When Kouyuu opened the door to his father's bedroom, the sight of Reishin mounted on top of Kijin greeted him. The latter was sprawled on the floor, with his father's fingers down, quite literally, his esophagus.

"…Eh?"

[ Flashback

This was the fifteenth time Kouyuu had passed through the same hallway, and, like the fourteen times before, there was not a sound to be heard from inside. He paused in front of a window between two columns. A breeze tumbled past him, ruffling his aquamarine hair as though a mother's gentle touch, but had not enough strength to rattle the window frames. The rice-paper panes remained impenetrable.

A wave of frustration clouded his eyes, and his fingers, slender almost to a point of frailty, balled into a fist.

This is the worst! If you do not wish to see me, why bring me here at all?

"Kouyuu-sama?"

Kouyuu let out a shaky breath that had long since lost its edge of resignation, and turned around.

"Kouyuu-sama, as I have informed you on three previous occasions, Danna-sama is otherwise engaged at present." A man, whom he recognized as Reishin's chief personal steward, said pompously with an exasperated wave of his hand. "He cannot receive you at the moment."

His eyes narrowed at the patronizing tone, but annoyance flared only for a moment across his finely chiseled features before his expression reverted back to that of an undisturbed pond. With an air of defiant nonchalance, Kouyuu retorted, "I was merely passing."

"Didn't I tell you that you are forbidden to impose any more visitations upon me while my current condition continues?" Reishin snapped when the flowing figure of his colleague strode quietly through the doorway, though his voice lacked the usual biting edge of his words due to feverish weakness.

"The fever must be encroaching upon your mental capacity if you think anything you can ever say will limit my actions, if I so wish to take them." Houju retorted with an elegantly flattened voice as he pulled up a chair beside Reishin's bed. "I saw that boy of yours again when I was passing your study. He seems quite attached to the second window. I've seen him staring at it, as though possessed, on at least three occasions. It's rather disturbing, frankly."

A small smile blossomed on Reishin's lips at the mention of his newly adopted son, but disappeared almost immediately when a wave of dry coughs seized him. Pain, from having coughed too much, too fast, and a spell of faintness washed so swiftly over him that for a moment his composed exterior threatened to shatter. With obvious effort, he slowed his shallow breaths and waved away Houju's soothing hand on his chest. "You really should go, Houju."

Ignoring Reishin's suggestion completely, Houju asked, "Why won't you see him?"

Reishin peered at Houju's unearthly beautiful countenance and stared deeply into the latter's eyes with an answer, which his friend read effortlessly—

I don't want him to see me like this...

With a small smirk playing on his lips, Houju heaved a sigh. Sometimes Reishin could be such a fool…

The thought was obviously divined without error by Reishin, as evident from the highly irritated tone of his voice when he declared, "I'm tired. Leave."

"The post of Senior Secretary of Civil Affairs," Houju commented nonchalantly as he rose to leave. "no matter how exalted, is not worth your life."

On his way toward the door, the usual, characteristic mocking laugh of his friend assaulted his ears.

"Of that," Reishin replied pointedly with clearly enunciated diction. "I'm well aware."

A cloud of noise was blossoming in his head, Reishin realized with annoyance as his fatigued mind was dragged through the breach of consciousness. The pounding in his head, made worse by the increasing volume of the cacophony, was almost unbearable as Reishin opened his eyes.

The fading light of dusk greeted him with shafts of orange sunshine filtering through the rice-paper windows, illuminating his bed chamber in an ethereal glow of dark gold that, thankfully, did not intensify his headache.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the noise outside.

"Why can't I see him?" The angry, slightly panting sound of Kouyuu's voice slithered through the door.

Reishin smirked humorlessly. At least the boy has figured out I don't live in the study.

"As I have informed you numerous times already, Kouyuu-sama, Danna-sama cannot grant you audience right now." His personal steward replied haughtily, his patronizing tone quite disagreeable to Reishin.

