Five Hundred Years and Holding
by aishuu
If anyone had told him, back when he lived in Nippon, that he would live for five hundred years, he would have laughed. Even on ascending the throne of En, he couldn't have envisioned his immortality All things must perish, Shouryuu knew, but the kings and queens of the Twelve Kingdoms defied this law. As he stood looking down at Astuyu's resting place once again, he reflected on the brevity of life.
He came here every year, as a lesson to himself. Maybe it was for penance, maybe it was a twisted sense of pride. Astuyu had been loved by his people, but he had been cruel. A ruler had to care for his people in return more than he cared for himself. That was where Astuyu had failed. That quality, that mercy, was why Enki had selected Shouryuu to become the next En Ou.
He worked hard to never forget. He thought of Kouya, now known as Kenro Shinkun, who wandered the last isle, waiting for him to fulfill his promise. He was the kind of subject that any king would be proud to claim - intelligent, talented and so loyal he would sooner destroy himself than betray his liege. He still remembered the look on Kouya's face as Astuyu turned on him, the betrayal and confusion as he was declared a monster.
"You were such a fool, Astuyu," Shouryuu murmured, staring at the grave. "You owned his heart, and took it for granted."
There was no answer, of course. The dead had no voices to speak with.
He leaned back, staring through the green leaves of the ancient trees. This place would seem ancient to most people, if they somehow managed upon it. For the normal man, five hundred years was ancient history. For him, it was his memories. He remembered when these trees had been planted, when this land had been nothing but a beautiful plane, situated on top of the mountain reachable only by suugu - or kirin. Enki would complain whenever he made this sojourn, but he never actively tried to stop him.
Shouryuu never really understood the kirin, despite being crowned ruler. Maybe it was because he was taika, someone who hadn't grown up in the culture of the Twelve Kingdoms. Despite his long reign, he still occasionally found the kingdom's attitudes surprising. Enki was at a loss to explain it, since he had been born taika as well.
What a strange pair they were, taika king and taika kirin. There had never been such as they before, until Taiki... and not long after, Kei Ou. It was intriguing that they had come so closely together in the scheme of time. There might be a balance there only the heavens understood; or it could just be chance.
He had liked the new Queen of Kei on sight, finding her earnest and willing to learn. She wanted, very badly, to do her best, and he was willing to help her however he could. To him, she was a child. It would be centuries before she even began to grasp what a great responsibility she had shouldered.
Shouryuu wondered, not for the first time, how Sekishi was really doing. From what Enki told him, Nippon was nothing like it had been in his time, a strange world of machinery and metal. How strange it must be for her, to come to this world.
Maybe she was stronger than he. Her first proclamation certainly displayed a bold confidence in her people that he couldn't even begin to approach.
He thought she would be one of the rulers to last, who managed to survive the pressures of ruling and learned the deeper truths; a sovereign couldn't control their kingdom; instead, they were the ones who served it. Keiki certainly deserved a good ruler, especially after the fiasco with Yo Ou.
Keiki had been luckier than most kirin, since his ruler loved him enough to abdicate to save his life once the Shitsudou set in. For most kirin, it was irreversible. Immortal they may be, but the Shitsudou had spelled the doom of almost all of them.
He hated to think of Enki, covered by the lesions of Shitsudou. Enki had always believed that Shouyuu would destroy En, and he may still have been right. There was no telling what the future would bring.
He had seen rulers come and go, and each time one fell, it served as a reminder that he, too, was fallible. There was no such thing as eternity, or true immortality. There might be a brief glimpse, but in the end, all things withered. He had seen the passage of time, and learned from it. With it, came a terrible loneliness only his kirin could assuage. Enki was his anchor, the one thing that didn't change.
It had taken over a hundred years to earn Enki's trust. At times, he knew the kirin regretted his decision to bring him back, but there was no undoing the past. By now, Nippon had moved passed his era, leaving him lost in time should he ever decide he wanted to go home. He wondered if that was intentional; when he had no where to go, it made it more attractive to make sure the place he lived was comfortable.
Someday, Shouryuu would forget that. He knew it was inevitable, since no king had lasted much longer than he. Temptation awaited even the most vigilant ruler, and someday, he would find his doom in himself. In the end, Shouryuu would stray. In the end, he would make a fatal mistake, and he would be punished by the Heavens. He would die, and Enki would fall with him.
He just hoped that day would be far off, and he'd accomplish what he'd set out to first. One day, he hoped his country would be good enough for Kouya to return, and find happiness. Until then, he would do his best, serving his people and trying to create the green kingdom he had promised Enki.