Your Highness {NamJin}

ten

The day had been planned for months in advance, and everything was to fall perfectly into place like strands of newly washed hair on a woman's head. The day was to be marked with nothing but celebration and frivolity, a birthday's archetype of joy. Hancheol's day had finally come to pass, and even the branches of the willow and the songs of the oriole seemed to lighten the world with mirth.

He'd woken up to hugs, smooches and a giant breakfast decorated with his favorite foods from his fathers. He was, in fact, literally surrounded by trays of food; cool bronze bowls of kimchi and different variations of rice porridge decorated the lacquered trays that encircled his small bed. His favorite, made with honey and ginseng, was set in the biggest bowl, beautified with pictures of pagodas and landscape.

"Happy birthday, my son," Hoseok and Yoongi had said, making the teen boy smile as if he had turned seven or eight. He thanked his parents, then clasped his hands in prayer to the ancestors to bless his food.

When the formalities were done with, however, he grabbed up his bowl and gobbled it down like a pauper who'd seen a feast before him. His fathers laughed, watching their son with adoring eyes.

"Son," Yoongi began, placing a hand on the small of his back. "It's time I told you the tale of Jira-iya The Gallant."

Hancheol immediately looked over at his elder father, his spoon full of porridge still in his mouth. Gulping down the bite, he took the spoon from his mouth and nodded at his father.

"In a faraway land, there were three heirs to three clans. Tsunade, the heiress to the Matsu'ura clan; Yashagoro, heir to the Tsukikage clan; and Jira-iya, the heir to the Ogata clan. Before Jira-iya and Tsunade were born, a demon serpent spirit haunted the three heirs' clans, and it possessed Yashagoro. It led Yashagoro's father, the head of the clan, to kill off all other heirs to the clan and kill Jira-iya and Tsunade's clans as well. Only Jira-iya, his sister Ayame and Tsunade survived -- it is unknown how Ayame survived; Tsunade and Jira-iya were saved by a hermit named Dojin."

"They were determined to avenge their clans; Jira-iya mastered shapeshifting magic, and Tsunade mastered slug magic under Dojin. They obtained the special wave-cutting sword they needed to slay the demon, and went off to defeat Yashagoro. However, in their first battle, Jira-iya was severely wounded -- and would've died had it not been for Tsunade's healing. He was left crippled, and only the blood of a maiden born in the year, day and hour of the snake could help him. Upon their travels, however, they came upon Ayame -- who was the maiden needed to survive. She stabbed herself to heal her brother, and he was fully healed."

"They set out once more to defeat the evil spirit, and they performed exorcism on Yashagoro to cast out the demon. He was forgiven for his crimes, and they all lived happily ever after."

Hancheol's eyes were wide with wonder at Yoongi's storytelling, his lips set in a smile and his heart overflowing with cheer.

"I love that story, Appa! Thank you!"

"My pleasure, son. Go on and get ready. We have a lot of things planned for today!"

Hancheol began to run towards the closet, but stopped himself before he got there. His vision began to blur, everything in sight becoming a fuzzy and dark cloud. He opened his mouth, but he felt too weak to speak. He suddenly felt lightheaded, and it became too hard to breathe. He wanted to turn and ask his fathers for help, but it was all too late.

He swayed left, then right, then fell to the cold wood floor.

There had been no time that day.

Seokjin and Namjoon had no time to weep with Hoseok and Yoongi over Hancheol's death. He had passed immediately after collapsing; Hoseok had done all he could to save him, but it was already too late.

There had been no time for Hoseok and Yoongi to mourn their son, or for Chindeok to lament her lost love, or for any celebration to take place. The horseback ride turned into a funeral procession to bury the innocent child on the bank of the lake next to the young girl who had died there years before. The banquet turned into a donation of hot food to the poor in the east, where Hancheol was adopted as little boy. The fireworks turned into a silent vigil for the young boy who died on his birthday -- a tragic occurrence indeed.

Hoseok's and Yoongi's residence echoed with cries of agony and grief, and with visitors who cried together with them for hours at a time -- with their permission, of course. Life had taken a chaotic, melacholic turn, and such a time in life seemed as irreversible as death itself.

"I will never feel happiness again," Hoseok wailed, coughing harshly as his tears rained from his cloudy, blurred eyes to his tanned chin and dripped from his face. Yoongi could only hold him as he cried -- and cry with him as well.

At the end of the quiet day that screamed with palpable tension, Yoongi spoke his first word since telling Hancheol the story of Jira-iya the Gallant.

"Whoever did this to my family...whoever did this to Hancheol...deserves nothing less than death."

Namjoon stood up from his place next to Hoseok and waved his robes around, placing both hands on Hoseok's and Yoongi's shoulders.

"I will see to it, my brother. Whoever committed this horrendous crime has their days numbered. They will die before three days pass."