Chapter Sixty-Seven

Just Desserts!

 

Abihiko's hands were still frozen in the air -- one squeezing his scroll document, the other with the chopsticks which held a piece of a buttered mushroom in the tips. With Abihiko's face caught so off-guard, the overall image he presented was... charming.

Or stupid.

Gloating deep inside, Nekohiko went with "stupid".

"I... um..." Abihiko's struggled to speak, but he obviously did not know what. Even his voice croaked with a sudden shock. Belatedly, he tried to stand up only for Morokata to bluster at him.

"What are you doing? If the Emperor stands up during dinner, it means the dinner is over and we should leave. And we haven't even eaten yet!"

Abihiko stilled, even more at a loss as to what he could do now.

"Lady Kinouchi?" he asked Nekohiko raspily. "Or Lord... Itsuki..."

"It's the second one." Nekohiko rose from his bow. "Forgive me for confusing Your Majesty with my names, but your brother and I were afraid that there would be rumors if he came to the official reception in the Palace with a man as his date. And an artificial man, at that. But I guess, in the end, Your Majesty felt too suspicious of my fake names, and thus, I made a bad impression on you."

"Not. Not at all," Abihiko stammered. "It was my fault, Lord Itsuki."

"Ah, never! How could that be The Supreme Divine Majesty's fault?" Nekohiko cried as was appropriate for the courtly dialogue with the Emperor. "It was mine all along!"

"I... apologize for the misunderstanding between us," Abihiko forced out. "Whatever it may be."

Nekohiko had wanted to go on with exchanging the courtly pleasantries but Abihiko's last statement caught him off-guard.

Whatever it may be...?

...

Whatever it may be?! you bastard?

Did he really think this meager apology could double as an explanation for him having slit Nekohiko's throat as well, perchance?

Ha. Ha-ha.

Nekohiko let out a dry chuckle, feeling his whole body tense up with unbridled rage. He shot Abihiko a murderous look but squeezed out another appropriate compliment for the Emperor.

"Please, take my undying gratitude for allowing this unworthy person to dine with you today, Your Majesty. I only wish I can pay you back for such a grandiose favor one day."

Abihiko nodded, stiff. "I am sure you will. I'll be awaiting it with great pleasure."

"Oooh, the pleasure will all be mine!"

All of a sudden, Abihiko's eyes squinted in a subtle little smile and Nekohiko resented that.

What are you smiling about, wretch?

Argh, how he yearned to wipe that smug smile off his face with a delicious punch. Or maybe a resounding face-slap. Pity the two of them weren't alone.

But at the same time -- good that they weren't alone! If they were, Nekohiko would have already abandoned all pretenses of civility and would probably stab Abihiko with the first thing he could lay his hand on. A hairpin, a shellfish knife, a chopstick -- anything!

Morokata at least gave Nekohiko a chance to behave. So he did.

Abihiko and he exchanged another round of courtly smalltalk which must have been painful to listen to because Morokata soon started massaging his temples. "Abihiko, please stop being so choked. I know my doll son is very attractive and you have, apparently, thrown a tantrum on the reception when you saw him last time -- but, please. Have some decency."

Abihiko's brows knitted together. For the first time since he'd seen Nekohiko, his gaze flashed to Morokata. It was not a kind gaze. "Your 'doll' son?"

Instant, Abihiko's narrowed eyes swooped up and down Nekohiko's body, trying to see the imprints of Binding craft inside his wood. And with how experienced Abihiko was as a Binder, he would be able to identify Morokata's and even Hibiki's mastery in a short time, no doubt.

"Yes, my adorable baby doll." Morokata reached back to hug Nekohiko by the shoulders.

But it was not a mere hug. Morokata's arm snaked down Nekohiko's spine and twined around his waist. Then, with a powerful jerk, he pulled Nekohiko to himself the way a lover would.

From his middle being squeezed so tightly and so suddenly, Nekohiko let out a gasp when his body crashed into Morokata's. Playful, Morokata smiled at him then directed his innocent face at Abihiko.