"Why not? Why can't I see him right now?" Kouyuu barked back, his tone taking on a novel edge of desperation that led Reishin to suspect he was close to tears.

Perhaps some things just can't be avoided…

Laboriously, he raised himself from the comfort of his pillow into sitting position, with his back leaning uncomfortably against the headboard. After smoothing out his white sleeping robes so that they would at least appear presentable, he called out, "Let him in."

The command, though impossibly faint, silenced the argument outside immediately. A moment later, the small figure of his son advanced into the room.

Kouyuu strode heatedly into the master bed chamber, his mind fuming with such bottled rage that for a few moments, the paleness of Reishin's countenance and the languid, tired manner with which his father leaned against the headboard completely escaped him.

"If you do not wish to see me, why did you bring me here at all?" Kouyuu demanded furiously, the emotion that rimmed his tone completely at odds with his usually cold demeanor.

"I never said I did not wish to see you." Reishin replied calmly.

Kouyuu was about to bark out an almost automated retort when his whole body suddenly stilled as the truth of the statement, as well as Reishin's sickened appearance, dawned on him without warning.

The momentary silence between them was cut short by a sharp gasp.

"Rei-Reishin-sama!"

Holding his son's horrified gaze, and seeing a nameless fear that permeated those clear, gray eyes, Reishin suddenly wished he hadn't let Kouyuu see him.

It was only now that Kouyuu completely absorbed his father's appearance: the sickly pallor on the already alabaster complexion, the bloodless hue of those lips that had so casually stolen away his devotion, and the dark circles under the piercing hazel eyes that reached the deepest part of his soul with each passing glance. Without the slightest awareness of the fact, tears rose and flooded his eyes.

"If you are going to stand there and gape all day—" Reishin snapped irritatingly, but stopped short when he caught sight of the large drops of tears sliding down Kouyuu's ash-white cheeks.

Reishin repressed the violent urge to tremble.

Kouyuu, who didn't shed a single tear when he rained salted bath water on the unhealed cuts that almost covered the child's entire body, whose eyes were so hard when Reishin found him that it seemed no tears could ever fall from them again—This child…his child…was crying.

"An unfortunate case of exhaustion and an untimely onset of chills, according to Tou Roushi." Reishin offered evenly, his tone kept carefully light.

The relaxed tone of his voice did nothing, however, to stem the flow of Kouyuu's tears. For minutes the silence stretched on between them, with the tears gliding soundlessly down the boy's face. Then, without warning, Kouyuu dropped on his left knee and knelt before Reishin.

"My deepest apologies, Reishin-sama." For having been an impetuous fool.

Before Reishin could utter a word, Kouyuu rose and went swiftly out of the room.

He became aware that it was dinner time with the sound of the chamber door being opened. Languidly, he opened his eyes and was on the verge of announcing that he had no wish to take dinner, when he perceived the identity of the person that had entered.

"Good evening, Reishin-sama." Kouyuu greeted quietly as he set down a wooden tray on the bed stand. "Dinner is ready."

Reishin closed his eyes and heaved a soundless sigh, wondering if he should appreciate his son's tender sentiments or bemoan his fate of being practically force fed when the sight of food excited nothing in him except the desire to vomit.

Bracing himself for the inevitable dizziness that accompanied any moment that did not concur with the force of gravity, Reishin rose with the support of unsteady arms.

He was about two palms' length above the sheets when he felt a small hand on the right blade of his shoulder, and, seeming to decide that surprise was an excuse valid enough to abandon their laborious task, his arms gave out under him.

A soft grunt sounded beside his ear, and, Reishin noted with a mild sense of curiosity, the voice wasn't his.

When Reishin's eyes focused, an expanse of aquamarine covered half his vision. Upon further examination, he realized that Kouyuu was sprawled awkwardly on top of him with one knee folded on the bed and the entire upper half of his body draped over Reishin's chest.

