A/n: Fairy tales in the days they were originally written, were often very bloody and not for children. I've used a combination of my memory of the old ones, and editing to fit the characters.
Hisoka climbed into bed carrying a large book, the title of which Tsuzuki couldn't quite make out due to its age.
He was caught immediately by the intricate penned panels in the front and the first story was entitled "Rumplestiltskin".
Tsuzuki had never heard of such a funny name before and was at once over come by his curiosity.
Setting his own book aside, he leaned closer.
"Hisoka...what are you reading?"
Hisoka answered quietly, not looking up at his partner who should have been reading his own book.
"It's a book of fairy tales."
Tsuzuki got sparkle eyed.
"Oh! Read one to me! Please Hisoka! I swear I'll listen to every word!"
Hisoka glanced over at him in semi annoyance.
It was already nine and they had a long day of paper pushing to do early the next morning.
Well Hisoka did any way; Tsuzuki couldn't write straight enough to help in the least.
For all his strengths, Hisoka's one weakness was Tsuzuki's puppy face, and this one was even more convincing than usual.
So he sighed deeply.
"One for tonight and that's it. We have to get up early tomorrow."
Tsuzuki pounced on him, kissing all over his face.
"YAY! I love when Hisoka reads to me!"
Hisoka sighed deeply and pushed him back.
He was far too hyper for this hour.
"This one starts in an old village with a greedy king, and a kind servant..."
And as he began to read, Tsuzuki closed his eyes and began to imagine the story as if he were in it.
He giggled suddenly as Hisoka appeared in a milkmaid dress.
He was going to like this story...
''
Hisoka was the very beautiful son of a poor widowed farmer named Kachou Konoe who dreamed of nothing more than his son than to be a princess one-day.
Hisoka loved his father very much, and to make him happy, he dressed in his mother's old clothes and played the part of a doting daughter.
One afternoon, while Kachou was plowing in the fields, a messenger approached.
"His royal highness, King Seiichiro Tatsumi the second formally requests that all with eligible daughters be brought to the palace to be tested. The passing maiden shall become the kings wife."
The poor farmer was so happy about this news that Hisoka didn't have the heart to turn him down.
Everyone could tell he wasn't really a woman right?
So why wouldn't the king?
In which case, Hisoka wondered, would he even be tested?
He sighed to himself as he glanced in the mirror.
It was days like this that he really missed his mother.
Even with his short hair he was a mirror image of her.
He'd pulled out her best dress and wore it for the king.
It would be impolite not to wear his finest, and since his mother's clothes fit him so well, he chose to wear them.
Even if he had wanted his own clothes, there was no one to make them anymore, and they were too poor to buy them.
All he had left of his beloved mother aside from her clothes were a ring and a necklace.
On this day he chose to pull them out of their safe pouch, which hung on the corner of his dresser.
He slid the tarnished silver and ruby ring onto his slender ring finger and then gently lifted the chain of the necklace over his head.
He hoped this would go quickly.
While he had to admit he too had dreams of marrying the king, he was sure they would never come to light.
''
Things started off okay when they arrived.
The parents were escorted into one room, while the girls, and Hisoka were taken into another.
They sat there quietly for over an hour until the door opened and a knight stepped in.
He glanced around the room and rested his eyes on Hisoka.
"You. Maiden Hisoka Konoe. Come with me."
Hisoka grew nervous and began to wring his hands as he followed the tall man with oddly pointed ears.
They stopped at a door to a large room stacked to the ceiling with straw and in the middle his father sat crying.
Hisoka stumbled and fell to his knees as the knight shoved him in and closed the door.
"Sir, you have five minutes and then you must leave her to her work."
Hisoka stared up at him, suddenly noticing the black lines running across his face that made him look very much like a tiger.
"Hey! That's no way to treat a lady!"
He climbed to his feet and approached his father.
"What work are they to have me do father? What have you told them?"
He looked up into Hisoka's eyes and gently brushed his fingers over his cheek.
"You must use your special gift and spin this straw into gold or...they will kill you in the morning. I'm so sorry!"
Hisoka's eyes widened and he stepped back.
"Please leave me."
