Thorns by liahime
Five Rose Thorn-
Disclaimer: liahime doesn't own this at the current moment- the future, you never know... you never know... buahahaha..
The king grabbed her shoulder. "Daughter."
She really, really didn't want to look up right now. She turned and faced him.
"What."
"You dare to say 'what' to your father, the king?"
"Yes." She turned to leave.
"RIKA." He was steaming.
She met his glare. "Father."
They stood glaring at each other for a moment.
He looked down at her, scowling. "Those eyes. Daughter, you have the most annoying eyes. They stare at you endlessly, coldly. You're supposed to be a princess. Learn from your mother."
"They're from you." Rika was still glaring at him.
Ryo coughed in the background. "I think I'll go now-"
He was ignored. With king and princess shouting at each other, he might as well have been a fly on the wall. He sat down on a bench and watched them fight... only to be poked in the back by something. Ryo turned and looked back. There was a bush, a tree... but that was it. He brushed it off as a twig moving in the wind.
He was poked again, probably by the twig, he reasoned.. Again, Ryo turned, to find only the bush and tree behind him. He moved to a different bench down the path, trying to ignore the argument behind him. He'd just wait until it was over, and find out what was going on.
Something poked him in the back a third time. Something cold as ice and just as harsh. And this time, it was definitely not a twig.
-
Steel met steel. Father and daughter both sent back their arrows of words back and forth, trying to get the other to back down first. The king, stuck in a verbal trap, took a step back from his raging daughter. Fire and ice clashed together, eyes hardened, voices stayed flat or roared up.
"Rika, you have everything. A palace for a home. Fans in the media. Hundreds of pieces of gold at your disposal. Your life story is perfect, with out a single thorn or thing left to chance in it. Hundreds would sell their right arm for that.." The strain to keep his voice calm showed as a vein started to pulse in his head. His face was flushed a deep, dark beetroot red.
"You treat me like some bird in this golden cage of a palace, you know that? Sure, it's pretty, but it's still a cage. You just bring the bird out for pictures, let the cameras flash, and sell it off to the highest bidder, that fool prince. How much is the east kingdom getting for taking me?" Rika's face was unlike her father's, the angrier she got, the colder she looked.
He drew himself up taller, straightening his back into a rigid line, and roared. "YOU WILL DO AS I SAY, DAUGHTER, AND THAT IS FINAL. YOU WILL MARRY THIS FOOL PRINCE IN ONE MONTH, AND NOT LEAVE YOUR CHAMBERS UNTIL THEN. DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR? I DECREE IT." He waited, slightly out of breath, for her to fall over herself apologizing, crying, his back turned from his pitiful daughter. If she apologizes enough, he thought, then I could let her off the hook. Just let her apologize.
He waited for the sound of crying. There was none. Still, he told himself. I am king. And kings never look back.
He waited longer. Was she still there? As a father though... I deserve a peek.
When he looked back to check, Rika was gone.
Meanwhile, far in the gardens, Ryo appeared to be having a whispered conversation with a bush that had a human head.
"What are you doing here?"
"Visiting my dear little brother. Can't a brother pay a friendly visit now and then?" The human head that had popped out from the bush looked like Ryo, with the same mouth, same nose, a few inches taller. The only real difference between them were the eyes- the head in the bush had eyes that were deep indigo blue, hard and frowning even when the corners of his mouth went up.
"Now and then being three years?"
"What's a few days between family, brother?" The person came out of the bush, brushing off his pants. "It was you, after all, that wanted to come here. And I let you. So I came back to bring up a favor you owe me." He pulled a knife out of a fold in his shadowy cloak. "You will do this, won't you?" He toyed with a small knife, tossing it back and forth. "Hard feelings about the way I got your attention, foolish little brother, aside, you will, I know."
"What kind of favor?" Ryo took a step back.
"You know what kind of favor, boy." The knife brushed Ryo's skin. "That kind of favor. Mother wants me to do it, but I'm busy tonight. That's where you come in."
"You want me to... kill someone? Why?"
"Don't be a fool, Ryo. Our family is poor. We need the money."
"So you'll just kill people if you're paid?"
"It's not just that. We're helping the country."
"So you're working for the king, then."
