A/N A little YouKei for you... decidedly not-serious humour this time!
Major thanks to Artimusdin, Gun_Smoke_Blue, Kocimietka and Ranmizu for help, support and chatting. You guys are great. :)
Boss
If summers were always this hot in Gyouten, Youko was glad she wasn't the Empress of Ren. Irritably kicking the blankets wadded at the end of her bed, she sat up and brushed sweaty hair from her temples. According to the Sankou, this was normal Kei weather. In a day or two, it would break and the rains would pour down. By the end of the week they'd all be desperate for some sunshine and knee-deep in mud.
She hoped he was right. She didn't think anyone had gotten any work done over the last few days. Those who could afford a few dents in their dignity had taken to sleeping outside, where they at least stood a chance of catching a breeze or two. She supposed that she could keep a servant up to fan her as she fell asleep, but the grandness of that thought made her wince.
Deciding she'd had enough, she peeled off her clammy robe and splashed her face with water from the basin Gyokuyou left on the side table. Letting it drip from her fingers, she shifted her feet on the coolness of the floor. Thinking of the sea and the winds that blew off it, she wondered if she dared go out this late at night on so foolish a pursuit.
It was ridiculous that an Empress in her own palace was scared to act on impulse in case she'd get into trouble. There were any number of ministers ready to chide her, and she had some of the most outspoken maidservants in the kingdom. They were probably tested on their stubbornness when they applied for the post.
They wanted her to act like a proper ruler and claim responsibility for the entire populace. But she was denied every little freedom in return. She couldn't even take a moonlit walk in the garden without her retinue in hot pursuit and the correct clothing dragging from her shoulders.
She twitched, narrowed her eyes with a scheming thought and decided that Keiki would most likely be asleep at this time of night. Perhaps if she did flout convention this once, nobody would ever need to know. Certainly nobody else would find her until she came back.
With a delightful sense of rebellion, she seized the lightest robe to hand, the silk gauze shift that was technically underwear. Tying her hair up and slipping her feet into plain shoes, she padded out of her personal rooms, leaving her startled guards behind with an order not to follow.
The sound of crickets grew her as she left the retainers and their pleas behind. The air outside the Seishin was already a few degrees cooler and fresher. Leaves rustled as she took the quietest route down to her favourite bolt-hole, the breeze catching her robe and sending it fluttering around her legs. Strangely quiet, her footsteps rang in the empty courtyards and walkways. The lanterns were lit but only she was there to see them, or the light that flickered into the shadows.
The tunnel entrance was black, a new-moon gate. Shoes scuffing on the flagstones, she stopped dead in her tracks.
A figure stepped forward and stared sternly down. He didn't really need to say anything. She felt her heart lose its wings and sink.
"Before you start," she said "I would like to point out that you're up and out of bed too."
"I am not alone."
"Neither am I," she protested. It was met by silence. She sighed. Nobody could puncture a good mood like Keiki."I guess you couldn't sleep either"
"I will admit that sleep is difficult in this weather. However, I have been using my time to draft reports."
"I bet you have. You know, sometimes I wish it wasn't so easy for you to find me."
The shadow took a step closer. Youko grimaced.
"How many times must I ask you to take guards with you when you leave your residence?"
"Yeah, yeah," she muttered, hearing his annoyed intake of breath. "Come on, then."
"I beg your pardon?"
"Guards. I didn't bring any, so you'll have to do. If someone tries to attack me, you should have no problem lecturing them to death."
She felt rather than heard his rebuke.
"Keiki, I've got no intention of going back." She started for the tunnel. "You want to come, that's fine with me. Otherwise I'll just sit there on my lonesome, with a big target on my back saying 'Depose Me'."
Muttering to himself, he trailed after her, their steps echoing from the stone. Her mood soured, Youko strode ahead, feeling a little burst of satisfaction as she heard him pick up his pace. She wondered if she should feel guilty for treating him so, but she was the Empress. If she wanted ten minutes to do her own thing, what was to stop her?
The warm salt air blew to her face as she walked out to her abandoned valley, where the pavilions were half in ruin. The sea worked through the rocks before drawing back out, dragging the foam reluctantly with it.
A sudden burst of moonlight drew a surprised sound from Keiki. Turning around, she looked at him.
"This is what you call appropriate attire?" he demanded. "What if a minister were to see?"
"There is a minister seeing and I don't really care what he thinks," she retorted, aware that she sounded like a child. She bent down and tugged off her shoes, revealing quite a bit of leg in the process.
"It's almost translucent!" protested Keiki. "and not to mention poorly tied. I can almost see Her Highness's full silhouette."
"Is it so repulsive to the eye that it must be hidden?"
"I...That is..."
Straightening, she put her hands on her hips and eyed the sea with a certain devilish glee. Catching her glance, Keiki's voice grew resigned. "Please tell me you do not mean to go swimming?"
"Nope," she said, the dry grass pricking at her feet. "But I am going to splash around a bit."
"Splash..."
"Didn't you ever play around in the water when you were a kid, Keiki?"
He stiffened. "I spent my time on Mt Hou understanding what would be required of me as kirin of Kei."
"Of course you did." She could see him too, a little boy with a mop of golden hair, making the nyosen explain again the exact function of the Daishito's third secretary's assistant ink-grinder.
She made her way down the rocks, arms spread for balance as her toes scraped agaisnt the rough surface. If she could only get there, the coastline sloped down here and there was a little sandy cove. With a sigh of great exasperation, Keiki began to follow her.
