[February 9] [Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime] Tears of Yesterday

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Title: Tears of Yesterday
Day/Theme: February 9 - 9. mad in the teahouse
Series: Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime
Character/Pairing: Altessa x Auraa
Rating: G
Disclaimer: All characters are related titles are copyrighted to BIRTHDAY, Hal Film Maker, TV Tokyo, etc.

Bright, aware of the nearly-broken relationship between the Jewelry Kingdom and the Windmill Kingdom, decided to communicate with the prince and princess of the opposing kingdom, just for a friendly conversation. He had hoped that this would ease tension between the two countries, and often believed that the prince and princess were unsupportive of the rivalry just like he was.

Altessa, on the other hand, disagreed. Days after Bright sent the invitation for a tea party in the castle garden, she complained irritably about Bright trying to make friends with the wrong people. "I can't believe you're doing this,"she huffed, placing her ringed fists on both sides of her hips. "You know just how much we hate them!"

"I don't hate them, Altessa,"admitted Bright. "I don't think they're my friends either. I know they are not our allies, but maybe there's more to them than just the balloon race. I have always heard about the wonderful things that the royal family is doing for their country. Give it a chance, Altessa."

"Whatever,"groaned the petite princess.

A couple of days later, the familiar airship with the Windmill Kingdom crest embedded onto it flew over by the castle, leaving Prince Auraa and Princess Sophie from its confines. Bright welcomed them with as much heart as he could, though Altessa could tell that he was feeling slightly awkward that he was communicating with the prince and princess of the rivaling country.

"Greetings,"said Bright gently, bowing politely. "I am honored at your presence for attending."

Prince Auraa stoically glanced at Bright's welcome, and sheepishly accepted Bright's hand in an unfriendly handshake. "Same for you, too."

Silence filled the air. Altessa rolled her eyes.

Bright found something else to say. "I am Prince Bright of the Jewelry Kingdom, and this is my sister, Princess Altessa."

The ruby-eyed prince gently nudged Altessa, his eyes urging her to be more courteous. Altessa grumbled and dropped into a curtsy. "Nice to meet you,"she muttered.

Before Auraa could say something in return, Sophie piped up. "I'm Sophie,"broke in the princess of the Windmill Kingdom, revealing an innocent smile. "It's a pleasure the royal family of the Jewelry Kingdom! I've heard Otou-sama say lots of things about you!"

"Like what?" Bright and Altessa questioned in unison.

Sophie clapped her gloved hands together. "Otou-sama always spoke about how Camellia-sama gets on his nerves. I've never seen him get this angry in my life besides talking about -- "

"What are you indicating about my mother?" interrupted Altessa, glaring at Sophie. To add insult to injury, Sophie still had that naive grin. It was almost as if she didn't think whatever she said was bad, nor was she thinking that she was insulting them. Altessa automatically rendered Sophie as a complete airhead in her thoughts.

Sophie was babbling again. "That she's just like you! I think that's so cute! Like mother, like daughter they always say... oh, wait, was it 'like mother, like son?' Oh, well, I'm so confused!" She concluded with a titter.

"You!" screeched Altessa, her hands balling into fists. "You better keep quiet or else I'm going to -- "

Bright immediately leaped into the action. "All right, that's enough." He turned to Auraa. "Would you like to stay for tea at our garden? Our specialty is peach tea."

"Sure, I guess,"murmured Auraa in reply. Altessa could tell that he could care less in whether he wanted to attend or not, and he was at the tea party just to be polite.

When the four took a seat in the teahouse, Bright tried to start a conversation again. "Don't you like this view? My great-grandfather thought that this would be a good place to build the teahouse."

"It looks lovely,"commented Auraa, taking a sip of the tea.

Sophie nodded in agreement. "Yes. I do cherish the idea of a beautiful garden. I just love flowers!"

