Title: This and That

Category: Saiunkoku Monogatari

Pairing: Li Kouyuu x Ran Shuuei

Genres: Romance/General

Rating: T

Summary: /Yaoi, Kouyuu x Shuuei/ After being caught in a rather compromising position of sorts, everyone is convinced that, you know, they're in a 'this and that kind of relationship', which they really aren't...or are they?

A/N: I just fell in love with this pair when I watched the anime, so this is my tribute to them. Saiunkoku Monogatari does not belong to me, so please don't sue and enjoy!

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Chapter I: Caught

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There were days when Li Kouyuu found Ran Shuuei absolutely infuriating. This was one of those days. Just because the aforementioned man really had nothing to do, except pester the emperor all day (maybe this was harsh, but he was not exactly in the best of moods and he'd rather be caught dead, than say that thought aloud.) did not give him the permission to come here to the archives where Kouyuu was bent over a mountain of petitions and pester him.

And the way Shuuei pestered was the absolute worst. He would stand there, with his arms crossed with the familiar wan smirk of his. Honestly, to Kouyuu it was all infuriating, other times, it wouldn't have been, but with all the work he had to do, it was getting a little bit irritating.

Shuuei would never say anything to you when he was pestering, either, you always had to speak first. Kouyuu took the petition he had just finished, and laid it on top of the stack, it was a formidable amount, but he still had more to go. "What are you doing here?"

"His Majesty let me go early today. My reward for winning a game of chess." Shuuei said, wearing an expression of relief, Kouyuu noticed, because obviously, Shuuei had been ignored for a long time. If Kouyuu was not mistaken, he was there four petitions ago. "It's getting late, though, most everyone else has left." He approached the desk, "I thought you'd might like company to keep you from getting lost."

Kouyuu missed a stroke, usually he didn't get so angry about his lack of direction, or Shuuei's constant need to exploit such a weakness, he accepted all of that, but today, when Reishin-sama had carelessly plunked down a pile of work for him to do, and then Chamberlain Kou had come along with his own stack, Kouyuu didn't have the patience for it.

He sucked in a deep breath to calm himself, "You're so exasperating sometimes, Shuuei. Thank you for your...concern, but I'm really going to be here for a while." Instead of 'concern', a ruder word had come to mind, but then, Kouyuu bit that back.

Shuuei's hand settled on the back of Kouyuu's chair, and Kouyuu promptly missed another stroke. Kouyuu put down the brush, Shuuei was really too close for comfort. "Is Reishin-dono having mood swings again?" He asked knowingly. One could always tell Kou Reishin's mood by the amount of work that Kouyuu received daily.

Kouyuu shrugged one shoulder, "How should I know? Probably." Reishin-sama had been deeply moody as of late, perhaps it was because Shuurei had gone to the Sa province again. What he did know though, was that Shuuei was much too close, and if this continued, he would keep missing strokes. "Shuuei, you're a little...close."

Shuuei looked a little surprised, as if he hadn't noticed that he was too close. Kouyuu gritted his teeth, that bastard. Now, normally, he wouldn't call the man he considered to be a close confidante a bastard, but Shuuei was being exceptionally irritating today. The other man stepped back respectfully, but only a marginal two steps, nowhere near enough. "Have you eaten?"

Kouyuu said, "...Hakumei brought me something for lunch, dim sum. He should be bringing me something for dinner." It was strange, having Shuuei ask him if he had eaten yet, in his mind, Ran Shuuei was many things, 'mother hen' though, was not one of them.

"The boy idolizes you, doesn't he?" Shuuei said, with a slight smirk playing about his lips, Kouyuu didn't turn around, but by the way that Shuuei spoke, he knew the other man was smirking. "It's a little cruel of you, don't you think?"

Kouyuu missed another stroke. He wanted to break the brush in half. Either that, or yell at Shuuei to go away. He thought the former was easier. "It's not my fault." He snapped, "If he wants to serve me hand and foot, I'm not going to stop him. Besides, I do have work to do." And also, if Hakumei was content to do all the running for him, then Kouyuu could stay at his desk and not get lost.

Shuuei was laughing at him, and even if Kouyuu was not a man given in to to thoughts of violence, but now, the thought of Shuuei having his face bashed in was not all that unpleasant a thought. If Kouyuu could actually accomplish that, point being, at his current stage, bashing Ran Shuuei's face in was only a dream, a very far-fetched dream.

"You want to kill me, don't you?" It disturbed Kouyuu a little bit, how easily the words left Shuuei's mouth, but then, the other man was an esteemed shogun.

"I'm having fun thinking about it, yes." Kouyuu admitted. "It would be nice, if you would indulge me for once."

Shuuei laughed that infuriating laugh again, he was behind Kouyuu's chair again, Kouyuu knew because when Shuuei was –this close, he could never breathe properly. "If you're this uptight, you're just going to continue making stupid mistakes." His chin brushed by Kouyuu's as he leaned over, studying the document. "...You missed a stroke." He offered calmly.

"I know."

"I don't mean there, you missed one here too."

Kouyuu sighed and promptly buried his head in his arms on the desk, "You are exasperating." Kouyuu had never missed so many strokes on a single petition, worst came to worst, he would have to do it over. And it was all stupid Shuuei's fault.

"No I'm not. You're just too uptight, I know you haven't been sleeping." Shuuei's hands were on his shoulders, Kouyuu had to admit that the other man had very soothing hands. "Here, sit up, you're going to get ink on your face."

