Part 10

King Tezuka stared at Prince Momoshiro, and it was all Momoshiro could do not to wriggle beneath his gaze. It was like his father's in that it could cow him in seconds, but unlike his father's in that it was icy cold, filled with power, and the knowledge they could use it at will with no one objecting to them.

"I'm sorry. Let me get this straight. You are refusing to marry my sister?" Lord Tachibana said with an icy calmness that sent chills down Momoshiro's spine.

He looked up, facing the angered lord and nodded. "Yes, Lordship, I am."

"Explain yourself," King Tezuka commanded and Momoshiro had to hold back from physically jumping back.

He licked his lips. "Highness, Lordship – while I was stuck during the storm, I met someone. And, to be honest, Sirs, they are the only person who has ever made me feel like this. I… in good conscious, I cannot marry Anne. I couldn't make her happy since I would always be miserable, and I couldn't hurt this person by marrying Anne. I just couldn't."

He fell silent after that, waiting, keeping his eyes focused on the wall visible between the two men instead of starting directly at either one of them. Even then he could feel the King's eyes boring into him, and Lord Tachibana doing the same. One felt like ice crawling over him, prodding at his conscience, and the other felt like a controlled fury, poking at his sensitive spots and making him shiver.

"I am to assume that this is not a declaration of your intent to halt peace negotiations?" King Tezuka finally spoke, his voice rock hard.

Momoshiro nodded. "No, Highness. We still wish to continue peace talks, but perhaps another form of promise of allegiance can be arranged."

"Another form?" a new voice spoke, and Momoshiro's eyes slid over the form of one of the more beautiful men he had seen. He was wearing wizard's robes and took a place at the King's right hand, a prominent and important position. "Is there something wrong with the marriage proposal?"

"It would seem Prince Momoshiro has found another, and does not wish to marry Anne any longer," Lord Tachibana half-growled at the King's left hand and one step lower on the dais.

The wizard's brows rose and he looked over at Momoshiro, and Momoshiro saw his eyes open, two glittering blue orbs that pierced him like a trained knight's swords. It was a real, conscious effort to keep from squeaking and shrinking beneath that gaze. There was something… dark about it.

"There is always the Blood Oath," the wizard murmured.

King Tezuka turned, looking seriously at the wizard. "A Blood Oath? But wouldn't that mean little if it is only the Prince? Should not King Atobe be here to do that?"

The wizard shrugged once more. "It was only one suggestion. The other is something perhaps a little more hostile. The Prince must remain here. We will send messengers to King Atobe and alert him to the new situation. I am sure something agreeable can be reached."

King Tezuka's gaze hardened. "That is to hostile, Magister Fuji."

"I am only giving my humble opinion," the magician said with a tone of voice Momoshiro thought promised the King retribution for the chastisement later. "Very well, how about this? There is a spell I know – a binding spell. Prince Momoshiro swears in the stead of his father and all rulers following of their blood, as do you, Your Highness, to uphold peace between our Kingdoms. Should either break the treaty, their seed shall be struck impotent and their line shall end."

Momoshiro held back a reflexive grab to cover his lions. Why did magicians always target a man's privates in these things? Magister Yuushi had a special love for it that always made Momoshiro nervous.

King Tezuka considered it for some time, than finally nodded. "It is agreeable. Can it be amended, later, if necessary?"

"Yes," the magician nodded.

"Then I accept the terms," King Tezuka turned his gaze on Momoshiro. "And you, Prince?"

Momoshiro mulled over that. If he made the agreement, the magician said it extended from him back to his father and all following rulers within Hyotei of his father's line. That did seem reasonable, but it was well known that King Tezuka had no living heir, and that more than likely his throne would pass into the line of his wife, the Fuji family. The magician would not inherit, of course, but one of his cousins or siblings might should Tezuka perish. So, in effect, that left Tezuka largely unscathed either way.

"I will accept if the terms are broadened to any and all rulers of our future kingdoms," Momoshiro said.

Tezuka's brow twitched, but Momoshiro did not think it was in anger. He nodded his assent and turned to Fuji. "What must be done?"

The magician smiled and beckoned them all to follow, with a very peeved Lord Tachibana trailing behind.

