CW: sexual content, perversion, and degeneracy ^^

 

Chapter Hundred and Four

Torture

 

Harder, faster. Along with Nekohiko's hand on his hardened cock, his breathing and his heart sped up, too.

He had never known other people's reasons for doing this and had never felt the desire to satisfy himself. But once he began, it was frustrating to stop.

Yes, perhaps he wasn't attracted to others and didn't require intimacy in his life, but he was not immune to pleasure. He knew when it built up in him, surging higher and higher until it burst -- and he knew it when he wanted it to coincide with something else.

Like with seeing Abihiko near in such private, hidden moments.

Because, however embarrassing it was for Nekohiko to expose this curious and exploratory part of himself -- it jolted him with satisfaction to see that it embarrassed Abihiko, too.

And seeing Abihiko even slightly flustered... it did things to Nekohiko.

Things he didn't understand and couldn't control.

He just wanted to humiliate him again and again. Just to see this endearingly vulnerable expression in Abihiko's eyes as though Nekohiko was bullying him horribly and unjustly.

Ahhh, it was just too fascinating for Nekohiko to not want to see it.

He pinned his gaze in Abihiko's.

And once he did... it became unbearable for him to go on. His pleasure was ready to peak--

With a shuddering sigh, he stopped his movements. Dissatisfied, he threw his head back. His teeth found his lip again, this time strictly because of how annoyed he was.

Prolonging was never a thing for him. He had always preferred to get rid of the tension as quickly as possible, but now -- he couldn't.

Not when Abihiko was watching him like that.

"You are unbelievable," Abihiko said with a huff.

Nekohiko gave him a searing glare. "Why? What does that mean, unbelievable?"

Gods, even just looking at him over the small gap between them was making Nekohiko agitated, wanting to go back and finish what he had started.

"I know you're not even into this shit, yet you keep... doing that. Solely to frustrate me. Because you know I want you but... I cannot start it," Abihiko whispered, his eyes unblinking on Nekohiko's face. His lips must be so dry because he kept licking them and nibbling on his lower lip. "I never can. I would never want to coerce you into sex, yet you... you begin doing this. Why? I know you are not enjoying it and are doing it solely for me."

"You don't know me that well, then. Because I am a human, am I not? If I end up... abusing myself in this manner, do you think it won't feel pleasing to me?"

I might start it only rarely, but once I do -- how am I different from anyone else?

"You--"

Nekohiko's straightforwardness truly caught Abihiko off guard.

Which was very, very amusing.

Nekohiko's eyes lit up. He rolled just a tiny bit closer to Abihiko to see better all the shades of the flush that spread out generously over Abihiko's fair skin.

"For a man who has slept with half of Izumo, you are disappointingly shy," Nekohiko said.

Of course he was lying. He found Abihiko's shame in regards to him exhilarating, but he just couldn't avoid some taunting.

"I am not shy," Abihiko gritted out, "just did not expect that you would be so shameless."

Aww.

"Just as shameless as you," Nekohiko whispered. "Did you not touch yourself at all these past five years?"

"None of your business!"

"Huuuh? What about you calling my name in the middle of your climax--" 

Abihiko's eyes shot wide in shock.

"Wh-when?" was all he could squeeze out as his hand snapped to touch the wooden seashell on his neck. "You spy on me while I jerk off?"

"Just once," Nekohiko protested. "On accient! I didn't mean to see that. How often do you actually do it?"

"N-never."

"Liar!" Nekohiko huffed. "I was literally there when you woke me up with your..." 

He couldn't say it as freely as Abihiko did. He wasn't this level of a pervert for that.

"...with you Encouraging your Emperor that one night a month ago," he finished.

Now Abihiko didn't look as flustered anymore. Just confused.

"Encouraging what--?"

"Your tiny Emperor," Nekohiko said. "That's what I read about it in a book once, so that's what I prefer to call it when I am talking about it to people. It is poetic."

"Why the hell would you talk about it to people?! Just... Encourage your Emperor on your own, and don't spy on others while they do! Like a normal person," Abihiko said.

"But I would never Encourage the Emperor on my own. I don't find it very interesting to do alone--"

Burning, Abihiko sent a murderous look and wanted to turn away, but Nekohiko whispered softly.

"Please don't. I want... with you..."

...

"No. You don't. You are only doing it because of me." Abihiko averted his eyes. "Because I... would want that. You are forcing yourself. You don't need to--"

"What part of this looks like I'm forcing myself??"

