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" And how is the Seiryuu no Miko
faring today?"
" She is doing quite well so far,
Heika, though still unconscious." Nakago replied automatically, his mind
elsewhere. He had never liked being alone in the Imperial Suite with
the Emperor Shoukitei and he tended to let his mind wander whenever this
was the case, just so that he could forget about the memories that were
trying to push it's way into his consciousness
at the sight of the big, canopied
bed at one corner of the room. He knew that the old man would be
unable to do anything to him now, just let the filthy bastard try, but
he always succeeded in making him feel uncomfortable which in turn made
him angry at both himself and the Emperor. As he had done every day
since he was first brought into the Palace, he vowed revenge once more.
For himself and for all of his people that had suffered under this man...no,
this pig.
" That's good. The sooner you
find the two remaining seishi, the sooner we can destroy young Emperor
Saihitei." The idea pleased him greatly. The rulers of Kutou
had had their eye on the neighboring empire for a long time and besides,
he had never liked hearing about the handsome teen aged Emperor and how
well he was supposedly running things over there despite of his young age.
" I am already working on that, Heika.
Besides, I have several things in plan to delay the Suzaku in their quest."
" None involving that Amiboshi, I
hope." Emperor Shoukitei said, pursing his lips thoughtfully as the
image of the boys pretty face came into his mind. " It would be a
waste if such a handsome boy was hurt."
Nakago frowned slightly. He
had hoped that the old man would have forgotten about Amiboshi by now but
apparently, he hadn't. " Of course Amiboshi is involved, Heika.
He is a seishi."
Shoukitei ignored this. " He
is a musician also, is he not?"
" Yes, Heika."
" Is he good?"
" Quite."
The man's lips twisted into an unpleasant
smile, even more chilling than Nakago's own. " I have always enjoyed
music. I think I shall like to have his company here later on.
After dinner. You will bring him?"
Nakago wanted to tell the old man
to leave the boy well alone, after all, how the hell could he expect Amiboshi
to be able to concentrate on his duties as a seishi if he was being interfered
with all the time, but he couldn't quite bring himself to. Amiboshi
will survive it, he decided, after all, hadn't he? And at
a much younger age at that...Still, he found himself saying. " I'm
afraid Amiboshi is rather busy, sire. I have put him in the charge
of the Maiden."
Shoukitei waved away his protests.
He wasn't used to Nakago going against his orders. He had always
been quite willing to follow whatever it was that he wanted done.
The young man is getting too secure in his importance as a seishi and as
the military leader of the country, he decided, though he had no idea how
to correct this little problem. He watched Nakago's golden eyebrows
furrowing slightly as his cold blue eyes focused on the bed once more.
Or maybe he just wanted to spare his little companion ,though the Emperor
found this idea rather hard to believe since in all the time that he had
known Nakago he had never shown any concern for the welfare of any other
person besides himself. " There are plenty of others who are capable
of tending to an unconscious girl. Send him to me after dinner.
I will be waiting for him."
" As you wish." He couldn't see why
the bastard couldn't satisfy himself with the attractive sixteen year old
son of one of the Imperial advisors who was rumored to be the latest of
his young lovers but at least he had tried. Of course, that wouldn't
help Amiboshi any later on.
~**~
The feel of Nakago's hand on his
shoulder abruptly stopped Amiboshi's laughter. Gulping down his last
bite of bread, he twisted around to face the shogun wondering what it was
that was wanted of him this time. " Yes, Nakago-sama?"
" You have your flute with you?"
Amiboshi smiled at this. Of
course he did. The instrument was always in his person wherever he
went, well, maybe except when he took a bath. " Do you want me to
play for the Miko again?" he didn't even have to look over at his
brother to see that he was scowling. Suboshi was getting very annoyed
at the fact that Amiboshi and Nakago had been the only one of them to be
able to see the Maiden. His elder brother's reports about the girl's
beauty didn't make him feel any better either. He thought Kou-chan
was doing it on purpose, just to irritate him.
" No. You will be playing for
the Emperor tonight." Nakago answered, though he highly doubted that that
would be the only service that Amiboshi would be giving the old man by
the end of the night. He did not miss the look of fright that briefly
crossed the boys face though Amiboshi almost immediately rearranged his
features so as not to alarm his younger brother.
" Is this going to take a long time
because my brother and I are going to-"
" It will take as long as is necessary."
Nakago snapped, not wanting to deal with the other nuisance at the moment.
Suboshi frowned, grumbling under
his breath. He had been looking forward to taking a a swim in the
lake with his brother. It wasn't as though he could ask Tomo.
The guy was always slipping off to be with that soldier doing what, he
didn't even want to think about. His aniki had explained such things
to him before and as for Soi, she had an aversion to the lake, insisting
that the water was filthy. She wouldn't go in there for anything,
not even if Nakago asked her too. Well, if that was the case, then
maybe.
Taking his arm in a surprisingly
gentle grip, Nakago led Amiboshi away from the dining room without another
word. He squirmed uncomfortably until the older seishi finally released
him.
" Nakago-sama?"
He grunted in response.