Momoshiro groaned as he laid in his bed, an attendant placing a cool wrap on his forehead.

Damn that magician! He had heard of Binding spells before, but he hadn't imagined these were the consequences. The magician had taken all three of them to his workroom, and there inscribed a circle around King Tezuka and Momoshiro. He instructed them to place their right hand over the other's heart, and began to recite a spell.

Momoshiro felt something well up inside him, a sick feeling like spiders crawling all over his body. It bit and snapped at him, till he felt like he was covered in thousands upon thousands of bites. The feeling swelled and clamped inside his chest, making it hard to breathe and each beat of his heart a painful, excruciating experience – like being tortured. It swelled and burned and just when he thought he was going to collapse from the pain and the heat, it vanished.

Somehow Momoshiro kept on his feet, envying the King's cool clam when the spell ended, wondering if he had felt the same things. The deed was done though, and Tezuka ordered Momoshiro to go back to his room and rest. Momoshiro wouldn't have disobeyed and he surely did not want to, a bone deep weariness spreading through his limbs. The minute he hit the sheets of his bed, the fever had set in.

Luckily, a maid coming in to see if Momoshiro wanted to eat found him and sent for the physician, and now he was set beneath the covers with the male attendant nearby, changing the wraps and feeding him some sort of viscous liquid that at least did not taste wretched.

"Is there anything else I can do for you, Highness?" the attendant asked.

Momoshiro looked over at him. "Yeah. Write a message for me."

"A message sir?" the attendant blinked.

Momoshiro glared. "I'm the sick one, not you. Yes, a message!"

The attendant started and disappeared for a few moments and came back with stationary and a pen. Momoshiro watched him prep the supplies and took a deep breath.

"Write as follows: Kaidoh, I'm sorry, but it will be a little longer before I come to get you. I fell ill. Please wait for me a just a little longer. I promise I'm coming, Kaidoh, I promise. All my love, Momo," Momoshiro dictated.

It wasn't overly romantic, but Momoshiro wasn't really good at thinking like that, and he didn't think Kaidoh would appreciate flowery language and a three page long letter anyways. He glanced at that the attendant, slightly amused at the man's flushed cheeks as he wrote down the words. He had never written such intimate, private correspondence before, had he?

"And where should I tell the messengers to deliver this?" the attendant asked as he sprinkled sand on the paper to dry the ink.

"To a house in the Tokyo Woods," Momoshiro said.

The attendant started, gaping at Momoshiro. "Highness, you cannot be serious. No one lives in those woods except wild, magical creatures."

"Really? Because I staid with a family of eight during those horrid storms," Momoshiro glared at the man, though it was hard to concentrate on the act as a bought of heat washed over him and his head spun. He moaned and relaxed into the pillows, rubbing a temple. "Look, just tell my squire Dan to go back to the house and deliver the message. He knows where it is."

"As you say, Highness," the attended bowed from his chair. "Now, please, rest Highness. King Tezuka would never forgive me if I let your condition worsen."

Momoshiro sighed and settled back on the pillows, for once not fighting being told what to do.

"What are we going to do?" Choutarou moaned.

No one answered Choutarou. No one could.

Upstairs in his room, Kaidoh slept and showed no signs of waking. No one knew what had happened. All they knew was that Kaidoh had taken some time to return from washing the laundry, and when Inui went to go check, he had come home with Kaidoh in his arms, a swelling snake bite on his arm, and otherwise appeared unharmed.

Eiji and Choutarou initially panicked, demanding to know what was wrong with their precious baby boy. Oishi and Niou took the two aside to try and calm them down as Taka helped Inui carry Kaidoh up to his bed, Yagyuu following to try and help Inui indentify what was wrong. They checked Kaidoh over thoroughly, but beside the snakebite could not find any outwards signs of something being wrong. They dressed the snakebite wound and left it at that – it showed no signs of festering, which was good. Kaidoh developed no fever or any other symptoms of being poisoned, just continued to sleep with deep, even breathes.

Now, nearly three days later, there was still no sign of him waking. Choutarou was slipping into nervous breakdowns, often spending hours each day tending to Kaidoh – bathing him, cleaning his clothing, cleaning his room. The others tried to get to get his mind off Kaidoh, but that was hard to do when they were just as distracted. They felt the absence at the dinner table, in their every day lives.