Even without directly stroking himself, Nekohiko still felt the urge for release. He had never been pleasuring himself alone, really. It had always been done with Abihiko before.

So now, seeing as they both were here alone -- and married, besides! And with Abihiko clearly wanting the same things Nekohiko wanted...

"Do you want... with me?" Nekohiko asked just to make sure.

Just to hear it from him.

The truth. One of many Abihiko kept away from Nekohiko, even now.

"I..." Abihiko hesitated. "Only if you want it first. I would... never... unless you like it."

The tremor and shyness in his tone was so pleasing to the ear. The timid hope of Abihiko's words.

"I like it."

Nekohiko let out a tremulous breath as he found his straining member once again. A subtle moan of relief came out from his lips, drying his mouth with the fast breaths he was taking.

Then, once again, he picked up the pace of sliding his hand against his... well, wood, and felt the surge of sweetness rise from the center of his being. Ah, he did want it... with Abihiko. Like they did when together, years ago.

When they had both been human.

And unafraid to be much closer than they were now.

Begging, he looked across the tiny space of emptiness to Abihiko and saw just how pained he looked.

Or perhaps not pained. Aroused and yearning.

Which was a kind of sweet pain, too.

"Abihiko," Nekohiko murmured again.

This time, his moan sounded almost like a whine.

It made Abihiko stiffen. His eyes fiery on Nekohiko's blank face.

He was unable to stop watching Nekohiko and his unashamed squirming under his covers. With difficulty, he swallowed, his eyes going down to Nekohiko's hand pumping fast under the blanket.

As though in an invitation, Nekohiko aided his hand motions with his hips and --

-- that finally did it.

Abihiko shut his eyes as if in surrender. Overcome with the desire, he stilled. Then slowly, his own hand went down to touch himself. His chest rose and fell. The exposed bone in his throat bobbed with his hard gulps for air.

When opened his eyes again, they were misted. Overcome with need.

The agitation it raised in Nekohiko was like magic.

It only aided the building climax under his clumsy, yet steady wooden fingers.

"Show me," Nekohiko demanded in a rasp.

He didn't want to uncover himself, of course. He was made of wood and... unsightly. His body wasn't meant for being pleasing to the eyes. Even though every doll maker he'd met had offered him to Bind matter aspects of flesh and skin onto his carcass, he had refused.

Because he had never thought he would need it.

This body had been crafted for vengeance and punishing of his enemies. Abihiko, above all. Not for... this!

Though judging by Abihiko's wronged expression as he succumbed to Nekohiko's enticement -- this was a sort of punishment, too. Abihiko did not want to do this. Maybe because of guilt or shame or some other nonsense Nekohiko didn't care for. Yet he also couldn't help himself...

That was clear.

The growing desire and torment washed over Abihiko as he began stroking his own member under the blanket. Shame, frustration, even strange innocence mixed in his features. He chewed on his lower lip to keep himself from making a sound or exposing just how strained his breathing became.

When his and Nekohiko's eyes met, Abihiko immediately averted his gaze. Utterly unable to bear it.

Utterly defeated into being a slave to his pleasure.

Ahhh, that only increased the sensuousness that Nekohiko got from it! He even had to stop, afraid to reach his peak too fast with just this.

It was not enough.

Not yet!

Merely doing it next to each other was not enough punishment and tormenting of Abihiko for him to enjoy it to its fullest. If Abihiko didn't want to have something more intimate between them like touching each other directly -- the least he could do was to show...

To let Nekohiko see just how much this would humiliate him.

Yes, please.

Nekohiko smiled. "I want to see... show..."

"No," Abihiko breathed, shaking his head.

...

Sure.

Rather than argue, Nekohiko simply slid nearer to him -- if he couldn't see, he at least could savor more of Abihiko's heat and alluring expressions up close. But Abihiko growled deep on his throat at this breach of space between them, and flung the blanket off himself.

"You... bully me like this," he gasped, unable to stop. "Have you no shame..."

His features twisted in a grimace of longing and Nekohiko stared at him dazedly. 

At all of him.

Abihiko's inner robes were pulled apart, revealing the middle of his chest, stomach, down to his lower abdomen where his right hand was moving up and down with lurches. He wasn't moving as fast as Nekohiko did. Maybe, Nekohiko wondered, because his length didn't allow for too rapid a motion.

But he didn't seem to need to.

