A quiet moment between Ryuuki and Seiran, balancing between truth and pretending.
“Let me play pretend? Just for a little bit?” Ryuuki begged, and Seiran’s resistance fell all in a heap.
Saiunkoku Monogatari
Welcome to my Saiunkoku Monogatari fic. Notes of interest: Many of these stories follow the source text in incorporating elements of hanakotoba, the Japanese flower language. Meanings are glossed at the end of individual stories, but, for those who are interested or wish to explore further, the most common sources I have used are below.
- Japanese Flowers & Their Meanings (the only documented site I could find in English)
- Hanacotoba.com (the most extensive site available, and is in Japanese)
The alert reader will notice that any two hanakotoba sources contradict each other to some extent; I suspect this is simply the natural result of meanings having changed over time and from place to place.
Arcs in Saiunkoku Monogatari: Standalone | The Age of Silver
A might-have-been set during Ep. 15, as Shuuei takes a drunk Kouyuu home.
Shuuei made a note to himself to remember that drink unhinged Kouyuu’s knees as well as his tongue.
Shuuei has an encounter with Seiran, one evening and comes away with a new appreciation of the Emperor he has.
The weight of Shuuei’s armor pressed over his shoulders, and it still felt like he was being stripped naked. And not in a pleasant way.
The point of divergence from canon, when Seien chooses blood over peace.
It was good, if a little strange, still, to sit in the sun, warm and safe with nothing to worry about.
The Great Secret is Revealed!
“Seiran,” Shouka-sama greeted him with a smile. “Isn’t it a lovely evening?”
“Yes,” Seien said quietly, “but I have something I have to tell you. I’m afraid…” he looked aside for a moment, “it isn’t as lovely.”
Shouka and Seien talk, some secrets are revealed, and Seien gets a shock.
Surely someone that deadly should show it, the way it showed in his brothers’ eyes, or in Meishou’s smile.
Seien sneeks a look in on Ryuuki and gets a lesson from Shouka into the bargain.
The Archives were the only place he dared try to catch a glimpse of his brother.
Shoukun and Seien talk about freedom, and she gathers a promise from him.
She sighed. “My little Seiran.” Very quietly she added, “If the palace will be such a cage to you, I will be sad to see you walk back in and pick up your chains again.”
Civil war erupts, and Seien returns.
There were screams in the roar of voices, now, and Shuurei flinched from the sound, drawing closer against Seiran, looking up at them both with wide eyes. “Is it…” she had to stop and swallow, “is it really going to be all right?”
Seien is re-introduced to the court. Familes are reintroduced to each other.
Seien’s jaw tightened, but he did stand and turn to face the Court. The roar that greeted Shou-taishi’s gesture of acclaim was distant in his ears; it reminded him of the sound of the riots, a year and a half ago.
Seien works, sometimes reluctantly, at fitting himself back into the courts. So do some other people.
Being heir seemed to Seien to be one trouble after another, but there were occasional good points.
Shuuei and Kouyuu pass the Exams and meet the princes.
“Why would you want to get rid of your best friend, the one who’s always ready to help you out?” Shuuei asked, innocently. “Or help you back to where you were trying to go, anyway…”
Shuurei likes her life but wants it to be something more.
“Shuurei?” Seiran came to stand beside her, leaving his own scrolls. “Is anything wrong?”
She mustered a smile for him; Seiran always worried so much when she was upset. “No, it’s all right. I was just…” her voice wavered a little, despite everything she could do, “wishing I could be an official and do something good with all this.”
Shuuei transfers, Kouyuu broods, Ryuuki gets a new friend.
“I’m transferring.” Shuuei leaned back and looked out the window of Kouyuu’s office. “I think I’ll be more suited to the military.”
And Koku-daishougun had caught him practicing with Sou-taifu and pounced on him like a wolf on tasty prey, and he still wasn’t positive that Sou-taifu hadn’t set the whole thing up. But he wasn’t saying that part; it would be bad for his image.
Seien is learning how to deal with the ministers.
Seien sighed; some days he felt more like a nursemaid than any kind of ruler, even one in training. Keeping the ministers away from each other’s throats sometimes reminded him quite a lot of trying to keep a five-year-old Shuurei from dunking herself in the fish pond.
Shuuei is selected as Prince Seien’s bodyguard, and the two get acquainted.
Shuuei’s lips quirked. “Shou-taishi was certainly right that you don’t much need anyone else’s sword to guard you from attackers,” he admitted. “But I hope, my prince, that you will allow me to guard you from this.” His gesture took in their match just finished, the blood that had come very close to being spilled.
Shuuei writes a letter to his family about what he’s just discovered.
My Dear Most Honored and Respected Elder Brothers Who Almost Got Me Killed,
The Emperor is dying; Seien talks with both his fathers.
Seien’s anger made his voice a growl. “You spent years and years fighting to reunify the country, to break the power of the great clans until imperial law ruled everywhere again.” His control slipped and he slammed a hand against the wall. “And you almost lost it all just because you ignored what was happening in your own inner courts! Why?!”
Seiran wakes Ryuuki from a nightmare and is convinced to stay and comfort him. Smut ensues.
Notes: Contains consensual sibling incest.
Here, with the darkness pressing so close, Ryuuki didn’t want to hold back or bite his lip and bear it all. He kicked away the tangle of his covers and burrowed into his brother’s chest.
Shou searches out more helpers for his newest imperial acquisition.
When Shou Yousei stopped in to see how his newest Emperor was doing, he expected to find Seien in a bad temper.
Seiran helps Ryuuki relax from his responsibilities. Written for Porn Battle, with the prompt: Seiran/Ryuuki, Domination/submission, “If things had gone as they should…if Seien had been my Lord…” (Yes, it’s rather circular for me to write it; oh well.)
Notes: Contains consensual sibling incest.
"Come here, Ryuuki." Seiran held his hand out, and the command in his voice made Ryuuki’s breath catch.
Seiran can’t really help giving Ryuuki anything he needs. Second fic written for Porn Battle, with the prompt: Seiran/Ryuuki, Domination/submission, “If things had gone as they should…if Seien had been my Lord…”
Notes: Contains consensual sibling incest.
"Ryuuki." Seiran’s voice was husky in the silvery dark. Intimate, and Ryuuki flushed a little to think that. He looked up with wide eyes as Seiran’s arm tightened around him, pulling him close.
Ryuuki is still pining for Shuurei and Ensei talks sense to him. In the wake of this, Seiran makes his final choice of loyalty.
"Of course she loves you." He leaned back on the pavilion bench and passed the sake bottle back over to his Emperor. "Thing is… you’re asking her to not love all of you."
Crossover of Saiunkoku Monogatari and Fushigi Yuugi. Shuurei has a friend and advisor who is apart from the capital’s politics; Yui has a place for her abilities and a lover who reminds her of them.
Yui curled up on the bed, one hand propping up her head, and watched Shuurei pace the room, sleeping robe fluttering around her ankles.
"And then! And then! He said we couldn’t do anything about Haruki, even if he is taking bribes, because he has a patron from the Heki clan, and I should know that the Heki are going to be the deciding voice in the land redistribution this year!" Her brown eyes snapped like sparks; Yui felt she might warm her hands at that fire of Shuurei’s, melt the ice out of her bones, where it had settled years ago.