White Peacock

A TyKa one-shot by Angevar

Me: -_- The name has absolutely nothing to do with the actual storyline; it's just what inspired this one… (Just for the information of anyone who doesn't know… the peacock is the Indian national bird, the males have a pretty impressive tail, usually between three and seven feet long… when they spread them out it's quite a sight… I'll try and post a pic of one on my DA account sometime soon.)

Kai: How does an Indian-ized turkey inspire a shounen-ai story? *gets bashed by exortism mallet* .**** OW! That hurt!

CP: *glaring at Kai* The peacock is NOT an Indian-ized turkey!

Me: *to readers* Ignore her, she has a little too much patriotic pride today…

Reader: *clueless*

Tala: *sighs and rolls eyes* CP's Indian, so she doesn't like Kai calling the national bird a turkey…

Me: Yeah, what he said…

Brigs: Who's doing the disclaimer?

Me: How about the peacock? *holds mike up to peacock* Would you please say the disclaimer for me?

Peacock: Creeor! *shakes head and turns up beak, looking very snobbish*

Me: I'll give you a week's worth of sunflower seeds. *hold out bag of sunflower seeds*

Peacock: Cree! Creeor, crea crea! *grabs bag and flies off*

Tala: oO? Translation please?

Me: ^^ It said "Angevar doesn't own the characters, or me, so bugger off!"

Brigs: *raises eyebrow* Pretty violent personality for a bird…

Kai: *has managed to loose CP by hiding on top of Angie's closet* Any warnings?

Me: Nope, not really anything big, Tyson/Kai shounen-ai, a quick kiss. No tongues even… the only reason I'm rating it PG13 is because I'm not sure just how much caution is merited with shounen-ai…

Rei: Okay… well, on to the fic I guess.

The prince gazed out the intricately carved window, into the garden, filled with morning sun. The scent of jasmines came to him on the wind, washing over his fine, pale skin and brushing through his unusual, slate grey locks. He smiled softly; he was for once in his life, content with what he had been given. He had a comfortable, well furnished home; friends who would not leave him, even if he told them to; and someone to love him no matter what he did. He raised his eyes to the clear, blue sky and silently sent his thanks to every god he knew and the thousand and one that he didn't.

He pushed himself away from the window and made his way down the stone staircase, the fine linen of his clothing almost seeming to float as he walked. Many in the land he ruled had sought after him, for various reasons. Wealth, power, looks… he had never even consented to seeing them, he had already found the one his heart rested in, and would never give them up.

He paused in his walking, gazing once again out an arched window. The faint sound of laughter flowed through to him, like rosewater perfume on the breeze, something exquisite, rare and valuable, to be cherished for ever and always. He smiled softly to himself, next thing he knew his friends would be calling him a poet.

He continued down the stairs, moving leisurely and without hurry, knowing that everything would be the same as it had been ten minutes ago and seeing no point in hurrying. He reached the bottom of the staircase and stepped lightly across the lavender marble of the hallway towards an elegantly carved archway leading out into the garden. The warm breeze washed over him as he stepped through the entry way, letting him once again marvel that he had deserved all that he had received.

He had not led a virtuous life; those who were not his friends were generally his bitter enemies. He had fought in wars, killed men and beasts with equal contempt on the battlefield and had been a ruthless leader, even when times were good. The people had feared him then, looked upon his with a mixture of hate, envy, terror and want. Hate for what he had, envy for the same, terror for what he had been made into, want for what he had been born. But above all this rode some sort of deeply implanted respect, almost inherent in regards to the heir of the ruling bloodline and wielder of high magic. Yes, they had respected him, but not for any kindness he had ever shown his people.

But then that had changed. He had been searching for something, a spell if he remembered correctly, one that would let him escape the machinations of the court, one that would let him run away for the life he had detested so much. Yes, though he had been the most powerful man in the empire (and still was without a doubt) he had been looked upon by those within his circle as a puppet, something to be manipulated and danced about on silken strings so fine they were all but invisible to the masses. He had been seeking a way to escape, a way to leave and not be dragged back kicking and screaming. For that was what they would have done, even if he had killed himself, they would revive him and have him all the easier to control.

