Chapter Twenty

Bondage!

(Part 3 of 3)

"I just realized," Abihiko said as he picked at Nekohiko's bowl with his chopsticks. "Who will protect my honor tonight?"

Kotone had taken out her own homework some time ago. Though she was older than novices by several years, she was still only a disciple of Izumo Shrine School. And judging by how much studying she had to do every time Nekohiko had sat in her room, learning alongside her, the adept years were just as gruesome as the first one. Nekohiko had no idea how he would survive all that with his lack of any noticeable talent for Binding.

"Your honor...?" Kotone raised her head from her folded manuscript.

"Uh-hm." Abihiko clinked his chopsticks putting them down across the bowl, then smiled. "Kitten is a girl, you are a woman. There's two of you and only one of me. If anyone should feel threatened here tonight, that would be me. No?"

Kotone still didn't clue in. "...threatened?"

Abihiko smiled like sunrise. He did it sometimes when he wanted teachers or other kids -- girls specifically -- melt down at the mere sight of him. And it always worked. Nekohiko had heard many times over as girls giggled and gushed about how "cute" and how "gorgeous" Abihiko supposedly was and how girls couldn't help but dream of being noticed by him.

He guessed Abihiko was aware of this small perk. But that only made him more aggravating in Nekohiko's eyes. To not only be aware of one's strengths but to abuse them to his benefit?

Entirely too shameless.

"Ah." Kotone finally got it. She seemed unnerved by the suggestion. "Don't worry, Abihiko. I would never take advantage of you. And I will absolutely make sure Nekohiko also wouldn't."

Nekohiko calmed his mind and soul and pretended to meditate in his corner. Other people and their stupid innuendos had nothing to do with him.

Ever.

"That's not the point," Abihiko went on. "It's simply unfair that I have to yield to Nekohiko and sleep with two women from now on just because she's a girl and it would make her uncomfortable to sleep with a male senior disciple instead. Why is it that because I'm a boy, I have to be the one who gives up my comfort in favor of the girl's?"

Kotone started cleaning up the table off dirty dishes, stacking them back in the basket. "Because girls are more polite and thus are easier to force into things they don't want. See how quiet and undemanding Nekohiko sits over there?"

"Now she does, but you should have seen or heard her when she and I are alone," Abihiko grumbled into his knees. "Polite, suuure."

"What do you suggest? Do you want to sleep with Takara?"

The name worked like magic. Abihiko shuddered passionately. "No? But there are other older male students who have private rooms and so can take me and Nekohiko in."

"Who?"

"...Hifumi." Abihiko's lips stretched thin in a somewhat guilty smile. "You know. He hates noise and crowds, so the Head Priest allowed him to live alone for better studying. But he's so nice and kind, I bet that if we asked and told him about our predicament -- he wouldn't mind taking us in..."

Nekohiko had heard about the secluded bookworm pupil from the sixth year named Hifumi once or twice. But he'd never paid attention. The only thing he knew about that person was that the little girls in the novice dorm also tittered and gushed inspired whenever someone mentioned Hifumi's name.

Girls were weird.

"Hifumi isn't a bad choice, is he?" Kotone said, pensive. She gathered all the dishes in the basket and straightened up to carry them off to the kitchen. "Indeed, he's gentle and very proper, and wouldn't set a bad example for either of you. I suppose it might be worth it -- to ask him."

Abihiko's eyes lit up. "Really?"

"Mn." Kotone stuck a finger up. "Like you said, for fairness. But -- I have no real say in this, you realize." Then she dropped her finger off and pointed at Nekohiko's side. "She does. Nekohiko will be the one sleeping with you and Hifumi, so she has the right to say no if she doesn't want to."

And Kotone turned to the door, only pausing long enough to wink at Nekohiko in some secret message Nekohiko didn't get. Abihiko watched her in dismay, clearly lost at what to do next.

"Good luck," Kotone told him and walked out.

Immediately, Abihiko crawled on all fours to Nekohiko's corner and sat back like a prim, studious pupil before a teacher. "You. Me. Hifumi." He again put on his disarming smile. "Deal?"

Nekohiko went on skimming the lines of text in his school book.

