Chapter Ninety-One — Kiss Me Bitter
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Some brief cultural references I am sure nobody would ever get about my native culture, lol ^^. This chapter's title is a reference to some weddings in my home country and happily-married couples being screamed at by the guests to kiss, by telling them "Bitter!". Which means that something on the wedding feast is so bitter that the two newlyweds need to kiss to make it sweeter. clear.png

I am unsure why this reference is here since it does nothing for the story (the titles aren't part of it, lol) -- but I just thought it was cute clear.png. Though it is Russian, so here's the second part of that reference, which is actually Japanese-based ^^:

This song is called "Kiss Me Sweet", by Yuki Kajiura, and I feel it fits the mood of the chapter nicely because it is so melancholy and anxious!

 

Chapter Ninety-One

Kiss Me Bitter

 

 

His skin shot through with galvanizing intensity at the kiss, and his mind calmed down. Like magic, this worked. Every single time.

Abihiko lingered the caress of his lips against Nekohiko's cheek as though not wishing to draw away, but then he did. Dreamy, he inhaled the piney scent of Nekohiko's skin, then opened his eyes.

Nekohiko skewed his gaze at him, too, and for a few heartbeats, all they did was stare at each other in some lost daze.

Well, Nekohiko wanted to tell him. Speak.

Speak! Don't torment me more!

Momentarily, Abihiko blinked away. "You will not like what I will tell you," he said, his voice reserved. "You came to me for answers and, I suspect, for reasoning that would make sense to you..."

Nekohiko listened, growing colder and colder inside.

This wasn't happening.

Abihiko wouldn't tell him? He would lie to him? He would trick him? What?! No.

His anger once more rose up inside him and he almost leaned into it on his own volition. "You... murderer! Do you deny what you did--"

Already, the Dark Sisterhood's spell flared within.

"--that you slit my throat while telling me not to be mad at you for that!" Nekohiko's voice growled with the ferocity of Demonic Spirits, so furious he became. "Is this what you've been doing here with me for the last few days?! Wanting me to not get mad at you? For murdering me!"

"No."

This time, Abihiko kissed him softly on the earlobe, the whisper of this one word agonizingly sweet in Nekohiko's ear. Goosebumps and static erupted across his skin, and he came back to his senses with it.

But not quite. Once he remembered what Abihiko had just told him, his anger surged once more.

Abihiko predicted and prevented its attack by covering Nekohiko's ear with small, tender pecks. His lips swept across the soft skin, lighting it up with a trail of intense, deep heat.

Nekohiko flinched away from the sensory overload and found his knees weak. He almost fell, having lost track of where they were and how dangerous the terrain around them. Minutes ago, he had unleashed an inferno upon this sunroom, and the floor was still sticky with melting metals and uneven with the crumbling wood and stone.

Abihiko caught him.

He steadied him against Nekohiko's resistance. Without waiting for him to respond, he pulled Nekohiko's arm around his shoulder and took him by the waist.

"If we talk about this now, let's find some better place first," he said, taking his first steps away and toward the nearest room with the lounging cushions on the floor.

Dazed, Nekohiko walked side by side with him, grateful that Abihiko hadn't made a suggestion to carry him and hadn't tried to lift him up against his will. Abihiko still respected his autonomy, somewhat.

He still treated him as an equal.

But not as an equal worthy of knowing the truth, apparently.

Nekohiko sagged down into the cushions, then pulled Abihiko next to him, to lie down alongside each other. Abihiko dithered, but gave in -- because, really -- this was the most efficient way for them to interact if Nekohiko was constantly relapsing into the Dark Sisterhood's rages. This way, they had the freedom to move aside from each other all they wanted. But they also were close enough to keep each other under control.

Nekohiko's head fell heavy on the cushion. His eyes looked up listlessly, waiting for Abihiko to mirror his actions. Abihiko lay down with a dark, wary expression in his gaze, slowly putting his head opposite Nekohiko's on the same cushion.

Like two little children, wanting to see the same dream just because they shared a pillow.

Abihiko's dark-brown eyes clung to his, and an odd sense of warmth and security enfolded Nekohiko as he peered back. He gulped, then shifted his body closer so that they could almost touch each other.

Yet not too close. Just a sliver of distance between them.

And leagues of secrets and lies.

