Disclaimers: I hereby swear that I’m not making any money off this, in fact I’m not making any money at all since I’m still out of work…
Back to mild shounen-ai, it’s so mild this time that it’s the literary equivalent of having a glass of ice with a bit of Martini, instead of the other way round.
OK, inspired again by shear perversity and my noticing of a sudden trend of having my name-sake poisoned in various fics, this very silly fic is the result. Oh, I can also blame it on listening to the soundtrack for “Hannibal”.
Some time after the war between Pulsar and Lucitania.
King Arslan sat on his throne and studied the message he’d just been given. Daryoon peered at the paper over Arslan’s shoulder and frowned. More spies, more plots, more assassination attempts. Daryoon had given up counting how many would-be assassins had ended their careers on the end of his sword. The message was yet another warning from Rajendra about a plot to destabilise Pulsar. Such messages were getting so common that Daryoon was almost certain that he knew what had been written, that was until Arslan’s shocked gasp.
“Majesty?”
“Daryoon, this is terrible!” Arslan handed him the message.
Daryoon skimmed over the note, reading part of it out loud.
“…thus your gracious Majesty we have discovered a plot to assassinate… yada, yada, yada…”
He stopped, suddenly aware that the end of the sentence that he’d replaced with ‘yada, yada, yada’ didn’t quite look the same as before, he re-read it.
“…a plot to assassinate your most esteemed strategist, Lord Narsus.”
“Something must be done at once to prevent this.”
“Yes, Majesty. May I suggest as a first measure a personal guard…”
It was mid-afternoon, or at least Narsus though it was, from the angle of sunlight coming in through the windows. Perhaps he should get up now. Narsus made a small effort to lift himself up from the bed but changed his mind half way though the motion and flopped back down onto the pillows. Perhaps he didn’t need to get up just yet.
There was a small commotion outside his door. Narsus frowned and tried to ignore it. Unfortunately he was curious now so returning to sleep was impossible. Checking a sigh he made his way to the doors and peered out. A dozen guards in full armour stood to attention. Narsus blinked. The guards still stood to attention. He rubbed his eyes. Still the same. He was about to pinch himself when he caught one of the guards grinning, Duo, well at least his was a familiar face. Narsus stepped out of his chambers and sidling up to Duo whispered “What’s going on here?”
“King’s orders.” Duo replied in the same conspiratorial tone.
“Why?”
“Something about an assassination attempt.”
“No shit?”
“Got to protect you with our lives, the Black Knight’s exact words.”
“Tough call.”
There was a cough behind them. The aforementioned General glowered at his subordinate before ushering Narsus back inside his chambers.
“Gerbil.” said Narsus
Daryoon looked at him.
“Don’t start this again. Look, you said ‘cat’ so I can say ‘gerbil’. They’re both animals with fur.”
Daryoon frowned for the millionth time that evening. “That’s hardly a lot in common.”
“That’s what makes ‘word association game’ fun!”
“This isn’t exactly my idea of fun.”
“No? Neither is spending an entire week cooped up in my chambers.”
“We’ve been over this before.”
“I know, I know, something about some assassin.”
“This is serious. I’d rather you were bored than dead!”
“Daryoon…”
“Alright, you can say ‘gerbil’.”
“Gerbil”
“You’ve already said that.”
“Sakurazukamori.”
“You what?”
“They’re supposed to be sorcerers of some sort.”
“Really?”
“Apparently.”
“OK. War.”
“Battles.”
“Soldiers.”
“Oooh. Naked.”
Daryoon lay propped up on his elbow in Narsus’ bed, looking down at the form of his sleeping lover. It never failed to amaze him just how fragile Narsus looked while he slept… Daryoon’s silent meditation was interrupted by a sudden sound, but it took the warrior only a moment to realise that it was his love snoring faintly.
The next morning heralded good news. Arslan arrived while Daryoon and Narsus were breakfasting, to announce that measures had been taken to prevent the possibility of assassination. Someone had in fact been hired to take care of the matter.
“… he’s from some kingdom far east of Pulsar.” Arslan explained.
“Can he be trusted?” Daryoon asked.
“Oh, yes. He seems like a very kind man.”
Daryoon wondered at that, though the King was rarely a bad judge of character.
“And he’s had to deal with assassins before, he said.”
“What’s this man’s name then?”
“It’s strange, he has two names, apparently everyone has in his homeland.”
Daryoon glanced towards the window to see if Narsus was listening to any of this.
“His name is Seishiro, Seishiro Sakurazuka.”
“Narsus…” Daryoon began but Narsus wasn’t listening. He was too busy staring out of the window at the handsome, one-eyed stranger who smiled up at him from beneath his balcony.
Umm… I did have something else entirely different planned.
For starters I wasn’t going to mention the infamous ‘word association game’, often played in the middle of a long night in Camberwell. Nor were Duo Maxwell or Seishiro Sakurazuka going to make an appearance. I’ll put that down to my current interest in Gundam Wing and some subconscious mourning for Sei-chan who was killed off recently in X/1999 (Asuka December 2000 edition).
Narsus (23/3/01)