XXV

.

Since he had come back, Haruka couldn't focus.

Neither could Rin, apparently. Haruka saw how the Sultan's cheeks reddened whenever their eyes met, how he trailed off and cleared his throat and admitted he hadn't been paying attention since Haruka's lips had started moving. And Haruka couldn't get angry, not when every part of him itched to kiss the Sultan again.

It had been five hours since he had come back and he was still wondering what had possessed him before. All he knew was he hated seeing Rin so unsure, that he now understood when the Sultan had been poisoned he hadn't begged for him to stay out of fear of dying alone. It was both exciting and terrifying, and as disconcerting as the fact that Rin had kissed him back.

The Sultan snapped his finger a few centimetres from Haruka's face, making him come back to the present (sunset, sitting next to Rin on a divan in one of the many living rooms the palace had) with a wince.

"Haru! Are you listening to me?"

The correct answer was no, but Haruka tried to think anyway. What were they talking about?

Rin sighed.

"Alright, today isn't our day," he said, almost to himself. "I said we should wait at least two days before presenting the evidences to the judge; at this point it's probably obvious, but I'm trying not to give you away." Haruka nodded. He didn't really mind, as long as it was the right thing to do; as much as Kisumi had annoyed him, it would be unfair for him to pay for poisoning the Sultan when he was innocent.

Haruka had spent the last month traveling between different cities with a phial of poisoned wine, looking for chemists and naturalists to help him find out where the substances mixed with the drink came from. Out of the four isolated compounds, only one came from a plant that grew on the south of the country, where the accused merchants traded; what Haruka had found funnier, though, was the fact that, according to a botanist that had dated Makoto's mother a long time ago, the wine had a poison whose origin was an endemic herb from the mountains at the east.

"What about Napis?" he asked. Rin had sent people to look for the doctor before Haruka left.

Rin looked down.

"Nobody has seen him since he left the palace," he admitted. He bit his lip. "It's like he vanished; and he has no family in the city, so it's nearly impossible to find him." Haruka tugged at a loose thread from his scarf. "But there are guards watching over your family, so–"

"You have people spying on them?" Haruka cut him off. It wasn't that he didn't appreciate the Sultan's attempts to help; but he could only begin to imagine how paranoid Makoto would get if he noticed strangers following him and he didn't know the reason.

"Better my guards than Napis' friends, if he really has them, don't you think?" Haruka admitted Rin had a point there. "You could tell them so they don't freak out," the Sultan suggested.

For the first time, what painted Haruka's cheeks pink wasn't the memory of kissing Rin.

He didn't want the Tachibanas to know he had been so stupid that now they needed protection. Not only because it would scare them (and the worst part was they had a reason to be afraid), but also because Haruka wouldn't be able to stand their disappointed expressions. They had given him a home when he lost his, treated him like he was one of them. And in return he was only putting them in danger.

He flinched when Rin's hand landed on his. For a second he almost pulled back, but finally he kept still; the Sultan's fingers closed around his hand cautiously, as if he weren't completely sure Haruka had just wordlessly allowed him to.

"They'll be fine," Rin assured.

Haruka nodded, turning his hand between Rin's fingers to return the grip. It wasn't foreign for him, not since Rin had been ill and had needed something to hold on so many times. But it felt different.

Or maybe it was just him.

"Doesn't this go against some protocol rule?"

Rin laughed. It started as an amused smile, then the sound bubbled up from his lips as he threw his head back, loud and brilliant as it filled every corner of the room.

It had been a while since Haruka had last heard him laugh that way; and despite how tired he looked, despite all the weight he had lost since he had been poisoned, in that moment the Sultan looked more alive than before the dinner with the Shiginos. Haruka found a smile tugging at his own lips.

"You go against every protocol rule," the Sultan finally replied, tears in the corners of his eyes, "so you don't need to start worrying about it now."

"Good."

Haruka let his eyes close when Rin's free hand brushed his cheek. He didn't mean to –he didn't want to miss anything–, but at the same time he had the feeling it would be overwhelming enough without adding his sight to the moment.

Believing everything would be alright was way easier when Rin kissed him.

But kisses were only kisses, and there was little they could do to keep everything Haruka loved safe.

Author's note: [Insert obligatory reference to the second chapter of this fic here]