Chapter Hundred and One

Just a Taste

 

There were some things about little Sakami that did unsettle Nekohiko the longer he thought about her.

Not even the recent conversations with Morokata or with Sakami herself because he had been mulling those over for days after they'd happened, without much new added to them.

No. Now, he remembered something old. From five years ago.

His slow descent into the stupor and blankness that came with the releasing of the new seals. The erasure of his identity and memory that had happened back then.

He had always been warned by Suminoe to stave it off, to not unleash any new seals, but...

It had only been the question of when, not if.

And after opening the third one -- the Towa seal, it had all spiraled out of his control. Opening newer ones had become easier and easier, and he couldn't stop--

And the reason for opening his very first one had been...

The Towa Memory spell. To learn the contents of what that Dark Sister Nao had told him, years ago.

All the miseries he had experienced in his life since the day he had begun yearning to seek out the Towa memory spell -- it had happened just as he remembered it.

Because Sakami had said the foreign word he thought familiar. Why? How?

Why so coincidentally...? What would be the odds of that happening out of the blue?

And then, as he had been walking away from her -- she had reminded him how great the Towa memory spells were.

...

As if pushing him. As if tempting him to crave the release of the Towa seal.

Did she? Or was he only reaching, trying to find the causes of his miseries, postfactum?

All these thoughts were disorganized and vague in his mind yet, and he couldn't quite grasp them. He glanced at Abihiko beside him, feeling secure only when Abihiko looked back.

"Sakami?" Abihiko snapped the clasps of the saddle open. "What about her?"

"I don't know. But judging by what Morokata told me, there might be something. The way he said about him having more allies, it seemed to imply that I might not be aware of some of them."

A tired sigh escaped Abihiko.

"It checks out the longer I think about her," Nekohiko mused, nervous. "What was she doing all those years in the Emerald Palace. Writing letters to him? About what? And in the Doll Palace yesterday, too. This girl worries me."

Abihiko nodded. "She seemed hurt after you and I... in front of her..."

...

"Kissed?" Nekohiko furrowed his brow. He suddenly felt appalled. "I asked you to know if you think she could have harbored ill will toward you or me five years ago. Or nowadays! And all you think about is kissing? Tsk. And then you blame me for being unable to focus on the real stuff."

"..."

Abihiko threw a glare over his shoulder as he strode over to the stable master. "I was only answering your question. You asked my thoughts about her, and I told you! She is hurt, but that's it. What ill will? She is the sweetest, most innocent person alive--"

"Yes, but she did stop me from killing Hibiki yesterday. Hibiki!" Nekohiko stressed, following him into the shadowy stables. "So just how sweet and innocent is she, really?"

"It is precisely because she saved someone like that I think she is so sweet and innocent," Abihiko said quietly.

Nekohiko choked in befuddlement.

"The way you talk about her is as if..."

"...yes?"

He didn't notice when they stopped, or when his arms had come to cross over his chest. Abihiko looked so grave and self-serious, Nekohiko couldn't help but feel oppressed.

"You were fully intending to marry her, didn't you? I guess you do have a spot in your heart for her even when I'm telling you she might have played against you and me all our lives."

Abihiko's features shifted so quickly -- from a disbelieving smile to a stupor, then abruptly -- to concern as he watched Nekohiko.

"Sakami? Against you and me? Why would you think that?"

...

"Because she was the one who had given me this crucial hint... about Nao, the Dark Sister, and Suminoe," Nekohiko said, pained. "It was because of her that I..."

...had become whatever all these people act so horrified of.

A calamity.

"Could it be that coincidental that she would know such a specific phrase, to say it next to me so that I would note it?" Nekohiko murmured to himself, yet Abihiko still heard.

Scowling, he pondered about it, watching the stablemaster putter about with the Bound-work to sign out a new horse for Abihiko and Nekohiko to take. At last, Abihiko spoke. "I always thought that any schemes against you were done by Morokata himself, maybe with the help of late Lady Takarashi. Sakami... I don't know. What purpose does it give us to know she was our foe, too?"

