Prince of Tennis (Sanada/Yukimura) [week 4 - prompt 4] Title: The Passage of Time Author:ketchupblood Rating: PG Warnings: Slash, horrendously underdeveloped characters and no development of plot at all Word Count: ~4,300 Summary: Harpie!Yukimura and Prince!Sanada meet, grow close, and eventually sleep together (in the most innocent way, of course) Author's Notes: Damn, this turned out badly. I was so excited for it, too...
4. though the rain weighs down your wings, still the caged bird's got to sing
It was a sad little corner, tucked between the washrooms and the animals of the untamed south. Even the zookeepers occasionally forgot that the little cage was there and it wasn't unusual for him to go without food for weeks. The cage's occupant didn't move when he was forgotten; he rarely moved when he was remembered. The children of those wealthy enough to visit the collection of exotic creatures often walked right past him, so fixed a structure he had become in the zoo, like the little benches that dotted the grounds but not nearly as functional.
He no longer understood what the people walking past him were saying. He had understood once and he supposed that he could again, if he would listen to them speak for long enough, but there was no need. In a few thousand years, their language would change again and he would have to relearn it. Humans were too fickle, too changing, too fast. They no longer paid him any mind and he treated them likewise; if not for the barriers placed on the cage so long ago by their ancestors, he would have long been gone but the bars never rusted, no matter how neglected they were, and they were as strong now as they had been the day he had been shoved in, torn and bleeding.
He had healed now and he was as strong as he had ever been. Harpies did not weaken, not if they did not wish it. He wondered sometimes why he would not just let himself die as all the others had. It would have been easier and quite possibly the only way he would escape; it had already been three millennia and he had yet to leave the little corner in what had once been a stronghold and was now a zoo. It was amazing enough that humans, ever changing as they were, still used the structure. It had been left alone for years on end and someone always came back. He wondered if that was part of the curse that had been placed on him, that he could not suffer in solitude.
Now, as he watched the children walk past, jabbering to their mothers or their maids in a tongue that was far harsher than the one he had once heard humans saying, he kept his eyes open but let his mind drift away to the dreams of the sky, to where his wings could spread and away from this cage where they folded around him, cramped and uncomfortable. In his mind, he was not a trapped creature set out for children to admire but a general, proud and strong, leading his army into glorious battle. In his mind, he did not lose.
-x-
Sanada didn't understand why he had to go see the zoo, but his father had said that he should, so he and his nanny went. She must have been more excited than he was; she kept pointing out all the different animals and sighing at the dresses she saw the ladies wearing. Sanada glanced at the animals and then looked away. They were boring, still the exact same as they had been the last time he had been there. Finally, the nurse tired of his fidgeting and told him to run off by himself. He didn't give her a chance to reconsider as he knew she would once she remembered what his father would do if he found out, Sanada just ran off and hid in the best place he could think of—the washroom. Women weren't allowed in there; his friends said that they had their own washroom and even though Sanada didn't understand why he did know that that little fact made the washroom the perfect place to hide.
Once he was certain that she wasn't going to come after him, he walked out and turned the corner, intending to go hiding somewhere so she wouldn't ever find him. Then he saw it; a small cage with a man in it.
But it couldn't have been a man, because two white wings extended from his back. Sanada stared and stared and his nanny finally caught up to him and asked him what he was staring at. He pointed and she glanced over and sighed. She had been here too, of course, and she must have noticed the man before. "It's only a statue." She said. "It's painted, of course, and very nicely too, but..."
But Sanada ignored her and walked forward, looking at a plaque set into the ground. He pointed and asked, because he hadn't learned how to read yet, "What does it say?"
She rolled her eyes at him. His nanny was young, though he didn't know why. Most nannies were old. Then she bent down and read, "Seiichi."
