• 1-Memories

Himitsu

Disclaimers: Not mine.

Warnings: Dunno any, if you find some spoilers or anything that should have been put here in the first place, just feel free to tell it to me. Oh wait, maybe I should warn about some swearing here and there.

Notes:

[¡Kmy butt looks big¡K] thought
¡§¡KIt is big!¡¨ speech
(no more burgers for me) comments here and there.

¡§Damn you Kaiba! I hate you!¡¨ and with that Jou ran out of the canteen with smoke coming from his ears.

[That¡¦s weird, I wasn¡¦t¡¦ the one who started anything. Heck, I didn¡¦t even notice him in the cafeteria¡K]

Seto was sitting in his office, thinking about the events, earlier that day. The mutt really acted weird. Seto just didn¡¦t notice him that morning in the cafeteria and he started to spout things about damning Seto and about hating him¡K

[Hmmm, so that mutt wants his master¡¦s attention that much huh?] he thought.

But the thing that was bothering him was the reason as to why Jou wanted his attention so much. They just ended up always fighting in the end so what¡¦s the point? After deciding that thinking about it was useless and unproductive, Seto picked up his briefcase and to start checking on some of the reports that have been handed to him. After removing the pieces of paper from his briefcase, he noticed something that was obviously not a report.

[Maybe it¡¦s Mokie¡¦s] with that in mind, Seto decided to skim through it, not because he was curious about Mokuba¡¦s school work but it was because he wanted to see any grammatical errors and correct them. (yeah right.)

He looked at the title: ¡§Harem de hitori¡¨. Roughly translated in English, it would mean: ¡§ Alone in my King¡¦s harem.¡¨ Seto was now really curious. This didn¡¦t look like a school assignment. This looked like something that you could download from the internet, like those short stories and such. With curiosity getting the better of him, Seto started to read.

This is an old,

Old story,

There was once a tiny kingdom.

The kingdom was so small, that if you were to look for it on a map, it would take some time to find it.

There was a small castle in the middle of this kingdom.

In this castle, the kingdom's young ruler,

A few servants,

And...

A few concubines...

Quietly lived their lives in peace.

One day a young concubine was called for by the young ruler.

The young king asked for the concubine's name.

The concubine answered with a soft : "Hanabishi."

Then the young king said that he wanted to give a gift to the concubine and asked if there was something he liked.

Hanabishi said the he was fromt he country so he didn't know anything and even if he was free to choose something, he can't think of anything.

He asked for forgiveness because of his insignificant humble heritage.

Then the young king said that Hanabishi could choose anything from the room then.

He looked around the room and saw some sugar cubes.

He asked the young king what the white things were.

The young king answered that they were sugar cubes and that they were edible.

Hanabishi was so amazed by this. The pretty things that he had seen could be eaten?

Then young king fed Hanabishi some.

And he was so amazed to find them very sweet.

The next morning, Hanabishi who had returned to the harem, found an amazing gift.

Sugar cubes of every color,

All that could be gathered from the castle.

Of course,

The king had sent them.

And there were beautiful designs drawn of them!

The sun,

The moon,

Stars,

Flowers,

Grass,

Animals,

Fish,

Birds,

And imaginary creatures from around the world...

Hanabishi decided to eat them a bit at a time, ever so carefully.

Each time one melted in his mouth, his feelings for the king grew more and more.

One night, the young king said that he wanted to give Hanabishi the best things, but Hanabishi just answered that he was pefectly happy.

At that time,

The king had his eyes set on a place far, far away.

Hanabishi voice couldn't reach that place,

And seemed like a distant echo.

And then...

The war began.

The one who started the war...

Was the once-gentle king of this land.

The king...

Won the battle and took over the country,

Traded and made money...

And just like that, the country that used to be small, spread its reach to much of the continent.

The king became incredibly wealthy.

He built a huge castle,

And bought rare treasures from other countries,

Many servants,

And a large harem,

And also...

Many beautiful concubines.

Hanabishi was buried in the middle of this dazzling world.

His small voice was hidden.

And the King's voice was also silent.

One night, Hanabishi was called to spend the night with the King.

When he arrived there, the King said to him that he must be new and asked for his name.

He replied with shaky "Hanabishi".

The King then said that he wanted to give him a present. Anything that he desired.

Hanabishi answered that he would just take some sugar cubes.

When the King heard this he thought that Hanabishi was just teasing him so he didn't believe him.

A big kingdom...

A huge kingdom...

Tons of money,

Mountains of gems piled up,

The rarest treasures,

Many servants,

And an enormous number of concubines...

The king, who was intoxicated by all these dazzling things around him,

Had tossed the memories of Hanabishi aside.