"Oh come on, Neko." Abihiko slumped beside him, but not giving up yet. He dove into his cluttered piles of garbage that were his belongings and fished out of it a box of caramelized animals. He offered the box to Nekohiko with a good-natured smirk. "They're delicious. You can have as many as you like."

No, thank you.

Not even a moment passed and Abihiko already jittered again. He took a couple of small, amber-colored sharks and monkeys out of the candy box and put them on his palm. Leaning his forehead to them, he only twitched the fingers of his other hand a little -- and the Spirit Binding ritual was complete.

So simple. So perfect.

The animals on his palm already began dancing around to his wishes, their hard crystallized limbs slightly melting at the junctions to allow motion. Abihiko gave Nekohiko the widest grin and wiggled his eyebrows.

"You like it? I can teach you."

"I don't need anyone to teach me," Nekohiko said. "I'm doing fine on my own."

"All right! You don't want me to teach you, argh," Abihiko huffed and threw his animals into the wall. "But... just to be nice to me... can't you meet me halfway? Am I not nice to you even though you've never bothered to reciprocate?" He lifted his fist to Nekohiko's eyes, the white thread clear and luminous on his wrist. "We need to make this work somehow and so far, I'm the only one working. Don't you think you should do something yourself? At least once in a while? Or maybe you actually enjoy the idea of being tied to me for whoever knows how long!"

However reluctant Nekohiko was to respond, he couldn't disagree. For once, Abihiko was right. Something had to be done about the thread. A positive connection. A bond.

An attempt to bond, at least.

Slowly, Nekohiko regarded the other boy. Abihiko still had his dark hair down. They framed his pale face and huge, dark eyes, further highlighting the sole stroke of vivid color on Abihiko's face. His lips, so easily spreading into a smile.

Nekohiko dropped his gaze. "Are you really so scared of sleeping with Kotone and me?"

"I'm not scared of anything," Abihiko bounced right back. "Least of all you two. I could kick both your butts if I wanted," he added lower. "No, I just want to sleep with Hifumi."

A frown crept to Nekohiko's forehead. "Why would you?"

Why would anyone?

"What a dumb question. Have you seen him? He's the prettiest senior pupil in the entire School, second only to Morokata. But then, Morokata is Wayfaring now, so Hifumi is literally the best-looking person here right now. And since I have to sleep in someone's bed till this stupid thread dissolves anyway, why shouldn't I choose someone attractive? Get something out of this for myself. Dream big. Live a little." He grimaced at Nekohiko's blank face. "Why... why are looking at me like that? What's wrong with you?"

What was wrong with him? Nekohiko had the same exact question for Abihiko.

"How is sleeping with Hifumi 'dreaming big'? Or 'living a little'?"

"Well... Isn't life about making the best of it? Appreciating everything it offers to the fullest? Why would one not smell only the most fragrant flowers? Why not eat only the most delicious food? Why not read only the most interesting stories, or fight and sing and have fun all you can while you still can?" Abihiko's eyes glinted with some hidden light. "So why not spend time with only the most attractive people?"

"I heard other girls call Kotone cute, too," Nekohiko said. "So what's the difference between her bed and Hifumi's?"

For a few moments, Abihiko seemed caught off guard. "I never thought about it, but I suppose. She is cute. Eh." He let out a peaceful sigh. "I still want Hifumi. So... can we?"

Beyond the walls of the adjacent room -- in the girls' dorm, Kotone's voice was speaking something softly. Kotone must have already come back from the kitchen and was now saying her good-nights to the girls. It was clear that Abihiko was nervous and wanted to hurry Nekohiko up before she was done there and came back into this room, but he restrained himself with all his might.

"Please..." he whispered. "If you don't want my candy or me to help you study, then I can give you something else. Anything you want." And he waved his hand vaguely in the direction of all his gaudy stuff in the corners. "Just pick and take. And then we'll sleep at Hifumi's tomorrow, yes?"

This offer was so much more different from the rest. It was the only one Nekohiko had ever truly been interested in.

Abihiko said -- anything you want.

Anything.

The issue was -- Nekohiko himself didn't want to sleep with Kotone. Women didn't make him uncomfortable, not more than men did -- but he knew that he belonged with Abihiko, and Koki, and Suminoe, and Okinaga -- and all the other men he'd ever met. It was simple and obvious to him, like breathing. And though he wore a girl's dress and had to behave and appear to be a girl daily, part of him still wanted male companionship. And male guidance.

