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.:Hinotori:.
by: Mistic Flame
..Chapter One..
Tan…Hua…Yi…Xian—
“Setsuna-sama!” She grimaced as her hand instinctively pressed harder with her brush, ruining her almost complete work. Sighing, the girl laid down her brush.
“Master Tong is right. I have yet to master self control,” she said to herself.
“Setsuna-sama!” a breathless voice cried again, this time, just outside the door.
“Come in,” she replied. The door slid open as a desperate maid tumbled in. Amused at the frantic look the other girl wore, Setsuna smiled. “What’s wrong Riku?”
“The entourage…of the Dragon Clan,” Riku tried to regain her breath. The royal palace was an expansive place and she had run the entire way from the princess’s quarters to those of the royal priestess. “A small group of them will arrive early with their prince, to meet Hime-sama. The rest will come in two months’ time, as planned.”
“When will the prince’s entourage come?” Setsuna asked calmly, clearly not sharing the same anxious concern as the young maid. The raven-haired girl sat in her chair and gazed at her work wistfully. It had all been perfect up until she’d heard someone scream her name. Sighing, she wondered if she might be able to wash the last character from the bamboo strip instead of writing everything over again. She should’ve just ignored the scream. It was undoubtedly caused by another one of Hime-sama’s tantrums. Very few people dared to counter the princess’s infamous temper. When the princess chose to throw her costly vases at the wall in anger, the servants could only kneel on the ground, begging her not to get too upset, since that may be detrimental to her health. After the first few occurrences—following her reluctant engagement to the prince of the Dragon Clan—the maids were too afraid to inform the emperor of the princess’s behavior. The emperor loved Kimiko-hime too much to punish the girl and therefore vented his anger out on the “incompetent servants.”
“They should arrive by tomorrow,” Riku replied. Setsuna remained unfazed—her face a practiced calm. “The emperor has ordered Kimiko-hime to play for the prince in the welcoming feast tomorrow night. Hime-sama refused but the emperor would not budge on the subject and left without listening to a word. Now…”
“Let me guess. Hime-sama has thrown another one of her tantrums,” Setsuna said wryly. “The emperor should never have forced her into this marriage.” Riku dropped her gaze to the floor. The room became unexpectedly quiet.
“I don’t get why the emperor is forcing Kimiko-hime to marry,” she said after a while, before trailing off, leaving half of her sentence unspoken. Emperor Hiroko had never, in everyone’s memories, forced Kimiko-hime to do anything. Her mother had been a favorite wife of the emperor and, since the lady’s young death, the emperor was extra-protective of their daughter, often beyond the point of merely pampering the girl.
“It is a political match and the emperor may not have much of a choice. Besides, Hime-sama will eventually have to get married, if not to the prince of the Dragon Clan, then to one of our nobles. I’ve heard that this prince was one of the brightest of the clan and a favorite of his father. Perhaps the emperor thought this would be as good a match as any,” Setsuna replied. As she grabbed her sword and rose to follow Riku, Setsuna thought of all the other things she had not told Riku—how this was in fact one of the best examples of how much the emperor loved Kimiko-hime. How there was a far deeper reason as to why he had chosen her out of his numerous daughters…how this marriage may end up giving the princess everything the law prevented him from giving her.
As the two neared the princess’s quarters, the unfortunate maids’ pleads reverberated through the corridors, louder than regular. “What happened?” Setsuna asked, quickening her step.
“The princess is threatening to hang herself if her father keeps forcing her,” Riku replied, trying to keep up with the priestess’s fast steps. Unlike Setsuna, she had never studied martial arts and the earlier run had worn her out.
“I thought Kimiko-hime has already agreed to the marriage,” Setsuna said, frowning.
“This is about her performing tomorrow night,” Riku hastily replied as they approached the door leading into the princess’s outer chambers.
“And has no one told the emperor?” Riku silence answered Setsuna’s question. “She has already agreed to the marriage, so what does it matter if she performs tomorrow or not? She’s already moved back that one huge step, what’s a few more steps to her?”
“Having this marriage forced on her when nothing else has been forced on her for her entire life, that’s enough to drive any girl to this point. Setsuna-sama, the emperor’s already making her give up so many things so why must he force her even further?” Riku retorted, quickly coming to the defense of her mistress. The breaking of pottery could be heard over the desperate pleas of the servants, effectively ending Riku’s words. Receiving a nod from Setsuna, she opened the door.
With the nimbleness of one long used to dodging swords, Setsuna sidestepped a teacup that came flying through the doorway.
Nanase Riko was one such personage. As the sole heir of Nanase Publishing, Inc., she was at the top of Daiki’s social ladders. Girls flattered her to get on her good side while boys competed with each other to the win her heart.
