Oh, btdubs, F/F. I probably should have mentioned that xD
It hadn't taken long for Kyourin's request to be heard. It had only been a day, and here she was waiting at the pagoda. She stared at the surface of the table, trying to think, trying to formulate her questions. Her problem was rather strange, and a little embarrassing. She wasn't sure how to go about asking after it, nor how the Genkun would respond to it. So she sat, deep in thought.
Kyourin was now fifteen. As the nyosen had anticipated, she had grown to be tall and thin. Her face had, against all odds, softened with age, though her eyes were still narrow, giving her neutral facial expression, which she wore now, the appearance of a frown. Her straight hair had reached her elbows, and everyone was pretty sure it had stopped growing. When she moved, it was still with the light-footed energy and grace she had had as a child. She was vaguely aware that she was popular with nyosen and her people, though she couldn't put her finger on exactly why. Maybe it was the happiness she always shed all over the place.
She had been waiting a few minutes when finally she heard footsteps. Immediately she sprung to her feet. Entering the room was Gyokuyou—tell, elegant, with the intricately wrapped hair the nyosen imitated. Kyourin bowed her head slightly, and said, "Good evening, Lady Gyokuyou."
Gyokuyou gave her thin smile, which always gave Kyourin a strange impression of slyness. "Hello, Kyourin." Gyokuyou took a seat at the table, Kyourin only sitting when she was down. "I understand you wanted to talk with me about something."
"Yes. It's, um..." Kyourin broke off, severing eye contact. "Actually, it's kind of embarrassing."
In her peripheral vision, she saw Gyokuyou's smile grow wider. "This must be great indeed to embarrass you. Go on."
"Well, see, um..." Kyourin bit her lip. "I've been having... I don't know. Thoughts? Feelings? I don't know what to think of them."
To Kyourin's surprise, Gyokuyou gave a solemn nod, as though she understood exactly what Kyourin was talking about after so little information. "I was wondering when this would come up. Or if it would at all."
"What would come up?"
"You've probably heard many times that red Kirin are unusual for their kind."
"Annoyingly many times."
Gyokuyou let out a light laugh; she somehow made that look graceful. "Yes, I'm sure. And whenever you asked about it, what did my nyosen say?"
"That I would understand when I'm older," Kyourin grumbled. She expected, to her disappointment, that that was exactly the response she was about to get.
"Now you're older." At the Genkun's words, Kyourin looked back up, eyes wide. Gyokuyou smiled back at her. "Look at that excited expression. Yes, you are old enough to understand, I think. I suppose the short explanation is that, on the average, dark-colored Kirin are more human than their light-colored brethren."
"More human?" repeated Kyourin with a frown.
"Yes," said Gyokuyou with a slight nod. "Red Kirin especially. You may have noticed that, compared to the golden Kirin you have met, you are more emotional."
"I have noticed that," Kyourin admitted. "Enrin isn't the best measure, though."
"Yes, she is rather flat, even for a Kirin. That is one way in which you are more human. But the reason that brought you to me is a more infamous trait of some red Kirin."
"Yes?" She kind of wished Gyokuyou would just get to the point.
"Red Kirin are much more susceptible to certain human passions than the average Kirin."
Kyourin thought a moment. "You mean sex?"
"I was thinking romance, but yes."
"Huh." Kyourin knew a little bit about sex. As far as everyone understood, it was a bodily function that seemed to be entirely useless, other than the fact that it made people feel good. Not all humans actually had sex, but many did. It was popular enough brothels existed. There were a few taboos on sex that she didn't really understand, but she didn't really understand humans sometimes. Romance she knew to be a particular type and process of love. She still didn't quite understand how there could be different types of love, but she knew about it at an academic level.
"So what brings you to me about this?"
"I've just been having thoughts about someone."
Gyokuyou's eyes pierced her. "A nyosen?"
Again, Kyourin severed eye contact. "Yes."
"Do I need to remove her from you?"
"No, I can handle myself." Her life on Houzan would seem much dimmer without Sekto around.
"Good. Do you have any questions for me?"
Kyourin thought a moment. "A couple, I think. So, Kirin can have sexual or romantic relationships? Does that happen often?"
"Yes, you can," Gyokuyou said with a slight nod. "It's pretty rare though, even among red Kirin. This is not because the Kirin don't want it, but because of how people see Kirin. Many people consider it sacrilege to have such a relationship with a Kirin."