Bright grinned. "That's nice to hear. My sister loves flowers too." He pointed to the rose bush resting adjacent to them. "She planted all those roses this year."

Sophie thoughtfully pondered this for a moment. "Wait, I don't understand." A lightbulb seemed to click in her head. "Ohhhh, you mean it was Altessa who planted these?"

Altessa could see that Bright was visibly losing patience with Sophie. Airhead, thought Altessa again. At this rate, Sophie would probably be awarded for the Most Retarded Thinker of the Mysterious Planet.

Altessa rolled her eyes again, sighing in discomfort. At this rate, she would be sitting here for at least a couple of hours listening to her brother start up boring conversations. Bright continued bringing up general topics in which Sophie would automatically reply to but as Altessa slowly took a sip out of her cup, she noticed Auraa staring glumly at his teacup.

Even though Altessa knew Auraa was part of the rivaling clan, she couldn't help but feel a sort of sympathy towards him. His eyes truthfully seemed depressed, and he didn't seem cheerful at all. Altessa sighed, and made an approach.

"Prince Auraa? What's wrong?" she asked softly.

Auraa quickly snapped into attention, and was completely bewildered when he found out that it was Altessa who asked him the question. He shrugged with a weak smile, mumbling,"Oh, nothing at all."

"You should say what's wrong,"said Altessa assertively. "If you won't share your problems, it will only build up and become much more worse."

"It's not that much of a big deal."

"It is a big deal if you're so sad about it."

"Not really."

"Aren't you going to tell me?"

"I-It's none of your business." Auraa looked away.

Altessa glared at him and leaped from her seat. "Look, I'm only trying to help. If you don't want my sympathy, then don't come crying to me." She slammed her fists onto the table, causing her fork to jump up in a strange dance, and it made Auraa's teacake fall into the ground.

Unfortunately, Bright witnessed Altessa's irritable behavior. "Altessa!" he said in a warning tone.

"I'm sorry,"grumbled Altessa, plopping back onto the chair, murmuring strings of curses under her breath. Noticing the crumbled cake on the ground next to Auraa's chair, Altessa glanced at her own. It was rude of her to cause Auraa's treat fall onto the ground and Bright would probably make her apologize to him. Before Bright could call a servant over to offer Auraa a variety of cakes, Altessa pushed her plate over to his side.

"Here, you can have mine,"said Altessa in a low voice. "I'm not all that hungry anyway."

Auraa reached for the plate. "Thanks."

Before his fingertips grazed the surface of the plate, Altessa sprouted an idea and yanked it back. "Hold on there for a minute. Tell me what's wrong and then I'll give it to you."

Auraa frowned. "No thanks, then."

Altessa had it with Auraa's enigma. She marched over to the prince of the Windmill Kingdom, glaring hotly at him. "You! Do you have any reason to be sad at all if nothing's wrong?! Why won't you tell anyone?! If your problem is affecting you that much, no one will be mean to you!"

"Altessa!" The blonde could hear her brother shout at her. She ignored his warning and continued.

Auraa weakly stared at her, startled. "I told you, it's none of your business."

"I beg to differ,"scoffed the princess of the Jewelry Kingdom. "It's my business that you're unhappy. Onii-sama invited you to come here for a reason, right? We did not call you over just for you to mope around. Why won't you tell us what's going on? Maybe we can help."

"I doubt you would want to help your worst enemies,"responded Auraa flatly. "You'd probably laugh."

"How many times do I have to say it?!" screeched Altessa, tempers flaring in high levels. "Ugh! You're just being -- you're just...!"

Everything happened in a flash. The next thing Altessa knew, a red handprint formed on the side of Auraa's face. The handprint was the size of Altessa's own hand, which stung bitterly. Immediately, a pallid Altessa realized what she had done... it was all over; her reputation, her role as a princess, her life....

... and especially Auraa's feelings.

