![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
To lala pooch, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, sorry i'm late
and actually unfinished.
This is the first two parts of a Naruto Edo-era AU. I will update the post as the four remaining parts are written.
The room was immense, but it didn’t feel so. The stench of various oils from her ladies’ ministrations congealed about her throat, densest over her nape. Just that extra peep of skin, exposed by the deeper yawn of her collar, made her feel naked, displayed. Her expression was smooth, but underneath unseen was tension, just enough to snap her spine at the slightest imbalance. The gods help her if she betrayed the effort of every muscle in her body to keep her form. She had her pride, after all, all of it her own, and none left for the family who sold her to this. She could die if she swallowed this pride, easy, but the Princess Sakura, Late Flower of the Dowager Empress, preferred the mercy of precision from her own hand. Only a line of silver relieved the darkness of her prison. It was moonlight, fingering her blade.
Her hands were steady. To her lord’s servants and retainers, she was but the dutiful wife, awaiting the return of her lord, back from the capital after a year’s absence. A select few might snicker up their sleeves at this sanctimony, but they would keep their thoughts to themselves---however else were great ladies expected to abide their lords’ return?
Even so, if another well-meaning maid came to calm her worries on the consummation of her marriage, Princess Sakura would scream. Her lord’s kindness was as great as his prowess in battle. She did not fear him. As for the pain of losing one’s maidenhead, it was no worse than the cut on her palm.
She lifted her hand. Not very sharp, the dagger, but sharp enough. The cut was long, but shallow. Only near the wrist did it draw blood. It seeped still, beading into black tears, and then falling to stain her sea green uchikake, the same she wore during her wedding party seven months ago.
Sharp enough to open her belly, yes. And perhaps, it was fitting all should be settled by his wedding gift. Not only had she betrayed her lord, she had also corrupted the most upright bushi in the entire shogunate. Not only had she lost her maidenhead before lying with her husband, she had also lost the friendship of a man she valued above life itself.
Yes. She should die.
###
She had seen but eleven springs when the Princess Sakura first met her husband-to-be. She had resolved to deny him her good graces, refused to surrender a single kind word or look. Back then, she was still foolish enough to think the whims of a child had any bearings in the grand schemes of politics and the precarious nature of power she had thought her family wielded. But Lord Hatake was a resourceful man.
“Is this what I think it is, my Lord?” she asked, eyes wide and plan abandoned as she stared at the tome he presented her.
“I would hazard a yes,” Lord Hatake said, a smile crinkling his visible eye. “We have heard of your interest in Dutch studies from your esteemable mother.”
Of course, the she-kappa would have conspired with this dandy stranger. He was offering her the Kaitai Shinsho, a treatise on anatomy translated by students of western medicine. She had been asking for a copy since she had finished reading Morishima Churyo’s Sayings of the Dutch, a compendium of various Dutch writings, of which she had found the stories on illnesses and the western houses of the sick most interesting. Before they marry her off to a less tolerant lord, she vowed to read as many foreign books as possible.
But this lord...? He didn’t pile platitudes upon her---browned by too many truancies under the sun and far too thin, she was no great beauty. He took pains to learn of her interests and if there was condescension in his thoughts, he feigned his attentions well. He was not a homely man, though a scar ran down his face---a warrior, then, and not one of those administrators who grew fat by their people’s sweat and grains. Worldly cares harried him---and what cares they must be! his wisdom was said to reach the ears of the shogun himself--turned his hair gray early, for he didn’t seem old enough for that. Well, she decided, a distinguished-looking husband would be better than a handsome one. And it may hap Lord Hatake was as intelligent as rumored.
“The empress thinks her youngest child’s interest in the workings of the human body unsavory and filthy,” Sakura finally said.
“Then I believe the gift is a good compromise.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “The Late Flower of the Empress shall not have to dirty her hem, sneaking into slaughterhouses to watch the butchers with their chores, or her hands to steal herself a few cadavers from Kozukappara. Quite a trip won’t keep clandestine, ne?”
