-Oxford -Thursday: Part 12
Charles closed his eyes as he waited for his parents, his hands behind his back as he waited. In fact, he would have to head off as soon as his parents and grandmother returned to his station. The only benefit he had as a soldier compared to others was his status as the Crown Prince. It allowed him a little leeway because he had other duties he had to attend to at times that allowed him a moment like now to slip out. While the truth of the matter was it was more of a personal matter to attend to. One that dealt with the words he had heard on the news, along with other things that had been coming to him from outside sources. It all had him troubled inside.
Unlike his siblings, he would never be able to put aside his own desires for something else. He was the Crown Prince and while he could hope and pray that his mother would live a long and healthy life, well into her 90s it didn't change the fact that at the end of it all. He would one day be King. That he would be expected to bear children and be married. While he didn't mind the idea of having children the idea of marriage didn't sit well with him. He knew that no matter who he was put with they would expect more than he was willing to give to them. He just didn't have those sort of desires, he had once thought something was wrong with him, he wasn't attracted to men nor women. They had a word for it, asexual and it fit him perfectly. Sadly the world didn't seem to be ready for the idea of a single man raising children with no desire for marriage or even a relationship, and he knew that without a doubt that whoever he did have a child with would expect more, a crown to be exact. The illusion of a happy romance, and while the stories he sometimes read spoke of such things, it all seemed so off to him.
There was a time that it crossed his mind to pass the Crown onto another of his younger siblings but he realized that they all had dreams of their own, that to them they had no desire for the Crown in many ways he could see that they were waiting for the day that they were no longer the Royal Children of the Queen but just the younger sibling to the King, whose own children were in line for the crown and they were at least two steps further away. How could he break such a hope for their own futures just because he didn't desire a life partner, to be someone's husband to have to pretend to have romantic feelings for someone?
He could understand in a way Kyoko's desires to not be pulled into such a life, though he knew that one day may change, where for him it would never be the case. She was hurt deep down, far to hurt but that didn't mean her heart didn't think about those possibilities and while she may never love in the same way, he knew that her heart would always desire it deep down. That happiness that came from a love that he read about, that he saw upon his own parents that he saw whenever his grandmother looked at images of his grandfather, her husband. That sort of love that Kouki had with Lina. No, it wasn't that he couldn't understand love, it was the sexual feelings that they seemed to have had for each other. The way they touched each other in small manners, it was beyond him to understand that sort of pull because he just didn't have that kind of pull in him. Kyoko clearly had and while she no longer wanted to be pulled that way or in the way of any sort of love, he knew better than anyone that it was not the same.
To make matters worse in Charles mind, was the fact that Shoutaro was trying to take her from them and he couldn't be so sure that she would not find a way to run back to him. Back out of the public eye, because once she debuted it would only get worse, she would only be looked upon more. Perhaps not as much if she goes back to Japan, that had been part of the reason why Kouki had left them. He had truly looked up to the older man when he had been here. His senior by seven years, he had been so sad when he left them. He understood, of course, Kouki had dreams of his own and for a while, he stayed with them but every little thing he did, was judged and soon he just stopped coming around that much. Lina had been good for him, brought him back to the family more. At least until she died, her death seemed to had caused some sort of barrier but he had noticed that it opened a little bit while he had been here, around Kyoko.
Charles eyes lowered as he saw the elderly woman walking with his parents, "Grandmother" he said with a slight bow of his head, before turning to his parents, "Mother, Father." He motioned for them to enter the family dining room, once the door was shut he stood in front of it. Both of his parents looked at him with worried but his Grandmother knew something was on his mind as she sat down at the head of the table.
Charles watched as his mother turned towards the kitchen, setting to work on making a pot of hot water. She would make tea, it was the way they calmed themselves he supposed. Something that he knew would in time disappear just like the traces of Japanese blood that they held within them.
"Tell me what is on your mind child" Charles felt the warmth that he always felt when referred to as being one of his Grandmother's children. While the truth was they were grandparents it somehow in some small way felt right. He knew that outsiders would never understand it, would always question such wording but to him it was a warmth, as though his place was higher than just being her grandson, he had a feeling that Lory and Kouki and even Ruto now had that same warmth that made them feel far more important than before and he worried for the day she was no longer the core of their family. It's very heart and compass, the one who kept them strong against everything else.
"I don't know if it was such a wise idea to invite them for tea." No there was something that just didn't sit well with him and he was sure deep down that Kyoko would just feel more guilty about the whole matter. Was that really wise?
Robert smiled some at him, "I wouldn't worry too much about that, no matter how you look at it, it would be expected of us to do such a thing."
Charles, "Even with that being the case, they may expect far more to come from it. One of these men she went on a date with" Though apparently, that was due to David and Amber that didn't change the fact that Laura likely knew about it and helped it along. Basically, he was sure those three set up this date and it had backfired in a rather awful way. Not only had the man gone off and flirted with two other women but then to be caught in such a position? He shook his head before looking towards his Grandmother. "You must understand how this can be seen, Grandmother."
