|
|
"Scratch, swish." the signatures were signed on the treaty. The deed was done. The royal announcer picked up the paper and started reading to the assembled mass. People pricked up their ears to hear what was being siad, for it was well known that the two infants would soon be the rulers of the world, Ea.
"This marriage treaty, engaging the infant Princess Kyoko to the yearling Prince Iotto, has now been officially declared. The marriage, once completed, will unite all of Ea under the rule of a single house. A house of Plant, Land, and Water. The treaty has been signed by the Royal Household of Plant and Water, ruled by King Iklori and Queen Akatari, and the Royal Household of Land, ruled by King Isokoro and Queen Estili. It has been deemed by both ruling parties that the Prince and Princess shall be married on a yet unnamed date sometime within third month, shortly after the Princess' twenty-first birthday..." the infant Kyoko cried out loudly, as if protesting to the arrangement. The royal announcer continued his long speech.
"It has been arranged the the Prince and Princess shall visit each other at alternating palaces every summer.." the Royal Announcer droned on into history and memory alike.
"But Mom! I hate going to the Palace of Land! It's to hot , to dry, to, to, to dead!"
"I'm sorry Kyoko, but you know that Iotto hates it at both our Summer Palaces as much as you hate his." Akatari sighed. She didn't like marrying Kyoko to Iotto anymore than Kyoko did, but Ea needed one ruling house, not three. Without out one ruler, Ea would fall apart around their heads...
Kyoko stared at her Mother, not wanting to interrupt her thoughts.
"Mom!" Kyoko shouted.
"Hmm?" Akatari was still half distant.
"I'll be eighteen next year, so can I spend the summer at the Ocean Palace? Please?" Kyoko was practically begging.
"No, you may not! You're visiting the Plant Palace next summer. But you might be able to visit during the spring lesson..." Akatari let herself drone off.
"Thanks Mom!" Kyoko sprang up and hugged her mother, and left to pack for the trip she would be taking on the morrow.
"And the capital of Meyeroth?" the teacher asked in a monotone voice.
"Entriyo" Iotto answered promptly.
"You had better get washed up now, Iotto." Estili said, ruffling her sons midnight black hair.
"Whatever for, Mother?" Iotto asked, turning around to face his mother. The teacher took his cue and left the room.
"Because Kyoko will be arriving soon, and I don't think you want her to see you in your school clothes. And Iotto," Estili called out to her son as he was leaving the room, "I want you to behave this year."
"Whatever do you mean, Mother?" Iotto grinned from under his tan face.
"You know perfectly well what I mean, young man!" Estili spat out sharply, some of her bluish-black hair coming out of her extravagant braid. "Just because she didn't tell anybody about that little 'joke' you played on her doesn't mean that I don't know about it!" Estilis temper was flaring.
"Yes Mother," Iotto spoke guiltily to the floor, "But it was her idea and ..."
"I don't want to hear it! Now go get cleaned up." She motioned to the door and watched Iotto leave. Iotto and Kyoko were indeed friends, but Iotto was always getting the brunt of her impish nature...
"So, you told him Kyoko was coming?" Isokoro asked, coming up behind Estili and placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Yes, poor Iotto," she muttered under her breath.
"What's wrong? I thought they were friends?" asked a confused Isokoro.
"They are, but don't you see the way that he looks at Kyoko? It's more than a little obvious that he loves her." Estili said, shaking her head sadly.
"And that's a problem?" Isokoro was even more confused.
"Yes, because though he loves her, his feelings go unnoticed by Kyoko She thinks of him as a trusted friend. No more, maybe less. Yet he regrets having to be forced to marry an unwanting heart." She said, ever the more sorrowfully.
"Oh. I see, a broken heart and a forced marriage. He would rather choose the Lady than the Tiger."
"He would choose what the people need, not what he wants! And you know this better than anyone, you taught him this after all!" Estili snapped at Isokoro and pulled away from him.
"As you said, he would choose what the people needed, and it is a hard lesson to learn. But he will soon be reining monarch, and as such he must lean this lesson well!" Isokori growled.
"I can't help it that I don't like him being forced to marry! But he is my son!" Estili shouted at her husband, stomping from the room, leaving him to simmer on his own.
"So, how did Kyoko take it?" Ikloi asked Akatari.
