22. One Shot (Hakuryuu/fem!OC, Hakuyuu, Hakuren, Hakuei, Gyokuen, Hakutoku): Hakuryuu spends an evening with his wife lazing around, while remembering his childhood.

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The best days were those on which nothing was going on – not even weather. All he did on such days was lying in his bed together with his wife and rest. When it was sunny outside they would lay down in the garden and when it was cold, rainy or just not comfortable outside they would stay in bed inside. Sometimes they would talk all day long and sometimes they would not even utter a single word. Hakuryuu loved to watch his wife, while she was enjoying herself with various activities like reading, sleeping or daydreaming. On other free days it was her, who observed him, while he was sleeping, daydreaming, organizing the room – she would only help when it was about rearranging the furnishings, since most of the time it was also her idea to do so – or when they were outside she watched him watering the plants – or whatever he had in store for those "poor things", as she worded it. She would make compliments to the flowers and compare their beauty to Hakuryuu, what caused him to blush. He wished he was as good and smooth at making compliments as her. Sadly, every time he tried to make one, he failed horribly. Either he started to stutter, bit his tongue, forgot his words or even lacked the right ones to say what he wanted. Luckily, at least he managed to tell her how much he loved her. Better than nothing. Although he wished he could give her more than a simple "I love you" – say it in different ways. Seemingly she didn't mind it at all and thought it was cute. He trying to express his love for her was what matter to her. Knowing that he loved her was the most important! By the by, the way to a man's heart was through his stomach. In this case it was the way to a woman's heart and there was nothing that could please her stomach more than Hakuryuu's meals!

Besides their days off, they often spent the evening together, which wasn't unusual, but it also wasn't seldom for Hakuryuu to work until midnight. After dinner they normally already prepared for bed. Usually Hakuryuu would do nothing special, while his wife was reading. He had the suspicion that she wasn't really reading, it was more looking at the pages and dreaming her own story. Hakuryuu didn't read much in his free time, because he already had to read so much at work that he was happy, when he could just let his thoughts wander around. Although sometimes he took one of his wife's books, simply because he was interested to know what kind of stories she liked. She had many different interests.
When she was reading she preferred to use him as pillow and he liked it. Her warmth was reassuring and calming. Tenderly he stroke through her long black hair, twisted it around his finger and released it again. Or he drew circles on her forearm, stomach or thighs – depending on how she had positioned herself and hence which places he could reach. Her skin was so soft. He liked it.
While she was reading he often observed her. Her sudden smiles, her sudden tears, her sudden disapproving grumble, he saw it all and then he took a look at the text she was reading or was pretending to read. Most of the time he couldn't find an explanation within the text, so he assumed she was dreaming her own stories. More than once he had wondered about her thoughts. What was she thinking and dreaming about all day? Never had he dared to ask. Somehow it felt as if the question was too personal, too deep to even ask one's spouse. On the other hand, she also never had asked about his thoughts. At least not about those he had, when they were relaxing in bed. At least not about those he had while observing her. If she asked, he wouldn't have a problem with answering honestly. There were no shameful or embarrassing thoughts going through his head at such times. All he did was thinking about his past, present and future.

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Nights could be very frightening, but he was a big boy and therefore he was not afraid at all! Hiding beneath his blanket and waiting for the monsters to leave without hurting him was all he could do. Never would he run to his mother, sister or one of his brothers. His plushy, a stuffed animal that looked like a bear or was supposed to look like one, would protect him. And he was definitely not crying at all or whimpering! No he was a big boy and not afraid of the darkness and its monsters. He was a strong and brave warrior just like his father and brothers. Maybe not as strong as them, but he was brave! That was the reason why he also wasn't paralyzed by fear when he heard footsteps. Someone was passing through the hallway at such a late hour. Who could it be? There shouldn't be anyone going through the hallway at this time! Maybe it was an assassin? What should he do? He had to tell his mother! But how? To tell her he needed to leave his room and walk through the hallway. The hallway through which the assassin was passing! What should he do? He also couldn't scream for help. If he did the assassin would know he was here and kill him before someone could arrive. Or maybe he should just calm down. Maybe it was just a guard making his round and ensuring the safety of the royal family. Yes, this was most likely the case he was just overthinking. Everything was fine! But to be on the save side Hakuryuu decided to hide under his bed. Just in case it wasn't a guard. One couldn't be cautious enough. And if it was an assassin he could attack as soon as the other one wasn't looking or was about to leave. A surprise attack! Yes, he wasn't scared at all!

