Title:  Turning Point
Fandom:  Kyo Kara Maoh (or, God! Save Our King)
Pairing:  Conrad/Yuuri
Categories:  angst, romance, pre-slash
Length:  Medium [~4,400 words]
Warnings:  spoilers for Conrad's story; may squick those who don't like age-gaps in their romances


Author on LJ:  elihice 
Website:  n/a

Bonus Rec!

Review:  "Conrad’s life is full of changes. Most for the worse, until Yuuri came along."

KKM is far too difficult to effectively summarize.  So, an inadequate review of canon goes here: the setting is modern Japan alternating with a medieval fantasy-land in which exist humans and human-looking demons.  The characters are nearly all ambiguously bisexual.  The main character, a human (or so he thinks) from Japan, has become the king of the demon-folk for reasons misunderstood until the end.  He spends most of his time hanging about with his male fiance, who he acquired by accident, and the fiance's brothers.  Yuuri is the main character, and Conrad is the half-human brother.  Since demons and half-demons live longer than humans, Conrad looks 20-something, but is actually decades older.  Yuuri is 16.  There's epic adventures and world-saving, but I think that's enough summary to go on with.

While the canon romance/non-romance is between Yuuri and the youngest brother, Wolfram, many fans have a soft spot for Conrad/Yuuri.  Yuuri and Conrad have a palpable bond, built from common experiences in the modern world, in-jokes, heartfelt loyalty and missed opportunities with prior reincarnations (I said I couldn't possibly explain it all here).  Above all, the two characters share a fundamental approach to living; they're kind, when kindness is a rarity in the demon kingdoms.  In fandom's eyes, the potential for a romance, one that outshines the kiss-kiss slap-slap relationship between Yuuri and Wolfram, is right there in front of our faces. 

This story is a realization of that potential.  Few authors manage to distill fanon and canon into a fic which comes to epitomize a pairing, and overshadow all future efforts, but Elihice did just that.  In this story, Conrad struggles with his doubts and insecurities - the tokens of his past - and dares to try again, to reach out to the one he loves best.  And it's beautiful when Yuuri reaches back.

Turning Point