"We're born peasants and we stay lowly, muddy, peasants. And then there are the noble born. Constantly playing some game over and over again. They're rich and spoiled children who never grow up, Ryo, still playing pretend. The family's goal is trying to find a way to stop it, but you seem to not care about this predecided destiny."
"So you're killing the-"
Are you against the family, Ryo?" His brother leaned in closer, until they were eye to eye, knife to neck. "Are you?"
Ryo stepped back and shook his head, trying to avoid the knife tip. Fight or flight is built into every human, every animal, and at that moment, Ryo's brain was screaming flight. Flight as in sprint-as-fast-as-you-possibly-can-away flight. He inched backwards.
"I knew you'd understand. Just slit a throat once, and you're home-free with our loving family, you see? There's a plan already laid out for you." He drew back and tossed a folded up piece of paper at Ryo. "Here. It'll be a piece of cake."
"But.."
"Change is good. Surprise is good. Just follow the plan, and meet me here after. No one will even know it was you; the plan is that perfect. It's so simple, it's even Ryo-proof. Insert knife here diagrams and all. You can't mess this one up, otouto." He handed him the knife, blade first. "Or else.."
Ryo gulped.
Rika sat on her bed, thinking. There had to be a way out of this. It could not- would not- end like this. It was impossible. Unthinkable. Spending the rest of her life as a married-for-money queen. There was no use in pretending she wasn't. After all, she thought, in this life, three things are always real. Lies, stupidity, and money. She'd be sent off with a huge bag of gold on both sides to the East kingdom.
Priscilla would love this, wouldn't she. She's probably the ultimate trophy-princess of then all. Priscilla, grown older, had grown more blonde- her suitors fondly described it as "wheat ripened in sun", more blue eyed, and had grown even more devious and scheming than ever. Probably plotting out her next rich victim now...
The door slammed open. In walked her father, the king, followed by the castle guard.
"One last chance, Rika. Apologize, and this whole thing is off."
Rika turned her back to him, and stared at the wall. Apologize? Never.
"Please, Rika." The king's voice dropped to a friendly, fatherly tone. "You can even pick your
own suitor, no matter how rich he is. Apologize, and be happy with your mother and your grandmother and me, Rika. Just three simple words."
Rika stood up, and walked towards him, each step slow and defined. She stopped two paces in front of him, and stared at him. Her mouth opened.
"Absolutely not, father. Leave immediately."
His face took on a tomato hue. "You, daughter," he shouted, "compared yourself to a bird in some little cage, did you not? You can become one. You have been far too spoiled, and you are here, on bread and water. You will not come out except on request of your mother or until you have thought about your foolish words and actions, and apologize. Your wedding is in a month, so I expect you to think by then." He paused. "I believe in a sporting chance. If, if, you can manage to live with out apologizing or going crazy until then, I will consider rethinking your wedding date." The king turned on his heel and left, the guards marching stone cold behind him. The king closed the door and the sound of key in lock echoed in the silent room.
Rika was angry at her father, angry at royalty, angry at life in general. Her father had to be coming in the gate at that time. The monkey had to have stolen her clothes. And to top it off, she was marrying someone she had spoken little more than three sentences to in a month.
She remembered those sentences. Two of them had "shut up" in them, some way or another.
From "shut up" to "I do," in a matter of days.
And again, she told herself, this was all her stupid father's fault.
Renamon slipped in behind Rika. "Are you OK, Rika?"
"Fine. Perfect." Rika slammed the tower window shut with a gratifyingly loud bang as the thin glass rattled. The wisteria was long gone, replanted after the palace staff had caught on to their
princess's escape route.
"All right then." Silent, she slipped back out of vision, staying, watching.
Days passed. The tower had never seemed so small, bread never so dry. When she walked down the stairs to some waste of time her mother planned, she brushed past her father, as if he was invisible. He pretended he didn't have a daughter. It was almost like there was a dare between them, both sides determined not to lose.
Ladies-in-waiting bustled around her all afternoon, chattering on about frivolous junk. Paid by her mother to keep her corset pulled tighter than ever and her nose not shiny, they flitted about, doing this and that whenever they could. She wasn't sure what was worse- staying in her home-turned-prison or them. The guards were constantly making stupid jokes, the ladies-in-waiting just took up space in the tower, and if not for Jeri or Renamon, she would have gone down on her knees and apologized to her father by now.