He was aroused with just the moderate pace he was going for, and besides, it let Nekohiko see it all so much better.

Every last part of Abihiko's...

Emperor, Nekohiko's mind suggested.

Even in his thoughts, he was quite reluctant to call it anything else.

He wasn't quite as shameless as Abihiko thought him to be, all right?

The length was quite larger than Nekohiko had seen it before, and even the shape itself gave him a jolt of heat to his own engorged cock. He wondered about the feel of Abihiko's tender skin against his fingers and about the obvious hardness of the shaft itself and--

Mmmm, his own hand only quickened with these thoughts.

"Ahhh," he breathed, his back arching with the unbearable rush of ecstasy that crested to the very tip of his cock in spasms. His brain fogged with bliss, and momentarily, he felt the shock of pleasure come through him.

Had it ever felt so good before? He couldn't remember...

He trembled, coming, only caring to lock his eyes with Abihiko at the exact same moment. How did his stupid wooden body work? He had no idea. But the hot spurts of thick semen still scalded his fingers with each of the climactic pulses through his cock.

...

"Neko..."

He was still lost in his euphoria as he crept closer to Abihiko to see that Abihiko finished too. Perhaps he still wouldn't let Nekohiko touch him -- but at least Nekohiko would get the best of their proximity.

"We shouldn't," Abihiko murmured, taut with the rising pleasure inside him as well. "I... shouldn't..."

"Please," Nekohiko ordered him. "This is your punishment. You must. Come on, move faster."

Abihiko shut his eyes, snarling. "You are so bossy--!"

"I am the true Emperor. What did you expect?"

Nekohiko's body was still sore and tender after the stress of the sweetest orgasm he'd ever had raking through him. But he relished in the image of Abihiko splayed so close beside him, exposed. Vulnerable, unable to stop his own cadence of pumping up and down his member as if lost to his animalistic desires.

Raw, needy frustration.

Under Nekohiko's gaze, the straining venous length of Abihiko's dick twitched, seemingly growing in size as the beads of precome trailed down the tip. Nekohiko held his breath, excited.

Then he grabbed Abihiko's head by the hair and tugged.

"Stop," he commanded.

...!

Even in Abihiko's eyes, the utter closeness to the edge of orgasm was apparent.

Which was why it was all the more exciting for Nekohiko to see bafflement take its place.

"...what?" Abihiko croaked, shuddering all through.

But he did stop his motions on his cock. It looked so impossible to stop at such a near moment to the climax, but Abihiko kept himself under control. Even though his body trembled at the tension and his chest kept rising up and down with an urgent ferocity.

"N-neko--?"

Nekohiko gave him another of his creepy, indulgent smiles.

"That's it. Now good night. Go back to sleep," he murmured at him sweetly.

Abihiko's forehead creased as he blinked in deep confusion. "But what--"

"Shhhh."

And with that, Nekohiko quickly rubbed his sticky fingers off on Abihiko's robe and pretended to quieten down for sleep.

Ah, inside, he felt so... naughty and deranged -- he had never done anything like that before! But at the same time, emboldened by what Abihiko had told him tonight about the real body, and with how nice he felt after the first healing session in the waterfall...

Abihiko deserved this, didn't he?

He heard that Abihiko was actually rustling clothes to get back dressed, preparing for sleep like an obedient, non-argumentative husband he was lately. So Nekohiko poked his head from the pillow again.

He smacked Abihiko's hand that tried to cover his swollen member with his clothes.

Then he said, "Again."

Abihiko's befuddlement was very eloquent. "Excuse me--"

"Encourage your Emperor, again," Nekohiko said.

"But you just told me to stop."

"Yes, and now I tell you to keep going."

Innocently, Nekohiko batted his eyelashes, then twined his long fingers back into Abihiko's hair, giving a slight pull. Just enough to jerk his head back and expose his throat with the angular throat bone twitching under Nekohiko's gaze.

"I want to see you finish. So do it. For me."

"Neko, this is beyond any--"

Nekohiko put his palm, still smeared with the drying fluids over his fingers, on top of Abihiko's mouth.

As though in an epiphany, Abihiko stilled under his touch. His lips quivered under the palm, teasing Nekohiko's wooden surface with an irresistible tingle. Already clouded again, Abihiko's eyes trailed to Nekohiko's face, searching for any trace of mockery in it.

But there was none.

"Touch yourself," Nekohiko ordered.