And after this,

When he was ocassionally called upon,

Hanabishi would grow hopeful to meet his king.

However, the king was the same, and always said...

"Hello you must be new."

"What's your name?"

It all happened so quickly.

Within 24 hours of being defeated,

The King lost everything.

All the money,

Mountain of gems...

The rare treasures...

The castle servants...

And all the concubines from his harem.

When the sun set,

The large, large kingdom had turned back into a small one.

When all of the people had left the castle, Hanabishi went to the King.

The king asked Hanabishi the reason behind him still staying there.

The king said that he doesn't have anything anymore.

He can't give Hanabishi money, treasure or anything.

He had lost it all.

His wealth,

His people,

His kingdom...

But Hanabishi answered that he didn't need money or gems.

He only wanted to be with the king...

The king asked why, but Hanabishi just offered him some sugar cubes...

With that he remembered Hanabishi.

The naive boy who was so facinated with the sugar cubes.

The one he gave all of the sugar cubes in the castle.

Then the king cried because he really felt bad for forgetting Hanabishi.

A huge country...

Many subjects...

And many concubines...

Out of all of them...

Just one person...

Only this one person...

That night turned into morning,

And the harem was closed forever.

The king never made the same mistake again.

The small country became beautiful and peaceful.

And...

No matter what happened, only Hanabishi stood at the king's side.

Forever and ever...

Until the day they joined the heavens...

This is an old,

Old story.

Seto was more confused after reading that. Was he just hallucinating when he saw all of those ¡§he/s¡¨ describing Hahanbishi. And all of those emotions just because of being forgotten. Something then started to tickle at the back of this mind. He remembered the events that happened earlier this morning.

[Maybe Jou acts that way because he wants me to remember him? But that¡¦s impossible, I met him for the first time at school. Maybe¡K shit! No way, that can¡¦t be him!]

flashback¡K

[There¡¦s nothing to do in the orphanage. Mokie¡¦s asleep and I have no one to play chess with.] young Seto sighed. He was sitting near the gate of the orphanage. The weather was warm so the people in the orphanage felt lazy. Most were just sleeping even. This left young Seto all alone with a chess board. He didn¡¦t want to sleep and mope all alone in the orphanage so he decided to step outside despite the hot weather. All of a sudden he saw a ball flying towards his direction. Luckily, he had fast reflexes so he easily evaded it. He was wondering what he should do with the ball when a blond head appeared in between the railings of the gate.

¡§Can I have my ball back?¡¨ the young boy said, tilting his head to the side like a puppy. Well that was what young Seto thought anyway.

¡§Here.¡¨ He said handing the boy the ball.

¡§Thanks.¡¨ The boy said. He seemed to be looking at something behind Seto. Seto being the curious boy that he is looked at the same direction as the blond but he saw nothing there.

¡§You alone?¡¨ the blond boy suddenly asked.

¡§Yes, why?¡¨

¡§Wanna play with me? I¡¦m Katsuya by the way. Were on vacation here so I don¡¦t really know anyone. And besides my parents and my little sister are all sleeping there.¡¨ Katsuya said pointing at the small inn near the orphanage.

¡§Okay.¡¨ Said young Seto.

They played all afternoon. Seto even taught Katsuya how to play chess. But their playtime was cut short when Katsuya¡¦s parents came looking for him. The young blond was whining the whole time he was dragged back to the inn because he still wanted to play with his new ¡§friend¡¨ but his parents said that they had to go if they wanted to catch the bus. Sulkily, he called out to his new friend.

¡§Seto! Don¡¦t forget me and let¡¦s play again when we see each other!¡¨

That happened years ago. Who could have thought that he would see his ¡§friend¡¨ again here in Domino? So many things had happened to Seto that is why he somehow forgotten about that incident. He guessed that Jou didn¡¦t forget that and he might have felt bad when Seto treated him badly when they saw each other again¡K

[Hmmm. Don¡¦t worry pup. No need to get angry at me again. I remember you now.]

Owari (?)

„³ I don¡¦t really know if there is a continuation to this. I originally intended that this would only be a one-shot but I kinda feel that it¡¦s hanging somehow¡K

„³ the story: ¡§Harem de hitori¡¨ was taken from the manga of Lily Hoshino. It contains a series of stories actually. If you ever come across it I would suggest for you to read it ¡¥coz the stories are really good.

„³ Hanabishi is a guy. Seto was not really hallucinating when he read those he/s.

„³ one more thing, I am not abandoning my other fics. I just really have no time to update them. You know college. I just have free time right now because it¡¦s the intramurals. I¡¦d update the others when I have free time again.

„³ anywayz, what do you think? Good, bad? Please review.