Not So Much Troubled - Chapter 1Forward:
   This is a subtle KOR/UY crossover, with only minimal characters from the 
  latter, and all that I could suggest into the story-line from th former. It is 
  set around 1180A.D. in the city of Kyoto, after the emporer made his journey 
  back from the Capital, Settsu. These numbers and images I take from Hojouki 
  (Life In A Ten Foot Square Hut) and offer my thanks. The characters, of 
  course, Takahashi-sensei, and Matsumoto-sensei. My gratitude to both. 



Not So Much Troubled
Chapter 1 - Arrival At Kyoto 



 Ayukawa sat back in the cart, her eyes wide and sallow as the driver whipped at 
the ox that pulled her , and her mother through the mud of yet another road. She 
had seen so many in the years of her life, and it was not as if she would not 
see more. She was the daughter of an emporer whose power was not sure in these 
fuedal times. And in being so she had seen not one, but two Capitals, both being 
burned to ruin during her life. 
 She and her mother came from Settsu, the hiding place of the royal family, or 
so it was called by those who doubted their colors, and had set out but not two 
days earlier for Kyoto, the place of Ayukawa's birth, and more precisely, the 
ancient Capital of Japan. It's great mansions, born of old, tired families, 
loyal to the Emporer, had been utterly destroyed not seven years ago, when 
Ayukawa had not been more than nine, leaving many dead, and more wounded. Even 
the servants of the Emporer's house, and the house itself, had gone to the dusk 
wrapped in their patron's cloth, only to be survived by a people without hope. 
 But Ayukawa thought nothing of this, nor anything else as the ox-cart rounded 
another abrupt turn along the deeply routed mud of the road. Her mind was 
concerned only with her coming birthday, and what would become of her, now that 
she was of the age to rule. She need not have worried, for her grandfather had 
many good years left in him, being only of sixty-two, but true it was that she 
was next in line to rule. And so, she must find a husband suitable to the Clan. 
 And as she pulled the veil aside, looking out over the destroyed land that was 
the signature of the once great city, she could not bare but feel the sadness 
that had taken her father during the burnings that already seemed so long ago. 
The feilds were bare, and the laborers poor in their visage, all eyes looking 
downward to what their home had become. She too looked down as she saw them, 
down into her hands. They were spread wide, facing up to her eyes, and dirty, 
stained with the lines of her youth. What was she to do? Being only so old as to 
take a husband, yet not old, or wise enough to take a man? It was impossible. 
 Her mother looked to her, seeing the desperation on her face as the cart jerked 
slowly forward and pulled Ayukawa's hand into her own. "Ayukawa, my daughter, 
look to me." she asked, and was answered, but not with what she knew how to 
cope. Desperate eyes set in a face as long and recessed as the moon on a 
shadowless night faced her, and in them she saw the pain, the most familiar pain 
that she had seen in her own. "You think of the man you are to marry." 
 Ayukawa sighed, and pulled her eyes away to inspect the yukata she wore, it's 
mane white, and beset with a red and truquoise print, "You know me well." she 
breathed. The dirt had even infected her speach, she thought as she heard the 
words sigh through the chamber, echoing from the silken tapestries around them. 
"It's just that I don't even know this man, Shutaro, nor the Clan he has been 
raised to. I worry, mother. I worry if he will be a ruler that I too can love." 
but even as she spoke, she knew it was no speach, but a question, and berated 
herself for opening her mouth. She would be a queen, and a queen had no time for 
self pity. 
 They were to be wed, that was true, and soon, she reminded herself as her eyes 
slipped back to the crack of scenery that she could see through the drapes. She 
was in no position to refute the will of her grandfather, or her mother. If 
Shutaro, of the young son of the Mendo was to be the new Emporer of Japan by 
their marriage, it was not in her to refuse. The union would bring peace to a 
once fuedal era, and prosperity to a people who had seen only war for 
generations upon generations. It was not her place to wish for love, even if it 
was a love that she knew existed, if not still alive. 
 "Be strong, my daughter. Things are never as horrid as they seem." 