Leiko nodded her head some, "Yes I know how it can be seen. However, if it had been any other people, in any other manner we would not have this problem. We would invite them for tea and send them on their way."
Mary, "It's just that one of those children happen to be friendly with Kouki and Maria. Plus he works for Lory." she shook her head sadly as she poured tea for her mother and husband. Holding out the pot for Charles to see he shake his head before she smiled softly towards him before pouring herself her own and then going about placing the tea in front of them. "Please come and sit down, there is no need to stand there."
Charles smiled some, "I don't want to take up to much time mother." He closed his eyes sighing heavily she nodded her head knowing that he just wanted to say his peace and then leave this was not a time in his mind to socialize with them. After a moment Charles spoke up again, "I am worried that the media will make a big deal out of this as they are doing now. One where they expect her to pick one of her heroes to become her future husband."
Robert sighed some as he ran a hand as he took his wife's hand in his own, "That would be a problem, more so with the way her heart is. Perhaps we should see about setting her up with someone, just temporary."
Mary, "We can't use those children though. It is a shame we never really got to know Kuu's son."
Leiko frowned slightly, "That boy was trouble, we could not allow that sort of thing around the other children." She shook her head, "Perhaps if his father had thought to turn to us we could have done something before that child got far too lost in the darkness. Americans" she huffed, it was a sore topic in general for Leiko. Not that she disliked Kuu or even his wife but she felt from the stories alone that the boy Kuon was every bit American in all the wrong ways. Yet from what she could understand even Lory didn't know how bad it was until much later and then whisked the boy away to who knew were. No, she would have to trust that Lory would help the child, got him away from the so-called sex, drugs, and rock and roll lifestyle.
Robert nodded his head some, "We can also perhaps move the tea to be one of all six during one of our social events" Leiko nodded her head as Mary chewed her lower lip for a moment.
"Yes that would work best, we should send Kyoko and Cody somewhere else. Neither of them being of age yet, there would be no question whatsoever why they are here other than as a thank you." She closed her eyes leaning into her husband some.
Leiko smiled some as she turned towards her grandson, "There see we will figure this out, child." She smiled as she lifted her teacup, "Now I do believe you should get back to your duties, please be careful." The young man gave a nod of his head.
Kyoko walked down the halls after having left Keiji and Daiki's room. She knew that Keiji was right, that it didn't matter she was family. Her family would never see it any other way but that didn't change the fact that Daiki had a point too, that blood had a way of matching others, did she look that far removed from Alice Patterson? From what she had seen the girl was truly beautiful, she had just the right mixture to have gotten all the best parts. Yet that didn't seem to matter too much in her mind either. No matter how she looked at it, Alice Patterson selling point was her eyes, while her eyes were nowhere near as amber or perhaps the correct word was gold they did have enough of a look to pass for it, though in her mind it was more of a warm brown.
Then there was the untold number of young women, Daiki promised to let her know when it had finished, to then give her a list of the best possible candidate for missing people that would work for replacement doubles. Yet with Alice Patterson, she was starting to believe that there wouldn't be anyone else, no one else had come up on these phones at least not missing from they told her. Now that she knew the importance of these sort of things she would never be able to look at her phone in the same way. It would tell her when a child went missing. There was a pain in her chest, there had been none for her, no alert, she had looked. The Fuwas hadn't bothered to look for her during those two months she had been gone, had made no contact and she had not bothered to contact them since she was reborn. Yet now she wondered why. Did Shoutaro say something to them? She highly doubted that was the case. It hurt for some reason and she found herself stopping in her steps. "Ruto do we still have time?"
"Always Miss Kyoko" her eyes turned towards him. "I already informed your father, he is waiting for you." She smiled softly towards him before turning fully around and hugging him tightly. He returned the gesture. "Do you still desire to pick up Miss Maria yourself?" She nodded her head some and he couldn't help but smile "Very well, I will inform Ren that we will be down there shortly to pick up Miss Maria." once again she nodded her head as she slowly moved away from him.
"Thank you Ruto... for always knowing what I seem to need" she looked down she felt the pain of tears wanting to threaten to come but she couldn't allow herself to cry right now. 'This is what family is really about, knowing and supporting and loving. I...' she shook her head not sure how she had been able to ever think that Fuwas had truly loved her as one of their own. No, she didn't think they hated her or disliked her. It was just that she wasn't their child she wasn't really part of their family she was an outsider they were taking care of. If all she had in the world was Ruto, her father, brother and niece she could be happy but she had been blessed with so much more than that. She had been blessed not with what she saw as her main family but additional family members, Leiko was an amazing grandmother she had an Aunt that was unlike anyone else, a loving uncle and lots of older cousins. No, no matter how she looked at it she had been very blessed in the end and it seemed that life was going to keep those little reminders going, by teaching her and showing her the differences.
A/N: Asexual - a person who has no sexual feelings or desires [they are also referred to as being Aces]