Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, and I'm not making any money off of this.
The opulent halls of the Grand Palace no longer held him in thrall after walking them freely for going on five years now. The guards that lined the corridors didn't even glance at him as he passed making his way to the royal chambers. Being the chief royal advisor had a tendency to put him such above reproach; although should their ruler so decree it the guards would spill his blood in an instant. Such was the way of the Torumekian court. Despite the obvious risks to his health he was far too addicted to the power that came with the position to give it up. Of course Her Majesty was all too aware of his feelings regarding his status, if anything she found it humorous. When asked about it he told her that rising from the peasantry to second in command under her alone gave his ego a rather heady boost. She had merely smirked at him before changing the subject.
Kurotowa managed to hide the small smirk that tried to twist his lips when he passed several maids leaving the royal chambers and they bowed low to him. Noting the items in their hands as he moved on, he realized that Kushana must be bathing. Now he couldn't hide the grin that threatened to split his face as he pushed open the doors that led to the lady's antechamber.
The contrast between the lavishly decorated halls and the almost modest décor of the room he just entered was acute, causing many that weren't used to it to pause. It had been a trial to even get Kushana to live in the palace, steadfastly refusing to become ruler as she was. It had taken Kurotowa and several of her Majesty's most trusted soldiers that had survived the war to convince her. Most of their reasoning had to do with the treacherous court that the Vai Emperor had warned her about. They had feared that if she resided at one of the lesser palaces, the vultures would have seen her as weak and start to circle. Seeing their reasoning, Kushana had agreed though she had refused to live in the blatant extravagance that her father and brothers had. In her chambers there was a bit of lavishness here and there; she had been raised a princess after all and was now the King Regent.
Moving quickly through the room and into the next, her bedchamber, he spied the door that led into the bathroom cracked open just a bit, steam whispering through the opening. Oh he fought the temptation, he really truly did. But in the end, he did need to tell her about the recent proposals from the Court; it was his duty after all. Yes, that was it. Creeping stealthily up to the heavy doors, he tucked the folder in his hand under his arm and leaned carefully closer to the gap.
Her back was to him as she sank into the steaming waters, unknowingly giving her voyeur a glimpse of the pale skin of her back and shoulders. Kurotowa noted the scars that ran in a few places across her otherwise smooth skin. Several of them he knew had come from the war, but still others had come from training and years of being out in the military field. A couple of them might have even come from attempts on her life. He knew a great deal about the woman he served but there was still more that she had kept to herself.
His thoughts were interrupted when she dipped under the water's surface and came back up and began to work soap into her now soaking hair. Though five years had passed, she still kept her blonde tresses short; "In remembrance" she had told him. He had been shocked when he had come across her just after she had shorn her hair in reaction to the attack on the Torumekian/Periphery encampment. After all, how many times had he imagined running his hands through the woman's long, sun-kissed hair? He'd grown used to it afterwards though; it even increased his admiration for her given the extreme vanity that the women of the Court back home were subject to. He could get imagine the twittering the idiots would engage in when she returned home with hair so short. While in the Periphery the cutting of a woman's hair was considered a small step into womanhood, the Torumekian fashions of the time demanded that women wear their hair long. And twitter they did when she had returned home, but oh how Kurotowa had relished the shock they had exhibited when she had announced that she was now the ruler of the kingdom, with witnesses and all to back up her claim.
"Are you enjoying the view Kurotowa?" Her suddenly voiced question caused him to jerk in surprise as he yelled mentally at himself. She always had been able to see through him.
"Who wouldn't Your Highness?" She huffed quietly before dunking under again, this time to rinse her hair of the almond scented cleanser. He loved that smell on her, not too strong or overly floral-
"Well, are you going to come in or just stand out there like a simpleton?" She barked at him in irritation; whether at the interruption of her bath or just his inaction he wasn't sure.
"Of course, Your Exalted Majesty." He said with mock humility; they both knew he was a cocky bastard so there was no need to pretend that he wasn't. He pushed though the doorway and into the room, moving to the chair that sat off to her right. Seated in the chair facing her, he noted that there was significant amount of bubbles atop the water to fully hide her from view. With an inward sigh as he sat, he brought the folder out from under his arm and showed it to her. "I have the most recent recommendations from the High Court." She snorted in a decidedly unladylike fashion before resting her chin on a hand that was supported by the edge of the bathtub. His eyes drifted briefly to the slight hint of the swell of her breasts that having her arm in such a position revealed.
"Demands you mean; the fools haven't the humility to 'recommend' anything." She said with a small smirk, which he returned. "And am I to assume that most of these 'recommendations' do nothing more than benefit them and further widen the gap between the rich and poor?" That had been a constant problem since the war's end, they country of Torumekia was borderline economically depressed and in his opinion, the only thing that had keep them all from a total economic breakdown was the woman sitting in front of him.
