A/N: Because I´m such a good girl and my (new) beta reader is beyond awesomeness with his reliability, I can proudly present the never before published 5th chapter of my fluffy RyuuXShuu saga xD And so close after the other releases, w00t. So hope you enjoy...and don´t be too lazy to type down your opinion to it afterwards, because reviews are much appreciated by and helpful for me.
Disclaimer: Don´t worry, Sai Yukino-san I´m just playing with your characters, but I promise I will give them back once I´m finished here :D (Okay except for Ryuuki maybe ;P )
Acknowledgment: Again many, many thanks to J Luc Pitard for beta-reading this chapter and that so fast.....and of course also to all the people who have read, reviewed and faved this (silly) story of mine. You guys ROCK ^__^
"Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans." - John Lennon
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Chapter 5 : Misfortune comes in pairs
"I'm waiting..." Kouki impatiently drummed his fingertips on his desk.
"Aha ha, sir. Of course I have the papers, wai--" Shuurei couldn't finished her sentence, as another person stormed into the office.
Kou Shouka. Her father. In his hands he held all the documents Shuurei had been working on.
"Oh my dear, you are so forgetful at times." He patted her on the back before turning to Kouki. "Sir, I'm terribly sorry for my sudden intrusion and apologize for my behavior, but since my daughter forgot to take the papers with her after she visited me for a cup of tea minutes ago, I thought I would bring them here," Shouka explained.
Shuurei didn't say anything; her mouth hung open in disbelief. Was her father actually backing her up?
Kouki raised an eyebrow. "Indeed a lovely scene. The father comes running to help his daughter. I'm quite touched. However, may I see the papers now?"
"Of course, sir," Shouka said and handed him the documents. "If you will excuse me, I have to go back to my work." He bowed and left with a quick glance at Shuurei.
"I see," Kouki said as he skimmed the documents. "Quite good hints of thoughts of yours, but it's not finished. How come?" Kouki quickly said, pointing to the files.
Shuurei's mind raced while it searched for a proper answer. What should she actually say to that? 'Excuse me Sir, I haven't finished my task because I've spent the night in bed with the emperor?' Oh sure, brilliant! The truth was so not an option here.
"Official Kou? You still owe me an answer and I don't like to repeat myself," he muttered angrily. Shuurei opened her mouth to reply, though before she could verbalize any words she was hushed by her chief again. "I don't care anymore. As I'd already thought, you won't hold up to my expectations - no sorry, actually you already have by failing - so I had Seiga working on this case too. Here is his finished work. Read it through and present it to the emperor. I promised to show him the results today. You may add a few thoughts from your own report, but don't overdo it."
Shuurei wavered between extreme frustration and anger. The last emotion held the bigger part of her that moment. "You did wh– " She stopped herself and started over more calmly.
"Sir, why did you do this? Did I even have a chance? You planned on doing that from the start, right? It's not fair," she said with a bitter undertone, unable to swallow all of her frustration.
"Life is rarely fair, my lady. Especially in the world of politics. Its nothing personal though, it's just that I'm uncomfortable trusting such an important task to a rookie. You left the documents lying around in the archives, unwatched and forgotten. And I don't care if your father was present at the time. Actually, your father had the chance to read them now because of you. Do the words 'Confidential files' have any meaning to you, official Kou?" he scolded her with all his anger. "Take that report and leave. I expect to hear your report about the meeting with his highness later on. Don't fail again, you understand?!" The chief of imperial investigation demanded.
"Yes, sir," she quietly answered. If Shuurei ever had any confidence in her work, her chief had successful smashed it by now. Maybe only temporarily, but that was enough. Shuurei couldn't decide what was worst, that she had been late, this self-esteem crushing scolding, the way her chief distrusted her or that she now had to present SEIGA's report to the emperor. Ryuuki. Suddenly her anger centered on one man- if it wasn't for him, none of this would have happened. Oh you wait,Ryuuki, she thought, I'll give you a piece of my mind. She balled her fist behind her back.
