Abstinence, Tomoyo decided, was a very difficult principal to live by. Granted, she had survived her earliest years through abstinence, but reverting back to it was more difficult than she ever imagined. As an unmarried princess, abstinence should not have been an issue at all, but she had been spoiled. More than that, she missed the warm presence of another body in her bed, and she spent most nights tossing around in the over-sized princess futon trying to utilize it as much as she could. Waiting was difficult. Not that she had anyone else she particularly wanted to do it with, but she was getting frustrated without her partner by her side. She missed Kurogane; all the other ninjas gave her odd looks whenever she ordered them not to hold back and kill whoever tried to enter the palace.
Eventually, her sister noting her rather erratic behavior and hearing complaints that the princess had gone insane pulled her into a private room to have a chat with her. Her sister delicately poured her a cup of tea, just as she would for a visiting dignitary, and placed it in front of her. Tomoyo stared at it only briefly before she pushed it diligently away from her.
"Tomoyo, will you tell me what has been upsetting you? The ninja tell me you've been acting rather strange recently."
"Abstinence," she stated flatly as she watched her sister bring her mug to her lips and blow on her tea. It felt like a betrayal. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is?"
"Yes, actually, I do. But as the princess of Nihon, sex should not be an issue for you." Tomoyo turned her eyes away as her older sister took a sip of her tea. "Though I must say, I would like to meet the person who took my little sister's virginity so I can smack them around a bit, ohohohoho."
"Oneesan, that's not it," she tried to explain. Besides, she couldn't stand the idea of her sister hurting the one she cared about the most, and she was certain once she knew who it was she was pinning for her sister would have quite different ideas about the situation.
The bells rang in the courtyard, and Tomoyo rose expectantly to her feet. Kendeppa delicately placed her mug down before slowly rising. "Well, Tomoyo-chan, shall we welcome home the soldiers?" She impatiently followed her older sister, but whenever she tried to subtly prod her sister to walked faster, she moved slower. She knew she was doing it on purpose, too, because once or twice when she let out a frustrated sigh, Kendeppa looked back over her shoulder with a grin. Sometimes, it was a pain to have the same personality as your siblings. Kendeppa was having far too much fun teasing her for her vow of abstinence.
She tried not to fidget behind her sister while she welcomed the soldiers home, scanning the mass for the one person who put an end to her suffering. What seemed like hours later, Kendeppa finished her speech and the crowd began to thin. Catching sight of her favorite ninja finally returned to her, she launched herself across the courtyard.
"Souma!" She wrapped her arms tightly around the ninja's waist. "I've missed you so much."
"Hime!" Souma apparently had not been expecting to be greeted so enthusiastically so shortly after she returned. "…I've only been gone for two days."
"It would seem my younger sister has been suffering from abstinence in your absence."
Tomoyo shifted her grasp from the ninja's waist to one of her gloved hands. "Let's go do it now, Souma. I've waited so long for you to return."
"Souma…"
"Let's go have tea together." She started to drag Souma into the palace, desperate for that which she had denied herself for so long.
Behind her, Kendeppa pulled out her fan and laughed behind it. "My, my Tomoyo is becoming more and more like her big sister every day."