Special Kingdom

[kanu_x]

Edited: 2012.11.29

Title: Special Kingdom
Feature/Pairing: Arashi, Ohmiya, JunAiba, Yama (onesided)
Rating: PG (incest, language)
Genre: romance, historical fiction (everything is purely fictional!!)
Summary: Mostly thoughts, memories, and some plot in First Person from different characters.
Trouble in the Royal Court. How will the five: Satoshi, Sho, Masaki, Kazunari, and Jun deal?
Part: 1&2/7
A/N: My first Arashi fic. :0


Characters: (##) = age
only those in red are important
Royal Family: *#=order of birth
Emperor Ohno IV (69)
Wife #1 (60)
*1 --> Daughter1 (42)
Wife #2 (54)
*2 --> Daughter2 (38)
*4 --> Son2/Second Prince (29-30) Ohno SATOSHI
Wife #3 (53)
*3 --> Son1/Heir (32)
*7 --> Daughter4 (27)
*8 --> Daughter5 (20)
Wife #4 (44)
Wife #5 (45)
*5 --> Daughter3 (29)
*6 --> Son3/Third Prince (27) Ninomiya KAZUNARI
Wife #6 (34)
*9 --> Son4/Fourth Prince (05)
Others:
Royal Scholar - Sakurai SHO (29)
Royal Guard - Matsumoto JUN (27)
Commoner - Aiba MASAKI (28)

* * *

Emperor Ohno IV: (our, we = emperor speaks in plural but he means himself every time)
It is our fault. We took a wrong turn somewhere. Between six wives and nine children, between the worries of the empire and our family, we are trapped. Before we knew it, our Heir had become cruel. Our daughters had become bitter. Our wives had twisted in their jealousy. Our fault.

The Counselors conspire. For the good of the Empire, they say, the Heir must die. The Second Prince must rule.

We love all of our children. We do not understand them, but we know them. The Crown Prince must not rule for he has darkness in his heart. And yet... the Second Prince is of a different mind and spirit. Soft, free, pure. Ascendance to the Throne means his death.

Maybe it is because we are not fair; we love Satoshi more than the rest. We cannot sentence him to a life of imprisonment.

The Counselors do not hear me. We do not tell them our thoughts, because we already know. Who else? Only Satoshi. Only the Second Prince, not fit for the Throne but with his big heart, can rule.

* * *

Ohno Satoshi:
I think... I can remember that day clearly even now; the clearest day from my childhood. How ironic since I had not been paying attention to the weather. A sunny spring day. Mid-afternoon. The Royal children does not have to be present when the Emperor welcomes his new concubine.

I am twelve. I walk from my lessons and hide in the gardens. With the cool grass on my back, I fall asleep, an ink brush still in one hand and paper in the other. A soft rustling of silk brings me out of my light slumber. And there, I find my new sixteen year old mother, the sixth, crying desolately on a bench. She entrances me. I am speechless.

That first day she took a piece of my heart. Gradually, that piece she possessed of me grew. I did not know what to do anymore. I could not pull away. She had drawn me in and was dragging me along. Here and there when I couldn't help myself, I would shyly approach her to give a hand on some errand. She gave me the warmest smiles, the ones only for me.

I am fifteen when our hands first touch. I startle and look up to meet her eyes. She is shy and blushes. She turn away. I forget she is Concubine Six. At that moment, she is only a girl, and I only a guy. Embarrassment washes over me and I also turn away sheepishly.

One year later, I am sixteen. That is when I am forced to face that my feelings are wrong. I know my duty. I cannot even see her. I had to put some distance between us. And I imposed this. Though the emptiness inside me grows, I know I do the right thing. More than ever, I seek out the sunshine and nature. More often, I lean in while painting or fishing.

Then, Mother Six comes weeping to me, pouring out her heart, crying her love for me. I do not want her near, yet I cannot push her away. I do not have the heart to. What do I do?

And I start to hate myself. I hate the fact that my arms circle her and my lips meet hers first. That it is I that day guiding her down on the grass under the shade. My love is pure. I never once thought that I would betray the Emperor. This love taints me, and I hate that darkness swirling inside these pure feelings of mine. Even if I tell Mother Six, she will not understand. I question myself a thousand times. Who will understand me?

At eighteen, I cry my first tears of bitterness and despair. I hate the world, but I love it so much too. My heart might burst with these conflicted feelings.

Sakurai Sho and Kazunari saves me. When I am with them, they ease my pain a little, enough for me to forget for a while.

Though, I wouldn't say Kazunari and I are close, he is my only sibling who I go out of my way to talk to. Some of the others are pompous. They are jealous. They fight amongst themselves. I have no will to fight. When my siblings attack me, Kazunari becomes my protector. The Crown Prince is the most cruel and evil, and yet Kazunari is strong enough to stand against him. He has the quickest wit.

But, Kazunari is too much for me to handle sometimes. A real devil. Mischievous and daring. I cannot understand him. He does what he likes and he takes control. I still do not understand why he did 'that' two years later, that day at the riverbank. But at times, he can amaze me with his maturity. At those times, I realize that though younger, Kazunari is much more mature than me.

