Chapter 11
"Now, Lady Chuuguu, be a dear and let me in. It's your old friend, Tomomasa! Don't you want to see me? Hmm?"
Tomomasa puts on his most wheedlesome and charming tones in order to lure the unwilling young woman out of her locked room or let him in. But it was to no avail. Not a sound nor a squeak came out through the door and nothing Tomomasa had said in the past 10 minutes of trying to appeal to the young woman had worked.
" sigh It's no good. She won't budge, despite all my efforts. And believe me, I'm not used to women rejecting my advances. Ah, Takamichi, this is looking more and more like a lost cause. But I can't give up now---I won't. Maybe there's another---"
"Tomomasa-dono, please allow me." Takamichi, who had been silent up until this point, motions towards the door, to which Tomomasa steps back and watches his younger partner tap purposefully on it.
"Lady Chuuguu, this is Takamichi. We would like to speak with you. It is a matter of the highest urgency and deeply involves Prince Eisen and your sister, Princess Fuji."
With that short and to the point speech, amazingly, the door opens a crack. Tomomasa, not one to waste an opportunity, grabs the latch and pushes the door all the way open, entering the woman's room without hesitation.
"Tomomasa-dono! That's a lady's private room! You weren't invited in there---"
"Takamichi, the time for propriety has long since passed." With a raised eyebrow, Tomomasa glides in the room, leaving a blushing Takamichi out in the hallway behind him.
With a shrug and a gulp, Takamichi follows his Byakko partner, deciding that he could do anything if it meant saving the one he loved.
Inside the austere room, Chuuguu was draped across her bed area, obviously crying and in distress.
Seeing a lady in tears was something Takamichi could never stand. He swiftly rushes to her side, kneeling before her, offering her his handkerchief--and whatever else she might need him to do, in comfort.
Chuuguu looks up gratefully at Takamichi, a small smile on her lovely features. As he looks into her eyes, he could now see the resemblance to Fuji that he had never seen before. The Chuuguu from 5 years ago had been haughty and rude---so much so that Takamichi found her relationship to Fuji quite unbelievable.
But now---it was different. She was different. Chuuguu seemed to have matured for the better during her five year absence from the royal court. Takamichi smiles kindly at her and then helps her into a sitting position.
"Thank you. I'm...I'm sorry to have you both see me in this state. I...never wanted anyone from the palace to know where I've been all this time. When Yasuaki-san brought you here, Takamichi-dono, I wanted to hide away, but I couldn't bring myself to ignore such a wounded man, and so I helped him nurse you back to health. I supposed it would be at the cost of my anonymity, but I couldn't let you die... But then, when you awoke and didn't seem to know me, I thought my secret may still be safe. You didn't recognize me and I was very glad of that. I am not the selfish girl I once was. Staying here, learning self-denial, has started a change in me. I know I still have much to learn and I feel as though something else, something important is missing still."
Takamichi smiles in appreciation and understanding at her obvious discomfort.
"I knew you at once, Lady Chuuguu, but I also could feel that you didn't want me to know you. So I said nothing. I, too, wasn't in the best of spirits and didn't want to converse with others anyway."
Tomomasa, while enjoying this dramatic scene playing out before him very much, also knew he had a far more important mission that needed to be taken cared of as well.
" ahem Lady Chuuguu, I am sorry to have burst in upon you here, but when I came for Takamichi and found you here, well I knew it just had to be serendipity."
Takamichi and Chuuguu glance at each other at Tomomasa's odd speech. Yet the aqua man ignores them and continues on.
"To make a long story short, Princess Fuji is being forced to marry Prince Eisen in less than 3 days. Neither of them love each other, but both are fool enough to go through with it out of loyalty and duty to the Empire." Tomomasa rolls his eyes, clucks his tongue, and pauses here to watch the effect it had on Chuuguu.
He was not disappointed. Chuuguu's eyes widen in obvious shock and begin to tear, so much that she must bring her head down to look at the floor in order to try to keep her composure.
Tomomasa winks slyly at Takamichi, feeling that things were finally starting to go right. Takamichi, however, was not so certain that they should use a girl's feelings in order to achieve their goals. But Tomomasa was not to be stopped.
