Kyourin let out a long yawn, and immediately chastised herself.

She was in the Gaiden again. She still hadn't entirely recovered from her little bout of blood sickness, but she was on her feet, and more or less awake, so it wasn't so bad. At the beginning of the meeting, the Ministers had made a big deal about it, asking if she were really okay to go on, if she wouldn't rather return to Jinjuu Manor. She had waved them all off, saying she was perfectly okay. She wasn't entirely sure they believed her. In fact, her yawning, instead of drawing the usual chastisement, only seemed to inspire looks of concern. She could get used to this. Maybe she should get slight blood sickness more often.

This was mostly boring stuff again. She was now more sure than ever they were hiding things from her. And, more than ever, it was making her—no, not exactly pissed off. Yes, she was angry, but that wasn't at the forefront of her mind. More than anything, she was worried. How could she keep the Kingdom on the Way, promulgate the Will of Heaven, if they didn't tell her everything? They hadn't spoken on the assassination/abduction attempt at all, beyond inquiring after her well-being. Kyourin considered bringing it up herself, but that would be a breach of protocol, and she would definitely get burning looks from the Ministers. Whatever. They probably wouldn't answer even if she asked anyway.

Kyourin was just wondering when they were going to be let out—it couldn't be that much longer now—when yet another bombshell was dropped.

The Taisai was talking. Most everything the Taisai talked about was completely boring palace upkeep stuff, so she usually ignored him. But now he said, "We've prepared for the arrival of the Royal Consort—"

"WHAT?" Aku only realized she had screamed the word, or spoken at all, when she felt the pain in her throat.

Everyone in the room looked at her, with a variety of weird looks. Aku barely noticed. She was busy staring at Touke with a look of abject disbelief. Touke kept looking forward at the Ministers, her expression completely neutral. "I have selected a Royal Consort to live with me."

Aku only became aware she had stormed out of the room when she looked up and found herself in the Inner Palace. Huh. She tried to gain control of her breathing, even as she noticed it was heavy and fast. Crap. Crap, crap, crap. Shit. This was a disaster, a total disaster. How could Touke do this to her?

She hasn't even touched you in three years.

For a moment Aku thought that had been one of her shirei, but it hadn't had quite the resonant quality. So what if she hadn't? Aku was Touke's. She belonged to her. She had to know that.

Maybe she doesn't see it the same way you do.

She had to. She had before.

Not anymore.

Aku only realized she was crying when she bumped into a wall because her vision was so blurry. Seeing she would only hurt herself this way, she decided to plop down onto the ground right there until she was more in control of herself. That would probably take a while.

"Kyourin, are you—Aku?"

Aku looked over her shoulder at the sound, but couldn't make out the face. She knew from the voice that it was the Chousai, Mei. "I'm sorry I ran out."

"Don't worry about that." Mei sat down next to Aku and put an arm around her shoulders, two actions slightly hampered by her ministerial dress. Aku leaned into Mei, burying her face in her clothes. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you beforehand. It was brought up in the Naiden, when you weren't around."

"Nobody tells me anything anymore," Aku grumbled between muffled sobs.

"Touke orders us not to tell you certain things."

"Like what?"

"I'm sorry, I really can't tell you. Queen's orders."

Aku scowled. If anyone was going to follow orders, it was a career soldier. "Fine."

With a slight laugh, Mei said, "If I didn't know better, I would think you're a jilted lover, the way you're reacting."

"I am." Oh, shit. Aku had let it slip completely without thinking. Stupid. Very stupid.

She looked up to Mei's face, found it perfectly expressionless. Aku was pretty sure this was from shock, not knowing what to think of this new information. She took a breath, let it out. Then she said, "I won't tell anyone."

Aku sighed, a motion brought out in stutters as she continued trying to control herself. "Thank you. I shouldn't have told you."

"No, you shouldn't have. You shouldn't have done it in the first place, either."

"I know."

"In retrospect," Mei said, sighing, "I should have known something was going on. There were signs. Don't worry, most everyone is too mired in tradition to put it together. I was as well. Still having trouble processing it." A short pause. "It wasn't—she didn't, um…"

Aku saw where that sentence was going. "It was consensual."

"You're sure?"

"Oh, yes."

"I didn't know Kirin, um…"

"Red Kirin do."

"Really?"

"Yes. Gyokuyou said so."

"Hekika Genkun did? Hmm." A longer pause. By the time Mei broke it, Aku was mostly under control. "Alright. I'll go find Touke."

A ball of fear fell into her stomach. She didn't want to see Touke. "Why?"

"You two obviously need to talk. I'll tell her where you are." Gently, Mei removed her arm, pulled her clothes out of Aku's grip. And she walked off.

