Chapter Seven

"Eh? Sasayama-san wants to see you?" Akane looked at the cringing Toko, who nodded bashfully.

"I-It's only for today. Then I'll come right back to you, Akane-san!" In the past week or so, Toko and Akane had been getting closer, to the point Akane had told her handmaiden to drop the honorific, but Toko insisted that she used san first. In truth, Akane had no intentions of stopping Toko from seeing Sasayama- she knew that the king and her handmaiden had been getting quite close, and whenever she mentioned him, Toko's face would take on a shade of pink, or red. "He said he'll send Ko-Kogami-san to see you today, and I quote, 'in exchange'." Akane giggled at that, and sent Toko on her merry way, and in return, Sasayama sent Kogami.

When she opened the door, he'd immediately bent his knee and kissed her hand. "Hello," he whispered into it.

"Hello, Shinya," she returned. "Come in." He'd straightened up, petted her head affectionately and sat down in the main room, where she'd already prepared a pot of tea for the two of them. "It's rose tea. I hope you don't mind. It's my favourite…"

"Then I don't mind at all," he told her, taking a sip of the sweet tea. Though sweet things weren't necessarily his thing, this one reminded him so much of Akane he was debating whether it should become his favourite drink as well. "It looks like you've been practising a lot," he nodded towards the sliced up mannequin, and Akane laughed and rubbed the back of her head.

"Yep!" she agreed. "I just imagine Makishima's face and suddenly, my technique is much better."

"I can agree with you there," Kogami snickered, stretching his arms in front of him. "Seriously, I'm so glad I got the day off. Not only do I get to see you, I get to finally sit my ass down." She arched an eyebrow at him, but he ignored it. "And there was something else that I wanted to talk to you about, actually."

She knew by the tone in his voice that it was a serious topic, and that they would have to talk about it, regardless of whether she wanted to hear it or not. "Go on."

"It's about our plan to tackle Makishima," he frowned at the tea cup. "We've finally come up with one, after endless tweaking, and so forth."

"Well, what is it?" Akane warmed her hands on her own cup, feeling a chill running throughout her body when she heard that name.

"The first step is Sasayama pretending to have tricked you- you're now his 'prisoner', effectively," Kogami began, and sighed. "After that, he and a few others are going to take you back to him-" he paused when he saw Akane's eyes widen. "Don't worry. I'll be really close by, so if the situation turns sour, I'll come and get you. I'd never do anything-ever- that would put you in danger." His fist clenched on the table, and Akane eyed it warily. "At the same time, Sasayama will be assembling his army far away from the castle's eye, but close enough that he should be able to launch an attack on it. You only need to be with that guy for a day- is that alright?"

"I'm a lot stronger than you think I am, you know," Akane clutched the fabric of her skirts in between her fingers. "Give me credit where it's due."

"I know, I know. I just… need to make sure you'll be okay," he looked down. "I worry a lot about you, you know," Akane blushed at his words. "Toko and Hinakawa will be accompanying you, and I'm sure Toko will be allowed to stay with you. Hinakawa and Toko will then open a path for us and keep the side doors unlocked, so we're not barging through the main entrance."

"It will work, won't it?"

"I trust the old man's judgement, and Sasayama has a pretty tough army, if I do say so myself. There's a genral hatred of Makishima in these parts." Kogami comforted her again, and they fell into a silence. Suddenly, Kogami leant over and held Akane close to his chest, and Akane's heart began pounding against her ribs. "Dammit, Akane," I whispered, his grip tightening. "Why the hell was I ever okay with just handing you to that bastard? Why was I ever okay with the fact you were being given to a stranger?" Akane said nothing but rub his back in small circles, trying to calm him.

Akane spent the rest of the day reading on the balcony (or rather, that's what she said she was doing), but in actuality was observing Kogami practicing with his sword on a wooden dummy, and with each strike, splinters of wood were thrown into the air. She was completely mesmerised by his movements- no matter how hard she trained from this day, she doubted she would ever be as fluid as that, and felt a pang of jealousy thinking about it. Kogami had taken his shirt off when the heat got too much for him, and Akane's glances had to be much more furtive then.

"Hey… Shinya," she called over, once he had decided to rest for a while when dusk fell.

"What is it?" he called up.

"Just give me a minute. I'll come down there!" she practically ran back inside the house and into the garden, where he was waiting for her. He didn't bother kneeling to kiss her hand this time, but he brought it to his lips, a smile plastered on his face.