He had been seeking so desperately he had almost killed himself with the search. Then he had found him. The one who had changed his very soul from the angry, burning wildfire, enraged at being nothing more than a living puppet, to the serene, calm phoenix he was now. The gentleness and kindness they had shown to him, unaware of his position and blood-rights, had amazed him. How could it be that something so innocent and pure still existed in a world engulfed in chaos, greed and power struggles?

The only answer the prince could find was that he had been an angel, sent by whatever god up in the heaven chose to show him kindness. The angel had shown him the meaning of what it was to be his own person, to truly exist, in every sense of the word. After having been with him, the prince had strode defiantly back to the palace, back to where he had come from, back into the raging storm of power, greed and scheming plots.

He had thrown out the puppet masters, the Viziers, the Advisors, the Nobles and the Generals and had cleared the palace of anything or anyone that tried to influence him, casting them all out onto the streets. And then he had brought his angel home. Many women and no few men had wept at the lost chance and several had attempted to take their own lives in their outraged grief. He hadn't cared, not wanting them anyways, only desiring that his angel was happy.

As these thoughts and memories slipped lazily around his mind, he walked on almost silent feet through the garden, stepping under a metal trellis overflowing with jasmine blooms to pause for a moment and let his crimson eyes wash over the sight in front of him.

His angel, with beautiful dark-as-midnight blue hair, and stormy deep blue eyes sat on the edge of a fountain next to a pure white peacock, a gift from one of the prince's now numerous allies and friends. He smiled softly, his angel had taken a liking to the elegant, pure white bird on sight, naming it Shirou (which meant 'white' in the old tongue [1]) and allowing it free reign over where it went.

The angel paused in stroking the birds head and turned his softly tanned features to face the prince. He smiled, and the prince felt his heart race at the sight, no matter how often he saw it, his angel always managed to make him feel special, like he had something that no-one else, not even the richest, most powerful man beyond the borders of the empire could have. Not even dream of…

"Kai," the childishly innocent voice exclaimed, "Is the council over already?"

"No Takao" the prince replied, smiling as he sat down next to his most valued possession "But anything that concerns me is already talked to death, Rei is taking care of the last details."

Takao frowned and mock-scolded the ruby-eyed man "You shouldn't make other people do your work for you, Rei is going to die of boredom from those meetings one day."

Kai chuckled lightly, "And what would you have me do Takao? I left the meeting early for a reason you know."

"Oh," Takao raised a thin blue eyebrow "And what reason would that be?"

"To give you this." Kai leaned forwards and kissed Takao chastely on the lips, pressing firmly and resisting the urge to slide his tongue into his mouth. Takao smiled gently against Kai's lips, leaning in to the warm familiarity of being with him. For a couple of seconds they almost seemed to be enveloped in a gentle silvery golden glow. As they broke off gently, Takao felt something cold and smooth in his palm. He looked down and stared in wonder. Kai allowed himself a rare smile at his love's reaction.

In Takao's palm was a necklace; crafted of pure, almost white silver. The chain was a series of scale-like segments that linked together so intricately you could barely tell it wasn't one single piece of shimmering liquid metal. Towards the pendant the scales flared and wove all the more intricately in and out of one another, producing and effect similar to that of smoky wind of a water mage practicing their art. It was in itself of similar value to the contents of the entire palace vault.

But it was not the chain that truly took Takao's breath away, it was the pendant that hung from it. It was a piece of intricately twisted and flared silver, shaped almost like an angel. Slim threads and leaves of silver were twisted in and out of one another, crossing, joining, splitting and re-crossing each other so many times that even the most clever of magicians would be hard pressed to decide if it was one piece of metal or more. Where the angel's heart would be was an incredibly beautiful blue gem, it looked something like a cat's eye, or a moon stone, but it was midnight blue with a silvery streak that moved with the light. As Takao looked at it, he gasped in amazement as the stone flashed as he moved it and it became a deep, almost maroon-ish crimson with a pale star at the center.