Slowly the door to Hakuryuu's bedroom was pushed open and someone entered. Heavy footsteps got closer to the bed. Hakuryuu hold his breath and pressed his plushy closer to his chest. Of course he couldn't see, who it was, but it couldn't be a guard. A guard would never enter the room of a royal without permission and there was no need for them to do so anyway. So it must be an assassin! Hakuryuu's heart beat increased. Never before had he been so afraid. But of course he would never admit it, he was brave and he was not crying or afraid. A prince of the great Kou Empire would never cry or hide or run away. Hakuryuu wasn't crying – he was – or hiding – he was – or running away – he would if he could –, he was just observing the intruder from a safe place, so he could report him later on or make a surprise attack.
The unknown person came to a hold in front of the bed, so Hakuryuu only saw their shoes and a bit of their robes. Somehow they looked familiar. An assassin wouldn't wear such fine shoes and clothes, right? Wouldn't they wear something less colorful and heavy looking? Hakuryuu wasn't sure, since he had never met an assassin, but he knew they were people, who killed others in the dark and from behind – they were cowards!
"Hakuryuu?", a familiar voice asked.
Hakuryuu froze for a second. This voice belonged to his father, he was sure of that.
"Father?", Hakuryuu replied hesitantly with a low voice.
"Where are you, Hakuryuu?"
"Here."
Very slowly Hakuryuu made his way out from under the bed, while his father took a few steps back in search of his youngest son, who was not in his bed as he should be. When Hakutoku saw how Hakuryuu came out from under the bed he bend down to help his son.
"Why were you under the bed?"
"Because I was scared."
"Scared of what?"
Hakuryuu did not answer. He felt ashamed to admit he thought his father might be an assassin. It was embarrassing enough to admit he had been scared.
"There is no reason to be scared anymore. I am here and I can assure you that everything is fine in the palace. I was just looking after you. It really scared me, when I couldn't find you in your bed."
Hakutoku had sat down on Hakuryuu's bed and had put his son on his lap. Hakuryuu on the other hand was holding on to his father's robes and had no intention of letting go soon. Although nothing bad had happened, he still felt uneasy.
Tenderly Hakutoku tighten his grip around Hakuryuu. His son was still scared and he knew that words alone would not change this, so he decided to stay silent and let his son calm down. Of course he still wanted to know what his son was scared of, but why bother Hakuryuu with question when the reason could be a simple nightmare. Hakuryuu was old enough to know what a nightmare was and that such dreams were only dreams and therefore not reality, so he probably would relax as soon as he realized that the nightmare was over.

It took Hakuryuu some time until he finally felt asleep in his father's arms, but it happened. Softly Hakutoku put his son back into bed and stayed a few minutes until he left the room. There were are few more children he had to look after as well. Hopefully those were sound asleep in their beds.

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Hakuryuu cherished the few memories he had of his father very much. Unfortunately this memories were so few that he sometimes had to remind himself that he had memories of his father and that his father was not the cold-hearted man most people thought Hakutoku had been. As emperor one could not be emotional, one had to level-headed and this often lead to someone appearing as cold-hearted.
Whenever he remembers his father holding him, he started to dream about the future. A future in which he had a wonderful wife and a child with her. He dreamed about a future in which he would also hold his child at night and cast away its fears.
For the moment he may not have arrived at such a future, but he had a wonderful wife at his side and for now he would cast away her fears, be it at night or day. He hold her tight to himself and she did not mind at all. On the contrary she even tried to get closer to him, which was almost impossible. While she was focused on the story she read, he started to draw circles with his index finger on her skin.

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Playing with Hakuren was a lot of fun, but it was also very rough and not uncommonly one got hurt. Hakuryuu did not mind, at least as long as he wasn't hurt. Hakuyuu always warned them when he saw his two younger brothers playing with each other that they should be careful and especially Hakuren should watch after Hakuryuu. Of course, Hakuren said he would be careful, but in the end Hakuryuu still got hurt. It was easy to make the little boy cry and everyone knew this. Running around, hiding from his brother and then sneak attack him, fighting against his older brother with a play sword and winning was too much fun. Who cared about bruises? Hakuryuu didn't, at least before he got hurt. Hakuren, on the other hand, loved to enjoy his little siblings and he loved Hakuryuu's smile. Everyone loved Hakuryuu's smile.