But she wouldn't. She would not, could not, lose to her father.
Twenty more days left, twenty more days... the voice in her head whispered to her. Four hundred eighty hours of etiquette lessons and dress fittings left. Twenty eight thousand, six hundred and ninety nine minutes of sitting in the tower, sewing and memorizing every crack in the floor, every stone on the wall.
Yeah right, she could take it.
One of the guards poked his head in the room. "Hey, princess."
A vein started to throb in her head. She ignored him, and tried to concentrate on the sewing she had to do.
"Why did the chicken cross the hall?"
There was a frosty silence as he waited for a guess.
"C'mon, your highness, guess."
Rika took a sip from her water. "I don't speak to idiots, Kazu."
"Guess! Guess! This is a good one."
She turned around and threw the cup at him. It shattered, glass falling in pieces around him.
"Horsefeathers." The guard walked back to his post, muttering about stuck up royalty.
Rika continued embroidering the design, pricked her finger, and said something that was definitely not 'horsefeathers.'
She was promptly hit on the head by one of the fans of the elder ladies-in-waiting. "Princesses don't use that language."
Rika counted under her breath. One...Two... Three... Don't let idiots bother you. Her stomach growled on it's own. She grimaced, just to look up into twenty staring reporters and cameras.
"Smile!"
Instantly, Rika was blinded by flashbulbs going off in her face. She heard, in the background of cameras going off, as she turned away from the eager reporters, one of the guards asking someone.
"Does it bother you that the princess doesn't smile in pictures?"
Rika turned around. "That is it. Out. Everyone. Even you, Clarissa whatevers and Dulcibella Rose people. Out." She pointed at the guard that was talking. "Especially you."
Awkwardly, they all shuffled and complained their way out of the tower, leaving it silent. Rika dropped her needlepoint on the floor as soon as the soundproof door slammed behind them. "If one more thing happens today, I swear I will scream."
"Rika? Did you listen to what the reporters told you?"
"Ah, no. I make it a point never to do that."
There was a knock at the door. Rika's stomach grumbled. This thrice cursed corset. Two slices of bread. Kami, what is the big deal of being like a stick figure anyway?
Jeri looked worried. "Well... this time you might have wanted to do that."
One of the joking guards came in, looking genuinely sad. "Princess.. I just want you to know... that it's all right. You'll see him again, in a happier place. Right now though, he's laid out in his private chambers." He bowed solemnly to her. "It was a great shock to us all princess. I'm sorry."
Kami help her, but she was going to scream.
Rika rushed down the tower's flight of steps, moving as fast as one can in a corset. She rushed up another flight, through the hall, shadowed by Renamon as she reached the huge door. Rika burst in.
"WHAT HAPPENED!"
"Dear, it's fine, you'll see him again someday."
"He'd want you to be strong and happy, you see."
The councillors assured her, trying to block her view of a white covered something lying on the table. "Nothing to look at, nothing at all.."
"I would like to know now. What happened here?" She shouted over the din.
They looked at her carefully, the princess that had fought so much with her father that he had locked her in a tower, of all things. "Your highness..." They bowed to her, trying to weasel out of it.
"Tell me. Now." Rika was quiet, voice measured. She walked to the white covered shape on the table and lifted up the satin cloth.
Staring back at her was her father, eyes weighed down by gold coins. She sucked in a huge breath. "No." The corset tightened around her even more, cutting off what little air she had left in her body. "He can't be-"
Councillors pressed in. "As future queen, remember me, your highness."
"I will always be there, my lady. Me, Kabuto."
"Remember me."
"Follow my guide, I will help you turn the kingdom to it's best." Pale faces, pushing towards her, trying to look sympathetic, trying to look kind and fatherly, all wanting to get the new queen on their side.
"I will help you decide the funeral costs. You're already like a daughter to me, um...whatsyourname...er.. Rabia?"
As pale councillors swarmed around her, for once Rika did the thing princesses were advised to do when finding their father dead.
She fainted.
When she woke up, she woke to a hazy sea of blacks and gray. The palace was unusually silent, and she was in her bed. She could breathe again. She greedily sucked in lungsful of fresh air. There wasn't a fire going in the fireplace, none of the candles were lit. For once, in the huge palace, full of hundreds of servants, she was alone.