With obvious confusion clouding his gray eyes, Kouyuu pushed himself up slightly, tickling Reishin's neck with his hair in the process. The left side of his face was burning, Kouyuu noted with perplexity. Why would that be…?

Then his eyes focused on Reishin's face, which was but inches away from his own, and forgot how to breathe.

With perhaps just a touch more amusement than was appropriate, Reishin watched the clumsy rise and fall of his son's chest, which came with its own set of strange crackling sound effects that resembled the cracking of lime cement that had been left too long in the heat.

Meeting Reishin's languid, elegant gaze, a faint blush exploded over Kouyuu's cheeks, and even the irregular movement of his lungs ceased.

"Kouyuu."

Kouyuu whirled back abruptly to his senses. He ejected himself from Reishin's bed an almost inhuman distance, and, with a deep burgundy on his cheeks that matched disturbingly closely with his name, sputtered, "Ah…..! I-I'm very, very sorry, Reishin-sama!"

Calmly and with perfect ease, which contrasted so strangely with the furious beating of his heart, Reishin rested his gaze on the stammering boy. "Although being crushed to death wasn't the end I had in mind, your attempt was rather pitiful."

"No, that wasn't…I…" Kouyuu stuttered with head bowed so low that it was in perfect parallel with the floor. If a hole could open up in the ground somehow, Kouyuu would offer a whole cartload of oranges to the gods as a token of gratitude.

Feeling a little embarrassed (an emotion almost unfathomable to him), Reishin swept his gaze toward the tray. Without having to spare a second glance, Reishin knew his cook had nothing to do with the food that was currently sitting in front of him.

"What are these? Pancakes?"

Kouyuu looked up quickly. Reishin was leaning on his elbow, examining a plate from the tray with amused puzzlement.

"They look a little too white to be fully cooked." Reishin commented almost absently. Almost.

After taking a clear look of the plate in question, whatever sense of mortified embarrassment that had plagued him a moment earlier cleared with a speed that was almost demonic. With shaking, clenched fists and countenance splashed claret with fuming rage, Kouyuu managed to squeeze out slowly through his tightly constricted throat, "No…they are manjuu."

"Ah…" Reishin crowed out at length, and, sweeping another doubtful glance toward the dinner tray, asked, "And these? Rice balls? Although, I don't recall my finances being in such poor condition as to necessitate brown rice being served during dinner."

Reishin redirected his glance toward his son, watching with a twisted sense of satisfaction as Kouyuu's cheeks took on a new shade of plum that rather resembled an eggplant.

Kouyuu glared at Reishin, trying with all available mental resources to convince himself that unleashing a full-throttle retort, on high volume, was neither proper nor viable; but there was nothing he could do about his hands, which were balled into shaking fists, or about the almost feral growl that issued faintly, but audibly from his throat.

Granted, his buns sunk a little in the steamer, and his shuumai fell apart slightly, but…but…

"My apologies, Reishin-sama. I'll throw these out immediately." Kouyuu said flatly, still too angry to notice that a sliver of hurt had slipped into his eyes.

The spine of an intricately carved fan smacked away his hand as he grabbed the tray.

"My…I don't remember bringing home such a wasteful child!" Reishin exclaimed petulantly, and stuffed a shuumai gingerly into his mouth.

Kouyuu's rage dissipated abruptly as Reishin slowly and studiously chewed his food. His eyes shifted nervously between Reishin's face and the floor, the intensity of his apprehension rivaled only by that of his anger earlier. He had never made buns or shuumai before; the ingredients were too expensive.

"Is the food poisoned?"

His head snapped up, and regarded Reishin with a blank, incomprehensive stare.

"You are not eating. Is the food poisoned?" Reishin repeated with a smirk.

"Oh, no." Kouyuu mumbled as he pulled up a chair.