-x-
He almost wanted to correct her, to tell her that the letters had meant different things a long time ago, but he didn't see the point. He didn't suppose they knew he could speak at all. He turned his gaze to the little boy and the boy started and took a step back. Then he stopped and tugged at his nanny's sleeve and pointed at Seiichi—he had decided that it was as good a name as any and he might as well keep it—and said something. The maid looked surprised but not overly so and went off to talk to the zookeeper while the boy stared at him. He looked back, intrigued but not overly so and then the boy, steeling himself with obvious effort, walked up closer and started talking. He faltered several times and Seiichi guessed that he scared the child, but he always continued. Seiichi didn't understand a word he said.
The woman came back with a man—Seiichi recognized him. He must have been the current zookeeper. He talked to the little boy, kneeling down in the way that human adults seemed to do with human children when they wanted to see at eye level with them. Seiichi listened dispassionately. The man's tone was... instructing. Then he took something out of his pocket, dirty and ragged and all too familiar for Seiichi's tastes and handed it to the boy. He said one last thing and the boy nodded gravely, then the zookeeper took out his keys and picked through them to find the one that was obviously oldest but no more aged than any of the others.
He unlocked the cage door and Seiichi was no more free than he had been before.
-x-
Sanada gripped tightly at the chain that the zookeeper had given him. He didn't understand why they had to keep Seiichi on a chain, but when he had asked the zookeeper had just shrugged and told him that it was the way things were done. Sanada decided that he didn't like that but his nurse was looking at him and he had been told to leave the chain alone. So he sighed and sat back against the carriage seat, pouting a little before remembering that he was not to do that and shifted to sit up straight and look properly somber. Seiichi was still staring at him, looking a little curious and not seeming to mind the chain overly much, so Sanada decided that it must have been alright.
-x-
The boy brought him to the castle—a different castle than Seiichi remembered, but that was only to be expected—and then some females came and took him to the baths where they fawned over him just as Seiichi remembered human females doing, washing him with wet cloths and stroking his wings with something akin to amazement. Apparently, if the wealthy no longer noticed him, the poor were not so indifferent. It was almost a pity, he thought. He could do without the attention of humans.
Once they finished, they brought him to a room—small, still, but larger than his cage had been—with a bed and a small table. He waited until the doors shut with an audible 'click' and unfurled his wings, stretching them out and feeling tensed muscles relax ever so slightly. Then he put a hand on his neck, where the zookeeper had placed the collar. It was only symbolic, of course. The only real power was in the talisman that the boy held now, but it couldn't be so very hard to take it from him. Lazily, Seiichi flapped his wings. It had been a long time. He wondered if there were any other harpies left in the world at all.
Behind him, the boy gasped.
-x-
Sanada had asked the maids where they had put the not-quite-human man and they had pointed him, giggling and not quite steady yet after meeting a creature who, in their minds, should not exist, to one of the slave rooms. Sanada had frowned, because he hadn't wanted to think of the man as a slave, and ran down. When he opened the door, though, the man had spread his wings and was testing the air with them, flapping them up and down as if he could at any moment just leave the earth and fly away.
The man turned around swiftly and looked at him, face calm and composed. "I'm sorry." Sanada said, politely as he had been raised. "I didn't know you were..." It seemed like something he wasn't supposed to walk on, but now that he tried to say it, it made no sense. "I just thought I'd introduce myself. I'm Prince Sanada Genchirou." He bowed, the appropriate 13° for a prince to an person of unknown origins. "You should just call me Sanada. I suppose I should call you Seiichi?"
The man just stared at him.
-x-
Seiichi wondered what the boy was saying and realized, with a bit of annoyance, that he would have to learn the boy's language if he was to charm him out of the pendant. So he smiled at him, letting his smile waver uncertainly and said, falteringly, "Just call me sanada?"
The boy stared at him, surprised. Then he shook his head furiously and muttered something, pointing to himself and repeating 'Sanada.' Seiichi tilted his head a little to the side and pointed at the boy. "Sanada?"
The boy—Sanada—nodded, looking embarrassed.
