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
Perversions,
Plots, Perils and Politics
By firewolf
November 2008
@>;-'-
Shuurei smiled knowingly when
she heard Kouyuu’s yell reverberating across the palace grounds.
Shiro’s cool bath and therefore mud seeking habits throughout the
summer was well known by the entire court.
Her smile threatened to grow even wider as her assistant let out a long
suffering sigh and came to his feet. “Hime-san...”
“Ensei? Which actually are you more concerned about?” Shuurei asked
curiously before she’d let him leave. “That *Seiran* becomes aware of
those watching Kouyuu sama? Or aware that *you’re* watching him?” She
gave him a naughty grin.
“Hime-sama!” Ensei flushed bright red at her insinuation.
She gaily waved him off, mercifully letting him leave without answering
her question. It was so rare for her to have something she could tease
her assistant about she just relished the entire situation.
It was a good thing she thought to ask Jyuusan Hime about the secret
assignment she and Ryuuki set for Ensei after her assistant developed a
curious habit of disappearing after Kouyuu’s yell. Considering the
nature of the task, Ryuuki would never have given her a straight
answer. And, most importantly, she would never have received an
invitation to join the pavilion party.
Her first sight of her nearly nude friend shocked her speechless. But
with Jyuusan Hime and the maids whispering naughty observations in her
ear, Shuurei got over her shock very quickly and found the harmless fun
in this voyeuristic thrill. It was also, for her, a very delightful and
enlightening education on the male form.
However, she had to swear everyone to secrecy that Ryuuki would never
hear of her participation. It would not do to have Ryuuki find out she
spent an afternoon or two with Jyuusan Hime and the maids ogling Kouyuu
in all his near nude glory; even if she was aware Ryuuki sometimes
sneaked over to watch with them too.
Shuurei didn’t believe Ensei ever got over the mortification of having
her join the giggling pavilion of Jyuusan Hime and the harem maids
spying on the Prime Minister’s Aide bathing his wolf. Worse, their boss
Kouki had followed him one day and upon returning with Ensei
immediately launched into a discussion with Shuurei regarding the
beauty of the male form.
Ensei had fled after three minutes. Shuurei on the other hand had
steadfastly refused to let Kouki unnerve or embarrass her.
Much to her surprise, she had a rather enjoyable debate with her boss
alternately critiquing and praising Kouyuu’s attributes with all the
emotion of an examination candidate analysing a piece of classical
literature or a historical figure. And unexpectedly, she had impressed
Kouki with her dispassionate analysis of her friend’s physical beauty.
Her boss admitted to her then that he hadn’t thought she would be able
to talk about her friend in such a clinical and detached manner. Kouki
actually praised her for learning to disconnect her feelings with the
discourse on hand. It was a very important quality of an officer in the
Censorate that they are able to do their analysis and duty without
letting personal feelings interfere. And it was a skill he never
expected her to master so quickly.
Ensei, on the other hand, disappointed him with his prudishness and
clearly displayed embarrassment. However, given the subject matter,
Kouki was willing to discount Ensei’s loss of nerve.
Shuurei remembered listening with growing amusement as Kouki explained
his theory of why it was arguably difficult for men to talk about
another man’s beauty and attributes. He gave two reasons; one, being a
lack of confidence in one’s own physicality and sexuality to be able to
admire another man’s beauty without feeling that they would be
incriminating one’s self as being attracted to his own sex; two, being
attraction to the subject himself or someone of the same sex and not
wanting to reveal it.
Kouki postulated that Ensei fled because at some level he was attracted
to Kouyuu and wasn’t comfortable about the feeling. He then made the
observation that Shuurei wasn’t sexually attracted to Kouyuu at all.
Shuurei shocked herself with her boldness, but the question popped out
before she could stop it and she asked Kouki if he was hinting that he
was attracted to Kouyuu and wasn’t ashamed to reveal it.
This seemed to Shuurei to be the turning point in her relationship with
her boss because he was delighted with her direct question. However, he
pointedly never answered it. And Kouki did continue to disturb Ensei by
occasionally accompanying him on his Kouyuu guarding trips. Shuurei
still wasn’t sure if he did that just to mess with her assistant’s head
or because he genuinely liked ogling a near nude Kouyuu. After all,
aesthetically, she could understand the attraction.
Shuurei put down her papers as visions of sunlight upon pale glistening
skin filled her mind. She sighed dreamily. It was useless to
concentrate on anything for a while whenever her mind drifted to
thinking of Kouyuu bathing Shiro.
Still, Shuurei also couldn’t help but reflect on Ensei and his nervous
efforts in keeping his secretive guard duties from being noticed by
Kouyuu, as well as Seiran and Shuuei. She thought it understandable
with Shuuei. The man was still acting like an idiot around Kouyuu and
it wouldn’t do to have him see his best friend in this kind of light
just yet.