"Even if it's what the Kirin wants?"
"Yes."
"But that doesn't make sense. Kirin are an expression of the Will of Tentei. How can what a Kirin wants be sacrilege?"
Gyokuyou almost made a sigh; almost, not quite. "Do not think yourself impervious to sacrilege. Even Kirin can lose the Way. Extremely rarely, but it does happen. But the problem is not in fact, but in the perceptions of men. Humans tend to think of Kirin as perfect innocents, perfectly pure. Many people see sex as impure, and requiring and causing a loss of innocence. They think Kirin are not capable of such an act on their own, and must be somehow coerced."
"I see." Kyourin hesitated for another moment, wondering if this was an appropriate question. She eventually decided to go with it. "How would I go about forming such a relationship? If the other is open to it despite our respective statuses."
Gyokuyou almost frowned; almost, not quite. "Not with this nyosen of yours. It's absolutely forbidden." Her voice was exceptionally severe, even harsh.
"I know, I know. I didn't mean with her. I meant just in general."
"I wouldn't know," Gyokuyou said with a strangely elegant shrug. "I haven't had such a relationship myself for longer than I can remember."
"Oh." Kyourin met her shrug with one of her own. "I guess those are my questions."
"That's it?"
Kyourin frowned. "Yes, that's it. Why, should there be more?"
"I guess not. I suppose the other Kirin who have come to me about this just needed more explanation than this."
"This was enough. I can figure out the rest on my own."
"Not with the nyosen, I hope," Gyokuyou said with a repeat of her serious tone.
"No, not with the nyosen. There's this woman in the meadow I kind of like, so I was considering exploring a little, but I might not. There's really nowhere private to be, anyway."
Gyokuyou nodded. "You could always go into Koukai. You'll be able to protect her."
For a moment Kyourin just blinked in surprise. She definitely hadn't expected that. "I hadn't thought of that. Thank you. I'll consider it."
"Is she En or Kyou?"
"Kyou."
"Be careful," Gyokuyou warned.
Kyourin frowned a little. "Why?"
"Your relationship with your people is important. You wouldn't want to do anything to damage it. Your people seem to like you plenty already, and it would be a shame to ruin that."
"I understand."
The latest group of people on their shouzan had arrived a couple weeks ago. As always, the meadow was filled with the sights and sounds of so many people gathered, almost overwhelming in their breadth and variety. She knew objectively it really wasn't that many people, but it still seemed a lot to her. As they had done every year since they had raised the flags in Kyou, the nyosen had handed out flags to every individual camp, giving yellow to the people from En, and red to the ones from Kyou. It was an easy way for Enrin and Kyourin to immediately know which people were theirs. Because of this, the camp had always seemed more colorful to Kyourin than it had been that first time. They had now raised the flags in Ren, and she wasn't entirely sure how they were going to handle that.
Every shouzan was pretty much the same for her. She rebuffed every person who came before her seeking the throne. Sometimes she worried she was turning away the actual king, as she wasn't exactly sure what the revelation would feel like, but she defaulted to trusting her instincts. They were usually pretty good. She met a lot of new and interesting people. Every time she made friends; some of them she was still in contact with through letters, including the governor of Teki Province, who had come up for a shouzan a few years ago. They had recently been discussing plans for when Kyourin and her future king would eventually come to Renshou. She would have tea with people, play shukukon and other games, and of course dance. The word had spread that Aku enjoyed dancing, so as each shouzan went by more and more musicians showed up. She wasn't sure if this was because people thought if she liked music the next king must be a musician, of if they were simply trying to please her.
As had happened every shouzan, it only took a couple days for her to train her people on how to treat her. Every time, they started off prostrating themselves. Only after a couple days, the word would spread that she didn't really like that. She was used to the nyosen, and they didn't do that. By the end of each group's time there, she got everyone simply calling out "Taiho!" or "Aku!" whenever she walked by. Much better, in her opinion. She was, the nyosen and a few of her people had told her, very well-liked by her people already. Which could only be a good thing.
She was making her rounds again today, talking with people she had met, playing games, dancing. A few more people came to her, seeking the throne, but she rejected them all again. She always felt bad crushing people's hopes like that, but there wasn't anything she could do about it. Some of them, she could tell, would even be good for Kyou. But they weren't the king. Eventually, she found herself before a particular tent. This tent. She had just talked about this with Gyokuyou. For a moment she deliberated, before deciding to go for it. Without announcing herself, she ducked inside.
