Chapter Ninety-Six

A Honeymoon Trip

 

Nekohiko's stomach dropped.

How did Kataji know his real name? Since when??

Understanding crested over him with ache and frustration. Of course... Abihiko had barged into The Doll Palace, screaming “Nekohiko!” and dashing to Nekohiko as he did. At first, he hadn't even noticed Kataji nearby, so if Kataji had paid attention to his brother's actions, he would have seen for whom Abihiko had come here...

Spirits, so dumb.

So stupid!

Nekohiko wanted to slap his own face but found nothing better to do than to shove himself rigidly away from Abihiko as if Abihiko's proximity scalded him.

Abihiko didn't sway from the push. Yet he seemed startled by it nonetheless. Startled, or hurt.

No matter. Many people were hurt around here. One less, one more – same difference.

“Kataji!” Nekohiko jumped over the rubble to get to Kataji and Mikawa faster. The two of them stumbled out of the side corridor, supporting each other and peering around them with horrified, ashen faces. Though Kataji wasn't so much horrified as he was dazed and disheveled.

The sight of him made Nekohiko ache.

“Are you all right?”

He caught Kataji from the front, clasping his hands over his shoulders and steadying him on the shifty rock grit on the floor. Mikawa let Kataji go, instead focusing all his attention on Sakami who stilled nearby as though she was some ghost, unable to leave, forced the haunt whatever gathering she was in, unneeded.

“I am fine,” Kataji replied in a hollow voice, then raised his sunken eyes a Nekohiko.

A strange smile touched Kataji's lips as he stared at Nekohiko as if not recognizing. His fingers twitched to reach out and brush Nekohiko's bangs out of his eyes.

“Are you fine, too, Nekohiko?”

“Mmm?”

Nekohiko couldn't tell why he was humming and why he was blinking at Kataji like a silly person.

Why was he still pretending as though this wasn't his real name?

"What were you and my brother doing, Nekohiko? I thought I saw--"

"Whaaaaat? Nooo, nothing important!" Nekohiko gushed, cold with dread. "We were just standing close, and he is bleeding, so I helped him wipe the blood off his face."

Desperate, he began rambling. Gods, he was scared so much.

“Nekohiko,” Kataji repeated, savoring the word. “Not Itsuki, huh? Nekohiko.”

…

“Are you wounded, Kataji?” Shaken, Nekohiko patted down Kataji's right arm, trying to be patient and careful so as not to dislodge an already broken limb.

But to his touch, no matter how thorough he was being, Kataji's arm didn't feel fractured at all. Through the layers of his robes, the bone felt whole... Bound together.

Mikawa? Was Mikawa's Binding level so high at thirteen that he could do the Imperial Fusion healing on another person so easily?

Nekohiko lifted his face at Mikawa in shock, but Mikawa only shook his head at him. “Lady Sakami fixed it before she rushed away,” the boy said. “She helped me fix my bruised throat as well...”

Indeed, Nekohiko remembered how severe Hibiki's damage over Mikawa's throat had been, yet now there was not a trace of the bruises. The boy's frail throat was pristine-white and healed.

"Ah, Sakami... thank you," Nekohiko began saying.

But a firm, oddly demanding squeeze over his wrists stopped him.

Kataji clutched Nekohiko's fingers in his own – and crushed them in his solid, fervent touch.

He had never let his eyes go of Nekohiko's face and kept looking at him, devouring Nekohiko's image as if starved for his attention and wanting every last bit of Nekohiko to reciprocate to his gazes, to his caresses.

But the young man was also silent. Neither stating anything, nor asking.

Solely fulfilled by holding onto Nekohiko with all his might, no matter what happened.

"Nekohiko..." Kataji repeated, soft. "It's a pretty name. It fits you so well..."

Nekohiko swallowed with difficulty. "You think so? I was actually trying to hide it from everyone because of how... recognizable it is. That was why I didn't tell it to you and Aomi... and everyone else."

Kataji's eyebrows shot up. "Ah. That makes sense. Of course."

Yet his hold on Nekohiko didn't ease one bit, and Nekohiko started to feel threatened by Kataji's intense, dazed attitude. He knew how deep Kataji's disappointments in other people went. He knew how easily Kataji could push people away if he was upset with them.

And Nekohiko couldn't allow that to happen. Not now, of all times.

Sakami thought he was an awful person, Mikawa did, too. Now Kataji?

Was everyone either leaving or ending up gravely disappointed in Nekohiko lately? His so-called friends and allies were distancing themselves from him one by one, and though he had never felt the need for other people before, now... he felt terrible to lose everyone like this.

He wasn't a bad person! He had never intended to trample anyone or to manipulate them!

He had just wanted... to survive and heal back his broken Empire. How had he ended up being thought of as either a liar or an utter monster?