The young woman took the report out of her chief's hand and quickly left his office, trying to suppress her anger until she was out of his sight.
She was furious, partly at herself, but mostly at the person who ruled the country.
Ryuuki.
"Aaargh, that's wrong again! Your Majesty, could you please take your work more seriously?" Kouyuu was annoyed. Several times now that happily grinning idiot of an emperor had made the stupidest mistakes on his paperwork or he simply didn't listen to what Kouyuu told him. He was here to help the emperor today, since Yuushun had his free day.
"Hmm, Kouyuu? Did you say something? Sorry, we didn't hear you." Ryuuki smiled innocently, managing to look anything but regal as he sat behind his desk.
There we go again! Kouyuu was about to explode of anger.
"Don´t forget to breathe my friend or you will die of suffocation. Oh well, that look your face is already veeery red," Shuuei mentioned teasingly.
"Aaaargh! Shut up, Shuuei. Why are you here anyway?"
"Why shouldn't he be here, Kouyuu?" Ryuuki asked. "It's a wonderful day. Isn't it a wonderful day, Shuuei?" He beamed at the man.
"Yes my lord, it is indeed," Shuuei replied, amused at this overly happy behavior of his emperor. It entertained him even more to see that Kouyuu failed to find a reason for it and began to despair of this smitten man of a ruler.
Kouyuu buried his face in one hand and tried to stay calm. He was sure that the stupid emperor with this ridiculously good mood would have even submitted an order of execution with, "Aaah its such a beautiful day" or even worse, would have set a mass murderer loose with the words, "Be a good boy from now on, okaaay?" He silently thanked heaven that today there weren't any such processes. Still the behavior of the emperor was nothing if not annoying and very scary.
Seiran leaned casually on the wall and watched this entertaining spectacle from the other side of the room. Once again his brother has made an idiot out of himself. He'd stopped counting how many times it was by now. The former prince knew well why Ryuuki was in such delighted mood, probably even too well. Ahh, the miracles of love, huh? He smirked. If he didn't know his brother better and only judged his work by today he would've been afraid for the future of Saiunkoku. Instead Seiran was happy for his brother, finally he wasn't alone anymore.
Ryuuki knew he'd better listen to the hard working and, today, strangely patient Kouyuu, but he couldn't help it. His mind was too occupied with one thought- Shuurei. He regretted that he had to leave her alone in his room for work.
In his room.
The young emperor grinned to himself like an idiot. He had often daydreamed of Shuurei before, when the paperwork became too repetitive for him, but this time it was different. It was more intense. This time he did it with the assurance that Shuurei loved him too. It was such a delightful feeling not only to love but also to be loved back. He sighed happily. I have to see her as soon as possible, Ryuuki decided while he once again failed to follow Kouyuu´s speech.
Suddenly the door opened and a guard came in, bowed down as he announced, "Your majesty I beg you to excuse the disturbance, but official Kou is here and requests to be received in audience."
The young king looked up, nodding wordlessly to the guard to give him permission to let the visitor in.
Shuuei grinned to himself, if this is the official Kou I think it is, it's going to be interesting, he mused. There was a very good chance it would be the lovely one of the few Kou officials around. Shuuei stared in eager anticipation at the door. It opened once more and as expected, Shuurei came in. Bingo! I´m really glad to have decided to spend my free time here, otherwise I would have missed a very amusing official meeting. He chuckled to himself.
She wore a new set of clothes, had her hair fixed and carried a pile of paper in her hands. And, everyone -except for Ryuuki who was too happy with just seeing her- could tell she was in a really awful mood.
"Shuu--", Ryuuki blurted out gleefully but he was silenced by her words before even finishing her name.
"Your majesty, thank you for welcoming me. I, Kou Shuurei, official of the section of Government Inspection, am here to present you the results of our research of the defalcation of tax in the financial department." She remained in her bow; one of her eyebrows twitched.
