The Twelve Kingdoms Fan Fiction ❯ Fix You ❯ Fix You ( One-Shot )

Fix You - By Foxfire79

 

Disclaimer: OK (Gathering thoughts, and leaving InuYasha land for a few minutes). I don't own the characters from the anime series The Twelve Kingdoms, nor have I read the books. I'm basically just going from the anime series, and taking spellings of names and such from the DVD boxes. Also, I don't own the song `Fix You' by Coldplay, though it would be excellent if I did. If you've got a problem with this, take it up with management. So, yeah - I don't own `em, please don't sue me.

 

The other stuff I don't own but still wish I did:

Fairy floss (cotton candy) machine

The Myth busters DVD set (those guys rock)

A Volkswagen minibus

 

Any monetary donations can be sent directly to my… Bah! It never happens - now, on with the show!

 

 

 

Fix You - A Twelve Kingdoms story about Rakushun

 

When you try your best but you don't succeed

When you get what you want but not what you need

When you feel so tired but you can't sleep

Stuck in reverse

 

Rakushun rolled onto his back and stared up at the ceiling, sighing deeply. There was no way in the world he would be getting to sleep tonight. Too many thoughts were shifting and tumbling through his mind. His life had changed so much just in the last few months. He'd left his home and his mother… He'd made the decision to go to University in the Kingdom of En… And he'd rescued the girl who was to become the new queen of Kei. He closed his eyes and smiled.

 

“Youko…” He whispered to himself. His whiskers twitched as he thought back to his first meeting with the girl. Finding her injured and exhausted, lying in the middle of the road, his only thought had been to protect her. He had somehow managed to get her back to his mother's house, and had cleaned and bandaged the sword wound on her right hand. She had slept feverishly for three days, flitting in and out of consciousness, calling out to people Rakushun had never heard of. Now he actually knew of all of them… Sugimoto, Asano, Keiki.

When she had actually woken up, she had drawn her sword and stared at him, terrified. So much had changed between them since then. But it had still taken him a while to gain her trust.

 

When the tears come streaming down your face

When you lose something you can't replace

When you love someone but it goes to waste

Could it be worse?

 

Rakushun remembered how tentative he had been when he approached her with the herbal tea and peaches, which would be her first meal in at least three days. She had glared at him suspiciously, and had kept a hand on her sword through the entire meeting. Now, Youko looked back at that time and laughed. Rakushun especially liked it when he could make her laugh.

 

“She doesn't get to smile, or laugh, enough. She's had so many trials since she arrived… I've lived here all my life, and in the few months Youko's been here she's had more life experience than I've had in all of my twenty-two years.” He wondered whose fault it had been that he's been living such a sheltered life. Probably my own fault…he thought to himself, and smiled softly, his large eyes wrinkling in the corners as he smiled. He hadn't been so sheltered lately.

 

Rakushun had become a part of the background at the Kei palace. He had his own rooms, the servants bowed to him and acknowledged him as `Sir', and nobody seemed to look down on him because he was a hanjuu, a half-man, half beast. Sometimes he still felt strange about it all. Luckily, while he was in his rat form, nobody could see him blushing whenever one of the servants bowed to him. He had a feeling Youko knew though. She still had the same reaction when they bowed to her sometimes. But she had to learn to hide this fact if she wanted to be taken seriously as the Queen of Kei.

 

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

 

When Youko had finally started to trust him, while they were settling into a routine in En and before they set out for Kei, she had told Rakushun about what she and her fellow Kaikyaku friends had gone through since they'd arrived. How Keiki had abandoned them on arrival. How the woman they thought was helping them had tried to sell both Youko and Sugimoto to a brothel. How the old Kaikyaku man that they had discovered living in a local village had tried to turn them in for the reward money. How they had been captured, then had escaped when their captors had been attacked by wolf-like Youma in the woods.

 

And how Youko had had to do all the fighting, and bargaining, because she was the only one out of the three children that could understand and speak the language.