If Kataji was leaving him now, too, who would be ever left standing on his side?

...

Behind them, someone was slowly coming closer.

It was Abihiko.

Kataji stiffened at his approach but didn't turn to regard him, solely focused on Nekohiko.

"Tell me, Nekohiko," Kataji called. He seemed to like repeating this name, again and again. As though a new fascinating tool for him to toy with. Kataji narrowed his eyes. "Why does this name sound so familiar to me? I am unsure of where I have heard it before..."

"Maybe in history books?" Nekohiko suggested sheepishly.

Most Emperors in his line wore this name. But of course that wouldn't be the case for Kataji. Nekohiko knew where Kataji had heard the name before.

In Abihiko's inane childish rambles about his best friend back in Izumo, like Aomi had explained to Nekohiko recently. But the point was -- Aomi would have paid attention to any odd name her Eldest Brother would have mentioned. Kataji wouldn't.

Yet it didn't mean Kataji couldn't try to remember if he put his mind to it.

"Khem, khem. Lady Sakami--" Nekohiko tried to divert the topic to something else again. "Would you like to go with Mikawa to the Nagare castle or Hira Okinaga's mansion to keep you safe from your Hisome relatives' retaliation?"

Anywhere neutral where Morokata couldn't get to her...

But instead of finishing his thought, something else happened.

Abihiko had come too close to him.

Too close.

And all at once, Nekohiko felt his emotions cloud with a turbulent swirl.

The Dark Sisterhood was reacting again.

But why now? he wondered. He knew he didn't feel the urge to strike Abihiko in an attack because he had learned to suppress such instincts during his and Abihiko's "honeymoon" in seclusion. Of course he always itched to assault Abihiko in some drastic manner, to harm him, to make him ache -- he could not get rid of these feelings altogether. Yet he had it under control.

Absolutely.

So what was it about now?

Why the sudden urge to act? To--

...

--kiss Kataji, Nekohiko's mind told him numbly as though from within a fog.

And before he could question himself on these bizarre urges, he knew his body was already responding to this drive. He lurched forward, reaching his hand to cup Kataji's cheek and steady him so that he wouldn't recoil.

Then, hungrily and ferociously, he slammed his lips against Kataji's as if wishing to devour him.

...

“Ammmnnn,” Kataji gasped, his eyes going wide momentarily.

But he didn't exactly withdraw, and he didn't seem all that averse to the kiss.

Rather, he was surprised, but... pleased.

Nekohiko, on the other hand, couldn't even tell for sure what his body was doing. It all happened so suddenly. His nerves went haywire as vertigo settled inside him. Why was he kissing... slobbering... sucking on Kataji's lips with such fierceness, he frightened even himself? But much worse than his temporary loss of reason was the ache...

A terrible pain was starting to take hold in his chest. A hot, searing stab in his heart.

Nekohiko had never experienced a pain so subtle yet raw...

What was it?

Whyyyy?

Was this what heartache felt like?

But why? He didn't understand--

He only knew it just. hurt. so. horribly in his chest.

Gods!

“Ahhh,” a pained cry broke from his lips as he pushed himself away from Kataji.

His lips burned from the overzealous kiss he had just ended, but more so – his heart. His palm rose, quivering, to cover his panting mouth. He staggered back, unable to understand what was going on with him.

Though he had a guess.

A very frustrating one.

“Itsu... Nekohiko!” Kataji grasped him as though afraid he might fall in his confusion. “What's happening? Are you ill? You look faint!”

Spirits, Kataji, I...

...feel like wanting to die.

And I don't even know what had caused this.

Nekohiko shut his eyes, shaking his head at any of Kataji's worried questions, and tried to focus deep inside himself on his sensations. It wasn't just his heart that was aching in such an alien, bizarre way – he felt the resonance going through him as if responding to some other stimulus nearby. Through Nekohiko's heart and all through his core to his right arm where the marriage Bond between him and Abihiko had been tied.

That stimulus was...

Abihiko, came a lightning-fast thought.

It was Abihiko's proximity to him. The sole reason why he had kissed Kataji moments ago since his body had become overruled by the Dark Sisterhood's curse.

And the ache in his own chest in response to it was not his own. It was Abihiko's.

Abihiko's heartache and Abihiko's torment at witnessing Nekohiko and his little brother kissing each other so obliviously in front of him.

Stunned, Nekohiko glanced at his right wrist and the pale polished wood surface on which there appeared no sign of the Marital Bond's presence. Yet somehow, he was still sure that this Bond could not only prohibit one spouse to physically harm another – but also have some kind of a response spell against... adultery. Against cheating.

Did this stupid thing consider Nekohiko kissing Kataji... cheating? And transmitted to Nekohiko the pain Abihiko felt to punish him for it?

…

A devious spell, this Marital Bond! What madmen had come up with it?