"In any case, your unexplained interest in my doll son and your own brother's sex toy is indecent. So, could you please control yourself?"

Abihiko hadn't even been doing anything, but Morokata's statements still made him stiffen with guilt.

"Dear future Brother-in-Law, what are you even talking about?" Abihiko asked. "Do not jest."

"Ah, forgive me! I'm still a bit confused with your passionate reactions to faces like this one." Morokata snapped his fan closed and pointed with it to Nekohiko. He turned to Nekohiko as though elaborating solely for him. "Just last week, several of my bachelor friends with whom Abihiko spends some leisure time in his bedroom and who were wearing the glamors with similar features to yours, baby doll, could not bear the full force of His Majesty's passion. Smoldering. Smoking-hot passion, you know? He burned them all alive, in the end." He turned back to Abihiko, still hugging Nekohiko to himself teasingly. "And now you dare tell me you don't know what I'm talking about? Tsk-tsk."

Abihiko's jaw hardened. "Could you two maybe stop squeezing each other for a second? This is dinner, not a..."

"Mmm?"

"Not a pleasure feast," Abihiko ended, dour.

"Pleasure feast? Is that what's on your mind even now, future Brother-in-Law? Pleasure feasts? Orgies," Morokata sighed, shaking his head. "You are marrying my cousin the day after tomorrow. Please restrain your mind from such devious topics! It's time for you to learn maturity and respect for your future wife, don't you think?"

The mushroom that Abihiko held in the tips of his chopsticks finally plopped down to the table because his fingers had smashed the chopsticks together too hard.

From within the seashell, Nekohiko could feel Abihiko's pulse, quickened in rage.

How Abihiko held himself off from exploding, Nekohiko didn't know. But he applauded his newfound ability to keep his cool. And he applauded Morokata's ability to harass Abihiko right to his face without Abihiko being able to do anything about it.

It was bizarrely delicious. And the dinner hadn't yet begun!

The servant girls brought Morokata's and Nekohiko's courses and began arranging the myriads of tiny bowl dishes on the tables. Morokata glanced at the dishes, then motioned the girls to move the two tables together. Leisurely, he strolled over with Nekohiko in tow.

Abihiko cleared his throat and moved his hands as though pointing to the other tables. "Please, you may sit down. No need to stand since the dinner is already on the way. Let us simply continue with it."

"Yes, let's," Morokata said. "But just because you are irritating me with your misbehavior, perhaps you ought to be taught a lesson in faithfulness to your future wife and what temperance means."

Huh?

Nekohiko did not understand, but then Morokata led him to their two merged tables and sat down.

And when Nekohiko also wanted to sit down in his own chair, Morokata pushed the chair away and instead pulled Nekohiko to sit...

...on his lap.

Gods.

Morokata's lap, of all people?

Yet when Nekohiko wanted to spring up and flee in revulsion, he caught the reaction on Abihiko's face. The ashen, grim shock of it. The satisfying scowl, slowly deepening on Abihiko's brow.

And all of a sudden, he did not want to run anymore.

"Future Brother-in-Law," Abihiko gritted out through his teeth. "This is inappropriate."

Nekohiko agreed, but only marginally. Because, while being inappropriate and intensely disturbing, this was also fun.

Just look at Abihiko's frustration. Just look at it, Nekohiko told himself and no longer minded sitting on Morokata's lap that much.

"Owwww!" Morokata gasped when Nekohiko's bottom finally plopped against his thighs. "Your butt is a solid block of wood, Itsuki!"

"Well, technically, yes..." Nekohiko whispered.

Morokata already turned to Abihiko, pointing angrily with his fan. "Also, what's so inappropriate of me wanting to spend some quality time with the doll I helped make? He seems to like it!"

Abihiko dropped his gaze, clearly fuming but trying to restrain himself. "Not in front of me. After all, this person belongs to... my brother. I do not think Kataji would be happy to find out that he sits on other people's laps for whatever reasons."

