Discoveries

~*~

"Um...Kouko-chan, are you okay? Did...did something happen?"

Koushirou rolled over on his back, a wide grin on his face.

Mimi sighed in relief. "Oh, good! You scared me there for a minute!" She broke into a sly smile. "So I assume all went well, then?"

"It was..." Koushirou blushed. "He's incredible."

"Whoa, I've never heard anyone describe Lord Taichi that way before." Miyako commented, raising an eyebrow. "What did you two do?"

"We just...talked," Koushirou replied simply.

Mimi and Miyako exchanged glances. "You didn't even kiss or anything and you're, like, freaking out about him!?" Mimi demanded.

Koushirou shrunk back. "We...we probably would've, but..."

"But what!? There were no opportunities at all during my time with him, and I would've given anything to have one!" Mimi lamented.

"We..." He trailed off, searching for the words. "We just...work. The attraction between us..." His voice softened into a whisper. "...is indescribable."

The two girls just sat as they looked at him, Koushirou fading out back into those moments with Lord Taichi...and his kind, brown eyes...

"I...I just..." Miyako shook her head several times. "I just can't believe that Lord Taichi is so...attracted to you, if what you say is true."

Koushirou stared at her for a moment, feeling somewhat offended. "What do you mean by that?"

Miyako suddenly realized how her statement could be interpreted and quickly waved her hands. "Oh, no, no, no! It's not you! It's just...well..." She hesitated. "He's never shown genuine love and affection – as far as I've heard – to anyone. Not even any noble girls."

"It's true."

They turned around to find Sora, who had recently returned from a "walk," leaning against the wall and nodding her head.

"What is, Sora-chan?" asked Koushirou.

"Lord Taichi has never been crazy about the idea of concubines. When he makes love to them – or at least, to me – it is almost out of duty, not out of the male desire that we've all heard about." She slowly sat down and closed her eyes while Miyako nodded in agreement. "I've heard that, yes, even at functions he attends, he has never shown interest in any of those girls. And, most certainly, he has never fallen in love." She opened her eyes and looked at Koushirou. "Until now."

Mimi and Miyako looked back at Koushirou, whose cheeks bore a fresh blush.

"I overheard Lord Taichi talking to Yama – um – Ishida-san." (She blushed a little, trying to make it as unnoticeable as possible.) "He was just expressing his frustration about it to him."

"Frustration?" Koushirou asked.

"You know it's against the custom to fall in love with a concubine. A lot of times, it's inevitable, but of course, no noble can ever act upon those feelings."

Koushirou couldn't help but think about his agreement – to let Lord Taichi love him, and that he would love him, too. He felt warm all over.

"I don't think you should get so close to him," Mimi said quietly.

"Wh-why?" Koushirou stuttered.

"Oh, I think someone's jealous!" Miyako teased.

Mimi slowly turned towards her with a glare, which shut her up immediately. "I won't deny that I do feel some jealousy. But I'm happy for Kouko-chan." She turned back to Koushirou. "It's just that Sora-chan is right. It's not the custom. I didn't come here expecting to marry Lord Taichi, and neither should Kouko-chan." She privately raised her eyebrow at him, as though to say, You really think you could get away with that?

"I…I know…" Koushirou hesitated. "But…i-it's not like I'm that only one that's guilty here! Lord Taichi-"

"We know," Sora interrupted. "And I know that Lord Taichi is aware of the limitations of a potential relationship with you. Yamato-kun–"

"So it is true! Did you hear that, Ken? It has to be!"

They all turned around to find Daisuke, grinning broadly, sliding open the door, and Ken raising an eyebrow in amusement as he stood behind him.

"Wh-what's true?" asked Sora, stuttering and immediately flushing red.

"Oh, don't play dumb with me! Just come out and tell everybody!"

"I-I don't know what you're talking about." But it was clear that she was quite aware, for her eyes were cast down, her cheeks were pink, and she was fiddling with her kimono nervously. All eyes were on her, and she felt heavy under the stares.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Come on, I've heard the servants' rumors! There is definitely something going on between you and Ishida-san!"

Ken sighed and shook his head, still amused. "Always the blunt one."

The girls' mouths dropped in shock as they heard this piece of information, and they squealed as they began to bombard Sora with questions.

"What is this!?"

"Is this true!?"

"Since when!?"

"Why didn't you tell us!?"

"How could you possibly-?"

"STOP!" Sora cried, revealing a side no one knew. Her face was red, her fists clenched in fury, and everyone was frozen at her sudden, unexpected, and unusual outburst. But suddenly, she relaxed, exhaling slowly and letting her shoulders fall. She closed her eyes and whispered, "Please keep this information to yourselves. You know it would be awful if Lord Taichi found out."

"We understand," Daisuke replied, nodding enthusiastically.

"You recognize the risks of such a relationship, I hope," Ken said with an elusive expression.

"Yes. I know…" She paused and smiled at Koushirou. "I suppose I'm like Kouko-chan… I'm not the only one guilty in this matter."

"So wait a minute, why Ishida-san?" Miyako had to ask. "He seems so mean! He's like…emotionless, almost."