Nekohiko would see every bit of half-truth and avoidance flickering in Abihiko's eyes if he dared to trick him. He would hear every word he would say. He could reach out to him and touch him each time he felt like losing himself before the rage...

Perfect...

"What do you mean -- I would not like what you'll tell me?" he asked, blunt. "Will you lie to me?"

"No," Abihiko answered simply. "I will tell you the truth. But I will choose how much."

...

Nekohiko's breath caught in his throat and he wanted to strike him that same moment, but Abihiko disarmed him with a tender brush of his lips against Nekohiko's nose. Not even a kiss. Just a tickling, hot breath that sparked all of Nekohiko's senses in shock.

"Neko, no," Abihiko whispered. After his maneuver, he stilled a bit above Nekohiko as though holding him down. "What happened in the Emerald Palace five years ago, happened because there was a plot against you. I gather you know that much."

Yes.

"Suminoe told me everything. About the Lords, about your motivations, and how the Lords abused them," Nekohiko said. "So you don't have to bother to repeat all that--"

I just want to know your version.

Why you did it.

And why so... cruelly.

But the second Suminoe's name had been mentioned, Abihiko stilled above him.

"You talked to Suminoe about this?" Deathly pallor drained his features. "When. Why... What did he tell you?!"

...

Nekohiko hesitated, not sure how much he could tell Abihiko and how much he should withhold any information.

But then, he realized he didn't care. What would he withhold this information for? To scheme and plan behind Abihiko's back?

He was tired of scheming. He just wanted honesty.

"He told me that you were jealous of my relationship with him and that you felt he and I were much more intimate than our Spiritual father-son bond. And that was what all the Lords used to get to you and convince you to betray me with," he said, hollow.

He carefully noted Abihiko's reactions -- a subtle, pained hardening of his jaws against each other.

Nekohiko balked. "Is that true? Was that what you believed about me and him?"

How... could you?

Abihiko gave him a chilly stare. "No. Years ago, you told me there's nothing between you and him, and I trusted you. I don't go back on my promises, Nekohiko. And harming someone because of jealousy is the last thing I'd do. It is beneath me. But--" he added, and Nekohiko grew scared again. "You and Suminoe did... interact in the manner that would rouse suspicions from the others. Most people would fail to call it anything other than romantic."

...

No.

Nonono.

What?

"It is not your fault, Nekoiko," Abihiko told him. "After you opened the last seal, you did blank out on most things that were going on around you at that time. I know that you would never be romantic with anyone in the world, so I was never jealous." He still sounded hurt, for whatever reason. "Especially with Suminoe. I know that you see him only as your parent figure. Which is why it is so horrifying that somebody had abused that connection between you and him. Twisted it and made it appear... different."

"What do you mean by that?"

Nekohiko swallowed a hard knot, grabbing hold of Abihiko's lapels.

Suminoe... and him? How?

Impossible.

"Suminoe would never have any sexual or romantic desire for other people!" Nekohiko cried, shocked. "So you're not making any sense! I just talked to him recently and he was still like he had always been! He's cold and aloof and... like himself," he repeated stubbornly.

"Neko," Abihiko suddenly said, his brow tense. "Why do you keep talking about him as though he's alive? Do you not remember what happened to Suminoe right before you unlocked your Utsuro seal?"

Ah?

...

As though he's alive.

"He is alive!" Nekohiko screamed, frustrated. "He never died! Or if he did -- I revived him almost immediately! I brought him back to life! I... did that!" His eyes smarted with burning tears and he squeezed his eyelids shut to get rid of the blur in his sight. "I would not allow him to die, so of course I had to bring him back -- is that not obvious?!"

Abihiko watched him in some bizarre horror.

"You didn't bring him back to life," he said at last. "He died. Defending you and me. Neko, you tried to revive him... but you failed."

"No, I did not!"

"Neko..."

 

 


*

 

 

Nekohiko had always tried to force this painful memory out of his mind, but of course he remembered it all too painfully.

It was the last memory he had in perfect clarity before his death at Abihiko's hands. The memory that at one horrible, dreary night half a year before the siege of the Emerald Palace, Suminoe had... fallen in battle against the Dark Sisterhood.

That bitch named Nao had carved out his chest and throat with her knife and left him dying on the ground.

