Black Steel and Worldly Wisdom
Secrets
By Mystic Dawn
Summary: (AU) Your basic princess and warrior, medieval-style, with the common lingering doubts of ever being accepted as a couple. Dashes of Souma/Kendappa here and there.
The wind rustled the leaves of a nearby tree, causing Tomoyo to jump a little in surprise. Seeing that there was nobody there, she exhaled softly. The moon was bright enough to light her way, so she continued on through the ancient trees with sure and swift steps. She had recognized the broken branch on her left, and the twisted tree limb by her dainty feet. She was in familiar territory now.
By now, she could hardly discern the castle's walls if she turned around in search of them. She was too far away to be seen. She continued along her path determinedly, picking her way carefully, until she reached a small, secluded little clearing with a bowed tree, gnarled with time. This was where she was supposed to be. She smiled slightly as anticipation gripped at her heart. It was almost time.
A horse neighed faintly in the distance. Fearing that it might be a patroller from the castle who had come to find her, she crouched down behind the tree so she wouldn't be seen. She heard a faint clopping sound in the distance—the sound of a horse's hooves. After several tense moments, the sound ceased. She peered tentatively from behind the tree, wondering where the rider had stopped.
"You're not exactly the easiest person to find in the middle of the night," a gruff voice suddenly said from behind her.
Tomoyo squeaked in surprise and whirled around. "Kurogane! Don't scare me like that again!"
Kurogane chuckled softly as he dismounted and tied his black's reins on one of the lower tree branches. "You're too skittish for your own good."
"You can't blame me for that," she whispered defensively. "The way we sneak out at night to see each other has put enough strain on my nerves. They nearly caught us last time!"
"Because the Queen's precious sister is too valuable to be seen in the presence of the Duke?" he asked slyly.
"Duke?" she repeated in amazement. "They made you a duke? When?"
"Not just a duke," he corrected her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her down so they could sit side-by-side under the tree. "They've made me the Duke."
"The First Duke that answers to the Queen herself?"
"Yes!" He could hardly contain his excitement. "What do you think? Do you like it?"
"But... when did this happen? Where was I?"
His expression darkened. "It happened during one of your fainting spells."
"Oh, dear," she whispered. She bowed her head. "I'm so sorry... I can't believe I missed something so important for you."
He lifted her chin to look into her eyes and the hard line of his mouth softened. "It's all right. It was only an informing of sorts. The formal ceremony hasn't happened yet."
Tomoyo sighed in relief. "Thank goodness. I know how important this is for you. I want to be with you when it happens."
He arched a mocking eyebrow. "Even though it will be from afar?"
"Never mind that," she chided gently, swatting his arm. "At least I'll be present."
"At the Queen's right hand, no doubt."
She giggled. "Yes, well, at least I'll have a good view of your face when Onee-sama begins to recite your duties to you."
"You just had to go and spoil my perfectly good mood, didn't you?"
"But of course," she admitted without preamble. "I needed a comeback for the way you frightened me before."
He snorted derisively. "Whatever."
Tomoyo pouted and began to play with the collar of his tunic. "Kurogane isn't mad at me, is he?" she asked, artfully batting her eyelashes at him.
He rolled his eyes at her, indicating that he didn't approve of the way she was trying to manipulate him, but his hold on her waist did not slack.
Tomoyo's heart was in her luminous violet eyes as her lower lip began to quiver.
Oh, great! That was all he needed! For her to start shedding crocodile tears and accusing him of not loving her enough and all that crap. Looking down at her watery eyes, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of guilt, even though he knew he was being cruelly manipulated by the female mind. He exhaled in defeat. "'Course I'm not mad." Then he smirked at her and offered, "Kiss and make up?" thinking that it was high time the male mind did something about the situation.
Tomoyo's triumphant smile was answer enough. Oh, well, so much for getting back at her. Maybe he really was hopelessly wrapped around her little finger, after all.
He had her crushed against his chest and their lips fused together quicker than a warrior could draw out his sword. This time, it had been two weeks since they had last been able to sneak away from their duties to see each other, so it was a more passionate kiss than usual... not that either of them were complaining. The way Tomoyo's fingers threaded through his hair and her mouth opened beneath his in sweet abandon told him that she didn't mind being handled roughly every now and then. He didn't mind it when she suddenly hooked her right thigh around his waist, either... much. He dreaded to think what the Queen would do to him if she were to suddenly happen upon them entangled together in such a manner.
Kurogane was termed an outlander by some people—by most, actually. He had come several years ago to the kingdom at a request of the Queen, Tomoyo's older sister. They had been experiencing trouble at the borders with enemy kingdoms, and Queen Kendappa had decided that a suitable General had to be found to lead her forces against them. She did not trust most of the members of the Peer, for their titles were hereditary, chosen long before she had ascended the throne, so she had decided that she would have to employ mercenaries into her service, people who would gain their positions because they deserved them, not because they were born to them.