“I'm all right,” Nekohiko told Kataji to quieten the young man down. Yet he was still very much woozy with the aftershocks of the squirming in his heart.

Mortified, he lifted his gaze at Abihiko and saw the truth as bright as sunlight.

Abihiko's face showed no great turmoil. He was obliquely turned aside as though to give him and Kataji privacy during their tender moment, yet Nekohiko could feel in his bones how unnatural Abihiko's pose and attitude were.

How strained. How wounded.

Nekohiko gulped.

Abihiko realized Nekohiko was watching him, so he stirred, at last.

But he sounded hollow. “Lord Nekohiko, please keep yourself in check. Do not forget that your body is... afflicted. Cursed,” he stressed, his pupils flashing with profound anger that he quickly hid by averting his eyes.

“...What?” Kataji finally unfroze as well. “C-cursed? What do you mean? What's going on--”

“It's a bit too difficult to explain, and we don't have a lot of time to do this here now,” Nekohiko said, throwing a helpless look around the demolished hall they were in. Bodies of broken dolls littering the floor, the fumes of the plaster and the magical filaments of Binding after the breaking of the walls and the ceiling. Smoke and dissipating magic clouded the air in the distance and showed only the traces of the people shifting afar in panic.

Their cries were all too obvious, though. Soon, this place would swarm with The Doll Palace guards and maybe even the city constables or worse – Hisome military. Nekohiko might deal with them fast enough, but how many would be hurt or even die in the commotion his magic would cause?

And when Abihiko was too weakened already and Nekohiko was saddled with Mikawa, Sakami, and Kataji to take care of, all on his own.

Nekohiko gave Kataji a commiserating squeeze on his shoulder.

“We need to get out of here first, then we'll work out what's going on, all right?”

Kataji stared at him, dull, then nodded. But it was apparent he found Nekohiko's statement unsatisfying.

He wanted to know more. Now.

Perhaps, he didn't even trust that Nekohiko would explain to him anything later, and Nekohiko understood that when Kataji clutched at his sleeve, refusing to let Nekohiko step away.

The young man had been nearly murdered by Hibiki, then had discovered that Nekohiko had lied to him about his true identity, then had been kissed by Nekohiko so violently in front of everyone – all in literal minutes. No wonder he was woozy, trying to comprehend the madness all around him.

Now news of some curses inside Nekohiko...

Grrr.

He wasn't the only one stunned with new developments, though. Nekohiko also felt quite shocked.

The only thing he knew was – he had to distance himself from both Kataji and Abihiko for now. Standing so close to either of them did uncanny things to his body and his actions. It would drive him mad if he kept losing control of his own choices like this!

“Mikawa,” Nekohiko reminded himself. He gathered his wits long enough to stumble away from Kataji, and raised his hand up to stop Kataji from following him. “Please, stay where you are. I need... to talk to Mikawa for just a moment.”

He also checked that Abihiko wasn't moving closer to him either. Abihiko loomed behind Kataji, looking every bit as menacing and grave as a spurned spouse could, even though Nekohiko didn't view Abihiko as a jealous type at all.

Yet the ache in Abihiko's heart, transmitted through the Bond... The ravenous, gutting raw pain of it. The torment behind it. It had to be real, and it was incredibly strong. Much stronger than any emotions Nekohiko had ever felt on his own, which was how he knew it couldn't have possibly come from within him.

His emotions were subdued, even when profound and bleeding. His emotions were... quieter. Abihiko's, in comparison, were like a hidden volcano, only waiting to erupt, held off solely by immense will.

But so far, Abihiko wasn't acting on it. All he did was stand away and pretend like he wasn't hurt or even bothered by his surroundings. Which – good. As long as Nekohiko kept away from both brothers, the Dark Sisterhood's curse wouldn't start acting up, doing some disturbing shit to him.

And the shit with the kiss was truly disturbing!

The curse knew how to hurt Abihiko deeply, didn't it? It couldn't attack him physically, so it chose to attack him emotionally? 

Nekohiko scurried over the rubble to where Mikawa stood beside Sakami, both of them regarding the scene between Nekohiko and two Abi brothers. Mikawa seemed sour, but Sakami... Sakami simply looked horrified.

Her huge eyes pinned into Nekohiko as he approached, and the depth of confusion in them was endless. If she wasn't so well-behaved, Nekohiko half-expected her to tell him something rude.

Cheater.

Cruel, despicable. Adulterer, her eyes were saying.

He had stolen Abihiko from her and was now cheating on him right in front of everyone's eyes...

Yes, Nekohiko didn't doubt how much Sakami despised him now, but oh well...

“Can you use your winds to travel with Sakami?” Nekohiko asked the boy, then nodded at the gap in the outer wall of the building. Through it, sunlight flooded inside, swirling in the clouds of dust and dissipating magic of the Bound matter.