Sakurai Sho began as an assistant to the Royal Scholar. I cannot remember who first befriended who, but Sho was easy to talk to. He had a strong and educated mind. He could empathize and understand at once. Sometimes, I prefer him for his frequent maturity over Kazunari's rare one. And yet, though he gives off the air of a scholar, personally Sho is a very silly man who make lots of mistakes. He has confidence, yet he also has none.

With these two friends, and later on a commoner Aiba Masaki, I held on for two years.

Then the day came when my own weakness returned to slap me in the face. The Emperor chooses his Sixth Concubine to accompany him on his one-year tour around the Empire. I realize that I should have ended this love. I had let it drag me on for so long. I had stood immobile and let it expand. It is my responsibility to step up. Only I could I force myself.

It felt like squeezing my heart.

After their tour, Mother Six comes back, and I turn my back on her. She cries and cling to my backside. Her arms wrap around my waist. I make no effort to move them or move away. I do not say a word because my silent tears run. It's my fault that I allowed this love to exist for over ten years. Therefore, the only thing I can do is continue to force myself.

Even after a few years, the emptiness still remains. I will always convince myself that I am doing fine, until from the corner of my eye, I see her. I unknowingly turn to catch her whole figure in my view. I know I am a sick person. I still want her.

The thought will come unconsciously to me that at anytime, I can go to her and repair this relationship. We can start our secret love again. I hate myself for ever thinking so, believing that everything is not over yet.

And then she did end it. With only her actions, she cut our way forever. I watch her stomach grow round. I watch her eyes grow dull and sad whenever she watches me. Both of us know that the birth of the Emperor's child is our finale. She offers no word to me, or I to her. Our tie grows cold, painful. Our bond is a rope hanging together by a thread. Maybe because we do not say anything, cannot say our final farewells, that I am still hurt. I cannot move on.

Years go by. How old is my brother, the son of my first love? He is five. Me? I rot away at twenty-nine.

More than ever, the Heir becomes impatient. I see his restlessness day by day. He is in his early thirties. He wants to be king. I know he mutters daily whether the Emperor would die. He aims his glares at me. He knows they hate him. He knows they like me.

I ease into the shadows whenever I feel his threat. I do not want a part in his struggle. I want to be free. From this place, from these feelings. I want to be the fishes I see at sea, those I try to catch, and they get away.

Kazunari walks beside me now as we make our way through the Harem where the Concubines and their children live. I see Brother Four leap down the stairs. At his back the servant girl in charge of him shrieks. Mother Six walks out with laughter on her lips. I force myself to turn away.

The Heir, Crown Prince, should already be there at the Blooming Ceremony, standing as he should be beside the Emperor. Sho must already be there too. Today, the Royal Court hosts a Feast in honor of the first day the flowers bloom after a long winter.

I catch a short glimpse of Masaki among a group of workers. Why is he here? Has he snuck in once again? But I see that he is really working. Just a few meters away, Matsumoto Jun, a Royal Guard I've become acquainted with, directs traffic with a stern face. When he sees us, he nods quickly. Masaki also sees us. He breaks into one of his sunny smiles and waves.

"Get to work!" Jun snaps. Oh, Masaki. But the man only grins cheerfully and goes back to his job.

Mother Six and her group catches up to us. I tremble and fidget. Kazunari must have noticed because he reaches out and takes my hand. We are standing so close and our sleeves are so long, no one notices. I look at Kazunari. He quickly brings our entwined hands to his mouth. His lips brushes against the back of my hand before letting them fall again.

"Satoshi, I told you that I would be here."
His warm words are like fire. I smile and grip his hand tighter.

I know, my dear brother Kazunari. Only you can save me.

The ceremony begins. The Royal Family, Counselors, and special Guests sit at a table at the front. A huge tent had been erected above our heads to put us in the shade, but one of the more conceited Guests had earlier complained about not being seen; it had been taken out and now servants are holding personal umbrellas over their lords and ladies. The Noble Families and Royal Officials sit at lower tables. Below all of us mills the common crowd.

I am not interested in the ceremony. Sho stands to make a speech, but I zone out. His voice pops in and out of my hearing. I wish I wasn't here. He finishes suddenly. How long was it? How much time has passed? To my right, the Heir sits. He kicks my chair. I know it was on purpose. Kazunari raises an eyebrow because he hears my small sigh. I ignore him because I do not want to answer.

The Emperor makes a toast. Then we drink. Kazunari has to motion for me to take my cup because I have forgotten what to do. It is a rare tea, made from the first blooms this year. Sho had told me so.

I ease the cup off my lips and set it down on the table. Just as I am about to relax, the Heir gives out a piercing cry. His elbows knock into me, but he doesn't notice. He jumps to his feet and claws at his throat.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see Sho running to our table though everyone else edges away. I don't know what's going on, so I become afraid and move back.

The Heir screams for help. No one steps forward. I feel Kazunari's arm around me, pulling me farther away, away from danger.

* * *

Next: Aiba Masaki