 

Rakushun had felt so sorry for her. He had placed an arm around her shoulders, his small clawed hand resting comfortably behind her neck. Suddenly, Youko had started crying, and had wrapped her arms around the hanjuu boy's neck. He hadn't known what to do, so he just sat there in silence and held her until her sobs subsided. When her breathing finally returned to normal she remained in that position, arms wrapped tightly around his neck and her head buried in his small shoulder. Rakushun had tapped her lightly on the back, but the girl had fallen into a deep sleep, which she probably had been desperate for.

 

He had stood up, extricated himself from her grasp and stepped behind the dressing screen in the room where he was staying. There he had changed into his human form, and the clothes which he kept in his small bundle of possessions. He had picked Youko up in his arms, and carried her back to her room to sleep in her own bed. She had been so light… This was the first time he had been near her in his human form. And she hadn't even been awake to see it.

 

High up above or down below

When you're too in love to let it go

If you never try then you'll never know

Just what you're worth

 

Rakushun remembered when he had arrived in En, alone, after Youko had battled the flying Youma and then run away. He'd hoped and prayed that she'd be all right, and that she'd make it there too. Every day he had wandered down to the port to see if she had come in on one of the merchant ships. After two weeks he had been almost ready to give up, then one morning he'd spotted the familiar figure disembarking for an extremely beat-up looking ship.

 

She'd looked exhausted and fed up. Rakushun thought she'd never looked so lovely in all the time he'd known her. He'd called out to her, and she had scanned the crowd, finally spotting the hanjuu boy. And she'd called his name for the first time. Rakushun's heart had soared.

 

“That's the first time… I think she actually liked me.” It was also the first time that Youko had hugged him. He'd been quite pleased and somewhat embarrassed to be embraced so publicly. He remembered telling her to behave herself, and pulling away slightly, even though he'd wanted the moment to last forever. She'd hugged him many times since then, and kissed his furry face.

 

He thought about how, when they'd found out that Youko was destined to be the queen of Kei, he had tried to pull away from her. Inside, he'd felt like he was dying. He knew that a hanjuu like him could never be friends with the Queen of Kei. She had been adamant though, saying that it didn't matter who they were by title, it was who they were on the inside that made them friends. He knew then that he would never leave her side.

 

Lights will guide you home

And ignite your bones

And I will try to fix you

 

When they had been invited to the King of En's palace, Rakushun had been requested to appear in his human form. He had decided not to tell Youko, and leave it as a surprise. He thought of her, entering the large receiving chamber and looking around for him. She'd glanced at his human form, appraisingly, then looked away. She'd asked one of the court officials where her friend was, and he had motioned back to the completely human looking hanjuu.

 

Rakushun grinned to himself as he remembered her blushing, then stuttering an apology. She had obviously been remembering all of the hugs she'd given him, and of the time when she'd even had a bath in the same room as him. There had been a dividing screen up, but her silhouette had left nothing to Rakushun's imagination. Youko never seemed to know how to react to him when he was in human form.

 

He transformed as he lay in bed, and looked at his human hands in the moonlight. It really wasn't that difficult to hold this form, he just preferred the freedom of his rat body. Youko never seemed to know how to react to him when he was in this form.

 

“Am I really that repugnant? Do I look so terrible in this form she can't stand to be in my presence?” Rakushun wrapped the sheet around his waist, and walked over to the dresser when the large mirror was situated. He stared into the grey eyes of his human reflection. His grey-brown hair fell in waves around his face. He thought his facial features were the same as everyone else's. He didn't think he was any uglier than anybody else. Unlike some hanjuu, when Rakushun transformed into his human form, he didn't have any tell-tale signs that he spent most days as a rat. He was, in a word, perfect.

 

“But I'm not…” He continued studying his face. “Nobody's perfect.” He rested his elbows on the dressing table and leaned his forehead against his hands.

