Chapter 14: There's Nothing As Fun As Matchmaking A Couple When You Aren't One Of The Said Couple.
Akely: Thank you for reviewing, I'm really happy that the last chapter was refreshing. I love to write fluff, so it refreshed me too, tee hee. There's going to be some developments in their romance, so I hope you'll enjoy this chapter! And I know, Sougo is really kind of cute!
Putxi: Thank you for the review! I'm so delighted that you enjoyed it! But please don't die, else who's going to write reviews? Not to mention that I'll really be missing you, lol. Hope you like this chapter too!
nathan19bane: Thank you for reviewing and I'm so sorry for making you wait. But I'm glad that you like the chapter, and thank you too for reading and reviewing! Hope you enjoy this one too!
Furuchisa: Hey there! Thanks very much for reviewing! It really pleased me to know that you enjoyed the chapter! Honestly, I was relieved to hear that I hadn't made Sougo OOC, cause I'm always nervous about that, tee hee. As to your question, I've a headcanon that Sougo's really very lazy, so he probably does little of the official work, and mostly gets Hijikata or Yamazaki to do it for him. And yeah, he would probably do it while watching Kagura sleep, lol. Hope you liked this chapter too!
Now, onto the story!
Umibozu grumbled in annoyance as he glared at the corridor adjoining the throne room, which was the source of his irritation, but what could he do about it? He was well aware that interfering would, in all certainty, lead to him getting killed. But seriously, the nonstop giggling was freaking causing his follicles to fall out! Though said follicles had already fallen out a long time ago...
Tae, Tsukuyo and Sarutobi stood in the corridor, reading a letter and bursting into giggles at the end of every line. It was mostly the ninja who was giggling loudly, though Tae joined her frequently. Tsukuyo only smiled and blew out puffs of smoke from her kiseru, though she too chuckled occasionally.
"Look at this, 'I get a weird feeling in my stomach when he comes near'! My, oh my, Kagura chan's really fallen head over heels in love, hasn't she?"
"Seems ta me tha' she realizes it too. But I wish she'd just get tha fact tha' he feels tha same fer her."
"Ooooh, this is getting me sooo excited! Just think of all the S&M play that they can engage in... Aaah, we must suggest those to Kagura chan!"
"Sarutobi san, I do not want to hear about your fetishes right now, and Kagura chan doesn't need too either. Oh, coming back to the point, we must make her understand that he loves her as much as she loves him, so that they can truly become a couple!"
"If tha's what ya wanna do, then how about we invite them ta come stay here? It'll be good ta have them visit, and ya'll can do as much matchmaking as ya want."
"Tsukuyo san, this happens very rarely, but you've actually had a great idea! Now all we have to do is to get her bald dad to agree to this."
"Don't worry, Sarutobi san, I'm sure he won't have a choice about the matter. There's no way we are going to let her overprotective dad get in the way of Kagura chan's happiness."
"Well then, I'm gonna go and tell tha baldy; ya can write a letter ta Kagura an' tell her ta come over with her husband for a week or so. Sarutobi, ya had better not put any weird ideas in her head, yanno."
A few minutes later, Umibozu looked up from the papers in his hand to see the Courtesan of Death approaching him, as calm and collected as ever. She bowed briefly, before speaking, " Yer majesty, there's a proposal tha' needs royal assent. I request tha' ya grant it."
"What is it? I can give no guarantees..."
"It's been a while since Kagura last came, an' so we decided ta invite her and her husband fer a week's stay. I'd like ya to give yer consent to it, yer majesty."
"Kagura chan is welcome to visit as long as she likes, but I'm not having that insolent jerk of her husband here! Or better, let him come and I can beat the stuffing out of him if he touches my daughter... OUCH!"
"The kunai I'm holding right now can kill any hope of yer hair growing back, yer majesty. Like it or not, ya don't have a choice. So just agree ta tha idea and please remember, ya had better behave yerself when they visit. Interfere and ya'll be losing a lot more than yer hair."
"I-I agree."