...oh?

"I had no idea Your Majesty would protect Kataji's property with such fervor." Nekohiko tried to sound impressed. "Especially after yesterday morning. I felt that Your Majesty's views on His brother's belongings have been drastically different then..."

"And I already apologized for that," Abihiko snapped. After a pained pause, he must have realized his temper slipped. "Khm-khm, but forgive me once again, Lord Itsuki. I would still prefer that you dined in your own seat as the courtly fashion prescribes--"

Morokata ignored him, still squirming under Nekohiko's wooden butt.

"Ah, young Kataji is some kind of a sexual deviant for making himself a doll with no fat or skin anywhere other than its face." He glanced at Abihiko, pouting. "Have you any idea how rough and hard a wooden bottom is?"

"No. No, I do not."

On the Emperor's pristine, sculpted face, something akin to a nervous tic was taking hold, making one of his eyes twitch and his nostrils flare.

Fully enjoying it, Nekohiko hugged Morokata around the neck with his arm and shifted on his lap to not bruise it too much.

"Better?" he breathed into Morokata's face.

"Only a little bit," Morokata said. "Now call me Daddy, as you should. Come on, come on! I want to hear it!"

...

That's it.

Fun times were fun, but there was no way in hell he would ever call Morokata "Daddy". Nekohiko shifted his gaze to the plethora of dishes on their merged table and inhaled the rich aromas, excited.

"These all look so delicious," he moaned, taking a whiff from here or there.

Red pickled plums in simmered oil sauce, fried omelette pancaked with pork and dark green vegetables under a garnish with shrimp and a drizzle of red spices, soup stuffed with spidery mushrooms, spring onions, bamboo roots and topped with rich, creamy egg yolk, cakes and rolls glittering with roe, glistening seaweed, and caviar -- and the number of various dumplings, their dough so fine, Nekohiko could see the insides through their translucent surface!

If only he could taste even a little...

Morokata beckoned one of the server girls and whispered something cute at her so that she giggled and nodded cheerily in response.

"What wouldn't I do for my only doll son," Morokata sighed. "This young Lady is willing to give you her ability to taste and appreciate and absorb food for the duration of this meal. Isn't that marvelous?"

It was. Yet Nekohiko felt uncomfortable with casting such a spell right in front of Abihiko or Morokata. He didn't want to expose his Binding imprint to them yet.

Luckily, Morokata took it over from him. Just a small wave of Morokata's hand -- and he quickly transferred the girl's needed aspect to Nekohiko even without Nekohiko needing to ask.

"You're welcome, sweetie!" Morokata reached to pour him and Nekohiko a cup of rice wine, each.

And lifting his eyes at Abihiko for just a glimpse of Abihiko's horridly pale face, Nekohiko couldn't help but smirk at Morokata in return.

"Cheers," he said and clinked his cup against Morokata's.

Morokata saluted Abihiko next, but Nekohiko did not. Ostensibly, he overturned the wine into his mouth and held it in to fully appreciate the burn -- the shock -- the unpleasant harshness of alcohol on his tongue. He had always been indifferent to alcohol. He didn't hate it, but he also didn't feel the need to enjoy it. Yet now -- everything in him wanted to savor the moment.

Pleased, he swallowed, then put the cup down near the wine jar as though to hint to refill.

His breath exploded in gasps as he coughed. "Is the Supreme Divine Majesty not drinking? Is the wine not to His Majesty's taste? I found it marvelous!"

"He'd drunk his share in this life, trust me," Morokata laughed, hugging Nekohiko to himself only tighter. "A little abstinence won't hurt him, in all the ways one can abstain from life's indulgences! Care for a little plum?"

He held up a small red pickled plum before Nekohiko's mouth with his chopsticks. Polite, Nekohiko leaned in to pick it with his lips, but Morokata laughed meanly and put it into his own mouth instead. He did this again, now with a mushroom, then with a slice of a fried pumpkin... Sometimes he baited Nekohiko with dangling food before him and taking it away only to tease him more, but most of it ended up with him eating and chortling about it like a true, first-year school bully he was.

