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[choseanidiot]

It was incomprehensible the level of tension that had disappeared as what his body knew and his mind only temporarly did, finally meshed into the whole, uninterrupted knowledge of the fact, resonating through his self, that Shōryū was his chosen king. Enki shook his head, trying get rid of the frustration towards those that had kept this from him. Holding on to that wouldn't help.

He had it back, that was what was important. And now he didn't need to 'accidentally' (led by confusedly following the ouki) stumble upon Shōryū and get smacked in the face several times a day, unless he spent the whole day with the idiot. He knew perfectly well where Shōryū was, so he knew he wouldn't (currently) find him in the Black Dorm. But that wasn't why he was wandering into the dorm Shōryū slept in. No, Enki was looking for someone else, someone who he couldn't find by following some mystical aura. Which was why he was starting at the dorm Suzaku slept in.

If he was lucky, the teenager would be in here.

Comments

[swordofzero]

Suzaku was indeed in the Black Dorm, sat with another pile of books. He thought that the school was just plucking the most random things ever to teach them, none of it made any sense, none of it was any use outside of the worlds that they were teaching them about.

Suzaku looked up when he heard someone enter and smiled at Enki. "Hi Enki, how are you?"

Shōryū wasn't with him, which was quite unusual.

[choseanidiot]

As was usual to Enki, he wandered over to where Suzaku was sitting and didn't sit down in the nearest chair, but jumped on the table.

"Fine. At least I don't have to follow the idiot around anymore." Enki paused to roll his eyes, but then remembered all the trouble they'd had with some sort of misunderstanding of Suzaku's...

"I got the memory of who I chose as King of En, back, finally. Now he can't be annoying about that anymore." It was supremely satisfying to be able to cross that off the list of things Shōryū couldn't hold over him anymore.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku blinked not understanding at first but soon grinned when Enki explained. "Ah, so you remembered Shōryū is your king!" That was good news, because it had been almost painful to see Enki filled with joy every time he saw Shōryū especially since he had told Suzaku that his king was not a great person and made him fight when Enki was so against violence.

He watched Enki in silence, wondering what Enki thought now he knew Shōryū and the king were the same person.

[choseanidiot]

"Yeah. An' not a moment too soon, I think he's been running off deliberately a lot of times..." Enki frowned at nothing, secretly planning payback. Not that it was Shōryū's fault that they'd taken that memory, but it wasn't as if he'd tried to make it easier on Enki.

But where other people may have wished that a person like Shōryū had been made to forget something equally as frustrating and integral as Enki had forgotten, in retaliation of all the amusement Shōryū had had at his expence, this thought didn't even so much as flicker into existence in Enki's mind.

Such a thought was vindictive beyond what any kirin would manage, even one as... ill-mannered as Enki was.

Enki's mind suddenly refocused from his personal happy fuzz of being 'complete' in a way he hadn't been before, and turned back to Suzaku and the akwardness that had often appeared when Suzaku had seen, or been with Shōryū and Enki. But how to even bring this up? Enki scratched his head, feeling awkward.

[swordofzero]

"I'm glad you remembered." Sukzau smiled but then frowned. Could that be true? That Shōryū had been purposfully escaping from Enki so that Enki would forget he was king and have to remember all over again.

"Do you think he would do that? On purpose?"

[choseanidiot]

Enki had been about to laugh incredulously, because yeah, of course he'd do something like that if there was no real 'harm' in it--- but then Enki remembered Suzaku's earlier reactions and that there had been some sort of basic misunderstanding somewhere and barely managed to hold it back, stifling it into something of a muffled chortle-snort.

"Er. That's---" Enki coughed and was relieved Shōryū wasn't present. He'd be no help, and be all 'this is your own fault'. He'd never had to actually explain or even justify his and Shōryū's relationship and behaviour.

Enki really had no idea how to go about this. So. Start at the beginning?

"I knew the first time I saw him that he'd be the King of En. That he'd be the one to destroy En. Because that's what kings do," Enki paused to glance at Suzaku, then looked out over the room again, kicking his legs.

"An' then he went and was an idiot for thirty years, and I knew he was an idiot, and even if En was getting better I knew something would happen..." Enki sighed and transferred his gaze to the floor.

"A rebellion. An' you know what the idiot goes and does? Manage to stifle that rebellion with only one death... Atsuyu had an army of over seven thousand... But only Atsuyu died." Enki's voice was quiet, and while Atsuyu's death had been horrible and there must have been another way, that's not what happened.