Ooooh... Ryuuki pouted inwardly. She's here for business. No fun.
He took a deep breath, tried to suppress all of his feelings before he spoke. "You may raise yourself, official Kou. Chief Ki Kouki informed us that there would be results announced today," he said in his most majestic voice.
Seiran didn't know why his Lady was so extraordinarily angry but her intensity even gave him- the former ruthless prince of Saiunkoku- goosebumps. He wasn't sure if Ryuuki would come out of it alive either. Well, we'll see, he thought, somewhat amused.
Shuurei looked up and their eyes met. Ryuuki was startled by what he saw. She looked sharply at him and wait... was that anger in her eyes?? The young king was thoroughly perplexed. Yes, indeed he could feel a wave of furious wrath coming directly to him from her... but why? He blinked before continuing, "Official Kou, we are curious to hear the conclusion of your investigation."
"Of course, your highness. It's detailed in this written report but we can undoubtedly say the source of this defalcation is found in person of official Luan, as his majesty can clearly see here." She stepped nearer and handed the documents to him. As Ryuuki took them, he lightly brushed her hand for a split second, though it was enough time to send an intense electric shock through Shuurei's system. She shook herself mentally, frustrated.
"Ah, we see," he said as he looked through the report, though not fully able to ignore the lovely presence of his subordinate who stood next to him. "General Shi," Ryuuki looked to his brother who nodded and came to the desk. "Is official Luan still present at this time?"
"You want me to arrest him, your highness?" Seiran asked.
"No, not yet. We still have to establish the process, but watch him closely starting tomorrow. If he makes any unnecessary moves--"
"Oh, we'll make sure he won't, your majesty. We'll follow his steps inconspicuously," Shuuei said and bowed to him gracefully. Seiran threw him a look for interrupting the king, but followed his example, bowing to Ryuuki as well.
"Good work, official Kou," Ryuuki said and looked to her.
"I'm honored but your highness praises me too much for this. It's not my work. It's my esteemed colleague, Seiga's. I'm just here to hand over the report and tell your majesty about the conclusion of the investigation. Thus I will deliver your highness's kind regards to my partner in government inspections the next time I see him." Shuurei's eye twitched while she formally stated this sentences. She felt her anger increasing once more. The deridingly grinning face of Seiga appeared before her eyes and made her feel sick. Another thought was adding even more to the already unpleasant feeling Shuurei held inside. Oh great, here I stay in front of the emperor and have to be humble when I would love to give Ryuuki a my piece of mind! How infuriating!
She decided it would be better if she left quickly, otherwise she knew that she wouldn't been able to keep up the charade of "official Kou." In her current state she feared her tongue could slip and she'd say something very inappropriate to him, as his official.
"If that is all, may I ask his majesty, if it would not be impolite, for me to leave now." She bowed low to him and hoped he would finally release her from this humiliating situation.
Ryuuki was surprised. Wasn't she the one working on this case? No, he was almost sure she was, but that report was written and signed by Seiga, that idiot. A capable one but still an idiot. Was this the reason Shuurei was angry? However why was she secretly glaring, as if she wanted to kill me? His surprise morphed into confusion, while his mind wandered searching for a reason. Being sure both of them very much enjoyed what they'd done, he found none. Then, he remembered that Shuurei still stood in front of him as a supplicant, waiting for his response...which would make her even more mad... Damn!
"We are sorry, official Kou. We were thinking and should not have left you waiting so long for our answer. Of course you are allowed to leave now." Oh great. I messed up again. Ryuuki felt the sudden urge to hit himself. If she wasn't angry at him before she would bear a grudge now for sure.
"Your highness," she muttered before she quickly turned around, practically storming out of his office; leaving Kouyuu and the other men staring after her in bewilderment.
"Your majesty? You didn't do anything to Shuurei-dono, that made her THAT furious, did you?" Shuuei asked innocently. Much to his amusement, the emperor blushed lightly at his question.