Nekohiko didn't mind, especially because he could eat just fine with his own chopsticks and drink even more without any chopsticks at all!

And drink, he did. Three -- or four cups of wine already? In any case, he was enjoying himself and enjoyed Abihiko even more.

Abihiko was whispering resigned curses under his breath and glowered in the direction of the two merry diners ever so often. At some point, he tried to distract Morokata with some governmental news, but Morokata shrugged it off, busy feeding Nekohiko coyly.

"Are you not eating yourself, my dear?" Morokata inquired when he noticed Abihiko's stiff pose. "But this dinner is so delicious!"

Yes, yes it was.

"I do not have the chopsticks," Abihiko said.

Morokata's eyebrows shot up. "Why? I thought I saw them in your hand some time ago!"

Bitter, Abihiko motioned for the servant girls to give his tray dummies another pair. His voice was so low, Nekohiko had a hard time hearing it. "They seemed to have broken."

Indeed, at the edge of his table, his chopsticks still lay, splintered and bent. What entertained Nekohiko even more was that Abihiko had always been content with fixing things with his Binding. Yet now, he was so distraught the thought hadn't even occurred to him.

"Ah, but whyyyyy? Do not tell me it's because Itsuki and I are having so much fun while you sit there so dull and lonely that you have to entertain yourself by snapping your chopsticks in half." Morokata suddenly lent a more intimidating hue to his tone, winking. "Next time, do not incinerate my people, and I will let you play with my dolls in return. All right?"

Abihiko did not respond to the taunt this time.

"Thank you for helping me punish and tame my poor, feckless Future Brother-in-law," Morokata murmured into Nekohiko's ear, and Nekohiko nodded, in too nice a mood to disagree.

But then, unwelcome, Morokata's fingers brushed Nekohiko's hair off his neck with such tenderness, Nekohiko almost squirmed at his touch. Such a suggestive, intimate gesture.

At least, this was what it would look like from the side.

"Do you think we should drive our point to him even further by talking solely in whispers to each other and giggling sometimes just for the sake of it?" Morokata went on, merry. "How about now? Come on, giggle as if I just said something funny and cute!"

However much he despised Morokata, Nekohiko had to give him this: he was a man who knew how to get the maximum out of a small premise of two people dining.

Nekohiko curled in from Morokata's insistent murmurs tickling him and allowed himself to giggle in the stupidest way imaginable. His laughter twinkled in the silent room, reverberating with echoes, prompting Morokata to want to tickle him even more.

Nekohiko leaned over to Morokata to whisper, "Where is the book I asked you to carry for me?"

A separate small revenge, that.

Earlier today, when Morokata had only tortured Nekohiko with dressing up for the Palace, Nekohiko hadn't minded any demands put on his outfit. He hadn't cared what he wore as long as Morokata took him here.

But he had asked Morokata to give him two specific items, and to allow him to bring them to the Palace. One was a red maple leaf that Nekohiko had prepared in advance, carefully and gleefully. The other was a bigger thing, so Nekohiko had to rely on Morokata's dimension-expanding magic to carry it for Nekohiko in his sleeve: a small tome about the records on tax evasion in the Empire in the last two decades.

Both had simple reasons behind them. When Abihiko had talked to Nekohiko's wooden statue in his bedroom, he had asked him whether that body was the same as the dummy human Nekohiko currently used. Abihiko had been at the end of his rope with despair, clinging to every last bit of hope that the wooden statue he had made was actually alive and not useless for communicating with Nekohiko.

So he had asked it to put on a red maple leaf in Nekohiko's hair as a sign that it was the same body.

And he had asked him to carry the book on agriculture in his hands as a sign that Nekohiko was willing to talk to him.