"Three other people died... but those were my fault." Enki shivered, still remembering the noise of the red thread snapping, of Ribi... and the baby... Enki swallowd, and shook his head.
"He forgave me though. He's still an idiot, but he forgave me, and then promised me a green country. A peaceful one."

Enki had no idea where all that had come from, or if this would just make Suzaku even more confused, but he could have seen no other way to explain... well. Anything, in any other way.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku had been wondering if Enki would explain what he had meant the first time they had met now that he knew that Shōryū and the king were the same person.

So he listened, Enki definitly did not seem to have a good impression of kings, surely not all kings were destructive. If that were true then the whole world would be a mess of war and destruction, Suzaku blinked realising that the world really was just a mess of war and destruction. In his world that was because Britannia had invaded, but Britannia was ruled by a emperor, with princes and princesses doing his bidding throughout the world.

Maybe Enki had a point, he continued listening and was filled with a quiet admiration; Shōryū had put down a rebellion with only four deaths? How was that even possible, he had no idea how many people had died in the Black Knight Rebellion and the wars. Suzaku couldn't remember how many deaths he had caused, how many people he had killed.

Seeing Enki so upset about the three deaths that he had caused made Suzaku feel awful, he blinked at Enki. "So Shōryū doesn't like fighting either?" That didn't add up with what Enki had told him earlier, that Shōryū made him fight.

[choseanidiot]

Enki looked up from where he'd ben staring at the floor, and rolled his eyes, face smoothing out from his unhappy expression into something slightly more sharp.

"He just doesn't like his subjects dying. He's kinda greedy like that. They're as important to him as his own body," Enki grinned and rolled his eyes, because even if the metaphor Shōryū liked to use was unsettling, that he viewed his people as his body, as vital to himself as his organs? That was one of the reasons why Shōryū most certainly was the King of En.

"He's a king, Suzaku," Enki shook his head, frown settled once more. "No matter what we kirin feel about it, a king, at least from their point of view, must be able to kill... I don't see why, though, but..." Enki shrugged. He was the kirin, not the king.

[swordofzero]

Well yes, of course rulers had to kill. That's why Suzaku had been so amazed that he had managed to put down a rebellion with so few deaths. Suzaku was a little confused, he had known rulers and he had never known one to think of their subjects as their own body. It was a strange concept.

"Because sometimes the ends must justify..." Wait, his mind fuzzed and he blinked in confusion. What had he been about to say? He didn't believe that, the end never justified the means, a victory won by immoral means was no victory at all.

"Even if he believes he has to kill he should not make you do the same." He said this mainly to stop himself being confused but also because this is what he had been angry at Shōryū for, because Enki was so peaceful and yet Shōryū ordered him to fight and kill.

[choseanidiot]

The beginning of what Suzaku had been about to say made Enki bristle, because he recognized that Over There saying. But then Suzaku just trailed off, looked kind of confused and then said something else entirely that made Enki confused.

Scratching his head, Enki tried to think back, but he was sure that even with their first conversation, he'd never said that...
"When did I say that? He could order me to, yeah, but he never has." That, of course, didn't mean it would never happen, but when and if it did so, Enki knew Shōryū would have gone in on a bad path.

There were, after all, others who killed criminals (however much he'd wish this wasn't necessary), and a battlefield was no place for a kirin. Enkli stared at Suzaku, thoroughly confused as to how his little rant when they first talked had been interpreted that way.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku blinked, from Enki's mentioning of it when they had first met, speaking of how hated violence but if his king ordered it he would have to kill Suzaku had assumed that Shōryū did so. After all if he had the ability to make Enki obey him he would use that. Even though it was obvious Enki was happy to go along with Shōryū anyways there were always going to be moments, especially since Enki hated violence, that they clashed and if Shōryū had the means to make Enki do as he said...

It didn't make sense any other way, that would be like Lelouch not using his Geass, any of those with Geass not using the powers given to them to control those around him.

Though on second thought Lelouch had never used his Geass on Suzaku, Suzaku's mind went fuzzy and he frowned, but he hadn't...

"He's a king and you have to do as he says, but he has never ordered you to kill?" Suzaku sounded as incredulous as he felt.

[choseanidiot]

Enki shook his head and pulled up his legs to cross them at the ankles, resting his elbows on his knees and his chin in his hands.

"No... I've had to have my shirei kill to protect him, but he ain't never ordered me to kill. I've no idea what sort of situation that would entail, really, an' I don't want to know." Enki paused to stare at the opposite wall.