Sleeping alongside Hifumi and not Kotone was a strange but nonetheless reasonable way to approach that. Moreover, to free himself from Suminoe's punishing thread, Nekohiko didn't need to become Abihiko's friend. All he needed was to be marginally friendly with him, and to do that...

"You will do anything I want?" Nekohiko said, hopeful.

Abihiko realized belatedly just how vague his offer had sounded and how Nekohiko could abuse it if he wanted. And yet Abihiko didn't show any regard for that. Only an open, unafraid smile. "Anything you want."

"Promise me you'll never touch me."

Kotone and Head Priest Suminoe were observant enough that they had noticed he hated being touched without permission. Unfortunately, Abihiko wasn't an observant person. If Nekohiko had to surrender to Suminoe's ultimatum that Abihiko could be his "friend", this was the only real demand he would make.

Abihiko's eyebrows shot up. "Mm?" Then, after only a second of perplexed thought: "Sure?"

Nekohiko met his eyes, unconvinced by the other's tone. "Say it. Say you won't."

"Touch you?" Abihiko's lips quirked up on one side as though in a curious thought. "I won't. Promise. Never ever. Promise-promise."

If anything, now Nekohiko trusted his words even less. But the door slid open and Kotone was stepping through and Abihiko already seemed to get too distracted by her to pay attention to Nekohiko's distress. He leaned in and whispered hotly in Nekohiko's face.

"It's a deal, my friend. Tomorrow, we sleep at Hifumi's." Then he winked at him and got to his feet to pad toward Kotone, all excited and playful and so utterly forgetful.

At night, Nekohiko lay turning away from Kotone, looking into the feeble ray of moonlight coming in through the slits in the window screen. The snowflakes outside swirled and danced, throwing ethereal shadows in that ray of light. He lay, only sometimes disturbed by Abihiko's sudden bouts of mumbling in his sleep. He thought about how hard, or terrible, or perhaps simply alien his life in the next few days would be.

And whether he would be able to survive it unscathed.

"...dry them until I say otherwise!" Abihiko blurted again and again, in completely incoherent announcements all through the night. "...should we bring the donkey, too? My persimmons!"

Needless to say, Nekohiko's mood the next morning wasn't the best. And the worst thing about it was that Kotone wasn't complaining about a badly spent night at all. Unlike Nekohiko's obvious dark circles around his eyes from the sleepless hours, her face was clean and fresh exactly as Abihiko's.

The class they'd missed yesterday was the first class of Nagare family's Binding technique. Nekohiko didn't get a good instruction of what this skill even entailed other than... it somehow used the aspects of human temperament Bound with Spirits to manifest... energies... something...

It was too difficult to understand already! Why did he have to miss the most important class that tried to explain it somewhat cohesively?

Plus, this was the first day when the two of them had to interact and hang out with other kids... while being tied to one another. Double headache on top of the sheer complexity of the study schedule.

The two stood in the gates of the courtyard in which all the other pupils were gathered, waiting for the Nagare method teacher to arrive. The kids were fidgeting and starting snowball fights, trying to warm themselves up in the chill-through weather, bunching up in groups to gossip and tell tales and make silly assumptions about everything in the world.

Though just as cold, Nekohiko had no desire to join in. And no desire to expose himself and his current "condition". Even imagining all the mockery and fun people would have at his expense if they found out about the Thread was too much to endure.

Abihiko must have had the same thought. He slipped closer to Nekohiko and tugged at his seal-white fur coat. His breath curled in plumes in Nekohiko's face. "This is really a bad idea."

Nekohiko shifted his gaze to him.

"I mean going in there. Right into the tiger's den." Shivering even in all his layers, Abihiko nodded to the yard. "Let's go study in the library instead?"

Resolute, Nekohiko shook his head. He had long resigned himself to mockery and bullying today would bring. He had to suffer through it in order to get his education. With his frequent failures, he couldn't afford not to.

"We can't miss the second class," he said.

"You can't," Abihiko corrected. "I can. I already know the Nagare method. It's not that hard, actually."