Altessa remembered the sole purpose of Bright's invitation was to help ease things between the Jewelry Kingdom and the Windmill Kingdom. She had ruined all of that. Not only did she hurt Auraa physically, but emotionally too. She had tried to force him to open his heart, milk out his feelings, and spill his guts out. What did he think of her now? What did he think of the Jewelry Kingdom?

Altessa bit her nails, helpless. Choking back a cry, she gasped,"I... I didn't mean for that to happen... I just..."

Though she had had thoughts about violence, she had never actually hurt someone that much before. Altessa buried her face into her palms, sobbing,"I... I... I never really meant to hurt you... I just wanted to know what was wrong..."

"Altessa,"piped up Bright, coming to his sister's aid.

Jeweled tears fell from Altessa's eyes. "I'm.... I'm really..."

"It's okay."

Altessa's head shot up. Auraa had a wobbly smile on his face, and he was rubbing the cheek that Altessa had planted her slap on. "It's really not that big of a deal,"he continued, "but I'm glad you noticed."

Auraa hesitated, and shrugged. "Maybe I can tell you now."

"A-Are you sure about it?" inquired Altessa clutching onto Bright's arm. "If you don't want to --"

Auraa shook his head. "I can tell, if you want to listen."

Altessa relaxed, releasing her intense grip on Bright's sleeve. "Okay..."

Auraa looked out into the garden, where Altessa's roses lay. "I just found out that my father wants me to give a speech to the citizens of our kingdom. I thought it was really exciting, but now I've realized how nervous I am. I don't really want to give a speech right now. I don't really want to tell Chichiue either... I think he'll be mad at me."

"That's stupid,"replied Altessa, feeling safe to return back into her normal self again. Auraa stared at her with an expression of shock mixed with sadness.

She caught her tongue. "Not you, silly,"said Altessa. "It's the speech. If you don't feel ready, then tell your parents. I know you don't want to, but sometimes everyone has to do things they don't want."

Auraa seemed satisfied. "I see..."

"I'm pretty sure they'll understand,"added Altessa.

The prince of the Windmill Kingdom seemed to have his depression lifted. "I can do that if I try.... yes, I can! Thanks!"

"As expected of Altessa!" Sophie commented. "Just as wise as she is violent."

Altessa shot her an angry stare. "How about I show you some wisdom... right from my fist!"

The day ended as quickly as it began.

When Bright and Altessa stood in front of the Windmill Kingdom airship, giving Auraa and Sophie their salutations Auraa and Sophie exchanged handshakes. (Well, Sophie tried to shake hands with Altessa... but Altessa refused.) As Sophie started up into the airship, Auraa took a step back.

"Hold on, Sophie."

"Sure, Onii-sama."

Auraa bounded back out, but there was something about him that seemed so different to Altessa. His cheeks were rosy like the sunset for some unknown reason and his eyes held a mischievious twinkle in them that she'd never seen before in anyone throughout the short years of her life.

"Will we meet again?" asked Auraa cautiously, taking her hand.

Altessa glanced up at him, puzzled. She withdrew her hand forcefully, folding her arms gracefully across her chest. "Of course we will. There's that balloon race, remember?"

"Altessa, why--?" Auraa tried to question about her sudden unfriendliness.

"We're rivals, remember?" retorted Altessa. "Just because you're nice doesn't mean I'm letting you beat Onii-sama."

"Onii-sama! It's getting late!" warned Sophie, waving furiously from her spot on the airship.

"A-Ah, sure..." Auraa solemnly turned away, and headed for his transportation home.

Behind him, a voice spoke his name. "Prince Auraa."

Auraa quickly turned back. Altessa had wiped the glare off her face and returned a shy, awkward smile; a genuine smile, not a forced grin like she had to wear throughout their first meeting. Surprised by this confusing turn of events. Auraa hesitated. Seeing at just how she really didn't mean to hurt him, Auraa grinned widely before whooping.

The airship soon disappeared off into the horizon.