And he had asked him to quote legends about Emperor Jimmu as a sign that Nekohiko wanted explanations and wanted his apologies and was mad at him, and not indifferent like a cold piece of wood that was in Abihiko's bedrooms right now.

But the thing was -- Nekohiko didn't give a damn about what Abihiko had asked. He was here to gloat at his long-craved dessert of vengeance, and gloat he would!

Morokata did not care for the reasons. He pulled the book about tax evasion from his sleeve and gave it to Nekohiko as Nekohiko reclined against Morokata's chest. With the book in one hand and a refilled cup of wine in the other, Nekohiko started turning the pages meaningfully.

Abihiko's attention snapped to him as though trained.

"You enjoy books, Lord Itsuki?" Abihiko's lips tugged in a tentative smile as he clinked his new set of chopsticks over his bowls, unable to choose what he wanted to eat. "Do you read even during a meal?"

"Ah, forgive me, Your Majesty! I forgot myself for a moment with how comfortable and charming His Majesty Morokata was being..." Nekohiko slammed his book closed, only talking the bookmark from inside it to reveal to Abihiko that it was a red maple leaf. "I would never read one in your presence. That would be so disrespectful of me."

"No, no!" Abihiko swallowed with difficulty, his eyes flashing from the book to the maple leaf in Nekohiko's fingers. "Please do if you like. Your book looks very intriguing, too. What is it about?"

But Nekohiko only shrugged.

"I do not care about tax evasion, really. I originally wanted to bring a book about agriculture with me, but then I realized -- who would ever read that or carry it around? Only weird and stupid people, and I am not such, ha-ha. Not anymore, at least. I then hoped the tax evasion might be a better read, but -- alas." With an aggrieved sigh, he pushed the book away. "Such stuff bores me to death, Your Majesty. But you if like books like these, please read and carry them around as much as you wish. I would be happy to give them to you so that you could."

And to further make his point, Nekohiko ripped the maple leaf in his fingers to shreds, throwing them aside with not much thought. He was busy downing another cup of wine anyway, so the leaves made only a meager salute of red dust somewhere off his table.

"Actually, I second that thought," Morokata echoed him, lifting the tax evasion tome. "You should read it, future Brother-in-Law. On your honeymoon! Wouldn't that be such a great idea for cooling down in between all the marriage consummation activities?"

...

What was this pleasant lightness in Nekohiko's head? It had the scent of rice wine vapors and made Nekohiko slightly dizzy. Mellow, he laughed out loud at Morokata's last statement.

"Aww, marriage consummation! To the happy couple!" Nekohiko said, slurring. He raised his cup, belatedly noticing it was empty. From out of nowhere, a note of resentment crept into his voice. "A whole month spent together on consummating marriage without being able to leave -- yes? How romantic. Sacred seclusion, all that."

"Yes," Morokata replied, ever so elegant. "But it's actually more than one month. You see, the olden traditions had always been worried about preserving the lineage of the Imperial family. Only the firstborns in the line inherit the Binding powers of the Emperor, and thus, the moment the Emperor and his bride marry, it had been of utmost importance that they make an heir as soon as possible before any other descendant of the line makes a firstborn in the new generation! Thus, our ancestors had even set up arrays and spells in a ritual to make it so the new couple would not leave each other's vicinity until the baby is conceived. Nowadays, we would never do something as drastic as that, ha-ha! But the cultural significance of the sacred seclusion remains. This time, the council decided that the ritual might do good to the Supreme Divine Majesty -- not for any reproductive measures, of course, since the current line is very safe from the concerns of the past. But just to grant the Emperor the peace of mind for one, maybe three months. To take his thoughts off worries and improve his health while His Majesty is resting."

"Oh wow," Nekohiko sighed. "So thoughtful. One-to-three months of seclusion. Nobody from the outside being able to break the barrier for so long..."

Morokata made big eyes as he sipped his wine. "Half a year was my suggestion, but nobody supported that."

"Could we maybe... stop talking about it?" Abihiko had already given up on deciding on what he wanted to eat. In fact, he looked like he would leave any moment now. "I have no interest in these private conversations and I would bet neither does Lord Itsuki."