Sakura choked on a giggle but was able to muster an indignant expression. “We have our own execution grounds in Kyoto. In Rokujoguwara, heroes and criminals both---”
“The corpses there are none too fresh, I hear. When again was it last used, flower? For the western warlords after the Battle of Sekigahara, was it?”
She didn't think so, but then she didn't make it a hobby to commit execution dates to memory. “You don’t think my interest in Western Medicine strange, my lord?”
“Enoki-kun here likes to play with things like erekituru and juryoku. All those plums wasted because he wanted to study their fall. Now, that, princess, is strange, won't you say?”
“Lord Hatake, will you spar with me?” she said instead. In retrospect, it was not only audacious but also idiotic to ask a renowned warrior and daimyo to fight with her, a waif who couldn’t even lift a katana, let alone use one, but she needed to know how serious he was.
“My son would a better complement in terms of skill and size.”
For the first time, the princess noticed her suitor’s companion, a boy with messy hair that inelegantly stuck up behind his head like the tail feathers of a drake; for all his lordly glowers, he was a runt who had no right to carry a blade. He bore no resemblance to Lord Hatake. And adopted son, perhaps?
As if reading her thoughts, Lord Hatake chuckled. “Enoki-kun has a little bit of poison in his disposition, but he shan’t hold back his strength, even for a blossom like you. If it pleases you, he shall be your sparring partner in sword and Dutch Studies for the duration of my stay.”
Ever curious, Princess Sakura agreed to have the disagreeable boy entertain her. From the very beginning, Hatake Sasuke wanted no part of her friendship. The mushroom-head loved his Kakashi-ue with every drop of good will in his body, though, so Princess Sakura learned about the basics of battoujutsu and the physical laws of Newton that summer from her irascible friend. Friend, yes, for Sasuke had no choice on that issue in the end. The princess usually obtained what she wanted.
Even if it was at the expense of others.
TBC..
This is the first two parts of a Naruto Edo-era AU. I will update the post as the four remaining parts are written.
The room was immense, but it didn’t feel so. The stench of various oils from her ladies’ ministrations congealed about her throat, densest over her nape. Just that extra peep of skin, exposed by the deeper yawn of her collar, made her feel naked, displayed. Her expression was smooth, but underneath unseen was tension, just enough to snap her spine at the slightest imbalance. The gods help her if she betrayed the effort of every muscle in her body to keep her form. She had her pride, after all, all of it her own, and none left for the family who sold her to this. She could die if she swallowed this pride, easy, but the Princess Sakura, Late Flower of the Dowager Empress, preferred the mercy of precision from her own hand. Only a line of silver relieved the darkness of her prison. It was moonlight, fingering her blade.
Her hands were steady. To her lord’s servants and retainers, she was but the dutiful wife, awaiting the return of her lord, back from the capital after a year’s absence. A select few might snicker up their sleeves at this sanctimony, but they would keep their thoughts to themselves---however else were great ladies expected to abide their lords’ return?
Even so, if another well-meaning maid came to calm her worries on the consummation of her marriage, Princess Sakura would scream. Her lord’s kindness was as great as his prowess in battle. She did not fear him. As for the pain of losing one’s maidenhead, it was no worse than the cut on her palm.
She lifted her hand. Not very sharp, the dagger, but sharp enough. The cut was long, but shallow. Only near the wrist did it draw blood. It seeped still, beading into black tears, and then falling to stain her sea green uchikake, the same she wore during her wedding party seven months ago.
Sharp enough to open her belly, yes. And perhaps, it was fitting all should be settled by his wedding gift. Not only had she betrayed her lord, she had also corrupted the most upright bushi in the entire shogunate. Not only had she lost her maidenhead before lying with her husband, she had also lost the friendship of a man she valued above life itself.
Yes. She should die.
###
She had seen but eleven springs when the Princess Sakura first met her husband-to-be. She had resolved to deny him her good graces, refused to surrender a single kind word or look. Back then, she was still foolish enough to think the whims of a child had any bearings in the grand schemes of politics and the precarious nature of power she had thought her family wielded. But Lord Hatake was a resourceful man.
“Is this what I think it is, my Lord?” she asked, eyes wide and plan abandoned as she stared at the tome he presented her.