 He sat on horseback at the wall of the house of his new Empire, his eyes 
dazzled by the light of the setting sun as it fell between the decrepit spires 
of abused rock, and splintered wood. The Capital, Kyoto was to be his only, with 
but the cost of a bride he knew not. But he did not care, his eyes were set to 
the stars, and beyond. The people, dirty, who stampeded into the city were his 
to control, and his to handle as stock. His father had been right, and most 
dreadfully wrong at the same time. It was here that he would gain control, that 
was true, but the life of the Madoka clan, and the furios entity that controlled 
the Mendo would be one under his hand, to chaffe, and shackle at the wrists and 
ankles of his lessers. If they would not pay, he would leave them there, to be 
blown away by the dreaded wind of his warriors. He had not been more joyous 
since the passing of his father at the final approval of his marriage into the 
Clan of Madoka. 
 His chest poured with pride as he spun about to look upon what little was left 
of the city from which people would know his iron hand. The leavings of time 
passed were all that could be seen among the few peasants that scampered about, 
building back the houses that had once been the thrones of the mighty houses of 
Japan. And as he looked upon them, he could not but smile. Yes, he thought. 
Admidst all this waste was the place to start. To build back the once great 
center and levy the one tax with which would be essential for all of their 
lives. "You there. Boy!" he called, pulling the eyes of one young man to him. 
"What is your name, boy?" 
 "Kasuga Kyousuke, m'lord, a farmer of this region. What may I do?" he answered, 
his eyes averted to the ground, as if scrounging for some excuse to remove 
himself. 
 "The lady you accompany. Who may she be?" Shutaro asked, leaning forward from 
his seat atop his mount as his eyes wandered over a young flower who struggled 
with her luggage. 
 Kyousuke looked deep into the ground, his eyes squinting slightly as he turned 
to see the maid his family had taken in. Her short, almost curt hair shining 
slightly about her small, piquant head, accented by the deep blue of her yukata 
had become accustomed to him. He would not, if he could manage, give her to the 
runt of a man who sat atop the horse, even if he were a noble. 
 "You do not answer me, boy." Shutaro commanded as he glared to the young man, 
the muscles of his mouth set in a menacing line. 
 "I am deeply sorry, sir." Kyousuke said as he bowed to the noble grudgingly, 
oblivious of the cart that came up from the south, or anything else than his own 
anger for that matter. "My memory after so much has grown tired. The one you 
speak of is new to this city. Only a day or more in these parts. I could say 
that her name would be Hikaru, but as to her family, I can not be sure." 
 "Good man." Shutaro said, smiling as he set himself back into his stead atop 
his mount as the clop of hoofes called his attention to a small, red lauqer'd 
ox-cart as it made it's way toward them. "And where does that wild flower live?" 
Shutaro asked quickly, spinning his eyes back to the pleb before him. He had no 
more time for the boys antics. His bride had arrived. 
 "As I said, sir." Kyousuke began, but was cut short with a smack of Shutaro's 
sharp words, "You will hear me, boy. Where does she live?" 
 Kyousuke huffed to himself. Now was not the time to fight a tyrant, no matter 
how furious he himself may be. He could already feel the hint of a drawn blade 
in the air. "Past the markets to the south, I would suppose, my lord, but I 
again may be mistaken." he said, never once letting his eyes seen and be 
betrayed by the deciet they held. 
 "Good man." Shutaro grinned outright, his voice dripping with the sweat of 
evil. "You will tell her to come to my house day after tomorrow. My man-servant 
will see to her. Atop the hill at the house of Madoka." Yuusaku commanded, 
pulling at the reigns of his steed, and driving him into a trot toward the 
palace, "See that you remember that boy!" 
 "Yes, my lord." Kyousuke said, his voice muffled with the anger that held him. 
"That I will remember. My lord." 

