Title: S&R/TNG: The Unclean Prince
Author: Serena J
Rating: R for some sexual content
Genre(s): Romance, Angst
Pairing(s): Primary William/Mokuba
Spoilers: none
Beta: Mishiko
Disclaimer: Just the words, not the folks.
Summary: Ten years after Sow and Reap, Seto's son William must learn to love - and then learn to let go.
Chapter 4
I couldn't breathe.
I felt like the air itself was closing in around me.
"It's a mistake," I whispered.
"No, it's supposed to hang loose like that," my brother answered happily.
"I can't breathe!" I could feel myself beginning to panic.
"What a drama queen!" my sister scoffed. "You can breathe just fine."
"It's not the clothes!" I snapped back. "This is a mistake. I have to stop this. Before it's too late."
Auset looked at her watch as Nobu shook his head. "Thirty-eight minutes. Wow, Nobu; what did you do - rent a T.A.R.D.I.S., go to the future, and time it?"
Nobu laughed. "Nah. Papa and I both figured he'd crack at about the half hour mark. I just gave my bet a couple minutes lead-time. How big is the pool anyway?"
"It's only a 10yen anti. Last I checked, it was at 500yen," she chuckled.
And this from those who allegedly love me. "Thank you all so much for caring. If you all knew this was a mistake from the start, why didn't someone stop me, damn it?"
"Oh my God, Will, get a grip!" Auset rolled her eyes. "You're getting married, not entering a shadow duel!"
xXxXxXx
"William-sama, may I come in?" Niko stood in the doorway of my studio, looking lovely and formal.
As beautiful as my lover was, however, any request that started with the Prince calling me 'sama' was one he knew I would say 'no' to. Although far too often he'd charmed, bribed or seduced a 'yes' from me.
I put my brush in the water jar, and took a submissive position on the floor. "You honor me with your visit, your highness." Two can play this game.
Niko came in and took the same position in front of me. "I'm being serious, William. I need to ask you something."
"No," I answered preemptively.
"It's important." Niko frowned.
"It's still no."
He sighed. "I want to know how you feel about me." I had to smirk. I had literally an entire gallery of work dedicated to him. In the ten years it had taken to fill it, it had become known as the most romantic gallery in Japan and was on the top one hundred places to propose marriage. "I want to hear you say it."
I smiled. Every so often, he seemed to need more assurance that I did. "Prince Nagahito of Akishino, I adore you. You are my light and my inspiration. If you had not opened my eyes, I would never have learned to see."
"Do you love me?"
"Deeply. Hopelessly. Truly."
"If you could, would you marry me?"
We had discussed a commitment service much like my parents. They had a modified Shinto wedding one spring. It wasn't legally binding in Japan, but it had been very public and had sparked a trend of gay marriages in Tokyo. Niko was all for such a ceremony. I, on the other hand, was very aware that Niko - however much he wished to distance himself - was now third in line for the Imperial Throne of Japan. It was extremely unlikely that Niko would ever become Emperor, but if he did, one of his specific duties would be to have an heir of the body. And an Empress. I did not intend to put myself through that kind of emotional hell. When Family Honor called Niko, I would let him go; no strings attached.
"A real marriage," Niko went on before I could answer. "One that was legally binding in Japan. The first same sex marriage in Our history."
"How...?"
"Minister Kaiba has introduced legislation to the Diet. It would allow any citizen over the age of 20 to marry any other citizen without regard to gender, status or race. It would also outlaw arranged marriages where the couple does not consent."
'Minister Kaiba'? Niko was being extremely formal not to refer to my father as 'Uncle Seto'. "Father has tried that before." Had tried it, in fact, every year since he'd left KaibaCorp to become the Minister of Education, Culture and Technology.
"Yes, but this year, he has the support of the Prime Minister. And my uncle."
Niko's Uncle. The former Emperor.
"But my uncle's support comes with a caveat. He wants this to be seen as a way to continue Japanese families into the new millennia and not just another way to cater to your father's whims."
"So this is a political decision." That would make sense.
"Only by them." Niko smiled softly. "Uncle wants a statement; Kaiba wants a tie with the Imperial family. I just want you."
xXxXxXx
The kimono was an ugly black and grey thing made of silk. I remembered thinking that it had been elegant when Father wore it to his ceremony with Dad and Papa. But wearing it myself now, I felt drab and foolish.
