[KH] After the Battle: Sing (theme 36) - Jasmine

After the Battle, a Kingdom Hearts fanwork:  50 Lives Challenge by Xainagal, written by Raberba girl
Theme 36: Sing (Jasmine) [rough draft]

Summary:  There's only one person who could make Jasmine wistfully consider polygamy.

I like having friends.  Aladdin tends to get drawn into many adventures, and sometimes he forgets to take me along, so it's nice when I have more people than just Rajah to help pass the time with until my husband returns.

The two of us are enjoying some tea in my private garden.  Well, I'm enjoying it.  Saïx - Isa - is sipping from his cup politely, but I don't think that he is overly fond of tea.

Rajah is jealous and has both his head and front paws across my lap, and is quite heavy...I don't have the heart to move him, though.  That's the one downside to having other friends, is that my very first one now feels neglected sometimes.

"I did not say I couldn't sing well," Isa grumbles.  "I simply meant that singing is not something I will do before an audience."

"Isa, there's no one here except me, you, and Rajah."  And whatever guards and servants are lurking around, ready at a moment's notice to protect me or wait on me, but I think it's better not to mention them.

"Two too many, then."

"You're just making excuses because you really can't sing, but you want me to think you can without actually having the...."  I can't actually say it because of the censors, but he knows what I mean.  "...you don't have the guts to prove it."

"Insulting my manhood is not going to get you what you want, since I have no reason to impress you."

I sing the introduction to Giselle's Happy Working Song, and several small animals answer the summons.  Isa edges away from them in distaste, and Rajah growls at them possessively.  "It's so easy, Isa," I try.  "You're the fairest man I've ever met, you were made...."

I pause invitingly, but he only gives me one of his you-are-sadly-mistaken-if-you-think-I'll-cooperate looks.

"Why not, Isa?"

"Because all you sparkling heroines seem to be disturbingly prone to thinking that any handsome young man who'll sing a duet with you is your soulmate.  I hope I don't have to remind you that you are already married to someone else, not to mention that you are nearly ten years younger than me and would still be considered a minor in my homeworld."

Some of my past suitors had been almost old enough to be my grandfathers....  I would have been relieved enough to end up with a man still in his twenties.  The fact that Aladdin is so close to my own age just makes him that much more perfect.  "It's not automatic.  It just seems that way because most of us find the first handsome young man we meet to be perfect for us.  You, if you recall, were actually the first handsome man I ever laid eyes on, and I ended up deciding that my true love was someone else, didn't I?"

"I wish you wouldn't keep up that 'handsome' talk," he sighs, as if I only say it to annoy him.  If he'd just allow me, or any of us, to fix that shaggy mess of hair, he'd be quite stunning.

"Yes, you're just so ugly, Isa, with that well-featured face of yours, those captivating green eyes, all the nicely-sculpted muscles from your years as a fearless warrior - I don't know how I can stand to look at you."  He is so cute when he glares.  And he wonders why we think it's so fun to tease him.  "Little bread-and-butterflies kiss the tulips, and the sun is like a toy balloon," I sing, as off-key as I can.  It is quite difficult, and doesn't sound as bad as I'd hoped, but it's enough for him to wince and have trouble swallowing the mouthful of tea he'd just sipped.

"Ahem...princess, please stop that."

I smile and 'sing' louder.  "There are get-up-in-the-morning glories in the golden afternoon~"

He closes his eyes in a silent groan, then finally joins in, softly at first but rising a little in volume as I stop torturing him.  "There are dizzy daffodils on the hillside, strings of violets are all in tune.  Tiger lilies love the dandy lions in the golden afternoon--"

"The golden afternoon," I sing, properly this time.

We continue the song together.  Though he has his eyes closed with a resigned expression on his face, I can't take my own eyes off of him.  He does sing beautifully...and there's just something so--  I can't describe it...something so lovely about singing together with someone in perfect harmony....

"There's a wealth of happiness and romance in the golden afternoon," we finish.

In the silence, he opens his eyes again, and we gaze at each other for a while.

"...Stop looking at me like that," he finally says uncomfortably.

"Sometimes, Isa, I wish I were a man," I murmur.  And that they were women, so that Aladdin could be my beloved First Wife, and Isa could be my dear concubine who can do what he likes when I don't feel like playing with him.  Isa looks so amusingly disgusted as he imagines a male version of me that I burst into laughter and don't bother to clarify.

Author's Notes:  The song is "All in the Golden Afternoon" from Disney's Alice in Wonderland.

My opinions concerning a few things in this drabble are so complicated that it'll take too long to explain them fully....  Specifically:  age gaps, arranged marriages, polygamy, and SaiJaz(Al).
To sum it up very briefly, in a way that probably doesn't explain anything:  I'm a devout Christian, I have a lot of negative personal family history concerning Middle Eastern culture, my opinions on certain topics will vary depending on the circumstances (ultimately, NO ONE SHOULD GET HURT), I like experimenting with tropes and making more positive interpretations of things that really bother me, both AlJaz and SaiJaz are among my top favorite pairings ever, Isa/Saix is my token asexual in the Kingdom Hearts fandom, I adore platonic love, and I hate the thought of my work coming across as racist, because that was never my intention.

This drabble was meant to be cute and sweet, and I like it.  I didn't mean to end on a downer; sorry. :/

There's still one more drabble I have ready, but it's really late and I need to sleep.

Complete:  5/50