Aku couldn't believe this was happening. She didn't know what she had thought had been going on between her and Touke. But obviously she felt this was a violation of whatever had been. And it hurt. It hurt so much, a torn hole, a throbbing ache in her chest. Worse than blood sickness. She just wanted to be alone so she could cry. Hokumi would probably hear her and be worried, ask what was wrong, but Aku could just send her away. Send her away to get some alcohol, maybe. That would be nice. If ever she had needed a drink it was now. Screw waiting for Touke, she was going home. She stood to leave.

"Mei said we needed to talk," Touke said from behind her. Aku jumped in surprise. She should have been able to feel her coming, but apparently her misery had distracted her. "You didn't tell her, did you?"

"I let it slip on accident." Touke swore. "She promised not to tell anyone."

"Well, that's something, I guess. What did you want to talk about?"

She couldn't believe Touke had asked that. That was just infuriating. She knew quite well what was going on. "I don't want to talk."

"Mei said you did."

"She said we need to talk. Not that I wanted to."

A long pause. Aku considered just walking away, and probably would have had the silence lasted any longer. Touke finally said, "I got tired of being alone. I've been mostly alone for a good two hundred years now. I'm done with it."

Alone? Didn't Aku count? She guessed their—thing—had been so intermittent Touke probably wasn't counting it. "You're not alone."

"In the sense I mean."

Much lower, sure she was barely audible, Aku muttered, "You have me."

Touke let out a very long sigh. "We can't, Aku. Never again. We're Queen and Kirin. It's wrong. Very, very wrong. I never should have allowed it after I knew who you were."

"Yeah, you're probably right," Aku admitted. "But it still hurts."

"I'm sorry."

"No, you're not."

Touke sighed, but didn't argue. Either she really didn't care, which would be just awful, or she didn't feel like arguing about it. Aku really hoped it was the second one.

After a pause, Aku asked, "Is she nice, at least?"

"He's a kind man."

Something rose in Aku. Something boiling and redder than her mane, frothing in her veins and in her mind, consuming all. It took her a moment to realize she was angry. She had never been so angry in her life, a feeling that made her shake with contained violence. Not violence in the sense that she would ever hurt anyone—at least not anyone else. She turned on Touke. "Well, fine!" she shouted. "If you can have a consort than I can too!"

Touke frowned at her. "Don't be ridiculous. Kirin can't have consorts."

Crossing her arms, Aku said, her voice vicious, "Really? Why not? Is it written down anywhere?" Touke didn't have anything to say to that. Because it wasn't. "Are you going to order me not to?"

For a long while, Touke just stared at her. Then she shook her head.

So Aku, again, stormed off until she was far away from her Queen.

When she was calm again, on her leisurely way to Jinjuu Manor, she got to reflecting. Why had she gotten so angry? It didn't make sense to her at all. One moment she had been simply hurting, and the next she had been furious. It didn't make any sense. The only thing that had happened from one moment to the next was learning that Touke's consort was a man. Did that really matter to her so much? Why did it matter? She didn't understand.

Soon she was laying on her favorite divan in her favorite room, and she got to reflecting on a different topic. If she were really going to choose a consort, who should it be? Maybe Shoumei. Shoumei was exceptionally beautiful, though her personality was mediocre enough Aku rarely noticed. Could she really put up with Shoumei just to, what, make Touke jealous? Could she really use someone like that? Despite how weird it was, and how shallow, and how spiteful, and how cruel, she spent a while considering it, before finally throwing the idea out. No, not Shoumei.

Then who? She went through the list of women she knew, trying to think of someone she would like to live with and possibly have sex with on a regular basis. She knew a few beautiful women, a few kind women, and those categories overlapped some. But no one really jumped out at her. She had to know someone who would work. If she couldn't, then her threat—had that really been a threat?—would have been completely empty. She felt she had set a bar for herself, and if she felt short, well, that would just suck.

She didn't know why she suddenly felt so strongly about this. It was weird. She had never considered having a consort before, and now she suddenly really wanted one. But then, she had thought she'd had Touke. At least in some form. Besides, she had been quite miserable for some time. Maybe this would help.

Then it hit her. She sat up, back straight as an arrow. It was so obvious.

With a big smile, she stood up, and started running off. Again, Meiri yelled at her to slow down. She didn't. She knew Meiri would be annoyed with her, and would probably tell Touke, so then Touke would be annoyed with her, but she was pretty sure she didn't Meiri around for this conversation. Thankfully, she lost Meiri in the Outer Palace. It was likely Meiri didn't know where she was going. Laughing to herself, she kept running, making her way to the Outer Court. She leapt down the stairs a flight at a time, and was soon breaking again into sunlight. She dodged between buildings at full speed, almost running into various people and objects on the way. When she suddenly stopped at one door in particular, her bare feet caught painfully on the tiles. She pounded at the door in excitement.