Tsukuyo nodded, looking satisfied, and exited the room as calmly as she had entered it. Umibozu glared after her, wondering a lot about who the true ruler of the castle was, how his daughter was faring and how best to terminate the young man if he tried anything inappropriate with Kagura. Without being killed by three devils manifested in the bodies of beautiful women, of course.
A few days later, in the palace of Edo,
Kagura skipped happily along the garden, reading a letter that had just arrived. Sadaharu looked rather grumpy as his mistress paid the paper in her hands more attention than him. It was bad enough that she had spent the last few days entirely with the sandy haired sadist, but now, just when he had got to play with her for an entire day, she was ignoring him for a piece of paper. His canine pride was deeply wounded, though he cheered up when she ran over to hug him, talking excitedly all along.
"Sadaharu, we're gonna have so much fun soon! I just got a letter from Anego, and she's invited us over for a visit! It's been too long since I've seen them, uh huh. Though Papi will be there too and he'll be fussing over me worse than a grandmother hen…"
"Wan!"
"Yup, that's right, Sadaharu! You can chew his head whenever he gets too annoying. But make sure to wash your mouth later, or you might just end up bald, yes? Now, should we take the Sadist along or not?"
"Waan."
"Well, I think so too; he'll just irritate me more and I'm pretty sure the baldy will be picking a fight with him or the other way around. Besides, I really need some time away from him; because there's so much that I need to figure out…. I can't even think properly with that jerk near me…. But on the other hand, Anego has asked me to bring him too, and I don't wanna make her angry…."
Shuddering at the thought of angering her 'older sister', Kagura regretfully decided that she was going to have to take the sadist along. It was not like he did much of the paperwork anyway and well, she did enjoy his company a little. Wondering whether he would even be willing to come along, she headed towards the throne room, Sadaharu behind her.
A highly important meeting was in progress, and Sougo was wishing for the thousandth time that it wasn't. For one, it was way too boring, and everyone expected him to freaking stay awake and take part in it. Not to mention that the prince sitting in front of him was unbelievably ugly. Perhaps it might have been bearable if he had his sleeping mask and the royal fool would stop blabbering on and on and on, but both seemed futile wishes. Mentally resolving to kill Hijikata later for subjecting him to such boredom, Sougo lazily wondered where Zura got his bombs from. How useful they would be now….
All of a sudden, the door swung or rather, flew open, as the queen of the palace came striding in. Sougo perked up almost immediately, though his face remained as deadpan as ever. Looks like it might get a little interesting now. It's never boring when China is around. For once, you're really doing me a favor, China.
"Excuse me, what is the meaning of this rude interruption?! I'm in the middle of a very important dis- OWWW!" The alien prince wailed in pain as Sadaharu promptly chomped down on his head, earning a smirk from Sougo and an approving thumb up from Kagura.
"Good boy, Sadaharu. Mister, I'll have you know that I'm the queen of this palace; hence I can interrupt whichever meeting I choose to, and whenever I please to, uh huh. And it's not like the Sadist, Mayora or anybody was even listening to you in the first place. "
"Hey China, hasn't anyone told you that barging into a meeting is rude? Oh, I forgot you aren't exactly a lady, you are a gluttonous monster, so I guess no one would."
"You don't have any right to say that when you're holding a bazooka under the table, you damn Sadist! Arrgh, I don't have time to argue with you, so just listen up! I'm visiting Rakuyou for a week with Sadaharu because Anego invited me over but she's also asked you to come I don't know why so are you coming or not?!" Kagura rattled off the words without a pause; she did not want to stammer in front of everyone, but the butterflies in her stomach were making it so very difficult not to.
"Well, I don't see why not. Hijikata san, do all my work for me, won't you?"
"What the hell?! Do your own work yourself, you devil!"
Though Sougo's face was as expressionless as ever, Kagura could have sworn that she saw him smile, just a teensy weensy one, and that made her grin too.
A few days later, the palace of Rakuyou was filled with cheers and laughter as its princess jumped down from her steed, a giant white dog, and ran to greet everyone. Her husband followed her, yawning as if he was utterly bored, though Tsukuyo did not fail to notice that his eyes were always on her princess. Tae soon dragged the girl away, scolding her a little about the state of her hair and clothes.