Nekohiko could still remember the shaken fright and panic that shackled his limbs in immobility when he had seen that. And how, right after Suminoe's death, the Spiritway seal that was inside him, opened.

It was the seal Suminoe himself had put into Nekohiko, so of course it would open upon his death.

But before his mind had become too numb to react to the seal's effect on him, he still had managed to do one last thing.

He had turned to Sakai, the Lord of Utsuro, and asked him --

Open the last seal inside me.

Make me omnipotent.

Give me the ultimate powers a human can have in this world. The powers over life and death.

After all, being the Emperor with fully unlocked powers, would it not be possible for him to resurrect Suminoe there and then? He had always thought that he would refuse opening all the seals in his lifetime. That he could maybe survive without his powers fully unleashed.

But then, at the sight of his only father figure dead by his feet, he had only been able to think --

I need him back. Now.

I cannot go on to the Throne without him.

I need help.

I am weak.

I cannot do it on my own.

 

 


*

 

 

The rest of it was a blur, because of course Sakai had let him open the Utsuro seal. And the two seals opened at the same time... it hadn't been a pleasant experience. Nekohiko's mind had gone down into fogs and blankness for a long, long time, only aware of the barest threats and events around him.

Yet he still remembered that he had cast the spell that would Bind Suminoe's cold, lifeless body back. A powerful spell bringing a person back to life in their own body. With their own soul. Their mind. Their very self.

He distinctly remembered succeeding. He had seen Suminoe rise up from the dead five years ago.

He had witnessed it.

It wasn't just a mirage or a hallucination.

Abihiko was... mistaking something now if he thought that Suminoe was dead... 

Because Nekohiko had done everything in his power to defeat death itself. Suminoe was around and walking -- these very days. Talking to people! He was here -- and everyone recognized him including the Great Lords like Okinaga and Sakai, who had known him for a long time.

So what was Abihiko saying right now? It didn't make sense!

Above all, gods, why were they having this conversation instead of the one about Nekohiko's own murder?

Rushing, Nekohiko pressed his parched lips against Abihiko's throat, as if in a ravenous kiss. Trying to make himself focus away from the rising fury inside him.

"I revived him," Nekohiko growled in futility. "Who the hell is this person who walks around and is even in charge of the Spiritway faith at the moment? Suminoe had held our wedding as the Head Priest of Izumo! The Spirits recognize him as their leader!"

Abihiko slowly pushed himself away from Nekohiko to take a good look at his face. Thoughtful, Abihiko stroked Nekohiko's hair as though wanting to placate him.

"It's... Morokata."

...

"You are insane," Nekohiko breathed. "Why?! Why are you telling me such nonsense?!"

"Suminoe is a bizarre fusion of Dark Sisterhood's Puppetry, Hibiki's skills at animating inanimate objects, and Morokata's knowledge of what makes Suminoe -- Suminoe."

No...

Nobody could be that good to manage to trick people for five years! Including Suminoe's own family members and former friends like that!

"This Suminoe Puppet is quite like yourself," Abihiko finished, studying Nekohiko's doll-like form beneath him. "Actually, I think you failing to revive Suminoe correctly is what had given Morokata, Hibiki, and Nao the idea of how to make such perfect dolls for their business afterward. In fact, Suminoe was their very first such doll. One that you have, inadvertently, made."

Nekohiko shook his head, refusing to believe. "I did not. I... gave him life back. I--"

Abihiko brought his forehead to Nekohiko's, this subtle touch bringing him back into focus. "It's not your fault. Nobody can revive a dead person, Nekohiko. You did the best you could and Morokata had abused your attempt..."

Suddenly, Nekohiko opened his eyes, realizing something.

A cold suspicion wormed through him.

"Are you lying to me?"

Ahhh. That would be such a relief.

But then, he also felt deep in his soul that Abihiko couldn't have been lying. Suminoe of the present was... odd. He was a bit different from his usual self. Not always, though. Sometimes he felt much more like the one Nekohiko had known from his past. Though, other times -- no.

It confused Nekohiko to no end.

But part of him came up with a painful explanation already: Suminoe only behaved like his old self when he was aware Nekohiko was nearby. Whenever he wasn't, he didn't bother to feign his old habits and demeanors.

Which could actually mean that... Morokata only bothered to act as the real Suminoe when there were people who had known the real Suminoe, close by?