Mikawa was their best get-away card, but he had his limits. He would not be able to travel with so many people with him. Best they used his flight wisely.

Nekohiko and Abihiko could take care of Kataji, just the two of them.

Also... it would be good for them to have their private talk with each other once they escaped this place. Without witnesses. Nekohiko might prefer Kataji to be gone as well, but he could bet Kataji wouldn't leave now.

Not after everything that had happened here.

“Lady Sakami?” Mikawa turned to her instead of replying to Nekohiko.

Sakami seemed reluctant to respond to being called. Her expression unreadable, she blinked at Mikawa, then gave Nekohiko a look.

“Where will you take me?” she asked Mikawa tonelessly.

“To... the Nagare castle where you will be safe from anyone's persecution from the Hisome side,” Mikawa stammered. “Or to Lord Okinaga's mansion. They are both kind and neutral to everyone there and--”

Sakami turned away before he could finish, so he dwindled out.

One last time, she glanced at Abihiko, then made her way toward the gap in the wall and through it, carefully balancing on the scree-like grit. Uncertain, Mikawa followed after her, but he didn't seem like he knew where this was going.

Nekohiko wanted to go with them to see them fly off safely. Also, he was better off with these two than with the Abi brothers. But Mikawa stopped him.

“It's all right,” the boy told him. “We can manage on our own.”

“I still think someone should know where you two are going so we can find you,” Nekohiko began.

His words fell short when he saw the deep crease between Mikawa's eyebrows. The boy turned his head over his shoulder, standing at the threshold of the wall breach.

“Are you sure? Neither Lady Sakami nor I feel particularly secure when you are close,” Mikawa said. 'I'm sorry, but we would feel much safer with you being... away from us.”

…

Oh.

It hurt. To hear this, and to know this was true.

So true even Nekohiko couldn't deny it.

All that was left for him was to step back and accept this rejection of his help or... perhaps, even of his friendship to either Mikawa or Sakami.

Not that Nekohiko had ever needed friends that badly, yet still... somehow, this stung.

“Go, and be safe,” he said, trying not to sound too pained. “And Mikawa--”

Fumbling, he scrambled to find the small bracelet trinket Iokirihime had given him before the wedding. He still wore it on his wrist. The small droplet of water within which swirled a tiny snowflake, never melting, never drying up in the cruel air. Nekohiko had kept it because... he was ashamed to have accepted something that was meant for Sakami – a small insignificant thing that meant nothing to him but might have meant a lot to Sakami.

He had taken a lot from the girl. He felt he needed to give at least some of those things back.

“Please give this to Sakami. It's from Iokirihime. She gave this to me while we were flying to the Main Nara Shrine for the wedding.” Nekohiko dithered, afraid to seem manipulative to Mikawa once again. “Please don't tell her it came through me. Just say it's from Iokirihime and you meant to give it to her back ever since the wedding, all right? It meant a lot for Iokirihime to give it to Sakami, and so... it should be with her.”

Mikawa accepted the trinket into his palm, thoughtful. As he watched the beautiful snowflake twirl in the shining droplet, his features softened for the very first time today. When he looked up at Nekohiko, part of his previous distaste for him subsided.

He even sounded gentler, like his old kind-hearted self. “Mn. Thank you,” he whispered.

“Not at all,” Nekohiko replied, turning away and wishing to go back to Kataji and Abihiko.

Only there was no Abihiko in the destroyed room anymore.

Nobody but Kataji left, waiting for him patiently.

 

 

---

***

 

 

Nekohiko opened his mouth to ask, though there wasn't any need.

Was Abihiko not a free person to go where he wanted? After all, had they agreed they had to do everything together after getting married? No. Not really.

Though Kataji understood the direction of Nekohiko's thoughts as Nekohiko gaped at the empty room.

“He said he would burden you and me because of how weakened he's become during the fight.” Awkward, Kataji shrugged one shoulder, slowly wobbling over to Nekohiko over the ruined floor. “Also, the guards kept yelling out in the corridors to surround us. So he told me he can distract them and lead them astray. Then he left. He said you and I should leave, too, by some other route so that it'd be harder to track all of us.”

Yes.

Absolutely. But–

But what? Nekohiko didn't even know. The brothers were right, of course. What was more important than escaping The Doll Palace before too many witnesses and bystanders came over and dragged Nekohiko into further fights or encounters with the displeased innocents? Nothing.

They had to run, and Abihiko had come up with the perfect strategy to pull it off.

Yet Nekohiko's shoulders still slumped at the idea of being left behind like this. And that his and Abihiko's time together had come to an end so abruptly...

Plus, Abihiko's health condition. Nekohiko wanted to make sure he was fine and that he was safe. Damnit, why, why did you have to run away so dramatically, Abihiko?

