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 Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 3:17 pm
Leila handed Shanya the bundle of clothes left in her bag before she ran out of the stable after the younger boy. Reiba was already a good distance away before she finally caught up to him, breathless and tired.
"It wouldn't have killed you to wait, Sir?" She asked, wiping the sweat from her forehead. She knew that the younger boy would probably ignore her, but she kept on pestering him anyway. They went back even farther than the new slave and the king. Leila had been there when Reiba was born, so technically, they had been friends since birth.
"It might have driven my psyche insane and unstable, but no... I don't believe it would have physically killed me." Reiba murmured quietly, much to Leila's surprise. "I keep on hearing him call my name like he used to when he was little. I don't think he remembers, the the court mage has died long ago. Giving him back his memories is now completely out of the question."
"How did he used to call your name when you two were little?" Leila asked. Even though Reiba glared at her, she backed up her question readily. "I was never allowed to play with you while you were with him. Mother said so." She said quietly.
Reiba nodded his head, then turned back toward the road. Kitsuma was waiting impatiently by the doorway, scowling at Leila, who he believed was a slave. "Brother Rei." He muttered as he quickly walked past her, walking away with Kitsuma into the depths of the castle.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 4:01 pm
Shanya stared at the bundle that Leila had given him. What was in there? What was he supposed to do with it? Looking inside the bag, he saw a bundle of clothes. Was he supposed to deliver these to someone? There was no specific name, so maybe he should just hold onto the clothes until somebody claims them.
Walking to sit on a stool, Shanya began to think about his dream. Brother Rei had looked like a younger version of the king, but maybe he was just someone who looked like him. There had been many cases of two completely different people who looked alike, so he wouldn't be surprised if Brother Rei was one of such people.
"Brother Rei!" At hearing a voice Shanya looked up to see two children playing out in the fields. They were the children in his dream! Getting up from the stool and walking toward the field, he watched as the child with pinkish hair and golden eyes was running after an older child with brown hair and blue eyes. They seemed to be playing a game of tag.
Suddenly, the golden-eyed child fell to the ground and he began crying. Tears that glistened in the setting sun seemed to give off a golden color instead of the white shine that tears usually reflect. Shanya wanted to run over to the child and see what was going on, but he was frozen in place. He could only stand and watch as the older boy hurried to the younger child and examined a red right hand. Right after that the children disappeared without any evidence that they were there in the first place.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:20 pm
Miyabi walked out from the back of the stable, wearing the attire that Leila had given him earlier when he noticed Shanya standing by the fence with a bundle of clothes in his hand.
"Shanya... you better put your clothes on and get ready. The Royals are a pain in the butt to the king if even one of his slaves aren't in 'proper attire'." He called out. "Stupid Royals don't understand what running a kingdom means." He muttered to himself, sweeping away some of the extra hay on the ground.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:28 pm
"Oh, so I'm supposed to put these on?" Shanya asked, looking at the bundle of clothes. "I thought Miss Leila expected me to deliver them somewhere." Where should he change, in that case? He can't just put the clothes on over his ragged ones.
"Hey, Miyabi, did you hear any kids here?" he asked, his mind traveling back to the two children went back to his mind. "I think a saw a couple of them, but they just vanished in thin air." Shanya was sure he must be crazy, but he can't exactly be sure until he hears Miyabi's answer to the question.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:35 pm
"Kids?" Miyabi asked, looking at Shanya funny. "No, I didn't hear anything out here except for my loud-mouth sister screaming her head off inside the castle." He said sheepishly, making a joke out of the situation to try and lighten the mood. "Don't worry. Work around the horses and you'll be hallucinating left and right. Must be Kumori and Shiro. The mage said that they were super-natural or something. What a load of bull." Miyabi muttered, walking over to them. "They're just different, that's all. Undergoing internal stress from the deaths of their masters."
The older boy looked over at Shanya, almost forgetting his first question. "There's a bathroom in the back. You can change in there. Deodorant, unused, if you would like to use some of that. There's a comb and a sink, plus a shower. But I would recommend not taking one right now, since you'll be here with me the entire night." He said quietly, fixing one of the buttons on his shirt slightly.