She had heard of many mercenaries over the time, most of them with outstanding reputations, but it had been proved in combat that Kurogane was the most skilled. Kendappa had personally fought with them all to judge their worth, and only Kurogane had come close enough to cause her any harm, managing to scratch her cheek with the tip of his sword. But instead of such an action angering her, it had amused her to no end. Kendappa had immediately wished to employ him into her service fulltime, and he had not deemed it a terrible loss. The pay he made in a month was more than he had ever earned in a year's time. He became the General, with a number of other skilled mercenaries becoming lieutenants and captains beneath him, took command of the kingdom's armies, and led them to victory. It had taken two years, but it had been worth it.
Upon his return, Kendappa showered him with lands and titles. She made him a Viscount and gave him land, but he still remained the General of her armies. And steadily, over time, he acquired more land and rose higher in rank, until he had currently become a Marquis, all in return for 'services to the Crown.' He had attained a steady, yet monumental place in the Peer in the short span of six years after the Border Wars. He was fiercely loyal to the Royal Family, and Kendappa only blindly trusted him among the rest in the Peer.
It had also been sometime after the Border Wars when he had first met Tomoyo.
Kendappa had summoned him a little after she had made him a Viscount, wanting him to look into some issues for her. He recalled that he had been forced to wait hours for her before she had finished with her courtly duties, his patience wearing thin at being left high and dry in her private library. Not twenty minutes had passed, however, before Souma, Kendappa's personal advisor (and something more, Kurogane suspected, if the honeyed looks Kendappa kept shooting her were any indication), had left him waiting for the Queen, when a melodious voice had suddenly said, "You look bored to death."
He had stiffened and turned in his chair to see a young girl sitting sedately on the Queen's desk, calmly combing the hair of a doll she cradled in her arms. She was dressed in a frilly beige-colored dress, her short legs were dangling down from the desk and moving rhythmically in opposite directions, and her long black hair was swishing with every flick of her delicate pale face. Her frame appeared peculiarly fragile, but her amethyst eyes shone with an unnatural strong will.
"When did you get here?" he demanded in surprise. He hadn't heard the door open, nor the characteristic patter of small feet.
She shot him a small, furtive smile, giggling, "It's a secret." She finished tending to her doll by laying the comb aside and tying a bright pink bow on the top of its head. She held the doll out proudly to him. "This is Sakura-chan," she introduced them. "She's a bit frightened of you, so don't shout too much."
"Aren't you a little too old to be playing with dolls?"
"I only bring Sakura-chan out on important occasions," the girl said primly, with a toss of her raven locks. "And she's not just a doll. She's my bestest best friend."
"I don't think there's such a word as 'bestest,' you know."
The girl hadn't dared to let that piece of information ruffle her feathers. "Well, there is for me!" She stuck her tongue out at him and returned to smiling at the doll, whispering something like, "He didn't really mean it, Sakura-chan, don't be sad..."
Least to say, Kurogane was intrigued by the weird behavior of this girl. Strong will indeed! "Who are you anyway?"
"My name is Tomoyo." She smiled brightly at him. "And yours?"
"Kurogane."
"Ah, so you're that man Onee-sama kept babbling about." Her tone switched from sounding somewhat bored to sounding genuinely interested. "I've heard a lot about you."
He had been tempted to ask her who her sister was, but he was more interested in asking, "What have you heard about me?" curious as to hear the answer.
"That you're a bloodthirsty outlander who wants to marry the Queen and become King and rule over our lands with your iron fist."
He snorted incredulously at her answer. "Your sister said that?"
"No, the court members did. That's what they're talking about now, actually. Onee-sama's trying her very best to defend you."
It only registered in his mind at that moment who Tomoyo really was. "Wait a minute... is your sister by any chance... the Queen?"
"Yup!"
Oh, shit! That was the end of his career. Hadn't been much of a career, he thought drearily, but he'd liked it of late, especially since his title had come with his own land to command. He sort of liked giving orders around and living comfortably. Any minute now, the Queen would come in and the spoiled princess would burst into fake tears, sobbing that the big bloodthirsty man had bean mean to her little doll-friend. She'd probably throw a tantrum that he be hanged for his rudeness. Spoiled nobles did that often. Especially with him. And the worst part was that everyone would always side with the pampered brats.
"I think they're wrong, you know," Tomoyo suddenly said, bringing him out of his thoughts.
"What?"
"I think you're not as bloodthirsty as you're trying to pass on that you are. Onee-sama thinks so, too. You just want people to respect you, don't you? Being in a position of power was just a perk." She giggled and added, "I hardly see you wanting to become a King. I think you'd prefer to just have the freedom to wield your sword rather than sit in a hard chair listening to boring courtiers all day long."
