Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Life in the Imperial Court ❯ Wife, Mother, Widow and Empress ( Chapter 1 )

Hello! Penpaninu here. Please take a look if you're a FY fan. (I hope so if you're in this section, LOL) My notes for writing this is at the bottom of the fic. But I think Houki has been greatly overlooked except for that one ova episode where she came in contact with Hotohori's ghost. She became what I started her to learn in this fic by Eikoden, an empress.

~~~~~

“Wife, Mother, Widow and Empress”

be penpaninu

 

“Houki-sama, if you'll look over these scrolls with us….”

 

“Empress, if you will greet our dignitaries to the palace….”

 

Empress Houki, wife of the late Suzaku no schseishi Hotohori, glided beside the family's loyal Prime Minister and graciously inclined her head in a regal bow, eyes closed serenely. For a year and a half she lay in bed too heartsick to move let alone help rule a grieving nation. As a wife and new mother, she had plenty to grieve about, although the nation shared her object of grief.

 

Houki looked in on Boushin with his teachers briefly as she and her loyal court friend continued on to the throne room. She would be expected to stand before the Suzaku mosaic leading up to the throne, and greet the courtiers and dignitaries with graceful aplomb. Never would she ascend the side steps and seat herself on Heika's throne. For one, even as Empress and Queen Mother, she was still a woman. And she would never forgive herself for touching Heika's god-given seat of power.

The Prime Minister was always at her side and if it weren't for his continued loyalty and support, she might never have stepped up to take the reins until her son came of age and left it to the imperial advisors. He had served Hotohori's mother and father and their parents so he had the due experience, and the unspoken love and loyalty for the royal family. Even though Houki was chosen for Empress out of a stock of harem girls, and her blood was as plain as the dirt of her countryside village, he took her as Empress to his heart and guided her and the crown prince.

 

She had a duty and an obligation to her late husband and she would see it through for king and country and god. Houki sighed as she straightened her poise and clearly and quietly greeted the bowed courtiers gathered before her.

 

“Our walls are open to you, loyal courtiers of Konan, and her wishes are you serve her well,” Houki said and she could almost see the Prime Minister's smile behind her. He commended lately that her words were becoming more and more practiced , yet sincere, imperial yet warm.

 

The bowed heads of the courtiers pressed lower to the tiled floors. “Hai!” They would remain bowed until her slippered feet and train of robes would pass them by. The Prime Minister and his trusted advisors trailed Houki. Servants would tend to the courtiers and see to their needs so there was no need for them to stay.

 

“Empress,” the Prime Minister murmured. “Boushin can begin his swordplay in two short years. How does that please you?”

 

Houki smiled and glided along with her advisors flanked behind her. “That pleases me very well, actually. But isn't four years too young an age, Prime Minister?

 

He shook his head. “Of course not! His Eminence began at age three. Of course the practice swords used for such a young age will be weighed accordingly so the child may progress. And his Highness gained much of his graceful dignity due in part to those early sword lessons.”

 

Houki blushed, her minds eye serving a memory of Heika practicing with his sword in the courtyard beyond the royal couple's chambers, shirtless and alone in the moonlight. She had had quite a time admiring his muscles and graceful whipping movements before he'd come back to her. Remembering this now made Houki think he had purposely been showing off to his wife and she touched a hand to her red cheek.

 

“If Heika began earlier, then I believe it would be alright for Boushin to start at four. Are his teachers content with his learning thus far?”

 

“Oh yes, Empress!” one aged advisor chimed in at her left shoulder. “He is only two, but still he grasps what he can attain with ease. He will be a just ruler!”

 

“The Crown prince is only two. He'll show us many more skills, it's still too early to count them all,” another advisor chided.

 

The Prime Minister chuckled to Houki's right as they entered a sitting hall and sat down at a long table. “My Empress, you have nothing to fear. You are doing a marvelous job helping the nation and the Crown prince will grow just fine under our tutelage.”

 

Houki gracefully accepted a cup of tea from a maid and sipped it slowly. “He will…” For he's just like his father. Boushin will one day know the pressing obligation of duty. I have a duty to Heika and I will bear it until he has to.

 

Houki's thoughts trailed to her son as the advisors went over their meetings for the evening. Boushin, you are still young and free to be yourself despite the lessons at this age. Enjoy the carefree days and the lessons of your youth before destiny demands you marry your duty.

 

My duty was to come to this palace at the capital of Konan and join a population of women to please Heika-sama. He did not visit his harem at all, until he chose me for his wife. And I was so happy to be his, my heart soared. I was not in love with the idea of the Emperor, but the sad beautiful man I saw that rainy night when Master Tamahome had returned to his celestial brothers. That he would chose me from a list of more talented and more noble women made me weep.

 

We were joined quickly and though our marriage was brief, I found each moment I was with him alone something far more endearing and precious.

 

The way he smiled as he saw me waiting in bed. The strength in his arms as he held me. The tenderness in his eyes when I would console him from his worries of ruling. Even robed and bejeweled for the court, his regal face was gentle and kind. A secret smile was in his eyes always for me.

After he chose me, even before the marriage, he disbanded the harem for he could be faithful to only one woman. I was grateful and deeply touched I was the sole object of his love.

 

It was a miracle I became pregnant before Kutou invaded so far into our land, causing Heika to lead his army to war. A mere day or two before he left did Heika have to know and enjoy the knowledge that I carried his child. He worried for the war, and prayed daily to Suzaku above that I bear a son.

 

`All the faster his prime minister would leave him alone once he had an heir,' he said, but I understood his want for a boy. I prayed myself for a son in every image of his father.

 

And I have him. A blessed miracle of the God of Love and Fire, that in our short marriage he let us experience passion and make a son to continue the imperial line. I would always miss and love Heika. But that he was taken so soon by the blond general, I am relieved his seed took root in me so quickly.

 

Boushin's eyes were his fathers, the same golden hazel. His short brown hair was the same as Heika's. He was still small and round, still a baby, but he would slim and grow to be his father's son. Boushin… will you speak the same as your father? Will you enunciate and gently pry? Will you gesture and move as gracefully as my love did? Will you make some other future harem girl giddy and love-struck with your very presence?

 

Will you break my heart with every move because they are your father's? Will your eyes always shine like his? Will your hands be as strong as his? Will the nation love you as they loved him?

My star, my Boushin. I love you, my baby. But when you are grown and you have learned what you need to know, I will bow and love you as my Emperor. Heika.

 

End

 

~~~~~~ Please review if you read and liked. I just rewatched the fifth Oni ova episode, “Child of Silence” and it brought to mind the widow's perspective. Actually, I link Oni to two different series in my head because Watase Yu didn't write the first three episodes. The studios did while she wrote what became the last six episodes. So I think of it as a “three-parter” and a “six-parter.” And if you pay attention close enough, you can tell the difference of the budgets of animation between both. I just notice stuff like that…

What Houki is referring to about "Master Tamahome" is the night when Hotohori and Evil Tama had that swordfight in the rain, and shoujo magic of love brings him back even with a wound to the gut. In Eikoden, its shown in that flashback that she watched Hotohori after they welcomed Good Tama back.

 

But please review!!! Hugs! Penpaninu 9/01/05