"How does she ever? She tried to convince me to let her go to your palace, she probably thinks Iotto might like it less there." Akari replied icily.
"I thought she liked Iotto?" Iklori asked, confused.
"She does, as a friend. A friend that she can play jokes on, and not get in trouble for. I promised she could go to your house for the spring."
"Good, I haven't seen much of her since the summer before last." Iklori said, picking up a photograph from the last summer. He let his hands trace over her silver hair and nearly moon-pale skin. She was growing up to fast Iklori thought to himself.
"...are you listening? Iklori?" Akatari asked him.
"Hmm? Sorry, I was just remembering her last visit. She wasn't looking forward to going...."
"And Iotto is never looking forward to coming here!" Akatari snapped at him, snatching the photo. "She just has to learn to accept fate as it comes! You've made life a little to easy for her, she must be able to be strong strong for Ea! For if she is not, all Ea is doomed." Alkari burst into tears and Iklori took his cue to leave. Though he loved his wife, he knew his love could not replace a daughter he had helped sign away.
"Kyoko!"
"Iotto!" The two old friends ran and hugged each other.
"So what's the important occasion?" Kyoko asked, barely able to stifle her giggles.
"Huh? My Mother said I had to dress nice to impress you!" Iotto growled.
"What impresses me is that your Mother is still dressing her seventeen..." Kyoko was cut off by Iotto.
"Eighteen!" Iotto snapped at her.
"Oh yeah, eighteen. As I was saying, I'm amazed she's still dressing her eighteen year old son!" Kyoko couldn't hold it any longer and burst out laughing at Iotto. She was stifled when she saw how down fallen Iotto looked. "Shake and make up?"
"Oka..... ZZZ!!!!!" Iotto screamed out when he triggered Kyoko's joy buzzer. " What you do that for!? I didn't do anything to you!" he snapped sharply.
"Felt like it!" Kyoko grinned and shrugged. She ran inside to
spend another summer hiding from the sun and looking for cold
breezes.
At the end of every summer, a gala ball was held in honor of the visiting royalty. And to celebrate the visiting Princess Kyoko.
"Nice dress, for an eighteen year old." Iotto spoke softly as he snook up to her in her hallway hidey-hole.
"I'm not eighteen till the twentieth of New Year." replied Kyoko, equally as soft. "Do you really like my dress?"
"Yes. You look as if you're wearing a waterfall of silver moonbeams."
"Thanks," Kyoko said, peeking out into the ballroom. "You look nice as well. Obsidian suits you. You just need one final touch..." Kyoko reached out and smoothed down Iotto's hair.
"What you do that for!? It look.... OW!" Iotto yipped when Kyoko slapped his hand.
"Leave your hair alone, it finally looks nice for once! Now hold out your arm, and we'll go mingle with the sharks!" Kyoko spoke the words with a grim accent. She hated royal life, but could blend in easy.
"Can't believe you straitened my hair!" Iotto whispered under his breath. "Here comes my dear Aunt Effie!" Iotto didn't like royal life, but made no effort to hide his disgust.
"Aww! Here come the little love birds!" Iotto's Aunt Effie screeched, and a plump, ancient red head in neon pastels came barreling through the crowd at them. Kyoko was barely able to keep a smile when Aunt Effie pinched her cheek. Iotto didn't even bother trying.
"So, how are you! A regular Romeo and Juliet I'd say!" Aunt Effie screeched, and left, called to the other side of the room.
"Smile!" Kyoko whispered harshly at Iotto, adding an elbow jab for encouragement.
"Lets work our way to some friends!" Iotto whispered to Kyoko, neglecting to add the shoulder jab.
"Why?"
"Protection!"
"Deal." Kyoko agreed. "Now smile!" She added a foot cleft for measure, and Iotto winced in pain. But he smiled.
"My God, Iotto! You look like you just survived a battle! Nice dress Kyoko." Ottoro, Iottos best friend, smirked as the two reached the punch bowl. His tan looked perfect under his frop of sandy-gold hair. And, in Kyoko's opinion, his smile was to die for.
"Thanks, my Father got it for me!" Kyoko commented, flaunting the dress.
"It's a war zone of royalty and relatives." Iotto said grimly. "Quit kicking me!"
