What are your thoughts on Henry IV of France? I mean as a King & politician, but also un hus relationships with other people... It seems to me he's portrayed as the heroic monarchs who saves France from the "chaotic" Valois, but from what I read he was easily manipulated by his mistresses? (To his 2 wives' chagrin!). Do you think his final reconciliation with Margot was just a political farce, or perhaps they were trying to put things aside? They went together through lots of shit in 1570s...
oh my i don't even know where to start. I genuinely think Henri might be one of the worst sociopaths we've ever had on the throne, and i'm not saying that lightly. Every couple of years i go down the rabbit hole of trying to figure out who was behind his murder, but i always remained kind of surface level because i was mostly young and didn't really think outside of the box. But the last time i deep-dived, i legit ended up with an entire board of names. Henri literally alienated every single soul in his life. He burned every single bridge. Destroyed everything and everyone. The question was never who killed him, but who didn't have a motive to kill him. Siblings, cousins, mistresses, bastard children, wives, long-time friends, favored lieutenants. Not to mention that things would have soured extremely fast between him and Louis XIII if he had lived only a few years longer.
That being said, Henri was never manipulated by anyone. Literally, never. He was a mastermind in the worst way; his education and formative years were hectic to say the least and he saw the best and the worst before it was even time for him to make political moves by himself. (The only puzzle piece that is missing is Henriette and the contract he signed when she was pregnant the first time around. That sounds like an incredibly dumb and unsafe situation to put himself in and it doesn't check out with the rest, so i still haven't really figured out what my opinion is on this.)
Women, specifically, were his favorite target and there's not a single woman in his life that he didn't end up ruining one way or another. He ruined his sister's life by cutting her from their protestant roots and putting her in an ultra-catholic household to avoid getting bypassed on his quest to the throne. He basically locked up Henriette in a golden cage. Humiliated Marie, tortured Marguerite psychologically, almost had the Princess of Condé executed for a murder he may or may not have committed himself, blackmailed Diane of France into coming back to court and ended up ruining the reputation (and the life) of her niece and adoptive daughter.
I've said it before, Marguerite and Henri only ever got along when it was mutually beneficial for them. All in all, you're a product of your time, specifically in extremely loaded situations like the wars of religion and the overall 1560s-1590s political landscape. Henri was never built for peace and he developed an extremely cold, calculating personality as a result of trauma and experience, which he hid masterfully beneath an easy-going, everyone's favorite king veneer.
Summary: Waking Shuka takes more than a few alarms, a wake-up call and sitting on her. Anju executes the Inami-technique of waking a cute girl (or well, of waking Shuka).
Pairing: Anshuka
Genre: Friendship, Fluff
Words: 1108
Author Notes
Everywhere I turn it’s ChikaYou or Anshuka. :3
May you enjoy~ XD
Sunlight has long filtered into the room of one lightly snoring Saitou Shuka, head nestled deep in her pillow and both hands splayed unmoving at her sides, a steady breathing of rest.
Her comfortable sleep, however, was coming to an end as the time reaches 8 am on the dot and her phone she managed to put on her bedside table before falling asleep around 2:13 am, lit up, vibrated and sounded, “Inami Anju is…going to announce the time for you to wake… pi – pi – pi – …pon WAKE UP!!”
Shuka jolts in bed for a second from the sudden sound in the quiet room but doesn’t wake, she simply mumbles sweetly in her sleep, “Mmm… 5 more minutes… An…” And the usually energetic girl presses her cheeks against the coolness of the pillow she was not lying on before, a hint of a smile pokes at her lips as she sinks back into sleep.
Anju who was already up and awake, done with her morning rituals and out of the house had a feeling that Shuka did not wake from her alarm despite not being there to see it, so she takes out her phone to personally give Shuka a wake-up call. The phone rang till near the end before Shuka finally picked up. “Shuka-”
“Oha…sumi…” Shuka’s sleepy voice reached Anju’s ears and Anju doesn’t know whether she wants to smile or frown; such a conflicted feeling as Anju could easily picture the half-asleep and still looking cute with a messy bedhead Shuka mumbling into the phone. “An…”
Anju shakes the image from her head when Shuka mumbles her name. “There’s no such greeting. Now wake up.”
“Mm…” Shuka lets go of the phone and went back to sleep.
Anju was already on her way to Shuka’s to meet her fellow group mate for breakfast before they head over for a recording work, so she was not too bothered at the fact that Shuka went back to sleep part way during their call. She reaches the house and Shuka’s mum invites her in with an apologetic smile, “Sorry about my daughter, Anchan.”
Anju shakes her head with a smile, “I’m used to it. It’s not a problem at all. And… I’m gonna pull the Inami-technique of waking her soon.”
Shuka’s mum chuckles. “She’s in your care.”