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Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2010 4:43 pm
Shanya's eyes widened in surprise. Miyabi hadn't heard the kids? Not even one? Then why did Shanya hear and see them out in the fields? Ghosts, perhaps? Or maybe he was just going crazy. Well, the field where the 'ghosts' were did seem to change while they were playing were there, but that didn't explain why Shanya saw them and Miyabi didn't at least hear them. He couldn't have been the only one who knew they were there, right?
Though Shanya's head was hurting, he didn't miss the answer to his question. Muttering a small thanks to Miyabi, Shanya walked over to the bathroom at the back to change. He heard footsteps following him, and he looked toward the source to see the children following him. As if that wasn't creepy enough, the children had emotionless eyes and they seemed to be fading away like a forgotten memory. Shanya blinked, wondering if he was seeing things, and then the children disappeared.
Reaching the bathroom and making a mental note to ask the king or Raziel about this, he entered the room and began changing once he locked the door. As soon as he finished, he couldn't help but feel a bit uncomfortable in the clothes. He had never worn anything except his rags that he had been wearing in his first memory.
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Posted: Wed Jan 13, 2010 9:56 pm
The blonde slave followed quietly behind the two arguing men in front of her. The shorter and younger one with chocolate brown hair didn't say much the entire time, only smoothly saying things like, "I understand." or "Why would you think that?" Kitsuma, his majesty's attendant, did most of the talking and arguing. It was something about the new slave, Shanya. Leila, though, did not hear a single word the muttering attendant said.
Reiba looked at Kitsuma like the older man had gone insane. Move Shanya to another castle? Shanya had just gotten here, and his life was traumatic enough as is. Kitsuma said something about how it would make the people happier, but Reiba didn't understand. Shouldn't they be happy that Shanya had been arrested? People demanded too much nowadays.
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 2:37 pm
For some reason, Shanya sneezed. It was strange that he did, since there didn't seem to have been any possible reason for his sneeze except some phony superstition that he would sneeze if someone was talking about him. There had been so many talks about him and he never sneezed then, so why now? Perhaps whatever unseen particles of floating dust in the air was the reason. What else would it be?
There was suddenly something that made Shanya afraid of the day ending. There was something wrong, he just knew it. There was that paranoia in him that he wouldn't be able to stay here for long. It wasn't like he was going to die, but he felt that maybe someone is trying to send him away. Away from the place he called home, from the few people who actually seemed to care about him, and from the unknown Brother Rei.
Should he run? Should he try to avoid the fate by escaping to another country or at least some place where the king would never look for him? He should at least leave the kingdom so the people would be happy, probably even the king.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 3:25 pm
Miyabi noticed Shanya zoning and walked over to him, thrusting into his hands the reins of a horse that neither of them had seen before. "I believe that this is Sir Hikaru's horse, Lara. Just put them out in the field and put the tag on them so we know who's horse it is." The older boy instructed before he walked back to the young man with black hair. There was a girl who looked exactly like him with another horse, which Miyabi took carefully. The night was just starting.
Reiba sat down in the throne room, signing as he did so. He was still wearing just a dress shirt and slacks, since parties weren't his normal thing. Just because he was the king didn't mean that he was going to run around dressed in something from the 18th century. Nobody could say anything about what he wore expect for Kitsuma, but the young king just ignored the psycho advisor.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 4:16 pm
Nodding, Shanya led the horse to the field and labeled it just as Miyabi had told him. He was still thinking about running away, but that would result in a death penalty, right? He didn't mind dying, but, if Brother Rei is still alive somewhere and still remembered him, how would he feel? Did Brother still care about him after all these years of separation? He didn't become one of the townsfolk that hated him so, right? Probably or probably not.
Well, there isn't a way to find out in the first place. Brother is gone or probably had just been a figment of his imagination. The only place for him to live is away from this kingdom. The only question is, how will he be able to leave? There were most likely many guards that would come after him, and the townsfolk knew him and probably told others about him. Everyone would be out to get him, and there's nothing he would be able to do about it.