He stepped closer to the window and the knight spoke.
"We're on the third floor milady, and this door will be locked behind us."
He turned back to him.
"I will spin this straw into gold if it takes all night. When you come back at dawn, there will be only gold stacked to the ceiling. You have my word."
The knight laughed at this and took his father by the arm.
"Come on old man, you're daughter's as crazy as you are."
And with that, they were gone.
''
Tsuzuki stopped him and sat up.
"So she marries the king!"
Hisoka closed his eyes with a sigh.
"Of course she marries the king!"
Tsuzuki whimpered.
"Can't she marry someone else!"
Hisoka gave him a glair.
"No, she wants to marry the king! It would be a pointless story otherwise! Why are you so hung up over this?"
Tsuzuki turned inu and twiddled his paws.
"Well, um...I kinda made you the girl and..."
Hisoka's eye began to twitch.
"Please, please tell me the king is not Muraki. I will make you hurt."
Tsuzuki shook his head and Hisoka secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well who is it than?"
The inu next to him began to whimper again and covered his ears with his paws.
"Well you said he was greedy so I thought Tatsumi would fit the part but I didn't know you were gonna marry him!"
Hisoka smacked him over the head.
"I'm not marrying the king, that's just in your twisted little mind, now shut up and..."
He stopped suddenly.
"Hey wait a minute. How did you pull that one off! In that day and age a man dressing in women's clothing would have been killed!"
Tsuzuki suddenly started wagging his tail.
"Oh well Konoe is your father and since your mother died he sort of had a break down and so because you love him so much you dress as a girl so he can have the daughter he always wanted."
Hisoka's face was a good indication for Tsuzuki to hide.
"Why am I always the uke! Why don't you put a dress on and marry Tatsumi!"
Tsuzuki pulled the covers over his head and wailed.
"But Tatsumi-san hates me!" Hisoka groaned and went back to the book.
"Fine, imagine what you want, just shut up and listen this time!"
Tsuzuki sighed and settled back into a comfortable spot, resting his head on Hisoka's stomach and closed his eyes again.
''
Hisoka found himself unable to keep from crying as he sat at the spinning wheel.
He'd never been taught this before and he wasn't sure straw could be turned to gold.
But he had to find some way of doing it or he'd lose his head the next morning.
After pricking his finger for the third time he finally gave up and collapsed to the floor.
He didn't want to spend the last seven hours of his life locked in some room in a palace.
He hated his father for this.
How could the man who helped bring him into the world, help end his life in such a way; with a greedy lie.
His lamenting did not go unheard, however, for suddenly a bright flash near the window caught his attention and he looked to see simply a mask and a glove floating there.
"What apparition from hell are you!"
There was an echoing laugh from the space at the mask and he trembled at its monotonous resonance.
"Neither heaven nor hell can claim my soul, for I am still alive and far too old. I have come to grant you a wish. What will you give me in return for spinning this straw into gold?"
Hisoka blinked for a moment, tears forgotten.
"I have only this ring of my mothers. I will give it to you if you can save my life."
He grudgingly slid it off his finger and held it out.
The invisible figured stepped closer and quickly snatched the ring.
"You have made your sacrifice and now I will spare your neck from the guillotine. By morning this straw will be gone and in it's place will be a mountain of gold."
Tears of happiness sprang to his eyes as he watched the strange being begin to spin.
"Thank you so much!"
Soon he fell asleep and the man smirked quietly to himself.
''
The next morning he awoke at dawn to find not a bit of straw and just as the strange man had promised, a mountain of gold was in its place.
His heart began to pound suddenly as the door was unlocked and opened.
First the knight from the day before entered, and to Hisoka's horror he was followed by the executioner.
Then the king himself stepped in.
Hisoka's eyes once again filled with tears for he thought surely they had lied and it was all in vein.
He fell upon his knees at the king's feet, his tears streaming down his face.
"Please do not kill me sire! I have done what you asked! Please spare me and let me go home!"
Tatsumi knelt down, cupping his chin and gazed into soft watery emerald eyes.
"Dear girl, I will not kill you today. Do not fear. Come and eat with me. Then you may sleep as long as you desire."
