The Village Beauty and her Gay Best Friend

~*~

It happened every year.

He would watch as ripe young girls would pretty-up their faces and rush outside to the lord's men who were searching for candidates to become concubines. Even if a girl would be rejected the year before, and even years before that, she would still let herself be carted away to stand before him once again.

And then there were the girls who would rather die than become a concubine. They would hide in the makeshift cellars under their huts, praying that they would not be taken away – for they had to help take care of their family, work in the fields, or continue the meetings with a potential husband, men they actually loved. Some would escape; both most didn't, for the lord's men had keen eyes.

But Izumi Koushirou would always sigh in longing as he watched the giggling girls fade away into the distance, and while he understood the sorrow of the opposite group, he still couldn't help but wonder why they wouldn't want to live in a palace for the rest of their lives to be with him – the handsome, brilliant Lord Yagami Taichi, daimyo of the land.

Ever since he had laid eyes on that splendid painting of his lord, he dreamed about him at night and fantasized about him during the day. It was improper, that he knew, but he couldn't help it. How could he? The image pricked at his insides and at his heart. Deep brown eyes, bronze skin, a beautiful mess of brown hair – he was gorgeous. No woman could ever compare to him.

Of course, he could never tell his family or his friends of this secret passion. He kept it tucked away in his mind, savoring it every day relentlessly as he worked in the rice fields.

It was a secret until he was forced to confess – by his potential wife, that is. Her name was Tachikawa Mimi, and she was undoubtedly the most beautiful girl in the entire village. Everyone knew that if she went before the lord, she would probably be chosen, but her parents had other plans. They wanted her to remain in the village and marry a local man. So they had hidden her in the cellar successfully for years, keeping her beauty hidden from the daimyo.

The Tachikawa and Izumi families were more well-off than most of the villagers, so it only made sense to pair up their children, who were born within months of each other. So Mimi and Koushirou met. They took a liking to each other; however, it was by no means romantic. As they met each time, they became closer and closer friends, but not lovers. But they knew that if they were to wed, they could most certainly enjoy each other's company, even if they weren't in love. Besides, that's how most arranged marriages were anyway.

Koushirou and Mimi grew so close that he finally revealed his longtime desire for their lord, and Mimi, in turn, revealed hers. She was frustrated about her parents preventing her from being a candidate, and Koushirou, well; it was obvious what his lamentations were.

They were best friends, and they decided to fool everyone into thinking that they were in love; however, they had other dreams.

~*~

"It's that time of year again in about a month, I heard today," Koushirou bemoaned to Mimi as they sat on their rock in the forest.

"I know! I'm so excited!" Mimi beamed as she tried to place a flower in her hair.

"Why's that?" Koushirou asked. "We both got really depressed last year."

"Well, not this year, Koushirou-kun," Mimi exclaimed, grinning at the redhead. She took a deep breath and stated: "I'm going to go."

He stared at her in disbelief. "Going to... Wait a minute, how in the world are you going to avoid being shut-in by your parents again?"

"Trust me. I'm devising a plan." She winked at him. "Oh, and did I mention? It includes you."

Koushirou sighed. "What do you want me to do?"

Mimi stared at him for a moment and then burst out laughing. "You don't get it, do you? Ha! And you're supposed to be the smart one of the two of us!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Alright then. What are you implying?"

"That you're going to come with me, silly!"

Silence. Koushirou gawked at her, mouth-open in disbelief. "Right! Yeah, okay, we can totally pass me off as a girl, mhmm." He rolled his eyes.

"Exactly."

"Uh, what?"

"We're going to make you look like a girl, and if you're lucky, Lord Taichi will pick you!"

Koushirou stared at her as though she was crazy. "Mimi-chan, you know you're acting delusional right now. Have you thought this out at all? Even if I do get picked – which I highly doubt – it wouldn't be long until Lord Taichi would find out..." He blushed at the thought. "Who knows what could happen to me?"

"Just play really hard-to-get," she suggested. "It'll make him want you all the more. Plus, he might actually fall for you a bit, so if he found out, I doubt he'd do anything harsh to you. Like, maybe you could convince him to make you an advisor or something. At least you'd still be close to him." She combed her long brown hair with her fingers.

"Yeah, right. Besides, you want Lord Taichi as much as I do. Why do you want to help me, or even make him 'fall for me a bit'?"

"'Cause you're my best friend, duh!" She bonked Koushirou on the head. "If we both got picked, that would be really cool!"

Koushirou sighed and smiled. "I suppose." The idea was really starting to entice him. Even if he could just see Lord Taichi in person...that might be enough. And to get that close to him – he started blushing again – that might just fulfill his life.

"Koushirou-kun? Yoo hoo, come back to earth!"

Mimi was waving her hand in front of his face, and he was startled as he came out of his daydream. "Oh! Sorry, Mimi-chan."

Mimi sighed and shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder if you're more obsessed with Lord Taichi than I."

Koushirou met that with another blush. "S-so how are we going to make me look like a girl? My hair alone will give away that I'm a guy."

"Then grow it out! Your hair grows like a weed, plus you already haven't cut it in awhile. By the time the lord's men come around, it might be shoulder-length. Just tell your parents I want you to 'experiment' with it or something. Then when I come up with the plan, I'll lend you my makeup at some point."

Koushirou just sighed. "You make this sound like this'll be easy."

"Come on, you have the village beauty and her gay best friend at her side – we're unstoppable!"

And at that, he laughed. "Well, you do have a good point there."