" How...how long do you think I'll
have to stay there with the Emperor Shoukitei? I...I don't really...like
him, you see..."
What was he supposed to say to that?
He couldn't exactly tell the boy that he didn't like the Emperor either
so he kept quiet. Once Amiboshi realized that he wasn't going to
get anything out of Nakago, he fell silent too, allowing himself to be
led to the Imperial chambers, his dread mounting in his chest.
They finally reached their destination
and stopped before the ornately carved door. Nakago raised his hand
and rapped on it sharply a few times before turning to face the boy with
him, his cold blue eyes as unreadable as ever. " You will be all
right." He told him, though it was obvious from the skeptical look in Amiboshi's
face that for some reason, he didn't believe him.
~**~
He kept his back to the door, his
flute clutched protectively at his chest as though that would somehow keep
the old man away from him. Amiboshi started at the sound of his voice.
"Amiboshi! so nice to see you again! Nakago has been keeping
you far too busy, I think."
Nakago, cold hearted slave driver
that he was , was still immensely more preferable to the Emperor.
" Good to see you too, Heika." He somehow managed to mumble through his
fear. This was ridiculous! He had just been called here to
play some music, though he didn't know how he would be able to manage that
as nervous as he was right now. " What...what would you like for
me to play for you?"
" Must you stay so far away?"
It took a while for him to realize
that this was a question and not the title of a song. He cleared
his throat nervously. There was no way that he was going to go any
nearer to that man. He shuddered involuntarily as he recalled the
feel of the Emperor Shoukitei's hand caressing his shoulder only three
days before. " I..." He frantically tried to come up with an excuse
for him to stay right where he was, " The...uh, I think the acoustics will
be better here..."
" Is that so?" He laughed softly,
enjoying the boy's obvious discomfort. " I don't really care that
much for acoustics and such though, so I would prefer it if you came nearer..."
His tone of voice left no more room for argument and Amiboshi had to hesitantly
comply. After all, how could he possibly go against an Emperor's
direct order?
" Nearer." Shoukitei insisted though
Amiboshi was already within his reach. Pretending that the idea had
only just occurred to him, he added, " You know what, I think it would
be far more comfortable for you if you sat down while you play."
" Wh...where?" Amiboshi scanned the
Emperor's bedroom for a chair. One that was as far away from the
man as he could possibly get.
" Why, right here." He was
taken completely by surprise when the Emperor grabbed hold of his arm and
pulled him down to sit by the edge of the bed, right beside him.
He tried to edge away but a heavy arm around his shoulders prevented him
from doing so. It was all Amiboshi could do to keep tears of fright
from rolling down his cheeks.
" Heika, I...I..."
Feigning great interest, Shoukitei
gently coaxed the small reed flute from Amiboshi's tightly clenched fists.
" This is what you use to play?"
" Yes, sire. Can..can I have
it back now? So that I can start playing for you?"
" Oh, don't worry about that.
For now, I'd like to get to know you better." He told the boy in
a low voice as he pushed his back down onto the bed, barely managing to
muffle his shout of alarm with one hand as he did so.
~**~
" Tomo-sama, have you seen my aniki?"
He was about to give the boy a tongue
lashing for daring to just barge into his room like that when he noticed
that Suboshi didn't exactly look well. Frowning at the his sickly
pallor, Tomo let go of the brush that he had been about to throw at him.
" No, I have not." As an after thought, he added. " You should
think about going to see the Court Healer, Suboshi. You look even
worse than usual."
" I...I can't, Tomo-sama. Not
until I've found my brother..." Though he could see that Tomo had
been about to say something, Suboshi turned away and walked out of the
man's room as quickly as he could, considering that his body was aching
all over for some reason. Tomo had given him a bit of a beating just
that afternoon but he couldn't see how that could possibly have caused
this. The older seishi actually had quite a light hand, despite of
his ferocity so this could only mean that it was his brother that had been
hurt by somebody. His eyes narrowed, and that somebody was probably
that bastard, Nakago.
Speak of the devil! As Suboshi
rounded the corner, who should he run into but the shogun himself, leaning
against the railings and staring absently out into the horizon. "
Where's my brother?" He demanded, sounding far more abrupt than he had
intended.
Nakago raised one perfectly shaped
eyebrow.
" My brother. Where is he?"
He repeated his question, trying to fight back tears of frustration and
bewilderment. Something was horribly wrong. He could feel it.
Without the slightest hesitation,
Nakago answered him. " Why, he is with the Seiryuu no Miko, of course.
I asked him to spend the night in her chambers to keep an eye on her."
" But then why...why do I fell as
though he's in trouble?"
" Merely your twin's senses going
haywire, I believe." He replied with a smirk. He had forgotten
about the close bond that the two shared. " Go to sleep, Suboshi
or at least get out of my sight. I don't want to be bothered with
you and your little panic attacks."
" But aniki! He-"
" I have already told you that your
brother is fine." Nakago snapped, wanting to do away with him so
that he could go back to his thoughts, " Stop worrying. He is all
right and I assure you that you will see him again tomorrow."