"Aku," the woman inside said immediately. She was, like In'ou had done years ago and as so many had since, reading a book. This was Mei; coincidences of coincidences, she was named for the governor of Teki Province. It was written the same and everything. She was shorter than Aku, and curvier. Her face was round, and she had the soft skin of the wealthy. Her hair was a silky brown, and her eyes were a piercing green that gave Aku the impression that, like Gyokuyou, she saw everything. She was a functionary in Ten Province, the capital province that Kyourin was destined to administrate; she wasn't of especially high rank, but high enough she was a sennin. Though she only looked a couple years older than Aku, she knew Mei was actually around two hundred. Mei, as in governor Mei, had told her not to trust anyone from the government of Ten Province, but she thought this Mei was nice enough. She was originally from Teki anyway. "Good afternoon."
"Mei," Aku said with a smile and a nod. "I was wondering if you'd like to walk with me."
Mei met her smile. "Of course." She put her book aside, and followed Aku outside the tent. "So, where are we going? To Makin's camp?" Makin was the head of a group of musicians; she and Mei had met dancing there.
"I was thinking we would take a trip into Koukai, actually."
Mei stared at her. "Koukai?"
"Don't worry, I'll protect you. See that path over there? Next to the trees?"
With a frown, Mei looked toward where she was pointing for a moment. "Yes?"
"I'll meet you there. Don't be scared when you see me."
"Scared?"
"See you in a minute." With no further explanation, Aku jogged off in the opposite direction. She glanced over her shoulder once on the way to see Mei, with a confused expression on her face, turn to start toward the path she had indicated. Good. Aku moved through the meadow, exchanging greetings with the people she passed. She turned down an offer for tea she would have taken if she hadn't already had an appointment. Soon she was leaving the camp, and then entering another path leading off. She waited until she turned a corner before stopping. "Nansou?"
"Taiho," came the rumbling voice.
"Is she almost there?"
"She'll be there by the time we are."
"Okay. Come out." Nansou leapt out of her shadow. Nansou was still one of her more powerful shirei, even after all these years. She had been very lucky to subdue him. He was very large, his shoulder matching her shoulder, and longer than a couple of her heights. He was basically a big feline, with red and black fur and jaws full of dangerous-looking teeth. Nansou was her favorite shirei—excluding Kasshi, of course—smart and capable. He was also handy to fly on when she didn't feel like shifting. She clambered onto his back. "Fly low. Stay out of sight."
"Yes, Taiho." With a suddenness that nearly took her breath away, Nansou leapt into the air. Kyourin never found flying on a shirei as enjoyable nor as comfortable as doing it herself, but this way it was easier to keep track of her clothes. Nansou flew them in a circle around the meadow, keeping low enough to not be seen over the tall rocks of the maze.
Before long, he was bringing them down to the ground where she could see Mei already waiting. Even bracing herself, Kyourin wasn't quite prepared for the solid impact of landing. She immediately hopped off the high shirei, and walked up to Mei. She noticed the woman's eyes were very wide, and her hand was covering her mouth, apparently having restrained a scream. "Surprised you, did we?"
It took Mei a while to remove her hand and speak. Her eyes never left Nansou. "I thought we were going for a walk."
"We have to fly to get where we're walking. Come on." She started around to Nansou's side, but Mei didn't move. "Come on. He only bites who I tell him to. It's perfectly safe." After a moment longer stuck in place, Mei nodded and stepped closer. Aku gave her a boost up onto the kneeling Nansou's back before jumping up herself. "You know the spot." Again, Nansou jumped up into the air. Mei let out a choked squeal as he took off, and clung tightly to Kyourin. Aku didn't really mind.
Before long, they were at Kyourin's favorite place in Koukai, conveniently close. She helped Mei down to the ground, then set a few of her shirei, including Nansou, into a patrol pattern around the clearing to ward off any youma. Which was mostly for the benefit of Mei's peace of mind. They were deep in one of the forested areas, but in a spot that was too rocky to support anything but grass and flowers. This was spread in a fan around a small waterfall falling into a pool, leading into a narrow stream.