 

Tears stream down your face

When you lose something you cannot replace

Tears stream down your face and I…

 

Rakushun's thoughts turned once more turned to one of Youko's weaker moments. When they had been staying at the King of En's palace, and she had broken down, stating that she had no idea how to be a good queen, or how to rule a country. She had looked so… lost. She'd stood with her back to him, trying to hide her tears while leaning on the balcony. Even in this weak moment, she was trying to remain strong. Rakushun's heart had gone out to her, and he knew what he'd had to do…

 

Tears stream down your face

I promise you I will learn from my mistakes

Tears stream down your face and I…

 

He looked into the mirror and blushed, thinking about how bold he'd been. If anyone had decided to come outside at that moment… He didn't know what would have happened, but it wouldn't have been good. Rakushun had transformed into his human self, outside, on the balcony. He had walked up behind Youko and placed his hands on her shoulders. She had stiffened and gasped under his touch. He remembered almost begging her not to turn around and look at him. Even just from watching the back of her head, Rakushun could tell that she was blushing again. She had realized that Rakushun didn't have any clothes with him when he was in rat form, and understood the great risk he was taking in appearing like this.

 

Rakushun had stroked her shoulders, and reassured Youko that from what he knew about her, she would be a fantastic queen. I think… I might have even told her she was beautiful…Through the entire time he had his hands on her, he could feel her body heat rising up through her clothes. Just before he had turned to leave, returning to his rat form, he had leant forward and smelled her hair. Just as he had always imagined, it had smelled… heavenly. He'd had trouble getting to sleep that night too.

 

He looked up at his reflection once more, a new light in his eyes. I wonder…He knew that sometimes when he was around Youko, even in his rat form, he became lost for words or started stuttering. But this was because he liked her a lot. Youko seemed quite comfortable around Rakushun's rat form, but whenever he appeared before her as a human she seemed to have the same blushing and stuttering attacks as he did.

 

Slightly puzzled, he peered into his reflection's eyes, and pondered this new thought. Maybe it's possible… He stood up, stretched and yawned, returning to his rat form and unwinding the bed sheet from around his waist. He climbed back into bed, facing the window so he could see the moon shining down over the land. He laced his small clawed fingers together and rested them over his chest, grinning to himself, his whiskers twitching.

 

“Maybe… Youko thinks I'm handsome…” He sighed happily, and rolled onto his back. His thoughts turned serious again for a moment. Youko was only a child; she's still only been in school when the Shoku had brought her over from Japan. Being thrust into this new world and new responsibility had taken a hard toll on her. But recently, she seemed to have been starting to settle into her role a little more comfortably. And she looked particularly lovely in her royal robes today…Rakushun closed his eyes and tried to settle back down to sleep.

 

Lights will guide you home

 

He hoped Youko would one day consider Kei to be her true home, instead of the Japan she had left behind. She seemed to be speaking less of trying to find a way back there, and he hadn't seen that sad, faraway look in her eyes for a while now. Rakushun hoped that she'd stay here forever.

 

And ignite your bones

 

She seemed to be becoming a lot stronger, emotionally and physically. Rakushun had seen her both match wits with government officials, and slay innumerable Youma which had threatened her people. `Her people', she had called them. Rakushun wrinkled his nose. He was one of Youko's people. He knew he would never leave her side. He knew she'd never let him. But he loved being so important to someone. He loved…

 

“Stop it…” He whispered to himself, “The way things are right now… it's perfect.” But who knew what the future would hold for them. Anything could happen over the next few years. Anything… Until then he would remain by her side, as her loyal servant, subject and friend. Whatever she needs from me… Whatever she asks for… I'll always do my best to please her. He was quite happy with that. Rakushun smiled to himself and finally settled down to sleep.

 

“I'll just remain… her Rakushun.”

 

And I will try to fix you…

 

**** **** **** **** ****

 

Ok, so that was my first Twelve Kingdom's fic, and my second fic in total! What did you think? Hopefully I managed to capture Rakushun's character without making him too… anything, lol. I've got some other ideas for song fics for some of the other characters, so please review me so I know whether to keep going or just stop before I start boring too many people!!

 

Foxfire out!

catherinehgreen@gmail.com