The Road Not Taken, Omake

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Ink Burns

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

This is a work of fanfiction, produced according to the principles of transformative fair use as put forward in US copyright law, and abiding by the custom and practice of fan-produced work in Japan, where the source texts were created. No author is in any way affiliated with any of the creators of the source texts, nor with the companies who distribute their products, nor any other rights holder, and these stories were not authorized by either the creators or the producers. Ink Burns is a fan site and the material here is freely provided for the enjoyment of fellow fan-community members; there is no commercial infringement.

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 US license at the Ink Burns fanfiction archive (http://alltrees.org/archive/).

Published on 2007-02-19 12:51:26.

Attributions can be made by author's name and a link to the archive.

This ebook edition was published on May 16, 2012 by the Ink Burns fanfiction archive.

The Road Not Taken, Omake

The Great Secret is Revealed! Humor, I-1

Seien found Kou Shouka out in the pavilion on the pond, and came to stand before him, shoulders straight.

"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."

"Ah?" Shouka-sama's brows rose. "Well, tell me, then."

Seiran took a long breath. "I haven't lied to you, but I haven't told you the truth either. The truth..." another breath, "is that I am Shi Seien, the second Imperial prince."

"Oh yes." Shouka-sama nodded agreeably. "I know."

The evening's first cricket chirped in the dead silence.

Seien felt like he'd just run into a stone wall--an invisible one. Carefully he repeated, "You know?"

"Of course. But you didn't seem to want to tell us your name when we found you, and it would have been rude to insist."

"Rude," Seien said flatly, staring at Shouka-sama. The man just smiled, and Seien was seized with a sudden suspicion. "Shouka-sama... are you teasing me?"

"Would I do that?"

"Shouka-sama!"

End