What purpose?

Honestly, Nekohiko couldn't answer that.

And Abihiko understood. "Don't worry, Neko. What I plan for us during the Trials, has nothing to do with her, or Morokata, or whoever the hell else. Not even with Kasuga though it will be her Trial, nominally." He shook his head. "Do not worry about trusting anyone or anything. Before the Trial, as long as we are far away from all these other people, not one of them will hurt you ever again. I won't let them."

"That implies that the only person who can hurt me freely is you. And you require me to trust you completely, too, during this period of waiting, no?"

How very convenient.

A shadow of frustration passed over Abihiko's face. The stablemaster gave them the Bound trinket to mark their right to claim the horse whenever they wanted, and Abihiko stormed out of the stables first -- and toward the inn across the road.

"If you think I want to hurt you, Neko, why the hell are you coming here with me while pretending like we're back five years ago all the time? Groping me, flirting with me, then bickering. You are so damn illogical sometimes."

"Look in the mirror, my murderer-savior," Nekohiko muttered, following close behind. "Some people are very unpredictable, see? Sakami might just be one of them."

"Forget about Sakami. She is not our enemy. Do you really believe it when Morokata says we should distrust her?" 

No. Probably not. But it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look at Sakami once Nekohiko had a chance.

Had Mikawa taken her away to safety? Where? It clearly hadn't been Okinaga's mansion, so... Nagare? Or had Mikawa let her go, free to her own devices?

Even if the girl was innocent, letting her out of sight after all the odd coincidences she had taken part in wasn't in Nekohiko's plans. Especially when Abihiko was so adamant about it.

Because, really... why was he?

"That first wedding night, when you had laid down on the bed and let me do whatever I wanted with you. When you still believed I was Sakami," Nekohiko started, doubtful, "what exactly would that entail on your part?"

Abihiko led him into the inn's meager courtyard, up its homey porch, and through the lobby into the dining room. The gentle warmth of the inside made Nekohiko shiver with the contrast to the chill and the morning bleariness that still clouded his mind and face from the street.

"Nothing." Abihiko located the table in the corner with the best view of all the exits and headed there.

The dining room burred in the many conversations of the caravan merchants and dozens of message carriers who ate here. Nekohiko had to strain to hear Abihiko's dismissive words.

"Nothing would happen. After all, it was you, not Sakami that I married."

"Wait, wait. But if it wasn't me, then what--?" Nekohiko crashed down on the opposite side of the table, sending murderous looks at Abihiko, even though he tried to make them appear casual. Likewise, his "mellow" tone had a hint of acid in it. "Oh come on, tell me. You looked quite eager on that bed. You took off your outer clothes and were acting all -- come hither to me, sweet wife!"

Disgusting.

Just imagining what would have followed in case it had actually been Sakami...

Nekohiko's nostrils flared. But Abihiko, on the contrary, appeared only baffled.

"Neko, what is all this questioning about?"

"Oh, just... curious," Nekohiko gritted out.

Subtly, Abihiko flinched, his hand rising to lift to his chest as though something itched or poked him there. Honest stupefaction colored his features pale as he stared Nekohiko in the eye. But before he could speak up about it, the server came over, bringing wet towels for them to dab their hands on.

Grrrr, they had to behave civilly. Too many witnesses for solving their issues here.

"We have a lot of work to do," Abihiko reminded him after they dealt with the server girl. He was piling all the manuals they'd bought onto the table and offered Nekohiko the first scroll. "Can we not deal with inconsequential stuff right now?"

"Inconsequential. Sure. Sakami, me, what's the difference, really?" Nekohiko ripped a scroll out of Abihiko's grasp and rolled it open.

As polite as ever, Abihiko left that statement without reply.

And with that, their callback to their School days began.