It wasn't that stupid kiss with Kataji, was it?

“Come on,” Nekohiko told Kataji, opening his palm to him.

He grabbed Kataji's hand when the young man offered it hesitantly. He pulled Kataji into a swift dash over the breach in the wall and out into the fuming backyard of The Doll Palace premises. The sun seared his eyeballs, and Nekohiko squinted through the rays piercing the smoking ruins of Abihiko's inferno blasts from before. Nekohiko's own terrible gash across the building had devastated it further. They both had tried to calibrate their spells to avoid civilians, but the natural damage like started fires or the dislodging rocks would have hurt someone regardless.

Customers and dolls and maintenance Binders frothed around in the yard like a buzzing, overexcited swarm.

So much screaming, panic, cries for the army to come.

An army... just for the ruckus he and Abihiko had made singlehandedly.

There was no sight of Abihiko nearby. And no sight of Mikawa and Sakami.

Ah, a relief, that. Separating like that, they would absolutely manage to flee this place safely.

Nekohiko did not have access to Mikawa's flight spells, but he still could lift himself and Kataji over into the skies on a mighty leap built from the Nagare techniques of speed-enhancing and the Hira springiness coming directly from the ground.

Nekohiko clutched Kataji to himself by the waist, and the two of them soared out of The Doll Palace ruins and over the vast expanses of the estate's garden and park behind it. The air whooshed past them, wrestling the folds and hems of their long Hisome maid robes to flap madly in the gusts. Just a little bit, and with a couple more leaps that allowed Nekohiko to cover a lot of ground in seconds – the two of them reached the edge of the estate. From here, it was nothing much to hop from the ground onto the roof of the restaurant across the busy street. Already, crowds of spectators were attracted here by the sight of something cataclysmic happening to The Doll Palace.

More buzz and more agitation. It all quickened Nekohiko's pulse as he watched the streets filling up with the oncoming Binder troops to investigate.

Up on the roof, Nekohiko let Kataji go out of his embrace. Instead, he Bound both of their feet to be able to glide smoothly over the shingled roofs and run that much faster through them – putting more and more streets between them and the commotion at The Doll Palace.

But just as he was running, he realized he was searching the rooftop skyline of the district around him for any traces of Abihiko.

Any. Any would count.

He was just too desperate to glimpse even his shadow nearby.

Seriously, what route had Abihiko taken that Nekohiko couldn't see him? What if... what if Abihiko had gone back to pursue Hibiki once and for all, instead? In Abihiko's condition – what might even kill him!

“Itsu! Careful!” Kataji cried out by reflex.

With a delay, Nekohiko felt himself tripping over the edge of the roof and almost canting down and onto the street several stories below.

Kataji wrenched him back just in time.

Nekohiko's heart pounded in his ears from the near brush with a no-doubt painful fall. Yet he still found most of his thoughts swerve solely around Abihiko. Not Kataji's concerns for his wellbeing.

Definitely not about himself, either.

“Sorry,” Kataji told him, softly yet demandingly pulling Nekohiko down, to sit on the edge of the roof. “I am too used to calling you Itsuki. Sit down, Neko...hiko. I don't think we should be running much more now, and besides...” His voice dropped down, now sounding weary again. “You owe me quite a bit of explanations. Don't you think?”

Kataji still looked traumatized by everything that had happened to him back in The Doll Palace. Quite an “adventure” that had ended up being, huh?

The young man's pallor was only exacerbated by all the rock dust that had settled upon his face and hair and long lashes. But his red lips that he'd licked free off all the plaster and dust were still as bright as always. And the bruised marks of Nekohiko's ravenous kiss only highlighted that fact.

Nekohiko shuddered when he recalled it.

“Mn.”

Helpless, he sagged down beside Kataji.

And opened his mouth to speak up. He knew full well he needed to speak to Kataji. It was long overdue.

It had to be done.

It was crucial that he did that – now, when they had such a perfect opportunity.

Yet instead, the only words that came out of his mouth were all the wrong ones.

“Excuse me a moment, I need to check something first real quick,” he blurted.

And before Kataji could squeeze in a word – Nekohiko shifted his mind out of this body and into the seashell.

 

 

---

***

 

 

 

He had to know where the hell Abihiko was.

And why he had left so suddenly.

And what Abihiko was going to do now... and after... and...

 

 

 

---

***

 

 

Anything, really. Nekohiko just wanted to talk to him and clear up some things!

Yet he discovered that Abihiko hadn't gotten very far from The Doll Palace either.

Or, specifically – he had gotten just as far from it as Nekohiko and Kataji had. Because he was keeping in the general view of them both. Heck, he could even see them at the rooftop of an opera theater nearby as Abihiko was peeking at them from behind the corner of a shop down in the streets.

Abihiko was so close to them!

You... bastard! Nekohiko seethed, mad with disbelief.