Hisoka was entranced by the burning crystal blue that saw through his very soul.
He stood silently and brushed away his tears, following his king to the dining hall where a large breakfast had been prepared for two.
He sat nervously beside the king.
After a few moments of silence Hisoka looked up.
"Sire...where is my father?"
Tatsumi gave him a confused look.
"Your...ah! Well he was released from the cellar this morning. When he made the claim that his daughter could spin straw into gold, of course we didn't believe him. But now that you have, I must know...how do you spin straw into gold? Perhaps you could teach my spinners the same?"
Hisoka was deathly quiet for a few moments.
"I'm afraid that I can't tell you, sire. I'm very sorry, but if I did, I'd lose my ability."
This was what Tatsumi had been waiting to hear.
He knew there must be some trick.
So he looked up to the knight.
"Terazuma..."
Hisoka visibly began to tremble as he approached.
"Yes sire?"
Tatsumi smiled softly at Hisoka for a moment, but there was a cruel intent behind those eyes.
"Fill the next room to the ceiling with straw and place the spindle in it. Escort milady to a comfortable room and allow her to sleep. At dusk escort her to the room with the spindle."
Hisoka was feeling slightly dizzy at this point.
What was he to do now?
Would the strange man come back and save his life again?
All he had left to give was his mother's necklace and he truly didn't want to part with it.
He stood silently and followed Tarezuma to the door.
"Oh and milady, one last thing."
Frightened emerald eyes looked back at the king.
" If you fail to turn this straw into gold by dawn you will be executed."
Hisoka stared breathlessly at him for a moment before the room turned black.
Tatsumi looked genuinely concerned as Tarezuma caught him with an exasperated sigh.
"You had to throw that last line in didn't you?"
Tatsumi's concerned face returned to it's usual emotionless one and he turned back to the fruit on his plate.
"Typical of a woman really. Can you blame me for the weakness of a maiden? Anyway, take her to a room and make sure you lock her in."
''
Hisoka woke that evening to the sound of the door unlocking.
Tears sprang to his eyes, beginning to wonder if this would be his last night.
Once again Tarezuma appeared, the king following.
Hastily he stood from the comfortable feather bed and quickened his step to the door.
He was lead silently to a larger room than the one before, and nearly fainted once again as he saw the amounts of straw.
He sucked in his breath and clenched his fists as he entered the room.
He turned back to them with the confidence and grace of a swan and spoke softly.
"Sire, I will fill this room with gold by morning. Please have faith in my abilities."
Tatsumi shrugged at this and smirked a little.
"We shall see."
Once the door was locked and the footsteps disappeared down the hall however, he fell to his knees in tears.
How he hated this.
He did not want to be parted with his last remaining treasure of his mothers, but he had no choice and so he looked up towards the window and called out.
"Oh fairy or devil, angel or beast...please come back to me and turn this straw into gold!"
After a moment there was a blinding flash and again appeared the mask and glove.
"What will you give me this time in turn for my assistance?"
Grudgingly Hisoka tore off the necklace and held it out with his eyes closed.
"It's all I have left. Please take it and save my life!"
And he did.
Hisoka watched on in amazement as the straw magically floated over to the spindle and the invisible man began to spin it into gold yet again.
After a few moments he stopped and approached Hisoka.
"You cannot watch me all night boy. I'm afraid you'll have to sleep or I will not be able to finish."
Hisoka nearly screamed as he felt a fingertip against his forehead, but before he could usher more than a soft moan, he was gone.
''
Hisoka woke slowly the next morning as a hand softly patted his cheek.
"Good morning milady. It seems as though you've come through again. You still cannot tell me how it is that you achieve such a feat?"
His eyes darted around the room at the glittering gold as he sat up.
"I told you Sire, and I swear to you that when I say I'd never be able to do it again if I told you, I quite mean it."
Tatsumi helped him to his feet and took his gently around the waist.
"You hardly ate anything yesterday morning. Come and eat with me."
So once again he followed the king to the dining room where yet another feast had been laid out for two.
Hisoka felt very uncomfortable as he sat.