Half way through a mouthful of shuumai, Kouyuu's face blanched. He didn't steam them long enough; the chopped up pork at the center were a little undercooked. Nervously, he stole a furtive glance at Reishin. His father's face was as smooth as a ripple-less pond.

Praying that the shuumai was the only thing he mishandled, and afraid that Reishin would notice the oddity of his behavior, Kouyuu hastily grabbed a bun, and took a bite, which was, he realized a moment after, a highly regrettable action.

The bun was passably cooked through, though only by a very slim margin, but he didn't batter the filling well enough, so that there were clumps of sugar and half-mashed red beans in the red bean paste.

He risked a second glance at Reishin, who was currently stuffing the second half of a bun into his mouth with an expression of utter tranquility.

Perhaps the fever has disabled Reishin-sama's sense of taste…Kouyuu entertained the thought humorlessly as he gazed apprehensively at his father.

"Umm…Reishin-sama…" Taste buds or no, the impending possibility of food poisoning cannot be overlooked. "Perhaps..."

"I'm finished." Reishin announced abruptly.

Kouyuu looked down at the plates. Six shuumai and three buns, all gone.

With a strange mix of fearful awe and gratefulness churning in his stomach, Kouyuu began to clear away the tray.

"Make those for snacks tomorrow. Heaven knows you need the practice," Reishin commented smoothly as Kouyuu was about to step out the door, and watched, with a gratified smirk playing on his lips, Kouyuu's back stiffen. He didn't even need to look to see the furious blush that was surely blossoming on his son's supple cheeks. "Oh, and I want eggplant fillings for the shuumai!" he added quickly.

When the moon had passed its midpoint in the sky, Reishin heard the door of his chamber open for the third time that day. Small, light footsteps echoed in the darkness, and came to a halt right beside his bed.

Reishin did not stir.

After a soft ruffle of robes, his hand was taken by slender but willful fingers, the coolness of which softened the feverish heat just a touch, and he felt something round and fuzzy nestling against the curve of his waist.

A small, almost imperceptible smile curved on Reishin's lips, and, despite the fever, despite the mild pain in his stomach, he slept.

"I heard from Tou Roushi that you suffered a mild case of stomach ailment?" Houju asked as he swept gracefully into Reishin's bedroom during the afternoon a few days later.

"Hmm…did you." Reishin commented nonchalantly, setting aside the book he had been reading.

"If you are trying to drive yourself into an early grave, do take more drastic measures than a petty case of stomach disagreement. You'll go much quicker that way." Houju advised sarcastically while pouring himself a cup of mountain Oolong tea. "And since when do you eat shuumai as an afternoon tea snack?"

Suddenly, Reishin's indifferent gaze sharpened.

"Those are mine." He declared petulantly as he sat down at the table. "Feel free to unleash your beastly appetite on the chrysanthemum tea cakes, or the water lily sticky rice puddings, but don't touch the shuumai."

Houju stared contemplatively at Reishin for a second with one brow elegantly raised, then, without ever taking his eyes off of the latter, took a shuumai and stuffed it unceremoniously into his mouth.

For a few moments a deadly silence stretched between them.

"Why you…!" As though finally absorbing the shock, Reishin snapped abruptly to his senses and made to grab Houju's throat, the motion of which succeeding in toppling both onto the floor. "Spit it out! Spit it out!"

[ Flash Back Ends

Kouyuu stood utterly still in the doorway, gaping at what looked like an incredibly intimate moment between Reishin and Houju, and then, with a furious blush spreading rapidly across his cheeks, he stammered, "P-Please excuse my intrusion! I did not realize you were engaging—I-I mean…I mean…I'M VERY SORRY!"

And with the same abruptness that he had entered, Kouyuu slammed shut the bedroom door behind him.

"Hmm…I think there's a slight misunderstanding with your son…" Houju remarked airily, gazing at the spot that Kouyuu had occupied only moments before.

Reishin returned his gaze from the door to Houju, then growled, "Don't change the subject. Spit it out!"