On the Land of Kanagawa
Prologue:
"Father, please tell us that story again!"
It was after supper, the time of the day when the entire family could finally sit together in the middle of the garden. The moon was only half full, but the stars glittered on the dark drape of the night-sky. He sat with his wife and his two children, eating desserts and sipping at tea. It was then his younger child made this request.
He was in such a good mood so he agreed. It was a period of his life that he was proud of, though he did not do much construction in it. But it was full of brilliant people, full of events that were almost epical, full of friendship and rivalry, love and hate, loyalty and betrayal, joy and sorrow, tears and blood… It was full of a mixture of many things.
"Father? Are you listening?"
He broke out of his reminiscence, and began his narration.
"As you've already known, your father, I, in my youth, had the fame of collecting all kinds of information. Therefore, I was able to acquaint myself with many famous or infamous people with various professions. Once a royal prince came in disguise, and--- "
"Father, please get to the point!"
"Alright, alright. At the time Kanagawa was a land of strife, and on it three countries struggled for domination. The land distribution was mostly similar to the present. To the south of the sea is Kainan, the largest and mightiest of them all, especially after conquering Shohoku years ago. Bordering Kainan is Shoyo, a comparatively smaller but no less powerful country, rivaling Kainan for decades. South to Shoyo is Ryonan, our country, whose northern border is protected by steep ridges of mountains."
"It was the year of seven hundred and nine of the Kanagawa calendar, many rapid changes took place. First the king of Kainan passed away, leaving the throne to his heir Maki Shiniki, who would soon be known for his strength in ruling. Around the same time people of Shoyo welcomed their new king---a genius at war strategy, Fujima Kenji. For two years they were busy, both securing their rule and at the same time scrutinizing each other, and so the people of Ryonan enjoyed relaxed prosperity. The Crowned Prince of Ryonan was Uozumi Jun, who would later become the present king. But the events, or the story, I'm about to tell did not start in the palace of kings, but among the dwelling of commoners."
"Two years after Maki and Fujima ascended the throne, in the autumn of the year of seven hundred and eleven, two youths met for the first time. They were Rukawa Kaede and Sendoh Akira. Commoners they were at the time, though would soon be no longer…"
tbc…
Notes: This fanfic will develop into shounen-ai… If you happened to tumble in by chance, and have no idea what "shounen-ai" is, I suggest you do not go on reading…
As you can see, the setting of this story is AU, with no particular historical facts to base it on. The motivation behind this is simply that, I get a thrill upon imagining the SD boys as swordsmen. :P Hehehe