"I don't understand..." Nekohiko said helplessly.

Abihiko stroked his hair, careful and gentle. Each stroke -- an added breath of warmth against Nekohiko's skin.

"Ask yourself," Abihiko said, "where is Ashflake?"

Nekohiko blinked, stunned.

Indeed.

Ashflake... Suminoe's Spirit Fix ally... Nekohiko hadn't seen it here in Nara, but neither he'd seen it back in Nagare. Or even five years ago, during the siege of the Emerald Palace.

Ashflake had simply disappeared from sight back then, yet nobody noticed. Because nobody had cared about it that much other than Nekohiko and Abihiko, and with Nekohiko being too numb after his opened seals...

It would have been nearly unnoticeable to everyone -- that anything changed at all.

...

"Ashflake is gone?" Nekohiko asked, unable to comprehend. "Even in the Spiritside?"

"I haven't managed to find even the trails it left in the world. It was gone, just as Suminoe, and nobody noticed the difference. Morokata can trick most people with his use of Hisome magic because his and Suminoe's aura scents are so similar. And besides, Suminoe's body bears the traces of his old Spirituality, so that helps it too," Abihiko went on, his tone low and eerily quiet. "You did a good job bringing him back when you tried to revive him. But you brought back only his body... a bit of his personality and mannerisms along with it. But not his soul. His soul was gone with Ashflake, the moment he died."

"Let me go," Nekohiko choked out, feeling like he would throw up from the overwhelming swerve of emotions. "Let me go -- I need to breathe... I feel faint."

Abihiko wanted to help him up.

But Nekohiko didn't even let him before his mind circled back to his previous pains. "And when you say that it looked like this... Puppet Suminoe and I were romantically-involved," he whispered, horrified, "what do you mean by that?"

Oh gods, no.

If Nekohiko hadn't been very aware of his surroundings while he'd been spacing out after the seal-opening, and if Suminoe's body was commanded by someone as vile as Morokata... then--

Nekohiko's heart sped up erratically in revulsion.

"Oh gods," Nekohiko breathed, covering his mouth with his hands. "Don't tell me something happened between him and--"

"No. No, don't worry -- nothing happened. Neko, listen to me. Everything is fine. You did nothing wrong. Trust me." Abihiko leaned close. His breath scalded Nekohiko's face as he pulled Nekohiko once more into a hug.

But through all of their clothes, Nekohiko could still feel the tremor in Abihiko's body and the echo of his heartbeat pressed against Nekohiko's back from the side.

Abihiko was in turmoil, too.

That helped, somewhat.

Being alone in such a twisted moment would have broken Nekohiko into pieces. It took him a few moments to gather his thoughts back on track.

"If you weren't jealous and you still trusted me till the end, then..." Nekohiko forced himself to say it, through force. "Why... did you kill me?"

Before the last word even left his mouth, he rose up to Abihiko's face and kissed him.

It was as though lightning struck between them. 

So much force and frustration were in that kiss, that Abihiko had no energy to reject it or turn aside. He stilled and let Nekohiko overpower his resistance and gnaw at his lips with the ferocity of a wild animal hungry to satisfy its base urges. Nekohiko breathed hard, filling the air between them with heat, clouding his thoughts even further.

But his mind was perfectly clear. Even with the resentment boiling inside him from the question. Only after he thought it was safe to lean away, did he break the kiss, breathless and buzzing with tension.

Abihiko had lost his breath as well.

With his lips broken and bitten till they bled, and his eyes so bright and grave, his face was a painful sight.

Simply unbearable.

...

"I killed you because I had to," was all he said.

 

 

 


***

 

 

...

Did you?

Did you have to do it like that?

Are you sure?

It hurt, to be betrayed by you like that. So much.

Are you absolutely fucking sure you had to do it...?

"Are you the one who put my soul into the tree? Did you mean to save me with that?"

"It's not important now. You're here, so I can make sure you're safe."

"It is important to me! I want to know -- how you did that? And why like that?"

This odd plan of saving him had worked, obviously. But...

How painful this type of saving had been.

Nekohiko hardly remembered every second of this agonizing conversation because almost every other sentence between him and Abihiko needed to be warded off with tender, yet bitter kisses that meant no passion between them. But they were passionate nonetheless. In a different, darker way than most romantic passion implied.

