Trinity

by Raye Johnsen

    Fushigi Yuugi is copyright Watase Yuu, Flower Comics, Studio Perriot, Pioneer Entertainment and Viz Communications. All rights remain theirs and I have no claim to any. This fanfiction is written for entertainment only, not for profit - if it made any, the Mt Leikaku Bandits would demand an immediate donation.
    This fanfiction contains adult themes, violence and sex. If this subject matter is illegal in your place of residence, you are underage, or you will be offended by this, please hit the back button NOW. I will not be responsible for you getting arrested, getting in trouble, or getting icky thoughts.
    Any and all comments are welcome. Any and all flames will be ignored, unless they're redheaded and shout "REKKA SHINEN!!"

Houki walked down the corridors, feigning confidence. It was hard to walk these halls again, after leaving them. But Lady Kourin lived here, and she had heard him inform his fellow Shichiseishi that he would be resting in his rooms. If she wanted to speak to him, she had to venture back into the seraglio.

Heads peeped around the corners at her, and eyes gleamed through doors artfully held ajar. The gazes gleamed with hatred, avarice, wonder and not a little fear.

All of them hated her, for winning the prize they all had vied for. Some of them were prepared to let their anger and rage slide, to try to use her and her position to advance their own. Each and every one of them was a beauty in her own right - they would not have been chosen for the Emperor's seraglio were they not - and knew it; each one wondered, privately if not publicly, why he had chosen Houki, she of common birth and merely fair, with no breathtaking beauty. And all of them wondered if rumour were truth, if Houki really was a witch who had ensorcelled the Emperor to wed her and name her Empress.

I wish, Houki thought grimly, as she walked on, through the forest of eyes. If I were really a witch, I'd go out and have adventures. I'd learn to be brave, and actually do something other than sit around and look pretty.

She came to the door, and gestured away the little maid who stepped up to knock. Instead, she rapped on the wooden panel herself.

Kourin's little maid answered the door. "I'm sorry, my Lady is resting - Your Majesty!"

Houki smiled at the girl. "I understand that the Lady Kourin is tired - it was a long journey. But I really do wish to speak with her."

The maid nodded and stepped aside. Houki walked into Kourin's rooms, but then she turned and bade her two maids to remain outside.

"I wish to speak privately with Lady Kourin," the Empress told her handmaidens firmly, smiling. The way she included Kourin's maid in the smile said, without words, that she included her in the exclusion. All three dropped respectful curtseys as Houki firmly shut the door on them.

The room was dim as Houki entered the bedroom. The long, low, wide bed held a hunched-up figure, curled in a fetal ball away from the door.

He cut his hair! was Houki's first thought. It lay, a puddle of soft purple, pooling behind his head. She remembered how long and luxurious it had been; this abbreviated blot, no larger than her hand, was a sad reflection of what had been. It could not fall further than an inch below his shoulders.

She picked up a hairbrush from a low table beside the bed and sat down on the bed beside him.

"I don't like your hair this short. It doesn't suit you. Did it get cut in a fight?" she said calmly, beginning to brush it.

Kourin didn't move. "Why are you here?" he asked flatly.

"You're finally home," Houki replied. "I - found out some things. We're friends. I wanted to talk."

He didn't move. His voice was dull, as if he was numb. "You're married now. What do you care."

"He's just my husband. You're my best friend. I care. I care a lot."

Kourin sat up abruptly. His bright eyes gleamed in the gloom. "'Just' your husband, Your Majesty?" he hissed. "I - I -"

"You love him?" Houki replied calmly. "I know."

Kourin stopped moving. He didn't even blink. Houki took a deep breath and lifted the brush again. "I love him," she said calmly. "I won't apologise for my heart. So don't apologise for yours. So we both love him. You're still my best friend."

She pulled the brush through a longer tuft at the front of the hairline. "What is your real name?"

Kourin did jump at that. "My name?"

Houki smiled. "I didn't want to see before. But he doesn't  think of you as a girl, so I had to acknowledge it. Kourin isn't your real name. Is it."

He dropped his face, pulling away from the brush. "No..." he whispered.

She let her hands, right hand still holding the brush, fall to her lap and waited.