 Ayukawa peeked out past the small crack in the tapestry to look upon the man 
she was to marry. His slick, black hair and his deep, handsome eyes set before a 
heavy, and stern face, a mark beneath the left, a scar to tell of battles she 
would never know. He looked, in some way, honest, she thought. But nothing more 
than menacingly so as she saw him ask something of a peasant boy who could not 
be more than a year older than she. It looked as if the young man was not so 
formal in his disgust. The small, intricate movements of his anger, and the 
slight twinge of lightning that sparked through the air between the two told of 
more battles, but ones that had not yet been faced. She was intrigued by the 
youth, for who would harang a prince if he were not mad? 
 But there was something else, something that set uneasy in the pit of her 
stomach as she heard the voices drift to her ears and strained to hear more. She 
could not decifer the words, but felt, rather than understood their meaning. 
Young Shutaro was giving inviation, and a very dangerous one, and the young man, 
the peasant, was obliging, if coyly. She could not believe it. It was as if they 
were rivals, here, in the middle of the mud and broken stone of the street. Was 
that the nature of the man she would marry? A man who picked on peasants? A man 
who would slay another for the price of the rags that held his back, and breast? 
But no. There was something more. She could sense it. If she only knew what. And 
why she cared what happened to the figure of a boy, in his ratty robes and bare 
feet. But more. She couldn't help herself, as Shutaro rode away to join her, to 
look to the icy stare that the boy gave to a prince's back that she'd seen those 
eyes before, as if another man had kept them, and had looked upon her with the 
same, but kind colour. 
 She pulled herself back from the curtain, and tugged it shut as Shutaro, the 
prince of Clan Mendo trotted regally to the cart's side, and spoke meaningfully 
with the driver. A cold sliver of emotion had embraced her. She wasn't sure of 
what. But could feel the icy hands of fate gripping the heavy cloaks that 
covered her all the same, and nearly jumped when she heard the nock of Shutaro's 
knuckles bang against the laquered wood of the cart. 
 She calmed herself quickly, willfuly making her face impassive and her voice 
restrained as she pulled the curtains back slightly. "Yes, my lord?" her mother 
said, saving her daughter from the task. 
 "Has your journey been troublesome, lady Madoka?" Shutaro asked quietly as he 
bowed to the two from his horse's back. 
 "No, my lord Mendo. And to you I give that thanks." her mother replied, giving 
him a nod of encouragement as she eyed her almost blushing daughter. 
 But Ayukawa's color was not of something so plain as attraction, that she knew. 
It was something else she felt inside of her when his eyes fluttered over her. 
It was fear. Fear so real that she could taste its pallor. "And my bride?" he 
asked. 
 She sat, struck, almost bemused by the sound of his voice. There was something 
more to it, she could feel it. The power that ran within' his tones, the 
strength that exuded from his frame. It was as if she knew that this man could, 
and would rule over all that he took in with those handsome eyes, even her. 
"Yes, my lord Shutaro. You have my thanks." she forced from her lungs. He was 
attractive. Very. And still, even though riddled by a fear of what she knew not, 
could not forget the cause of her trembling hands, and nervous composure. She 
could not help but think, in some beguiled way, that she might want to be ruled 
by this powerful man that now asked her hand. 
 "I am glad to hear it." Shutaro stated with a gleaming smile, and bowed to 
betrothed and her mother. "Then if you will excuse me lady Madoka, I have 
business to see to." he said, then turned his attention to the young, elegant 
lady before him, "I will see you again this night at the palace. Please feel 
free to call on me." he finished, and rode off to the west. 
 She could feel it now, as she pulled back the curtains. And it was a deeper 
itch, something growing from a part of her she had not truely felt before, and 
knew that the color that lighted her cheeks was not the fear that had gripped 
her, but more of a sensual awakening. There was something there, and she knew 
too well that it was something she would want, or regret, of that only she was 
sure. 


 Thanks for reading, and I do hope you enjoyed it. Please look for other titles 
available from Fifth Way, as well as the rest of this continueing series of 
Ayukawa's adventures in stardom. 
The Seduction Of Ataru - UY/DP/Ranma crossover Lemon 
Something In Your Eyes - KOR Finale' 
Side Tails - KOR Lemon 
Aggressiveness Kyousuke! The Wild Frying Pan Experience! - KOR Lemon 
Wish You Were Here - KOR Episode 
To Be A Star - KOR Episode 
Not So Much Troubled - KOR Episode in ancient times 
For more info please e-mail me at mattj@icnet.net