Even in the heat of the conversation, Nekohiko only focused on the words they were saying between them.

"You would have been murdered anyway, and it was the only way out of that situation. You were... inconvenient to everyone. They would have removed you just to clear their way."

"Clear their way from what? Inconvenient..." Again, this word. Such a hideous, ugly word! "Inconvenient how? Whose paths had I crossed and when?"

He could not remember if he'd done anything truly bad to the Great Lords other than keep them in check from assaulting each other as they had often wanted to do during their war council meetings.

"Who wanted me dead? Out of the Lords -- which one?! And why did it have to be you of all people--"

But he already remembered hearing why.

During his chance interactions with Okinaga and with Morokata, Abihiko had said a couple of times that Nekohiko would not allow anyone else to come too close to himself during the last months of his life.

That sounded... understandable. Nekohiko had never allowed others to come too close to himself. So no doubt that under the heavy Spiritual strain the two released seals put on him, he had only allowed Abihiko to be near.

And nobody else.

But still. To abuse his small weakness like that...

"Every Lord wanted you gone," Abihiko replied. At this question, he became avoidant and dismayed, and that only made Nekohiko prod more and more out of him.

"Why? Why every Lord? What have I done to them?"

"Gods," Abihiko spat at some point, wanting to push him away. "Nothing! Do they even need a reason? You know how they are -- they are scheming and selfish! Of course they wanted you dead because you were too good at reigning them in and they hated that!"

...

It almost sounded believable.

But Nekohiko did not trust it one bit.

At that time of their tortuous talk, Abihiko was already in clear pain from having to relive that time anew, and in great aggravation. He had never been a very patient person. And Nekohiko had often felt that Abihiko was coming very close to snapping.

Yes, he. The traitor he was, wanting to snap at Nekohiko -- for asking too many questions.

How come? What was wrong with the questions? Did Abihiko hide something he did not want Nekohiko to know?

And if so -- then why?

"Daichi and Etsuko said that I was, apparently, some kind of a monster everyone wanted dead," in anguish, Nekohiko told him. "That I became a... calamity they had to get rid of. Tell me, what did they mean and why--"

"That was the lies everyone fed them. Propaganda against you," Abihiko cut. His voice was harsh as though finally having had enough. "They were just repeating the lies. They were both old and easily-manipulated by others. Think nothing of it."

...

"They seemed pretty convinced as was Arata," Nekohiko went on. "He even tried to kill himself at the realization that I was still alive and free."

Abruptly, Abihiko's eyes flashed toward his. Abject fear was in them.

"Arata also knows about you?"

Abihiko shut his eyes down hard. His nostrils flared as he breathed and he spoke through teeth, as if barely able to maintain his demeanor. "Please tell me you let him end his life. Or that you killed him yourself."

Nekohiko wasn't interested in discussing that. "What have I done that everyone wanted me dead? Why call me a monster? Tell me the truth! I can take it!"

"Nekohiko, is Arata still alive out there? You didn't kill him?" Abihiko growled, sitting up as though willing to run right now and take care of it regardless of what Nekohiko thought about that.

Enraged, Nekohiko wanted to grab him and pull him back down to the cushions, Abihiko only smacked his hand aside. "I told you I will choose what I want to tell you and what I won't. I won't tell you shit about all those people's grievances with you. Because they are all wrong. You are not a monster! Understand?"

Nekohiko also rose up, grim with the desire to tackle him down if necessary.

"Aren't you a martyr, doing all this for me and killing me so softly and tenderly nobody out there suspected you have pretended to do it! That was very good acting on your part, wasn't it? I almost believed it myself. Thank you, for being so kind to me you only had to plunge me into the pit of despair for whole five years while you were doing... what exactly? What was your grand plan all this time? To bring me back? Well, you sure sucked at it because I almost got murdered several times before getting here--"

But if Abihiko felt any remorse or injustice at being told this, he didn't show it.

He was only obsessed with the idea that Arata was somewhere out there, knowing about Nekohiko's return.

Desperate to understand, Nekohiko clutched his sleeve when Abihiko wanted to abandon their talk and flee. He jerked Abihiko back to himself, not letting him even make a step away from him.

"What was your plan? All of it -- I want to know all the details and all the why's and how's and what-for's," he demanded, drawing Abihiko back to himself. "What do you intend to do now and why--?"