Kouyuu sat up reluctantly and touched a hand to his own cheek, he knew there was already a black smudge there. Now that Shuuei had said it, that he hadn't been sleeping, he felt tired, as if the shogun's words had cursed him, somehow. He sat up, letting the hands guide him and kept his eyes closed. "How do you know that I haven't been sleeping?"

Shuuei shrugged, "Reishin-dono's mood, and you have circles under your eyes, Hakumei does too. It's actually quite obvious."

Kouyuu found that he had no more strength to think that Shuuei was stupid. The shogun was right, after all, about most things.

The fingers danced along his shoulders, Kouyuu actually enjoyed it (very reluctantly) until he realized that somehow, Shuuei had loosened his robe just so, so that the layers were hanging off his shoulders (almost like a woman!--no, exactly like a woman) and his shoulders were bare.

A slow blush flared his cheeks, and Kouyuu reached for the layers to pull them back up, "Shuuei...what are you doing?!" But the insisting hands wouldn't let him, they felt very warm against his bare skin. "...I...I have work to do..."

"You can't work as long as you're missing so many strokes. Trust me, you'll thank me later." Shuuei said, as if such a course of action was only natural. Maybe it was natural to Shuuei, who was an frequent visitor to the red light district, but honestly, Kouyuu didn't see any of this as relaxing...didn't feel any of this was relaxing.

"I still think you should stop..." Kouyuu said, as the warm fingers pressed against his neck and he bit his lip, as a jolt of pain shot up his entire body. "...That hurts."

"It gets better." Shuuei's voice sounded rather blurry and distant, "You've never done this, so..." The fingers continued to press gently against the gathering tension, and all Kouyuu could feel at the moment was deep humiliation, and excruciating pain.

Of course Shuuei had done this before, Kouyuu was almost positive, after all, the fingers were confident, firm, warm...but it was still painful. "...Do you do this for His Highness?" He wanted to know, it would make him feel a lot better if he knew the Emperor himself had gone through torture at the hands of Ran Shuuei.

"When he needs it, yes." Shuuei replied. "Tip your head down."

Kouyuu did. "Does he like it?" He said, very aware of the fact that he sounded pathetic. He was beginning to entertain thoughts of killing Shuuei again, but the pain was dulling, becoming more bearable as the fingers pressed harder.

"Yes, he does." Shuuei said, as if this was natural again. "But for him it doesn't hurt anymore."

Kouyuu could feel himself blushing again, he tipped his head down more so that Shuuei wouldn't see. "I...I really think you should stop."

"I will. Just in a minute." The fingers moved down, and when they hit a certain spot, Kouyuu shuddered, biting his lip, this strange easing pleasure warmed his body, and the fact that Shuuei was causing all this, it sent even stranger chills down his spine.

"Shuuei."

"Mm?" The fingers slowed, "Does it still hurt?" Stupid Shuuei actually sounded concerned. Stupid, stupid Shuuei still...

Kouyuu shook his head, he knew his blush was getting worse, and he was careful not to lift his head, lest he betrayed himself even more, he bit his lip, so hard that he actually tasted blood. "No...but..."

The shogun was smirking again, Kouyuu felt it in the way that the fingers pressed in against his bare skin, the touch felt more smug than anything. "Should I stop now?" And he leaned forward, and took in Kouyuu's blushing face, the smirk grew wider. "You should stop biting your lip...it's bleeding."

Ran Shuuei probably seduced more women than he was worth, in this moment, Kouyuu was loathed to understand why. He also understood, why the Emperor liked it when Shuuei saw fit to bestow him with those types of favors, but Kouyuu wasn't going to fall victim do Ran Shuuei, he was not. Just because he was not partial to women did not mean that he was partial to men, after all.

It didn't mean a damn thing. And Shuuei was too close again, Kouyuu smelled tea on the shogun's breath and heard him breathe, easy calm breathes, mocking his own. He forced himself to nod.

The hands paused, but stayed where they were pressed against his shoulders, "Really?"

Kouyuu was sure he had never blushed so hard in his life. He'd never felt so pathetic, so vulnerable, all because of stupid Ran Shuuei, no, he didn't want Shuuei to stop, but ...before he could lose what integrity he had left, he clamped his own hand over Shuuei's wrist and turned around to face the other. "Yes, you should stop. Now." He said, as firmly as he could, glaring at Shuuei.

Still, Shuuei was smirking, his face much too close. "This is the first time I've actually seen you really blush, do you know?"

Infuriating, infuriating Shuuei. If Kouyuu only despised him before, he hated him now, for pulling such a reaction so easily out of him. He raised a hand, as if to strike the shogun's cheek, and he would have done it too, when he heard steps and--

"Kouyuu-sama?"

Hakumei...the boy's face was beet red too, redder than Kouyuu's own. But then, maybe not, Kouyuu's own face felt like it was about to burn up. And Ran Shuuei just calmly wore that infuriating smirk, and took his hands away.

Kouyuu quickly straightened his robes again, so that his shoulders were covered, his entire body was warm, most unpleasantly warm from humiliation. "...Hakumei, it's not really...it's not really what you think it is." He stuttered out, knowing he didn't sound convincing at all.

Hakumei was carrying a tray of what looked like dim sum from the kitchens and tea, which had spilled, probably when he was unable to recover from the shock of what he had seen. "...Yes, Kouyuu-sama, I'm...uh, I'm sorry I spilled the tea...I'll clean up...I'll—I'll be right back with dinner for Ran-shogun too. Please excuse me."

With that, Hakumei was gone.

And when Kouyuu turned around to give stupid infuriating Shuuei a piece of his mind, he was gone too. Kouyuu was alone again, with the stack of petitions, and also, with a very, very bad feeling of things to come.

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TBC