Sora laughed a little. "That's just him fulfilling his job as Lord Taichi's most trusted advisor. He has to take it seriously. But…" She blushed again and her voice softened. "He…he truly is one of the kindest people I know. He…he really understand me. And I understand him."

Mimi and Miyako took that as their cue to give an "aww!", but Sora gave them a warning glare before they could even begin.

"So how did you even…'get together' in the first place?" Koushirou inquired.

"Oh, they talk all the time!" Daisuke piped. "I always see them by Lord Taichi's quarters, and they just chat away-!"

"Daisuke, why don't we let Sora explain?" Ken suggested, placing his hand on Daisuke's shoulder, still amused.

"Oh…sorry," Daisuke apologized. "Go ahead, Sora."

"Well…" Sora began. "Lord Taichi was supposed to walk with me in the garden one day, but he couldn't because of unexpected military duties. He had Yamato-kun – um…"

"It's okay," Miyako said. "You can call him whatever you want."

Sora smiled and nodded. "Yamato-kun walked with me instead, and we really got along." She looked at Koushirou again. "I would guess it was a walk like Kouko-chan's today…" Her smile evolved into a smirk. "Except mine ended with a kiss."

"Oh yeah! You never explained why you guys didn't kiss!" Daisuke exclaimed.

Ken sighed in annoyance this time.

The girls (and Koushirou) all stared at them in silence.

Then Koushirou demanded, "Were you eavesdropping on us?"

"Ah…we…!" Daisuke gave up on futilely trying to defend himself and instead just looked remorseful. "We're sorry… When Kouko was running, we both really wanted to know what was going on…"

"You, too, Ken!?" exclaimed Miyako. "You don't seem like the type!"

"Oh, trust me, you guys don't know the real Ken!" Daisuke said.

They all raised inquisitive eyebrows. However, Ken decided to pointedly ignore this statement and admitted to Miyako, "I can't deny that I had an interest." He let a small smile slip onto his lips.

"Aww! You have such a great smile!" Miyako cried, clapping her hands. "You should smile more often!"

Ken's smile immediately vanished, but a tinge of pink still made it to his cheeks. "Th-thanks."

"See! Now that's what I always tell you!" Daisuke exclaimed, turning towards Ken. "How come you listen to her and not me!?"

"I never said that I would listen to her." But Ken still let another smile creep onto his face.

"But you're smiling now!"

Everyone giggled. "Alright, you're dismissed, you two," Sora said.

"Of course. Good day." Ken bowed and turned around to leave, Daisuke following behind him, still whining, "Seriously, Ken! Why don't you ever listen to me!? I have a good opinion…"

When the door slid shut, Mimi shook her head and commented, "They're like an old couple, aren't they?"

"If you ask me..." Sora said quietly. "There's something going on between them."

"What!?" Mimi and Miyako screamed. "You're crazy! Really?"

Sora chuckled. "They have their own share of rumors."

Koushirou was startled. He had to admit that he could see what Sora was talking about, but he had never met any other homosexuals before… He felt like the only one. To hear of others was...shocking, in a way.

I should talk to them… he thought to himself. No, wait. He laughed. Of course not; they think I'm straight…better yet, they think I'm a girl!

"What's so funny, Kouko-chan?" Mimi asked.

"Nothing…I suppose I find it amusing."

"I wonder who's the dominant one in that relationship…" Miyako pondered.

"Ken, duh!" Mimi replied. "He has to be!"

They laughed. "Probably."

"Well, if it is true," Sora began mischievously, "I definitely need to get them back for what they did to me today. But in the meantime…" She looked at Koushirou. "We never did get the story of why you guys didn't kiss."

"Oh yeah!" Mimi and Miyako exclaimed at the same time, immediately looking at Koushirou.

He blushed and looked away shyly. "I didn't…want to get caught-up… It felt too overwhelming. It was too soon." He paused and then smiled as he looked up at them. "And like you said, Mimi-chan…playing hard-to-get will make him want me all the more."

"When did you say that?" Miyako demanded, turning towards Mimi.

"Before the daimyo's men came to our village," Mimi replied. "Kouko-chan was concerned that Lord Taichi would find…" She trailed off, her eyes wide, realizing what she had almost revealed.

"Find what?"

Koushirou was petrified. Mimi-chan…

"Th-that he wouldn't find her desirable enough!" Mimi hastily finished.

"Oh! Kouko-chan, don't worry!" Miyako said encouragingly. "Obviously, you don't have to play hard-to-get for Lord Taichi to like you!"

"Yeah…I guess not…"

But playing hard-to-get seemed like the only way to prolong the time to protect his secret.

And maybe Mimi was right…perhaps it would make him love him more.

~*~

A/N: Oh my god, let me tell you, I had the worst luck with this chapter! I wrote a page at home, emailed it to myself, and wrote about a half a page one day at school. Well, I accidentally forgot to save it when I went to email it back to myself. Then the next day at school, I rewrote what I had lost plus probably another two pages. And guess what happened? Forgot to save again! I was so mad, it wasn't even funny. So I wrote out everything I could remember on notebook paper throughout the day and typed it up today. But, they have a different form of Word at school and I forgot to save it as an older Word document, so I had to download a converter to get it on my laptop...ugh!

But here it is. Finally, haha. Hope you enjoyed!