Disclaimer: I do not own Hana Yori Dango or any of its characters. Even though I wish to make Tsukasa my husband.
Strangers Fantasy: Flash back
"Yo Rui." Akira greeted his friend as he walked up the path to the mansion, Makiko following closely behind.
"Oh Makiko you decided to stay with us?"
"Yes, after what happened with that man I'm somewhat afraid to stay by myself."
Akira smiled.
"Tell the truth you really wanted to be around us handsome Elvaan goodness."
Makiko giggled.
"You've found me out."
"Of course I know how women think. I can see all and I like to bare all as well." He winked at her which she kindly returned the wink.
"Then we have much to discuss because I like to bare all as well."
"Shall we go inside and talk in my office?" Akira offered his arm.
"Why yes I'd like that." She took his offered arm and followed him inside the mansion.
Rui just shook his head as Soujirou approached him.
"You know Akira only did that to get the girl out of ear shot. Was the one the girl talking about Tsukasa?"
"Yeah it was him." Rui glanced around the walkway and motioned to Soujirou to follow him toward one of the gardens.
"So…" Soujirou let the statement hang in the air once they were hidden among the tall bushes.
"Well as I said before it was Tsukasa and my suspicions were correct about the "Elvaan princess" living in this mansion. She isn't the real thing."
"If she isn't the real princess then do you know who the real one is? I was almost positive that this one was real. I know we don't have the kind of connection that Tsukasa has with the princess but I did feel as if she could be the one. Royal blood is in her that's for sure."
"Yeah I felt it to but I also thought that it could be a fake feeling."
"A fake feeling? That makes no sense?"
"Yeah I know it doesn't but can you tell me when you first felt that this girl was the real princess? I know it wasn't when we first arrived."
"True I didn't get that feeling until last night or more like early this morning."
"Exactly. I know that Tsukasa would be the only one who could truly find the real princess. When we first heard that there was someone proclaiming to be a elvaan princess I had a bad feeling so I bought that potion in hopes of finding out later in the night if Tsukasa would go immediately toward the real princess.'
'If he stayed within the house then Sakurako was the real thing and my suspicions were wrong. But if he left and went out to find her then this was a fake, or maybe a decoy."
"A decoy? The Yabun no Kumo could not have know we would be here so fast. Not only that but Sakurako has been here since childhood. What you're saying is that she was placed here as a decoy just to fool us up to now? That just doesn't seem logical."
"I know, I know, it doesn't seem like it makes much sense but this whole war doesn't make sense. All races seem to be at odds with one another? The Hume hate the Elvaan the Tenkuu and Sirens. The Nymphs live in the sea alone so they have always stayed separate but they're king is in hiding and there has been appearances' of kappa.. And we know that the Yabun no kumo feed off of feelings of hatred and fear."
Rui paused as he heard rustling in the bushes on the opposite end.
"You could have picked a spot easier with access to talk Rui." Akira appeared from behind the bushes brushing himself off.
"Sorry Akira but we need to be more alert especially after what happened today."
"Yeah I know so what did you find out."
Rui repeated what he told to Soujirou.
"A decoy is possible but who could have staged it. The only ones that knew about the young royals staying in this town were the current king, queen their messenger and Yuki the one that took care of us but was killed long ago. You're suggesting that someone long ago knew what was going to happen."
"Or planned what was going to happen."
Akira and Soujirou turned to Rui.
"Akira, Jiro do you remember when we use to stay in this town when we were younger and we all use to play as the knight's? Shizuka at the time was the authority on royal etiquette. I just remembered we once had a discussion about this very thing. She said something about the real princess being raised among decoys. The decoys were supposed to serve as a shield.'
'How could there have been so many precautions taken and the princess be lost in the end? I was told that when the princess was first sent to this town for her assimilation training a lot of the royal family had been killed already.'
'They would die by freak accidents but it was all very systematic in how they were eliminated. Eventually there were very few with the royal blood left and those that had a strong connection to the family disappeared leaving the princess.'
'After that attack on this city long ago many died and were left behind while we were taken back to the elvaan kingdom and the princess was lost. We each learned about our own heritage and how we were connection to the royal family. Even though our respective families each belong to one of the three other races we are still a part of the elvaan royalty.'
'Our tutoring has been strictly watched so that we aren't influenced by 'outside' thinking and we ourselves moved on and forgot about our life here. I think the only one that really remembered was Tsukasa since he was the closest to the princess.'
'He cursed himself almost daily for not being able to save her. We always believed her dead but suddenly Tsukasa felt that she was still alive. The princess would have turned 18 around this time and with her change in age her change in body chemistry which marked her as the true heir.'
'Tension has been growing for so long especially in the elvaan kingdom. Everyone seems to be at wits end and yet the royal family only seems to be remotely interested in fining the princess."
"Do you think that perhaps the current queen might have something to do with any of this? There have been rumors."
"I don't know but it is a possibility. The king seems to be the ruler in name only and the queen can be pretty scary."
"I think we need to talk to Tsukasa about it. He and the queen are always in disagreement. She didn't want him to leave to find the missing princess I think she feels threatened honestly."
"You're jumping to conclusions Akira. Why would the queen feel threatened?"
"I can't believe you seriously asked that. You must not know how the queen got her title. She was not born into it rather the queen only ascended the throne through political influence. She married into the royal family. The king before our current one was weak and his wife had passed away not too long after the birth of the princess. The queen, at the time was a descendant of a very wealthy merchant family that had royal blood in its lineage. She was also the favored concubine '
'When the king died a few months after their marriage the queen took over all responsibilities. She married a handsome man part of the royal court that is rumored to have been her previous husband whom she eloped with when she was but only 16."
