solace

"I found solace in the strangest place

Way in the back of my mind

I saw my life in a stranger's face

And it was mine"

I

Kougyoku Ren, the Eighth Imperial Princess of the Kou Empire born from the womb of a former prostitute and legitimate daughter of Koutoku Ren, is an oddity.

Perhaps it's because of her wide, pink eyes that seem to see everything and nothing at the same time, always watching and searching for something beyond her peers' grasp. Or maybe it's the way she treats her servants: like equals, and with the respect a princess should only give to her fellow royalty. She asked for their names and offered them her snacks- she told them stories and tried to teach one of the maids how to read. To say her attendants were shocked when they found out was an understatement.

Her attendants were two middle-aged women who snuck off in the middle of the day to admire the princes while they trained. They hardly paid any attention to Kougyoku, so when she was found wandering the halls of her wing while she was supposed to be learning proper etiquette it was no surprise that they were promptly executed. New attendants were found, this time three young women.

They made the same mistakes and met the same early demise.

Kougyoku never meant for them to die- she was just curious as to what lay beyond the confines of her wing. Her mother, a beautiful and voluptuous former prostitute with caramel hair and eyes, had given birth to her inside of the brothel that she worked in. They lived there for a little over a year before Kougyoku was identified as Koutoku's daughter and they were both shipped off to the castle. She and her mother lived in their wing peacefully for another three years with her mother disappearing a few nights a week to her father's quarters. When Kougyoku was four, her mother was impregnated once again but died during childbirth, and the little boy was stillborn.

Kougyoku, while still in the midst of remembrance, wondered, why did her mother have to die? It was fate, The Show sneered, and you have a fate, too.

She was quiet and remained that way for quite a while.

(Fate? She didn't quite like it. Why was it there? Why couldn't Kougyoku do things her own way?

Destiny was the monster beneath her bed.

She wanted to get rid of it.

No, she mused.

She wanted to be free of it.

Kougyoku absentmindedly closed her book, choosing to ignore the single black bird resting upon her shoulder.)


Kougyoku wanders through the halls ('once more' goes unsaid, but it's still there, and she can practically hear the shrieking of a blade against its sheath preparing for her attendants' execution. She snickers, because perhaps her mother's absence is more prominent than she thinks.) opposite of her wing, and she has been for the past hour or so. There is no search, and so she thinks her attendants are still swooning over her cousins. She had studied the layout of the castle before, and she knows where to go. Her footsteps are just shy of silent as she nears the oaken wood doors and creaks them open, preparing for the worst.

A blur of pink lunges at her and she is pinned to the ground.

Kouha looms over her, a snarl marring his pretty, pretty face (prettier than her own, she mused) with his eyes narrowed into slits and a spur of hateful words sitting at the tip of his tongue.

As he lets them loose, he expects her to cry or run away but she merely smiles and holds still, not reacting when he lifts his hand to punch her.

He did, leaving a nasty red blotch on her pale cheek.

She blinks and continues smiling, albeit a bit more cheekily.

Kouha growls and prepares to strike her again but she grasps his fist in her hand and he freezes. Her hand is warm and soft and kind and it's just like his mother's- just like Kouha's because he is Kouha's mother, her only caretaker and the only one who loves her. He is still frozen as she shuffles out from underneath him and helps him stand up, brushing off his clothes. She continues smiling and beings speaking, and that's when Kouha snaps out of it.

"I'm your sister," she began, "Kougyoku. It's nice to meet you. I heard it's only you and your mother here, so I was wondering if you were lonely."

She knows his name, but she doesn't mention it because of course he might just assume that she was listening to the rumors about him and the nasty remarks people made about the 'pair of psychopaths in the Lotus Wing.' He is just a five year old after all.

(So is she, but only physically.)

Kouha's snarl turns into a sneer. "You're not my sister. You're just the kid of some whore that pig put in his bed!"

Kougyoku pays no mind to the direct insult to both her and her mother.

"But that happened to both of our mother's, didn't it? We're related- Prince Koutoku is our father," she paused to tuck a strand of her hair-

(Kouha, at that moment, thought that it was just a tad darker than his, and in the future he would take pride in the fact that they share the same general hair color.)

-behind her ear, "and we can't do anything about that. Actually, I was wondering if I could talk to your mother?"

Kouha's jaw dropped.

She wanted to talk to her?

. . .

"I don't think I can do anything about her illness, but at the very least I can calm her down!" Kougyoku exclaimed, pink eyes twinkling with hopefulness.

It's fake, but Kouha doesn't comment on that.

He doesn't sense any ill will from her.

He lets her in, but he doesn't understand why.

("She's calm . . . ")

Her smile broadens.

("She won't ever get better.")

"What's your name?"

"That's Kouha, and I'm Kouha's mother! I take care of Kouha, and Kouha doesn't need anyone but me!"

"But, well, your name is Kouha, isn't it? At least, your royal name. My name isn't really Kougyoku. Mother used to call me Rinneko."

". . ."

"I guess not then. But, feel free to call me that, okay? And, can I call you Kouha? Because now that I'm here, I'll help take care of your mother, so you can be Kouha and she can be Kouha's mother!"

"Yeah."

("I know.")

("Don't worry. She'll stay with us for a while come.")

"Great!"

Kouha places a hand over his heart. He doesn't know why, but as he sees his sister's first genuine smile, a warm, fuzzy feeling erupts within his chest.

("I know.")

(And Kouha knew that he would protect his sister's smile for as long as he lived, because without it Rinneko wouldn't be Rinneko, and Kouha would be lost.)


This story is inspired by natanije's Crimson Jade and shanatique's The Cuckoo. Go check those two stories out and give them the support they deserve!

[Rinneko is a name I made up for this fanfiction- or, at least, I don't think it's an actual name and if it is then please correct me- with 'rinne' meaning 'samsara' and 'ko' meaning 'child,' so 'Rinneko' means 'Samsara child' or 'Samsara's child' or [etc.] . . . ]

A short introduction chapter to this story!

/Next Time: Ka Kouban and the Sa Sisters make their entrance, and- "Why is there an erotica novel underneath your bed, Honorable Princess!?"

Kougyoku has both black and white rukh because, as mentioned in the chapter, she curses fate and goes against the flow of Solomon's white rukh. [inspired by Crimson Jade]

She will not be a Mary-Sue, but it's apparent that she does have more black rukh than white rukh.

[This may be an occurring problem later on in the story!]

Also, the manga and anime never go into detail about Kougyoku's mother. She's never even seen! Most of the very few Kougyoku SI!OC fanfictions I've read have her mother play a large part in the character's upbringing, but to further this story's plot and the fact that Kougyoku is more than halfway fallen into depravity, I decided to kill her off.

Her mother will be mentioned quite frequently in this story, so be prepared for that.

Reviews, please :o ?

Thanks for reading!