 

 

---

***

 

Abihiko's fingers were busy trying to tame his mane of hair with some hairstyle that was different from his usual, noticeable one. But his eyes scanned all the Binder manual scrolls before him for the equations they needed.

Across the table, Nekohiko listened in to the conversations going on around them as he leafed through his half of the manuals. His mind was distracted, though. With Morokata. Sakami. And now, with Abihiko and his stupid defenses of Sakami's so-called innocence.

Even the news from Nara and from the Great Lords' conference in Nagare could not take his mind off his more immediate worries.

The news was nothing that he didn't already know, so, with a weary sigh, he went back to skimming the scrolls before him. Look at him and Abihiko, both. Exactly like in their first years, sitting in some gaudy establishment and studying together as though cramming before the exams.

Yet Nekohiko's gaze returned more and more often to Abihiko. The other young man was done with his "homework" and now mainly busied himself with the fumbling attempts to braid his own hair into a simple half-up hairstyle.

He failed.

And Nekohiko felt oddly entertained by that.

He chortled another time Abihiko's pinched braid escaped his teeth with which he was holding it while he braided another one, and enjoyed Abihiko's exasperated blush.

"You really like it when I suffer, don't you? You could have helped me braid."

"Suffer? Ahah." Nekohiko reclined against the wall leisurely. "You dared argue with all through the night and this morning, and now you want me to help you deal with your mop of hair?"

"Didn't you beg me to start arguing with you more just yesterday? Now, of a sudden, you hate it again?"

The server brought Abihiko's meal to him -- a greasy broth with vegetables and a pot of apple tea. 

"Why not," Abihiko answered his own question with a profound nod. He had abandoned his attempts to reign in his hair and focused on setting the table down to have his breakfast. "Classic Kitten, as I have always remembered you."

His look, with his hair in disarray and his face with blue shadows under his restless eyes was so adorable, Nekohiko couldn't stop staring.

He felt cocky suddenly.

The two of them were bickering.

They were actually talking again. However angry Abihiko had been with him yesterday -- today, none of that mattered. Because Abihiko was no longer agreeing with everything Nekohiko said or did.

At least a thin layer of his facade had peeled off through the night.

Nothing could have improved Nekohiko's mood more.

"Why don't you remember the equations of Aspect Splitting, I have no idea," Nekohiko teased, digging back into the scrolls he took from Abihiko. "What kind of an Emperor were you? No wonder the Empire is in such big trouble nowadays. You should have spent less school time gambling and visiting your boyfriends and more on studying."

"Khm-khm." Abihiko wrung all his unruly hair to one side, slipping it over his shoulder. Nekohiko found it weird how lovely the new hairstyle looked. But Abihiko didn't notice the attention, taking out the chopsticks the server brought. "If I suck so badly at simplest Theory, then what is your excuse? You were such a studious person, abusing books in your rooms all the time we were in school. Yet here we are, with you unable to remember any of the equations as well. Huh."

"I was trapped inside a piece of wood for five years, how dare you! Of course I forgot all the equations."

He never had bothered to learn some of them, to begin with, but that wasn't the point.

"And those books I read all the time are about Empire maintenance, not Binding. You gathered an entire library of such books for me, yet you somehow do not know that?"

"Who said I was the one who gathered them?" Abihiko went on with his meal, casual. "As if I have nothing better to do with my life than to gather the dullest books created by humanity."

...

They were bickering, for sure.

But though Nekohiko had wanted it just a day ago, now he regretted wanting it.

Abihiko was just -- so -- obnoxious!

"Ohh really? These books just happened to be in your rooms, for no reason?"

"Eh." Abihiko shrugged. "You know me. I like all kinds of trash and random things. And most of my youth, you seemed to mock that."

"Ha. You like trinkets, not books, though." And just to prove a point, Nekohiko fished out of his sleeve the greatest trinket of all. The one he had taken away from Abihiko days ago and had never thought to give back.

