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Eternal Peony
by M.E.
manda_hunter@yahoo.com

Note:
This is a sort of side story for Dimensional Differences, and the concepts it introduces are going to be (I hope!) expanded upon in a fic that I *so* have to get around to writing. It takes place in my alternaverse, On the Boundaries of Reality. For more Author's Notes, please check the end of this fic.



Anrui. You're probably wondering where that came from... Well, it's my name. Really. I'm not joking. I know, no one knows me by that name anymore, but I still remember it. Sometimes, when I'm brushing my hair at night, braiding it before going to bed, I just sit in front of my mirror and recite my name over and over again, so that I won't forget what it sounds like. Anrui.

How is it that no one calls me by my true name? Well, people aren't supposed to know about it, really. In fact, I'm not supposed to know it. They thought that when they took me away I was young enough that I would never remember what had happened. That I would remember my name- Anrui.

They gave me a place to sleep, food to eat, and clothes to wear. They also gave me a new name, one that has somehow become more my own than my first, than the one that my mother gave me. I don't like the name they gave me, it seems harsh to my ears, not light and sweet like my other name.

I know that, when I'm old enough, Enma-Daioh-sama will give me back to my heritage, let me become what I am destined to be. But I think he'll stretch the time between now and then to its thinnest, he is not eager to see the return of the Meikai, the Reikai's age-old enemy.

Oh. You are surprised- you didn't expect that, did you? You never considered that there might be more to me than meets the eye. That I, too, might be a demigod. It's okay, I'm not upset- I'm used to it. Most people don't even choose to talk to me like you sometimes do.

How is it that I am the heir to the deity-ship of an entire world? The Meikai, at that! Well, it's really quite simple. Remember Yakumo? He was my brother.

Yes, I agree, he and I are- or rather, were- nothing alike, hm? He was always so power-hungry and impatient. To tell you the truth, I knew he was trouble from the start- when I was little, he used to steal my dolls and cut off their heads. Yaku-oniisan was certainly a violent little child.

Now you wish to know why I was in the Reikai at the time that the Meikai collapsed, and, supposedly, ceased to exist. Most leaders make a practice of "fostering" one of their "ally's" children, to be used as a hostage if necessary. Basically, it is a way to ensure that any possible threats will think twice before attacking you.

And so it came to be that Enma-Daiho-sama fostered me, while my own father, took in your older brother, Yuuki. You have that surprised look on your face again- didn't Enma-Daioh-sama ever tell you about your brother? No? Well, I guess that's understandable, since my father killed him as soon as possible.

I guess Enma-Diaoh-sama's "exchange program" backfired, since it soon became pretty apparent that my family didn't care at all about what might happen to me. Truthfully, I never expected love from my family. I was actually an illegitimate child, my mother having been one of my father's bed warmers in his old age. The only reason he later acknowledged me as his daughter was so that he could send me off to Enma-Daioh-sama.

But, his blood does flow in my veins. Did you not ever wonder why Enma-Daioh-sama had instructed you to give me the power sphere of the Meikai in a crisis? Few can handle the energy that the sphere gives off, but, being what I am, I could easily handle the item without any damage. My struggle was not, as the others believed, against an overwhelming power threatening to consume me, but rather against the act of the sphere merging with my body, giving me power that I did not want. For I was not, and still am not, the power-hungry creature that my half-brother was. As Death, I have come to cherish Life, and I realize that few things of power come to one who has not washed themselves in the blood of innocents.

I do not want the power that Enma-Diaoh-sama will one day allow me to step into, the power of my inheritance. I want only to be happy- for you to be happy. The only reason I wish for the day of my ascendance to the throne of the Meikai to come, is that I know that on that day I will at last be your equal, and will be able to court you without shame.

Your face turns to glance at me now, and I smile back brightly, cutting off the imaginary conversation that I was holding with you in my head. Though, at the moment, you appear to all eyes to be a chubby little boy, I know that you are not what you seem.

Just as I am not all that I seem. As I ponder this, I can't help but wonder if you will ever see me for who I am, if Enma-Diaoh-sama will ever fulfill his end of the bargain.

Will I never again be Anrui?

Is it my fate to be a bud caught in time, eternally a peony not quite in bloom?


~Owari~


Author's Notes:
A strange thing happened to me today. I was taking a shower (that's not so strange a thing), when I got a fic idea (which also isn't strange, Rapunzel swears that someday we have to find a way for me to get clean that doesn't let my mind wander), a good fic idea (that's the strange thing, usually I get ideas for truly horrible parodies). See, I was thinking, "Gee, I wonder if the Reikai processes ningen and youkai souls." Different fics have different takes on the matter, you see. And then I thought, "No, that's silly. The Reikai wouldn't be big enough to handle so much work- tho' it would explain why Koenma's so stressed out in so many fics ^.^" Pondering this, I remembered, "Oh, that's right, the Reikai was responsible for the Ningenkai, and Meikai was responsible for the Makai. But the Meikai was destroyed- does that mean that the Reikai is responsible for the Makai now? That doesn't make sense, I don't think either Koenma or Enma-Daioh would put up with their rival's responsibilities." My mind came to a simple conclusion after all of this- the Meikai would obviously rise again, it hadn't really been destroyed, and there was actually a representative for the Meikai in the Reikai... strangely enough, I was reminded of the practice of fostering your enemy's children as hostages... (ne, Rapunzel! look, it's Yaku-chan! or is it 'Yaku-chan...? ^.~)

© June 7, 2000. M.E. also known as Lady Manday of the Orange Root also known as Manda Hunter.





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