It was a relatively new tradition in the Kaiba Family. Valentine had started it when she wore her mother's wedding dress to marry Pegasus Maxi. And Hianko wore her mother's when she married a South Korean construction magnate. Then, when Nobu married a German viola player, he wore Dad's kimono. And Auset followed later the same year when she wore Papa's for her commitment service.
And now I stood mocking my family's tradition, my culture's history, my own beliefs just to make a political statement with a man who could no more 'love' me than he could love a dog he'd found in the streets.
"William, if you are going to be sick, go to the bathroom," Father commented, rather nonchalantly. "Down the hall, first door on the left."
"I'm not going to be sick." I wasn't sure if that assured either of us.
Father turned the page of his newspaper. "Really? I'm impressed. I couldn't keep anything down for a full day before the service. That morning, I still had dry heaves."
I stared at the man. "It wasn't legally binding and the three of you'd been together almost twenty years. Did you have the flu?"
He laughed. "No, just still incapable of making an actual lifelong promise to Pharaoh or Joey. My life won't be long enough." He put the newspaper down. "You, however, are about to be contractually obligated to this man 'for as long as ye both shall live'. And I remind you that divorcing a member of the Imperial family - while never easy - would be particularly difficult in this case."
"If your intention is to bolster my courage, you are failing."
"My intention is to remind you that it is not too late to catch the 2:30 flight to New Orleans."
I glanced at my watch. He was right; if I left in the next twenty minutes, I'd even have time for coffee. It was an appealing thought.
"Why New Orleans?" I finally asked.
"It's where I went. The first time I ran from them. KL3 was under construction, and it seemed like a good place to hide and wallow in sin." He smiled. "Perhaps not your first choice of escapes, but I'm sure you can find something to entertain yourself."
"You ran?"
"Like a thief in the night."
"You never let us run. You used to drag us in front of the firing squad."
"Of course. Running is the coward's way of resolution." He pulled an envelope out of his pocket and placed it on the coffee table. A plane ticket. Then he opened his paper again. "If you go to KaibaLand, say hi to Devlin for me. And anything he or Taylor tells you about me is pure fabrication."
xXxXxXx
There were a suspiciously large number of people in the living room when Niko and I left my studio and arrived at the main house.
"Well?" Papa demanded. He had Auset's two-year-old twins Mana and Mahad in his arms.
Dad and Uncle Yugi were on the floor dueling with Solomon Jr. (Valentine's son) and Wilma (Uncle Mokuba's) daughter. Nobu was reading - which was a joke since there was a piano in the room.
"Are we having a family reunion?" I asked.
"Come on, Wolf; you know I'm dying here." Papa never minced words. "Yes or no?"
"Yes," Niko answered for me.
"No!" I glared at him. "This isn't settled yet."
"But you said you'd discuss it." He grinned back. He'd been grinning non-stop since I said it. "It's a qualified yes, but it's a yes."
"Good enough for me!" Papa was also grinning now. "You hear that, Tak?"
"I heard." Father's voice came in over a speaker.
"We all did!" Aunt Anzu added. "Congratulations, boys. We'll land soon, and celebrate, ok?"
It wasn't actually a question. "Yes, Auntie!" Niko laughed and wrapped his arms around my waist. "We will tentatively celebrate my qualified yes."
"I'm curious," I gave Niko a sideways look. "Am I the absolute last person on the planet you consulted about this?"
"Pretty much." My brother laughed. He moved to the piano and began playing 'Here Comes the Bride'. "Will it be a traditional service, western or one of each?"
"Traditional," Niko said. "Held at the palace."
"No," I corrected that quickly. "Here, at the Shrine." All my family's weddings and commitments were held at the Kaiba Shrine. In the secret moments I'd allowed myself to even dream of marrying Niko, our first wedded kiss was always on the moon bridge leading to the Shrine's entrance. "It must be here."
Niko shook his head. "William, the entire Imperial family will be in attendance. It has to be at the palace."
"That 'thing' at the palace is a gaudy, tacky pseudo-temple and I wouldn't be caught dead in it!" I snapped.
That 'thing' was also the Temple of the Sun God and one of the most revered places in the country.
"And the drama begins," Auset sighed behind me. "I suppose it was too much to ask for you to just be happy for once."
xXxXxXx
"Don't even look at that exit," Papa snapped.