Because Abihiko had never asked for it.

The Emerald Crown.

Of course, Nekohiko was smart enough to not flash it to the whole room full of travelers -- but just enough of a glimpse so that Abihiko could see it.

And once Abihiko did, his mouth gaped ajar. "Neko! You carry it around with you? I told you to give all our things to Aomi and the Hira Binders. They would carry it to the Adamantine Mountain for when we meet with them later! Why--"

"Because it is mine." Nekohiko frowned. "I'm not giving it up. To anyone."

...

Abihiko's stormy look fid nothing to shame Nekohiko for his small, petty desire to carry the Emerald Crown around. He had just gotten it back, after nearly twenty years of pining for it. It might mean little to anyone else in the world, but it meant something special for Nekohiko.

No way he would give it to anyone again!

"How can you be so immature," Abihiko groaned.

"--says a person who just denied having gathered a library of books for me, just to make a point," Nekohiko retorted. "So very mature of you."

Abihiko wanted to keep going on and arguing with him just for the sake of it, but his learned manners apparently stopped him. He swept a cold, majestic look over Nekohiko and proceeded to scoop his soup with a spoon most elegantly.

So, naturally, Nekohiko couldn't stop himself from kicking him under the table. Just to see him splash his spoon over himself.

"Damnit."

Instantly aggravated, Abihiko kicked him back. And Nekohiko could not leave that without a full retaliation. It only looked innocent from the side because they glared at each other in murderous silence as they did that, and were stopped solely by the server girl coming back to bring candied fruit for the tea drinking.

Good girl. She stopped Nekohiko from wanting to overturn the table and lunge at Abihiko, full-on.

...

Oh, how he wanted to assault him. To tackle him.

To punish him for insolence.

But he was an adult person, so he kept his desires down.

Not for long.

"I miss food sometimes," Nekohiko chimed brightly after the girl left.

Caught off-guard, Abihiko stilled with his spoon half-raised to his lips. Then slowly, he turned it to Nekohiko as though inviting him to slurp on it.

It was a nice spoonful of soup, and Nekohiko would absolutely gobble it up if he could.

But he shook his head.

"It will be a pain to get rid of that stuff from within my body."

"We can wrap this meal up and move over to somewhere else. I'll give you my absorption aspect while you eat," Abihiko said, already settling his spoon down and readying to pack it all up in a tray. His eyes stopped on the cup with apple tea in it. "It won't be much pain to Bind the liquid out of you, though. I think you can safely drink my tea right now if you want."

Nekohiko shrugged. "No. Go ahead, drink it. I do not feel like taking any liquids in just for the taste."

"You can just spit it out if so," Abihiko said, taking a sip from the cup.

To which Nekohiko really... really could not help replying with a...

"Husband, you know I prefer to swallow."

...

Nekohiko didn't know what came over him, but he felt very bold. Very cheeky. And very, very empowered by Abihiko's baffled reactions to his words, ever since the morning began.

Like right now.

Abihiko choked on his drink, coughing, and Nekohiko didn't waste his chance. He lunged for him and pushed his hand with the cup aside. He caught Abihiko's chin in his fingers and turned him to himself.

Then, even before Abihiko could realize what he was doing, Nekohiko went in for the deepest kiss he had ever done. He had never been a fervent kisser. Only a dutiful and intrigued one.

Now, he felt so lost and desperate for Abihiko's heat that he found all the new facets to his own actions. Abihiko's lips were just so wet and shiny with the tea he'd sipped... Nekohiko thought that the apple tea must taste wonderful from these lips. From the scent and flavor in Abihiko's mouth...

His tongue passed the lips with barely a lick. Deeper, through the faintly open teeth. Everything so smooth and silky, Nekohiko closed his eyes to properly revel in the memories this evoked.

