[FFML] [Fic] [Mai-Otome] [Gen] Path

[John Biles]

Good story.  I enjoyed Mai Otome, though I felt it could have been a lot
better.  But I enjoyed seeing the variations on character relationships
there.


On Sat, Jul 27, 2013 at 12:03 PM, Raye Johnsen <raye_j at yahoo.com> wrote:

> This is a fic I wrote some time ago, but I don't think I posted it here,
> and I would really appreciate C&C on it.  So. please enjoy!
>
> Raye
>
> _________
>
> Path
>
> by Raye Johnsen (windtear @ yahoo.com)
>
> ****
> 'My-HiME' and 'Mai-Otome' are copyright Hajime Yatate and associated
> parties, not me.
> ****
>
>
> Akira's first memory was of standing on the balcony above the Emperor's
> dais, watching the small boy who stood beside the Emperor and Empress.  She
> stared through the carved wooden bars at the crowd that cheered so loudly
> when the Princess gently pushed the little boy forward to stand in front of
> everyone.
>
> "That's Prince Takumi, Akira," her mother said softly behind her.  "When
> you grow up, you'll protect him."
>
> "Protect?" Akira asked.  She was too young to know to be quiet, but her
> voice was lost in the crowd's noise.
>
> "You'll look after him," her mother explained.  "Your job will be to make
> sure he's always all right."
>
> *****
>
> The young Prince wasn't nearly as robust as her older brother or her
> cousins, coughing a lot and tiring easily.  But Akira didn't mind.  She was
> one of the smallest and weakest of the children of the Imperial Ninja, and
> while Father said strength would come with training, and that being small
> and light meant she was fast, it was nice to be the strong one.  It was her
> job to look after him, after all.
>
> Which meant it was her job to be with him when he sneaked out to pick
> strawberries instead of attending his lessons, and to play go and shougi
> with him when the advisors said he had to learn strategy.  It also meant
> she was the favoured recipient of the results of his insistence on cooking
> lessons.  Luckily, she had a cast-iron stomach.  Still, it was fortunate
> for both of them that he improved quickly.
>
> She was with him when the news came about the boating accident, and
> watched in bewilderment amd shock as the world turned upside down for the
> two seven year olds, and she became an orphan as her playmate became her
> Emperor.
>
> Only one thing remained certain as everything else changed in a heartbeat:
> it was her job to make sure he was all right.
>
> *****
>
> Her training intensified, of course.  It is one thing to be the companion
> and personal defender of the Crown Prince, and quite another to be one of
> the Emperor's bodyguards.  She didn't mind; better to lose a couple of
> hours sleep than to run the risk of losing Takumi as well.
>
> A year after Takumi's coronation, Princess Mai decided to cross the sea
> and attend Garderobe, assuming the power of the Otome and becoming the
> Emperor's chief defence.
>
> That was what was planned.  For the two years of the Princess' training in
> far-off Windbloom, all went well.  Akira looked forward to her return.  She
> had never interacted with the Princess very much, not being used to girls
> of an exhuberant nature, but she did like the Princess, and if the Princess
> assumed leadership of the Emperor's bodyguards, Akira might be able to slip
> back into the role of the Emperor's companion and friend.
>
> Then the news of the Princess' disappearance came.
>
> All Zhipang was in shock.  First the Old Emperor and Empress, now the
> Princess... was the Imperial Family under some kind of curse?
>
> Akira thought about it for six weeks, and then she presented her proposal
> to the Emperor.  Not Takumi, not Takumi for her anymore - the loss of the
> Princess was the loss of her final chance to return to those halcyon days
> of innocent friendship.  She was the daughter of the late Emperor's
> personal bodyguard and the late Empress' personal bodyguard, and had been
> raised from her birth to be to her parents' charges' son as her parents had
> been to his.  It was time for her to take on her role.
>
> At first he objected, but Akira was adamant.  "We need the power of the
> Otome, now more than ever, my Lord," she informed him briskly.  "Please
> allow me to go and learn.  I will not be lost as the Princess was, I swear!"
>
> And so, finally, Akira was on a boat to Windbloom, to Garderobe and her
> goal.
>
> As an Otome, she would always have the power to make sure he was all right.
>
> *****
>
> At barely eleven, Akira was the youngest candidate entering Garderobe that
> year, and one of the youngest ever on record.  Several of the other Otome
> candidates were cheerfully contemptuous of the little girl who was so much
> younger than they were, while others were sisterly, in a way Akira had
> never experienced before, raised by a mother who knew well her daughter
> would always be required to stand with her kunai in hand.
>
> This attitude lasted until the first end-term results were posted, and
> Akira led the class in every field.  After that, few were prepared to be
> more than courteously friendly with her, and more than a few's contempt and
> dismissal turned to angry, burning hate.
>
> At the end of the first year, when the exam to graduate from Coral to
> Pearl was held, she tore through her fellow Corals and won the right to the
> pearl earring with a savagery that shocked the onlookers.  They could not
> know that Akira was visualising her opponents as enemies threatening
> Takumi.  Nor was it long before she was a member of the Trias, and as soon
> as she had passed enough of the tests, she petitioned the Headmistress of
> Guarderobe for an early graduation.
>
> "It is not Garderobe's policy to graduate students before their sixteenth
> birthdays," Lady Maria declared, staring down her nose at the girl who was
