Six months after coming to Shiba House, Ryuunosuke waited for the others to leave the room and knelt in front of Takeru, bowing low. "My lord, I wish to serve you."

"I know." Takeru's tone might have sounded flat to someone who didn't know him, but Ryuu knew he heard puzzlement.

Daring to peek up, Ryuu said, "Er, I meant...in a more personal fashion."

For just a moment, Takeru's eyes widened and his mouth opened, but no sound came out. He collected himself quickly, though. "Ah," he said finally.

Ryuu was confused. He thought he'd made his interest abundantly clear, but perhaps his lord was too focused on the battle. "Please?" he added, not sure what he was supposed to do now.

Even his practice at reading his lord's face didn't allow him to learn anything from Takeru's expression now. Finally, Takeru sighed. "Maybe."

Ryuu blinked. That was not one of the possible reactions he'd considered. "Maybe?"

"We'll see." Takeru paused, then waved his hand. "You may go."

Rising automatically in response to the order, Ryuu left the room. As he walked down the hall, he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do now. It was a test, perhaps. But what did his lord want him to do? He was just going to have to guess.

Perhaps he wasn't being sufficiently respectful? Ryuu wasn't sure about that, but it was a place to start. His bows that day were deeper, his compliments more fulsome, until he could see the others starting to twitch every time he opened his mouth.

Although they would never believe it, it was getting to be a bit much even for him by the time evening rolled around. As they ate their evening meal, the others talked loudly and constantly, in an apparent attempt to keep him from saying or doing anything, then rushed out of the room as soon as they could. Jii followed them, giving Ryuu a strange look before shaking his head and leaving.

"My lord?" Ryuu said hopefully as he knelt on the mat, peeking up.

Rubbing his eyes, Takeru shook his head. "Ryuunosuke...please stop. I've never wanted worship."

"Ah. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize." Takeru paused. "Just don't do that again."

"Of course, my lord."

"Of course," Takeru repeated. He stood and left the room before Ryuu could even rise.

Well, that hadn't gone well at all.

Perhaps, Ryuu thought in the morning, he should be more helpful. Not in a worshipful kind of way, but just generally making sure things moved more smoothly.

He tried to help Jii with his work, but after the third time the kuruko tripped over him, he slunk out of the room, embarrassed.

Leaning over Chiaki's shoulder and providing helpful criticism of his scriptomancy got him an elbow to the side.

Kotoha listened politely for at least 10 minutes while he explained the connection between makoto and meiyo to her, before he realized she already knew everything he was saying. He blushed and bowed his way out of the room.

Mako was hitting the practice dummies when he stepped outside. Before he could even open his mouth, she turned, held her bokken up, and said quietly, "If you say a single word, I'll show you precisely what I can do with this." Ryuu closed his mouth and sat down hard on the step, ignoring the muffled giggles from nearby.

"Ryuunosuke." The voice came from inside the mansion and Ryuu closed his eyes before jumping up to obey the summons.

Wincing slightly, Ryuu bowed before Takeru, not daring to peek up this time. "Lord?"

"Nee-san can handle herself quite well without your assistance." Takeru's voice actually sounded a bit frosty.

"Yes, my lord. I'm sorry. I didn't intend to insult her."

"I know."

"And the others too," Ryuu said. "I, I just wanted to help."

"The others are equally competent." A pause. "Well, Chiaki is a different matter, but he's my concern, not yours."

"Yes, lord." Ryuu wished he could bow lower, but he was already almost flat on his face. He knew he'd disappointed him again.

"Good night."

When Ryuu looked up, Takeru was gone.

Maybe he was supposed to better show his dedication to the mission, Ryuu thought as he awoke the next morning. Leaping out of bed, he ran outside to begin his usual training routine. Gradually the others came out and joined him and he continued to work.

Each of them paused and he continued to work. They drank water and he continued to work.

Jii kicked him out of the practice yard around lunch and he went out for a run.

At some point, Kotoha appeared in front of him with a plate of sushi from Genta and he thanked her absently, ate it, and went back to the practice yard. He was fairly sure Mako told him something later and he nodded politely as she spoke and picked up his bokken again.

The world narrowed to strikes against the practice dummy until he missed. And missed again. And then oddly his fingers couldn't hold the bokken any longer. And then everything was black.

He awoke to Chiaki's face very close to his and looking very worried. "You idiot," Chiaki said as soon as Ryuu's eyes opened.

"What?" Ryuu croaked as Chiaki and Kotoha helped him sit up.

Chiaki just shook his head. "Oh, I'm not touching that. I'll let Takeru handle it as soon as you're capable of standing up and walking."

Kotoha held a cup of water for him and he drank it, concentrating on how good it felt on his throat. Chiaki brought him a cool cloth for his forehead and after a few minutes they pronounced him fit to move.

"And now," Chiaki announced with a flourish, "go see Takeru. Believe me, he's waiting."

"I don't understand," Ryuu said.

"Yeah, I think we all know that." Chiaki shook his head as he helped him stand.

"I'm fine." Ryuu pushed his arm away.

"Uh-huh." Chiaki looked at Kotoha. "Is he ready?"