The heat from the tea still lingered in Abihiko's mouth, and the difference in temperatures only agitated Nekohiko more. Gods, how long he'd craved this warmth... this fever unique solely to Abihiko. The tea flavor was sunny, fruity with a note of crispness. Nekohiko let a soft moan out, just from the gentle taste. Ah, he should absolutely buy himself a pot of this tea later.

Or maybe it wasn't the tea at all.

Nekohiko's voice in their kiss was subtle, but Abihiko shuddered from it as though unable to bear hearing it.

His breath caught and he tried to shift aside. Even his tongue fled from Nekohiko's, shy.

Which only increased Nekohiko's thirst and the wish to make Abihiko acknowledge he enjoyed this and wanted more -- because, come on!

This was so obvious!

The marital Bond between them sang; Nekohiko could almost sense it in the Spiritual connection.

"N-neko, what--" Abihiko tried to say when Nekohiko's hand rustled down his robes, searching, prodding.

And then, he found it. The hardening, unabashed desire that Abihiko could not hide however much he could try.

"Neko, enough!" Abihiko gasped, crushing Nekohiko's shoulders in his hands and pushing him away from himself.

...

"Young masters! Please careful!" the server girls cried from the sides.

But too late.

Something shattered on the floor.

Nekohiko's sudden motion against the table made the soup bowl topple over and scald them both with the contents. Which, sure. A lot of hissing and swearing under his breath ensued as the rushing servers tried to solve the situation.

But more than that, Nekohiko was aware of the knowing and stunned looks the other patrons threw at him and Abihiko as the two of them scrambled around, cleaning after their breakfast catastrophe.

"Neko." Abihiko tsked barely audibly as he helped mop the table and his lap from the remnants of the soup. "What's gotten into you? Is this the Dark Sisterhood curse? What the hell are you thinking--"

...

Nekohiko sat, chin down. "I was just... trying to do that thing we did when we were young. I thought you would recognize. Searching for the reasons to kiss you," he added much lower, as though cringing from shame. "Remember?"

Abihiko's eyes turned to slits. "Why?"

"Why what? Because we are married and because that tea did indeed look delicious!" Realizing, Nekohiko jerked his head to the other patrons as a way of explanation. "We are newlyweds."

"Ahh," the closest servers drawled, eyes lighting up and cheeks flushing.

"Well, isn't that a great occasion to drink more, then! Kiss away, young ones," said one of the patrons who'd been most annoyed with Nekohiko's displays of affection toward Abihiko earlier. He no longer seemed flabbergasted by their behavior and raised a cup to salute them. "Cheers!"

"Cheers, you are a beautiful couple!"

Abihiko wasn't quite happy with this turn of events, though. As he and Nekohiko hurried out of the inn to escape the attention and people memorizing what the two of them looked like, he was anything but playful or sweet like he'd been during the meal.

He had somehow grown cold again, and Nekohiko did not understand why.

They went back to the stables where they'd abandoned their horse and changed it to a different one. The dark, shadowy building smelled of shit and straw, and was so empty, Nekohiko felt safe here outside of everyone's sight. Thus, when the stables' owner disappeared into the stalls to fetch a new horse, Nekohiko could no longer hold his confusion in. 

"Sorry about the tea. I was just trying to have fun," he mumbled. "I thought, in these past few years, that you would have wanted this... with me. I know you wanted to. Most people do not get so aroused just from a single kiss."

Abihiko's silent judgment was very eloquent.

"Most people aren't kissed by others with tongue invading their mouth like that."

"I was," Nekohiko said, remembering. "Morokata did that to me, just two weeks ago. Remember? His tongue assaulted me -- I felt like choking--"

The marital Bond stabbed him with a hard, harsh pain.

Tsk, jealousy? Again?

Just from telling Abihiko about someone kissing him?

"Morokata tried to kiss me yesterday too," Nekohiko said, not knowing why he did.

He just enjoyed telling this to Abihiko, for whatever reasons.