You are stalking us right this second and yet you acted like you have abandoned us and wanted to give us some privacy!

Like hell you are!

All of a sudden, most of Nekohiko's worries and previous ache at imagining Abihiko alone and fleeing somewhere else or pursuing danger for no real reason – faded into nothing.

And though his seashell body was not subject to the Dark Sisterhood's curse of resentment or anger, Nekohiko still felt quite pissed. He had worried so much about Abihiko's wellbeing! While Abihiko was alive and well and very much safe as he peered at Nekohiko and Kataji from down the street, hiding.

Stalker.

“Seeing something interesting?” Nekohiko asked, acidic.

He'd expected Abihiko to act ashamed or at least surprised at him speaking up, but Abihiko barely reacted.

“No. Just checking that you both are out of danger in Okinaga's mansion before I can feel safe to leave you two unguarded,” he said, his tone even. “Though please explain to me why you chose to stop in the middle of your escape attempt and wallow around on a roof instead. We are in the middle of a dangerous flight. Nekohiko. I know you are a powerful person, but Kata isn't. Please stop sitting around the roofs and wasting your time in the seashell – and go take care of my brother. Now.”

…

Excuse me?

What's up with all this bossiness?

“Hey, I was just concerned about you,” Nekohiko gritted out. “You looked like you might die back there. I wanted to make sure--”

“I'm fine. Now please keep running until you are at Okinaga's. Then I'll just go back to the Emerald Palace and stay there till Kasuga's trials, as I have told you I wanted to do, to begin with,” Abihiko said, impassive as ever. “But do not endanger my brother again.”

Abihiko was sure obsessed with Kataji's safety today.

Nekohiko had always known Abihiko was insanely protective of his family members, especially after his parents had been slaughtered during the war with the Usurper. But today, it had become a bit more intense than usual.

Even for him.

…

“I had no idea Hibiki would hurt Kataji,” Nekohiko tried to explain. Abihiko must be still reeling after seeing Kataji tortured in front of him. Small wonder Abihiko was bent on getting Kataji to safety now, of all times. “And if you want to protect him so, I think you should go to him, too. He might think you've left him behind, and he would like to know you care about him–”

Abihiko's body tensed up.

“I do care about him so. But Nekohiko... I wasn't talking about Hibiki hurting Kataji before,” he said, carefully. “I was talking about you.”

...eh?

“And me,” Abihiko added, finally unglueing his eyes from watching Kataji on the roof alongside Nekohiko's unconscious doll body. Abihiko hid behind the corner, leaning his back against it. “You and I both are hurting Kataji. You, mainly, but my presence exacerbates it.”

…

Well...

“When you kissed him,” Abihiko went on through force, “did it come from deep within you or did it seem... like a compulsion?”

Gods, Nekohiko did not want to talk about something like this!

But Abihiko was the only person around who was competent in this kind of stuff.

“I did not want to do it – I don't know what came over me,” Nekohiko said bashfully. “I am sorry. It won't ever repeat--”

But Abihiko dismissed him.

“I don't care as long as it's your actual desire. Kiss all you want if that is your wish,” Abihiko said a little too forcefully.

That amused Nekohiko to no end.

Oh really?! he thought to himself, listening to Abihiko talk. You don't care?

Sure.

Definitely.

Most definitely.

“--I figured that might be the case,” Abihiko was going on. “Because the Dark Sisterhood's curse can act up in this manner as well. You can control your actions against physically hurting me, but the resentment spell will try to find any other ways to hurt me. And that was one of those,” he ended grimly. “It is an insidious spell and it always looks for ways you can torment me with – and it does not care whom it has to use to do that with. Including other people, like Kata.”

Nekohiko toyed with his amused pause for a while.

“Me kissing Kataji hurt you? You just said you wouldn't care.”

“Nekohiko.” Abihiko sounded seriously pissed off now. “Kataji is my brother. If some sinister spell is making you abuse my brother in front of my eyes – no shit, of course I will be hurt by that! You are hurting my brother, what else do you think my reaction would be?”

…

“I don't think I was abusing Kataji that much,” Nekohiko said defensively. “He rather seemed to enjoy that, and it wasn't even the first time we did that... Not even the second time.”

And there it was.

The pang of genuine, bone-deep ache that speared through Nekohiko's heart when Abihiko heard these words.

Nekohiko knew for sure this pain didn't come from himself. It came from the Marital Bond between them – the moment Abihiko's heart was wounded, the Marital Bond translated that pain directly into Nekohiko's heart.

What a vicious way to prevent marital cheating, ah... The thing was – Abihiko had no idea it worked like that, clearly.

Perhaps because Nekohiko's emotions didn't transmit nearly as well in the other direction. Because Nekohiko's emotions... would be too subtle, hard to notice for most people compared to their own turmoils.