With Seiran... Shuurei remembered TanTan claiming that Seiran was very
scary when in a protective mood or mode. How ever many times she had
heard this observation though, Shuurei still couldn’t imagine Seiran
being menacing. However, she also knew there were facets of her oldest
friend that he’d never show her, just like he’d never tell her of the
history between him and Ensei.
It frustrated her sometimes when she’d slowly find out the secrets her
friends used to keep from her before she became an official. Now that
she was an officer of the Censorate though, Shuurei thought she was so
much happier being spoken to frankly by Shuuei and Kouyuu especially.
Thinking of Kouyuu again, Shuurei had to wonder how mad her hot
tempered friend would get if he ever found out about all the tiny
harmless little conspiracies they kept from him. It was a good thing
for Seiran and Shuuei that Kouyuu was usually too busy with his work as
the Prime Minister’s Aide to pay too much attention to them with his
guard wolf. If not, Spring’s ‘Operation: Wet Wolf’ would probably have
never got off the ground.
He may not like the sycophants who dogged his trail, but Kouyuu could
still be very stuffy about the idea of deliberately embarrassing the
bothersome pests. Seiran and Shuuei had no such compunction, but at
least they were clever about it. Shuurei still couldn’t work out how
they managed to train Shiro to judge her water shaking field so
accurately that she’d only catch the pestering, hopeful father-in-laws
in the deluge and not the Prime Minister, his Aide, or their guards.
Sometimes though, Shuurei did wonder if Kouyuu was as oblivious as
they’d like to think he was. She was quite sure he must have figured
out the ‘marriage proposal’ prank by now.
One thing they never tried to hide from Kouyuu though were the attempts
on his life which prompted the offer of a bodyguard in the first place,
and later his gift of Shiro from his father. Since Kouyuu’s
reassignment to the Prime Minister’s office, it was not overlooked that
Yuushun’s power and reach had grown tenfold. It was especially of note
that the crippled Department of Civil Affairs was so swamped that of
necessity, some work had spilled over to be handed back under the
responsibility of the former Under Secretary.
The numerous officials who tried to protest this apparent
redistribution and ‘consolidation’ of power in the Prime Minister’s
office were cheerfully asked by Yuushun if *they’d* like to be assigned
the work given to his Aide. Faced with that public open offer in the
Emperor’s court, the grumbling officials reluctantly admitted that they
didn’t have the manpower to take on new duties which required a high
learning curve to master. And that Li Kouyuu had both the knowledge and
the experience to finish the work quickly and competently. His sense of
judgment was even accepted to be unbiased since he had always strictly
played no favourites in the Department of Civil Affairs.
It was also acknowledged that Li dono was possibly the only official in
court who could be counted on to stand up to the Kou Clan on behalf of
the emperor and emerge unscathed. Few would forget how the entire
country had practically shut down when an unwary official caused the
brief unjust arrest of the head of the Kou clan. That the same thing
did not occur when Reishin dono was dismissed was seemingly owed to the
fact that his son was the principal agent who had him removed.
This ‘ability’ did not go unnoticed. And it gave the Prime Minister’s
office unheard of power in the current era. A power which many among
the nobility did not want Ryuuki to have, Shuurei acknowledged grimly.
This placed her friend in a very unenviable position of danger in the
Emperor’s court.
That first attempt to poison her friend had infuriated Shuurei,
especially since the manjuu buns which appeared on his table were
supposedly from her. Fortunately, Kouyuu was very familiar with
her hand writing and noticed the difference immediately.
The shinshi who Kouyuu tasked to dispose of the buns, however, was not
as lucky since he disobeyed the order and shared his loot with a couple
of friends. Their painful and agonizingly slow deaths were a warning to
all not to take the danger Kouyuu was in lightly.
If the situation was not so serious, Shuurei might have been amused at
how she and Kouyuu seemed to have exchanged positions. Years ago, when
she first entered the Emperor’s court, Kouyuu had been one of Shuurei’s
protectors. She’d never forget that he was the one who first presented
her a silver cup. And who later even tried to guard her innocence by
keeping from her the knowledge that her maid Kourin was the one
poisoning her drinks.
Now though, she had, to Kouyuu’s wry amusement, returned the silver cup
to him. And she was among those who actively looked out for plots and
conspiracies which might bring harm to their friend.
Were they too protective at times? Shuurei could only hope Kouyuu’s
patience would continue to hold. How ever much they knew it annoyed him
to have them hovering, his friends could not help it. Shuurei knew that
none of them were ever going to easily get over the horrible six weeks
when Kouyuu had lain in a coma growing thinner with each passing day.