"Then smile! Besides, it's not a war zone. Just an obstacle course! Now, if you'll excuse me." Kyoko left to the two friends to mingle with other people.
"You still head over heels?" Ottoro asked.
"No, and I never was!" Iotto snapped at Ottoro and stalked away, not hearing Ottoro's next comment.
"He still loves her."
"Kyoko, how was your summer?" Iklori asked the reading form.
"Daddy!" Kyoko lept up and hugged her Father.
"Oof! I decided to drop in for a visit, but not literally!" Iklori laughed.
"Mom says I can spend the spring at your palace. Is it true?" Kyoko took a step back, her voice full of suspicion.
"Yes, of course! I just came to work some things out with her. Do you know where she is, by any chance?"
"Two flights up, four doors down on the left, in the painting room." Kyoko stated monotonously.
"But the question I have for you right now is why are you in the library instead of enjoying the sunshine?" Iklori asked his daughter with mock suspicion.
"Homework, history of the Temujin dynasty. Yuck!" Kyoko made a face.
"Oh, it's not so bad. You just have to keep at it. How about you work with it, I'll come and set you free in ... lets say an hour." Iklori smiled, leaving Kyoko reading a book. He went up two flights of stairs, past four doors, and found himself in a sunny painting room.
"Akatari?" Iklori asked cautiously as he opened the door softly.
"Hmm? Iklori? What are you doing here?" Akatari asked drowsily, raising her head from the pastel yellow couch she was napping on.
"I was just coming to ask when Kyoko was going to visit, and clear up some stuff."
"Well, how about from the first of third month to the last of fifth month?" Akatari asked, sitting up and snapping awake.
"Okay..."
The conversation of Kyoko's visit to the Underwater Palace that Spring wound on for well over three hours. Neither parent giving an inch over their daughter.
"Well, if you excuse me, but I promised Kyoko I'd free her from homework well over two hours ago." Iklori said and left the room. When he got back down to the library, he found the girl curled up in a chair, asleep, with a book in her lap.
"Poor girl." he said, shaking his head. He went up to her and took the book from her lap. Kyoko stirred, but didn't wake up. Iklori placed the book on a nearby table, and left the room quietly....
"So, what's got you?" Ottoro asked Iotto, throwing a dart and hitting bulls-eye.
"What do you mean?! I'm fine!" Iotto angrily snapped, barely hitting the dart board.
"You're normally hitting bulls-eyes, but ever since Kyoko left, you've barely hit the board."
'THWACK!!' Ottoro grinned as he hit center. He knew perfectly well what the problem was, but he didn't like assuming.
"It has nothing to do with Kyoko!" Iotto said angrily, hitting the wall next to the board.
"Yeah right!" Ottoro said rolling his eyes." Man, I'm your best friend, it's not like I'm going to send out flyers! At least not yet any ways!"
"All right! I give up, maybe it is Kyoko!"
"And..." Ottoro waved his hand in the air, signaling for Iotto to continue.
"I just can't get her out of mind. What I can't stand is forcing her to marry me! I just get this feeling that I'm torturing her or something!" Iotto shook his head sorrowfully.
"Man, I hate to break this to you, but it's your parents forcing you to marry her. And besides, I think she has an eye for you!"
"Really!?" Iotto asked excitedly.
"No, I was just trying to make you feel better." Ottoro grinned.
"Oh, shut up!" Iotto stomped angrily out of the room.
"Hey, what are best friends for?" Ottoro yelled after him. Man, why do all talks about Koyoko end like this?" Ottoro got up and collected the darts.
"Are you sure you have everything?" Akatari asked her daughter worriedly.
"Yes Mother, for the last time, I have everything! I have double, and even triple checked everything!" Kyoko snapped at her Mother.
"Don't bite my head off! You know how spacey you get!"
"Thanks for all the support, Mom! I'm eighteen and you still treat me like a child!" Kyoko yelled at Akatari.
"If you don't want me to treat you like a child, then don't act like one!" Akatari snapped back.
"I don't act like a child! Kyoko screamed at her Mother, and stalked out of the room.
Akatari sighed and slumped into a chair. Raising Koyoko was hard enough, but putting up with her temper-tantrums made things three times worse. And twice as bad.