Takao gazed at the beautiful piece of jewelry for several seconds, awestruck by the sheer intricacy and elegance of the piece. He turned wide eyes upon his lover and just barely noticed a fine sheen of sweat on Kai's forehead. He gaped for a minute, looking back at the necklace and again to Kai.

"You made this?" Takao asked, spellbound by the magnitude of the feat. Kai nodded slightly, "How… where did you learn…?"

"What do you think I've been practicing for the past month?" Kai replied affectionately. He had been locking himself in his study with several hundred books of magic every night for several weeks running, practicing the summoning and shaping of pure silver, just for his angel.

Takao breathed slowly, picking the necklace up in both hands and holding it up to admire. The way the morning sunlight shone upon it magnified the impression of it being an angel. As Takao looked a little harder, he noticed that it looked strangely familiar. He paused to think of who it might be and a slow smile made its way across his face. He turned to the fair skinned prince again, his smile the brightest that had ever been seen by any man or god in existence.

Kai did a quiet mental countdown in his head. 'Three… two… one…'

Takao flung his arms around Kai, embracing exuberantly and smiling wildly.

"Kai! Thank you so much!" Takao hugged him tightly, Kai smiled to himself and hugged him back as well. Takao slowly let go after a couple of minutes, tears of joy sparkling in his eyes "It's amazing, I don't know how to thank you properly…"

Kai smirked softly and planted a butterfly kiss on the end of Takao's nose, "Al you have to do is wear the necklace…" Kai said, smirking as the same silver-gold glow from before surrounded his closed fist. He opened it to reveal a pair of simple silver rings. Each had a set of runes inscribed in them, one in midnight blue, the other in claret red. Kai picked up the blue one in his other hand and held it out to Takao. "And wear this as well."

"Kai…?" Takao's eyes were brimming with disbelief and happiness as he stared at the prince. Kai slipped the blue ring onto Takao's finger and let him slip the other onto his own, their eyes locked into one another's, each drowning in the beautiful pools of color that gazed back at them.

"Aishiteru Takao." Kai said, smiling lovingly at the pure, innocent being in front of him.

"Aishiteru Kai." Takao replied; then he hugged Kai again, nuzzling into the soft fabric of the prince's clothing. Kai stroked Takao's hair gently, inhaling the warm, sweet scent of apples and cinnamon that was Takao. He then took a moment to fasten the silver necklace around Takao's neck, pulling back slightly to see how it looked. He smirked; the effect was precisely what he desired.

"So," he said, twirling a pale finger along Takao's chin "Shall we go show it off now? The meeting should be over by now…"

Notes:

[1] Shirou really does mean white in Japanese, ^^ don't ask how I know this, just accept it…

Me: ~ *dazed and sleepy* waaa… that took a lot of brain cells… *slumps forward to fall asleep on her desk*

Brigs: *re-reads* Hey, how come the others aren't in here?

Me: *doesn't look up from where she's slumped but replies anyways* Because it's a one-shot dum-dum, Rei was only mentioned because it was necessary for Kai to have an excuse…

Tala: Are you gonna continue this?

Me: …zzzzz *sound asleep*

Kai: *shrugs* I guess that means it's open to debate…

Rei: Okay then, *to readers* I know you're out there, I can see your eyes shining in the dark…

Readers: oO;

Rei: So, since you went to the trouble of reading it, why not drop a review on your way out… chances are if you bug Angie she'll start working on some of her continuing fics when she wakes up.

Tala: *cough-hack-Big-Book-of-Curses-cough-hack*

Rei: ¬_¬; *chooses to ignore Tala* So, please review…

Tyson: Pointless flamers will be hunted down like dogs and given to rabid wolves as chew toys…