During the week before Kouyuu woke up, she had even stood with the
guards who were silent witnesses to Shuuei’s near frantic efforts to
get water and sustenance into his best friend’s body. And like many,
she had watched with tears rolling down her cheeks, as the ex-General
took small sips of broth to patiently push it past Kouyuu’s
unresponsive lips with his own, then stroked his throat gently to
encourage the limp body to swallow the desperately needed liquids and
nutrients. Shuurei could never understand why Shuuei persisted in
claiming he was not in love with his best friend. From the way he cared
for Kouyuu’s comatose body during those horrible weeks, the love behind
his actions could not have been any clearer.
Shuurei thought that the greatest injury to Kouyuu’s friends, however,
was during the aftermath of Kouyuu’s reawakening and release from
prison. At that time, Yuri-Hime insisted on taking Kouyuu ‘home’. They
could not deny Kouyuu’s mother, especially when it was the music of her
pipa which eventually led Kouyuu back to consciousness. However, it was
objectionable to them that Kouyuu was immediately confined to bed rest
at the Kou estates for the next few weeks, and denied any visitors
during his convalescence. It seemed to be a move to isolate Kouyuu from
the court, which Ryuuki claimed was most likely instigated by his
father Kou Reishin.
Shuurei still didn’t know what to think of this mysterious middle uncle
who was the true head of the Kou clan. She had found herself quite
angry with the man who never once visited his adopted son during the
long weeks he was imprisoned.
When Kouyuu was in a coma, nearly everyone who knew him visited. Even
Hakumei, who had kept his distance when Kouyuu was first arrested,
sneaked a visit against his family’s wishes. However, Kou Reishin never
appeared nor apparently made a move to leave his deserted office.
Then, to have the infuriating man decide to keep Kouyuu at the Kou
estates and near unreachable by any of his friends during his
convalescence... Shuurei had been beyond furious with her uncle. If
Kouyuu had not returned from those long weeks looking a good deal
healthier and few pounds heavier, the Kou estates would have received a
crowd of Kouyuu’s friends with a bone to pick with him. If he did not
return to court at all and were packed off to return to the Kou
province, Shuurei was sure she would not have been the only one
instigated to violence.
Worse, Ran Shuuei had during this long period of separation apparently
decided he did not want Kouyuu to hear of the care he took of him and
feel obligated to his best friend. Shuurei could recall Seiran
muttering darkly to her father and her about clueless ex-Generals
wearing blinkers at the end of that first day Kouyuu reported back to
‘work’ with Ryuuki.
Fortunately, the man himself was too worn out and harassed to pay the
silent Shuuei much attention. The Emperor’s office was practically
inundated with requests from all the other departments in the kingdom
asking for Kouyuu’s transfer to them. And Kouyuu was at a complete loss
of what he wanted to do now that the Department of Civil Affairs was
closed to him.
The Prime Minister solved it all rather neatly by taking the pile of
petitions from Ryuuki and throwing them out the window before turning
to Kouyuu and asking him directly to be his Aide. Shuurei swore that
the howls of displeasure from the other departments could be heard for
weeks.
She also heard from her father that Kou Reishin was even more upset
when he learned of his son’s new position. Several months, and many
failed assassination attempts later, Shuurei was only now realising
that Kouyuu’s father was in truth reacting to the danger the Prime
Minister Yuushun and Kouyuu his Aide were exposed to by placing
themselves as Ryuuki’s direct supporters. It made Shuurei perceive this
mostly unseen uncle as a deeply complex man.
What bothered her the most, however, was Kouyuu’s wry but complete
acceptance of the man. Her father had tried to explain it to her once
that because of Reishin’s rank and power in the clan, he dared not to
openly display his likes or dislikes for fear of endangering his loved
ones. As such, Kouyuu was in an especially unenviable position since
many in the Clan perceived him as an outsider because he was given the
name ‘Li’. However, Reishin did it to free his son of the chains of
obligatory servitude to the Kou Clan.
Yuri Hime further enlightened Shuuei that her husband spent many
sleepless nights reading dictionaries and counting brush strokes to
select Kouyuu’s name. It was not a name picked on a whim, but one
carefully chosen with great love and affection. Also Kouyuu had long
been given the invitation to be granted the Kou name should he *choose*
to ask for it.
Still, it was Kouyuu himself who ultimately convinced Shuuei to set
aside her animosity for his father, especially when this ill feeling
was felt on his behalf. She had sat in utter amazement as her former
teacher mapped out the political ramifications surrounding his own
incarceration and explained why his father kept his distance. And it
was then that she finally understood the agony Reishin dono must have
felt to force himself to stay away in the face of everyone else’s
perception that he abandoned his son; that this was the only way, the
loving father could gift his son with the privilege of choice to decide
his own destiny. If Reishin had visited… he would have decided Kouyuu’s
fate for him and *both* father and son would have been dismissed as
officials.
Then there was also the fact that the Kou officials were still in
court. And the very public gift of the white wolf Shiro to Kouyuu.