His face whipped up and he stared at her. "How can you do  that?" he asked. "How can you just be so still and peaceful? How can you just accept me?"

Houki shrugged. "I am. You are. That's all there is. I don't  understand what you mean. That I didn't want to see part of you doesn't change the fact it's there."

Kourin shook his head. "Ryuuen," he said, with a rueful smile. When he saw Houki blink at him, he smiled and elaborated. "My name is Ryuuen."

"Ah," Houki said calmly. "Do you want me to call you that, or still 'Kourin'?"

He chuckled dryly. "Call me Nuriko," he replied. "It means more. I died for that name."

Houki felt her eyes widen. "You died? What happened? Tell me!" She pulled both her feet onto the coverlet. She couldn't tuck her knees under her chin anymore, because - well, that was one more thing to tell Kou-Nuriko. She settled for scooping them around to the side.

Nuriko, however, noticed her lifting her knees and then changing direction. "What's wrong? Is your knee hurt?"

Houki shook her head. "No, it's just I can't put my chin on my knees anymore," she explained.

He frowned. "Why not?"

She blushed. She'd planned on telling him, but somehow, the words stuck in her throat. After all, he loved him too... "Well, I'm a married woman," she began. Oh, bright Suzaku, her ears were going red, she could feel them, "and I, um, that is, the Emperor and I, well, we get along, and, well, um, I'm going to have a baby. Um."

Nuriko felt himself blushing too. And he felt a sudden rage  welling up as he watched Houki adjust herself. Yes, he could see it; the gentle curve of her body, the way her hands seemed to fall in front of her lower abdomen, as if to shelter the precious life within. Houki was pregnant to Hotohori, and he had no right to object in any way. You're in love with Miaka, he reminded himself.

But the old love was treacherously reminding him of exactly why he had loved so faithfully and so long, and the young love was withering on the  rocks of Miaka's open, obvious, fervent and above all loud devotion to Tamahome.

He tilted his head as he watched her settle, and was suddenly struck with the realisation that Houki was beautiful.

"Well, we were in the capital of Hokkan, and we'd found out that the Shinzaho of Genbuseikun was in a holy cave at the top of Mount Black - the city's built at the foot of the mountain. I left Miaka and Tamahome at the base of the mountain, because we'd used up our flares scaring off a Seiryuu no Shichiseishi the day before -"

"What? You got ATTACKED? What happened?"

"Calm down! You'll upset the baby!"

"The baby's fine! What HAPPENED?"

"I said, we scared him off by letting off the flare in his  face. Anyway, I left them to try to find another while I went up the mountain to find - what I might find." He grinned at the moue of dissatisfaction she made. "It was a long, hard climb - the mountain was covered in snow. I had to wade through drifts this deep!" He lifted his hand to shoulder height, wrapped his arms around himself and gave a dramatic shiver.

"Anyway, just below the peak there was a good, solid door, set into the mountain. It was locked with chains and iron, and an huge boulder was sitting in front of it. I went to move it, but then I heard a growl behind me. I turned, and there he was - Seiryuu Shichiseishi Ashitare.

"He looked like a man who never had a grip on himself to let go of. He was wearing rags, and his body was so hairy you'd swear he had fur. His hair was long and unkempt, and the grime! He was so dirty his feet actually left dirt on the ground behind him. You don't want to know what he smelt like."

Houki giggled. "An open cesspool?" she asked.

"A cesspool," Nuriko said solemnly, "smells like your mandarin, honeysuckle and strawberry perfume compared to Ashitare."

Houki made an appropriate face, and Nuriko continued.

"Imagine that, and imagine it hitting me, hard, tackling me to the ground - ugh. I tried to punch him, but he was quick and jumped back up onto the ledge over the door. He jumped back down again, and then he punched at me. Both times I only just dodged him, and when he punched at me, he actually hit the mountain. It dumped a load of snow on him, but it didn't slow him down at all. I was expecting it to, so he hit me before I realised he was moving. His fists are rocks!"

"So are yours," Houki pointed out.

"Yes, but that's my Shichiseishi talent," Nuriko shrugged.  "This guy was tough. Then he hit me again, full in the chest - sent me flying straight into a pillar of rock."

