Co-written with miss mika namariya! We own nothing!
A short while after the wedding, Kuon took Kyoko down to the blacksmith. "Pick out something you'd like," he said. When she looked up at him with wide, sparkling eyes, he added, "Think of it as a wedding present."
"But you already got me the Hoppington family portrait!" she protested, even as her eyes started darting towards the wide variety of sharp things around them.
"Then consider it as a successor to Princess Rosa, since she's got another job now," he said, tapping her tiara.
She blushed a little as she adjusted it, earning her a kiss on the forehead from her husband. Flustered (the blacksmith was right there!), she turned and focused on the blades. She ghosted her fingers over a couple, admiring the artistry.
In the end, she selected a sword very similar to Princess Rosa, complete with a gemstone set in the hilt. Iolite, the blacksmith had said. Kuon overpaid the man. He would have on principle, but gave him even more based on how happy Kyoko was to have a sword on her hip again.
LINE BREAK
Unbeknownst to Kuon, Kyoko had also made a purchase recently. That is, it was unbeknownst to him until he was helping her undo her dress. She'd started attending Julie's salons now and then, and had pounced on the opportunity to wear something pretty. The only thing was, she'd still needed to have her weapons on her. Hence, her purchase.
"What is this?" he asked, running his fingers over the intricate leather straps on her back. His interest only grew as he tugged her zipper lower and found the hilt of a knife.
"Oh, it's my new weapons harness."
Kuon almost ripped the dress in his eagerness to pull the zipper down the rest of the way. Kyoko stepped out of it, the metal of her many, many weapons clinking as she did so. The leather criss-crossed all over her body, providing support and holding everything she might need in a fight. "It unbuckles here," she began, but his hand on her arm stopped her, and she turned to face him.
"Leave it on," he growled, an unmistakable hunger in his eyes.
Kyoko gave him a smile in return that had the Hoppingtons pulling the privacy curtains on their tank.
LINE BREAK
"So," Kyoko panted later, peeling herself out of her now very sweaty harness, "leather?"
"Mmm," he hummed, sitting up from where he'd been lying on their bed. "Here, lemme help."
She shot him a coy look over her shoulder. "You said that about my dress, and look what happened."
He pressed a kiss to her shoulder as his hands started working at the buckles on her harness. "I don't remember you protesting. In fact, you were very enthusiastic about my help."
She laughed and leaned back against him, letting him better access the straps that went over her ribcage. "Can't argue with that."
"So, how many weapons does this thing hold?" He'd tried counting earlier, but had gotten a bit distracted.
"Depends on how I strap it. This base form holds about twenty. The leg extensions add another five each." She paused to think, ignoring the way her husband was practically drooling on her shoulder at her descriptions. "The leathersmith mentioned maybe adding some arm straps for when it's colder and I can wear longer sleeves. Those could probably fit an extra set or two of throwing knives."
He had to swallow before speaking. "Can I come to the next fitting? We should get you several. Just in case."
Her face lit up as an idea hit her. "We should get you one!"
"I don't really carry that many weapons, though -"
She frowned a little, then beamed again. "Then it could be for me!"
"Yeah, we were going to get you more harnesses…?" He blinked at her.
"No, I mean yours! I always need extra weapons storage!" She twisted and pulled the rest of her harness off, then scooched around to point at a certain loop. "Like this one, this one here I can't reach myself. This one's for you to grab." Kuon was unreasonably touched by this detail. "So we could have them make yours with a bunch that I can reach, in addition to ones you can grab yourself."
And Kuon, as a true Hizuri, was unable to deny his True Love anything. Even if it meant a lot of leather in unmentionable places.
LINE BREAK
"Okay, so this strap goes… where?" Kuon looked down at his harness, desperately trying to understand how exactly it went on him. Many generations in the future, a descendant of the leathersmith would invent those women's swimsuits that were so insanely difficult to put on. For now, Kuon was given a taste of what it would be like, but in leather.
"Just stick your arm through it." Kyoko was standing in front of him, wearing hers so he could see how it worked. This was more distracting than helpful.
