The Red Caravan [4]
Jul. 31st, 2011 01:23 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
poppy_skyRating: PG-13 for now
Warnings: boyxboy, no historical/geographic setting, AU.
Summary: It's Spring time in the capital and everybody rejoices when the Red Caravan and its performers arrive, signaling the start of festival season, however, Prince Yunho is also in town, returning after three years battling in the Holy Land. What happens when the Red Caravan's most famous peformer, Kim Jaejoong, and Prince Yunho meet?
A/N: Ooooh, an update so fast? Don't get too excited, updates will really slow down from now on (I have no more back-up chapters, sorry!) but I decided I couldn't wait to post again. Enjoy!
Three days after the prince’s visit to the festival the peasants were still talking about it. Young women whispered and giggled over damp red fabrics, their dye-stained hands covering their blushing faces as they talked about how handsome Prince Yunho was while children played with wooden swords in the woods surrounding the city, claiming to be him or at least part of his company. It seemed that by the end of the week Prince Yunho would become their favorite monarch-to-be.
Yunho mused upon this as he rode next to his father, returning home from a whole day out hunting. The carcass of a big silver wolf surrounded by the fragile dead bodies of several birds was piled on a wooden cart behind them, flanked on each side by lords and knights from the various states around the capital. The palace hunting dogs strolled next to the horses; their lazy gait a sharp contrast to their jittery and tense trotting before the hunt. A dog rode on the cart with the carcasses, its torn leg making it wail every few minutes from pain. Yunho had been reluctant to end the animal’s life, hoping the royal physician could help his favorite dog.
They passed through rice fields, the women working with their tattered skirts held up with cords tied around their waists; their feet submerged in water. Their hands worked swiftly over the crop, planting the young plants on the field. They waved as the mounted group strolled past, vowing at the sight of the King and giggling like love-sick girls when they spotted Yunho riding next to him. Incredible how such a small act could win him so much popularity, Yunho thought.
“You did well, son. They adore you,” the King’s praise made Yunho turn to look at him, an almost incredulous look on his face. His father rarely ever praised him, choosing to treat Yunho harshly in hopes it would strengthen the boy’s spirit.
“Thank you, Father,” Yunho said fighting the smile crawling to his face. His happiness was dampened, however, when he spotted a lone figure walking on the side of the road.
That golden blond hair was unmistakable. The group got closer to the walking man who merely bowed when they passed him by. Yunho noticed the man’s hair was soaked; the long strands touching his neck wet his white shirt turning it translucent, the unmarred milky skin underneath clearly visible through the thin fabric. Everyone seemed to recognize the man, even his father, who nodded towards the performer once as acknowledgment. Yunho was more than a little confused to say the least.
He approached one of the lords and asked him about the mysterious man.
“Kim Jaejoong, Your Royal Highness?” the lord asked, taking a look at Yunho’s confused face. “He’s a celebrity of sorts among the peasants, sir. His Red Caravan started coming to the festival a while after you left to the war so you wouldn’t have heard of him all this time…”
Yunho stayed behind, it will only be a few minutes, he told the King, and watched them ride away and around a curve leading to the city. He returned to where he had last seen the beautiful man walking, finding him not much farther from where he had previously been. The blonde sparred him a look but did not bow again or greet him, just kept walking with Yunho riding next to him.
“Nasty bite that dog took,” Jaejoong commented still not looking at Yunho. “If you’re not going to put it out of its misery you might want Changmin to take a look at it. He’s good with animals even though he says he doesn’t like them.”
Yunho nodded, not knowing who Changmin was or what he had to do with his dog and not really caring at that moment.
“So, what is it that you need?” Jaejoong asked, knowing very well the prince was not there to have a friendly chat.
“I need you to stop following me,” Yunho said. “You appear everywhere I go.”
Jaejoong snorted.
“Don’t be so full of yourself, why would I follow you?” Jaejoong pulled his hair into a small pony-tail with his hands and wringed the excess water from it. “I went swimming, and from the looks of it you went hunting. Two completely unrelated activities if you ask me.”
Yunho frowned, but let it go, and rode silently next to the foreign performer. He had no idea why he did not just catch up with the hunting group and was about to when he remembered something.
“That man, Changmin, what does he do?” Yunho asked trying to remain casual about it.
“He’s a sorcerer,” Jaejoong answered honestly. “He performs sometimes too. The dragon’s voice was him.”