This time, Abihiko did not argue. He seemed eager, too, and as Nekohiko amused himself with the sight of the hard cock in Abihiko's fist, twitching and reddening with the increased blood flow -- he felt his palm licked from the inside, too.

"Mmmm," Nekohiko sighed, closing his eyes.

As always, the overstimulation aggravated his sensitive body and mind -- but he still forced himself to lean into it.

Just the thought of Abihiko's tongue fluttering about his filthy fingers... it was worth enduring the overpowering sensations.

Abihiko's breath hastened, and his hips raised instinctively to catch up with the oncoming climax. And Nekohiko struck. Again.

"Stop," he ordered.

"Nnngrrrrhh, are you kiddingme?!" Abihiko roared at him, shaking all through. "Neko!"

Nekohiko devoured the sight of Abihiko's throbbing cock, unable to come until Neko allowed it -- and Abihiko's face. The fevered blush from shame and the postponed release, sweat at the roots of his hair. His mouth open, panting, his gaze...

...oh, so pleading.

"Did you think it would be easy? That I will not want to punish you after lying and keeping me in the dark for so long?" Nekohiko asked, full of dark glee.

He reached for Abihiko's ear with his lips, whispering. "You like agreeing with me so much lately, aren't you? Your guilt eating you up? Well, let's see how much you can agree with this."

He bit into the earlobe, tugging at it softly with his teeth. "Go on," he snarled in a mock-feline tone, adoring how his hot breath raised goosebumps across Abihiko's skin.

"..."

Abihiko breathed loudly through his nose as though nearly snapping in fury. But he said nothing, only closed his eyes in resignation when Nekohiko ravaged his ear with more of his playful biting.

"Go. on. You deserve this. You know you do."

"........."

"If you think you do not deserve this, beg me to spare you," Nekohiko went on. His fingers curled toward Abihiko's mouth, slowly caressing his lips and prying them apart.

Abihiko parted his lips without resistance, and Nekohiko's dirty fingers dipped against the hot, expectant tongue. In, deeper -- to make him take a proper taste...

To let him suck on his fingers just because Nekohiko wanted him to.

"I order you to go on. Keep stroking yourself," Nekohiko hissed in response to Abihiko's teeth subtly grinding against Nekohiko's fingers. "Like you did, a month ago."

"Neko, how dare--"

"Yesss, say my name." Nekohiko grinned, exhilarated. "Say it. Like you said back then while you were close to coming. Say now, too!"

...

"Neko."

Good boy.

Nekohiko did it several more times.

Tortured Abihiko with his orders to keep going and take himself at the very crest of incomparable pleasure -- and then told him to stop without reaching it.

And each time was as delicious and as amusing to watch as the first time. By the fifth time, Abihiko did not hide his groans that sounded more and more feral with each new one. And the looks he threw at Nekohiko stopped being pleading or shocked and became...

...savage.

How he was still holding his temper in, Nekohiko had no idea. But for whatever reason, Abihiko allowed him this kind of unbearable abuse.

And Nekohiko reveled in this. Because also, the longer this went on, the more he felt that his own fatigue after the first climax was wearing off.

Perhaps his libido wasn't very strong to do it so quickly again after the first time, but he suspected his torture of Abihiko was going for far longer than it felt to him.

He didn't know who he should be impressed with more, by this point.

This time, his cock didn't even need to be stroked too much to spring into full alert because of how heated and intense his and Abihiko's activities were. Nekohiko was hard the moment he realized he could -- and so the "torture" became far more exciting than before.

"Together. We can do it together," Nekohiko rasped into Abihiko's ear, tangled in sweat-drenched long hair.

Abihiko nodded, half-dazedly, never stopping what Nekohiko ordered him to do. "You are lying," he gasped for air, the slick sound of his cock so dirty to Nekohiko's ears. "You will torture me more, I know it..."

"Faster," Nekohiko demanded because he himself was quite close already.

He did fully intend to order Abihiko to stop just when he would reach his own second climax, but somehow...

He forgot.

The rising itch deep within him and the race to achieve it -- rendered his mind so blank, he could only concentrate on Abihiko's passion-filled face and his lips bitten raw. His heart thundered in his ears and his body became overcome with the urge to end this.

Another shuddering breath erupted from within Abihiko's lips, and Nekohiko couldn't handle it any longer. 

His hips thrust forward, greedy for the release. A slight whimper escaped him and his eyes opened wide, staring into Abihiko's deep ones.