"Ow."

"'Ow' is an understatement. I was bleeding for the first time in this fight. I managed to get back to my feet and he rushed towards me. Then I did the stupidest thing. I threw the remains of my cloak into his face and then I tried to jump over him - I stepped on his face and jumped up."

"Why was this stupid?" Houki asked. "You blocked his view and got out of his reach."

Nuriko shook his head. "But I didn't get out of his reach. I told you - he was fast and he was tough. He was quick enough to see where I was going, tough enough that my stomp didn't do anything, and fast enough to reach up and stab me. With his hand. Right through my back and out my chest."

Houki swallowed hard.

"So I broke his neck."

Nuriko grinned as Houki made an audible piku. She was so self-possessed, it was fun to do that to her.

"I flipped on his arm, sat on his shoulders, grabbed his head and twisted it till it wouldn't twist anymore, and then I jumped off as his body fell to the ground. I staggered off, and then I realised; that boulder had to be moved. So I moved it." Nuriko sighed. "I was the walking dead at that point. I had bled too much and the wound was right through my lungs. I was dying."

Houki looked down.

"Don't believe me? I'll show you the scar." He pulled at his  shirt, lifting the hem. "Mitsukake couldn't remove it, so I decided it would be my reminder of the price I paid for my destiny."

Indeed, there they were - five pockmarks of scar tissue in the left side of the ribcage, about a handspan below the heart. Houki reached out and touched them gently. Nuriko's skin was soft beneath her fingertips, the silk of the healthy flesh giving way to the satin of the scars.

She felt him jerk as her fingertips glided over the area.  "Careful," he said, unnecessarily. "It's ticklish.

"Anyway," Nuriko continued, "I moved the boulder and collapsed. Luckily for me, everybody else had felt it when I was wounded; especially luckily for me, Miaka and Tamahome had just run into Mitsukake and Tasuki when it happened. So Mitsukake knew where I was and he arrived just then, as I collapsed. I would have died if he'd taken just five minutes longer."

"Saiheitei felt it too," Houki volunteered.

"He did?"

"It was two months ago, right? He collapsed in the middle of a council session, but when I asked him about it that evening, he  said that it was all right and that there weren't any problems. I remember I was really nervous about asking him, because we had only been married for two weeks and I wasn't sure what was and wasn't appropriate behaviour for the Empress."

"So you were married six weeks after I left? Damn, you work fast."

"It wasn't - oh, I'll tell you when you finish your story."

"It's finished. That's how I died for my name. So, what happened with you? I go away for four months and suddenly you're married and two months pregnant?"

"Three months pregnant," Houki rebutted calmly. "It's your fault, really."

"How so?"

"It was because of that time you took the apples."

"Apples made you pregnant?" Nuriko sat back and gave her a  suspicious look. "Have you told your husband?"

Houki laughed. "All right, it's not really that. It's just that I missed you so badly. Nobody in the seraglio would talk to me, once you were gone. They're all noblewomen, and nobody would talk to the farmer's daughter.

"So I started doing things - you know, the sort of tricks you used to play? I didn't do much, and not very big, but it made me feel less lonely - as if you were here in spirit if not in flesh. Anyway, about two weeks after you left, I decided to filch some peaches from the Emperor's Garden, the way you took the apples from the Chief Advisor's orchard.

"I didn't expect the Emperor to be there."

Nuriko blinked. "So he took one look at you, swept you off your feet, announced to everyone he was going to marry you and pulled you up in front of the priest?" He shook his head. "Damn, I should have tried that one...."

"No, I took one look at him, dropped the peaches, stepped back, fell into the ornamental pond, discovered that brocaded silk absorbs a lot of water very quickly and so you can't swim in it,  started to drown, got rescued by the Emperor and then I ran away."

Nuriko stared at her. Then he started to chuckle.

Houki joined in the laughter, relieved. "I was so embarrassed. He was so kind and I had been taking his peaches and so I just said, "Thank you - I'm sorry" and ran. After that I didn't dare do anything at all - I just stayed in my rooms quietly. I didn't even attend the Great Dinner that month.