-x-
It was strange for Seiichi; being with people in general and being with people who weren't afraid of him in particular. Sanada was in awe of him; that much was obvious, but he wasn't afraid. Seiichi watched the boy, since the family had been amused by young Sanada's lapse in judgment and must have told him that Seiichi was to go everywhere with him, for Seiichi found himself being brought from lesson to lesson with the boy and, on the off chance that Sanada had time to himself, outside to the garden. Seiichi pitied the child though he could scarcely remember his own childhood—it couldn't have been much better, that was certain, but it was most definitely more free.
Sanada carried himself through it proudly, though. He was the crown prince, that much Seiichi had figured out without trouble, for human shows of power might have taken different forms, but were very little changed since he had last walked the earth. When in the public eye, Sanada would hold his head high and carry himself with an authority that Seiichi had at first thought rehearsed but soon realized was just as much a part of the boy as anything else. When they were alone, though, Sanada would laugh with glee as children ought to; sometimes it made Seiichi wonder if he would have had children had the war been won. It was a ridiculous thought; he didn't even like women.
-x-
It didn't take Sanada very long to decide that Seiichi was a mystery. It took him even less time to decide that he liked mysteries very much and that as great fun, even if everyone disapproved. Kings were allowed their eccentricities, after all, and he would be king one day. He wondered if Seiichi could be his queen, but then he thought about it and of course Seiichi couldn't. Seiichi was a man, after all, and Sanada was a man too. So they would just have to be King and King, instead of King and Queen.
He mentioned that to Seiichi once, when Seiichi had gotten a firm grasp of the language, about a year after Sanada had brought him to the palace. Seiichi had laughed, a beautiful sound like bells tolling, and turned his wings so that the light wind made his feathers flutter.
-x-
Seiichi shouldn't have been surprised when Sanada asked him to take him flying. He wasn't, really. He must have been anticipating it subconsciously, because he hadn't thought of it as a possibility rationally. He had taken one look at the boy, still young enough to be shorter than Seiichi though Seiichi knew that couldn't last long—as a rule, harpies were always shorter than humans and Sanada was already showing signs of the awkward limbs that would grow to be graceful, or at least very long.
So, while he could, he agreed. It surprised him that he had not taken the pendant from the boy yet but he honestly liked Sanada and, if he were to be entirely honest with himself which he was not, he didn't know where to go.
It had been so long since he had flown he had soared as high as he could before Sanada's gasping breaths reminded him that humans could not tolerate to be so high in the air. He glided lower and, Sanada's arms around his neck and legs around his waist in a way that was still acceptable as an older brother caring for a younger but caused him no small amount of heat where there shouldn't have been any, then they flew. It was calming and that was good, because Seiichi was shocked. The forests were gone and the mountains, once only dusted with snow every other years and not so much mountains as hills, had grown enormous.
And they were very obviously filled with harpies. He could see the signs that were always left, as clear as day and all fresh. There were even marks that he recognized; those of his comrades from years ago. It would be so easy to return...
But then Sanada gasped. "I... I think I'm scared, Seiichi. I want to go back..."
So Seiichi turned back, though Sanada had not ordered him and had most definitely not learned how to use the pendant.
-x-
It was winter when Sanada first found the book on the Winged Wars. Seiichi had gone out, flying, to where Sanada didn't know and didn't bother ask. Seiichi always came back when he called; an interesting little thing the pendant the old zookeeper had given him could do. Seiichi had been shocked when it first happened, Sanada amused. Then Seiichi had smiled and said softly, "That was terribly rude of you."
Sanada had nodded, acting chastised just as Seiichi was acting upset, or as upset in Seiichi's mind, anyways. "I didn't know I could do that."
"I hadn't wanted to tell you." Seiichi said, walking past Sanada to the bed and sitting down cross legged. "It would have been very inconvenient for me."