Finally he looked up at Tatsumi with tear filled eyes.
"Sire. Please don't kill me, I swear my words are truth and I'll do it again if I must!"
Tatsumi smiled softly and took his hand.
"I do not believe you, however I have no proof of how or where the gold is coming from. If tonight you fill the largest room in my palace with gold spun out of straw, I will make you my wife."
Hisoka was astounded by this.
Now he just had to come up with something to give to this strange creature.
''
When dusk fell upon the castle, Hisoka was lead to a large room stacked to the ceiling with straw.
Once again he put on a brave face and exclaimed that he would fill this room with gold.
This time, however the man was waiting for him.
"What do you think you will give to me this time boy? You said yourself that all you had left was that trinket."
Hisoka was silent.
"I'll give you my soul."
The creature laughed at this.
"I have no use for such trivial things boy."
Hisoka thought long and hard about this and suddenly came up with a brilliant idea.
"I'll give you my first born son."
The man was silent for a moment as he considered this.
"Very well boy. But if you fail comply I will burn this palace to the ground and spirit you away for myself!"
Hisoka was frightened of this new idea, however he knew that it was impossible to fulfill this promise as he could not bare children.
So as the creature began to spin, Hisoka quickly fell asleep.
He was confident that he had outwitted the creature.
''
Tsuzuki looked up suddenly.
"So they actually have a baby together?"
Hisoka growled.
"What now?"
Tsuzuki sat up with a very confused look on his face.
"How can you have a baby?"
Hisoka sweat dropped momentarily before turning a full glair on his partner.
"Tsuzuki. Maybe you don't understand. Or maybe I have accidentally been saying he...but this book is about men and women together. Unless we need to send you back to school, I think you should know by now that women have babies. I'm not a woman."
Tsuzuki nodded, hiding as best he could in the corner.
"But I can't imagine imaginary people so it has to be you!"
Hisoka took several deep breaths.
"Okay than we adopt. Or figure something out and quit interrupting!"
Tsuzuki cautiously climbed back into bed under Hisoka's intense glair.
"Is it a girl or a boy?"
Hisoka suddenly smirked.
"If you'd been listening it's a boy...and if you don't stop talking I'll name him Tsuzuki and let the goblin take him!"
Tsuzuki wrenched back in fear at this thought and yanked the covers over his head.
"Read! Read! I'm listening!"
''
Tatsumi woke him early the next morning.
Hisoka stood quickly as Tatsumi leaned in, trying to steal a kiss.
"Wait!"
Hisoka cried out with such agony that Tatsumi started.
"I'm very sorry milady. I only meant to kiss you."
Once again Hisoka broke into tears.
"I know!"
Then quietly he bowed his head, brushing away his tears.
"I know...but..."
Tatsumi took his hand gently and kissed his fingertips, sending a shiver through him as he looked up into those beautiful blue eyes.
"But what Milady?"
Hisoka wrenched back and fell to his knees in another sob.
"I...stop calling me that! I'm not a woman!"
Tatsumi was silent yet there was a smirk across his lips.
"I know I look like one, but...what I did...I did for my father!"
He stared at Tatsumi as the older man began to laugh.
"What's so funny?"
Tatsumi knelt down to him and tilted his chin up to better stare into those emerald depths and kissed him softly before answering.
"I know. Konoe is a very old friend of mine. He lived here in the palace as the cook for quite some time before he married your mother."
Hisoka suddenly felt very dizzy as this sank in.
"But all this time you..."
Tatsumi stopped him, seeing the look in his eyes.
"We'll talk later...for now I must ask you...Hisoka."
Hisoka's eyes grew wide as Tatsumi pulled something small and shining from his pocket and slipped it onto Hisoka's finger.
"Please marry me."
Hisoka stared trembling at the diamond ring.
"You still want to marry me...even knowing that I'm not who I said I was?"
Tatsumi smiled warmly.
"You're exactly who you said you were Hisoka, and I fell in love with you the second I saw you. Please don't break my heart. I swear I'll be good to you."
Hisoka smiled at this, more tears brimming in his eyes and threw himself into Tatsumi's arms.
"I will! I'll do my best to make you a good wife!"
