Pairing: Ann Tachibana/Sakuno Ryuuzaki.
Rating: PG-13 for shoujoai/femslash
Disclaimer: Not Mine. Konomi's! And The Little mermaid is Andersen's.
General summary: A collection of AnnxSakuno fics, written for the 30 Hugs LJ comm.
---
Part 4: The princess who believed in fairy tales
30 Hugs theme used: 8 (fairy taless)
---
Ann stopped believing in fairytales at quite an early age. When all the girls dream of being princesses in a candy-like realm and finding True Love, she prefers to run with her baby puppy Gokutora and play pranks on her brother. However, she somehow doesn't seem eager to burst the other girls' rose-pink bubbles of illusion, unlike other more cruel kids, and just leaves them there. She won't lose any time with daydreaming.
One spring day, during her elementary school's yearly trip to Tokyo, Ann sits down by a small fountain in a park. Her friends are having a picnic on the grass, but she needs to have some time on her own to eat calmly. Otherwise, all her pickled plum onigiri will disappear in span of seconds...
"No, oh no!".
Ann blinks. She doesn't know that voice, so whoever started wailing close to her isn't a classmate of hers... She looks around and sees a little girl somewhat younger than her, sitting not too far from Ann and hugging a book against her chest.
"No, no, no...", she sobs as if her dad or mom were dead.
Ann grabs her bento box and gets closer to the girl. "What happens," she asks.
The pigtailed girl looks at her and hiccups some more. "The Little Mermaid is dead! She loved the Prince but he didn't choose her! It's unfair...!."
The first thing Ann thinks is, "Oh dear. She didn't need to have anybody telling her that fairytales are crap." But the girl seems so honestly sad for the fate of the Little Mermaid, the one who sacrificed her life for the boy she loved quietly and ended up transformed in a wind spirit... that she can't bring herself to say anything snarky.
"Hey."
The girl keeps on sobbing, so Ann speaks again, this time a little louder. "Hey...!"
"Eh," and she looks up at her. Ann smiles and pulls her hankie out of her chest pocket, cleaning the other girl's face.
"... Thank you... uhm..."
"Ann".
"Uh?"
"That's my name. And yours?"
"Uhm..." The little girl hesitates. "... Sakuno."
"Okay, Sakuno-chan," and Ann takes the book from her hands. "Are... are you still sad for the fate of the Little Mermaid?"
Sakuno looks at her as if she's about to start crying again. Ann almost feels like she's been hit with a stone. Oh dear, let's choose words carefully...
"... Sakuno-chan," she starts again, speaking slowly, "do you think the Little Mermaid is sad upon her destiny?"
It's clear that the other girl had never thought of it that way. She looks at Ann and sniffles a little.
"... Why do you say so," she asks cautiously.
Ann opens the book and flips through the pages, until she reaches the end. There, she finds a beautiful illustration that features the Little Mermaid, now the Wind Spirit, floating around cheerfully like a beautiful fairy.
"The Little Mermaid made her choice," Ann says, her finger touching the paper. "She chose the sake of others over her own happiness, so God gave her a small little prize."
"But she didn't get the Prince...!"
"Maybe her happiness wasn't with the Prince", Ann continues, calmly.
"... Really?"
Ann barely resists the urge to laugh. Sakuno looks so, so cute with that dumbfounded look on her adorable face...
"She got her other wish... the possibility to have a soul. So, I don't think her fate was so unfair. Maybe what looks like disgrace to you, it's not so bad if you think of it, ne?".
Sakuno looks at Ann, then at the picture. She also touches the paper (her fingers briefly touch Ann's for a second), and sighs.
"I see... But I still wish she had gotten the Prince, too."
Ann almost rolls her eyes. But it's okay. At least the girl won't cry anymore.
"Ann!"
"Ann-chan!"
"Tachibana!"
"Whoopsie, they're searching for me...," Ann says as she looks in front of ehr and sees one of the girls of her class coming up to her. "Gotta go, Sakuno-chan...".
Ann isn't able to say anything else; her girl friends come in, briefly greet Sakuno and practically drag Ann back to the group, laughing.
"Hey, you...!"
Too late. A female voice calls out to her as well. "Sakuno! Are you okay!"
Sakuno looks at the long-haired, middle-aged woman coming towards her. "Grandmother..."
Soon, Sakuno and her grandmother Sumire are going home.
---
A now adult Sakuno is helping her boss to close the small bookstore she works in. The current day of work is over, now it's time to go home.
"Ryuuzaki, are you sure you want to take that old book you found in the warehouse?", the old man asks her. "It has some ripped pages and isn't well-conserved".
"It makes me nostalgic, Minamizuka-san. And I kinda feel sorry for it since no one will want it...".
"Since I won't be able to sell it... Ah, hi, Tachibana-san!"
Ann comes in Minamizuka's range of view, and an old but still alert Gokutora follows her. The dog goes to greet his other owner with a playful bark, and Ann greets the librarian. After this, she turns to her roomate - and is shocked as she sees the book that Sakuno had in her hands.
"That is...", the woman whispers.
Sakuno surely can't remember it clearly, but ann does. That book isn't exactly the same one that caused their meeting, more than ten years ago, but it's from the same edition...
"Something's wrong, Ann?".
"Oh, nothing", Ann says, and hugs Sakuno birefly. He then lets go and makes a small bow. "Queen Sumire, Lord Tachibana, Lord Kamio and Lady Tomoka have arrived to our castle, and the Queen has sent both her personal messenger and the royal pet to search for Princess Sakuno... Shall you come with me, then, Your Highness?".
Sakuno blushes and makes a small curtsy. "The Princess accepts your offer graciously, Lady Tachibana...".
Minamizuka just shakes his head and smiles as the girls and the dog leave. And just like many years ago, Sakuno is carrying her fairytales book under her arm... but this time, she's fully content with the magical stories written in its pages.