"This is so, so beautiful," Nekohiko breathed, waving his empty cup to the servers behind. "I feel like crying just from hearing about how Emperors reproduce in their natural habitat. The best premise of a love legend I've ever heard!"

"It is! Just imagine how two people, previously uninterested in each other as it often is in royal marriages -- are forced together for the most intimate of activities! For months at a time, mmmm!" Morokata smacked his lips in deep appreciation. "Actually, there are many exciting little legends about such premises being shared among the young people these days. They are very popular, especially among young women."

"I bet they are!" Nekohiko noticed that Abihiko was tossing his napkin aside and obviously trying to stand up and leave, so Nekohiko hurried to add, "Myself, I am more of a fan of the legends about the great heroes of the past and their feats of valor. Like Emperor Jimmu, for example."

"Mmm?" Morokata blinked, intrigued. "How did we go from discussing the traditions of Imperial copulation to Jimmu, I wonder..."

But Abihiko stilled. Very slowly, he raised his eyes to meet Nekohiko's, and there was almost a plea in them. A plea to give him even a sliver of hope.

A sliver, Nekohiko could give.

But only because he wanted to see later how Abihiko would once again try to convince that wooden statue in his bed that he and Nekohiko absolutely had to talk!

"My most favorite legend is the one where Emperor Jimmy chases that scum Demonic King to the north to exile him back to where he came from. Because the Demonic King's original tribesmen had exiled him from there as well! I always found that punishment to be so blissfully poetic. Twice an exile, crawling back to his home because his exile had exiled him back, ha!" Nekohiko splashed a bit of wine on himself as he waved his cup in mirth. "My memory fails me, though... what was the name of that disgusting, pathetic, obnoxious, despicable monster of a Demonic King again...?"

"Demonic King Abihiko," Abihiko said softly.

"Ah!" Nekohiko made a startled gasp in mock-horror. "Your Supreme Divine Majesty! How could I have made such a terrible mistake! Please forgive me -- I have no idea you are named after such a vile person! No doubt you are so much different from him, not at all like him, not even a little bit!"

"Well." Abihiko let out a tired breath as he forced a smile on his face as he regarded Nekohiko. "I think people did call me Demonic Prince Abihiko when I was young, but that is quite different, isn't it?"

"Is it, though?" Nekohiko mouthed, then turned away because he disliked how his own heart lurched at seeing Abihiko smile at him gently.

That sliver of hope.

So, he had just given Abihiko that. Now what?

"You seem to be enjoying the meal, dear future Brother-in-law," Abihiko told Morokata, then nodded at his own untouched plates. "Unfortunately, I have no appetite, so I thought I better depart. But you may continue dining if you wish."

Morokata had now only begun gracefully nibbling at a piece of a fried shrimp, so he gave Abihiko a disappointed shake of his head. "As if we would stop. Itsuki and I have just begun having our fun! But please go all you want."

"Actually," Abihiko said, rising. "I notice Lord Itsuki hasn't eaten much and thus, might share my lack of appetite. So while you eat, dear Morokata, why don't I give Lord Itsuki the tour of the Palace I've promised him last time we met but haven't actually delivered?"

Rigidly, as though afraid of an ambush or a cruel joke, Abihiko stepped down his dais and walked down the dining hall, pausing beside Morokata's and Nekohiko's table. He lifted his hand like an invitation to follow him, then gave Nekohiko a hungry, demanding look.

"I have a bit of spare time if so," Abihiko whispered.

...

He had time. To talk.

And though Nekohiko did not want to give Abihiko the pleasure of agreeing to what he wanted to do, he still wanted to have a private moment with him, too.

Nekohiko's breath actually fluttered in his chest, so trembly he became. As though ordered, he stood up, drawn to Abihiko's hand.

But Morokata held him back. Because he was also getting up to his feet.