Yes, but why rub it into Nekohiko's face? Everyone already knew how quick and clever Abihiko was -- Nekohiko above all. "That's good to know," Nekohiko said, numb. "But--"

In a fluid swoop, Abihiko sprang to stand before him, shielding the whole yard from Nekohiko's sight with his frame -- with his tall ponytail and the gigantic fur hood on top. His face was beaming. "But what? I'll teach you."

"You're a pupil." Nekohiko curled deeper in his cloak from the harsh cold. "You're not a teacher..."

"Yes. But what if teachers don't fit you and you need to look for someone else who can find a better route for you to learn through? A fellow pupil, perhaps? The gist of the Nagare method is exactly this: knowing your temperament and your needs and wants. What makes you click. And what doesn't." He gathered his mittened hands before his face like a globe. "Then you focus this uniqueness and channel it into your Binding."

He suddenly released his hands at Nekohiko as though throwing something at him. A palpable ball of warmth enfolded Nekohiko's chest, neck, and face for a few seconds, then dissipated into nothing. But before it did, it almost felt like... being inside, in a cozy wooden place filled with the heat from the hearth and the scent of pinecones and crackling logs burning on the background. A blanket, a cup of honeyed milk.

A drowsy, endless winter at home.

Nekohiko staggered. "What was that...?"

"Memory of warmth from Lord Okinaga's house," Abihiko said, proud. "Amazing, isn't it? That's the Nagare method for ya. So do you want me to teach you or not?"

What could one answer to that? Abihiko had just flung a sphere of warmth in his face -- whether as a boast about a family Nekohiko had never had, or as a simple invitation to share it -- Nekohiko couldn't tell. He only knew he didn't want to give in so easily.

He never would. This was too flashy, too annoying, simply too over-the-top for him. But with the stupid thread around his wrist...

"I don't have much choice, do I?" Nekohiko peered at the crowded, bumbling yard and the squeals amidst the snow. And then -- at the quiet, reverent hush of a library building far away beyond the mazelike galleries and courtyards.

"Of course you do. Why would I force you to study with me if you don't want to?"

It hurt to say it out loud, but...

"I want to."

"Great." Abihiko already took a mighty pace away from the class and Nekohiko had to follow suit. "But first, sis, sorry. But your beginner Binding really, really sucks. You can't expect to learn Nagare before you manage the basics, all right?"

Nekohiko halted. The thread almost went taut in between them but Abihiko sensed the delay quickly enough not to stretch it. He turned, surprised. "Don't tell me you never realized."

The icicles on the curved eaves of the dark buildings dripped in the lucid brilliance of the early sunshine. The rimy wind-chimes suspended over the gallery arches made soft, twinkling music on the chilly breeze.

Nekohiko watched the snow below his feet, aching in humiliation. "I realize," he said.

He would be an idiot not to.

"Well. Don't sweat it." Abihiko bent low to peek at Nekohiko's downturned face and smile at him. "I can teach you that as well. Or at least try to. Who knows, maybe you really are the first-ever Spirit-sensitive person in history who happens to also be a complete zero in Binding..." he added lower after a while. "But look at the bright side: you'd make history!"

That really didn't help Nekohiko's resentment.

They ended up killing the entire morning, lunch, day, and evening on Binding together the inkstones and paper sheets and cloak hems in the cluttered, drafty corner of the library. They didn't even have time for studying new material. Not only because Nekohiko couldn't get a hold of his Binding, but also because Abihiko was procrastinating. Reading storybooks and picture scrolls, and whiling his time away climbing the shelves and slinking into the forbidden section.

Some teacher, he turned out to be. The utter waste of a day only ended when it was time to go to bed. To Hifumi's bed, that was.

And even though Nekohiko was not looking forward to going into anyone's bed ever -- he was still a bit intrigued about Hifumi's persona. He'd thought before that Suminoe was the most refined, magnificent, and overall splendid man in the entire School, so with how Abihiko had advertised Hifumi the night before...

Well, Hifumi ended up being a disappointment. He was the last year pupil, dressed in dark purple robes of the senior class. He had a slender build and a nicely-shaped face with stark, straight eyebrows. His hair was as dark and flowy as Suminoe's, and his manner almost as sophisticated. It was clear he was a scholar. A calm, gentle person not much burdened with the world outside of studies and papers.