"It's not as if I could be on the battlefield, I'd be out cold..." Enki muttered, mostly to himself and then slowly shook his head. If it ever happened, Shōryū would have strayed from the path.
"The kirin is there to protect the king, to advise him... and hope he listens," another pause for an eyeroll, because how often did Shōryū listen to anyone if he didn't feel like it? No one, that's who! "But to order a kirin to kill? That'd be a pretty big tip-off the king's gone bad," Enki said and then blinked.

While it was crude, maybe that was yet another way for Heaven to keep the king on the 'stright and narrow'; the king had access to a creature that had the protection of more or less powerful youma, that had to obey him, and if the king used that..?

Enki carefully kept from gritting his teeth, because yeah... a kirin's life was not their own. Truly pathetic.

[swordofzero]

It still made very little sense, after all even if the Kirin physically couldn't hurt others; Suzaku didn't understand that but that was what he was coming to understand from what Enki had told him. If their bodyguards could kill though...

It seemed though that Shōryū hadn't done that, hadn't made Enki kill, though Enki's bodyguards had killed to protect Shōryū. "Surely if you have those shieri Shōryū makes use of them." And surely that was just as bad especially if Enki had to give them the orders.

[choseanidiot]

Enki scoffed and shook his head.

"He prefers to do things by himself, but sometimes even that idiot gets in over his head and I've had to send Rikaku or Kibou after him..." Enki looked up and gave Suzaku a lop-sided smile.

"He used to drive the ministers mad by running off all the time. Now they're kinda used to it, but they let it go to their heads sometimes, still." Shuko and Itan were kinda good about it, since their realization after Atusyu's rebellion... that didn't mean that their self-imposed calm hadn't slipped every now and then over the years.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku blinked, this was getting more and more confusing and it didn't really answer his question. But he shrugged and focussed on what Enki was saying. Surely he could not do everything by himself...

"He runs off? Surely if he's the king he needs to be ruling..."

[choseanidiot]

"I told you he was a lazy idiot!" Enki snorted and then straightened, shaking his head. "But he does things when he's needed. It's just..." another disapproving snort only barely concealed as the amused chortle it really was. "Less often than the ministers think." Enki looked up at Suzaku again, and while his face was caught in thoughtful disapproval, there was an amused glitter in his eyes.

"Really, it's probably just as well. If he had to sit on the throne all the time, he'd get restless, an' then he probably would destroy En." Enki rolled his eyes, exasperated, but somewhere, that was a true fear. It was probably just as well that no one had been able to train Shōryū to sit on the throne like a proper king.

The man needed his hobbies, or he got completely impossible. Of course, the same could be said of Enki, but if he got comepletely impossible, at least he wouldn't bring a kingdom down with him.

"I thought he was a useless idiot, before... and while he's still an idiot, he takes care of En." Enki was not really aware of the soft smile that briefly graced his face as he said that.

[swordofzero]

How could a lazy idiot still be the king? Surely if he was so lazy and such an idiot someone else would have disposed of him by now.

It was not something to bring hope, that their country was only still standing because Shōryū wasn't made to act like a king and so wasn't bored yet.

"But surely if he is such an idiot one of his ministers will take power from him?" Because if a prince of Britannia was lazy and useless then another noble would simply kill him and take his place.

[choseanidiot]

Shaking his head, Enki's face fell into a thoughtful expression once again. Here was a difference between Over There and the twelve kingdoms, and obviously between the twelve kingdoms and wherever Suzaku was from that Enki thought was good.

"A good king gives a rich, peaceful land, Suzaku... If Shōryū wasn't a good king, there'd be signs of that in the land itself. The ministers in place keep the system and changes we've set up going, so they're not interested in destroying that." Enki shrugged. He still didn't like kings or fuedal lords; usually, they all led to only one end, and that was death of their people and the ravaging of the land.

But Shōryū was keeping En peaceful, well and green, and would for a long time yet.
"An' if someone thought he wasn't doing a good job, that person can't be looking out at En. And then they'd have to take that issue up with me, I chose him after all," Enki said and scoffed, a bit of unconcious pride slipping in.

"An' if they killed the king... The land falls to ruin until I could find a new king. An' I doubt that someone who gets into their head to kill a king who hasn't strayed from the path would be a suitable king," Enki snorted.