Normally Hakuren and Hakuryuu started their playing with hide and seek, which would turn into playing tag and end in a sword fight. Of course, Hakuren lost on purpose to boost his little brother's confidence and it worked. When those two played Hakuyuu often just stood at the side and watched them, sometimes he would remind Hakuren to be careful, fully knowing it was in vain. Hakuei also watched her brothers whenever she had time. Not that Hakuyuu and Hakuren had so much free time, but it was easier for them to get away with excuses. Honestly, it wasn't much of an entertainment to watch others playing, however from time to time it was nice. And she used this time to talk to her oldest brother. There were also other times when she could do that, but for whatever reason she preferred to talk to him, while watching her other two brother playing with each other. Maybe because in that way she could spent time with all of them.
Right now Hakuryuu and Hakuren were playing sword. Hakuren chased after his younger brother, who found this was very funny and entertaining, so it seemed more like a game of tag until Hakuryuu decided to make his move and attack Hakuren. A surprise attack was nothing uncommon and Hakuryuu was not so secretive about it, so Hakuren had all the time in the world to stop him, but did not. The young boy had tried his best to prepare the surprise attack, so why making him fail? This would only dishearten him. Hakuei could only laugh about the scene in front of her. For an outsider it looked quite funny, how Hakuren, who was so much taller than Hakuryuu, tried to run away or avoid his little brother's attacks. Hakuren always had to look down or else he couldn't even see where his attacker was. Hakuryuu on the other hand had a very serious look on his face. He was determined to defeat his big brother! Whenever his two older brothers trained with each other, he watched them and tried to remember their moves, so he could use them in his fights against Hakuren. One day he wanted to be as strong as those two and therefor he had to watch them closely. However, he was still a little bit too young for his own fighting lessons and a bit too young to understand tactics, so most of the time he was just running around to avoid Hakuren's attacks. Parry was still too difficult for him and it wouldn't do much anyway, although Hakuren never used a lot of strength against him.

The play had been harmless until now, Hakuryuu have fallen to the ground a few times, because he stumbled over his own feet, but he never hurt himself to bad. But as things often goes, this changed suddenly, when Hakuryuu for once tried to counter one of Hakuren's attacks. When doing so it did not go as planned and Hakuryuu was hit by his brother's wooden sword, which was quite hurtful even when Hakuren didn't use much strength. The shock from being hit paralyzed him first, but soon after he started to feel the pain, which caused him to cry. Hakuyuu was angry at Hakuren for not being careful enough, but instead of scolding him he sent Hakuei to get something for cooling. Maybe they should also sent Hakuryuu to a doctor later, but this was probably a bit too much. Meanwhile Hakuren had bend down and took a look at Hakuryuu to see whether the younger one was bleeding – one could never know even with a wooden sword. Of course Hakuren was repeatedly apologizing. Everyone knew it hadn't been his intention to hurt Hakuryuu and he had probably expected the other one to dodge the attack by running away as usual, so no one was blaming him.
"I am so sorry, Hakuryuu. I didn't want to hurt you", Hakuren sat down on the ground and put Hakuryuu on his lap and tried to cheer him up, "See, you're not bleeding, so everything is fine. Hakuei gets something to lessen the pain."
Hakuryuu, however, was not really listening. He was in pain! When he was put on his brother's lap, he immediately griped Hakuren's clothes and pressed his face in them. Hakuren softly stroke over his back to calm him down without success. Hakuyuu also had reach his brothers and had bend down. Softly he stroke over Hakuryuu's head to get his attention. It was not a secret that Hakuryuu adored his oldest brother the most and wanted to be like him, thus he often copied him – although it did not really work. Even Gyokuen and sometimes Hakutoku teased their children about their almost identical look – only their personality was completely different.
"Hakuryuu, tell me where it hurts."
When he had been a child, his mother often used a "magical trick" to erase all the pain – of course this did not really happen, but Hakuyuu had been just a child and as such believed everything his parents told him. Maybe this little trick would also help Hakuryuu now. Unfortunately, Hakuyuu could not understand a single word Hakuryuu spoke, because of all the latter one's sobbing.
"Show me where it hurts", Hakuyuu tried again.
If Hakuryuu could not said where it hurts, because he lacked the word for it or was unsure, he could show it, right? However, as good as this plan sounded, it did not work out. Hakuryuu had to let go of Hakuren to show where it hurt, but he was not very accurate. In the end it hurt everywhere. Still Hakuyuu did not gave up, he could try the trick also when it hurt everywhere – there was no restrictions for this trick. And so he gave his best. To find out whether it worked or not, he decided to try it with Hakuryuu's left hand first. He took the small hand in one of his and put the other hand above. It was amazing that he also could still remember the "spell" Gyokuen used back then, although all of this had happened so many years ago. It took him a few tries until Hakuryuu was satisfied, but this was just a hand, the rest of his body still hurt. Not as bad as before, but the pain was still there. Hakuren had changed place, while Hakuyuu was busy "healing". Sitting on the ground was not so comfortable. Hakuei returned shortly after Hakuyuu finished "healing" Hakuryuu's hand. Besides something to cool Hakuryuu's wounds – wherever those where – she also had a few sweets with her. Sweets were always a good option to please a child, especially Hakuryuu, who was a little sweet tooth.