"Ow," Nekohiko said, grabbing his chest when another pang swerved inside him, twisting his heart in a tender ache. "You are a hell of a jealous husband, I see."

"I didn't even say anything!" Abihiko's fingers drummed the door frame of the stables, impatient and enraged. "Kiss whomever you want, I would support your choices fully."

...

"Yeah, right." Nekohiko jolted from another hidden knife lodged in his heart through the marital Bond connection. "Because it isn't entirely obvious that your heart thinks the direct opposite of what you say."

"Aaaaargh. Stop... that. Stop reading my emotions through the Bond!"

"It's not like it's a choice, you idiot! Do you think I enjoy being stabbed in the heart whenever you are? That's just marriage, deal with it!"

...

"Deal with it?" Abihiko turned. His voice had a raspy, savage feel to it. Nekohiko knew it well.

He couldn't help recalling all the tender, private times he had heard this voice before.

"Neko, you are constantly trying to assault me with kissing and groping me--"

"I thought we were just taking care of my curse," Nekohiko said, innocent. "Besides, don't make it out as if I never ask you if you can or want to! And most of the times, you seem quite eager."

"That is not the point and you know it. Do not try to... catch me in this. It is not easy for me. I have been without you for five years and... Of course I am eager. Of course I might want things with you. But I also would not allow them to happen between us no matter how much you may try to prompt it."

...huuuuh?

Nekohiko tried to meet his gaze, but Abihiko already averted his eyes.

"Neko, let's just focus on getting where we need and not talk about it more. And please," Abihiko added, lower, a hoarse note in his voice, "stop trying to tempt me."

"I was really just trying to taste that tea--"

"In my mouth?"

"..."

Nekohiko wanted to continue their heated argument. But just then, his sight caught something suspicious at his periphery. A scraggly young man, peering his and Abihiko's way from the corner beside the stables. Yet once the man felt that Nekohiko noticed him, he snapped aside as though disinterested.

But that only made him that much more suspicious.

Abihiko trailed Nekohiko's gaze, still visibly fuming after their quarrel.

"Fucking Morokata spies, already?" he spat through his teeth.

"I think so, yeah," Nekohiko echoed him, just as seething. "I wonder if we can get some of the information out of him?"

Yes.

Unresolved tension needed a release. This feckless spy really came at an unfortunate time. For him.

Even without checking with each other, Nekohiko and Abihiko dashed toward the man with downright deadly intentions in each of their movements.

The man paled but didn't have time to do anything else. Not even to raise his arms to protect himself from being knocked into his teeth with Nekohiko's boot.

His head jolted back pitifully and a spray of blood dyed his robes crimson as he swayed.

"You should have thought twice about treason, you know," Nekohiko growled at him as a way of explanation. "Spying on us is treason of highest order, you unlucky wretch."

Abihiko caught the man by the scruff of his neck before the man fell to the ground. Then he shoved him out of the open road and into the gap between two buildings. Out of sight, and so fast, nobody noticed much from the opposite side of the road.

"What do you think you're doing--" the man started screaming at them.

But Abihiko's fast kick under the man's knees wrenched only another gasp out of him. He crashed low, and again Abihiko didn't let him fall. He dashed the man's face against the stable wall and pinned him like this. Elbow between the man's shoulder-blades, another hand wringing both his arms behind his back. And each time the man attempted to make a sound again and cry for help, Abihiko's hold on him only tightened.

It forced the man to quieten down, only spitting blood gushing out of his nose and gaping at Nekohiko with the most panicked expression.

His lips trembled and his overall aura showed so much incompetence, Nekohiko wanted to applaud him and his acting skills. Morokata chose his spies well.

"P-please--"

"Search him," Nekohiko threw to Abihiko.

"Am I your servant? I am holding him, you search."

...

Nekohiko stepped up, biting down another snarky remark, and got to business. Quickly patting down the man's roomy robes, he found nothing that struck him as interesting. He moved over for a closer inspection, but of course he had to nearly rub against Abihiko who held the man steady.