"Do they ever seek anything else? The short-sighted idiots think of nothing but their own materialism, never mind that it could cause a collapse." She didn't respond but slid further down into the water with eyes closed and let her head loll back to rest on the tub's high rim, exposing the long column of her neck. This obsession he had with her was really getting out of hand, he decided, when the site of the infernal woman's neck could get his blood pumping. That thought quickly left him as she slid her legs out of the water slightly to rest her feet on the rim as well, crossing her ankles in a pose that spoke of relaxation. Oh but the sight of her long, slim calves had him anything but relaxed; he watched as some the bubbles clung to her skin before reluctantly giving in to gravity and sliding down the length of her leg to rejoin their brethren on the water's surface. He quickly regain himself and brought his gaze back to her face only to find her watching him from under heavy lids and a full-blown smirk on her face. Damn the woman, she was doing in it on purpose! With a discreet cough, he managed to compose himself somewhat before continuing on.
"And of course there are numerous rumors flying around the nobility that your officers are trying to lay to rest. Some of them are proving difficult, of course." Her smile lessened at this new information, turning into a displeased frown.
"New ones? What are they gossiping about now?" He grinned at her here, unable to keep the look off his face.
"Well, to be honest most of them are about you and I." She merely arched an eyebrow at him before he continued. "In particular they are about the nature of our…relationship."
"Oh I knew they'd get on about that. After all, you were the only one of my military advisors to live for any length of time, and then for me to keep you on as my royal advisor after the war, it was just too much for them to resist." She dismissed any worry over the matter and slid her legs back into the warm waters now that her little stunt was over.
"And we are actually giving them ammunition at the moment, aren't we? I mean, me sitting in on your bath? That is highly irregular for a mere advisor to be part of such an intimate moment." A soft noise by the door that would have been ignored by most people caused them both to turn to it. They instantly recognized the sound of feet scurrying across the carpet, going back out into the main halls; one of the maids no doubt. Kurotowa frowned as he realized that someone was going to get a very accurate account of their conversation today. The expression on Kushana's face mimicked his own before she told him to go and make sure that no one else was there before coming back and locking the bath doors behind him. He did as she bid, and slid the bolt home on the doors before turning back to her.
"Would you want to become my lover, Kurotowa? Despite the risks?" His breath caught in a most uncomfortable fashion at her question, prohibiting him from doing much more than stare at the back of her head for a moment. Due to his lack of response she continued, "It would put you in even more danger than you are already in."
"Surely your majesty doesn't believe that I will be swayed but such a thing as personal danger. Hell, I don't even know how many times I nearly died trying to protect you during the war." He bluffed as he moved back over to her side, this time preferring to stand by her instead of sitting back down. "Somehow I think that if I can survive a daikaisho and a full scale war against the Dorok Principalities then I can manage to avoid attempted poisonings and assignations planned by those soft-bellied fools." He saw her blue eyes widen slightly in surprise as he leaned down, bracing himself on the rim of the tub, and bring his face a hair's breadth away from hers. He praised himself on actually being able to surprise her for once.
"Besides, knowing you as I do, you'd probably get enjoyment from watching those idiots keep me on my toes. You are sadistic like that, your Highness." And he brought moved to close the distance between their lips.
A splash of water was his only warning before he felt sharp steel pressing into his throat, freezing him in place with his lips hovering just above hers. The blade was warm and wet, indicating that she had possessed it the entire time he had been there. Hmmm, this was the woman of brains and beauty that her family had felt so threatened by.
"Did you think that was an invitation?" She asked him, her voice dropping an octave with the not-so-subtle threat. Oh gods how he loved it when she used that tone…
"I was hoping it was." He smiled at her, attempting to play it off as if he had meant the entire business as a joke.
"You never were really had any common sense Kurotowa." She informed him as she pulled the blade back under the water's surface. That was the great thing about ohmu shell blades versus the old iron and even some ceramic weapons, they didn't rust. She smiled at him like he hadn't seen in a long time before reaching her hand up to grab his hair and pull him down to press his lips to hers. It was just a soft brush before she shoved him away again saying, "Now get out before I have you shot."
He slid the doors firmly shut behind him as he exited her suites, leaning back against him and sighing in relief that he was still alive after that little stunt. He'd been told once that he had the devil's own luck; but what kind of luck that was he wasn't sure as the devil still got sent to hell.
Well, he decided as he pushed off from the doors, if having to put up with the Court was his hell in order for him to be nearer to his heaven, he could deal with it. As he continued his was down the corridors again, if any of the guards had paid any attention to him they would have noticed that his steps seemed significantly lighter than when he had gone by them a while before.
AN: Please review and tell me what you think; this is my first Nausicaa fanfic, despite having adored it since the movie first came over in the 80s.
Regarding the "King Regent" title given to Kushana vs. using the title Queen Regent. In the Viz translated mangas I have it states on the last page of the last manga: "History remember Kushana as being the Restorer of Torumekia, yet she remained King Regent to the end of her days, steadfastly refusing to assume the throne." And she herself sayson the page prior to that "I shall not become King." Coming from a fandom where a woman bears the title of "Sir" despite her gender, I didn't think twice about using the male form of the title.