mother, it's you. How are you? Do you know that I'm feeling extremely happy now?" Princess Xue Ke's face split into a big grin. "Feng said he was going to take me to the West Lake one day and then we will row boat for a whole day."
"Xue Ke! Stop this right now," Queen Ling winced as she saw the grin and the gleam in her daughter's eyes. /What am I going to do with her? How would Yun feel if she talks like this? What would others think? Princess Xue Ke's crazy?/
"Why, Mother?" Xue Ke asked innocently.
"Xue-er..." the Queen's voice softened as she drew her child into an embrace. "Please don't be like this. You know that Feng's in the Imperial Prison..."
Princess Xue Ke tilted her head and stared at her Mother.
"Oh, my child! If you want to cry, just cry out and get over it. Don't... don't torture yourself like this. And Feng is out of your life now, so never speak of him again, especially when you and your Yun-biao-ge are getting married soon. Do you understand?"
The Princess continued to stare at her Mother without even blinking once. She was no longer smiling but gave no answer.
"Alright. I guess that's a 'yes'. Now, the Imperial Physician had prepared the abortion remedy and it's ready. Be a good girl and drink it as you have promised me," the Queen sighed. "XiangYu! Bring in the medicine for your mistress."
The maid came in with a big bowl of black remedy. It smelt horrible, looked horrible and would taste horrible. She held out the medicine to the Queen.
"Give it to your mistress."
"Y...yes, my Queen," the maid squeaked and her hands were shaking. She knew what medicine it was and she knew what it could do to her mistress's stomach. "My Princess... please drink this."
Princess Xue Ke turned her gaze to her personal maid. XiangYu's heart gave a tremble as she felt her mistress' eyes on her. /How... how sad she looks. This is not the Princess I know... she was the most joyous and mischievous Princess I had ever known... and she was the best Mistress a lowly palace maid like me could get... she never treated us like servants, instead we were almost her friends though she has her temper sometimes... but it's still really painful to see her like this.../
"Xue-er..." Queen Ling started as the Princess made no motion to drink the awful looking remedy.
"Mother, it's a nice soup you've prepared specially for me, isn't it?" the Princess blinked her eyes at her Mother.
Queen Ling was startled. Her daughter was in serious self-denial but maybe it was better this way. She did not say anything but just nodded her head very slightly. The Princess beamed at her although her eyes were still cold, and took the medicine without any further ado.
-----------------One Month Later---------------
"Princess... you have to put this on. It is only auspicious to wear the headgear," ZiYan begged Princess Xue Ke.
"Why must I wear this stupid headgear? It is so heavy and I don't like it," the Princess sulked in front of the mirror.
"But... but Princess, the ceremony is going to start in four hours time, we need to get ready," ZiYan tried to talk some sense into the Princess.
"What ceremony? What does it have to do with me? I just don't want to wear this headgear! I'm already so uncomfortable in this stupid red dress... are you trying to disobey me?"
"Princess..."
"Let me," Queen Ling's voice sounded.
"Ye...yes, my Queen," ZiYan backed away from the dressing table, where the Princess was seated.
"Xue-er... be a good girl and put this on. It's only proper for a bride to be dressed fully."
"Bride? Me? I'm going to marry? Oh right, how can I forget? Quick, quick, ZiYan, help me with the make up. I need to be the prettiest bride in the whole world for Feng," the Princess started fumbling around with the rogue powder.
"Feng?" Queen Ling breathed under her breathe. /Oh god, I thought she was okay already? How could she not get over that boy? And now that boy is going to be.../
"Mother? Mother, don't worry about me now. I'll prepare myself well, so now please go along with the preparation of the ceremony. I want it to be perfect for Feng. I think we're going to be the happiest couple, don't you think so?" the Princess blubbered on.
The Queen sighed and could not bear to see her daughter like this any more, so she left the chamber but decided to return to check on her just before the ceremony started.
"ZiYan? ZiYan?" Princess Xue Ke called.
"Yes, my Princess?"
"Where's XiangYu?"
"You sent her to the Imperial prison to look for Master Feng just now and..."
"Princess! Princess! Something terrible is happening!" Right on cue, XiangYu barged into the room like she was being chased by a herd of bulls.
"What's terrible?" the Princess was adding some colour to her cheek.
"Master... Master Feng is..."
"Feng? What's happening to Feng? Quick, tell me!" Xue Ke quickly put down the make-up she was applying and turned to face the panting maid.
"He... he's going to be..." XiangYu chocked. "Executed in an hour's time."
"What?" the Princess's eyes widened and her whole body went rigid.
"Are you sure of this information, XiangYu?" ZiYan asked, she too was shocked beyond words.