Yagyuu and Inui both secluded themselves in the library for hours upon hours looking for an explanation, Oishi or Takashi often having to come and bodily force them out so they could eat and sleep. Oishi, for his part, was simply attempting to keep them all together. His was the voice of reason and courage, but everyone knew that of all of them he was bearing the crisis hardest. They could see the drag in his steps each morning, noticed his lapses in thought, often resulting in a strange taste in their food (to which no one commented, often because it tasted like cardboard anyways regardless of if it was normally delicious).

"Have you found anything?" Oishi asked quietly of Yagyuu and Inui, his voice strained.

The two men looked at each other and shook their heads. Their books had no answers, and neither did they. Choutarou moaned in despair, and Eiji squeezed Oishi's hand tightly, hiding back his own tears and groans of frustration. Silence descended between the seven men, each one with their shoulders hunched as the weight of their sleeping son bore down on them from above.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

"Excuse me, desu! Excuse me! I have a letter here for Sir Kaidoh, desu!"

The men started in surprise, looking towards the door as if they could not believe there was an actual person outside. The knocking and cries came again, and Oishi withdrew his hand from Eiji's and went to open the door.

"Dan," he said in a mixture of surprise and a muted delight when he caught sight of the young squire standing at attention at the door, his horse munching on grass a few meters off.

"Master Oishi, desu." Dan bowed. "Is Sir Kaidoh here?"

Oishi bit his lip, not sure how to answer that. Kaidoh was here physically, but mentally he probably was not. And how did he explain Kaidoh being asleep in the middle of the day. "Um, he's not here at the moment, Dan," Oishi lied. "He went to gather some berries."

"Oh," Dan said, then rummaged in his tunic and held out a sealed envelope. "Will you give this to him, please, when he gets back, desu?"

Oishi reached out and took the letter with a shaking hand. "I'll be sure to give it to him," he smiled at Dan.

Dan bowed. "Thank you, desu! I have to get back now, but I'll be back in a few days, I'm sure. Bye, Master Oishi, desu!" He turned and headed for his horse, mounted up and headed down the path to the bridge and the capital.

Oishi shut the door and came back to the others, sitting in his chair and Eiji once more taking his place on the arm next to Oishi. Oishi held the letter in his hands, stroking the seal, the debate clear in his eyes.

"What is it?" Niou asked.

"A letter for Kaidoh," Oishi said in his hoarse whisper.

"From who?" Takashi pressed.

"Looks like Momoshiro," Oishi said as he examined the red seal – the royal symbol of the Hyotei Kingdom with a 'M' placed in the upper left side.

A silence descended as the men stared at the letter. The debate shone in most of their eyes (save Niou, whose eyes shown mostly with curiosity). Oishi turned the letter over several times in his hands, fingering the fine envelope and once or twice picking at the seal, red wax coating the underside of his nail.

"We should read it," Yagyuu spoke up.

"But, it's for Kaidoh, not us," Choutarou protested.

"Yes, but Kaidoh can't read it, and what if it's important?" Yagyuu inquired.

Choutarou bristled. "It's still Kaidoh's letter, not ours. We don't have the right."

"We'll read it," Oishi declared.

Silence fell again, and the six others stared at Oishi in something akin to shock. Oishi remained silent, looking at the letter, and before anyone could say anything else he snapped the seal and took out the paper within, setting the envelope aside gently – respectfully.

The paper made soft rustling sounds as he unfolded it, and everyone collectively held their breath as he read. Oishi was silent for a very, very long time, to the point that Eiji frowned at Oishi and shook him slightly.

"Oishi?" he asked.

Oishi sighed and set the letter with the envelope, rubbing the bridge of his nose and leaning forward on his knees. The six waited, watching their undeclared leader, the air between them all practically quivering.

"Oishi?" Eiji asked once more.

"I hope everyone's ready for when Momoshiro comes back, because this situation is going to be very hard to explain," Oishi declared.

"Why would Momoshiro come back?" Takashi frowned.

Again there was that silence. "Because, if what that letter says is true, he and Kaidoh are in love."

Never before had a stunned silence been so complete.

CHAPTER 10 FIN

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