Kouchou burst through the door of the special VIP suite at Kougarou, breathless and panicked, prepared for the worst after one of the house maids alerted her to the trouble. At least she thought she was prepared until she surveyed the wreckage strewn from one end of the room to the other. She had expected some level of drama today, so she had the secluded, private suite prepared in order to avoid disrupting regular business. Considering who was at fault for the turmoil, she felt fortunate that the walls and roof were still intact. Her attitude turned considerably darker when she spotted the culprits, piled in a heap at the center of the room.
"Ten minutes!" she bellowed in a voice more like a nagging fish wife than the most charming courtesan in Saiunkoku. With her hands firmly planted on her hips, she picked her way through the rubble scattered around her toward two men, bloody and unconscious on the floor. "I left you for ten minutes, and you couldn't behave!"
Despite her booming voice, neither man moved. She stood over them and glared down her nose in disgust. She had meant to stick close to the duo for the night, to avoid just such a disaster, but business called her away for only a few minutes. Since they were laughing and drinking when she left, she chanced that all would be well for the short time she had to step out.
"You!" she exclaimed and kicked her toe a few times against the limp thigh of the larger of the two men. The dark-haired brute was still sitting up, but was hunched over in a drunken stupor, dripping blood from his nose and lips onto her formerly exquisite Persian carpet.
"Oi, Ensei!" she barked and shoved her foot against his hulking shoulder and he toppled over, breaking off the last leg of an expensive chair behind him with his head. She growled through gritted teeth. "You were supposed to keep him out of trouble!"
"Koooouchou, huuunny," he slurred drowsily, and his thick, bear-like paw managed to steal beneath her skirts and tickle the back of her ankle before it slumped lifelessly into the rubble. She sighed and fought back a smirk. She'd often suspected that that man could find a woman if he was in a coma, and now she had proof.
She found herself struggling to maintain a satisfying level of rage. Unfortunately, she was just too weak when it came to these two. She had worked hard to dislike them since the first day she'd set eyes on them, but in her small circle of those she loved and protected, these two had a permanent place, no matter how obnoxiously male they were.
Her gaze swept down to long silver hair, tangled and matted, obscuring the beautiful face propped against Ensei's knee. She stooped down to brush the silken strands off Seiran's cheek and frowned when she saw bruises already discoloring his elegant, high cheekbones and a cut swelling the corner of his infinitely kissable lips.
Such a pity, she thought, shaking her head. It would take weeks for the bruises to fade and the cuts to heal, restoring that angelic face that hid the soul of a demon. She knew that face better than her own, spending countless hours over the years studying it, tracing its smooth curves with her fingers and lips. As well as she knew his face, she understood his heart better than anyone, except perhaps for the big lug sprawled and snoring loudly beside him.
With a wistful grin, Kouchou thrust aside some of the debris littering the floor and sat next to the two men, resting a gentle hand on each one. She laced her fingers around Ensei's large, leathered hand and stroked her hand over Seiran's hard chest, feeling his heart slowly rumbling beneath her touch.
It couldn't be helped, she decided. Fate had woven their paths loosely together more than a decade ago when the three broken children stumbled through hell together as captives of the Satsujinzoku, in body or soul. Ensei had come there as a prisoner of his own need for revenge; Seiran had been captured and tortured until he had no will of his own to escape; and Kouchou had been kidnapped during a raid on her village and been kept as the leader Chougai's special pet. Though their paths diverged many times for long periods since then, Kouchou never felt quite as at peace as she did when her boys were by her side, even when the result required a remodel of her house. With the secrets of their shared past as a binding force, over the years they had come to understand each other on an instinctual level, and tonight was no exception.
Though nothing had been outwardly discussed, all three of them knew that this night would be difficult, to say the least. Earlier that day, Shuurei had at last married the emperor and had since embarked on her honeymoon tour with her new husband. On the surface everyone was thrilled for the happy couple. Yet, Kouchou and Ensei, and even Shouka, had felt the rumblings in Seiran's heart as he looked on silently and darkly, watching the emperor kiss the woman he loved.