...as Tezuka is to Ryouma

Some musings on the relationship between Tezuka and Ryouma, because Lynn got me thinking.

See, one of the things I find rather obnoxious about the Pillar Pair frenzy is that way too many of those stories take it for granted that Tezuka and Ryouma are already together or, at least, in love.

And I think that's totally unrealistic.

Aside from the fact that Ryouma gives no indications whatsoever of being romatically cognizant of anyone at all, yet, his relationship to Tezuka is not inflected romantically. At all.

He's obsessed with Tezuka. Tezuka is his lifeline, his living example that there's another way to be strong than Nanjirou's. His avatar of possibility--both his own possibilities for real growth and the possibilities of meeting other strong and interesting players if he progresses in tennis.

As for Tezuka, I think Hal got it in one. Tezuka also sees Ryouma as an avatar--Tennis Incarnate. And Tezuka is suffuciently obsessed with the game itself that he will do anything it takes to let/make Ryouma advance and fulfill his potential. If there's love, it's an utterly aesthetic thing, not romantic at all.

Tezuka and Ryouma are not in love. It would be (and, in fact, was for me) extremely difficult to get them to be in love. Their absolute focus on each other is a wonderful thing to play with, but it IS NOT ROMANCE.

Rules of CLAMP

... because you know they tell the same story every time.

1. The villain probably isn't. No matter how many horrible, cruel things he does, it always turns out that he's acting for higher neccessity or love (occassionally twisted) or some such. Female villains, however, are more likely to actually be villains and, in fact, incarnations of evil and darkness.

2. If it's small and cute, it's probably an avatar of chaos and destruction.

3. At least two thirds of the love affairs will be tragic, involving the partners eternally parted or only requited in death or some such. The primary love affair has about a three quarters chance of succeeding, but only after buckets of angst.

4. There will be at least one, and more likely two or three, cross-generational love affairs. These have the best chance of succeeding, even outweighting the primary love affairs. If the primary affair is cross-generational, you can be pretty well assured it will prosper.

5. The world will be destroyed, or nearly. The likelyhood of an eleventh-hour save with a TON of mess to clean up and emotional scarring all around is about three quarters.

6. The only way to deal with a shadow-self is to accept it, rather than fight it.

7. Pure-heartedness conquers all. Though it usually gets severely trodden on in the process.


Based on the above, I'm expecting that Fuuma wants to be killed by Kamui and is trying to provoke him into it, but that the overshadowing dark Kamui will be reabsorbed just in time for the sun to rise over a world in ruins, running with the blood of absolutely everyone else, probably including Fuuma himself, but not actually ended because Kamui managed at the last minute to save it. Not that it will do him any good to have done so.

Remind me again why I read these people?