She sat down next to him, leaning against a tree. "Well, I wanted to ask you something," she admitted. He looked at her, and she continued. "Shinya, have you ever thought about your… marriage?"

"Me? Getting married?" He pondered her question for a while. "Well, my situation is kind of complicated, so I try not to think about it too much. It makes me sad."

"Why's it complicated?" Akane asked. "I'm smart, you know. I think I'll understand."

He sighed. "Fine, whatever. I'll tell you." He stood up and walked a little ways from her, as if he was examining the scruffy wooden mannequin. "There is a girl- well, she's grown into a woman now, and one I'm proud to see." His left hand clutched the dummy's shoulder. "She's so curious, and accepting of anyone and everyone. And I love hearing her voice, and I never want to stop hearing it." He looked into the distance with a bitter chuckle. "It's almost like her voice gives me strength, you know? Whenever I have to trek wherever I was sent, I just fell asleep, and still fall asleep, replaying the conversations I've had with her. But… even if she did accept me, I can never have her. It would only endanger her life, so it's better that my feelings for her are never shared."

Since he wasn't looking at Akane, he wasn't aware of the tears that had pooled in her eyes and had quickly spilled over. After years and years of hoping that maybe the feeling she had with Kogami was reciprocated, she now knew his heart belonged to somebody else. The pain in her heart felt physical, like someone was ripping it to shreds. "Well, that's sad to hear," she was amazed at how level her voice was, despite the emotion tearing its way through her body. "I'm sorry, Kogami-san."

"Akane, are you alright?" he finally turned to face her, but she glanced away.

"Yes, I'm fine, thank you," she spoke as she stood up, holding her head, hoping to stop the dizziness.

"If you're not feeling good, you should rest," he walked towards her.

"I'm honestly fine," she insisted, and he moved closer to her, extending his hand. In that moment, Akane felt a flash of fury surge through her veins, and she slapped the hand away. "I said I'm okay!" He lowered it in shock, but the wounded expression on his face did nothing to subside her anger. "Look, I'm not a child, Kogami-san! I know you have to protect me and that it's your job to, but you know I can take care of some things by myself. I can look after myself perfectly fine- I don't need you constantly breathing down my neck out of worry!" He tried to speak, but she wasn't quite done yet. "Damn you," she almost whispered. "I tried so damn hard just to be like you, because I wanted your recognition above anyone else's, but I also wanted to grow as my own person too! All I've wanted this whole time is for you to be proud of me, is that too much to ask?!" She clenched her fists at her sides. "And yes…" she looked up at him, knowing that she was going to mean every word she said. "I really did fall madly in love with you! To the point that I thought I'd go insane!" She gritted her teeth and continued, determined to finish what she started. "You were pretty much the highlight of my life- I was tired of living a boring, safe life, and you let me look into a world that I was never allowed to have! You were the only person who treated me as an equal, hell, as a person! I never cared that my father was never proud of me, just because I was a girl- the only person I wanted to be proud of me was you! Everything you brought back from your travels, I cherished dearly because it, because it made me feel close to you! But I didn't think that you… that you still thought I was a child! Why did you-"

She was caught off guard by his hands, which were running along her cheeks to settle in her hair, the other travelling down her back, and she could only watch as he leaned closer. His lips crashed onto hers, and instinctively, she raised her hands to cling onto his shoulders and she could feel his gripping harder in her hair, and his lips pressing harder into hers. She opened her mouth to ask him precisely what he was doing, but before she could, his tongue pressed forward. Her own went to meet his, and eventually, she stood on tiptoes just to kiss him harder, sighing at the feeling. When he finally pulled away, she heard a distinct whine fill the air, and blushed at having made the sound.

"Akane," he whispered her name into her hair. "I, too, fell madly in love with you." Tears spilled out of the corners of her eyes, despite the intense joy that wracked through her. "I know it's definitely selfish of me, but if… if we finally get past this situation, would you… would you stay with me?"

"Yes," she sniffed, laughing. "I'd love that."

A short distance away from the couple, a white-clad man sat in his hiding place. Shogo Makishima had found Akane and her friends almost immediately, but he'd decided to give them a little bit of false hope first. This game he was playing with them was indeed very fun. "How rude of you, Akane," he sighed, leaning back against the tree. "I'd really hate to have to discipline you, but after hurting me like this, I suppose you don't give me a choice."