"You don't have to come."
Instead of answering, he held up an overlying branch so she could duck underneath. She let out a small sound of satisfaction at the sensation of soft sand squishing between her toes. Keiki stepped onto the sand as though he thought something might jump out and bite him.
"This is so much better than tossing and turning around in my bed," she said, holding her hair up to get the cool breeze on the back of her neck. She strolled along the coast, letting him gingerly follow behind. She watched him jump back to avoid the sea as it washed in a little further than expected, splashing over his shoes. He froze in surprise, one foot still in the air.
The irritation pouring out of her, she watched him gathering his dignity.
"Do you have to walk behind me like that?" she asked. "I know you've got to in public, but is it really necessary when it's only us two?"
"The Saiho always follows behind their liege. Even when alone, the Saiho must position themselves at the lord's back."
"Why?"
"It has always been so."
"Yeah, but why?"
Sea foam swirled around her ankles and pulled an old fable from the edges of her memory. How did that story go again? Perhaps the mermaid fell in love with the prince and turned herself into something else to win him, even though it pained her to do so. When he fell in love with another, she threw herself back to the sea and turned herself into foam. Or did she kill the both of them first?
No. She couldn't tell him that story, even though she was searching for something to say that would get him talking.
To her surprise, he spoke up without her prompting him further.
"It is the privilege of the Saiho," he said, looking at her shoulder rather than her face, "to be always able to gaze upon their liege and receive that contentment. Without having to meet the intensity of that master's gaze."
He didn't seem to notice when a wave came up and sloshed over the top of his shoe.
"Right," Youko said, coming back to herself. "I get it. You can look at me as much as you want, Keiki. But it's going to be an impeded view, because I want you to walk next to me when we're alone."
He shot her a look from beneath his hair. The same kind of look a parent gives a child when they're trying to get away with something.
"No?" she said cheerfully. "All right. Let me put it another way. Either you can quit this silliness and put up with having to look at me from the side, or you can carry on as you are and get a really unobstructed view."
"...Shu-jou?"
"Which is it?"
He looked at her with narrowed eyes and a straight mouth.
"Going to be stubborn? All right. I'll take that as a refusal. Unobstructed view it is!"
As she reached for the ribbons tying her robe shut, his eyes widened in shock.
"Shu-jou!"
She undid the bow and turned around, pulling it off. The robe easily slid off her shoulders and she tossed it onto the beach.
"Ah," she said, stretching her arms out, the air and the softness of her hair brushing her bare back. "That feels good."
"Shu-jou!"
"You said this is what was you wanted. You know I can't deny you anything, Keiki. Look to your heart's content!"
She looked over her shoulder and grinned impishly at him. A deer in headlights, she thought, and laughed.
At that sound, Keiki tore his gaze away and swallowed. Being very careful to not look at her, he made his way across the sand and picked up the discarded robe, shaking the sand out and holding it by the shoulders. She could almost hear his heart sink as he snuck a glance up and found that she'd wandered out further into the water.
She let him stew a few minutes as he stood stiffly at the water's edge, holding her robe out like a shield and staring resolutely at his feet. She bent to dip one arm into the sea and let the water stream down in glittering rivulets, as though she were bathing in diamonds. Perhaps she'd tortured him enough for one day. She was even starting to feel a little sorry for him.
He froze as she walked up, turned her back to him and slipped her arms through the sleeves of her robe. He mutely helped settle the silk over her shoulders as she tied it shut. He really was cute when he was like this. She ought to tease him more often. Show him who was boss.
"Hey," she said. "It's all right now."
He looked up slowly and gave her one of his signature sideways glances, eyes narrowed in disapproval as he crossed his arms.
"Your Highness ought to put more value in her modesty."
She just smiled at him, letting him save a little face.
"You want to remind me about that on the way back?"
He stuck firmly to her side as they clambered back across the rocks and onto the grass. She glanced up and found him looking at her through the corner of his eye, which widened before he looked away.
She frowned as she found her shoes in the grass. There were still grains of sand stuck to her feet, and all in between her toes. It wasn't a short walk back to her personal apartments and her shoes were going to rub every single step of the way. Sitting down on a large, smooth rock that had once been part of the ornamentation, she grabbed a handful of grass and began to scrub at her feet. Keiki winced and knelt down before her.
"Please stop," he said, taking her wrist and pulling the grass from it. "You'll hurt yourself."
He took her foot and placed it on her knee, using the bottom of his robe to brush the sand off with great care. She wiggled her toes at him, and he scowled a little. She managed to let him get the sand from between her toes without laughing, silently putting her other foot on his knee when he held his hands out for it. They were warmer than she'd expected.
Slipping her shoe on, he made to stand up but stopped when she put her hand on the top of his head.
"Hey, Keiki," she said, swinging her clean feet. "I'm sorry for all the abuse."
"I'm used to it."
"Was that a joke?"
"I never joke."
"Huh. Well, you know. I am sorry. I guess I shouldn't take it all out on you when I'm in a bad mood."
As they walked back through the tunnel, the sounds of waves fading behind them, he said "Your Highness's guards must be worried by now."
"Yeah, I suppose so."
"If Your Highness were to promise to stay in bed for the rest of the night and try to get some sleep, I could say that I called you away on urgent business."
"I promise," she said, looking up at him with a grin. "Hey, Keiki? It's nice being able to see you like this."
He just shut his eyes and sighed. "Yes, Your Majesty."