Before long, the door opened, and Chiyono looked out at her, frowning slightly. "What is it?"

"Come on, let's go inside," Aku said, trying not to bounce in place. She was a little winded from her race, but she still had trouble containing her energy.

Chiyono smiled, laughing to herself a little. "Alright, come in." She stepped away from the door, so Aku darted inside and slammed it shut behind her. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Oh, I'm just excited."

"Excited about what?"

No use beating around the bush. Before she could second-guess herself, Aku stepped right up to Chiyono and kissed her. A flood of warmth ran from her mane to her toes, and she found herself smiling into the kiss, her seemingly constant malaise forgotten, if only temporarily.

Chiyono let out a noise of surprise, but didn't pull away. In fact, when Aku pulled back herself only slightly to see what Chiyono would do next, with a slow, gentle touch that made Aku shiver with delight, Chiyono slid her arms up around Aku's neck, working her fingers softly into her mane. Smiling wider, Aku matched her touch around her waist, and leaned in to kiss her again.

They stayed like that for a long while, standing in Chiyono's sitting room. They traded kisses back and forth, soft, gentle kisses on the surface of their lips, sweet and calm. Aku's heart pounded in her chest in pleasure from the simple touch, and she felt inundated with a soft, light sort of warmth. She reveled in the feel of Chiyono's fingers in her mane, the yielding softness of her lips, the small of her back under Aku's hands. This felt amazingly good, much better than she had even been expecting. She knew in that moment she had chosen right, she had chosen beautifully.

Eventually they separated, but stayed joined by hands and foreheads. Chiyono took in and out a long breath. Aku watched her face, smooth porcelain skin unbroken by lines or imperfections. She wondered if all people from Yamato looked like this. Finally Chiyono opened her eyes, meeting Aku's. With a somewhat whimsical smile, she said, "What did I do to deserve that?"

"Just being yourself," Aku said, her smile wide and cheerful.

"I should be myself more often." They both let out short giggles. "No, seriously, what is this about?"

No use beating around the bush. "I would like you to come live in Jinjuu Manor with me."

Aku couldn't quite figure out the expression on her face. It was possible Chiyono wasn't entirely sure how she was feeling either. "You're kidding."

"Nope. I want to make you my consort."

Now she frowned slightly. "Can Kirin have consorts?"

"Sure, why not? It's actually not uncommon for Kirin to invite people to live in Jinjuu with them. The tenor of this relationship will be somewhat different, but whatever."

"But…" Chiyono broke eye contact, sort of staring into space. Then she looked back, and said, "But you barely know me."

"True," Aku said with a shrug. "I've only known you a couple days. They've been a very nice couple of days. You're smart, and pretty, and fun to talk to. You've had such a different life than me, and see the world so differently, and that fascinates me. I like you. I would like you to live with me."

"But you're the Taiho."

In a teasing voice, Aku said, "What do you care? You barely know what that means. You may have a logical understanding of what I am, but you don't have the religious and emotional connection the natives of this world have."

Chiyono paused again for a short moment. Then, "What about my new job?"

A huge smile wanted to blossom on Aku's face, but she tried to hold it back. The question said nothing to Aku but that Chiyono was preparing to agree. "You can keep it. When the Privy Council accepts my decision, you'll likely go up in title, but there's no reason you can't keep being a shikan."

A slightly longer pause. With a slight sigh, and her own smile, Chiyono nodded. "Give me a day to collect myself. I'll come up in the morning."

Aku let our her slightly crazed smile. Against her will, she scrunched up her shoulders and let out a squeal of delight. She was so excited, an unconquerable explosion in her chest, she couldn't stand it. As she bounced in place a little, Chiyono just laughed. "I have to get back for Provincial Court, but I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"What, leaving already?" said Chiyono with a slight, disappointed frown.

"I shouldn't have come at all. I barely had the time to come here and back. I'll probably be late."

Chiyono laughed again, shaking her head. With obvious reluctance, she removed her hands from Aku's mane—considering how much the nyosen had liked stroking her head, her mane must feel pretty nice, but it seemed perfectly normal to Aku—and took a step out of her arms. "You should go then."

"Alright." Aku leaned forward, gave her another quick kiss, and skipped out of the apartment and back up to the Outer Palace. She may have been crushed before, then viciously angry, but now she felt absolutely wonderful. She couldn't get better.

But when Chiyono came up to Jinjuu Manor in the morning, let into the Inner Palace somewhat reluctantly by the guards, Aku wasn't there. In fact, after asking around, she discovered no one knew where she was. No one had seen her since she had gone to bed last night. She didn't show up to Privy Council or Provisional Court, missing both meetings, excluding emergencies and times scheduled away from the Palace, for the first time in her life.

The Taiho had disappeared.