"Not that we know of." He sighed. Anyway, Ryuuki decided, whatever it was that caused her bad mood, he'd make sure to make up for it later. Yeah, that's quite the idea, he thought, self-content with this solution and around his lips a smile curved before he went on with his paperwork.
As soon as Shuurei was out of the king's office, she came to her senses and thus stopped her storming walk. The young woman, still shivering from all the anger and frustration this meeting and the previous day in general caused her, leaned on a wall and took a deep breath. Just great. Really, can this day become any more disastrous? And I still have to write the full report, she sighed. No way I'll be able to concentrate on it, not while being this mad. She decided to take a little break before going on with her work.
After the refreshing impact of washing her face with cold water in the restroom and taking a longer walk in the garden to sort out her thoughts, she felt prepared enough to go on with writing the report. On her way back, Shuurei's path leaded her past the archive. Wait, I really should go in and thank my dad for backing me up earlier on. She blushed lightly from embarrassment. Without him helping me, I would have been fired, she thought, while she slowly walked through the corridors of the royal archives.
"Father, I wanted to say th--", she nearly ran into a pile of books as she saw the person sitting there next to the table.
Ryuuki.
"Shuuuureeeeei," he called out to her in his overly happy voice, smiling wholeheartedly. Seems like Lady Luck is on my side today, being able to see her so soon again and not as the emperor, huh?
NOO!!! WHY? OF. ALL. PEOPLE???? Those words boldly hammered in her head, before she let out an angry, "What are you doing here, Ryuuki?" She glared at him peeved, yet her heart beat vigorously. It was her first meeting with him- not as the emperor, but as Ryuuki- since last night. Though she had waited for this opportunity to give him her piece of mind, she felt nervous now and there was another feeling boiling up. Bad temper, a really bad temper.
"Oh, that's rude. We are just taking a break and enjoying Kou-sama´s tea," he pouted. "And we are really glad to see you here again, because we don't like speaking formally with Shuurei." He beamed happily.
She blinked. Enjoying her father's tea?! That utterly bitter breed of beverage? What's wrong with him? His bubbly behavior really ticked her off. She felt her temper rising further; her whole body went tense with anger.
"Oh, Shuurei, it's nice to see you," her father greeted her and with one look at her face, he asked, "Are you okay?"
"Yes, Shuurei. You look... worried," Ryuuki chipped in, trying to avoid the word 'mad.'
That pulled the trigger for her. "You have to speak, Ryuuki? You have no idea how embarrassing that meeting was for me! I had to present Seiga´s documents to you because mine weren't finished- at all! My father had to back me up because I totally forgot about the files here in the archive and then I got scolded in a terrible way because of it and you are to blame for all of this. You are messing up my work! Don't you see that?!" She burst out with her full wrath, breathing and shaking heavily.
Ryuuki stared at her open-mouthed. So this was the reason for her furious behavior during the official meeting? Well, at least he finally knew. "Shuurei got scolded? By whom?" he looked at Shouka, who stood next to them, quietly observing this strange scenario.
"I don't know exactly, Lord Ryuuki, but I'd guess she meant your minister, Ki Kouki. He was in an extraordinarily bad mood when I was there to hand her files over," he stated.
"Ki Kouki, the chief of section of Government inspection, hmm?" he mumbled. He was a good minister, though always a bit too rude to the officials under him. He felt sorry for Shuurei yet that wasn't something he could change. More important now was to calm her down again, to ease her infuriated mind. Knowing her and her temper so well, he knew it would been a difficult task for him. He inwardly weighed her arguments or, better said, the things she'd yelled at him.
Yes, it was true that he kept her away from work last night- he fought the butterflies in his stomach at the mere thought of it- but what happened only occurred because she wanted him too and had truly enjoyed what they had done. Ryuuki decided there was nothing he should feel sorry for.
He stood up from his place and looked her closely in the eyes . "Listen, we...," He paused and decided to drop the royal speech with her, "I'm sorry this all happened to you and that Shuurei had a terrible day, but..." He lowered his voice. "I'm not sorry for the other part," he softly said to her, brushing her shoulder lightly.