And after all that had happened today, Nekohiko was in a very heated mindset about standing so close to Abihiko. He elbowed him in the side just for the sake of it and found it oh-so-pleasing to hear Abihiko exhale through his teeth in exasperation.

The sound made Nekohiko's scalp tingle, and he slowed down with his search, more aware of Abihiko's proximity than the hapless spy's. He noted the fact that Abihiko was also focused on him, and, for a few hastened heartbeats, the two of them simply gazed at each other in tight quarters.

Abihiko's eyelashes threw long shadows over his skin, slightly flustered, and Nekohiko could not take his eyes off them.

So hypnotic.

"...ahhh... kind masters... P-please..." the spy reminded them after a while, shaking more than ever. "Please, don't kill me! Please spare--"

Ah, yes.

The spy.

"I don't know what this is, but I don't think it's weapons or anything of the sort," Nekohiko said once he finally dug out something special from the man's inner pockets.

The small cloth bag he held up to the sun was nothing more than a gathering or... trash?

Some trinkets, badly-made copper and silver jewelry, mostly fake gold.

What in heaven's name?

Even for Morokata, this was a bit too arcane to use as a diversion tactic.

Stunned, Nekohiko scanned the man's figure with his Binding aura and found nothing. This man was no Binder, and clearly not an assassin or even a very good spy. So... who?

Abihiko dashed the man harder into the wall.

"I swear I didn't wanna anything funny, kind masters... Aaah! Please don't hurt meee."

"What the hell is this?" Nekohiko growled, shoving the trinkets under the man's nose. "Who are you and why are you following us?"

"I... only..."

Suddenly, Abihiko released the man, looking most annoyed. The man toppled and slid down the wall to the ground, but Abihiko was no longer interested in him. "Neko, we just beat up a random civilian."

The man moaned and rolled on the ground, scrambling as far as he could from both of them.

"He's a petty thief, and he steals trinkets from dumb travelers," Abihiko told Nekohiko in a low, menacing growl. "Thank you for flashing the Emerald damn Crown in the middle of nowhere for all the sharp-eyed thieves to see."

...

"He is not a civilian!" Nekohiko didn't know why he was arguing, but he couldn't just accept that he, the Emperor, had just harassed and almost tortured a nobody on the street for no real reason. Or that his mishap with the crown had brought them this surprise, either. "Even if he's not a spy, he is a... thief. And it is my duty to punish him for... crime. Like those bandits yesterday. I am justice, after all."

"Tsk, come on. We're leaving."

"But--"

"Neko!"

Their ride down the last stretches of countryside between this small post and Ise went in painful and prolonged, boiling silence.

 

 

---

***

 

They stopped a bit off the road to Ise, in a small grove well hidden within the mossy mountains. A brook beat beside the spot they decided to rest in, and a spread of red and yellow ash trees guarded them from being seen.

Which was perfect. Before they came into Ise, the city known for its Binders and its connection to the Spiritside, there was something they needed to check first. Away from any other Binder, and safe.

The Aspect-Splitting equations working.

On his lap, Nekohiko laid out the scribbled notes he and Abihiko had made in the inn. The two of them were dead-set on making this work, and so they didn't even speak to each other, relying on their trained knowledge of each other's methods and thinking.

A few calm, soothing hours of nothing but working together.

The sun rays hit the notes just right, and the two of them could adjust the numbers easily until they fit.

It didn't take them long because, even having forgotten most of the early Theory of Binding, they still had experience on their side. Binding had long seeped into their very bones. Half of their adjustments were instinctual. But they still ended up fine.

The moment Nekohiko began casting the pain-Splitting and redirecting spell on himself, he could tell it was calculated correctly. It just worked.