"A tour of the Palace? You've never given me any," Morokata complained, upset. "Well, since you have the time, how would I ever refuse to join in? Let's go! The food can wait -- after all, isn't your wedding feast going to trample this one anyway?"

And thus, the dinner was apparently over -- with Morokata's airy laughter reverberating under the gemstone ceiling and his patting Abihiko on the back as he pushed him to lead the way out of the dining hall to show him and Nekohiko the Palace halls.

Yet the revenge desserts were still in the process of being served.

 

 

---

***

 

"Wouldn't this Palace be an amazing setting for a few months of loverly bliss?"

Morokata had taken the lead in the small impromptu tour of the Palace because Abihiko was not in the mood for discussing the architecture or the history of the place while Nekohiko had trouble walking.

Why, one might ask?

It was odd. Nekohiko had no idea why his legs kept tangling because he did not feel that much drunk after only a few cups of wine (about seven? or nine?), but his pace down the halls was severely hobbled. Thus, he had to rely on Morokata's steady arm around his waist to keep him vertical. And because of all of this, Morokata looked as though he was babysitting both Nekohiko and Abihiko.

Well, who cared?

Nekohiko had grabbed the jar of wine from the table before they left the dining hall and occasionally gulped from it even during Morokata's lengthy expositions about the state of the art ornaments or the columns. Or about how the Great Third Legendary Emperor had had an accident in this exact spot while spying on one of his wives and had trapped himself inside the floor from the waist up and had to be fed by his servants in this position for days because his Binding powers had had a spasm and couldn't work for a while.

"So his legs were dangling in the floor below while his torso and head were here -- it is a very historical moment in the long lifetime of the Emerald Palace and a worthy guide would have told us all about it," Morokata said pointedly, giving Abihiko a dissatisfied look. "But, alas, our guide seems to have lied about giving us a meaningful tour of the place."

Abihiko stopped some feet away, only his profile visible to Nekohiko. It was a very, very grim-looking profile.

Abihiko's gaze flashed with frustration, but he kept his cool. "To be honest, dear future Brother-in-law, I am not very good at guiding people, so any of my talents in this area would no doubt pale in comparison to your own."

Nekohiko snorted in his jar of wine because Abihiko's sophisticated manner of talking was so funny to him, for some reason. Truth be told, on any other occasion, people who talked back to the Emperor the way Morokata and Nekohiko allowed themselves to do now, would have been imprisoned and punished accordingly.

But this being a clearly fake and guilty Emperor, he let them abuse himself without so much as raising an eyebrow.

Just look at the heavy glares Abihiko threw at both Nekohiko and Morokata as they stumbled through the hallways. Or the subtle flexing on his fists in his sleeves when he caught another moment when Morokata whispered something velvety in Nekohiko's ear.

"For someone who has no talent in being a tour guide, Your Majesty has invited or pushed my insignificant person into tours of the Palace already three times," Nekohiko drawled. "What exactly would you show or tell me about the Palace if you say you lack any skills in doing that?"

"Precisely. Why did you invite Lord Itsuki to tour him?" Presently, Morokata sparked up with a terrible suspicion. "Was it to put moves on your brother's doll while nobody is looking?! Of course it was. All you do is chase after young men, even if these young men are made of wood. How shameful."

"Your Majesty Morokata?" a careful voice called them from the back.

The dummy servants Morokata had sent off some time ago came back. And from behind them, a pastel-colored flock of Hisome girls was approaching.

Stark in the center of that flock was Sakami. In her usual gentle robes of pale-cerulean skies and buttery yellow sunlight, Sakami looked as pure and refreshing as always.

"Sweet Cousin!" Morokata gasped, beaming. "You're just in time."

"Good day, Dear Cousin," Sakami's melodious yet bashful voice replied. "You summoned me?"

Apparently, Morokata had sent the dummies for her during the dinner, but Nekohiko had no clue as to why.