Anju pumps a fist as an answer and heads towards Shuka’s room, opening the door without knocking then closing it behind her. Hands on her hip for a moment to give her still in sleepy-land Shuka a stern look. The look soon goes and is replaced with a smile when she sees Shuka’s squishy cheeks on the fluffy pillow and her hand somewhere close to face too. “Why are you so cute?”
Anju asks a rhetorical question before climbing onto Shuka’s bed and straddling the sleeping girl. “Shuka. Wake up.”
“Mm…”
“If you don’t wake up…” Anju watches Shuka for a reaction but Shuka sleeps. “I’ll tickle till you wish you couldn’t wake.”
“An…” Shuka sounds and Anju clenches her fist; holding back a squeal as her heart tightens from Shuka’s adorableness.
“Mou!” Anju whispers upset. “Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up~~” Anju starts her assault to Shuka’s sides and the unexpecting girl’s eyes shoot open and she jumps, writhes and struggles on the bed to escape but was powerfully held in place by Anju’s thighs. “Wake up, Shuka!”
“I-I-I’m awake..! An..!! Stop- ahahaha, tickling me..!!” Shuka keeps turning and trying to move away to no avail and she gripped and tugged at Anju’s wrists but the stronger girl continued her tickle attacks.
“This is payback!”
“F-For hahaha, for whaaaaat?” Shuka was tearing up already and she still couldn’t do anything about her situation. Though she was more awake than ever and laughing way too much for someone that just woke up. “Anju!!”
Anju laughs and stops for a moment, relaxing as she sits atop Shuka who was breathing heavily, chest heaving and hair extra dishevelled. The sight was kind of erotic but Anju brushes the thought away quickly, though her cheeks flared red in response to that thought already.
“…” Anju gives Shuka a moment to catch her breath and takes a moment to just stare at Shuka; a morning dose of Shuka which makes Anju’s start better. “For not waking up from my wake-up calls…Twice.”
Shuka smiles up at Anju now that she could breathe right without thinking of laughing. “Twice?”
“You’re using my alarm. I know it.” Anju points at Shuka’s phone…that was supposed to be beside Shuka so it was somewhere under the sheets now…hopefully not crushed.
“I told you.” Shuka grins and blindly feels for her phone.
Anju hits Shuka’s searching hand to stop her, and have all of Shuka’s attention. “And when I called.”
“You did?” Shuka grins. “I thought it was a dream… Like I was having a chat with an angel…”
Anju pouts at Shuka’s playful grin and that glint in her eyes, so Anju pinches Shuka’s cheeks.
“Ahhhhhh. Annnnnjuuuuuu…~” Shuka whines while giggling; she never did mind Anju pinching her cheeks, or tickling her, or anything really. She loves just being with Anju regardless of what they do.
“You’re so not sorry at all! Mou!” Anju pinches a little harder and shakes Shuka.
Shuka laughs out loud, loving the sight of a pouting Anju so early in the morning. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”
“Mou!” Anju lets go of Shuka’s cheeks, her hands pressing to each side of Shuka’s head before dropping her forehead to Shuka’s, their eyes meet – close and staring, quiet now. “Sometimes you’re so annoying…”
Shuka smiles a small smile and nods. “You still like me right?”
Anju breathes out her nose, smiling at how Shuka’s eyes shut on reflex before opening them to look at her, looking somehow insecure; rare. “Of course… You’re my privilege. Remember?”
Shuka smiles widely, her usual huge, wide smile that everyone and especially Anju loves. Annoyingly infectious. Anju smiles hugely too. And they just lay there, cosy with each other’s presence and warmth.
.
.
.
They get out of bed when Shuka’s randomly set Anju alarm rings. They both chortle their way over to the bathroom and Anju takes Shuka’s phone to set proper alarms; smiling at how Shuka already unlocked everything inside; she promptly wonders if Shuka spent time staring at her images late into the night thus so sleepy today. Anju’s cheeks got warm from that thought and she turns the phone off, looking in the general direction where Shuka would be in the bathroom. Anju smiles; Shuka loves her so much and so openly it makes Anju embarrassed, embarrassed happy.
Author Notes
I feel like I could go on and on and on about how Shuka loves Anju and how Anju loves Shuka, but the chapter got to stop somehow. =v= Anju, we all get it, we know – you two love staring at each other like you’re staring at your entire world. :’3 Keep doing it, but for now, set more Anju alarms for your ditzy girlfriend, won’t you? XD
I hope y’all all like this! :D Thank you, Cream for the Anju alarm. It inspired me and I used it in this chapter! Hehe~ XD I hope to get the alarm someday too, and everyone else should too! XD It’s so cute! (I want a Shuka one too :3)
Fun facts~:
This is what Anju says for this alarm which I then translated to English for this chapter: Inami Anju ga… kimi no okiru jikan wo oshirase shimasu… pi – pi – pi… pon OKIROU!!
And Shuka sleeps around 2-3am and wakes around 8am only to sleep in until 9am before she gets up, usually. She mentioned this during her radio. :’)
\I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/ \I LOVE CYARON/ \BLESS ANSK/