“You are hurting him, or at least you will, one day,” Abihiko said, stubborn. “You are married to me. Imagine his pain when he finds out.” Before Nekohiko could retort anything, Abihiko kept speaking. “Nekohiko, if you and Kataji are... together romantically, I won't stop you two, whether or not we are married. I don't mind. You should be happy, and so should he. I won't stand between you two if that is really what you want. But please – I beg you, I beg you as hard as I can – please do not manipulate him. Please do not abuse him. He is innocent and he has no part in anything bad or wicked against you. Do not drag him into all these schemes and pain and vengeance. Even if you want to take some vicious revenge on me, spare him. Hurt me directly if you want – I'll take it, but not through him.

“Please do not hurt my little brother.”

Nekohiko listened, speechless. Though Abihiko was begging him to spare Kataji and be happy with him if he so wished, Nekohiko could not ignore the never-ending waves of heartache that radiated through the Marital Bond from Abihiko. At each of the words he spoke.

With difficulty, Nekohiko gulped.

“I won't, Abihiko. I promise to do my best to never hurt Kataji.”

“Thank you. Now go and take him to safety--”

“What about you and me, then?” Nekohiko asked, stunned. “You told me you wanted to help me free my dummy body off the Dark Sisterhood's curse, and that you wanted to never let me go so that you can keep an eye on me and know for sure I am safe where you can see me. So, do you need me to come back to you once I am done with Kataji in Okinaga's mansion? Otherwise, why follow us like this? Do you really think I can't take care of me and him getting to safety? I am the most powerful Binder in history. Far stronger than you are, actually.”

Abihiko dawdled a moment. “I trust you. Now that I know you will take care of him and won't abuse his fondness of you...”

Was that really the reason you stalked after us?

Really, Abihiko?

“I will be going back to the Emerald Palace, then." Stiffly, Abihiko turned away from the corner he was hiding behind, and headed down the alley toward the main street of Nara.

And Nekohiko could not believe his eyes.

“So you lied to me again about needing me to be safe exactly where you are,” Nekohiko said, bitter. “You were just saying that to make me shut up and stop asking you questions.”

“No, Nekohiko, I wasn't lying,” Abihiko sighed. But he still went decisively down the street – and further and further away from where Nekohiko's dummy human body was. “Now that you are awake, after Kasuga's trials, I will have my final chance to make a move against Morokata. My plan of these past five years will come to fruition. At last. Everything I've been waiting for, in my grasp.” The smile in his voice seemed to waft of strange coldness. “Before that moment, you have to be kept safe somewhere where I can keep an eye on you, yes. That is the only way my plan will succeed. But, Nekohiko... this seashell is more than enough for that. As long as you are safe within this seashell, I can wait for as long as I need for other parts of my plan to come into being. Your dummy human body is... fine. It seems rather happy with Kataji, I see that now. So perhaps, it isn't that big of a deal for your human body to spend time with Kataji if that makes both of you happy.”

...you...

Moron.

“I think your human dummy body is capable of defending itself marvelously. But in case it isn't, like what happened today in The Doll Palace and you were rendered vulnerable by a sneak attack... You have many other bodies, too. Even a splinter of you, kept safe till Kasuga's trials will still suffice. Even a dust particle of you as long as it has your awakened soul in it. Thus, keeping my eye on the seashell is enough,” Abihiko murmured, soft. “You can go and be free in your human body, Neko. I'll keep the seashell safe.”

…

Now Nekohiko's heart felt stabbed, on its own. Though of course Abihiko wouldn't be able to tell with how vague and tender all of Nekohiko's heartaches were.

“Me being nothing more than a seashell beside you might be enough for you,” Nekohiko told him coolly. “But it's nowhere near enough for me. Just so you know.”

He felt too aggravated and numb to continue this stupid conversation, so he fled back to Kataji. But not before he noted Abihiko's footsteps draw still in the middle of the street he had been so decisively walking a mere second ago.

 

 

 

 

---

***

 

 

Nekohiko resurfaced beside Kataji with a rigid jolt.

“Ah, you are back already?” Kataji said, cranky. “Nekohiko, will you forever run away from me and the truth about whatever is going on with your life?”

Kataji, heavens. I am so not in the mood right now.

He blinked out into the sun, displeasure hard and barbed inside him. He was so angry at Abihiko. So... betrayed. Kataji did not help with his demands for the truth, at all.

“Is this how hard it is for you to speak with me sincerely?” Kataji asked, in the end.

“Yes.”

...

The first time Nekohiko had told him the truth, wasn't this?

But he could already sense that the truth hurt Kataji, and he had just promised Abihiko to never do this to him...

The promise was impossible to achieve. One way or the other, he would hurt Kataji gravely. Perhaps, doing it in a faster way was more merciful in the long run.