“Nanase-san, we’re here,” her butler said, shaking the girl awake from her light slumber. He looked at the girl tenderly, as a grandfather might. He had, after all, been the one to watch her grow up, little by little. A loyal family servant, he had been the one who supported her, every step of the way—from the first time she came in contact with the cruelty of the larger world around her, a experience which warranted great retribution from her father, to her recent—
“Ryota?” she murmured, waking up. Rubbing her eyes, she turned a questioning glance on the old man.
“We’re here, Nanase-san,” he replied. She nodded. Her shoulder-length black hair framed her face. Her heartwarming cerulean eyes swept over her gray school uniform one last time before stepping out of the care. Her hands held on tightly to her book bag, placed in front of her knee length skirt. Her gait was unhurried as she navigated the hallways that led to her first class, greeting most people with a smile and a “good morning.”
Her usual seat was left free. No one wanted to get on the bad side of the Nanase heir by taking her favorite seat. Riko sighed. It wasn’t as if she truly cared. She had merely picked a seat, any random seat, at the beginning of the year and people assumed that it was now her seat.
“Nanase-san!” Hisano Aki, second daughter of Hisano Ichiro, owner of one of the biggest clothing brands in Asia.
“Hisano-san,” Riko replied, tilting her head in recognition.
“Have you heard? There will be a new student today!” Aki whispered. Riko could not help but be a bit curious about this new comer. Aki’s mother was on the school board so she was obviously privy to such information. Riko’s parents, however, had always believed that any involvement with Daiki was below them. For a family of their rank and influence, the Nanase’s could very easily have their daughter privately tutored by the best teachers money could buy. However, Nanase Ran wanted her daughter to have some interaction with people in the outside world. After all, the presence of families such as the Makaze’s and Hikari’s would not be below her. Hikari Yoshiro had sent his only grandson to be educated in the most prestigious school in Tokyo—Kaio High—where the families accepted were even more prominent. The Makaze’s, who had always been the biggest competitors of the Hikari’s, wished to appear more modest and sent their son to Daiki High. Nanase Susumu wanted to appear “modest” as well and chose to send his own daughter to Daiki High.
Aki’s giggles jerked Riko out of her thoughts. “Don’t worry, Nanase-san, she won’t be any competition to you in terms of guys,” she reassured Riko. Aki herself was one of the prettiest girls in the school. Her chestnut hair was curled and fell about her face just right, contrasting perfectly with her hazel eyes. Coming from a family dedicated to fashion, Aki knew exactly how to dress and was always “a la mode.”
“Nanase-san, what do you make of the news, the one about the Hikari’s?” asked Washito Suzu. “The one about a long lost granddaughter.”
“Your family is one of the most prestigious publishing companies, surely you have the inside scoop. The news said that the identity and photo of the new prospective heir would not be released,” Aki said. She was also a gossip and wanted, as she said, the “inside scoop” on everything.
“All I know is that she exists. This isn’t some sort of scam, but I don’t know about what she looks like or who she actually is,” Riko shrugged her shoulders, ending the conversation with perfect timing. Their teacher, Tachiro-sensei had just entered the room, followed by a girl of medium height. Her long glossy black hair was held back in a high ponytail and her posture emanated confidence.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, your new classmate,” he said, motioning for the new girl to introduce herself.
“Amano Asuka,” she said firmly. There were a few snickers around the room.
“Amano? I’ve never even heard of that name,” Suzu comments.
“Undoubtedly one of those lower class students they recruit, as a reward to their spending every waking moment studying,” Aki whispered. “Toiling, whether in the fields or among books, will always be toiling—work for the lower class.” Asuka’s defiant gaze landed on the whispering group. For a moment Aki cowered under her piercing chestnut gaze. The naked feeling of another seeing through her soul, the vulnerable feeling of showing all of her weaknesses to another gripped her. She immediately straightened her posture and glared back, but one moment had been enough. It had shown who was the true winner. Bored, the new girl’s gaze moved on.
“Amano, why not introduce yourself a little bit?” Tachiro-sensei prodded.
“There’s nothing to say about myself. I led a very uninteresting life,” Asuka replied. Tachiro-sensei pursed his lips and surprised everyone by relenting.
“Very well. Amano, take a seat.” It was common knowledge that prominent people like their space, which was why the seats adjacent and directly in front and behind of important persons, such as Riko, were always left empty. The second surprise of the day came when Asuka took the closest open seat, to the right of Nanase Riko.
specific words/phrases:
"tan hua yi xian" -- a phrase in the Chinese language that means something very beautiful but also very short-lived.
.:Mistic Flame:.