Abihiko's cold gaze almost felt like a slap to him now.

"No," Abihiko said. "What you know already is enough. Now please, we have to go -- I have to make some orders to the Imperial guards and send them out to get Arata as soon as possible. Please tell me you didn't speak with Chinatsu yet?"

Chinatsu. The Utsuro bodyguard in Nekohiko's entourage from five years ago?

Why?

"These people need to die," Abihiko told him grimly. "Like Daichi and Etsuko."

"That can wait," Nekohiko said. "First you tell me what the fuck was your stupid plan with the tree -- how you did it! How you put my soul inside the tree and why there? And what happened to the tree in the Emerald Palace's inner gardens? Why is the tree trunk rotting beyond these walls? What does it mean? And where did you even get the powers to do all that--!"

Abihiko's jaw flexed under his skin, at the edge of his patience. "I said no. Didn't I? Some things, I will not tell you."

"Why the hell not! I need to know them."

"No, you do not," Abihiko snapped, at last.

Nekohiko could not comprehend. "Why not? Abihiko, you say you wanted to save me -- but why through Binding me with the tree? Why not through some other method? Why--"

"The Emerald Fir tree out there," Abihiko spoke stiffly, but much calmer than with the previous question, "is Spiritually connected to you. It is your family's own Great Spirit. I could hide you inside it and not have others notice your soul still lingered nearby.

"That's all there is to it."

Nekohiko absorbed the idea diligently. Abihiko's explanation was reasonable. But when Nekohiko recalled what he had witnessed in the inner Palace garden. The terrible state the Great Tree was in...

His spine crept with a chill.

"The Spiritual taint in the tree right now." He nodded toward where the Tree stood, vaguely. "Why is it like that? Is it because my soul had resided in it for five years...?"

If so, then what the hell had been wrong with Nekohiko's own soul if that was the effect it'd had on the vessel it was in? It must mean that Nekohiko's soul had been tainted as well to have destroyed the tree like that. 

Tainted with... what?

But the moment he tried to ask Abihiko about that, he met the same rigid rejection.

"This is not important," Abihiko kept lashing at him. "It has nothing to do with you now and how to help you, all right?"

"The more I know, the more it helps me rationalize everything correctly," Nekohiko replied stubbornly.

"I said -- NOT important."

...

Abihiko could exhibit such a menacing demeanor after he'd grown up. There was something truly Imperial about him when he got angry at Nekohiko for prodding too much where Abihiko did not like being prodded. In fact, Abihiko was trying to finish this conversation as soon as possible and leave. Arata's existence clearly bothered him too much, but Nekohiko only felt that Abihiko wanted to divert the topic of the discussion away from the things he wanted to keep secret no matter what.

But it didn't curb Nekohiko's need to know. It only exacerbated it.

As though not meaning anything by this, Nekohiko reached out to Abihiko's hair and twined his fingers into the red silk ribbon. He slowly pulled the ribbon out from around the ponytail, making Abihiko's hair come undone and flow down his back in an overflowing cascade.

Abihiko blanched back, unsure.

Tugging the ribbon to himself, Nekohiko spoke up, wishing to distract. "You sounded much more promising when you and I talked before we married," he said. "You sounded apologetic. Regretful. You sounded like you would tell me everything I need to know if I go with you to some... safe place, as you called it? Was it here? Was it your vault? Why invite me to come so much and so often if you are not willing to talk to me in all honesty?"

Abihiko watched him fidget with the ribbon in his fingers but didn't seem suspicious of it yet. Which was good.

Nekohiko was fully intending to find out all the truth today.

Or never.

He was not done with this person until Abihiko talked -- whatever it cost him.

"Neko, our primary enemy right now is Morokata. He and the others have schemed against you five years ago. Trust me, if they know you are alive and well -- they will unleash the same schemes against you and me all over again! I only wanted you to be safe where I can see you," Abihiko told him, a slight annoyed note in his voice. "Because you were running around, allowed yourself to be taken advantage of by Morokata and Hibiki. I don't even know what deals you have with Kataji -- but I don't like it either. Kata is a vulnerable young person. You should not abuse him, Nekohiko."

Nekohiko flared up.

"I do not abuse him!"

