DISCLAIMER:
The characters belong to Sai Yukino and Kairi Yura, Kadokawa Shoten,
Madhouse Studios, etc., i.e., not me.
I'm just borrowing them for a
while to spin a tale.
Secret Summer
Furores
By firewolf
June 2008
@>;-'-
"SHIRO!" The exasperated yell
of
the Prime Minister's Aide fairly reverberated across the palace
grounds.
Ryuuki bit down a chuckle as
he leaned out his window to gaze upon what
had recently become a fairly common scene at the court since the hot
summer months began; Kouyuu glaring at his mud encrusted and no longer
pristine white wolf who sat panting in the shallow waters of the
emperor's koi pond.
The guard wolf which Kou
Reishin gave his son was normally the very
picture of obedience. However, Shiro was still a puppy and her youth
sometimes won out over her training. This was most evident ever since
the stifling heat of summer started to overwhelm them.
If Kouyuu was acting true to
form, he'd be fully engaged in giving his
wolf a bath to restore her fur to its usual snow white lustre for the
next hour or so. Honestly, Ryuuki thought Kouyuu should have caught on
by now that Shiro loved being fussed over by her master, and that these
baths were more treats and rewards than a punishment. It was a no
wonder she never listened to his scolding and took every opportunity to
jump into a muddy pond whenever she felt he hadn't paid her enough
attention lately.
Ryuuki thought nothing more
of the matter and returned to his office,
ostensibly to tackle his paperwork again, but more likely to take the
opportunity to goof off by penning yet another unsent love letter to
Shuurei. He was all ready to start thinking of a new bit of prose for
Shuurei when Jyuusan hime came hurrying into his office with a worried
frown on her face.
"Ryuuki, I need you to follow
me." Taking in her serious expression,
and since he did like any excuse to avoid work when he could, Ryuuki
nodded to her.
He habitually reached for his
sword, but she stopped him from picking
it up. "It's only a short way from here and within the grounds of the
harem. It'll be sufficient that I'm carrying a blade." Ryuuki gave her
a curious look but shrugged and followed anyway, wondering what she was
up to.
"You do know that Kouyuu has
been using one of the harem's bathing
pools to bathe Shiro, right?"
Ryuuki nodded. "If it's
objectionable--"
"Oh, no, no, no. The maids
and I enjoy their company." Ryuuki thought
she sounded a wee bit too innocent and raised an eyebrow at her.
She smiled impishly at him.
"We had him use the South eastern waterfall
pools." He caught on immediately.
With her nose inundated with
the smell of soap and water, and a small
waterfall filling her ears with sound, Shiro would be arguably blind to
her surroundings. It created a perfect opportunity for the harem to
sneak closer to spy on the pair.
"I suppose the kawai-factor
of watching Kouyuu with his wolf pup
prompted that pool's designation?" Ryuuki smiled at Jyuusan hime
conspiratorially. “It does have a lovely little ‘viewing gallery which
*you’re* not supposed to know about.”
"The ever stuffy Prime
Minister's Aide lets down his guard when he
thinks he's alone with his wolf. And you can't say that Shiro's not
totally adorable when she's actually acting like a puppy instead of his
guard wolf." Jyuusan hime told him haughtily. "Besides, she does love
playing with water."
Ryuuki winced to be thus
reminded of the spring 'incidents', which
ended not too long ago. When the spring rains were upon them, the court
was often treated to the spectacle of a half grown wolf gambolling out
in the rain and pouncing into every puddle she could find. However,
Shiro playing in the rain wasn't objectionable. It was after she
finished playing that the trouble arose; when she came back in and
shook the water off, drenching any poor unfortunates who happened to be
nearby.
Ryuuki often wondered if it
was deliberate that these poor sods were
usually the hopeful father in laws who haunted every opportunity to get
near Kouyuu whenever Shiro wasn't around. It seemed to him rather
calculated that the wolf pup always returned to Kouyuu in time to shake
the water off on these sycophants, and yet missed catching her master,
the Prime Minister, or their guards in the deluge.
Come to think of it... Ryuuki
could remember Kouyuu complaining to him
once that Seiran and Shuuei indulged his guard wolf too much by
*sending* her off to play in the rain. It occurred to Ryuuki then that
it seemed like Seiran's wicked kind of humour to teach Shiro this
naughty trick, which was akin to Shuuei's teaching Shiro that 'marriage
proposal' was one of her command words to attack and chase.
Jyuusan hime’s next words
pulled Ryuuki out of his contemplation of
further conspiracies. "And as the weather got hotter, we also had the
opportunity to appreciate some-- other sights."