In the end, Hakuryuu was pampered by his three older siblings. Sitting on Hakuren's lap, while Hakuyuu casted the "pain away" spell over and over, Hakuei fed him the sweets and Hakuren draw little circles on his right hand, because otherwise the second prince would feel useless. Hakuryuu's siblings were the best!

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Hakuryuu liked to remember his siblings, although it caused him a little pain, since his brothers were both dead. Killed by their own mother. Only Hakuei was still at his side, which was not entirely true, since she also had gotten married and had left the Kou Empire to live in the country of her husband, but she was alive! Maybe because of his siblings, he wished for a big family himself. He wanted to watch his children growing up and caring for each other, just like he grow up with his siblings and cared for them and them caring for him. Whether his wish would come true or not, depended on his wife. Until now he had not talked to her about it and she also had never mentioned anything. However, she didn't seemed like the person that would like to have children, simply because they meant a lot of work. Maybe he was wrong about it, what he actually hoped, but one would only know the truth, when talking about it – they were still young and had all time in the world for this, so Hakuryuu was not in a hurry. For now he would just draw a few circles on his wife's arm.

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Normally the servants would help the royal family members to dress up in the morning. However, since Hakuryuu was very picky and shy, the empress had taken it upon herself, to help him getting ready in the morning. Hakuryuu enjoyed this extra exclusive time with his mother. But for today he wanted to surprise her and decided to do everything without her help. It was still pretty early and his mother was probably busy with preparing herself or her daughter Hakuei for the day. Hakuei was old enough to dress herself, but she preferred it, when her mother made her hair. Since his hair were too short, his mother couldn't do much with them, but sometimes he asked her to also put some ornament into his hair like she did with Hakuei. Everyone was calling his sister pretty and he wanted to be good-looking too, so he copied his sister. Once he even wore one of her dresses, which looked quite funny, since her clothes were too big for him.

After he woke up, Hakuryuu immediately left the bed – normally he would stay a bit longer and talk with his mother, until she lifted him up – and went to the bathroom. First he needed to wash himself. A small chair was there, on which he could stand to reach the sink. When he finished he went back into his room and opened the closet. Way too many clothes were stored inside and Hakuryuu could barely reach the needed things. Adults shouldn't be so egoistic! How should he dress himself, when he could not reach the clothes he needed? They really could have thought about this! Well, this obstacle did not stop Hakuryuu from fulfilling his plan. It took some time until he had everything he needed, but this was unimportant as long as he got everything. It was the first time that he dress himself up without any help. When his mother dressed him, he often helped her here and there, but the "difficult" part was done by her. So, he was a bit unsure how to begin. Logically he should start with getting out of his night robes and then change his underwear. Afterwards he would put on his top and then his trouser. Where were his shoes? They were the last thing he would put on, but he could not remember where he had placed them yesterday. Probably it was the best to care about them later, for now he had to change his clothes first, which wasn't so easy. It nearly took Hakuryuu a whole hour until he was completely dressed. Despite the long time, he looked like a total mess. Nevertheless he was proud of himself and therefore wanted to show his mother that he was now able to dress himself up in the morning – he was a big boy now!
Gyokuen wasn't in her and Hakutoku's room, so Hakuryuu decided to take a look in his sister's room. When his mother helped his sister with making her hair, she would do it in Hakuei's room. In this case he also could show Hakuei how grown up he already was. A smile appeared on his face, when he thought about this. Not only his mother, but also his sister would be proud of him! Maybe he also should go to visit his brothers and his father? Well, maybe not, those three were always so busy, they probably had better things to do than to look at him and how he dressed himself up. For now he would only go to his mother and his sister. He could think about his other family members afterwards. They wouldn't go away anyway.