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 5:50 pm
A flouncing red head came walking over to Reiba. The crowd parted to allow her through and bowed low to her, not looking up to gaze at her face. Her green eyes matched her dress, and her hair fell like fire down her back. The young king watched with distaste, but he stood up to greet the woman.
"Reiba... it has been so long." The older girl replied, smiling a glittering smile. "I heard that you dear younger brother has returned from the streets, is that true?"
"It is true, Hohime..." Reiba replied, bowing to her just like the rest of the crowd. "Or should I say... Neechan?" He asked, not looking up at his older sister.
Hohime smiled a wicked smile that no one else could see. "So... you haven't forgotten about us, have you?" She asked, looking down at her younger brother. "Where's Shanya?" She demanded. "You know how much I cared for him. The least he could do is be present to say hello."
"He is a stablehand now. He is not permitted to enter the palace during a formal function like such unless invited." Reiba gritted his teeth. "Besides, he doesn't even remember me." Hohime was a bit taken back by that, but Reiba looked up to meet her emerald eyes with his sapphire ones. "I'll take you to him."
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Posted: Sat Jan 16, 2010 7:23 pm
"Wait up, Brother!" a familiar child's voice cried. Shanya looked toward the source. The voice had belonged to one of the children from before! "Where are we going? Why can't I see?" At first, the question confused Shanya, but when he looked a little closer at the child, he saw a blindfold on.
"Wh-what are they doing?!" Shanya said, though mainly to himself. He immediately chased after the children, but they seemed to move farther and farther away from him. As he increased his speed, he saw that he was finally gaining on them.
Suddenly, they disappeared and there was some kind of cave in front of where they once stood. Immediately, he entered the cave and peered into the mouth of it. It was very dark, but there seemed to be little lights all over the place that lit the way. As he explored the area, there were little drawings on the walls that were probably made by the children.
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:02 am
Reiba arrived at the stables just in time to see Shanya dash off toward an all-too-familiar spot. "Neechan... please stay with Miyabi." He instructed, dashing off after the young slave. He saw him enter the cave that they used to play in, the cave where something, something that Reiba would have liked to forget, had happened. Leila had told him earlier that Miyabi had said that Shanya was hallucinating about children. Reiba could only guess that those children were their younger selves.
The drawings on the wall brought back the flood of the horrible memories as he entered, staring at Shanya's back. "So... you've found this place again, have you?" He asked, almost expecting the boy to jump with surprise.
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 12:43 am
Shanya stiffened, but he calmed down and turned to see the king. He was surprised to see His Royal Highness standing there. Wasn't this place a bit too... unfit for kings to walk to and look at? Well, that's what most people would have thought.
"I guess so, Your Highness," Shanya said, his thoughts still lingering on the drawings. "Well, actually, I've been looking for some kids. One of them had his friend blindfolded and since it's dark out I wanted to find them and tell them to go home." It sounded ridiculous, actually. Miyabi never saw the children, so they must have ghosts.
His hand rested right next to a well-drawn picture of two princes that looked very much like the ghost children. "I had a dream that Brother and I used to play here and draw pictures just like these," Shanya said, though his voice was very soft. "He looked a lot like you, but I'm sure even someone as young as a child wouldn't call a someone of the royal family Brother Rei, no matter how close they were."
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Posted: Sun Jan 17, 2010 1:29 pm
A cold shiver ran down Reiba's back as the words that Shanya spoke reached his hearing. He had to repeat the words several times in his head before he finally gave up trying to find another meaning to it. The meaning was simple; Shanya was starting to remember.
"There are no children on this side of the palace." Reiba muttered, walking over to another drawing. It was a picture that he had drawn of Hohime, but in her much younger self. The fiery red hair, the emerald green eyes, Hohime looked so much like their father, the previous king. "Miyabi was correct, you are remembering... Shanya-niichan."
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