There was a decidedly wicked
gleam in her eye with that statement. And
for a moment, Ryuuki was reminded of her half brother Shuuei when he
would be mischievously plotting some prank to be played on the annoying
courtiers who persistently tried to ambush Kouyuu with their marriage
proposals.
Ryuuki sighed as he thought
of the sad situation between his twin
flowers. Really, Ryuuki thought Shuuei would be much more effective in
curbing the harassment on Kouyuu if he'd just work up the courage to
directly address and fix the rift between him and Kouyuu. Then they
could 'properly' start on the path of falling in love. While the Prime
Minister's guards and Shiro normally ensured Kouyuu's many admirers and
prospective father in laws kept their distance, Ryuuki also knew they
wouldn't have to stay on guard so much once Kouyuu was officially 'off
the market.'
Ryuuki noticed immediately
when Jyuusan hime suddenly started walking
more carefully and quietly. "Why *are* you taking me along to sneak up
on Kouyuu?" He had to ask curiously.
"You’ll know soon." She
whispered back to him as she guided their
Kingdom's Emperor towards the South Eastern pool’s little known
'viewing gallery’. Any words Ryuuki might have thought to say was
instantly forgotten as his breath was stolen by the vision Jyuusan hime
pointed out to him.
In all the time he had known
Kouyuu, Ryuuki had never before seen him
stripped down to just his undershorts. But there he was in all his pale
almost luminescent glory, fully occupied in soaping and scrubbing Shiro
who was enjoying the attention of her master, and completely oblivious
of any prying eyes.
For a man who spent most of
his life in a library or sitting behind a
desk, Kouyuu had a remarkably *fine* body. Of course, some of the man's
recent development in musculature could probably be attributed to
Ensei's lessons in barehanded defence.
Ryuuki had to swallow hard as
he stared, mesmerised by the play of
sunlight upon the sheen of water glistening on Kouyuu's skin,
accentuated by the occasional bubble floating around the oblivious
pair. Then there was the tiny wisp of white cloth hanging precariously
on his hips which seemed to turn more translucent the wetter it got. If
he was not already very much in love with Kou Shuurei, Ryuuki knew he
would have been very tempted.
"Ryuuki!" A hard jab of an
elbow in his side reminded him of his
companion. "I know it's an-- excellent sight. And the palace maids and
I have been enjoying this scene for the last couple of weeks. But I
didn't bring you here to ogle too!"
"Wha-?" Ryuuki looked up at
Jyuusan hime only to freeze when he noticed
the darker shadows hiding among the trees she was grimly staring at.
Shadows and shapes which did not look feminine, and which were much
closer to their oblivious friend than they were.
"Those shadows started to
appear these last few times."
All at once, Ryuuki felt his
face heat up in anger and protectiveness
for his innocent friend. His hand fell immediately to his hip, but he
wasn't carrying Bakuya. Now he understood why Jyuusan hime made him
leave his sword behind.
A low growl rumbled from his
chest. "I'll get Shuuei--"
"No!" Jyuusan hime
interrupted him harshly. "Not now. Aniue isn't ready
to see him. Not like this right now."
Ryuuki's eyes widened at her
implication, but now that he thought of
it, he knew she was right. Shuuei and Kouyuu's friendship was still on
shaky ground and struggling to recover from the shock it received when
Shuuei stole away from Kiyou without a word to his best friend. Their
relationship was currently too fragile for Shuuei to see Kouyuu in this
'light.'
"Then I'll get Seira--"
Jyuusan hime glared at him in
disbelief. "You do realize he would draw
Kanshou on them, don't you?"
Ryuuki's face went pale as
visions of beheaded courtiers and noble men
swam in his head at the thought. Seiran could get awfully ruthless when
his protective instincts were aroused.
"Ensei it is." Ryuuki laughed
weakly
As Ryuuki had expected, Ensei
reacted much in the same way when he saw
how Kouyuu dressed (or should that be undressed) while bathing his
guard wolf. Ensei though, was much quicker in striding stiffly towards
the shadows with his staff drawn, effectively causing a mini-stampede
of these opportunistic admirers fleeing the scene. While Shiro had
spared a glance at the scowling Ensei who was now skulking around the
surrounding trees, Kouyuu fortunately remained blissfully unaware of
the drama around him.
Thereafter, unknown to the
Prime Minister's Aide and most importantly
Shuuei and Seiran, Ryuuki would see Ensei unobtrusively following
Kouyuu to the Harem grounds whenever he headed there to give Shiro a
bath. Still, the summer couldn't end fast enough for Ryuuki's peace of
mind.
~owari~