Kurogane's jaw dropped open. She had read him like an open book! "But how...?"
She giggled again. "It's a secret!"
They had first met in that library six years ago, and back then, neither of them would have expected the feelings that would develop for each other afterward. After that, whenever Kurogane returned to the castle, they would enjoy long talks together, taking pleasure in each other's company, for neither one nor the other had ever had anyone they could count as a true friend... one that could be trusted, at least. That was one of the reasons Tomoyo had been so attached to the doll she had named 'Sakura-chan' back then, even at age twelve. She had felt that the doll was the only one whom she could trust with her life and would never betray her. But as soon as she and Kurogane had agreed to become friends, he had never seen that doll again.
However, when other feelings, stronger than the bonds of friendship they shared, began to slowly emerge, they had both had a hard time dealing with them, for similar, yet different, reasons. Kurogane felt that he was much too old for her and that his low rank would only be another obstacle in winning her heart over. Tomoyo felt that no one would approve of her decision because of their age difference and that the alibi they would use against her would be his low rank. Neither of them had told the other anything, both fearing how everyone would react... and how the other would react, as well.
One day, however, they had been talking in the castle gardens together, Kurogane telling Tomoyo about his latest adventure. Although it wasn't in the ordinary line of work a General and a Count (by that time, he had risen slightly in rank from being a Viscount to becoming a Count) had to face, Kurogane enjoyed going on these special missions for the Queen. They were a splendid way to break his monotonous daily routines, and he was the only one the Queen trusted enough to send on these missions. This time, he had managed to subdue a notorious thief who had stolen some of the Queen's documents to forge her seal for his own means with much difficulty. Just as he has been in the process of retelling what had happened to Tomoyo, he accidentally let a few words slip that he shouldn't have.
"The guy pushed me in a corner and pointed my sword at my throat. My sword! Can you believe it, Tomoyo? It slipped from my hand for just two seconds and the mangy bastard had the nerve to touch it with his grimy hands and threaten me with it! With my sword! 'Course I didn't let him get away with it. All I had to do was... what is it?"
He noticed that she came to an abrupt stop and he turned around, a worried frown on his face. "Are you all right, Tomoyo-hime?"
"You... you called me by my name," she whispered faintly. "Before... while you were telling me about the thief. You... you called me 'Tomoyo'..."
Kurogane didn't even know what to say. "I... uh..." How could he have let his tongue slip like that!
Thoughts about what she might do to him for such disrespect began to fill his mind, but nothing could have prepared him for the sound of her delighted shriek and the stark reality of Tomoyo suddenly happily flinging her arms around his neck and giving him a full kiss upon the lips.
After that moment, they both knew that there would be no stopping what had just begun.
Kurogane used to visit the castle often before that. Once every two or three months, at the most. But after that day, he began to come up with a lot of excuses to visit at least two or three times a month, sometimes almost weekly. He couldn't afford to visit more often than that. He would stay for a day or two, then he and Tomoyo would meet together at night in the nearby woods. It was funny, in a way, that they did see and talk to each other normally during the daytime, but during the night they could do other things... more pleasant things. The best part was that it was their little secret.
Sometimes, others mingled around the forest at night, either because, they too, wanted to find some privacy, or either because they had taken heed that the Crown Princess was missing. Kurogane and Tomoyo had been forced to change their meeting spots often, just like now, because of those little problems that kept cropping up. It was a hassle trying to find a new spot sometimes, but by now, neither of them cared.
They were too happy to care.
"We should do this more often," Tomoyo suggested breathlessly after they had broken apart, both panting for breath slightly. "If this is how kisses are after a little disagreement, imagine how they'll be if we really start arguing."
"I'd hate for that to happen," he said as he pulled her back up in a sitting position.
"What? No more kisses? I was just getting good at it."
Kurogane chuckled softly, kissing the top of her head affectionately. "There. How's that for another kiss?"
"Really, Kurogane, it's not fair that you always draw the line at the most enjoyable point," she pouted.
"I think it's very fair my head's still clear enough to draw the line."
Tomoyo sighed and eased her head against his chest. She knew he was right. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her closer into his embrace, pressing his face into her hair, savoring the mesmerizing fragrance that filled his nostrils. She sighed again, content to merely lie in his arms and wish that this would never end.
"You know, this is going to have to stop sometime," he murmured against her temple.
Tomoyo looked up at him, her eyes wide in shock.
"We can't keep sneaking around like this," he continued. He drew closer and whispered, "And we can't keep drawing the line."
Tomoyo bit on her lower lip. He was right. He was so right that it hurt. She felt like she was going to faint again, but she gritted her teeth, determined not to appear weak. "Are you saying...?" She drew a breath to steady herself. "Are you saying that we can't be together?"