Atsuyu... Atsuyu had said so many pretty things, but he had, after all, not gone to Mt. Hou. And if he'd put himself in power over Shōryū? Enki would surely have been struck down by shitsudou, and then Shōryū would have died and then no matter how pretty his words or what he did, En would have plunged into the abyss again.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku blinked, none of this made any sense, a good king brought peace, well he could agree with that but when the king died the land fell to ruin? Why would they have to look for another king. Surely someone would just take the thrown, why leave it to Enki to find someone.

"But, surely they just take the throne by force..." Why wait for a new king to be chosen, if they killed a king who was good but lazy then why would they care about the land. Maybe they thought they could do a better job, surely even if Enki thought Shōryū was a good king there were others that didn't agree.

[choseanidiot]

"Doesn't work that way." Enki shook his head and uncrossed his legs, swinging them a few times before stilling, his face almost edging into sternness that made him seem older.

"I may not like kings or fuedal lords, but Heaven has set up the laws, and those can't be broken. Heaven provides a kirin for each kingdom to confer the will of Heaven upon one person, who becomes the king. The kirin then advises said king, and we all have to hope," Enki paused to roll his eyes, having a bit of trouble to keep the scoff out of his voice.

He was trying to be serious here and just give the rules of his world straight...
"That the king is a good one and don't stray from the path. No king means the kingdom falls to ruin..."

Well, there had been Atsuyu and Gen, but, how long would Atsuyu have been able to keep Gen free of the horrors that had consumed the rest of En?

"If someone kills the king, no matter if the king was a good one or a bad one, they can't take the throne and expect the country to prosper. They won't even be able to get into the palace. Without the will of Heaven behind them, without the kirin's protection, it doesn't matter what they do, they're not, and will never be, the king." Enki shrugged. That was just how it was. A neat little package of rules that governed the well-being of his whole world.

[swordofzero]

That... made no sense but in a way it did. It made sense if he stopped trying to compare it to his own world. So in Enki's world there were gods who gave power to kings and the Kirin were sent to make sure the kings did the right thing. The king couldn't be assasinated because the country would go to ruin and the person who killed them could not become king because they were not chosen.

"But surely that means if the king is bad then the country is stuck, they had a bad king who they can't get rid of."

[choseanidiot]

Enki pulled up his legs again to the tabletop and crossed them, holding onto the ankles as he shook his head. It seemed Suzaku had forgot that little bit about the disease he'd mentioned.

"Nah. They ain't stuck," Enki's grin was wan and his eyes hooded. How many times since Shōryū had been given the throne of En had kirin in other kingdoms been struck down with shitsudou? Too many times. Always too many times.

"A king who's bad leads to the kirin getting sick. It's called shitsudou. Means 'losing of the way'. The point is that the king's supposed to realize that they're not following Heaven's wishes anymore." Enki shrugged and stared down at the floor.

"An' if they've gotten that far, it ain't often they actually care enough to stop. Then the kirin dies, and within the year, the king does too." Enki grunted and looked up at Suzaku again.

"Some point after that, the fruit that holds the new kirin of the kingdom will grow on Mt. Hou, an' the people'll have to wait for the kirin to grow up and then just hope the king won't fall as quickly as the former."

Because, really. All kings fell at one point, killed, or killing their country.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku watched Enki solumly as Enki began to explain, this was... terribly unfair. Something about it was wrong, so wrong, that someone else would be punished for the wrongdoings of a king and then the kingdom fell to ruin because there was no king. He tried to imagine that being the case back in his own world and shook his head, a Kirin would die quickly there he did not think most the nobles of Britannia would care enough about one person to change their ways.

But it was so unfair! That someone else would be punished, even though Enki had said the king would die shortly after the Kirin, he guessed that might be enough to prevent some abusing their power.

Still, "That's awful." Suzaku didn't meet Enki's eyes but his eyes were full of anger. Even though Enki was still alive and so that must mean Shōryū was doing a decent job of being king there was the risk that he could be found to be bad and Enki would die, and yet still Enki had said Shōryū ran away and didn't see to his duties and was lazy. Why would he risk that?

[choseanidiot]

"That's kinda the point," Enki's grin was only half-hearted, and then he shrugged.

"No point dwelling on it, ain't gonna change."

The only way it would change, was if Tentei somehow didn't like the world he'd made, and so destroyed it and tried again, and well, Enki kind of liked being alive, so...