Yunho pulled at his horse’s reins, the black beast stopping dead on its tracks with a whine. The blond beauty stopped as well and turned around to look at Yunho with confusion evident in his grey eyes. It was almost as if he expected the prince to walk with him the whole way back to the city.
“What’s wrong?” Jaejoong asked.
“A pagan sorcerer, you mean?” Yunho asked, his expression unreadable. “I should be reporting him to the Church!”
Jaejoong threw his head back and laughed, the beautiful sound captivating Yunho.
“I think they already know,” Jaejoong stated, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
♥ ♥ ♥
It was really late at night when Yunho finally decided to go to the main square. His injured dog was cradled between his body and the neck of the horse, too weak to do more than whine in pain when the horse’s front hooves hit the stone-paved street.
The square was deserted, not surprisingly, considering the hour, which allowed him to guide his horse between the empty stalls.
A soft melody greeted his ears as he approached the Red Caravan; the cheerful sound almost drowning his dog’s cries from pain. When he reached the big structure of the stage he dismounted his horse and gingerly lowered the agonizing dog who allowed itself be held resignedly; the only thing stopping the animal from biting his hand in defense was the deep loyalty it felt towards the prince.
The music seemed to guide him to the Red Caravan’s back opening, where he found Jaejoong and another man sitting. Jaejoong was playing his flute, his eyes closed while he concentrated on the music, while the other man shuffled through a deck of strange-looking cards, his face obscured by long, brown locks falling on it.
The other man looked up first, a surprised look on his features that soon turned into a mocking glint Yunho identified instantaneously. It was the masked man from the other night, and if Yunho hadn’t been carrying his dog he would’ve punched the taunting smile out of the man’s face.
“What brings you here so late at night, your Royal Highness?” the man, Yoochun, if Yunho remembered correctly, asked.
Yunho did not like the tone he used when addressing him but ignored it seeing as Yoochun’s words had brought the blond man out of his trance-like state and was now staring at Yunho and at the injured dog in his arms.
Jaejoong nudged Yoochun’s shoulder and shoved him inside the caravan. “Go wake Changmin up.”
Jaejoong approached Yunho while Yoochun went to wake the sorcerer up. He looked at the dog’s leg and winced.
“It looks worse than before, why did you wait until now to bring it?”
Yunho did not answer. Truth was he could not bring himself to trust a gypsy sorcerer over a well-respected physician. The physician could do nothing for the dog but he still spent a good few hours debating with himself about seeking help from the beautiful performer’s friend.
A moment later a tall man—taller than Yunho but younger-looking, appeared through the open flap of the caravan, followed by the brown-haired jokester Yunho loathed. Changmin yawned as he pulled a purple robe on his naked torso. He looked at the dog and his eyes snapped open immediately, looking towards Jaejoong with questioning eyes.
“You can help it, right Minnie-ah?” Jaejoong asked, biting his lip.
Changmin looked insulted at Jaejoong’s doubt and let out an annoyed sigh when his eyes passed over Yunho, but motioned them to follow him. “Let’s get inside and I’ll take a look at it.”
Yoochun stayed outside and waved at them. “I’ll go check up on Junsu. See you guys later.”
Yunho admired the inside of the caravan while Changmin cleared the floor for Yunho to lay the dog down. The ceiling was tall, a grown man could stand without bumping his head on the red canvas, and the area inside it was very spacious, with several storage spaces such as chests and crates as well as a sleeping area covered in pillows and cushions. It looked smaller from the outside, but still bigger than any other caravan he had seen.
The sorcerer signaled Yunho to put the dog on the wooden floor of the caravan. Changmin piled a bunch of coal chunks on top of a stone plank and lit them, commanding Jaejoong to keep the fire going and to place a pot of water on it to boil.
Lighting an oil lamp hanging from the ceiling of the enclosure and grabbing another one to hold close to the dog Changmin examined the animal’s wounds. The big gash on its hind leg was starting to get infected and it was still bleeding.
Changmin hummed as he went to grab some herbs. Yunho turned his eyes to Jaejoong, the latter throwing him a reassuring look as he got the water to boil. Changmin shooed him away from the pot of water and threw several leaves and a couple of roots into it. He mixed the concoction gently and after a few minutes he grabbed a cloth and dropped it in the pungent-smelling liquid.
“Hold the dog down,” he instructed Yunho while he pulled out the cloth from the pot.