Actions which meant Kouyuu was still held in favour by the Kou clan
even though he clearly chose to place his loyalty to the Emperor above
that to the Clan.
Shuurei wondered if she’d ever get used to and grow to become savvy
with the politics of Saiunkoku. The subtleties of the court made her
head spin.
Then there was Ran Shuuei... Ever since he’d been disinherited by the
Ran Clan, Shuuei had taken to dressing in shades of grey instead of the
Ran blue. However, all knew that though his court robes were of a
simpler cut, they were no less well made as compared to his previous
attire. The whole of Kiyou knew his brothers had commissioned these
clothes for him as a very public gesture that though he was
disinherited, Shuuei was still their brother and looked upon with
favour by the Rans; and just as Kouyuu still occasionally stayed at the
Kou’s estates at the demand of his mother, Yuri Hime, Shuuei too kept
his rooms at the Ran estates at the behest of his half sister, Jyuusan
Hime.
Unfortunately, Shuurei also realised that as much as the Kou’s
apparently still favoured Kouyuu, as did the Ran’s Shuuei, the lack of
a direct affiliation withheld a certain level of protection and
authority to their persons. Furthermore, Shuurei hated the knowledge
that her beloved friends’ positions as the Emperor’s twin flowers was
no longer a credit to Emperor Ryuuki since they now lacked both rank in
the court and the backing of their respective clans.
Shuurei thought it most unfair when her friends were no different to
the people they were before Shuuei’s disinheritance and Kouyuu’s
dismissal as Under Secretary of the Department of Civil Affairs.
Unfortunately, her outrage mattered little in the real world of Court
politics, where Shuuei was no longer a General, but an ordinary soldier
even if he was a rising star in the military; and Kouyuu no longer an
Under Secretary, but a simple Aide even if it was to the Prime
Minister.
The sound of chuckling drew Shuurei from her gloomy thoughts to look up
at Ensei’s unexpected early return. “Ensei? Surely Kouyuu sama couldn’t
have bathed Shiro that quickly.”
“Oh, no, no, no. It’s just-- Kouyuu doesn’t need me to skulk in the
shadows anymore.” Her scruffy assistant grinned at her. “He’s invited a
helper to assist him. And I’m probably a few months closer to winning a
generous little pot.”
Shuurei blinked at him in puzzlement for a moment before she remembered
the details of a surreptitious little betting pool she and Ensei had
accidentally uncovered amidst the military ranks. Her smile was almost
as wide as his as she rejoiced with the good news that Ran Shuuei and
Li Kouyuu had finally mended their friendship.
“Well, it’s about time!” She declared firmly.
“Too true. I was getting awfully jittery about this guard duty.” Ensei
pulled at his collar in mock nervousness. “But I’ve left Kouyuu in good
hands. Our former General has very good eyes, and he announced rather
loudly that he’d take Shiro for a short run through the woods after her
bath to make sure she was nicely dried off.
“Since he was stroking his sword rather prominently when he said that
I’m pretty confident there won’t be any more problems with voyeurs.”
Shuurei laughed with him. “I imagine Kouyuu dono is probably also
dressing much more conservatively now.”
“You know him well.” Ensei let his breath out in long huff.
“Jyuusan and the maids aren’t too disappointed, I hope?”
Ensei grinned broadly at her. “Shiro’s still offering them
entertainment. It seems having two men showering her with attention has
made our precious wolf pup much more playful. She’d dumped them both
into the water just before I left.”
Shuurei cut short her bark of laughter as she eyed him suspiciously for
his sudden blush. “You’re leaving out something here, Ensei. Come on,
what is it?”
“Hime-sama…” Ensei whined petulantly as he rubbed at his eyes. “Shiro
dumped them both in the water and they’re just wearing *light* under
robes.”
The significance of his words didn’t register immediately. And it took
a while, but her imagination suddenly sprang to life and Shuurei
blushed furiously as her mind conjured into being images of two very
wet biseinen in almost see-through robes, which probably clung to every
curve and crevice of their bodies, chasing a white wolf pup around a
lake. Seeing her expression, Ensei quickly made himself scarce.
Ooooooohhhhh. Shuurei fanned herself with one of her papers. With that
sinful image running through her mind Shuurei knew she wasn’t going to
get any work done that day.
She decided that the next time Shiro wheedled a bath out of Kouyuu,
she’d join Jyuusan and the maids to ogle their two friends. After all,
her boss had shown that he quite understood the situation. And if Kouki
heard that Shuuei now accompanied Kouyuu, he might even join them.
And who knows? They could possibly meet up with Ryuuki at the pavilion
too. Shuurei hoped Shuuei didn’t mind too much *this* particular
audience joining his sister and the harem maids in their voyeuristic
pleasure.
~owari~