On his way to Hakuei's room he met a few servants, who greeted him with a big smile on their face. As naïve as he was, he thought they smile because they were nice and happy people, but actually they smile at him, because he looked so messed up. It was quite hard not to burst out into laughter. They all somehow managed to keep their cool. On the other hand, Hakuryuu wouldn't probably realize they were laughing about him, because he was so absorbed in his own thoughts and the excitement he felt when thinking about how happy and proud his mother would be.
As expected Gyokuen was with her daughter. Hakuei was sitting in front of a mirror and her mother behind her. In the moment Hakuryuu entered the room she was about to put the hairbrush back on the table. Both women looked at the newcomer with surprise.
"Hakuryuu, what are you doing here?", Hakuei asked.
Although they were siblings it was seldom for him to come to her room. When he needed something he would go to their mother or, when their brothers were home, he would go to Hakuyuu and Hakuren.
"I dressed myself today and I wanted to show it to you and mother", Hakuryuu explained happily.
Gyokuen couldn't stop herself from giggling.
"We can see that", she said.
"And? I did great, right? It was really hard, but I made it. Now you do not have to help me anymore. I am a big boy now, like Hakuyuu and Hakuren."
"Poor me, now I have three grown up boys and no one to take care of anymore."
Every other person would have seen that Gyokuen was just pretending, but Hakuryuu believed her fake sadness and immediately felt bad. He wanted his mother to be proud of him, not be sad because of him.
"No, don't be sad mommy. You can still take care of me, if you want", Hakuryuu run to her and hugged her, "There is no reason to be sad. I still need you to help me with a lot of other things."
Hakuryuu was devastated. His intention had been so pure, but now his mother was sad, because of him. He hadn't thought about her feeling! He was a bad boy!
"Well, then why don't you sit down with your mommy and let her do you hair? Mommy loves to comb your hair, you know."
Gyokuen's intention on the other hand was to fix her son. His hair stood in all directions and his clothes, despite being his own, looked as if they were either too big or too small for him.
As answer Hakuryuu nodded his head and sat down on his mother's lap, after she had taken a sit on the chair Hakuei had sat before. Without delay Gyokuen grabbed the brush and started to fix Hakuryuu's hair. He liked it, when someone brushed his hair. Sometimes Hakuei and he would do this to each other, when they were bored. It felt great, when his mother's warm hands touch his head and softly stroke it.

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His wife had beautiful long black hair and he loved to strike through it. Also she always smelled wonderful. Since she was too lazy to do anything with her hair, Hakuryuu was the one, who brushed it in the morning or put ornament in it. In exchange sometimes his wife would brush his hair. He still loved that feeling and she was so gentle with him. In case they decided to have children, Hakuryuu hoped one of them was a girl with long hair, who would love to have her hair brushed by her father. For some unknown reason, this thought made him happy and excited as if this was more than just a wish.
"Is something wrong?", his wife suddenly asked him.
She didn't have put her book away or even looked at him.
"No, everything's fine. I was just thinking about a few childhood memories and how great it would be to have such wonderful memories with our future kids."
"Children?"
She sounded not all too happy about his thoughts.
"Yeah. Do you not want some?"
"No, children are annoying, loud and cause so much work. I don't like work or being responsible for others. I can hardly take care of myself and do you even now how painful it is to give birth to one of these… things…?"
She definitely didn't want to have children. Not one, not two, she wanted zero!
"Why do you want children?", she asked him.
"Because I think it is great to have big family. I want to give them a happy childhood and watch them grow up, turning into fine adults. You know, everything I wasn't able to have, because my mother killed by brothers and my father."
He wanted children for a very selfish reason, but wasn't it the same for everyone, who wanted a child? It was definitely a better reason than having children because it was expected of one or because a new hire was needed.
"You never told me much about your childhood", she said.
"Well, you never asked. And by the way, you told me nothing about your childhood. So you are the last, who should complain."
"Don't worry, my childhood was mostly nice. A few bad experiences here and there, but I guess we all have that. How about we discuss this another time. It is already quite late and I am tired."
It was indeed quite late. Hakuryuu hadn't paid attention to his surroundings and therefore hadn't realized how dark it had become.
"Alright", he agreed weakly.
He had no intention of pushing his wish though. If she didn't want to have children, then he would accept it, but still dream about it. There was nothing bad about dreaming. For now he would simply enjoy being with her, strike through her hair, hold her tight and draw circles on her beautiful skin.