"Well," Akatari said out loud to herself, "Let's just see how Iklori puts up with all of this." She got up and left the room.
"Man, I hope Dad isn't doing anything important." Kyoko said under her breath as she walked into the main library. Iklori was talking softly with someone who looked to be about Kyokos age. He was dressed in the normal underwater fashion. Dark bluish baggyish cloth pants, and a slightly lighter long sleeved baggyish shirt. What caught Kyoko's eye was that he didn't have the normal berry blue hair. But an almost black shade. And he wore a seaweed green necklace with some kind of small golden crest on the end. His skin, from what she could see, was a moon pale hue, normal for sea people.
"Umhm!" the young man coughed faintly to inform Iklori of her presence.
"Hmm? Kyoko! What are you doing here?" Ikloi asked heartily.
"I was just coming to ask if I could play around with the small coral garden." Kyoko whispered softly.
"Yes, of course you may! But before you go, let me introduce you to Ishikari. He controls the Shoreline Provinces."
"I'm pleased to meet you, Ishikari." Kyoko curtsied, but did not take her eyes off of the handsome Ishikari.
"The pleasure is all mine, princess." Ishikari bowed and kissed Kyoko's hand. "Princess, forgive me, but do you mean the small coral garden by the warm tide?"
"Why, yes!" Kyoko answered with a soft giggle, amazed that he knew of the small garden.
"Ishikari, since you and Kyoko seem to be becoming friends, why don't you go with her to the gardens?" Iklori chuckled, glad to see that, for once, his daughter was getting along with people.
"As you wish, your majesty." Ishikari bowed to the Underwater King. "Shall we continue our conversation later?"
"Of course! But go, the gardens await!" Iklori laughed and left the room.
"So you are the guy..." Ishikari interrupted Kyoko before she could finish the sentence.
"Duke is the term I believe you are searching for, Princess."
"Yes, Duke of the Shoreline provinces. That must be a tricky job, controlling all activity in the Shoreline Provinces."
"Not really, Princess. Though it is difficult to manipulate everything at once. There is always three to five sections out of my control."
"Is your title, by any chance, an inherited one? Or do you earn it?" Kyoko was curious to know, but did not want to passed off as a political flake.
"Princess..." Kyoko cut him off before he could get any farther.
"Kyoko, please." Kyoko said laughed pleasently, opening one of the ornamental hallway doors.
"Kyoko then. My title is an inherited one, though I am the best, as well as the last in my family." Ishikari opened the door to the out side garden for her. "So what is it, exactly, that you plan to do to this poor little garden?" Ishikari smiled and Kyoko felt her knees go weak.
"I thought I would help encourage the coral to grow a little more intricately was all. Would you like to help?" Kyoko asked, praying silently for a yes.
"Why, Pr.." Ishikari corrected himself in mid-word, "Kyoko, I would be honored!" Ishikari laughed and pulled up his sleeves. "Where do I start?"
Kyoko tried not to laugh, but failed with much giggling and titters. "I don't think you want to work in your nice clothes!"
"Nonsense! Just point and direct!" Kyoko couldn't help but laugh out loud at the sight.
They worked in the garden, together, for hours. Kyoko helped guide the coral into more intricate formations, and Ishikari helped clear out paths and resting areas. And, little by little, they told each other about themselves. Kyoko told about the royal life, and other such stuff. And Ishikari told about he was the last in the kingdom, except for Iklori and Kyoko, who could control water to any powerful degree.
"Oof!" Kyoko exclaimed after getting up. "The garden looks beautiful now, don't you think?"
"Not as beautiful as you, Kyoko." Ishikari whispered under his breath.
"Wh..... What?" Kyoko took a step back in surprise.
"Forgive me, Princess. I let my heart speak for me. It shall not happen again." Ishikari apologized quickly, looking down at the ground.
"I told you to call me Kyoko!" Kyoko stepped up to Ishikari and kissed him on the cheek. "Meet me at the center Coral Rose, at eleven." She whispered into his ear, running off toward the Palace.
All that night Kyoko was a bundle of nerves. She could not eat her dinner, jumped at every noise, and screamed when her Father taped her on the shoulder in the library.
"Kyoko," Iklori said, sitting in a chair opposite her in the library. "I'm worried. What's wrong?"
