Shuu Dynasty

Awake

A lifeless body hangs from a noose. The rope glistens as it is being covered by a slow moving liquid. Left in complete darkness, the body hangs, just a slight sway keeping it from looking like a still picture. That, and the liquid gold dripping off of his toes.

He starts to seize erratically, his body jolting like a fish on a line. His muscles tense up while he frantically scratches at the noose as it tightens like a starving snake around his neck; waiting for him to die for it to swallow him whole.

All the while, a sturdily built man walks toward him. Each footstep leaves a ripple in its wake as if the floor was made of jet-black liquid diamond. The man is faceless. His features carved in his head like an unfinished sculpture. And just like a sculpture his face holds but one expression: anger.

He raises a hand to the struggling man, now covered completely in gold, and with one wave, stops the hanged man and all of his efforts.

With a voice like a slow rolling thunder, a deep sound that seems so close yet so far away, the man speaks;

"Awake."

Я⚫⚫⚫⚫R

Splayed across a red velvet pillow, laced at the seens with a golden silk design, is dark hair like a raven's feather. Connected to that hair is a pale almost porcelain colored face, save for the baby pink colored cheeks. The pale man sits up, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, dragging his hand down his face before letting it lifelessly fall into his lap out of annoyance.

《Again with the same dream》

The man muttered to himself in japanese. His quiet, strained voice outlines his frustration. His arms raise above his head in attempts to streatch away the discomfort, the man's broad back arches in before quickly jolting at the sound of the doorknob twisting.

He quickly pulls the velvet blanket over his body, pretending to sleep again.

《Master?》
In japanese, a small female voice, barely over a whisper, gently into the quiet of the room.

The young woman peeks into the large room, her right hand placed on the polished ivory door, her left on the hem of her skirt. The outfit she wears is that of a maid's save for the slight advancements.

Her dress is a deep red color, like that of vibrant rose. Atop that dress is a modest white apron tied at her upper back, in a cross-lace fashion, down to the small of her back. Her white thigh high stockings are threaded at the hem with gold lace, matching the buttons on her obsidian black heels.

She spoke again, her voice slightly raised but just as gentle.

《Master, the King will like a word with you.》

《Tell my father to leave me alone, cant he see I'm busy?》

She was quiet for a second, prompting the prince's head to peak from under his bkanket.

《Yes, understood. Master, the King says that you have 5 minutes before he says the name.》

Before she could finish her sentence, the prince shot up like a torpedo. His blanket fell in what seemed to be slow motion as he swiftly closed the door. Before she could react to the prince's nudity, her face was 3 inches away from the polished door.

  
Я⚫⚫⚫⚫R

《You are almost late, Master.》
A dark skinned man in a butler's attire whispers next to the now striding prince. Their footsteps tapping a steady rythym on the marble floor.

《Yes well, why do I need to wake up so early on my break?》
The prince's face looks flustered as he fastens his tie,《Tell me, Iroh, what is this meeting for?》

Iroh looked to the now finely dressed prince, his face showing no emotion.

《The king desires a princess for you--

《No》The prince turns on his heals away from Iroh before being firmly grasped by the wrist.

《He demands you find a peincess to cary on the Dynasty's legacy. I dont understand why you refuse to wed a woman. This is everything a man dreams of --》

《Obviously not every man..》 The prince lowers his gaze, and in the silence, he lowers his head as well.

《Ryuzaki-Sama..》
Iroh gently pulls the prince closer to him. No longer at arms length, Iroh speaks lovingly. His grey eyes glistening as he stares into Ryuzaki's brown ones.

《Are you gay?》

《What the!? No!!》 Ryuzaki snapped back, partly amused at how such a rediculous question could come from such a tender moment.

《I just... im tired of being set up with people. Why can't my father just wait until im ready?》

Iroh, stone-faced followed the prince as he enters the main room of the palace.

"Now entering in all his majesty, The heir to the Shuu Dynasty, Prince Ryuzaki Shuu." The asian man on the left of the main door of the Palace anounces to a crowd of well renowned minds and their daugters. Almost everyone is captivated by the sight unveiling before them as they stand in front of 10ft marble doors, garnished with gold like a drop of color in a sea of white. They slowly open to reveal the prince in all of his glory.