"Neko..."

Abihiko, too, was gasping for air at the highest peak of his pleasure.

Nekohiko couldn't tell who came first and whose hot semen shot at his hand -- they were too close to each other even though they weren't touching. But he felt the pulsating release of both their bodies and the heavy waves of joy washing over him as he waited the orgasm out.

"Abihiko," he mouthed.

Abihiko's lips, heavenly cool with the blood flow all having rushed to his other body parts, landed on his, bringing respite and calm to Nekohiko's turbulent mind. Their lips were dry from the fast breathing. Dry and cool and sweet.

He stilled under the kiss, not even registering how overwhelming Abihiko was with him now. Their tongues met, and Abihiko even nibbled on Nekohiko's lips, so eager he was.

So insolent, after being such a good, agreeable boy for the last hours.

"Did you tell me to stop that last time?" Abihiko asked him once he tore his lips away from Nekohiko's to let both of them gulp for air.

Sweat mixed with saliva in Nekohiko's mouth, but he felt too weak and hazy to care about it.

"I don't remember," he mumbled, watching Abihiko above him, blurry-eyed. "Did I?"

"I wouldn't listen to you anyway," Abihiko said, crashing down next to him with a heavy, exhausted sigh.

...

And this earns you another "torture" of this sort in the future, just so you know!

The dark room with the marbling glow of Spirit butterflies was unbelievably soothing, and already worn out by all the torturing, Nekohiko felt only a few short minutes away from blacking out into a deep sleep.

But he still wanted to poke Abihiko with something mean. Just for the sake of it.

"Congratulations, you are now officially a doll-fucker, as Hibiki would say."

In the quiet room, with only the purl of the waterfall filling it, Abihiko's soft rustle of clothes sounded so tender, Nekohiko almost didn't expect an arm slowly enfolding him from the side.

Neither of them had cleaned up after their escapades. Neither had really pulled their clothes or covers back on. Still as sticky and messy and disheveled.

Still too close.

Only now closer.

They were touching again. Abihiko was hugging him, gently pressing him closer and closer to himself.

Lazy, Nekohiko gave him a glance. He had never seen Abihiko quite as blissful as he was now. Maybe only right after the marriage...

But back then, Nekohiko had been too angry to appreciate this expression of joy in Abihiko's eyes.

Now, he could.

He felt just as happy, himself.

"Neko, I..."

Love you, Nekohiko remembered, from the past. Abihiko had always told him this during or right after doing the... Imperial Encouragement deeds together.

Nekohiko had never responded to these words. Simply because he didn't know what or how to respond. But he knew this pattern well. Them having sex, Abihiko telling him about love. Nekohiko accepting it.

Then sleep, tender, sweet sleep while cuddling into each other's arms.

Could those five years apart have really changed that, too? Like they had changed everything else?

...

"Yes?" Nekohiko asked when Abihiko dwindled down without finishing his thought.

"I... am sorry," Abihiko said at last, looking distraught. "I didn't want to come, and I didn't even want to do it, really. You and I are too complicated for this. I feel that we shouldn't have done this. It will only complicate things further down the line. I am sorry I was too weak and that I took advantage of this chance--"

"Stop," Nekohiko ordered. He slapped his palm, once again quite filthy with their combined efforts, onto Abihiko's mouth and pressed it hard.

"Who gives a damn about what you think? This wasn't for you. This was for me. To assert my dominance over you."

"But--"

"Good night, Abihiko. The first round of torture is deemed successful. Keep talking, and the next round will see you in far greater confusion and misery. That, I can promise."

Abihiko diligently licked his lips clean after Nekohiko had smeared them, and deep inside, Nekohiko could only shudder.

What a pervert, he thought, then turned around, backing into Abihiko's chest to be properly hugged.

He was so exhausted and so... empty of all stress and pent-up frustration, that he drifted into sleep almost instantaneously.

If Abihiko lasted much longer awake, he didn't know.

He didn't care.

He was, for once in his lifetime, fully and thoroughly sated and fulfilled.

And he had never before even known he could be.

 

 

---

***

 

The morning met him so deliriously tranquil, he even wondered if he should just lie in bed for a couple of hours, doing nothing, then go back to sleep again.

He just didn't feel like doing anything today!

Was this what sexual deviancy felt like? Sensual exhaustion? The carnal retirement?