"Good grief, you weren't supposed to interpret it like that!"
His sudden outburst should have upset her, but she had gotten so used to his blunt personality over the years that it only made her burst into peals of silvery laughter. Kurogane used to hate her giggles at first, but he had gotten so used to them by now that he hardly noticed them. He catalogued it in his mind as one of Tomoyo's numerous quirks. Other quirks of hers were her unnatural fetish for designing dresses and the like, her unmerciful teasing streak, and her uncanny knack of reading people like an open book. And, perhaps, her fainting spells...
Kurogane involuntarily sighed at the thought. It had been several months now that Tomoyo had become subject to occasionally fainting. The physicians that had examined her had said something about a low presence of iron in her bloodstream or something, if he recalled correctly. (They had been bent on making a cut in her wrist to examine her blood, the slimy bastards. What was their fixation with cutting people open, anyway? That was a warrior's job, not a physician's.) Whatever the problem was, it made her feel light-headed and dizzy, and she would faint often. They had advised her to eat hearty meals with plenty of meat to combat it. Why she had to eat meat was beyond him, but he supposed meat had more 'iron' in it than other foodstuff.
In any other situation, he wouldn't have paid the physicians any heed, but in this situation, Tomoyo's welfare was at stake. He had had no other choice. He had pleaded her, cajoled her, begged her even, that she eat more meat to strengthen herself. The problem was that meat wasn't exactly Tomoyo's favorite food in the world.
"Did I say something I shouldn't have?" she asked him gently, laying her hand against his cheek in concern. "You were awfully quiet for a moment there."
"No," he replied. "I just remembered something, that's all." He looked down at her, an unnaturally soft expression on his face.
"When you start looking at me like that I know I have to worry," she teased.
Kurogane huffed and rolled his eyes, unable to hide the small smile that spread on his face, however.
"You were saying?" she asked, looking up at him.
Kurogane drew a deep breath and squeezed her shoulders slightly, as if trying to reassure himself that she was still there. "Well... now that I'll be made the First Duke... my rank'll be the highest it can get. I mean, well, there's nothing higher than a duke. And the First Duke at that!" He paused and moistened his lips before continuing. "I was just thinking... where do we go from here? I mean, where can we go from here? We keep drawing the line somewhere and it's hurting us both. And I don't want that anymore." He cupped her face in his hands and looked deep into her eyes. "I want us to be something more. I don't want to draw the line anymore."
She frowned and slowly sat up, disentangling his hands from her. "You mean... you want to make it official?" She looked at him inquiringly, hopefully.
"It's... well, it's something that's been on my mind lately," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I've read about princesses and nobles marrying in history books and the like, and it sounds reasonable that the First Duke can ask for the Crown Princess's hand in marriage, no? I don't think the Queen would object now that I'll be the First Duke. That's like... that's like one rank right below yours!"
Tomoyo gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "You want to... you want to ask for my hand in marriage?"
"There's no need for you to rub it in my face..." he grumbled, reddening dangerously. "I'm embarrassed enough already from trying to put my feelings into words..."
"Oh, Kurogane!" she cried, flinging her arms around his neck. "You've made me the happiest girl in the world!"
"Even though I'm some uncultured outlander?" he asked sarcastically.
"That's a ridiculous excuse," she scoffed. "A better excuse against marriage would be like what Onee-sama has."
"Does it have anything to do with that Souma, by any chance?"
"So you noticed." Tomoyo sounded proud of his correct observation.
"Hard not to the way the Queen makes eyes at her every now and then." He smirked down at her. "You look at me in the exact same manner."
"Be nice," she chided gently, swatting his arm playfully. "But now that you mention it..." she muttered thoughtfully as she settled back into his embrace. "Onee-sama doesn't want to ever discuss the subject if it concerns her... so that would make me the next in line for the throne, wouldn't you think?"
"Your point?"
She smiled slyly. "You might even be crowned King in the future! Goodness!"
"No way!"
"Imagine that! King Kurogane! Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"
"It most certainly does not!" he protested vehemently. "I'd make a terrible King!"
"Don't worry, Kurogane, I'll be making the major decisions anyway," she hastened to assure him, smothering her laughter. "You'll be something more of a figurehead and occasionally give me your opinion on things."
"That's a relief," he sighed. "You'd be a much better ruler than me."
"Naturally," she smiled. "But really, there's no need to worry. I'll teach you whatever you need to know. And you already make good decisions on your own."
"Even though I'm an outlander?" he asked hopefully.
"No," she whispered, drawing back to look at him, her heart in her eyes. "Because you are you."
The next kiss they shared was tender, a sweet promise of beautiful things that they would share together when the time came. But for now, they could still cherish the fact that it was their little secret.