"Besides, five hundred years is a long time... there's only one other kingdom that's had the same king longer, one hundred years longer, an' they'll soon be the kingdom with the longest-living king on record."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku shrugged, he guessed Enki was right it wasn't going to change but that didn't make it right or fair. At least Suzaku had the chance to at least try and change the world he lived in. Which was what he and Lelouch were trying to do. Suzaku tried not to think of what Enki would think of him if he told him what him and Lelouch had been in the proecess of doing back in their world.

Suzaku was silent for a long time as he took in what Enki had told him, five hundred years was a very long time and the fact that Shōryū was still ruling and Enki was still alive pointed to the fact that Shōryū was a half decent king.

"That's good, so if the king is really really good he will live forever and the country will prosper?"

[choseanidiot]

Enki nodded and idly picked up one of the books Suzaku had on the table, leafing through it while he spoke.

"Yeah. When the king accepts the kirin's pledge, the king's given immortality, so as long as he doesn't stray or gets his fool self killed, the king could live forever." Enki looked up suddenly and put the book down.

"Most don't make it past a hundred." He shrugged and tapped his fingers on the book he'd just put down. "There's always some sort of crisis around a few decades after the king ascends, and then around when the king would naturally have died."

There was no real explanation, and personally he didn't understand it. But then, as a kirin, he didn't have an 'end' to his lifespan, or even a natural lifespan at all. Maybe it was simply something he couldn't understand, the end-of-life crisis kings apparently had.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded, he did understand the immortality after all CC couldn't die, none of the code givers could. He had no idea why there should be a crisis but he nodded anyways, "I guess the way people are means they can't be good forever and so even good people will mess up eventually," That wasn't a cheary thought, especially since it seemed Shōryū was the third longest reigning king.

[choseanidiot]

Enki shook his head slowly, eyes closed and the tapping fingers having stilled on the book.

"I think they can. But even the best king falls." Enki shivered and grimaced and wished he could take those words back. They sounded like an exclamation of doom.

His belief was unshaken, his nature contested that belief, but his hope, the very thing Shōryū had given him, was more fragile, and having uttered those words in such a way, it quavered beneath the weight.

It didn't matter. They weren't even home. Enki shrugged and straightened. Shōryū was the sort of stubborn, greedy idiot who'd fight to the very last person, the very last blade of grass, anyway.

It wouldn't come to that for a long time yet, he hoped.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded, he hoped that it didn't happen for a long time. But he was a little worried, surely if Shōryū had been kidnapped and brought here someone meant their country ill, and would the fact that Shōryū was here not there mean that the gods of his world would decide he had abandoned his country.

"You feel all right at the moment though, right?"

[choseanidiot]

He... Gripping the edges of the table, hard, Enki suddenly had the urge to bolt, to find Shōryū and make sure he was okay. Of course, if anything, he'd be the one who'd notice something was wrong before Shōryū did.

"'Course I do! Absolutely peachy. Nothing wrong at all..." Enki's forced cheer trailed off as his teeth gritted. These people in charge... Did they not understand that this wasn't just his or Shōryū life they were (probably literally) playing with?

It was also the whole population of En.

Enki tried a smile, but knew it only came out as a strained twitch. He was fine. They'd been here a while now, and he was still fine.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku raised an eyebrow, he wasn't fine. He looked scared, Suzaku wondered if he was feeling sick. If he was sick then in kidnapping them and bringing them here the kidnappers had effectively killed Enki and Shōryū and doomed their country to ruin.

Suzaku went pale, "Enki... are you sure? You'd say if you wern't feeling well?" He frowned at the Kirin.

[choseanidiot]

Suzaku's concern made Enki able to (somewhat) supress his worry again. He needed to hide it good, anyway, otherwise Shōryū would notice and ask.

And his king didn't need to think about that, in the off-chance that he hadn't already factored that into their need for a speedy return home (not that 'speedy' felt very possible for the moment).

"I'm fine. Not feeling sick," Enki said, enforcing the words with a narrow-eyed stern frown. Because he did feel fine.

Of course, he'd never had even the faintest trace of shitsudou before, so he had no idea how that felt, so he wouldn't know when it started.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded and didn't push the subject even though he was still worried. Enki looked worried but that might just be the idea that he could get sick and his country could be doomed.

Suzaku thought back to his own world, wondered for the thousandth time if Schneizel had won, it was likely since Lelouch was here and not there. All of Zero Requiem for nothing; he wondered if there was even a world left or if it had been totally destroyed by Damocles. Then again Gino came from the future (Suzaku still didn't understand how that worked) and everything was fine there so...

He shook his head and sighed not sure of what to say.