For a while, the two of them wandered around the clearing, watching the waterfall, taking in the flowers, hopping from rock to rock. (Aku did most of the hopping.) All awhile they talked about all manner of things. One of the topics was the state of affairs in Renshou. Mei didn't seem to know very much, and professed to have not even met the Chousai, so Kyourin decided anew to trust her. Aku also managed to put in a fair amount of interviewing. It was through this that Aku discovered Mei was indeed single—that was the word she used. That was convenient. In the end, they ended up sitting before the pool, and sat there talking for a while. Out of curiosity, Kyourin once asked if she had known the previous Kyou Taiho, but she said that, though they'd been in the palace at the same time for some years, they'd never met. Nor had she met the one before that. Nor before that. As most people, Mei seemed uncomfortable with the topic. Aku had learned many people, the nyosen usually excluded, thought it morbid to talk about a previous Taiho with the replacement.
After a few minutes, Aku slid around, moving so they were sitting face to face with their knees touching. She looked into Mei's eyes, and found herself at a sudden loss for words. "Hi."
Mei raised an eyebrow at her and smiled a little. "Hey."
"I was thinking," Aku started. "I, um, want to try something."
"Yes?" Mei's facial expression hadn't changed a bit, still confused and slightly amused.
"I was thinking, um... That we would, uh..." She took in a long breath, and sighed. Having properly collected herself, she moved on. "I want to kiss you."
Mei jerked back as though struck. Now her expression shifted to one of absolute shock. "What?"
"You heard me."
Now it was Mei who looked uncomfortable. That suddenly, somehow, made the whole thing easier for Aku. She continued leaning away, and seemed to be refusing to make eye contact. Aku also noticed she was blushing. "Taiho, we can't."
"Yes, we can. I asked Gyokuyou and everything."
Somehow Mei looked even more confused. "The Genkun said...?"
"Yes. She said it's something we red Kirin do sometimes. I like you, so I thought I would try it."
"I'm flattered, Taiho, but we really can't."
"Why not?"
"You're the Taiho!" said Mei, as though trying to with sheer force of the word get this idea out of Kyourin's head.
Aku shrugged. "So?"
"So? I can't!"
"Don't you like me?"
For a moment Mei's mouth opened and closed in silence. "I mean, yes, but..."
"Just as the Kyou Taiho."
"Well, no, but..."
Aku internalized a sigh. "Forget I'm the Taiho for a moment. Not Kyourin. Just Aku."
There was a short silence as Mei simply stared at her. "I'm not sure I can do that."
"Just think about it. If I were just Aku, without all this Kyourin business, would you want to?"
Again, Mei hesitated. "Well, I'm usually just interested in men. And you're a lot younger than I am. A lot."
"Oh, well, nevermind then," Aku said with a shrug. "Forget about it." She hoped she didn't sound too disappointed. And at the same time, she hoped she did sound disappointed; that might sway Mei a little.
"No, it's, um..." Mei let out a long sigh, then took a deep breath. "I can try."
"Okay," Aku said, trying to keep her voice level. She didn't want to sound too annoying in her victory. She would feel guilty for manipulating Mei if she couldn't instinctively tell Mei wanted this as much as she did. And she always trusted her instincts. "How do we do this?"
"Oh, well, um." Mei kept looking back at her and then looking away, her eyes bouncing back and forth and back and forth. "It's pretty simple, really."
"I figured it would be."
"I'll just, um." Mei started reaching a hand toward Aku, but then she stopped. "You're not going to tell anyone about this, are you?"
"No. Maybe Sekto," she added after a second of thought. "She's a nyosen," she again added after seeing Mei's look of worry. "She won't tell anyone."
"Okay, um. Just don't tell anyone I'm doing this. Sekto, fine, but no one else."
"Yes, I will tell no one else."
"You promise?"
This was starting to get a little annoying. "I promise."
Mei nodded to herself. Her hand came up, slowly, until it was cupping Aku's cheek. This was nothing new to Kyourin; she was used to Kasshi touching her like that all the time. It felt different though. She wouldn't be able to explain how. Then, slowly, Mei's face closed with Aku's. Aku watched with interest as Mei got closer. When they got close, Mei's eyes closed. Aku wondered for a moment if there was some reason Mei didn't want to look at her. Had she done something wrong? While she was thinking about that, Mei's lips touched hers.
It wasn't really anything all that special. It wasn't like trumpets were going off in her head. It was interesting, though. Mei's lips were soft, smooth, and warm, and she smelled pretty good too. The simple sensation felt better than it really should; she had had soft and smooth things against her lips before, but this was different somehow. It wasn't the best experience of her life. But it certainly was interesting.