"Which actually turned out to be wiser than I thought because it was yet another attempt for various members of the seraglio to advance by droit de mortis. I probably wouldn't have been a target but poison is such a scattershot weapon."

Nuriko nodded. They both had memories of nights spent purging themselves of poisoned food, and of nights when some fruit and bread in their rooms was far more appetising than a beautifully prepared meal in venomous company. "I wonder that the advisors haven't put a stop to it," he mused.

Houki laughed hollowly. "Good heavens, no," she replied bitterly. "The Emperor may have taken an Empress, and she may be performing the duty of an Empress, but who is to say that she shall bear a prince? Or that the Emperor shall continue to favour her? No, the seraglio must remain, and as long as it does, there will be politics there. At least poison's quieter than open fighting, according to the Council of Advisors.

"Anyway," Houki resumed, "I did present myself two weeks later, with the rest of the seraglio, for the Emperor's Parade. He doesn't like it either-"

"Really?" Nuriko asked. "That's odd. He always seemed so... certain of his good looks."

"He's as vain as any Court Princess and a lot more so than most, is what you mean," Houki rebuked softly. "But he's not really very self confident. He relies on his advisors more than he should."

Nuriko frowned. "How do you know that? I watched him for years, and I never saw anything like that."

"I listen. Don't make that face; it's true. He feels so young sometimes, he says, and other times he says that he feels as if his only worth is as a Shichiseishi, and that anyone could be Emperor because all he ever does is nod and sign proclamations." Houki made a face of her own. "And all I can do is listen to him, and try to reassure him, and to tell him that I think he's a good Emperor - and he is - and just be there for him."

"He always seemed so in control, all the time, to me," Nuriko mused.

Houki looked down at her feet, then glanced up at Nuriko, without lifting her head. The innocent pose was marred by the flags of red in her cheeks, creeping up to her ears.

"We're... not in public... when we talk," she finally replied. "He... relaxes after...."

"Too much information! Too much information!" Nuriko hurriedly cut her off.

"How do you know I wasn't going to say 'after a glass of wine'?" Houki demanded, aggrieved.

"If you were, you wouldn't've blushed. Anyway, you were saying, at the Emperor's Parade two weeks later...."

"Yes, I came out of my rooms to attend, because I wanted to see him again. After he fished me out of the pond, I - I got a crush on him. So I took my place in the line, to do my curtsey to the Emperor as he passed by. He told me later that he was looking for me, and that he was happy to see me there, but I had my head down so I didn't see him looking.

"But what turned out to be the fortunate thing about going, was that I saw a boy from my old village in the town. He saw me and tried to attract my attention. I lagged behind a bit when I saw him and let him catch up with me, because I thought he probably had a message from my parents or something. It turned out that he didn't. He was a soldier - one of the generals, actually, in the secret army the old Emperor's older son, you know, the one by the concubine, was raising to usurp the Emperor with.

"He was very impressed with my beauty - paid me a lot of  compliments. I don't think he realised that I already know I'm beautiful. I mean, I was a member of the Emperor's harem, I pretty much have to be! He also didn't seem to think that I'd remember all the times he'd pulled my hair and called me names when we were children. He was very impressed with his own attractiveness and wealth and I think he thought I'd be, too. So he pulled me aside and tried to convince me to join him. I didn't refuse outright, so he didn't notice that I hadn't agreed. He shared a lot of information with me - not voluntarily, I pumped him as much as I dared. But he didn't tell me when the army would attack.

"That night, I slipped out of the seraglio again, and went to the Emperor's Garden. I thought he might be there, or one of his  personal servants. I wanted to warn him about the attack. I was rather lucky; he was there. I told him what I had been told, but before we could do anything, or even leave the garden, the army attacked."

Houki smiled. "What a night... parts of it are lost in a blur, other parts I know I'll never forget, and it was only three months ago! We spent a lot of time running - he wouldn't let me go back to the seraglio, so I had to keep up with him, and he's got very long legs."

"Very sexy legs," Nuriko murmured without thinking.

Houki coughed. "Well, yes. But they're longer than my legs, which made it hard to keep up."

"So what happened?"

"Basically, this soldier jumped over the wall and saw us. We  saw him, and I hit him with my throwing fan."