"Takamichi here is in love with Princess Fuji and I know you once---and may I say from your eyes, still do---love Prince Eisen. The four correct people are in play, only, they're not in the 'right' pairs. So you see, my dear Chuuguu, only YOU and Takamichi can stop this silly marriage AND at the same time, bring happiness to everyone involved---including yourself."
Tomomasa flicks his trusty fan back and forth,and as Chuuguu's eyes snap up at the mention of her happiness, he feels that he had safely sealed the bargain.
"NO! I can never be happy. I...I don't deserve to be. You--both of you--you don't understand. If you did, you'd despise me, as I despise myself. When my father remarried and with his new wife, Princess Houtaru, had a baby---a girl, no less---I was very upset. I had always been his only child---and I wanted him all to myself. I didn't want to share him with anybody---especially to another girl who was to be more important than I! She was the daughter of a princess and turned out that not only was she royal but she showed signs of inheriting the Star Family blood and power. I was very jealous and since she was born, treated her with contempt. She had always tried to be good to me, and considered me her older sister, but I always brushed her off--never wanting to accept anything from her. I admit, I did feel a bond with her and often, wanted to share my hopes and dreams with her as we grew older, but my envy kept us apart. However, through it all, I had Prince Eisen. Since we were tiny children, he was my companion, my only friend and the one I loved, though at the time, I didn't realize the depth of my feeling for him. I thought I only cared about him in order to further my station to rise above Fuji. I always imagined that he and I would marry one day and he'd take me away. Then, I would have it all. I'd be a princess higher than Fuji---as the wife of the Prince! But then, when I was sixteen, it all fell apart. My selfish fantasies were proven to be just that---a fantasy."
She pauses here to wipe her misty eyes and Takamichi kindly pats her back, trying to comfort her and at the same time, compel her to go on with her story.
"Eisen, who had always been there for me, was no longer there. He had turned his emotions and care to Akane-dono instead. I know he tried to hide it from me and everyone in the court, but I could tell. I saw in his eyes that he had fallen in love with this girl. I was devastated. My dreams were shattered. But it was then that I realized something---something very precious to me.
"I loved him. I know it must sound funny coming from my lips, it was even a surprise to me. Instead of being angry at him, I only wanted to do what would be best for him. If he loved her, over me, then I wanted him to be happy. But I knew he never could be if he felt he was abandoning me. After all, we were engaged to be married the following year. He wouldn't be happy as long as I was there. So I took matters into my own hands. I left. I wandered around a few days, trying to decide which direction to go, but then, on a whim, I decided to climb the mountain. I don't know why, but something led me here. When I reached the top, I saw these odd buildings amidst the trees and hills inviting me. Yasuaki-san was the one who answered my knock and he was not accepting strangers to live in the Onmyouji temples. But I pleaded with him and explained my plight. I told him that I wanted to learn how to be useful and happy. I think he didn't know what to do for once. So, on trial, he took me in. I had duties and tasks he set for me and little tests, like wearing simple, plain clothes, no make up and worst of all, cutting off all my hair. I suppose you think it nothing, but as a girl, my hair was very precious to me. Yet I did it. I wanted to find some way---any way---to find happiness. I wanted to learn to forget everything I knew...everything I was. I wanted to forget him."
Tomomasa raises his lowered eyelids at the end of her long winded reply.
"And have you?"
She looks away. "No. I can never forget him..."
"What about Fuji? And the Empress Kougou? Have you forgotten them?"
Chuuguu looks to Tomomasa, eye to eye. "...I haven't forgotten anything."
"Exactly. My dear, you cannot run from yourself. And Eisen, Fuji and the Empress are so engrained in your soul, they are a part of you. Parts that can not just be erased."
Chuuguu's eyes well up again and she turns her back towards them.
"But I can't face them! It's too late! After what I did to Fuji and how I treated her! I can't forgive myself for not being a better sister to her!"
"You can make it up to her now by being a sister to her now and saving her from a loveless marriage."
