RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Ten: Who's That Girl?

PAST, 9th Century Japan (Somewhere across the borders of Kyoto)

***the poem below had been written down by Rei during the time he had been sent off to battle against the northeastern invaders who had tried to annihilate the border defenses of the Empire***

Somewhere, I have traveled far,

Nights with no slumber alight,

Thinking of my own painful tribulations,

Thinking of your sweet delicate face,

Thinking of my own suffering heart,

And the possibility that we could never see each other again.

Across these vast dried lands, 

At which I had courageously passed through,

Across the roaring seas,

That I had hopelessly sailed over to pursue,

I have been only thinking of you, my dear;

My great beloved,

I deeply beg you would never forget my name.

For I shall return, back there to your warm side;

And I will continuously fight to conquer,

All these hurdles and all these sacrifices,

Shall be my way to give you what you truly desire.

And it was, and will be, your freedom as you please, 

The one that I greatly hope that you must obtain,

Our freedom to love again, 

For anyone, no matter who, no matter what;

I would give my all to never put that in vain.

-Takugawa Rei

The time he had written that poem, had been the time when he was too far away from his home to fight for his country's safety. All throughout the danger of his journey, Rei Takugawa had only been driven by his intense passion and determination to stay alive until he could come back again... And the only thing that he had in his mind to keep him sane was to successfully return in good condition and see Aoi's smile once more. He had fought like an animal and eventually proved his remarkable worth and strength as a warrior. And even though he had seen no value from all the acknowledgments and recognition he had received for being a formidable fighter for his country, he still continued to live up to it.

He also knew, at that certain time, that the only way for him to get close to his own ambitions of protecting his country and to take the hand of his beloved was to become this Empire's hero. And if he shall fulfill that role, he believed that he can have anything he strongly desired... To love anyone he truly desired... 

Or at least... that was what he had initially thought.

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PRESENT, 2020 (Tokyo)

Kyouhei Kurosaki and Ami Komatsu, these two equally beautiful beings from equally prominent statuses in society, met once again. They were both had been once the late General Rei of the 9th Century Japan Empire and historical Empress Aoi who preceded the throne after Emperor Shin by the late 9th Century of Japan.

Those two had also been the closest ones to Prince Shin's side. The former, being his subject and murderer; and the latter, being his late wife and only queen. And just seeing them right now, in this kind of light with very different physical appearances but the same souls living inside them, Yuko felt conflicted and filled with odd emotions.

She knew the very second she caught them together, that she was beyond any chances of sweeping the woman from her past life off of her feet or even just make her look her way this time. The chance was unlikely. And Yuko, bearing the very soul and clouded emotions of her past self, Emperor Shin, felt an overwhelming disappointment to find the very one thing that might make it quite too difficult for her to keep the thread of fate revived for him and his past lover, Empress Aoi.

They were both women. Though of course, it is no longer unusual to have an openly homosexual relationship in this modern era, yet Yuko still had that nagging feeling inside of her that made her think that she might have a lesser chance to successfully reunite with her old lover in this lifetime. Especially when she can also obviously see what was happening right before her eyes. 

Ami Komatsu can never look at her the way she was looking at Kyouhei right now.

Yuko was not too stupid not to even notice how smitten the woman was for Kyouhei. She was totally giving him all that googly eyes as if she knew everything and liked everything about him. Have they known each other that long then? Since when? Yuko could only watch from afar in that overbrimming envy and pain while the two became even closer to each other. And that quickly pissed her off.

This was unfair. She wanted to be there too.

Snatching a glass of wine from one of the passing trays that came up near her, Yuko quickly downed it all in one go before returning it right away, and confidently crossed the small distance between her and them. She had to make an impression, at least, she thought with a determined feeling. It still might not be that too late yet. She can still steal her attention. She just had to interfere with them and ruin that moment... And gods, how she really hated that look in their eyes while they continued talking to each other.

What were they talking about? What kept her smiling that way? Why was he looking so extremely comfortable with her?

Yuko needed some answers and she can't possibly let this woman with Empress Aoi's soul slipped out of her grasp. She had to meet her, once and for all. She needed to be near her. She still wanted to be with her... Because she was her soulmate, and she will always be the love of her life. 

And as the growing confidence overwhelm her, she soon found herself stopping right before those two. And Kyouhei quickly sensed her, bringing whatever he had been saying at that moment into a halt. In an instant, all of his attention was immediately directed to Yuko. And she could feel the same stare that Ami Komatsu (Empress Aoi's reincarnation) was giving her, though she was still trying not to look her way--she was still preparing herself. She was actually nervous but she knew she wanted to be there.

"Kurosaki-san," Yuko uttered with a small smile, trying not to show any bit sign of nervousness nor even uneasiness from her voice and her expression. Then finally, she turned to give the woman on her other side a look.

Ami Komatsu was slightly smaller than her, and yet Yuko proudly stood at five feet and four inches tall. At the time, she was also wearing six-inch-high heels to accentuate the long seams of her black dress. Whereas Ami Komatsu, on the other hand, was flaunting her eight-inch-high stilettos, almost concealing the fact that she was just five feet and two inches. The two women mirrored each other gazes, though deep in Yuko's mind she was beyond speechless.

At a closer look, she really had no words. She cannot come up with anything to describe how serene she had been feeling while she looked right at the very face of the reincarnated body of her past lover. She was just so real that it deeply moved Yuko's heart.