Kuon tried to follow the (deceptively simple) instruction, but instead got very tangled in the straps. Kyoko just giggled and helped him right them, eventually winding up with them in properly fitted, matching weapons harnesses.
"There we go!" she said, beaming at him. "Look at you! You… wow." Her hand, which had been straightening a strap on his shoulder, slid down the leather, following it down to his stomach.
"Wow?" He raised an eyebrow, grinning at her.
"I… may get why you like mine so much now."
"Oh, really?" He brought his hand up to her waist, and was about to pull her closer —
Just in time for the doors to their chamber to burst open.
Kyoko immediately yoinked a blade from her harness and whipped it towards the door, pinning the perpetrator to the wood.
"What is with you and ruining my best shir— woah." The perpetrator in question was, of course, Sir Kijima, who was staring open-mouthed at the royal couple in their matching leather weapons harnesses.
"OUT," Kuon demanded, stepping in front of his wife.
The human knight, instead of unsticking himself from the door and obeying his future king, ogled him instead. "Y'know… that leather really does something for you."
Before Kuon could formulate a response to that, Kyoko stepped around him. He glanced down at her, expecting to see any number of emotions playing across her face — embarrassment would have been his first bet.
He had not been expecting rage.
"He is taken," she hissed, her hair lifting from the force of her anger. Her team swirled around her, causing the air to thicken. Kuon could feel electricity crackling in the air and had not been so turned on since the time she held a knife to his throat.
"Yeah, but are you down for a third?" Never let it be said that Kijima did his thinking with his brain.
A wave of energy pushed towards the knight, forced by Kyoko's team, flattening him against the door. Kyoko stalked towards him slowly, then yanked her blade out of the door. Her team held him stuck there.
"If you ever say that again, I will rip out your tendons and feed them to the geese."
Then her team threw Kijima into the hallway, slamming the door shut with it. Kyoko set the deadbolt and made a note to have a word with Kuon's other guards. But for now, she had other business to attend to.
The other business being that lovely, unblemished patch of skin on Kuon's neck. Because apparently, some people needed a reminder that he was taken. And it would serve as a lovely reminder to the court that, as she growled in Kuon's ear when leaving the darkest hickey possible, "I. Don't. Share."
LINE BREAK
As soon as Kuon got used to wearing his own harness, Kyoko immediately demanded that they practice. There was hardly a need for it, as Kuu and Juli were excellent rulers and diplomats with a team of very competent ambassadors. Still, Kyoko liked to be prepared.
Kuon had explained to his wife many, many, times that there was no reason for her to fear for his safety. One, the palace was very safe. Two, they were on very good terms with all of the neighboring kingdoms and had no enemies (that they knew of, Kyoko would remind him). Three, Kuon could actually defend himself— Kyoko politely cleared her throat— alright, he could defend himself from most things that a prince might reasonably expect to encounter, which obviously did not include someone with Kyoko's training, skills, and abilities. Still, the Princess liked to be prepared. And Kuon was not going to deny her.
Practicing weapon access mostly meant Kyoko would throw herself towards him at a random moment, reaching into the pocket of his breeches to take the dagger strapped to his thigh, or her hand would dart into his jacket for one of the small throwing knives kept strapped securely to his ribs. Sometimes she would stop suddenly in the hall and check that Kuon's inventory was there and tightly secured, which involved running both her hands down his chest and then around his waist. Then one of Kyoko's hands would slide up his back underneath his coat, while she checked the holsters on his thigh with the other. Sometimes she would run her hand down to his knee and then up, to check the inner-thigh harness they had added.
What any of the courtiers at the palace who witnessed this behavior thought is hard to say, as they were quite unaware of Kuon's new weapon storage but much too polite to say anything such behavior outright. Several of the lords and ladies, as well as the servants, from giving Kuon a big wink whenever Kyoko decided to perform one of her manual inspections. Kuon, for his part, deliberately avoided their gazes, instead focusing on not letting any physical reactions occur in response to Kyoko groping him in the middle of the hallway.
The couple was married after all, a Duchess commented once over tea. And they were young and in love, and both so beautiful. Perfectly natural behavior, if a little bit public.
"I'm expecting my invitation to the royal christening any day now," a Viscountess said, with a knowing smile.