“Kataji, I lied to you about... almost everything ever since the day we met,” he said, trying to sound neutral to not cause even more pain to the young man. “I am sorry. I genuinely did not mean for you and myself to become friends. I only needed--”

“--to survive,” Kataji finished for him. He was turned aside. “By making a friend who would protect you.”

You have known this already, no?

Why do you make me say this now?

Nekohiko bit his lip, miserable.

Kataji went on first. “So who the hell are you, then? And why do you know my brother? And was that fact – that you know my brother – the sole reason why you were so nice to me? To get to him through me?”

…

If Nekohiko answered that, he would have to tell Kataji everything. Absolutely everything.

And Nekohiko wasn't so sure either of them was ready.

He didn't even know how to begin.

But when he turned to Kataji to utter the first words out of his mouth – something else happened.

Abihiko.

Abihiko was coming toward them across the roof. So solemn, so fast, so decisive, his robes flapping in the wind, his hair strands fluttering across his face.

What--? Why?

He came back? Worse – he came straight up here?

Nekohiko's eyes went wide and he rushed to stand up. And so did Kataji when he noticed Nekohiko's shocked stare behind Kataji's back.

But Kataji didn't get to see Abihiko. The moment Kataji swung around to face his brother, Abihiko had already reached him. Abihiko's fingers lay tender on Kataji's forehead, and a lucid flash of white energy of the Hisome mind-dimming spell glowed through Abihiko's palm and into Kataji's head.

“N-no--” Kataji tried to protest. But his consciousness dimmed before he could finish.

Limp, Kataji fell down, but of course Abihiko caught him in his arms shortly.

The way he hugged Kataji to himself was so caring and attentive, Nekohiko did not doubt for a second that Abihiko hadn't lied when he said he wanted to protect Kataji from any harm coming to him. Whether it came from himself or from Nekohiko.

“What the hell are you doing?” Nekohiko cried, leaning to see if Kataji was all right.

The mind-dimming spell wasn't a threat, especially since someone so thoughtful as Abihiko had cast it. But the suddenness of it...

And the reasons for it...

“Did you mean that -- what you told me just now?” Abihiko demanded, watching Nekohiko intensely. “When you said being a mere seashell beside me is not enough for you. That you want more. Did you mean that, truly?”

Trailing his eyes from Kataji's serene face to Abihiko's stormy-looking one, Nekohiko felt himself slowly losing control of his body's autonomy, again.

The Dark Sisterhood's curse making him want to strike Abihiko as usual, probably. But he didn't care about it now.

He suppressed the urge and instead focused on the beautiful darkness of Abihiko's eyes.

The hidden hope inside them.

Nekohiko huffed. “Tch. Who knows. You are quick to act on such a small statement, though.”

“Of course I am. It is you we are talking about,” Abihiko said, slowly getting less grim and more and more playful. Like before, during their seclusion stay together in the Palace.

“After all, we are married. Should not we want to stay together more often, husband?”

Nekohiko shrugged, not committing.

“Perhaps it's even time we took a Honeymoon trip together, too, mmm?” Abihiko added, lower.

…

A Honeymoon trip? The Empire seems to be fraying at the seams and he wants to take a Honeymoon trip?

"Morokata will try to find us very, very soon. I want us to be as far as possible from any place he has power over. It's either you and I flee Nara," Abihiko told him, "or we go back into the Emerald Palace and hide inside out seclusion array. Only thus can we be safe from anywhere Morokata will be."

Not! The Emerald Palace!

Anywhere but sitting in the same four walls, trapped alone with Abihiko for weeks!

But a journey somewhere away from Nara? Hm... Still, such a glamorous and capricious way to spend their time together.

Not that Nekohiko minded.

He still knitted his brows at the audacity, hiding the fact that he was intrigued. “Depends. Where will we travel to? As if I'd want to go anywhere with you. Traveling with you is horrible. You would ruin the trip with your nonsense, as usual.”

“The Grand Ise Shrine. It's just one day from here, so not much travel, don't you worry, Neko,” Abihiko said, saddened. “To get your body rid of the Dark Sisterhood's curse once and for all. Where did you think we'd go?”

…

To a Shrine.

To heal his curse...

Ah. But of course.

“I guess,” Nekohiko said coldly.

“We need to take Kataji to Okinaga's first, though,” Abihiko said, rising to his feet with Kataji in his arms. He swayed just a bit from his weakened state, but straightened his shoulders when he noticed Nekohiko regarding him cautiously. “I'm fine. Let's go. We need to be quick if we want to leave Nara before the constables and Hisome guards try to lock down the city.”

"Mn."

Nekohiko didn't follow Abihiko outright.

Not because he didn't want to but because he didn't want Abihiko to see how eager he felt about it.

Or about the trip with just the two of them, starting only in a short while.