But he wasn't tall, or majestic, or exuding some otherworldly aura as the Head Priest did. Hifumi wasn't... legendary in any way.

He was nice enough, though -- because the first thing he did when he opened his door in the older pupils' dormitory wing, was let Abihiko and Nekohiko in. And he didn't utter a single word as he did.

"Kotone must have told you about our predicament?" Abihiko smiled as brightly as ever, his eyes all but devouring every of Hifumi's motions as the older pupil closed the wintery evening off and waved the two toward an already unrolled bedding for three.

The light in the room was so blinding that Nekohiko had to squint after the vague, soft darkness outside. Hifumi was reading books stacked and splayed all over the small confine, so all the lanterns were blazing.

"Yes. She did," Hifumi said, eyes curved in a smile his lips didn't take. "Please feel yourselves at home."

"Uh-hm." Abihiko plopped to the bed on the floor beside Hifumi who was in the middle. Abihiko snuck glances at the young man. A faint pink glow spread over the boy's pale cheeks. "What are you reading?"

Nekohiko suppressed a sigh and slowly crept to his farther side of the bed.

"A book." Still as patient and smily, Hifumi flashed the cover, then resumed his reading.

"Oh wow. A book." Abihiko bit his lip, only a little bit dismayed by Hifumi's reluctance to support a conversation. "What kind of book? Do you like reading? I do. I read all the ti--"

"Shhhh." Hifumi put his thin finger to his lips, then gave Abihiko and Nekohiko on both sides of him a careful glance. "Shh."

And proceeded to read on.

It didn't register with Abihiko for quite some time but after more prodding and more "shhhhh"-ing from Hifumi, the boy finally conceded. But not really.

Following Nekohiko's example, he prepared for sleep quickly enough, yet unlike Nekohiko, he snuggled in the covers as close to Hifumi as he could. In fact, only after a minute of trying to fall asleep lying on his side, Abihiko began squirming and fidgeting. And thus, he ended up putting his skinny arms around Hifumi's torso.

Like the most shameless person in the world.

"I'm cold," he told Hifumi when Hifumi gave him an amused look.

"Mn," Hifumi replied with so much indifference as he returned his gaze to his book that Nekohiko almost wanted to object on Hifumi's behalf.

So inappropriate. So... ugh.

He turned away, frustrated, and couldn't fall asleep for another long and arduous night, full of searing lights and Hifumi's endless page-rustling, and then Hifumi's loud snoring and Abihiko's sleep-mumbling.

Which... double ugh.

But when he did manage to fall asleep at last -- in the first budding rays of cold grey light filtering in through the door screens, he was woken up by something much, much worse than snoring. And much worse than talking. And even much, much worse than his crotch being splashed with water by some bully girls.

Somebody was hugging him.

No. Not hugging -- strangling him, really, with how tight and invasive and oblivious the touch was.

Nekohiko opened his eyes to a pale face sleeping soundly next to him, the boy's chin nestled safe on Nekohiko's chest, his cheek splayed on his shoulder, red lips half-open and drooling.

And Abihiko's arms... twining around Nekohiko's torso like no big deal!

"You--" Nekohiko began rising, too horrified to even finish his sentence.

Where was Hifumi? Why were they the only ones here? Why was this... this...!

"Hifumi, don't go," Abihiko mumbled in his sleep, then snuggled even closer to Nekohiko. In fact, he dumped his leg on top of him as well. When Nekohiko tried to at least unclasp his arms, the arms only leadened.

You promised, Nekohiko wanted to scream at him as loud as he could if only he wasn't too shocked to try. You promised to never do this! And the very day you promised, you--!

Abihiko sucked in a bit of drool that escaped the corner of his lips and rubbed the rest of it on Nekohiko's hair.

"Please, just..." Nekohiko began but was denied again.

"...eat your own damn cabbage!" Abihiko blurted out. He didn't even bother to wake up.

And that appeared to be the end of the discussion.

Queenfisher

Sorry about my chibi obsession but here's another fanart I made with chibis, now for this part of this chapter. Which is just the two main characters sleeping together! You'd think it would be hot with this being "BL and all" but actually... it's just nonsensical. (With it being me writing them, duh). Enjoy (^^):

Spoiler

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