Shortly after it began, Mei pulled away. There was a long moment of silence, Mei staring at the ground, and Aku simply watching her. Eventually Mei said, "Well?"
"I liked it," Aku said honestly. "It was interesting."
Mei let out a short laugh. "Interesting."
"Yes, interesting." Aku let a short moment pass. "Can I?"
Mei laughed again, longer this time. "I'm sorry, just the idea of the Taiho asking my permission for anything is laughable." She continued laughing for a little bit.
"I don't want to do it if you don't want me to," Aku said, a little annoyed and sounding it.
"No, it's fine, go ahead."
Mei still sounded a little reluctant, but Aku decided to do it anyway. More quickly than Mei had done it, she leaned forward to kiss her. Again, it was interesting. Not the best thing ever, but interesting. She liked it. They went back and forth like that a few times. Then the kisses started lasting longer. While Mei was doing that, she started opening her mouth little by little. Aku followed her lead. She started feeling warm, warmer than she should be. She usually didn't feel warm, as mild as the weather always was, but she did now.
Then, with a suddenness she wasn't expecting, Mei's tongue was in her mouth. She jerked in surprise a little, but she didn't pull away. This was interesting too. Mei tasted pretty good; she could taste the spices Mei had had at lunch. Thankfully, she hadn't been eating meat. This felt pretty good, too. She liked this. Now she was starting to feel hot, and she felt like a pressure was slowly building in her. This was interesting. Mei kept on going, harder and faster, Aku meeting her every step of the way. Even though she was starting to feel a little uncomfortable. This was starting to be too much for her, she suspected.
Now Mei was leaning forward into her, pushing her backward a little. Aku understood, and let Mei push her back. That didn't feel quite right. Something was wrong here. Oh well. She decided to ignore it. Now Mei was on top of her, trying to slip a hand into her fancy shouzan clothes. That pressure in Aku was getting so strong she suspected she was about to explode. She wanted this to keep going, to wherever this was leading, so bad she couldn't think straight anymore. She set herself up to give into whatever Mei was going to do entirely.
Everything she was feeling and thinking hit a brick wall.
She blinked in confusion a moment. Everything had suddenly stopped. Mei wasn't kissing or touching her anymore, no longer on top of her. A glance to the side revealed Mei was there, prostrating herself on the grass. "My deepest apologies, Taiho!" she was saying. "You just tasted so good and I forgot myself. Forgive me!" She repeated that last phrase several times.
"It's fine," Aku said, a little confused. "What happened? You stopped."
When Mei spoke, she sounded a little baffled. "You yelled at me to stop and shoved me off."
"Oh." That's funny. She didn't remember doing that. Now that she thought about it, she kind of did. Something had come over her and she had done exactly that. She had actually yelled it into Mei's mouth, as it had been attached to hers at the time. "Huh." She noticed then that Mei was shaking. It took her a moment to realize that she was shaking in fear of what Kyourin was going to do to her. It's amazing how people can forget that a Kirin would never intentionally hurt someone if they didn't have to. "It's okay, I forgive you. You can sit up." Aku sat up herself.
"Thank you, Taiho." She sounded incredibly relieved.
She took a few moments just to breathe. That had been strange, how everything had suddenly ended. "Well," Aku said just to fill the awkward silence. "Thanks for that. It was interesting."
Mei let out an awkward laugh. "Interesting."
"Yes, interesting. I'm sorry I yelled at you."
"You don't have to apologize, Taiho. I shouldn't have been doing that."
"No, it's okay. I literally asked for it."
"You didn't ask for that," Mei insisted.
Aku thought for a second and shrugged. "I guess I didn't. I don't think I was ready for it."
"I apologize."
"I said it's fine." There was silence for a while. Aku wondered just what exactly that brick wall she had hit was. It was strange. She couldn't get her head around it. One moment she was having fun, if a little scared and uncomfortable, and the next it was over. Strange. "Well. I think we should go back. The nyosen will be expecting me for dinner soon."
"That's probably best, yes."
"Are you ready for another ride on Nansou?"
Mei noticeably shuddered. Aku couldn't help but laugh.
Yes, I'm coming up with province names now. As far as I know, they haven't been named for Kyou in the source.
Teki Province: 適州
Ten Province: 躔州
Mei: 盟
