Type:Shadow Skill alternate universe. Humorous and safe for children to read...chuckle
Disclaimers:All Shadow Skill characters appearing are the creations and rightful property of Okada-sensei. The Fort Ly'valle characters are mine.
Author's Notes:This little idea bubbled up as the solution to a story concept involving a much-younger Lady Holder, Scarface and Crimson - I was in the mood to portray Scar-sama as something more than a cold, ruthless and manipulative being.
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"Mama, tell me a story...please?"
Lustrous eyes of pure amethyst lovingly regarded the child who had posed the question, traces of amusement lurking in their violet depths. He stood before her, fresh from his evening bath, pink-cheeked and clutching the stuffed toy rabbit received on his last birthday. Dark brown hair, streaked into copper by exposure to the sun, fell into an unruly mop about his fine features; a small hand reached up to brush aside the bangs fringing eyes that were living green fires in his freckled face.
The eyes wore a pleading expression now, as the little one repeated his question. He could usually count on his mother to tell him a story before tucking him into bed at night. She would come into his room, long silver hair glowing pink in the firelight, to read in her sweet, low voice from Kuruda's history, or spin tales of the sevalles she and his father had known. Lying against his pillows, he would listen with rapt attention until the last words faded away, and then receive a hug and a kiss before obediently settling down to sleep.
The boy approached his mother hesitantly, aware that she was dressed and perfumed for a trip to the Kuruda palace royal. Her silvery hair was coiffed in elegant curls, with ribbons of cobalt blue running through them. A silken gown of the same cobalt blue clung to her slender figure, falling to her ankles, a belt of silver emphasizing a waist that had retained its measure even after childbirth. Around her neck was the chain of gold with its ruby and sapphire pendant that his father had presented to her on the child's naming day, the colors flashing brilliant against her white skin.
"Come here, poppet," said the young mother, extending an arm towards her first-born son to draw him close. "What kind of story would you like to hear?"
"We'll be late for the gathering," came a voice from the door, and the boy turned to regard his father standing there. A tall man, with blazing red hair and eyes as blue as the depths of Kuruda's lake, who smiled down at his wife and son. He was an impressive sight, dressed in full Court regalia, sevalle cloak heavy on his shoulders, wearing the long silver sword that marked his status as Raze Reme of Kuruda -- a rare combination. That a man could master the Kuruda Style Annihilation techniques *and* channel the power of life-giving Souma, carrying the power of life and death in his hands, was an awesome thing.
A soft chuckle escaped the mother as she cuddled her son and pressed a kiss to his brow. "I have no doubt that we will miss some little part of the festivities, my beloved lord sevalle. But His Majesty will understand. After all, did he not hold our son in his arms during the naming ceremony?"
"That he did," agreed the father, settling himself down in a chair, the better to admire the sight of the two most important people in his life. "You had best tell the lad his story then, my love. And you, young man, will march straight to bed afterwards, is that clear?"
"Yes, Papa," nodded the boy with a winsome smile, his green eyes alight. In that moment, the father's heart caught painfully, remembering another smile and another pair of green eyes -- a love sacrificed, a body now kept in the frozen void of darkness. The mother's eyes mirrored the flash of pain in her husband's, for she too remembered a loyalty and devotion that defied death itself.
But the moment was gone as soon as it had arrived, broken by the child's stirring as his mother pulled him into her lap, heedless of the creases that might show up on her dress. Her loving arms wrapped around him, and she asked once again, "What kind of story shall you have then, poppet?"
"Ummm..." the child's brow creased momentarily and then he beamed first at his father, then his mother. "Tell me the funny one, about how Uncle Scarface found you in the tree."
The young mother burst into laughter as she met her husband's bewildered cobalt gaze.
"Scarface found you in a tree?" he asked, and she nodded, amethyst eyes filled with mirth.
"It was a long time ago, my darling," came the merry answer, the endearment addressed to both son and husband. "A very long time ago, in the palace royal of Kuruda, when I was about twelve or thirteen summers old..."
end part one