"I hope so," she said, frowning slightly at him. "Please try not to fall over when you speak to him. It won't help."

Ryuu stared at the two of him until they gently turned him and pushed him in the direction of the mansion. It took some considerable effort to walk inside without falling, but he was proud he managed it.

As predicted, Takeru was waiting, his face even more expressionless than usual. Kneeling before Takeru, his legs shaking with strain, Ryuu held his breath.

There was a sound that wasn't quite a growl. "Sit up."

Ryuu obeyed, not feeling encouraged by the look on the other man's face. Clearly this had also been the wrong tack. "I'm sorry."

"Sorry. You're sorry." And that was definitely anger. "You know you could have hurt yourself today. You certainly rendered yourself unfit to fight if the Gedou attack. What were you thinking?"

"I want..." Ryuu reached for the words. "I want to do what you want, but I don't know what that is. Please tell me what to do."

Takeru closed his eyes, his breathing evening out. "That's the problem, isn't it?" He seemed to be talking to himself.

Ryuu waited. "My lord?" he asked eventually.

There was a long pause and then Takeru opened his eyes and sighed, even deeper than usual. "Get some rest, Ryuunosuke. It was a long day."

"Of course, lord." With a heavy heart, Ryuu bowed low and went to his room, sore in body and mind.

When he awoke the next morning, Ryuu found himself surprisingly unwilling to move. He stared at the inoffensively bland ceiling and tried to find his customary eagerness to attack the day as a samurai should. It seemed to have taken a vacation, but his sense of duty remained enough to drag himself up.

He was still the second to arrive at training, after Takeru, who shot him a quick glance before returning to his own work. Ryuu thought about saying something, doing something, trying to get his lord's attention but...there seemed no reason.

He went about his drills with thoroughness but no excitement. He was certain everyone was staring at him, but since he didn't know what he should say to them, he didn't bother. He went about the rest of his tasks with the same dreary feeling, ignoring the increasingly concerned looks from his teammates.

It was probably a bad sign that the highlight of the day was a Gedoushu attack by some ridiculously improbable creature. Ryuu felt slightly better when he realized that the team functioned as well as ever, destroying the thing in record time with minimal injury.

Mako cleaned a superficial wound on his side and Ryuu decided he didn't care if Takeru was watching or not. As she applied a small bandage, she took a breath as if she was about to say something, but when he looked at her, she gave him a smile and said nothing. When she was done, she patted his shoulder gently.

Dinner was quieter than usual and Ryuu kept his head down, eating whatever was put in front of him. The others filed out and he stood, preparing to follow. Halfway through the doorway, he was stopped by a soft "Ryuu?"

If the others heard, they chose to ignore it, and Ryuu considered following their lead, but that was unworthy of the samurai he wanted to be, so he stopped. For a long moment, he watched the others walk away, then he turned and stalked back into the room.

Standing in front of Takeru, who was seated, as always, in his lordly position, Ryuu found that he didn't want to kneel. It felt strange, but he held his ground. "Was this all a trick? Have you been laughing the whole time? Were you ever interested in me?"

"It wasn't a trick," Takeru said, standing.

"Then why? What do you want from me?" His voice cracked in a most embarrassing fashion and he scowled.

Takeru's jaw tightened. "I didn't mean to hurt you, I swear. I didn't know how to explain it. I...wanted to be sure you want me."

"I do!"

A slight shake of the head. "I don't want worship or obligation or whatever tradition of service you might have learned about. I don't want the perfect samurai...I want you and you have to want me, Takeru, not me, Lord Shiba." His mouth twisted as he spoke the final two words.

Ryuu blinked and slid cross-legged to the floor to think. He stared down as his lord sat across from him and he thought. He thought about the grim Shinken Red, the Lord Shiba who sat in judgment over his vassals, and the Shiba Takeru who couldn't resist ume jam or a t-shirt in English. He thought about fighting beside Shinken Red, kneeling before Lord Shiba, and watching Shiba Takeru drink tea and try not to laugh at their antics.

Eventually he looked up, surprising a strange look on the other man's face. "It's definitely you I want," he said, decisively, watching with gratitude as Takeru's face relaxed from its usual stony aspect. Rolling onto his knees, he edged closer to Takeru, who was frankly adorable when he looked uncertain. "May I...?" Slowly, he reached for Takeru.

Takeru gave a short nod, his sudden swallow betraying a nervousness Ryuu had never seen him display before. Ryuu figured this wasn't a great time to discuss their relative levels of experience, so he settled for cupping the other man's cheek and gently kissing him.

It was nothing more than a promise, but they were both shaking slightly when it was done. "My l-" Ryuu stopped himself. "Takeru. Ah...it's getting late."

Takeru looked up at him, then slowly smiled, holding out a hand. "Will you stay, please?"

Ryuu collapsed against him dramatically. "I thought you'd never ask."

Laughing, Takeru poked his side and they degenerated into a tickling match. Ryuu stole another kiss as Takeru took his hand and led him into his room.

Serving Takeru might not be what he had expected, but it looked like it was going to be much much better.

-end-