"You took your fighting fans to meet the Emperor?"

"I spent a long time mastering fan fighting, I take them everywhere. It was a good thing I do, too! He didn't manage to raise the alarm before I hit him, so Saiheitei grabbed my wrist and ran for the door. He can run when he wants to!"

Nuriko snickered. "I've noticed. Especially when wolves and fire are involved."

"You must tell me that story someday... but anyway, we spent hours sneaking along the corridors. I must've had my heart stop on me about three times, when we turned corners and encountered enemy troops. I don't know how late it was into the night when we slipped outside and hid under the windows of the throne room. The concubine's son was in there, gloating, with my childhood enemy. They took turns describing to each other what they were going to do when they caught Saiheitei." Houki shifted. "It... wasn't nice. They were planning to torture him into signing a document of abdication, and then kill him. I... I threw up when they described how they were going to rape him. Saiheitei didn't look too good either."

Nuriko looked green himself. "That bastard...."

"Actually he was legitimate; he was acknowledged... but after I finished emptying my stomach into the bushes, he got onto me."

"You? What was he saying about you?"

"He was under the impression I was Saiheitei's current favourite, from all the witnesses who'd seen us together, so he planned to torture me alongside Saiheitei, and do all the things he had planned for his brother on me too. Except there was no document for me to sign, so they'd keep going on me till I died. They were making bets with each other on whether I'd last two days or three. Some of the things... I think I would have willed myself dead, rather than live through some of what they had planned." She shivered.

Nuriko shrugged. "So what happened next?" he asked quietly.

"Well, we rested there for a while, but then the pretender ordered everyone out of the throne room for some reason. Maybe he got tired of being fawned over or something. After that, he left the throne room and came out to the garden. I wanted to leave, right then, but Saiheitei wouldn't go. He told me to stand in the corner, opposite him, and when the pretender came out, he attacked."

"He attacked? Was he crazy?"

"I've never asked, but I think he felt it was a case of us or them. Given what the pretender had said, I couldn't blame him. And he was protecting me, too. He really didn't like what the pretender had planned for me."

Nuriko nodded. "There is that...."

Houki shook her head. "It was really horrible. The pretender came out, saw me, and grinned. He was handsome enough, not as handsome as the Emperor, but he truly looked ugly when his face twisted like that. But the really horrible thing," Houki gulped, "the really horrible thing was that he didn't know who I was. He'd been planning to have me repeatedly raped and slowly dismembered, as the Emperor's concubine. There, he couldn't see Saiheitei, he didn't know I was the girl he'd just been planning to torture, I was just an ordinary girl - and he was going to do the same things to me. I could see it. He pulled out his sword - and Saiheitei stepped up behind him and hit him."

Nuriko blinked. Houki giggled.

"I cheered. The pretender turned around - the Emperor hadn't hit him with his sword but with his fist -"

"Stupid," Nuriko remarked.

"Yes, but he's a boy. They don't really know how to fight dirty - oh - well, you're not really a boy, are you?"

"I don't know if I've just been insulted or not."

"Boys aren't bad, they just don't know how to be sneaky the way girls do," Houki hastily explained. "Anyway, the pretender swung around and saw Saiheitei.

"The Emperor grinned - and he looked almost as nasty as the pretender. 'Good evening, brother,' he said. 'I hope it has been, for you. I'm afraid you will find it a lot less pleasant shortly.' I wonder where he learnt to insult people by being perfectly polite."

Nuriko coughed, breathed on his nails and lightly buffed them against his shirt.

"I should have known."

"I can't take complete credit. I imagine he's been listening to his advisors insult each other since he ascended the throne."

"That is a point. The pretender certainly didn't have nearly as much style. Well, to be honest, he didn't have any. He yelled 'Prepare to feel my wrath!' and rushed at Saiheitei. Have there been stupider battle cries?"

"I daresay there have," Nuriko replied pensively. "The fact that we can't think of any doesn't mean there aren't any."

"True - anyway, Saiheitei blocked it. Both of them began to fight. The Emperor was silent, but the pretender kept yelling insults. I thought that wasn't very stylish. I liked the Emperor's silent concentration much better. It seemed like he was taking the fight more seriously. Even an amateur like me could see that he did have to focus his attention on it, that the pretender was good."