"I wasn't," I sighed, looking back at the floor.
Ten minutes. In ten minutes, Papa, Dad, Father and Genji would escort me into that ridiculous room, where that ridiculous man masquerading as a priest would pretend to bless the joining of two men who clearly didn't belong together.
It had taken me years to believe that Niko loved me. That it was ok for me to love him. It took mere days for that belief to crumble under the weight of the Empire.
The Press adored us; the Emperor's wild nephew finally tamed by the mysterious Son of Kaiba. We'd made the Most Beautiful Couple list. We had women offering to be the mother of our eventual child.
They didn't need to offer. Niko resolved that too.
Genji was Niko's youngest brother, born by their father's mistress - four months after his father's death. Niko was named the boy's father by Imperial decree after my prince literally camped in the throne room.
Nearly everything Niko and I did together involved Genji. He even had his own desk in my studio. He was like a son to me. In ten minutes, he would become my son.
"What," I asked no one in particular, "if I am not good enough for this?"
"Then you will fail," Dad replied simply. "But I have already consulted the Gods and they are not thrilled, but they will accept Niko if he is your heart's desire."
"Not thrilled?" Papa smirked.
"No. Niko is not fated to be Emperor. But they will content themselves with William's grandson."
Grandson? I looked at Dad, but he merely gave me an enigmatic smile. It made me crazy when he said such things; I could never tell if he was serious.
"Dad? Where's Papa?" Genji's voice sounded very small in the temple antichamber.
I opened my arms and the boy came to me. How pathetic was I to take comfort from a child? "Papa is in a room like this, on the other side of that door. In a few minutes, we will go in and see him."
"And then you become my real Mama?"
"Well, uh...sort of." My face burned. Auset and Nobu had convinced the child that if Niko and I got married, I'd magically become his mother. "Legally, Genji, not magically."
"To-may-toe, to-maa-toe," Papa said.
"Papa!" I glared, but he chuckled anyway.
"Niko and William will be your parents, Genji," Dad said. "What you call them is up to you."
"Yay!" Genji cheered. "Can we go in now?"
"No." I took a breath. "We have to wait for the..."
There was the deep distant sound of a gong.
"Ask not for whom the bell tolls," Father said, finally folding his newspaper.
"Come on, Wolf." Papa offered me his hand. "Time to dance."
xXxXxXx
"You are unhappy." It was not a question, but a statement of fact.
We were in Niko's private residence in Kokyo - the Tokyo Imperial Palace. I had been there often as a guest. It was my first night as a resident.
"How could I not be happy?" I replied. Niko had unbound his hair. It flowed over his shoulders like silk. How could anyone look at such beauty and be unhappy?
"I don't know. Are you still upset that we could not use the Kaiba Shrine?"
"No." I wasn't that petty.
"Then what? Tell me so I can fix it for you."
I couldn't help frowning. "You don't need to fix things for me."
"But I want to. I want your life to be perfect."
"I hardly deserve perfection."
"But I want to give it to you." He kissed me. "Tell me what's wrong. Please?"
I smiled at him. I couldn't help it. Whatever doubts and fears I had, Niko's kiss seemed to make them vanish. "You are here. Therefore, all is right with the world."
"Did you know that when you lie, you get little lines right here, between your eyebrows." He stroked my forehead. "It's almost cute." He kissed me again, and then sat in my lap. "Tell me."
I sighed deeply. "How long does this last?"
"What?"
"Us. This marriage thing. How long before you find someone better or -"
He kissed me, cutting me off mid-word. "Do you think that I would have badgered the Emperor until he threatened to banish me if I thought there might be someone 'better' out there?" He laughed at my expression. "I wanted to marry you when I was 12! William, there is no one better. There is no one else. I don't care if you are a commoner or nobility. Indian, Japanese, hell, I'd adore you if you were American!"
"But, you don't know-"
"I don't want to. Security has a surveillance file. I told them that unless you were plotting an assassination, I didn't want to see it. Everything I know about you, I learned from you."
I felt a bit guilty about that. "I haven't told you much."
He smiled. "There is only one thing I want to know. Do you love me?"
I had to smile in return. Maybe I didn't have to be sure. Maybe my past didn't matter.
"Prince Nagahito of Akishino, I adore you. Deeply. Hopelessly. Truly."