“I would hazard a yes,” Lord Hatake said, a smile crinkling his visible eye. “We have heard of your interest in Dutch studies from your esteemable mother.”
Of course, the she-kappa would have conspired with this dandy stranger. He was offering her the Kaitai Shinsho, a treatise on anatomy translated by students of western medicine. She had been asking for a copy since she had finished reading Morishima Churyo’s Sayings of the Dutch, a compendium of various Dutch writings, of which she had found the stories on illnesses and the western houses of the sick most interesting. Before they marry her off to a less tolerant lord, she vowed to read as many foreign books as possible.
But this lord...? He didn’t pile platitudes upon her---browned by too many truancies under the sun and far too thin, she was no great beauty. He took pains to learn of her interests and if there was condescension in his thoughts, he feigned his attentions well. He was not a homely man, though a scar ran down his face---a warrior, then, and not one of those administrators who grew fat by their people’s sweat and grains. Worldly cares harried him---and what cares they must be! his wisdom was said to reach the ears of the shogun himself--turned his hair gray early, for he didn’t seem old enough for that. Well, she decided, a distinguished-looking husband would be better than a handsome one. And it may hap Lord Hatake was as intelligent as rumored.
“The empress thinks her youngest child’s interest in the workings of the human body unsavory and filthy,” Sakura finally said.
“Then I believe the gift is a good compromise.” He gave her a sidelong glance. “The Late Flower of the Empress shall not have to dirty her hem, sneaking into slaughterhouses to watch the butchers with their chores, or her hands to steal herself a few cadavers from Kozukappara. Quite a trip won’t keep clandestine, ne?”
Sakura choked on a giggle but was able to muster an indignant expression. “We have our own execution grounds in Kyoto. In Rokujoguwara, heroes and criminals both---”
“The corpses there are none too fresh, I hear. When again was it last used, flower? For the western warlords after the Battle of Sekigahara, was it?”
She didn't think so, but then she didn't make it a hobby to commit execution dates to memory. “You don’t think my interest in Western Medicine strange, my lord?”
“Enoki-kun here likes to play with things like erekituru and juryoku. All those plums wasted because he wanted to study their fall. Now, that, princess, is strange, won't you say?”
“Lord Hatake, will you spar with me?” she said instead. In retrospect, it was not only audacious but also idiotic to ask a renowned warrior and daimyo to fight with her, a waif who couldn’t even lift a katana, let alone use one, but she needed to know how serious he was.
“My son would a better complement in terms of skill and size.”
For the first time, the princess noticed her suitor’s companion, a boy with messy hair that inelegantly stuck up behind his head like the tail feathers of a drake; for all his lordly glowers, he was a runt who had no right to carry a blade. He bore no resemblance to Lord Hatake. And adopted son, perhaps?
As if reading her thoughts, Lord Hatake chuckled. “Enoki-kun has a little bit of poison in his disposition, but he shan’t hold back his strength, even for a blossom like you. If it pleases you, he shall be your sparring partner in sword and Dutch Studies for the duration of my stay.”
Ever curious, Princess Sakura agreed to have the disagreeable boy entertain her. From the very beginning, Hatake Sasuke wanted no part of her friendship. The mushroom-head loved his Kakashi-ue with every drop of good will in his body, though, so Princess Sakura learned about the basics of battoujutsu and the physical laws of Newton that summer from her irascible friend. Friend, yes, for Sasuke had no choice on that issue in the end. The princess usually obtained what she wanted.
Even if it was at the expense of others.
TBC..
no subject
I ♥ you. Thank you thank you thank you. This is so pretty. You write so beautifully! I was hooked from the very first paragraph... and the story - most unexpected, unpredictable! So interesting. I was surprised to see that Sasuke wasn't her husband. I was actually reading the first part, thinking that I would get to read about "Lord Sasuke" but then this sentence came up: Her lord’s kindness was as great as his prowess in battle..... and I was like 'kindness?! nooooo...', and the next part explained it and well, well - let me just say that I am so looking forward to the next part.
Thank you for writing this. *huggles* you're an angel. :)