Nuriko nodded. "And then?"

Houki blushed and twisted her hands in her lap. "You'll think I'm silly. I haven't even told Saiheitei this...."

"Try me."

"Well, for a second, I suddenly saw red. I don't mean that I was angry - it was as if a red cloth had been dropped in front of my eyes. Then it seemed to melt away. The Emperor and his brother were fighting in front of me, and they were both evenly matched. Neither one could make any kind of advance against each other. They were glowing with a red sheen, and I heard a man's voice say to me, 'Choose.' I could tell that He meant, choose the winner, and that the choice was not just for who would reign. So I - I chose. I threw my remaining fan straight into the pretender's face. While he was blinded, the Emperor ran his sword through his chest. And - and he died."

Houki dropped her head. "There was blood everywhere," she added in a small voice. "I - I never knew there was t-that much blood in a single person's body. He - he just kept bleeding...." She gulped. "I still get nightmares about it...." Her voice trailed off into a half-choke.

Nuriko reached over, and wrapped his arm awkwardly around Houki's shoulders. "It's all right," he soothed. "I'm sure Suzaku-seikun's proud of you...."

She looked up. "Suzaku-seikun?"

"Who else could it have been?"

"I - I guess...."

"Tell me what else happened."

"I slipped back into the seraglio as quietly as I could, so I wouldn't be caught. I was lucky and nobody missed me. They all thought I'd been in my rooms all night. And then, at midmorning, a delegation from the Imperial Council arrived. The Emperor had apparently told them that he had listened to their arguments, and had chosen an Empress. One Kou Houki, currently residing in the seraglio. My maid was frantic with excitement, and exasperation when she discovered I'd gone back to bed after breakfast - what?"

Nuriko swallowed the giggle. "Nothing, nothing," he said, in a voice that totally failed to hide his laughter.

"So I got married two weeks later. End of story."

Nuriko frowned. "No, not 'end of story'. You are three months pregnant, and you got married two and a half months ago..."

Houki blushed. "Well... I was very happy when Saiheitei won. Personally, I mean. So when he pulled the sword out, I ran over to him, and hugged him and kissed him and... and he kissed me back and... he asked... and I said yes... I didn't think, I just... anyway, I did go back to the seraglio at dawn. I didn't expect him to offer marriage! Maybe he'd call for me again, I thought, if I had been - sufficiently pleasing. But I never expected to be more than a concubine."

Nuriko sighed. "So...."

Houki sighed. "So. That's what happened. Not nearly as exciting as what happened to you."

Nuriko yawned. "I don't know," he said vaguely. "I was recovering, so for me the rest of the trip was pretty quiet. They wouldn't let me do anything! They mothered me! Which was all right with Chichiri and Mitsukake, I guess, but no sane mother should ever leave her children alone with Tasuki. After we won the Shinzaho of Genbu, we had to go get the Shinzaho of Byakko. We really owe it to Chiriko. He managed to persuade the guardian of Byakko's Shinzaho that we were good people, and we had to promise to take it back to him after we summon Suzaku. Lord Tatara's the sort you keep promises to."

Houki watched as Nuriko failed to smother another yawn. "I think I had better let you get your rest," she said quietly. "Will you come to dinner with me tomorrow night? In my chambers?"

"Yes, of -" he was cut off by another yawn. "Of course."

"Then, goodnight."

"Goodnight."

Houki quietly dismissed her maids at the door of her outer chamber.

"Thank you, but I won't need you for the rest of the night," she commanded softly. "Take the rest of the night off, and I'll see you in the morning." Then she shut the door firmly in their faces.

"Thank goodness," a voice commented from the shadows. "I never know how to dismiss them without sounding like an autocratic tyrant."

Houki pressed her hand to her chest. "My lord," she commented, turning around slowly, "I'm sure I've asked you to please warn me. I will take a heart attack one of these days!"

The Emperor grinned boyishly at her. "I apologise," he replied, not sounding the least bit apologetic. "I've been waiting for you."