"Nothing, Father." Kyoko answered dully, looking out a window. She wasn't supposed to meet Ishikari for another hour.
"Don't you 'nothing' me! Fess up, and I promise not to punish you, too harshly!" Iklori chuckled. His daughter was infamous for getting into trouble, and needing help getting out.
"All right. I was reading a spook book, that I underestimated to ever so large proportions." Kyoko faked a guilty mask.
"Well, next time, keep my advice in mind. Always keep to Comedy!" Iklori laughed and was about to leave when he paused in the doorway. "Why don't you go to bed and sleep it off. You'll feel a lot better about it in the morning."
"I was thinking of heading *Yawn* there myself." Kyoko
smiled, slinking off to her room, and waited for forty-five minutes
with her lights out before heading to the coral garden.
"Kyoko?" Ishikari whispered.
"Ishikari," Kyoko whispered, coming out from behind a coral bush. "It's me. I was afraid you wouldn't make it!"
"Never would I leave you waiting." Ishikari gathered up his nerve, stepped up to Kyoko, his lips brushing hers.
"Ishikari!" Kyoko gasped softly.
"I'm sorry, Princess! Once more, my heart has taken control."
"I told you to call me Kyoko!" And then it was Ishikaris turn to gasp, Kyoko's lips met full on with Ishikari's. "You know, all my life I never believed in books that told about love at first sight."
"And now?" Ishikari asked, hugging Kyoko under the full moon, next to the Rose Coral.
"And now I believe. I believe in Love at First Sight, and a Fated Love." Kyoko whispered solemnly, pulling away from Ishikari.
"Fated Love?" he asked, confused.
"Iotto!" Kyoko said quietly, looking back toward the unseen Palace.
"You don't need to marry him!" whispered Ishikari harshly.
"You just don't understand. You haven't had a marriage lofted over your head! You havn't been told your entire life that you must do what logic decrees, not your heart!" Kyoko burst into tears, and running further into the garden.
"Kyoko, wait!" Ishikari called out, barely hearing her response.
"Wait for me tomorrow night.......!"
Ishikari just stood there, sorrowfully, with a tear trickling down his cheek. He had let his heart run away with him, over the one girl he could never have. Kyoko, Princess of Plant and Water. And betrothed since birth to Iotto, Prince of Land.
Every night that spring, they met at the same place at the same time. They laughed, they cried, they kissed, and they wondered why. They wondered why fate had been so cruel as to kindle within them a love that could never be. A love, that if fulfilled, could destroy all Ea.
"Kyoko?" whispered Ishikari sadly.
"I know, you hate long good byes." Kyoko said saddly to Ishikari. She would be leaving to summer at the Plant Palace in the morning.
"No, Kyoko. Those were not the words that were to escape my lips. I wished to give you this." He handed her a ring with a thin silver band, engraved with the most intricate ocean patterns. And upon the ring rested a tiny blue pebble that seemed to glow with the color of the currents.
"It is called an Aijo Yubiwa, by some. The wearers of both rings are spiritually connected." Ishikari told Kyoko, placing the beautiful trinket in her left palm..
"Both rings?" Kyoko asked, confused. She saw only one ring. Ishikari then handed her a second ring. This ring, too, had a thin silver band. But instead of ocean patterns, there was the most complicated design of leaves and vines that Kyoko had ever seen. And the stone was different as well. The pebble was a dark forest green, a green that seemed to sway in a gentle breeze.
"You must think carefully before wearing the ring. The wearers are connected in everything, even in Death.
"I could never imagine a world without you!" Kyoko whispered quickly, and slipped the ring onto her left ring finger. "I shall never forget you!" She kissed Ishikari and ran off toward the Palace, tears stinging her eyes.
"Nor I you, Kyoko. Nor I you." Ishikari said quietly to himself, slipped the green ring onto his own finger, and left the garden for the last time.
"Kyoko? Kyoko!" Iotto yelled.
"Hmm? Oh, sorry! What were you saying again?" Kyoko asked drowsily.
"Why do I even bother talking to you, I don't know! Every time you look at the shore, it's as if you're looking for someone, or something!" Iotto shouted angrily.
"Sorry, Iotto. It's just that I have a lot on my mind at the moment." Kyoko yawned, wiping her eyes with her left hand.