The only issue was that he had to redirect the pain and damage from this body to others. Ones that weren't here at the moment. Like the cat, the ladybug, or myriads of wood chips elsewhere. Had they all been together in one place, it would have been so much easier. But with them being far away and so spread out, he needed to do a lot of the convoluted Miscast, Reverberation, and Grounding spells -- and he almost lost track of them at some point.

Good thing Abihiko was near and followed all of Nekohiko's motions closely.

He helped him keep on track.

He didn't cast, himself, but he was crucial nonetheless. Without him, Nekohiko would have messed something up or worse... hurt himself fatally.

Why?

Because one of the pain-redirection spells went awry.

Nekohiko was concentrated on working out how pain would travel from this body to some other -- a tiny woodchip Mikawa had -- and then, all at once, the Aspect-Splitting acted out.

And instead of merely connecting the two bodies through Nekohiko's consciousness and the pain -- it struck. A pain nerve, touched wrongly with his magic.

...!

"AAAH!"

The blinding agony barbed itself inside Nekohiko's torso. Like a lightning strike, so fast and so disorienting.

He screamed in pain, his body lurching against the lash, but...

But he could not allow himself to move. He was in the middle of casting a very complex spell with the First-rate Aspects at its core. If he moved and made a mistake, something far worse than pain would happen to him.

He gasped for breath, air sucking in and out through his clenched teeth. His eyes brimmed with hot tears and his skin went clammy, all within seconds.

But he didn't break his spell-casting and kept going. Even though it seemed impossible that he would.

Nothing impossible, though.

Abihiko was aware of something going wrong. His hands reached out around Nekohiko's and held onto them, channeling the healing energy into Nekohiko along with the pain-reducing spells.

It all happened so fast, Nekohiko couldn't even tell when Abihiko had noticed his dire need of help in the middle of this.

But Abihiko did.

And his help was crucial. And perfectly timed. And just... everything.

With his eyes blurry with tears cascading down his cheeks, Nekohiko regarded Abihiko's stony expression before him. His calm, secure posture and exact movements as he cast to aid Nekohiko.

Even though the amount of pain was horrendous and once Nekohiko was done casting, he would definitely black out from the sheer overexertion -- Nekohiko still didn't feel worried in the least.

Shit happens. Some spells go wrong and hurt their casters and leave them vulnerable and exposed while they rest and recover afterward.

But... Nekohiko knew this wasn't scary. To be left vulnerable and exposed here, now.

Even if he blacked out and was as helpless as a baby chick, this person before him would not let a single bad thing happen to him while he rested.

It felt odd, to realize.

How much he could trust Abihiko, only days after he'd wanted to murder him for the vilest betrayal of his trust in his life.

How much he relied on him.

And how relieving it felt, to do so.

"Abihiko," he breathed the moment the spell was over.

He still trembled after the last pangs of the horrific toll it had taken on him. His vision darkened and his heaves became strained.

"Abihiko, I--"

Nekohiko's eyes rolled into his head. But not before he felt being embraced, firmly yet gently, in big, strong arms. Abihiko's palm cupped Nekohiko's face, laying it down on Abihiko's shoulder. But then, the hand lingered. Just long enough to brush Nekohiko's sweat-drenched hair out of his face and behind his ear.

"I know," Abihiko said. Although his motions were steady, his voice wasn't. It sounded... so worried, so frightened, even. "Hang in there, Neko. It's only an hour to Ise. Ise healers are the best in the Empire. They'll handle this too, you'll see!"

...

Silly.

How much you are overreacting.

This is not even a healer issue, just the rest that I need. And care.

Your care, not anyone else's.

Yet of course Abihiko couldn't hear him. In one fluid motion, he crushed Nekohiko to his chest, his arms adjusting beneath Nekohiko's back and knees -- and rose to his feet.

Being carried like this was also nice... and lulling. Even the horse's fast gallop could not compare to the careful embrace within Abihiko's safe arms or his rapid, panicked heartbeat against Nekohiko's ear.

No lullaby had ever sounded so sweet.