Houki felt her heart accelerate and her cheeks flush, neither of which having anything at all to do with the shock he'd given her. Calm down, she scolded herself, knowing it for a lost cause. As long as he was so very beautiful, and so very affectionate, she would be responsive. "I'm sorry to keep you waiting," she replied, sincerely.

"It's all right," he replied. "I don't mind. It gave me time to calm myself a little."

"Calm yourself?" Houki echoed. Gently she took his hand and pushed him down onto one of the more comfortable chairs. Stepping behind it, she laid her hands lightly on his shoulder. Yes, his neck was in knots.

"Tell me about it," she ordered gently, beginning to massage his neck and shoulders.

"Oh, it was the same old things," he sighed, tilting his head. "Ahhh, there... Remember how all the districts wanted to tax each other?"

"I think so. The southern districts wanted to raise the tax on beef, the eastern districts wanted to raise the tax on silk, the western districts wanted to tax the gem miners and the north wanted to tax the fish harvest. Right?"

"Yes, that's it. I took your advice on it."

"You did? What did I say?"

"You... mmm... said that I either had to tax all of them or none of them. So I taxed all of them."

"Oh my."

"Don't stop, that feels wonderful... I didn't do a major tax, just quarter of a percent... enough to tell them to stop sticking their noses in other districts' business. But now I have to sit through all the protests."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It's just another day, being Emperor... hmmmm... and being Emperor means being there to blame."

Houki stopped the massage, leaning forward to wrap him in a hug from behind. "I don't blame you," she whispered softly. "I know you're doing your best."

Hotohori lay back into Houki's arms for a long moment. How long had it been, since he had felt this sort of love and acceptance? Before Houki, he added firmly, dispersing all the images of his short marriage. Not from his parents, that was certain. Perhaps from his nurses.

Perhaps never.

He turned around on the chair, burying his face in her breasts as she held her arms loosely about his neck. Breathing in her soft scent, he relaxed in the warmth of her embrace.

Girls aren't supposed to be strong, he thought vaguely. How did I get the one who breaks the rules? He smiled. Thank Suzaku I did.

He stood up, gently holding Houki's arms to his neck. Saiheitei bent slightly to kiss her, only to have his move anticipated; Houki quickly curved one hand up to his nape and pressed his head down to meet her lips. Her other hand slid down to the small of his back. He yielded to the gentle pressure, allowing his body to sway forward to press against hers.

Or forward, either, he thought. Bright Suzaku, but he loved it when she did this. From the rumours he'd overheard, most girls were coy and forced men to make the moves. Or they were overbold and practically forced men to take notice of them. But whether they welcomed the attention or not, it did not matter. Once the matter passed beyond courting, they would not take any active role. Houki was quiet and reserved in public, perfectly behaved, a model Empress, but in private she had no hesitations. At all.

At that point, Houki slipped her hand inside his sash, pulling at it gently; not enough to make it drop but enough to let him know that she wanted it off. Saiheitei did not comply immediately. Pulling his head up, he gasped, "Not here! The bed!"

Houki sighed, and smiled. She had fond memories of the chair, but equally fond ones of the bed, and was not adverse to making some more in either location. She stepped back, away from her husband, towards the bedroom.

Saiheitei had no intention of letting her keep the lead. He let her take one step away from him, to give himself the room, and then he scooped her up and carried her into the bedroom.

Houki smiled against Saiheitei's chest as he carried her into the bedroom. It was fun to try to take control; once or twice he'd let her lead, and she had enjoyed it thoroughly.

But this is good too, she thought smugly, as he laid her down on her coverlet and began tugging at his over-tunic. She sat up and tried to help him. The fact that this got her hands on his bare chest was entirely coincidental, she told herself virtuously.

Virtue was the last thing on her husband's mind. Houki's well-meant help was distracting, to say the least, and when she did get her hands on his chest, the touch went straight to his groin.

Houki was not very surprised when Saiheitei stopped fumbling with the closures on his robes and pressed himself down on her for a hungry, urgent kiss. Three months of marriage had taught her that he was very sensitive in certain areas, and gentle touches on those areas would give certain desirable results. She exploited this knowledge ruthlessly.