Tsukuyo firmly ordered the servants to take care of the dog as best as they could, before turning to Sougo and leading him to the throne room. On the way, she calmly struck up a conversation, for she wanted to know something more about the person beside her, besides what she had already learnt from Kagura's letters.
"So, how was the journey? "
"It was fine. You don't really have to make small talk though, it's boring."
"I don't like it too, so tha's fine. I just wanted ta know, what are yer true feelings about Kagura? "
"I see…. You're going to try and get us together, aren't ya?"
"Of course we are. At least, Tae and Sarutobi are. But I'm more concerned about yer true feelings fer tha girl. Ya had better not make her cry, or I'll kill ya in ways no sadist can imagine."
"I like that challenge, but a crying China is just too ugly. I don't wanna see that again. And don't match make us; I don't need something like that to get my girl."
"Fine, then just go confess ta her within two days, an' we won't try a thing. Good luck dealing with tha baldy though, he's in tha' room."
Sougo only smirked as he headed towards the throne room to meet his much disliked father-in-law. Hardly fifteen minutes passed before there was a huge explosion, accompanied by an earthshaking yell and the sound of a bazooka firing.
A floor above, Tae's hands slipped due to the sudden impact, and the bowl of ice cream that she was holding tumbled onto the floor. Kagura too jumped in surprise, and the sukonbu in her hands dropped down into the fallen Haagen-Dazs, the entire mixture slowly turning a sickly, pale green. The two women stared at each other and the mess on the floor. Slowly, they looked down, even as another blast shook the building. Identical black auras filled the room, even creeping into the corridor outside.
After an hour or so, happy laughter filled the castle again, as Kagura and Tae chatted away, the younger girl narrating her numerous adventures and mischievous deeds. Tsukuyo listened with a smile, least bothered about the injured men sitting behind her.
Holding an ice pack to his black eye, Sougo grimaced at his father in law, "What the hell did you teach that monster, Baldy? How can she humanly punch this hard?"
"You dare call my daughter a monster?! You insolent brat! I'd break your bones if I wasn't so beat up now! AND DON"T CALL ME BALDY!"
"Yeah, yeah, I'll just call you 'dear father-in-law' then. Besides, you just got beat up by a pretty woman, and you call yourself a king?"
"Don't provoke me, brat, you don't know the extent of my strength. And you call that devil a pretty woman?! Oh-T-Tae san, I-I wasn't saying a-anything…p-please continue t-talking…."
"Looks like your courage disappeared with whatever hair you had, Baldy. But all this was your fault, because you started the fight."
"And you were the one who provoked me, you useless sadist! I can't believe that my only daughter has to spend the rest of her life with you…If only I had been more responsible…"
"Well, for once, you didn't say something totally wrong. Now why don't you sympathize with me a bit; I'm going to have to spend my entire life with a violent, gluttonous and rude China doll."
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!"
"Oh well, I don't think I really mind though…Hey, Baldy, what would you do if I told her that I loved her and wanted to make her my toy forever?"
"Just what sort of perverted love is that?! I'd be more than willing to punch you to outer space, but… if Kagura is happy… I won't say a word or fire a bullet. I'm probably the worst dad ever, but I won't be in the way of Kagura's happiness for anything in the world. So, and it is killing me to say this, ahem, do as you like."
Sougo grinned at that, turning to look at his China, who was still fooling around, oblivious to everything around her.
I wonder what the expression on your face will be when I tell you, China. Will you punch me? Or will you smile and laugh? Or will you say something more idiotic than usual? No, that is impossible, even for someone as dense as you. You are so going to be mine, Kagura.
A/N: So there ends the fourteenth chapter! I apologize for it being late, but I've just been real busy with studies and all. Thankfully, my exams ended today, they went well, so I'm happy about that too… anyway, I'll upload the next chapter sooner! It'll probably be the last one, so do read it! A massive thank you to everyone who followed and favorited this story! Please do take some time out to review and send me suggestions for improvement too; I love to know what you think of it. As always, follows, favorites, reviews, constructive criticism and anything else are very, very, much appreciated!
Thanks a lot for reading!