If he and Abihiko weren't actually married, he would be quite disappointed in his behavior yesterday night. But phew -- they were married. His Emperor's honor hadn't been tarnished too much.

Yet.

But he was still exhausted, so he wallowed in bed with his eyes closed for many long minutes, just savoring the slow awakening and raking through his thoughts and recollections of yesterday.

His and Abihiko's talk about his real body, for example.

He'd been too overexcited back then and couldn't properly digest the information yet. His giddiness had come out in... whatever his late-night excursions ended up being. But now, with a clear head and plenty of time to think on it --

He couldn't even say whether Abihiko's plan about the body sounded plausible or utterly insane to him.

For starters, the body itself... was it actually rediscovered or not?

Abihiko's words still coursed through him as he pondered, over and over again:

The body had been cut and sliced and given away to all the Lords and the Imperial bodyguards. Burned, then scattered. And yet, singly because Abihiko had that small part of Nekohiko's original body that nobody noticed or searched for -- the blood spatters on the seashell -- all these scattered ashes could still be searched for.

And found.

Abihiko hadn't gone into details. Nekohiko felt that it was solely because he didn't want it to seem too impressive. Why? No idea. This feat was impressive, and Abihiko trying to minimize its value only made it more so.

The small Kitten's Paw seashell and a few dried and Bound droplets of blood on it.

Like a compass with which he could locate and find the original body parts even in their scattered form.

Nekohiko had a hard time imagining how he had managed to do this, and how many days, months, years he had spend to track them all down and pull them back together by reversing the effects of burning. It was... a titanic effort.

Apart from being difficult, it was just so effortful and time-consuming! The scattered ashes would be diffused so widely across the Land -- and would require Abihiko to actually visit every last part of the Empire to pull them all together from his vicinity.

Himself, Nekohiko would never bother doing something so stupid, even to get his old body back. It would take him years to try.

Then again, Abihiko had had all those years. Ones spent away from him, waiting for Nekohiko to wake up. And being a new Emperor, it had been all too easy for him to travel across the Empire and gather Nekohiko's ashes little by little, slowly drawing them to himself and preserving in that form or trying to revert them to their original shapes.

If Nekohiko hadn't known that Abihiko already had most of his ashes back... he would simply say,

"That is impossible to do. I am not even going to bother."

But... Abihiko had already done all that impossible job for him.

And Nekohiko could hardly believe that.

...

Only a driven madman would consider pulling something like that off. And then actually managing to do it. An obsessive, devoted... and sad madman.

There was, of course, this issue of not all the body parts being scattered into the wilds of the Empire. But those that had been, Abihiko said he had already retrieved. Even the winds hadn't carried Nekohiko's ashes beyond the borders of the Empire. Even the ocean kept his body remains within the Empire's edges.

He was the true Emperor, and his very Land refused to lose him so entirely to the world.

But the Empire was one thing. The people of the Empire were another. Some body parts of Nekohiko hadn't been burned or scattered, perhaps in fear that the nature of the Land wouldn't truly lose him even in such an obliterated state.

A few body parts, the Great Lords had kept.

Not all the Lords, of course. Honest and straightforward people like Okinaga or Kazuragi's second-in-command, Etsuko, hadn't bothered to keep any parts of Nekohiko for themselves. They simply hadn't seen the reason to.

The other Lords had, though.

Parts of the heart, the spinal cord, the brain. The most important parts of the body.

They had kept those, in shattered fragments without which gathering the full body would be moot.

When Abihiko had told him that yesterday, Nekohiko felt as though doused with chilly water.

People had discussed his dead body like it were a puzzle... like it were a constructing set to build a house or a Bound dummy with. It made him sick to his core.

"That blood compass that you have -- where did it show you those parts are?" he'd asked Abihiko after he'd given it a long, weary thought.

The answer hadn't surprised him much.

He'd already suspected it anyway.

Sakai, Iokirihime, Morokata. Those three.

"Yeah, but what do you mean -- Sakai, Iokirihime, Morokata?" Nekohiko had tried to ask more. "Where did they hide those parts? In Nara or in their castles or Kingdoms? Some Great House hiding spells? Where are those parts, damn it?"

"That is the question, Neko," Abihiko had told him, calm. "For all I know, they could have hidden those inside themselves, too. Tsk. It is impossible to tell, so far. We need to displace them first if we want to gain that information."

Argh, true.