> still over a month off her thirteenth birthday.  "You have accelerated your
> training almost beyond comprehension.  Most girls spend at least four years
> within Garderobe...."
>
> Akira stared back at her.  "It is not unknown for a student to take less
> than that.  Did not the Fire Stirring Ruby study here only two years?"
>
> "The Fire Stirring Ruby was not twelve years old!"
>
> "I have passed the tests!  My Emperor needs an Otome!  He doesn't *have*
> four years for me to waste learning stuff I already know!"
>
> The Principal, sitting at the desk behind her, coughed softly.
>  "Nevertheless, it is not recommended," she stated quietly.  "Assuming the
> Robe will change your body chemistry and possibly your physical
> development.  You have not yet finished puberty - you haven't even started
> your menses yet.  The process of assuming a Robe may cause you to remain in
> your current stage of adolescence longer than you normally would, or even
> to never leave it at all."
>
> Akira glared at them.  "And my Emperor *does* *not* *have* *time* for me
> to wait to grow up first.  I don't care what assuming the Robe will do to
> *me*.  Zhipang needs me, her Otome, as soon as possible."
>
> Both Maria and Akira stared at each other, neither backing down.
>
> The Principal sighed, and broke the stalemate.  "Very well."  Akira smiled
> as she continued.  "We will inform Zhipang that you are ready to swear
> yourself to the Emperor.  Miss Maria, please begin the arrangements to have
> Miss Okuzaki's GEM prepared.  Miss Okuzaki, prepare yourself for the
> ceremony."
>
> *****
>
> Akira stood behind the doors of the auditorium, pacing backwards and
> forwards, repeating to herself the words of the Offering and the Oath, to
> be sure she got them right.  "I, Akira Okuzaki, do offer myself up to thee,
> Takumi Tokiha of Zhipang, to be thy Otome now and until the end of thy
> need.  If thou wilt receive me, I beg of thee, take thou up this GEM and
> name me thy Otome....  I do swear to be thy Otome, for good or ill, through
> peace and war, through calm and unrest, binding myself unto thee and thy
> service, until death should fall upon us...."
>
> "Calm down, Miss Okuzaki," Miss Maria said loftily, entering the
> antechamber.  "There is no need to be nervous."
>
> Akira did not reply, her attention fixed on the small red velvet box in
> Miss Maria's hands.
>
> "Here," Miss Maria said.  "Your GEM.  The Mysterious Peridot."  She gently
> placed the box into Akira's suddenly nerveless fingers, flipping it open to
> reveal its contents to her.  There, on a bed of pale green silk, lay a
> red-gold ring surmounted by a pale-green gemstone, matched by another,
> similar stone set into a red-gold earring.
>
> "We set them in red-gold to match your colouring," Miss Maria said softly.
>  "It appears they'll go with your dress, too.  It's very nice, but aren't
> the national colours of Zhipang purple, white and gold?  Why did you have a
> red dress made?"
>
> "It's traditional for things of this nature," Akira said shortly.  She
> looked up.  "Um - Miss Maria - uh.  Thank you.  For the past two years."
>
> "You were an excellent student, Miss Okuzaki," Miss Maria replied.  "You
> deserve your GEM."  The music started, and Akira turned to the doors.  She
> took a deep breath, and began to pace down the aisle, towards Takumi and
> the only wedding she'd ever have.
>
> It was her job to look after him and make sure he was always all right,
> after all.
>
> -----
>
> Author's notes:
>
> 1. I'm basing the age/timing off the anime (even though Akira is not an
> Otome there).  If we assume Takumi and Akira are the same age/maybe a
> little older than Mashiro and Arika, this means they are sixteen/seventeen
> at the time of their appearance (as the celebrations for Mashiro's
> sixteenth birthday were going on during their visit).  While the Otome
> training course has no specified length, it appears to be between two and
> four years.  At the time of the visit, for the masquerade to be pulled off,
> none of the Garderobe students can recognise Akira as an Otome, so Akira
> and Takumi must be able to assume that none of the students who were in
> Garderobe with Akira are still present.  Therefore, it must be four years
> or so at least since Akira's assumption of the Mysterious Peridot (to give
> the youngest, longest-serving student time to graduate).
> Thus, Akira could be no older than thirteen when she assumed the Robe of
> the Mysterious Peridot.
>
> 2. Takumi's exact rank in Zhipang is unclear.  He is clearly the ruler of
> the country and deferred to as such, but is sometimes referred to as
> 'Shogun'.
> In mediaeval Japan, the Emperor, although the tititular head of the
> country, had no political power - the Empire was run by the Shogun, the
> commander of all of Japan's armies and legally the Emperor's 'Official
> Representative'.  The title of Shogun was not necessarily directly
> hereditary although the families through which the Shogunate passed did
> their best to make it so.  Consequently, although it was known from his
> infancy who would be the next Emperor, it was not necessarily so clear who
> would be Shogun.
> I am choosing to follow, in this fanfic, the notion that there is no
> Shogun as such in Zhipang and the Emperor (in this case, Takumi) holds the
> power directly, so when he is referred to as 'Shogun', it is in his role as
> the Commander-in-Chief of Zhipang's armies.
>
> 3. There is no indication in canon of who was Principal of Garderobe prior
> to Natsuki Kruger, so I'm leaving her unnamed.
>
> 4. In Japan, China and many Asian countries, traditional wedding garments
> are red.
>
> raye_j at yahoo.com
> http://windtear.livejournal.com
> http://www.thejohnsens.com/index.html
>
>
> I believe in dragons, unicorns, good men
> and other mythical creatures.
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