"Her previous husband? But that makes no sense. The queen was a concubine for the old king there was no way she would have been chosen as one if she belonged to another man."
"You would be surprised at what money can do as well as influence. Her family has their hand in the pot of almost all businesses in the elvaan kingdom. It even extends to this town as well as the Siren, Tenkuu and Nymph kingdoms. Do you seriously think that someone with that amount of influence couldn't make a marriage cease to exist?"
"Well even though she had so much influence it shouldn't have really mattered because she was only a concubine."
"Yeah I know that, and I don't know how to explain how she came to be the favorite."
"Its easy to explain."
"What makes it so easy Rui, I think Akira's information has some truth but you really can't explain why she would be a favorite."
"She produced a son for the king. He was born before the previous queen had the princess. He was born relatively quickly as the concubine was pregnant not to long after she arrived in the royal house. The other concubines were infertile, or so it seemed. And here it was that the new, young concubine produced a child with just one night with the king. There had once been rumors that the king was actually the infertile one. But that was quickly dismissed when the queen had the princess.'
'The king was immensely happy that he had produced a child with his love. But that happiness soon turned to sadness as the queen died not too long after the child's birth.'
'The king then married the mother of his son. But for some reason the son did not bare the birth mark that the young princess did. The young prince had been sent for his training before the young princess.'
'The night the princess had been sent here for her training the messenger barely made it back with his life. He had been attacked and shot by Humes. Whether it was planned or coincidence no one knows as at that time Elvaan were not welcome on this side.'
'Then we all know what happened but there have always been whispers about the queen and her family's connection. Some say that they are not all legit. There has even been talk that her family has dealings with the Yabun no kumo."
"Where do you get your information from?" Soujirou stared at Akira and Rui.
"Unlike you who spend most of his time chasing the opposite sex we've been doing our research. I started when I found out I'd be going on this trip." Akira sniffed and chuckled.
"My fiancé as you know is Shizuka and we have many talks about this type of thing as her family are second cousins of the first king. I've also been asked by Tsukasa to look into a few things as well as have my own connections."
Soujirou stared at Rui surprised that his normally sleepy and uninterested friend knew so much. He looked into the sky thoughtfully taking in all that his two companions said. He closed his eyes then bough his head down crossing his arms in his standard thinking position.
"If what you guys say is true do you think that it's possible, just slightly, that the prince is not really the son of the first king and that maybe he wasn't really a true heir?" He opened his eyes then looked up turning to Rui then Akira.
"This has been a part of the speculation circulating a lot of late. I think the queen is nervous especially with the sudden unrest. Our people are not happy they feel that the reason we are having so many problems is because the rightful princess is not sitting on the throne as queen." Rui walked back and forth.
The three fell silent each digesting what was brought forth between them. Suddenly a piercing scream rang out from the mansion.
The all ran toward the house a giant hole recently made drew their attention as the servants came running out. A grey gas seeped out the house as the servants run out trying to escape. They looked as if they were being attacked by something not there. Once they stopped fighting their imaginary foe their eyes bulged and then their body twisted unnaturally. When their body stopped moving it was obvious that they were dead.
A loud shrill cry filled the air as a giant vulture shot through the roof making another hole. It was carrying a young girl.
"The Yabun no Kumo have the Sakurako…"
The gas quickly dissipated and the Rui walked into the ruins of the house. The merchant was dead. He had died the same way as his servant.
Soujirou held his mouth not wanting to disgrace himself. Akira held his nose from the stench. Faint cries came from one of the rooms. Hidden in the bathroom under a covered bath tub was the merchant's son and three of his maids.
"You can come out I suggest you look straight ahead when leaving the house and try to steel your stomach."
Kazuya nodded and came out the tub with his maids.
Soujirou placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You will have to make preparations for your father's funeral."
"What about my sister? What about Sakurako? Is she ok?" he looked as if he were on the verge of tears.
"She will be." They left the bathroom and Akira headed toward the room he left just an hour earlier.
He stood at the door of the room where Makiko had been laying on the bed.
She lay quietly not breathing but a small smile played at the corners of her lips.
Akira sat on the bed looking at her.
Rui walked into the room.
"You know she died in her sleep. I told her I'd come back to give her more and she smiled at me and said that she would be waiting, that she would just take a nap until my return." He spoke without looking up
Rui just nodded.
"I didn't love her she was just a fling and I just wanted to distract her so that we could talk. But…"
He paused his Adam's apple working up and down.
"…but she didn't deserve to die."
Rui just nodded again and they were silent for a while before he spoke.
"The least we can do is give her a proper burial and be thankful she died in her sleep and didn't suffer like a good amount of the staff did."
Akira sighed and continued looking at Makiko's serene face.
Rui left the room and closed the door behind him. He looked for Soujirou and left the mansion.
They were talking when Akira finally joined them he carried a body wrapped in white sheets with him. They walked into the garden and laid her down among a bed of white flowers.
They would find Tsukasa first then bury her before heading out to get Sakurako. There was no way they could catch up to that bird.
When they exited the garden they saw Tsukasa on the path accompanied by a beautiful girl scantily clad.
"Rui she looks like she came straight from the water kingdom's palace."
"Yeah she does…"
end of flashback
So what did you think was it too confusing did you understand what was going on? I hope you guys enjoy the development of this fantasy it's slowly coming together. I'm not sure how long its going to be but I want it to be long enough to fully flesh out the story. Also sorry if I get a bit long winded in the story. .