After all, the necessary fragments of his brain or heart didn't need to be big. They could just be as tiny as a small pearl, and still crucial to such a degree that without them, would be no heart, no brain, no spinal cord complete.

...

So not even a puzzle, his body was. A puzzle forcedly kept apart and hidden and guarded by some of the most powerful people in the Empire.

"The Trial would be the perfect opportunity for that," Abihiko said.

The Trial. The Trial, again. Nekohiko couldn't wait any longer for the stupid Trial! So many things depended on it, now! But sure as hell Abihiko wouldn't tell him about his plans for the Trial, so Nekohiko had to force himself to calm down...

The only last thing that intrigued him about it was -- funnily enough -- the idea of which of the Lords held which of his crucial parts.

And yep, it had been funny, to guess. Their conversation yesterday had ended on a hysterical note precisely because Nekohiko had become too agitated trying to think of whether Sakai had his brain or Morokata, or Iokirihime. Any answer fit too ridiculously, and he hadn't been able to stop laughing.

Which was why Abihiko had told him to stop talking about it and go eat with him in a tavern instead.

Good choice.

Now, at least Nekohiko had gotten this nonsense out of his system and felt no longer any need to chortle at the thought.

...

His heart.

His brain.

His spinal cord.

Morokata.

Iokirihime.

Sakai.

Too weird to even imagine. And too hopeful to not want to dwell on it more.

He could have his old body back, in only a little while. Abihiko had made sure of that. Only...

Nekohiko slowly squinted his eyes open, resurfacing from his dreamlike thoughts.

Only... why did Abihiko make it seem as though what he had done for him wasn't impressive? Why did he keep downplaying his efforts?

For what reason?

...

When Nekohiko opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was... Abihiko.

Watching him, fondly, as Nekohiko was waking up. Though Nekohiko had woken up a long time ago, he hadn't tried to open his eyes and shift in the bed at all.

But so hadn't Abihiko, it seemed.

Did it mean...

"You did not just watch me sleep for hours," Nekohiko ground out, suddenly annoyed. "Coupled with you gathering my body for years -- the image of you is not exactly pleasant in my mind now. Or in any way healthy. What did you say yesterday about you not being an utter creep who keeps a seashell covered in my blood for years?"

Abihiko cracked a smile, not dismayed by Nekohiko's insults in the slightest.

"Good morning. No, I wasn't watching you. Just... wondered why you stopped purring some time ago. That woke me up and I began listening to your breathing instead."

"That is also not a very entertaining activity."

Also, he'd been purring again?

Sometimes he felt he couldn't control it at all. It always turned on automatically when he was happy and comfortable.

Like right now. Only his awareness kept his purring at bay -- and shame at the idea. But he was very comfortable and very happy.

He was lying alongside Abihiko, his head safely tucked in the nook between Abihiko's face and his shoulder. Abihiko's stupid hair was everywhere around him, but he didn't mind. It was warm and sweet in here.

He wished this would never end.

"I just didn't want to wake you if you were still tired," Abihiko said, his fingers fondling a stray lock of Nekohiko's hair. "This is your time to recover and rest. Before we go back into Nara and face those assholes... we better do our best to heal and prepare."

"Mn."

...

Such serenity. And bliss.

With a smile in his voice, Abihiko said at last. "I think I am getting too used to sleeping next to you when you purr. It is a very lulling noise."

"Well, you are getting me my body back, so don't get too attached," Nekohiko grumbled sleepily. "No way in hell am I putting any purr-boxes into my real human body."

Abihiko couldn't hold in a chuckle. "Yes, your dummy body noises are quite... unique."

Nekohiko craned his neck to peer at him, eyes narrowed. "My dummy body noises? Like which--?"

Even though Abihiko didn't want to say it, clearly preferring a gentlemanly silence to this question, Nekohiko knew. The realization scalded him with shame.

The wood on wood sound he had done yesterday night during...

During that.

"You-- jerk," he growled, pushing himself up. "This is not a laughing matter! Do you think I didn't worry if the wood would start smoking and burning from being rubbed so fast? Like the ancients made fire from sticks?"

Painfully trying to stifle his laughter, Abihiko watched him from the floor. "I am sorry, Neko," he managed out. "But you were rather on--"

"Do not you dare say that," Nekohiko hissed. "Do not you dare say I was on fire last night!"

"I would never!"

And with this, the bliss ended. Nekohiko was no longer in the mood for cuddling. Only for revenge. And punishments.