Drabble: Tales of Old
Title: Tales of Old
Rating: PG
Characters/ Pairings: Tatsuki/Orihime (Ichigo/Orihime implied)
Summary: Orihime has always been the protected one. Sometimes she’d like it if that changed.
Disclaimer: The girls belong to Tite Kubo. I’ll put them back into the box once I am done. :)
Nobody has ever had to tell Orihime the role she has played during her life. No matter where she went or what she did, in the end there was always someone who’d love her, who’d give it all to protect her and who’d shield her from all harm. She knows she is the princess, kind and gentle, and always tries to do her best where those she loves are concerned. She feels she owes them all that much.
First it was her brother who took her away from her fears. He was kind, generous and loving towards her, but a part of her knew that he would not be able to stand between her and her problems forever. He lost the fight, eventually, and what Orihime regrets most of all is to have been the princess then - the sheltered one, the loved one. The one who couldn’t fight. But after that she was alone and her heart was crushed to pieces, and she didn’t have the strength to fight against anything anymore. Sometimes she almost wished it’d be over, but what use would it have been to her brother that she’d let herself fade? She stood as long as she could, and when she finally fell, just in time, she was saved yet again.
Tatsuki did not ride toward her in a white stallion with a dawning sun blazing behind her. But she stood between her and those who hurt her, and roared and spit fire at them until they cowered in fear and fled. None of them was brave enough, good enough to win against Tatsuki. None of them, Orihime thinks, will really ever be.
It doesn’t matter if her knight rides up to her eventually and saves her because even though Orihime has found him and Tatsuki knows, she will never stop being who she is right now. Orihime may eventually ride off into the sunset with her knight, but the dragon she left behind will be always on her mind. Leaving is last thing she wants.
It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t fight Tatsuki, or that she is happy about Orihime’s choice. It’s not really about that. Orihime feels selfish thinking about it, but she wants it all. It was that dragon that made the princess gather her strength again, it was the dragon the princess fought for first. It’s the dragon the princess will wait for the rest of her life, hoping to catch a glimpse of the majestic creature soaring the sky right above them, still taking care of her.
In fairy tales they never tell you what really happens to the dragon. They are not that easy to kill to start with, and most worthy white knights would not steal the princess away without taking her opinion into consideration. The reason most knights wind up dead is that the princess feared or despised them, and the dragon wouldn’t let them get too close. Most dragons, Orihime thinks, probably let go of their princesses thinking they’ll be better off with their white knights now they don’t need them anymore.
Orihime reads the tales over and over again whenever she can. Most days she closes the books with a sad look on her face. It’s not because tales seem made for children or because they seem way too unreal. It’s because she is every princess, and she knows that they are happy with their knights. She knows they are pleased because they have gotten their happy endings. She knows they will have a good life.
She knows they will be sad.
She knows they all miss their dragon very much.
Rating: PG
Characters/ Pairings: Tatsuki/Orihime (Ichigo/Orihime implied)
Summary: Orihime has always been the protected one. Sometimes she’d like it if that changed.
Disclaimer: The girls belong to Tite Kubo. I’ll put them back into the box once I am done. :)
Nobody has ever had to tell Orihime the role she has played during her life. No matter where she went or what she did, in the end there was always someone who’d love her, who’d give it all to protect her and who’d shield her from all harm. She knows she is the princess, kind and gentle, and always tries to do her best where those she loves are concerned. She feels she owes them all that much.
First it was her brother who took her away from her fears. He was kind, generous and loving towards her, but a part of her knew that he would not be able to stand between her and her problems forever. He lost the fight, eventually, and what Orihime regrets most of all is to have been the princess then - the sheltered one, the loved one. The one who couldn’t fight. But after that she was alone and her heart was crushed to pieces, and she didn’t have the strength to fight against anything anymore. Sometimes she almost wished it’d be over, but what use would it have been to her brother that she’d let herself fade? She stood as long as she could, and when she finally fell, just in time, she was saved yet again.
Tatsuki did not ride toward her in a white stallion with a dawning sun blazing behind her. But she stood between her and those who hurt her, and roared and spit fire at them until they cowered in fear and fled. None of them was brave enough, good enough to win against Tatsuki. None of them, Orihime thinks, will really ever be.
It doesn’t matter if her knight rides up to her eventually and saves her because even though Orihime has found him and Tatsuki knows, she will never stop being who she is right now. Orihime may eventually ride off into the sunset with her knight, but the dragon she left behind will be always on her mind. Leaving is last thing she wants.
It doesn’t matter that he doesn’t fight Tatsuki, or that she is happy about Orihime’s choice. It’s not really about that. Orihime feels selfish thinking about it, but she wants it all. It was that dragon that made the princess gather her strength again, it was the dragon the princess fought for first. It’s the dragon the princess will wait for the rest of her life, hoping to catch a glimpse of the majestic creature soaring the sky right above them, still taking care of her.
In fairy tales they never tell you what really happens to the dragon. They are not that easy to kill to start with, and most worthy white knights would not steal the princess away without taking her opinion into consideration. The reason most knights wind up dead is that the princess feared or despised them, and the dragon wouldn’t let them get too close. Most dragons, Orihime thinks, probably let go of their princesses thinking they’ll be better off with their white knights now they don’t need them anymore.
Orihime reads the tales over and over again whenever she can. Most days she closes the books with a sad look on her face. It’s not because tales seem made for children or because they seem way too unreal. It’s because she is every princess, and she knows that they are happy with their knights. She knows they are pleased because they have gotten their happy endings. She knows they will have a good life.
She knows they will be sad.
She knows they all miss their dragon very much.