Tatsumi kissed him once more and nothing was ever asked about the straw or the gold again.
''
Hisoka and Tatsumi had been married for a little over a year when something wonderful happened.
One of Hisoka's handmaids found a baby at the door of the palace.
Tatsumi and Hisoka were ecstatic about this and the king proclaimed that the child would be raised as a prince.
By now Hisoka had long forgotten about the promise me made to the goblin until one cold winters night when the child could not sleep.
Hisoka paced up and down the nursery late into the night, cradling and singing, trying anything he could think to calm his son, but nothing would settle the wails.
Suddenly at the stroke of midnight the candles blew out with a cold gust of wind and Prince Watari became quiet.
Hisoka looked down into the child's face, concerned at the sudden lack of both noise and light, but suddenly a bright flash near the window caught his eye and the candles lit back up on their own.
He clutched the baby close as he saw the mask and glove appear once more.
"I have come to take my prize boy. Give me the child."
But Hisoka refused and turned away, shielding him from the monster.
"I'll never give him up! Tatsumi help!"
He began to feel dizzy as the creature stepped forward, intent upon taking the child by force.
Suddenly however, Tatsumi burst into the room, having heard Hisoka's plea for help.
He ran between his wife and the mask and clove.
"What do you want!"
The glove pointed at Hisoka cruelly and the voice was dark.
"He promised his first born to me if I spun that room of straw into gold. Now I've come to claim what has been promised to me. Give me the child!"
But Tatsumi drew his sword and stepped closer to Hisoka.
"If you think you'll get past me, you'll die trying. I am king of this land and I will not allow you to take my heir or harm my wife!"
The goblin thought about this for a moment.
"Very well. I'll play a game with you. If your wife cannot guess my name in three nights, your child is mine."
Hisoka clutched Tatsumi's hand tightly.
"Tatsumi no! Please just kill him!"
To this Tatsumi sighed deeply.
"I cannot. No mortal blade can harm this creature. We have no choice."
And in another flash, it was gone, leaving the three alone and as Tatsumi gently took Watari into his arms, Hisoka fell to his knees.
"Please forgive me Tatsumi. I only wanted to be with you! And then you threatened to kill me if I didn't come through and I'd given him the only..."
Tatsumi placed a gentle finger to his lips and placed the now sleeping baby back into his cradle and covered him up.
He then knelt beside the distraught blond and kissed him.
"It's alright now Hisoka. You've made my life so much better and now we have an heir. Whatever it was that you did was in the past. It's unimportant now. I love you Hisoka, and we will find out his name. Don't worry."
''
Hisoka refused to let go of the child as he and his closest handmaids wrote down name after name, some even offering names in other languages.
There were over a hundred names by the time they were done and Hisoka was feeling a little confident by nightfall.
Surely one of these names was the right one.
Tatsumi entered the nursery behind Hisoka at midnight to find the creature there already.
"So."
It said in a snobbish tone and sat down in the windowsill.
"You think you know my name?"
Hisoka nodded and Tatsumi took the child as the blond pulled out several papers from his petticoat.
"Is your name Muraki?"
The creature shook his head.
"Not even close."
Hisoka took a deep breath, slightly discouraged already.
"Shido...Anthony...Wakaba...Inu-Yasha...Kaichi?"
And this is how the list went, with each name a shake of the head and sometimes a good chuckle.
"None of these names are mine. You won't find my name in any book or on the lips of any mortal."
And with that he was gone.
''
For the rest of that night and all of the next day, the entire palace was made to examine books of the occult and anything that could give an inhuman name.
This list was even longer and Hisoka feared reading them.
He chose to talk to the goblin alone that night, fearful that Watari might be harmed by some of these names.
The goblin was in a particularly humorous mood that night and outright laughed at every name he read.
"Nutjer...Apep...Saagatanus...Byakko...Osiris, Anubis...?"
Again through the list he simply laughed.
"That is not my name, none of these are me."
And in a flash again he was gone.
Hisoka turned to the door to be faced by one of her handmaids.