However hard it seemed for Abihiko to accept this answer, he nodded. "All right. If you say that -- I trust you. But please, please, don't hurt him. He does not deserve to be a chess piece in your and my or anyone else's Imperial scheming games. Yes?"

Yes. Absolutely.

Nekohiko bit his lips, anxious.

"The safe place where I wanted to take you is not anywhere in the Emerald Palace, don't worry," Abihiko said, his voice getting fonder by a margin. He almost smiled, although some sadness colored his features somber. "It's a small house I rent in Nara, but it's protected by my spells, so nobody knows where it is. You could have gone to live there and not become the victim of Morokata's or Sakai's or even the Nagare and Hira scheming while you stay in Nara. All those Lords... they are not your allies, Neko. Don't forget that."

He was so miserable when he said it -- that Nekohiko nearly believed him.

"And once I went into that house with you," Nekohiko said, perplexed, "what would you do there? Would you tell me not to ask you any questions like you do now?"

Abihiko's face paled in a flash of disbelief.

"I answered plenty of your questions already! And yes -- if you want to know that, then yes! I would not tell you anything I do not want you to know about! I only wanted you to come to safety with me so that I can make sure you are not going to ruin my plans with your stupid meddling!"

Fascinating.

"Your plans? Which are--?"

"Drop the topic," Abihiko said, low and menacing. "It is of no matter to you, trust me. As long as you are safe and I am aware of where you are, everything that I have planned five years ago will go as intended. I promise you that. Whatever my goals are, they will not harm you."

...

The truth wouldn't hurt, you know.

So far, Nekohiko gathered that Abihiko couldn't talk to him about two things: what had actually happened to the Spirit Tree of his family. And what is the end-goal of Abihiko's putting Nekohiko into the tree -- other than to have him come back to him once he had awoken.

The issue was -- these two mysteries were the most crucial ones. Nekohiko could swear that if he knew the answer to them, he would know why had Daichi, Etsuko, and Arata been so horrified of him. And why everyone had wanted him dead five years ago.

He could feel it, without even hearing the answers.

This was the ultimate reason for everything bad that had happened to him.

And somehow, Abihiko knew it all and kept this secret for years.

But he did not want Nekohiko to know, even now.

"So you lied to me," Nekohiko mused. "When you said you'd talk to me when we fought on the roofs. That you would explain everything to me if only I went with you. Tch. Well, now I am with you -- and you still wouldn't speak.

"You lied. Again," Nekohiko stressed, pained. "But what did I even expect from someone like you?"

Abihiko shrugged, seemingly hurt, too. "I don't care what you think of me. Just do not leave my side for the next few weeks, all right? There will be Kasuga's trial soon, and it's after that trial -- that I'll tell you everything. I swear."

... Huh?

Kasuga's trial? What was so important or specific about that event?

"You and I will make this work," Abihiko kept going. "We will manage. As long as we are together, nothing can harm us--"

And he sounded so sincere when he said this...

But Nekohiko refused to believe this was it. That Abihiko would hide something from him unless he wanted to manipulate him. All his lies before the wedding only amplified this treacherous feeling in him.

He tried the last possible justification before doing what he needed to do to punish Abihiko for his lies.

"Is somebody listening to you and me?" he asked, hope brimming in his voice. "Is there a spell that prohibits you from telling me the truth?"

"What? No. Don't be ridiculous. But, to be fair, you are a Puppet made by Morokata. Do you think I'd tell you anything of true worth? Please." Abihiko scowled, eyes rolling. "We need to go and deal with Arata as soon as possible. Please, Neko--"

Nekohiko squeezed the ribbon in his hands, readying it for what he wanted to use it on.

"You can tell my seashell or my cat form," Nekohiko tried again, unable to accept that Abihiko was just this stubborn and vile, to keep his secrets no matter what.

Yet this was exactly who Abihiko was.

Stubborn. Like all Hiras.

And vile like... only himself.

Abihiko's eyes narrowed, a faint gleam of aggravation swelling inside his gaze. "No. Neko. Drop this topic."

"It's easy for you to say when you are not the one left continually in the dark by everyone you have once trusted," Nekohiko began saying, only to have Abihiko explode on him.

...