Both sides of the hallway they were in were arcaded with thin columns of gilded wood. Past them, one of the inner gardens of the Palace spread. The afternoon sun was pure honey, dappling Morokata's playful face and Abihiko's somber one in shimmering light. Breeze threaded through the halls, twinkling in the chime harmonies that hung beneath the arches and filling the air with the most transcendent music. Petals from the garden flowers and fallen yellow leaves floated into the hall, descending on Nekohiko's hair and cheeks gently. They tickled. He smacked them off.

But even though he was very irritated with his light drunkenness, Nekohiko still had to acknowledge this scene was very beautiful. Like a classic scene from a romance legend about two lovers meeting.

So when the Hisome girl group parted to let Sakami out and Morokata leaned in to peck her on the cheek, Nekohiko understood why.

Why Morokata chose this romantic setting and why Sakami had to be here.

With a powerful gesture, Morokata pushed Sakami toward Abihiko. "Please take care of your future husband, sweet Cousin. You should never let him be by himself. Nobody should, with how aggressive and unrestrained he can be."

"I am so happy to see you again, Dear Cousin." Sakami bowed to Morokata. Then she braved a glance at Abihiko but did not dare to step closer to him. The color of fresh, ripe peach blossomed on her fair cheeks in blush. "Your Majesty."

"Lady Sakami," Abihiko responded politely. But he didn't meet her eye and didn't even try to look less intimidating.

Sakami's lovely, smitten face betrayed hurt when her future husband did not care to regard her, and she drew back as though shoved. Then, belatedly, she must have noticed Nekohiko hanging off Morokata's shoulder. She wanted to greet him, too, but Nekohiko for some reason was not in the mood for her.

"Please to meet you, Lord...?" Sakami began.

Nekohiko already turned aside, downing another mouthful of wine.

"Lord Itsuki of House Abi," Abihiko answered for him. "He's feeling a bit ill and out of sorts after the meal, so do not worry about him, Lady Sakami."

A bit ill and out of sorts?

Pffff!

"No, no," Nekohiko retorted. "Not ill at all -- just overflowing with mirth, Your Majesty. Congratulations to the happy couple." Nekohiko saluted with his jar, now to Sakami's face. "I wish you two a long and fruitful union. So, so romantic, ah."

"Thank you," Sakami answered with a panicked bow.

Abihiko did not respond. But he sure gave Nekohiko a glower that could freeze oceans, so cold it was.

"What congratulations? Look at them, tsk." Morokata was getting annoyed with Sakami's fear at being so near to Abihiko and Abihiko's indifference toward her. The young man let out a crushing sigh. "You are to be married the day after tomorrow. Yet you both look as though you don't even know each other! Do you have any idea how unsatisfying your wedding ceremony is going to be for all the people who will come to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event? Stand a bit closer, hold hands, at least. Have you tried to get used to one another, at all?"

"They'll have one to three months to do that, don't you worry," Nekohiko scoffed back at him.

"And nobody else to give them a nice example on how to do it correctly? Hmph! Two trees have more passion than our future Emperor and Empress here." But as Morokata tilted his head to the side, pondering Sakami's flushing face and Abihiko's stony impassivity, a sudden bright idea seemed to have come to him. "Well, there are always lessons to learn from others, you know."

Huh? Nekohiko had no idea where Morokata was going with this, so he lost himself in admiring the landscape view from within the arcade.

Just then, Morokata twisted his arm around Nekohiko's torso and yanked Nekohiko into his tight embrace, chest to chest. The way Nekohiko's body slammed into his gave Nekohiko vertigo.

Yet even that quickly vanished from his mind.

"Future Brother-in-law!" Abihiko exclaimed, enraged -- but too late.

Morokata's mouth landed right onto Nekohiko's lips. Without so much as a warning, or a question, or an invitation.

Just... this!

And though Morokata's eyes were open and Nekohiko could see just how teasingly-mischievous Morokata was being with the deepening kiss -- Morokata's cool, swift, and very aggressive tongue pushing past Nekohiko's teeth did not feel like this was a joke.

At all.