She gasped at the slight contact. For a second she was lost in his loving gaze, before she mentally shook herself, remembering she had actually screamed at him moments ago. Her mood instantly shifted from delighted to annoyed again. Arghh, how can he act so carefree and talk to me about those things when my father is around?! She narrowed her eyes, staring back in anger to his gentle expression. She would not give in, not now.
Kou Shouka observed the whole scene quite amusedly. It just took him two quick glances at Ryuuki and back to Shuurei to know what was different this time. He was quite a good observer and had a quick mind so it was no surprise he noticed the change in his daughter's behavior. Although she tried to hide it, he knew Shuurei well enough to tell that she acted differently toward Ryuuki, more emotionally. Probably in love? He couldn't say this for sure, seeing as the shift in Shuurei's emotions had been short.
Then all of a sudden Seiran's words played once again in Shouka's mind, "Shuurei has met up with the emperor and is fine." This explanation finally started to make sense to him. That was where she spent the night, at his majesty Ryuuki's side. This would also explain why Shuurei acted so differently toward him now. Shouka was astonished!
"Argh! You don't understand, do you? I've got to get out of here, sorry Father," she yelled before turning around to storm out of the archives as fast as possible. Ryuuki stared dumbfounded after her for a moment. He knew if he would let Shuurei walk out of this door now, he might lose her... again. Not for the world will I let this happen, he told himself resolutely and rushed after her.
Shuurei was almost to the outer door when she was stopped dead in her tracks and her heart clenched for a second, before it began to race faster and faster. She felt a comfortable warmth enclosing her whole body.
Ryuuki embraced her from behind, holding her close to him. He knew it was a foolish thing to do, here in the open, in the archives but he didn't care about it at all in that moment.
"Ryu... uki?" she whispered in astonishment and fought against feeling the strange sense of security in his arms. This feeling utterly confused Shuurei. Wasn't she so angry at him before? Now his warmth started to make her feel dizzy.
"Let go," she managed to bring out, more loudly than when she was calling out his name in surprise. Her heart was thumping loudly and she cursed herself that he was probably able to feel it while holding her so close. She was baffled by the carelessness he again showed. Compared to recklessly hugging her in the archive, leaving her the handwritten letter before was nothing. Indeed, it left her unable to do anything but to form one thought:
Idiot.
"Don't… go," he whispered so quietly in Shuurei's ear, that she lost the words.
"Huh?" She turned around as Ryuuki released her a bit. When she sought his eyes there was such a sad expression in it. But why?! She failed to find a reason for it.
Before she could think about it or avert her gaze from him, he leaned close to her ear once more, whispering this time clearly audible for her, "Shuurei, meet me after sunset at our usual place. I'll be waiting there." He fully released her this time, saying loudly, "Thank you for the tea, Kou-sama." And walked out the door.
Shuurei was left behind, perplexed and her face felt like it was burning. What was that now? Her skin still tickled in the places Ryuuki's warm breath had touched. Why should I want to meet him later? What is he thinking? She shrugged. No, I shouldn't think about something like that. I still have a report to write, she decided. She closed her eyes and tried to reassure her racing heart, before beginning with her actual work.
Ryuuki stopped shortly. He allowed himself to take a deep breath while thinking, that was close and quite daring of me saying that to her in the end. I don't know if she´ll show up, he sighed. Though judging by her reactions, the young king was almost sure Shuurei would be there. He smiled while he walked through the halls back to his office.
A/N: Wanna haaaaave Ryuuki *_* He's so lovely. Anyway, that´s all folks...for now. But I´m truly astonished what for an amazingly job my BR has made with this chapter. I know the previous version (duh xD) and it hasn´t been changed that much but it makes it indeed to a far better read, so thx again *__* However next chapter: Pure RyuuXShuu-chappie and one of my faves within this story, you'll see why. As always comments/reviews are looooovee ^^