"Saya...go into the village and find my father. Tell him that if I cannot keep my child than I will kill myself and to prepare for my funeral. I don't care what Tatsumi tells you, go at once and do not return until you have spoken to him!"
Hearing his wife's words, Tatsumi let her pass and placed the sleeping baby into the cradle as he made his way to Hisoka.
"Please don't make rash decisions my love. I am sure that we will find this creatures name."
He wrapped his arms tightly around Hisoka as he began to cry again.
"I wish you had killed me! I don't want to live!"
Tatsumi kissed his forehead and smoothed his fingers over his golden hair.
"If you kill yourself than we must do it together for I cannot, nor will I, live without you. Do not despair hope, we still have one for chance."
''
By chance or fate, Saya was returning the next evening and noticed a fire lit in the woods near the palace.
Ever so quietly she made her way onto a small path and hid herself amid the darkening trees.
There it was that she spied the goblin dancing madly about the fire, singing a strange verse.
"I spin straw into gold for the boy to start life new. Three night has he to guess that my name is Hakushaku!"
Saya grinned madly to herself as she quickly dashed off towards the palace.
She burst into the study where Hisoka, Tatsumi, and several servants were gathered coming up with names.
"My king! My queen! I have the goblins name!"
Hisoka stared at her in shock.
"Well speak up woman! What is it!"
Saya caught her breath and struck a victory pose.
"When I was coming back from your fathers I saw a fire in the woods. And there he was, dancing about it singing some strange song but then he said. Three guesses has he to guess that my name is Hakushaku! His name is Hakushaku!"
Hisoka smiled and hugged her tightly, tears of joy coming to his eyes.
"You will be greatly rewarded Saya! Thank you so much!"
Brushing away his tears he turned the rest of them.
"As you will be too! But first I will require more names from you."
And so they went back to work.
''
Hisoka entered the nursery, humming softly to the baby in his arms and glanced up calmly at the goblin.
"Is your name Setsuna? Or Kira? Is it Suzaku? Maybe it's Kagome. Or Nuraku? How about Oriya, or Saki. Could it be Haruka? Or perhaps something more defined like Utena, or Larva? Hikari, Aibou, Yami, Yugi...are any of these your name?"
He shook his head.
"No, none."
Hisoka held Watari tightly to him as he continued.
"What about Fujiko, or Riko? Rosial? Alexial? Katon? Tsubaki, Usagi, or Anthy? What if your name was Ami, or Caine? Koneko? Rose? None of these are yours?"
Again he shook his head.
"If that is all I'll take the child and go."
Hisoka looked distraught and stepped back.
"I guess if I have to...you...you win."
And he held out Watari but pulled him back before the goblin could touch him.
"Unless...well I do have one more."
The goblin gave an exasperated huff.
"Hurry up, I haven't got all night!"
Hisoka looked down into the face of his son and smiled softly before looking back up.
"Is your name...Hakushaku?"
There was a defining silence for a moment before the goblin began to hop around angrily and stomp.
"How did you know! You cheat! You cheat I swear to you! You could not have guessed my name! The devil told you! Yes, yes the devil told you didn't he!"
He hopped round the room and finally out the window still shouting.
Tatsumi wrapped his arms around Hisoka from behind as he came in and kissed Hisoka gently.
"We won."
Hakushaku was never seen or heard from again, and the young prince grew to be just as wise and generous as his parents.
''
Tsuzuki sat up as Hisoka closed the book with a yawn.
"You mean it's over?"
Hisoka nodded.
"And it's almost eleven. Time to go to sleep now. Maybe I'll read the next one to you tomorrow night."
He turned off the light and laid down, closing his eyes with another yawn.
He smiled softly in the dark as Tsuzuki wrapped his arms tightly around him and kissed him softly.
"Hisoka."
Hisoka only squeezed his hand in reply and Tsuzuki kissed him again.
"I love you Hisoka."
In the dark his smiled widened and he kissed Tsuzuki back.
"Shut up and get to sleep."
Tsuzuki chuckled slightly as he laid down, refusing to let go of his love.
"Goodnight Hisoka."
Hisoka snuggled unto Tsuzuki's embrace and gave a contented sigh.
Sometimes he didn't mind being the uke.