"I waited five years for you to awaken and come back to me! I was fully prepared to wait fifty years or a hundred if that would be the case!" Abihiko said, exasperated. His eyes burned so brightly, reddening on his pale face. "And you can't wait less than a month before that damned trial?! Do you really want to know what I wanted to do once you wake up in the tree? Do you?"

...

Nekohiko gave him a blank look.

"I am going to give you your human body back, you idiot! But to do that -- I need to have all my plans go exactly as I prepared them! And I absolutely cannot tell you about them all! Are you kidding me? Can't you understand that the reason I can't tell you anything about why I had put you in the tree and what I want to do with this -- is because the plan will crumble if anyone other than myself knows about it?!"

Nekohiko was not in the mood for being yelled at.

Especially by someone who had just acknowledged that he had lied to him repeatedly. Even after Nekohiko had come back from the dead to him.

The words about Abihiko wanting to give him his real, human body back rang inside his ears, but Nekohiko was too numb to absorb them yet.

What would he care about his own body? This body served him just fine... for magic spells to punish, most of all.

Unlike the hot rage the Dark Sisterhood's resentment caused in him, this shade of anger was much more frigid and calculated in his mind.

He wasn't losing control of himself, of that he was certain. He was solely responding.

Paying back for lying to him and yelling at him now.

His hands snapped into a quick Binding spell. It wasn't an attacking spell, so the marriage Bond did not protect Abihiko from its effects. More than that -- Abihiko had become so used to the marriage Bond's automatic protection, that he didn't even bother to dodge the spell when Nekohiko cast it.

The red silk ribbon lashed at Abihiko's wrists, instantly tying them together -- firmly, a bit painfully, even. Abihiko didn't get to gasp in surprise, and Nekohiko already swung the spell upward, Binding the end of the ribbon to the high ceiling.

"What--!"

Shocked, Abihiko breathed out when the ribbon jerked him up to his feet, stringing both his arms above his head like a prisoner's would when the jailers would suspend him under the ceiling in ropes or chains. Abihiko's back arched, his arms strung up tautly. He glanced up at the spot where the ribbon connected to the ceiling, then down at Nekohiko.

The thought process looked very confused and frustrated in his eyes. He was tied up. By Nekohiko. And suspended off the ceiling for Nekohiko's amusement.

Nekohiko tilted his head, scoffing.

That'll teach you how to lie to your husband.

Liar.

"Neko, what the hell--" Abihiko growled, his fingers trying to force out some meager spell to break the ribbon's hold. But he failed. Nekohiko had made sure Abihiko's wrists were tied in a specific position that would not allow him to cast.

With a dejected groan through his teeth, Abihiko yanked himself up on the ribbon's weight, lifting his body and curling inward, trying to rip the ribbon in half with his teeth. 

How uncouth of the Imperial Majesty.

Breaking his binds with teeth. Like a wild animal. Tsk, tsk.

Nekohiko could only shrug. He flipped a few small gestures of another spell, then cast the improved durability spell onto the ribbon. To make it sturdier and far more difficult to bite through.

Just for the fun of it.

"Aaaargh! Are you kidding me?!" Abihiko spat. "Neko! Let me go!"

But Nekohiko already turned away from him, strolling peacefully and majestically through the rooms. Toward the doors. He wiped the leftover trails of tears from his cheeks, and checked to see if his Imperial robes were decent-looking.

If Abihiko wanted him to take care of Arata, so be it. Nekohiko could do it himself.

But he didn't need Abihiko with him, did he?

Abihiko clearly would want to kill Arata on sight, so it was not helpful to take him along. Arata was... a fine choice, Nekohiko thought.

If Abihiko didn't want to tell him the truth about what had happened five years ago and why all the Lords had wanted him dead, then Nekohiko could squeeze the truth out of Arata before it was too late and Abihiko ordered that man dead.

No?

"NEKO! Neko, come back right now!"

A great plan.

No lying or secret-keeping would be necessary after that.

With a powerful strike of his Binding aura, Nekohiko blasted the entrance doors of the Imperial chambers open, silencing and scaring all the Imperial bodyguards and Hisome and Towa soldiers behind it into an utter hush.

Yes.

His true magic imprint -- the Imperial Binding aura -- was open for everyone to see and to tremble before.

At last.

 

No worries. Like promised, the two sillies will stay together, even though Neko may run around, impressing people with his powers and destroying some buildings in the process... |.O)

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