"How? How can I do that?! You give me far too much credit, General. You expect me to just waltz in and marry Eisen? Do you really think he will want me? He didn't before and he surely has no reason to do so now. I know what's been happening in his life, through Yasuaki-san. I found out soon after that Akane-dono didn't return Eisen's love--how could she not?! I admit, I was glad though, because in my heart, my soul, I've always loved Eisen and didn't want to imagine him in the arms of another woman. But still, I didn't return to the palace. I couldn't! It was too late for everything...He hasn't seen me in five years and doesn't know me any longer, if he ever did. I am plain and unattractive compared to what I once was. I have no right to---"
Takamichi cuts her off by putting his finger to her lips. With a sweet smile he shakes his head gently.
"You are much more beautiful now than you ever were, Lady Chuuguu. Your beauty is no longer merely skin deep, but rather radiates all about you. It shows in everything you do and say---your caring manner towards a hurt man who could have exposed your secret, your humility and your willingness to sacrifice. I am sure I won't be the only one to see this. And you're wrong about Prince Eisen. He does love you as he has always loved you. When Miko-dono was here, I'm afraid her light blinded many of us. He was not the only one who was entranced by her shine, and yet, I think he was more upset by your disappearance than by Akane-dono's."
Tomomasa pipes in here to boost Takamichi's story.
"That's right! Every morning our prince goes out into his garden---the one he made for you---and tends carefully to the orchids and blossoms out there, with his own hands, even in the dead heat of summer and harsh winter snows. He wants to protect them himself he says and entrusts their care to no one else. He told me that he must keep them beautiful and elegant so that when you return, you will be pleased to see them still there. He says they are waiting for you and will only bloom to their fullest when you come back." Tomomasa finishes with a flourish, certain that this last point would win the day, surely.
"H--he really said that?" Chuuguu looks up hopefully.
"Of course! Would I tell a lie to such a lovely maiden?" Tomomasa could not help but flirt with any girl he met, even in the most urgent of times.
Chuuguu looks from Tomomasa to Takamichi's genuine smile, looking for reassurance. Takamichi nods his affirmation, which seems to brighten the young woman's mood all in an instant.
After all, though she had matured in many ways, she was still herself and was rather proud that the prince cared about her still. That was all she needed to hear. With her head now raised, she smiles tentatively, reaching for Takamichi's hand.
"Well, then, please won't you help me prepare? I must look a sight. What shall I do with my hair? I can't let him see me like---"
But Tomomasa had no time for such niceties.
"I'm sorry, Lady Chuuguu, but time is of the essence. The wedding is in less than 3 days and the palace is 2 days journey from here. We must make haste or all our efforts will be in vain. Come, Takamichi. We leave at once." With that, Tomomasa picks up the girl, much to her dismay, and rushes out the door to his waiting horse out front.
Once there, he mounts the steed, along with Chuuguu in front of him, but quickly realizes that Takamichi was also needed and of course, would not fit on the horse as well.
"Taka--" Tomomasa starts to speak to the man, but finds that he was no where to be found. Tomomasa knits his brows in confusion but was quickly rewarded with an answer before he really had any time to ponder the question.
"Right here, Tomomasa-dono." Takamichi was already on a white horse, rearing and ready to go.
"Takamichi, you never cease to amaze me. Tell me, WHERE on earth did you find that horse?" Tomomasa lowers his eyelids in amusement as Chuuguu giggles at his antics.
"Yasuaki-dono gave it to me." Takamichi replies calmly.
"Yasuaki-san did?" Chuuguu was a bit surprised to hear that her chilly former teacher would help her leave, to return to the life she had left.
"Yes, he did. He even told me that he had been waiting for the day when you would find your true self." Takamichi rears his horse. "Now, come on, you two! Don't just sit there. We've got a wedding to stop!" And with that, he races ahead of them, down the steep mountainside.
"Heh heh heh...He's becoming just like me, isn't he?" Tomomasa smirks to himself in pride.
"I hope not! We certainly don't need two men like you in the palace!" Chuuguu retorts, teasing the General with a much lighter heart than she had had in over 5 years.
"Ha ha ha. I'm glad to hear you in such fine spirits, my lady, so I'll take that jab at my expense willingly." Tomomasa gives a little bow of head towards the girl as he gallops the horse at full speed after their fellow comrade in this.
As they race off down the mountainside, a lone figure, dressed in black and white, watches them leave, nodding his approval before turning away, hidden from view in the endless leaves of the forest.