"And what's that!? You've been wearing it all summer!" Iotto asked angrily, snatching at her hand.
"What's what?" Kyoko asked defensively, hiding her left hand in the sand beside her.
"Don't 'what's what' me! That blue ring you're always wearing! Spill!"
"No story. A friend of Dads gave it to me, that's all!" Kyoko answered, hoping Iotto believed her. He had a jealous streak, and a temper, larger than all of Ea combined.
"Yeah, really!" Iotto sneered sarcastically.
That summer, Iotto didn't let up on Kyoko about the ring. He begged, he pleaded, he even yelled and threatened. But no information came forth until one night when he was taking an evening walk near Kyoko's balcony, over looking the shoreline...
"You said you'd hear me if talked to the water, Ishikari. So you'd better be listening, my dear beloved Duke...!" Kyoko shouted seaward, not seeing Iotto. Iotto stayed to hear no more. He knew now who had given Koyoko the ring. And the rest of that summer, he let the ager stew, feeding it fuel until it turned from anger into rage!
"Man, Iotto, what's eating you?" Ottoro asked.
"Nothing!" Iotto snapped back.
"Spill dude. Anything's better than cabin fever!"
"Kyoko." Iotto spat the answer. A plan was forming in his mind. "Anything, you say? Would you do me a favor then?"
"Tell me about this 'favor' of yours. And how it includes Kyoko." Ottoro asked suspiciously, an evil grin spreadding across his face.
"Kyoko spent her spring at the Underwater Palace."
"And..." Ottors hand gestured for Iotto to continue.
"And she met some Duke, called Ishikari." Iotto growled.
"Dude! That guy controls the Shoreline Provinces!"
"How do you know that?" shot Iotto.
"Easy, I paid attention in class!"
"Oh." said Iotto apologetically.
"And this favor?"
"Kyoko's head over heels for this guy. I want you to change that."
"And how, pray tell, would I do that?" asked Ottoro, rolling his eyes.
"Kill him!"
"What, man, you must be nuts! But it does sound rather cool!" Ottoro cackled, he was not known for his sanity, only loyalty.
"So you'll do it?" Iotto asked anxiously.
"I'll have my hands washed in time for dinner, sir!" Ottoro saluted Iotto and left the room. He went to a cub bord in his room and pulled out a small, gleaming knife. "Perfect." he whispered to himself, drifting off to sleep.
When he woke up, before sunrise, he went to the sea shore adjasent to Ishikari's small Palace, and dove in. Thanks to technology of the Era, he soon arrived at the Duke's palace, went up to it, and knocked on the door.
"May I help you?" asked the old butler in a high, nasal voice.
"Yes. I am Prime Minister Epsilon from the Kingdom of Land. It is of the utmost importance that I speak with the High Duke Ishikari." Ottoro said, trying to sound important, and succeeding.
"Right this way, sir." the butler showed him into a large library, and then left, closing the doors behind him. On the other side of the library, faceing a book shelf, was Ishikari. He had not yet noticed Ottoro. With amazing speed and stealth, Ottoro was standing behind Ishikari with his dagger drawn.
"Forgive me, Ishikari!" Ottoro whispered under his breath, cutting Ishikari's throat.
"No!" Ishikari wheezed to late. "Kyoko.......!" Ishikari fell dead to the floor as Ottoro fled out a side window. No one would discover Ishikari's body for another hour.
"So, Kyoko, what do you predict for next years fashions?" Kyoko's friend, Akita, asked. "Kyoko, what's wrong?" Akita asked worriedly as a shadow covered the window, blocking off all light from the outside. "It's as if the entire Shoreline has gone out of control!"
It was then Kyoko looked at her ring, and then she knew Ishikari was dead. "Ishikari!" Kyoko whispered, crumpling to the floor, dead. Akita, and half the Palace, had no time to take notice. The tsunami struck, killing most of them instantly. When the giant wave moved out, it took with it Kyoko's ring.
The ring was tossed from current to current, until it finally
found a warm tide. The tide dropped the ring mercifully atop another
ring, once green, now black. Dropped on another ring beneath a Coral Rose,
in an intricately grown coral garden...
Flames? Comments? Contact me at denki@angelfire.com
