CHAPTER SEVEN
The dark haired man was disturbed by what he saw, a young woman dressed up as a concubine. 'This isn't good.' However before he managed to speak the woman had made her way toward him, shooting him coy glances from beneath her lashes. Backing up against the dresser he gazed down at the girl. "Uh, excuse me, what are you doing?"
The woman's arms had gripped his hips, "I only wish to please Ou-sama." She reached up on tip-toe to try and plant a kiss upon him, however he turned his head so that it landed on his cheek instead of his mouth. The woman stood back with a frown. "Ou-sama is not pleased with Li Li?"
Tetsuhiro didn't want to hurt the girls feelings, but he wasn't interested in what she was so apparently willing to offer. 'Probably because she and everyone else thinks I'm this Ou-sama.' "It's not that you're not...lovely, but... the thing is... I'm gay."
The long haired, dark eye'd girl blinked. "Ou-sama is gay?" her brows furrowed, though she didn't frown for long as the corner of her lips curled upward. "Then Li Li will get her brother!"
Before Tetsuhiro could stop her, she had whirled around and sped out, "Wait!" He called after her, but there were others who came into the room, including the elderly woman whom had spoken to him before.
The old woman gazed at him, "Hmmn...so you easily admit to such preferences this time around Ou-sama."
"Please, would you stop calling me Ou-sama... I'm not that person, I'm just Morinaga Tetsuhiro."
The old woman sat down in a chair next to the bed, and with her hand pat the bed, "Let us talk then, for you seem to have forgotten, but then we are not allowed to recall our past lives."
Green eyes remained befuddled, as he sat down, wondering how he was supposed to make it clear to this woman and the others that he just wasn't whomever they believed him to be.
"Ou-sama, the prophecies do not lie. It was time for you to return to us. I realize you may be confused, because you do not recall the past. It has happened before, but you truly are our Ou." She placed her hand up to prevent him from speaking. "Let me continue. We, the people here have awaited your arrival for nearly a hundred years. I was but five when Ou-sama met the end of his last cycle, yet I would know you anywhere, Ou-sama. You look exactly as your portrait from that last life when you were here."
Tetsuhiro still could not believe what was being said, but wondered if maybe it had been an ancestor if he looked so alike, but then people often had at least one look-a-like somewhere in time. Yet the elderly woman would not allow him a word in edgewise.
"Ou-sama, even if now you still do not believe, everyone on this island is sure that you are. With you here, the prophecies may be fulfilled, and our world will not sink into the dark abyss which has threatened us ever since you had left us." The old lady smiled as she rose, "Please enjoy yourself while we prepare a feast fit for you." With a bow she left the room, followed by her helpers.
It appeared to Tetsuhiro, that no one was willingly to hear his side or to believe him, even blaming his disbelief on the theory that one who has been reincarnated could not recall a past life. 'This is...too much.' He sank back against the pillows on the bed, he had to get away from the island, to get home, to return to Senpai.
The door creaked open, and startled Tetsuhiro looked up. He'd forgotten about Li Li and her earlier declaration. It was clear that she had meant what she said, because inside the door was a young man that looked very much like her.
"Ou-sama?" The young man fidgeted, a crimson color rising from his neck to his temple.
'What am I going to do now? This situation...' Still he had to say something. "I'm sorry, but, I'm rather tired still." 'I don't want to hurt his feelings, but I should have said something clearer than that.' Although the boy appeared to be relieved as he bowed and hurried away.
Someone who'd been posted outside his room, without him knowing, looked in and asked. "So Ou-sama has no interest in that young one?"
Shaking his dark head, "No..."
"I wonder then, what Ou-sama's type is. Everyone on the island will be curious to know and I am certain they will all try to offer themselves to you."
"What?"
"Well, you are the Ou. It is only natural that your subjects would wish to please you."
"I'd prefer them not to do that..."
The guard stared at Tetsuhiro overlong, making him quite uncomfortable with that piercing gaze as though he were trying to see into the very depths of his mind, his soul.
"Ou-sama is a strange one, but I do not think that will stop any of them from trying, especially those who seek to become a part of the harem."
"...Har...em...?" The guard had closed the door, before he'd been able to question him. It only caused his head to throb, being caught in such a strange situation. If all this really were true or if he could never return, there would always be only one person whom he'd want, but that person wasn't with him and just the thought that there was a possibility of never being able to see, to hear, to hold him again depressed him. 'Though he'd look adorable in one of those harem costumes, but he'd probably kill me if I even told him that.'
Souichi was startled when he felt someone tug on his arm and push him into a seat. "Whhaat sha heell!?"
The tattoo artist chuckled, sticking out his pierced tongue between his teeth, "Ah, so another customer who needed to get drunk before coming in here, huh Ren?" He looked at his assistant who helped him strap down the blonds arms. "Well then, what kind of tattoo ya want?"
Souichi glowered, but his glasses were crooked, to the point where he had double vision, and due to having drank so much the room began to spin. The state he was in, he blamed on Morinaga, "Shzat iiidot...Mori...naga."
"Ren, could you make out what he said?"
"Not really Kei, but I think there's someone outside waiting for him," he'd looked up and had seen a figure outside the window. "Maybe we could ask him?"
Kei turned around, "Well then, you watch the customer while I do just that," he walked out, "Excuse me sir..."
Hiroto was startled, backing away from the building slightly, "Uh... yeah?"
"Does the guy inside belong to you?"
With a weary chuckle, the red head held up his hands, "Uh... no... not really. I'm just keepin' an eye on him for a friend of mine."
"Oh... well then, whats the name of this friend?" Even if the customer kept inside couldn't say what he wanted, he had an idea now of at least what it could be. Not that he was going to ask, because sometimes the customers chickened out or weren't too sure what they wanted, but he was going to make sure that anyone who stepped foot into his shop received a tattoo. Well, unless they were underage, because he didn't want too much trouble.
"Uhm... Morinaga Tetsuhiro... but why does that matter?"
The artist just grinned and turned around, walking back into his parlor, despite noticing that the customer was struggling to get free of the bonds that kept him tied to the chair, he wasn't about to let him go free.
"So, Kei, what do you intend to do?"
"Ren, I think a nice heart outline would be good, on the left shoulder."
Ren just chuckled, shaking his head, "Really, not even going to ask him about that are you?"
"He-ll no, he's too drunk to understand, but he came in here, so... but did he have a wallet on him?"
"Yeah. So... just a heart, or are you going to do something else with that?"
"Of course," he smirked, "Inside it's going to say I belong to Morinaga Tetsuhiro, isn't that just perfect?"
Blinking his assistant chuckled after a moment, "You really are naughty, but it sounds fun... but why a guys name?"
"That's because, the guy outside said he was keeping an eye on him for whoever the name belongs too."
Souichi hadn't really been paying attention to their conversation as he growled, straining at the restraints, though he felt quite dizzy. However when he felt a jab in his arm he yelled. "What the hell do you think you're doing!?" That had appeared to sober him up a little... at least enough to be understood.
"Ren, looks like we might need to use a sedative on this one."
"Right, on it."