Her head ached so much... What had happened? She remembered the white sheet, the councillors trying to keep her away. She tried to sit up, and her vision swam. She reached back to gingerly feel the back of her head. There was a huge bump, sticking out like a small egg. She winced and slowly got out of bed.
Ugh... she couldn't remember the last time her head hurt this much. Her feet silently stepped across the cold tiles. Where were the servants? Normally they were buzzing around, trying to do something to her hair, to get her to wear some lace and silk thing.
The gold coins weighing down her father's eyes as he lay, dead. And she, like a fool, had been unconscious... Fainting away at even the start of surprise and emotion. She was worse than the ladies-in-waiting.
And her father. Gone. Leaving an empty hollowness behind, as if he had been erased from the picture. Her father, yelling at her. Teaching her. Helping her. Everything was gone.
A guard poked his head in the door. "Are you all right, Princess? There are pressing matters at hand, and if you would care to-"
"No."
He shrunk away from her growling monarch. "I'm completely sorry to hear about your loss-"
"SHUT UP! I don't want to hear about how everyone is so, so sad for my father."
Rika screamed at the back of the retreating guard and slammed the door.
"I AM NOT COMING OUT! GO AWAY!"
Another knock at the door. Yet another guard, followed by yet another councillor. They were holding a thick envelope.
"Princess, this is important. Please sit." They handed her the envelope. "These are the top suspects's profiles- one of them is very likely the assassin that killed the king. I know this is a hard time for you, but it must be done. Please review the information, because as new queen- you must pursue the killer."
Murdered? Her father had been murdered? She had thought it was something else- natural causes. But murder?
She locked the door, keeping out the paparazzi and news networks, sat at the table, and slowly opened the envelope. Whoever it was, would pay. She pulled out the first photograph.
And smiling back at her, with that patented grin, was an Akiyama Ryo
My Dream's Shadow- I'm hoping that's a good whoa... hope you like this chap..
DigiChick- Any suggestions on how to improve would be great! Yep.. Hope you like this chapter too...
shadowcat- ah... thank you very much! I got a lot of rest.. No more jetlag.. I know! HP and the the Half Blood Prince is sad...
DD6- Thank you! Hope you like this chapter!
Anon. Y- yep it's fluffy... but I like fluffy stuff, so I couldnt help it... plus there might not be too much fluff in the next chapters (but knowing me.,.. There will be, somehow.)
rose-white- Thank you... Hope you like this!
asn water- yes... she should be more careful. BUT. I like the monkey..so that part stayed... yep.. Selfish authoress..
Lil' Lilo- Thank you again!
Paula- I'm really glad you like this.. Don't worry, I won't forget about this story.. Thank you!
Ao-Senshi- Thank you very very much... you helped me a lot with this, more than the only "kawaii" reviews. ( not saying I don't like them! I need those too.. )
Sparkling-Ruby Gem- thank you so much! I got a lot of rest.
Strawberry'd- Glad you liked the takato x jeri, and hope you can get to korea soon (hope you have good weather too.. When I was there it was the start of monsoon season.. Hot and humid! Hooray for a/c!)
Dolce Saito- Thank you, glad you liked it! Hope you like this one too...
kunoichixxkanna- heh.. Thank you so much! Sorry it took a while for updating.
lady-snow- haha.. But you sound like a very nice therapist.. anyways.. Thanks!
STARVING TO DEATH AUTHORESS-
See! I made myself wake up early to do this.(not really..) 6 AM on a Saturday..and now I'm hungry.. - I'm gonna go eat right after this... but I have no food in my house except for ramen.. Anyways, I'm un-jetlagged. Thanks everyone for their reviews and help- I'm sorry I was so pathetic last time..
Anyways, I hope you like this chapter... I'm worrying cuz I normally don't write like I did this chapter.. I like writing fluffy stuff.. And not killing people.. But... I had to kill the king. (worry worry worry again.. this is kinda ooc, it might be too boring..etc... worrying is annoying..worrying my head off here.. ignore it.)
Comments and criticism and etc. are helpful.. Compliments are loved.. And if you want a rewrite, always ask.. Anyways... I don't think I'm making sense, typing while staring at the ceiling and wondering if there's any bread in the house...
Whoa.. Long a/n today...so I think I'll end it now...
- worrry worry worry worry and worry some more liahime