Yunho held the dog’s upper body as best as he could while Changmin approached him with the soaked cloth. He dropped the cloth on top of the dog’s wound and pressed on it, making the dog yelp and growl in pain as it tried to bite Yunho.
“Easy, Taepoong,” Yunho whispered against the dog’s ear, holding it down by its collar while the dog tried to squirm away.
Changmin eased the pressure on the cloth and then took it off when it cooled and rinsed it fresh water. He soaked it again in the boiling remedy and pressed it to the dog’s leg. He repeated this until the dog was no longer protesting against it, lying almost half-asleep with relief on the wooden floor.
“Now you two, out,” Changmin barked while he threw out most of the water inside the pot but kept the leaves inside.
Jaejoong, who had been sitting close-by, scrambled to the door and shot Yunho a look that clearly said to follow him. Yunho took one last hesitant look at his injured dog before following the blonde outside, the caravan’s curtains flapping behind him as he did.
Yunho found Jaejoong already sitting on the same spot he saw him on when he arrived, his fingers twirling his flute around but not once bringing it up to his lips. The moon-light caught on his hair, turning the soft tresses silver where it reflected on it. In that moment Yunho thought he did not look human, for which human would possess such ethereal beauty?
He tore his gaze away startled, mentally reprimanding himself for such thoughts. A moment later Jaejoong touched his knee and Yunho’s head jerked to meet the other’s deep pools of bluish gray.
“It’s going to be okay,” Jaejoong said with a smile.
At that moment Yunho felt the accumulated fatigue crash on him like a waterfall. The day’s events, combined with the frustration of never pleasing the King and the tiredness from the journey back home from the East clung to his bones and pulled them down.
A sigh escaped his lips and he felt his mind and body shut down slowly. His head leaned almost on his own to the side, his head coming to rest on top of a shoulder. His eyes closed shut and he felt himself slip away, too exhausted to care about anything in that moment.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 06:42 am (UTC)I'm glad the dog lived. There would be crying if it didn't. (And from the way that stories going probably no yunjae either) I'm glad that is what starts to bring them together.
Changmin ♥
and oh shit, I'm going to be first again.
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 11:45 pm (UTC)Is it bad being first? X)
no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 11:17 am (UTC)plz update soon~!
yunnie sleeping on JJ shoulder :3
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Date: 2011-08-01 04:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-07-31 02:28 pm (UTC)It's so childish how Yunho asked Jae why he appears at every place where the prince goes! But maybe it really wasn't a coincidence... And even the king himself knows Jaejoong, he have to be someone really special...
The last paragraph with the deadly tired Yunho resting his head on Jae's shoulder was so lovely.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 04:36 am (UTC)The king knows Jae just because Jae is kind of a celebrity. I wanted to make it so that even the king would've heard about him.
The YunJae is finally happening!
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Date: 2011-07-31 05:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 04:37 am (UTC)There will be more cute YunJae moments to come~
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Date: 2011-08-01 10:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-01 09:19 pm (UTC)...specially Jaejoong ;)
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Date: 2011-08-02 08:41 pm (UTC)the ending part was so cute. i wonder what jae's facial expression was. XD
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Date: 2011-08-02 10:13 pm (UTC)And about what the church will do, we'll see... hehehe
I'd say his expression was of pleasant surprise, don't you think so? :)
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Date: 2011-08-02 10:43 pm (UTC)will he wake up in an unknown place (maybe JJ's tent ;D)?
can't wait for the next chap. good luck!
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Date: 2011-08-03 06:49 am (UTC)Yun can't help being fascinated by Jae~
Thx for the update :)
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Date: 2011-08-03 05:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-05 07:53 pm (UTC)The plot is really interesting~!
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Date: 2011-08-05 10:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-08-06 04:20 pm (UTC)I shall tend to it then~! *runs to read the new update* <33333
and Thank You for all the Hard Work~! m(_ _)m
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Date: 2011-12-15 01:52 pm (UTC)Anyways. Yeah its Yunjae time!! :DDD
Poor Yunho. All those burden.. all the responsibilities.. the stress must be tiring.
And i kind of like Changmin's character more and moreeeee... :DDD
no subject
Date: 2011-12-15 11:06 pm (UTC)I love Changmin's character in this story so I'm glad you're liking him as well ^^
no subject
Date: 2012-03-12 02:57 pm (UTC)