"Yes, Seiichi." Sanada nodded. Of course it would have been, because Seiichi answered to no one, as Sanada had learned.
He still didn't try to control Seiichi, even if he could, because the one time he had tried Seiichi had refused to speak to him for days. Instead, he let Seiichi do as he pleased and when Sanada was alone and not learning the duties he would soon take over in the running of his beloved kingdom, he would browse through the libraries, like he was doing when he found the book.
It was an old book, not dusty of course, since the maids took care of that, but old. He opened it and stared at the gibberish on the page—the letters were the same, but they made no sense. He frowned, stared at it, willed it to straighten out—much good that would have done. He was no mage; those things were reserved for lower classes.
He gave up later and went to ask the librarian who sometimes remembered who he was and rarely remembered what he was doing, but always seemed to know everything about any book.
"Ah, that's the old language." He said. "They used the same letters, but they gave them different sounds."
Sanada nodded and asked, "Where could I find a book of translations?" He would want to know it. It was the history of his country, after all.
"You won't find one, my prince." The man shook his head sadly. "The tradition has to be passed orally and it isn't your place to learn it. Nobles don't waste their time with things of beauty like this, only things of import like the gold in your coffers."
Sanada must have looked very upset, because the man took the book from him and skimmed it quickly. Then he said, "I can read it to you, if you want."
Sanada nodded and they chose a table. The old man put the table down and ran his hand down the lines of text, reading it aloud and then going back and translating. Sanada listened raptly, unwilling to stop him and break the spell of the flowing words that seemed more like music than speech and the way his hands, which shook so badly when he did anything else, were so steady as he read. Sanada's eyes fixed on those hands and the way they ran down the text, and his eyes caught onto a certain word and then he spoke.
"Ah!" He pointed to it. "Why is Seiichi mentioned?"
The old man was confused for a moment, then he said, "Ah. That's not Seiichi—the new language reads it as Seiichi, yes. But this is Yukimura, the general of the armies that fought against the kingdom, nearly five millennia ago. He was captured, you know, and put into a cage with a spell to hold him as long as he stayed in it."
Sanada stared at him. "What if he got out?"
"Well..." The old man closed his eyes and scrunched them up, thinking. "I suppose that he'd be able to... Oh, no! There's a pendant, I think. And the holder of the pendant controls him 'till the holder dies, then he'd be free to go. I think legend has it he'd wreak terror on the people and win the war that he'd lost, but that's silly. No one would be stupid enough to let Yukimura out." The man chuckled. "People might not be able to remember history, my prince, but surely the sight of a man with wings on his back'd scare them away pretty damned fast."
Sanada nodded and thanked the man, then got up, mentioning something about lessons.
-x-
Seiichi sat on one of the window ledges on the highest tower and surveyed the castle below him and the city sprawling around it. He hadn't seen Sanada for days now, and he wondered if the boy was avoiding him. It was likely, since they hadn't been apart for so long for years, and Seiichi had to wonder just what he'd done wrong.
"Yukimura."
Seiichi started and nearly fell. When he had collected his balance again, he turned with amazing agility to look at Sanada. "What did you just...?"
"You're Yukimura." Sanada said.
Seiichi nodded. "I know who I am, Sanada." He said calmly, annoyed that Sanada would state something so obvious.
"You aren't 'Seiichi.'" Sanada said. "You aren't the pet that I've kept for years now."
He is hurt, Seiichi can tell, but his words hurt Seiichi too. "Is that what I was? A pet? How interesting." Seiichi's voice is still sweet, gentle, and he can almost feel the sharp edges beneath it.
"I should order you executed for lying to a prince of the crown." Sanada said. "You shouldn't have pretended to be a harmless pet when you're really a traitor."
"A traitor." Seiichi's chest tightens. It hurts, so much more than it should. "Was I really?"
"You betrayed your kingdom by going to war against us!" Sanada shouted. "Stop trying to play innocent!"