She could feel the welling of tears in her eyes, she was just feeling so very emotional and heavily burdened by remorse at the same time. And as she kept staring at the amazing familiarity of her old lover, Kyouhei abruptly cut the moment with a slight awkward cough in the most inconvenient time. Yuko quickly lost the entire mood and nostalgia and she suddenly felt the urge to just strongly push him out of her way. Why did he have to do that? Though it was such a good thing that she had resisted the urge, just so she could not intimidate this very first meeting with Ami Komatsu.

She wanted to make a good and lasting impression, at least this first time. It had been really so long since the very last time she had even seen Aoi from twelve hundred years ago before her life as Prince Shin had faced such a tragic fate.

"It is an honor to meet you, Miss Komatsu Ami," Yuko quickly countered, trying to brush off that one unnecessary dumb interference that Kyouhei did before she could even introduce herself properly to Ami. Then she gave a slow short bow towards the said woman before her and added, "I am Amazawa Yuko, I am Kurosaki-san's publicist."

"I've heard a lot about you, Amazawa-san," Ami Komatsu replied back, returning the formal gesture to Yuko with a smile. "In fact, we're just talking about you right now."

Upon hearing that, Yuko raised a brow and discreetly gave Kyouhei a knowing glance.

"Really?" she commented afterward, "Now, I am curious about that. Is it something I should feel good about? Or not?"

For Ami Komatsu, it may have sounded a bit funny for a sarcastic remark. However, the meaning beneath the words of Yuko as she gave Kyouhei another stare of hers did not go unnoticed to his attention, and it apparently showed how she felt skeptical about the sort of things they had been talking about to even include her in their conversation. Ami Komatsu only chuckled with that sweet resonating sound of her laughter and grinned back at Yuko.

"Don't worry," Ami told her with a reassuring tone, "He actually talked very highly of you, and it made me more interested in what you really are in person. And perhaps... he must be really saying the truth."

It was a harmless compliment, yet for Yuko who had been treating every word that was coming out of Ami's mouth her gospel, she felt like she was flirting with her and so she giggled. Yes! She freaking giggled back. And Kyouhei, who had been witnessing all of that, gaped and almost choked while he sipped on his drink. He had never heard nor even seen her do that in front of anyone before. And that almost looked surreal.

Kyouhei felt like he was looking at a totally different person but he hid his utter surprise so well when Yuko glanced his way again.

"I do hope I somehow lived up to the expectations," Yuko simply retorted, smiling. And she could feel the intense stare that Kyouhei was giving back to her when she returned her gaze to Ami the entire time. She felt weird again.

"Oh, sure you are," Ami said in a way that flattered Yuko, and she gave her a gentle pat on the shoulder as if she was finally acknowledging that they were already friends at that point. And before she could even add another word, her eyes got distracted as it moved past Yuko's shoulder and sparked at something she saw from afar then she returned her gaze to Yuko again. 

"Well, I may have to excuse myself for now," she told the two after a slight pause, "If you two won't mind, I just need to greet a very dear friend of mine."

"It's okay," Yuko and Kyouhei said in unison. And Ami chuckled again, finding that adorable, and she gave both a nod and a grin before finally leaving them. And as she walked away, Yuko and Kyouhei watched her in silent admiration.

It was obvious, they were both suckers for beautiful women. But none of them would still ever admit to that... yet.

"What the hell were you doing being all too chummy with Miss Komatsu just now?" After a few moments, Yuko finally confronted Kyouhei about it in a harsh whisper as she turned to give him a look. She tried her best not to put on a scowl on her face but she still emanated such same aura that Kyouhei could not help but feel guilty for no reason. Even when he really did nothing wrong, in the first place.

"Don't get the wrong idea there, Yuko-san. She was the one who talked to me first," Kyouhei said in defense.

"I don't care," Yuko refuted, ignoring his explanation as she sneered back, "Just stay away from her and don't get too close to her again."

"I get that you're worried about me, but why can't I get close to her?" Kyouhei curiously asked, feeling quite confused as to why Yuko was suddenly acting all too pissed just because he was talking to Ami when in fact, it was actually their original plan to get as many allies that they could have in the party. He totally did not get why she was flippant about him and Ami being close. It was not even that big of a deal.

"W-well," Yuko was slightly taken aback from Kyouhei's question that she was immediately grasping for good enough reason to back her words, "Because it might affect your image, especially right now, okay? Rumors can either be a good or a bad thing but we are still walking around eggshells here, Kurosaki. And you know how important image is for you at this point."

"We just talked, okay? It's not like we're even flirting with each other."

Yuko instantly felt like she was about to lose it, hearing how Kyouhei was just going all too defensive about his and Ami's interaction just now. She did not like the idea that he might want to get more familiar with Ami. And so, she quickly decided that she had to draw the line for him, just in case he might desire to pursue the woman. She can never let that happen... again.

"Look," Yuko began as she gazed deeply into his eyes like how a mother would do while she tries to educate her son, "Whatever the hell's happening between you and that woman for real can never really matter when it looked too suggestive and scandalous to the public's eyes. You already know this, Kurosaki. We already talked about control and how to work around the fire to avoid the smoke, right? So please, just do your thing with proper distance and blend in the crowd as much as possible. Avoid women, for Pete's sake. The last thing we would even want to happen is for your name to pop in the headline's section of some dirty sleazy tabloids around the city again, you hear me?"

"Fine," Kyouhei just harrumphed with a roll of his eyes. It was an indication that he had surrendered and knew that he can never really get a say at it anymore. So he let Yuko led him the rest like he always did every time. And since he really was not that confident when it came to these parties and stuff, he just freely went with the flow again... Like a blind man.

Because at least with that, he was doing okay.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Eleven