"Yes, I heard the prison wardens said so. They said that the King does not want Master Feng to live because he was afraid that Master Feng would do something to Princess or worst make her run away with him again," XiangYu was now sobbing into her hands.
Xue Ke sat there in front of the dressing table and stared hard at her own reflection, which had gone so much paler, contrasting her cascading black hair. She was snapped out of her daydreams and back to reality. She remembered how Feng was sent to the Prison when they failed to elope. She remembered everything now.
/One hour... one hour and Feng is gone? What am I going to do? I need to save him; I need to talk to Father. Yes, I'll make him change his mind./ Thinking so, she rose from her chair abruptly and rushed out of her chamber. But there were two guards outside her chamber, stopping her.
"Let me through!" she screamed.
"Sorry, Princess but the King has ordered us not to let you out until it is time for the ceremony to start."
"Go away! It'll be too late by then!"
"Sorry, Princess..."
"Please... please let me through... I beg you..." she sank on her knees but the guards did not show any intention to move away from the door.
/what am I going to do? What am I going to do? Feng.../ Princess Xue Ke's mind was in a chaos as she thought of how one hour later, the love of her life would be gone... and it was all because of her. Tears trickled down the corner of her eyes.
She did not know how long she sat on the floor but when she finally came to sense, her mind was clear as to what she should do.
"Everyone, including ZiYan and XiangYu, please leave me alone for a while."
"But Princess..."
"Don't worry, I'm alright and I'll make sure that I've got all the make-up and everything on by the time the ceremony starts, okay? Now please get out," the Princess said with a slight smile.
ZiYan and XiangYu frowned as they took in the strange behaviour of their mistress. They wanted to rebut, but they cannot defy their mistress's order. Reluctantly, they left the room and closed the door behind them.
Sitting down in front of the mirror, the Princess continued to put on her make up and dressed up properly as a bride. Fingering the sapphire pendant on her neck, she gave a little smile.
"Feng... I've already lost our baby and now, you're going too. My whole heart's gone with you two and there's no point living on... Feng, you'll wait for me, right? Just wait for me to come with you... I'm sorry for all that's happening... it's all my fault. If only I'm not a princess... but never mind... soon, I'll be with you, forever..." the Princess whispered softly to the pendant and gave it a feathery kiss.
"If there's a next life... I'll want to be with you... but let me carry the responsibility of protecting you then, I'll protect you... I don't want to be weak anymore... so let's make a deal... promise me that you will wait for me. Promise to find me in our next life. Remember, do not drink Grandma Meng's soup when you cross the Twilight Junction, so that you won't forget our love..."
Xue Ke tucked the necklace back underneath her clothes as she climbed onto a stool. She threw a red sash across the beam and tied a knot. With the last thought of joining her lover in her mind, she put her neck through the loop and kicked the stool.
Outside, ZiYan and XiangYu heard the fallen stool and was startled.
"What do you think happened?"
"I don't know."
"I think we better check on Princess."
Pounding their fists on the door, they shouted for the Princess, asking if she was okay. Hearing no response for a quite a while, the two maids panicked and quickly opened the door, not caring if the Princess would kill them for barging in, but that was if she was okay in the first place. What greeted them was such a shock that the two screamed.
"Princess!"
"Help! Someone help!"
"Please help to get the Princess down!"
The guards at the door charged in and were horrified to see the Princess hanging from a red sash from the beam. They quickly proceed to bring her down but all was too late. The beautiful pale girl's breathing had stopped.
ZiYan and XiangYu broke down and cried for the loss of a great mistress. But they failed to notice two streaks of light, one red and one blue, flashing across the night sky. Nor did they hear the soft whisper that the wind had blown to their ears.
"Don't worry, I'm going to be with Feng soon..."
-----------------------------
Rain: Dying Love
Here wais where the wind stopped
Stopping to capture our thoughts
Here was where the rain intertwined
Intertwining for us to stay on
It was Fate to have you by my side
Our Fate was pre-destined
Love had a millionth's sweetness
Wish I was buried at that spot
With every cycle and sweetness
I looked deep into your eyes
Seeing the gentleness of
All your feelings
We did not understand love
Thinking it come and go easily
We believe that eternity did not exist
Freezing time at that split moment
We did not know how to show gentleness
Thinking that dying for love was an ancient myth
How painful could the parting be?
How deep could the wound get?
When the heartbreak set in
We finally understood
Fin. 10/08/04
A/N: Finally finished this part. Sorry if it sounds a bit too... ermz... illogical... and as for that poem Rain: Dying Love, actually it's sort of a translation of a Chinese song called "Jiang Nan" but still, not a very exact translation. Hope you like this part. And yes! The SD boys are finally going to appear.