"I never betrayed my kingdom." Seiichi said sweetly. "I never betrayed your kingdom, either. You couldn't even trace your ancestry back so far, I don't see how it matters."
Why is he fighting, he wonders, even as the words leave his mouth. He wants this. He wants Sanada to denounce him, to tell him to leave. Then the pendant's spell would die and he could leave. He was only a pet, anyways. The boy could always find another one.
"It matters because I'm going to be king when my father dies and he's already ill and I can't have a traitor with me when I am crowned." Sanada said, anger still in his eyes though he had lowered his voice.
He should tell Sanada to let him go, Seiichi knew, because if he were to ask now, Sanada would have given it gladly. But his mouth refused to obey his brain and instead he said, "I'm sorry..."
He knew how much he cared for the boy. He wasn't blind, he knew. He hadn't known that Sanada would be so angry, he hadn't known that he was only a pet, but he should have known that it wouldn't have mattered and that he wouldn't have wanted to leave.
He also should have known that he wouldn't have been forgiven, because even if Sanada had loved Seiichi he loved his country more and even if he hadn't, he would not have betrayed the trust placed in him. The guards that Seiichi hadn't seen reached out and grabbed him.
-x-
He had been indignant at the insult when they had first put him in the cage; now he wished for it. No one came to stare at him now as they had millennia ago; instead he sat in a dark dungeon, surrounded by no one and nothing, not even the fresh air that was his life's blood.
And he still refused to die.
He no longer knew how long it had been; it could have been months or years or decades. It was dark and the air never warmed. No one came to bring him food or water; they knew he wouldn't need it.
He sat in his dungeon, alone, blinded because even as much as his eyes adjusted they could not see. Not even the mice came that far, only a few spiders kept him company.
-x-
Sanada was listening to the nobles report when the messenger burst through. His father had died.
-x-
It was cold in the dungeons. Seiichi moved as much as he could, going through practices that humans did to stay strong to keep his blood flowing and to keep it warm. When he was too tired to go on and when he started breaking a sweat, he would sit and pull his wings around himself, locking the warmth in even while he shivered from the cold that assaulted his wings.
-x-
It was only a ceremony. Sanada had taken most of the responsibilities for the throne years ago, when the king had been too weak to and the nobles weren't worried about succession. Even as they walked his father's body to his burial place, they talked amongst themselves about the newest fashions and the more polite ones did so out of his earshot.
He still knew, though.
-x-
Someone walked down the stairs and it sounded so loud. Tiny bits of light, barely enough to see by, filtered down the steps. Seiichi wondered if they had filled up the upper dungeons enough that they had moved to the floors above him. He hoped they had; the little bit of light was refreshing, like the sun to his eyes. He turned towards it and it grew brighter.
The footsteps were rushed, he realized. Not the jailor, who tended to move sluggishly, then. And they walked down three landings, so it wasn't for prisoners. Those three floors were empty.
He felt a bit of hope. Who would have known that he would want to see humans?
-x-
Seiichi was just as he remembered, Sanada thought. He looked at him with clear eyes that must have hurt, staring at the light after being hidden from it for so long and a gentle smile, though the smile seemed happier than Sanada remembered it being.
"My father died." Sanada says.
The smile disappeared and he wished he had kept silent. "I'm sorry." Seiichi said.
Those are the last words he had said last time, Sanada remembered. "Don't be."
The smile came back, wavering, unsure. It was so unlike Seiichi that Sanada walked forward and unlocked the dungeon cell. It didn't stink in there, like the cage hadn't stank at the zoo. Sanada went in and stopped just short of Seiichi. He didn't know what to do.
"I..." He began, and didn't know how to finish.
"It's cold." Seiichi said, unfurling his wings. "You look cold."
Sanada sank to his knees, thankful, and let Seiichi pull him close and wrap his wings around them.
-x-
Sanada had grown, Seiichi realized. He was full grown, now, but he still curled into Seiichi's embrace like he had as a child.