Somehow he managed to get her out of her own robes - it was absolutely amazing, she often reflected, how she could think and plan almost everything else, but the instant he kissed her absolutely everything except the kiss fled her mind, including what his hands were doing. Unless those hands touched her skin, in which case she became very aware of their location.

So she was jerked out of mindless bliss into blissful awareness when he slid his hands under her underkimono. Stroking her body, he ran his hands over the curve of her belly.

Hotohori could never stop himself from caressing that still-small bump. There was something incredibly sexy about the knowledge that it was his child beneath Houki's heart. Houki herself moved against him, stretching into his hands. His breath caught as she reminded him of just how fond she was of his touch.

Houki herself was not thinking of her pregnancy, but rather of getting her hands on her husband's body. Sufficiency promotes greed, and when the subject was Saiheitei, she was unashamedly greedy. Reaching up, she pulled almost desperately at the ties that held his underrobes on, and purred with satisfaction as they fell away.

He was magnificent, and Houki stilled for a second, just looking at the golden man before her. His golden-brown hair fell over his shoulders, a silken sweep that gleamed in the gold moonlight pouring in her windows and flooding the room. His eyes were as golden as the full moon gleaming over his shoulder, and like the moon, glimmered and shifted with mood and thought. His skin covered his magnificent body, warm buttercream darkened to light bronze where it had been touched by the sun. His body was toned and muscled from his daily sword-practice.

Houki did not pause to admire long. She never could. She fell onto his neck with suckling kisses that stopped just short of love-bites, for it would not do for the Emperor to go to morning Court with a bruised neck.

Saiheitei had no such restraints governing him and he took unfair advantage of them. Pressing Houki down into the bed, he reversed their actions, pressing passionate openmouthed kisses into her neck and shoulder while she clung to his shoulders and gave voice to her own inarticulate cries.

If any thought passed through his mind as he moved down and began to caress her breasts, it was that he was becoming seriously addicted to her passionate responses to him. The bed-tutors had never been so enthusiastic.

Saiheitei brushed his hands down her slender flanks, setting them a-quiver in his wake, and moved them past her hips as his tongue laved Houki's navel.

He loved doing this to her. Not only was the area particularly sensitive, but anticipation and gentle touches combined to make her especially receptive. Tonight was no exception as she cried out and fell back bonelessly under his hands.

It was time to move to the final measures of the dance. Still brushing his hand gently over the centre of her pleasures, Saiheitei moved up her body and pressed himself down into her.

Sometimes, as they moved in this most ancient of dances, Saiheitei found himself watching Houki's face as the passion washed both their bodies. This woman was both simple and complex in ways he had no concept of. She was the Empress before the Court, a counsellor and courtesan in the bedroom, but here in their bed she was someone else yet, someone he again knew little of.

The notion probably should have disturbed him, rather than the reassurance he felt it to be.

Lying in each other's arms, Saiheitei smiled down at Houki. She finally stirred and smiled back up at him.

"Hmm, love you," she whispered. "But you knew that."

"And I, you," he replied softly. "But you knew that."

They both laughed quietly.

Houki stretched. "I've always meant to ask," she began, "how do you feel about Kourin?"

"Kourin?" Saiheitei propped himself up on one elbow.

Houki's brow wrinkled. "I'm sure I mentioned my best friend Kourin to you before. He's the one who became Suzaku Shichiseishi Nuriko."

Saiheitei's face closed. "Nuriko."

"Please don't do that! This is important to me. I need to know."

Saiheitei fell back on to the blankets with a soft whumph. "I can't tell you."

Houki propped herself up on her own elbow, looking down at him. "What do you mean?"

He made a face, prompting an involuntary grin from his wife. "I don't really know, myself," he said, musingly. "Nuriko always said he loved me, but I never really believed him. It always felt as if he had a crush on me, and never really knew me at all."

"I look like him," Houki said quietly, without meeting his eyes. "Enough to be his sister. It was often commented on."

Saiheitei blinked. Ah. "I daresay," he said quietly. "You both have bright eyes."

She hit him with a pillow. "And we both have purple hair, and we both have alto voices, and we both have the same figure!"

He ran a hand over her breast. "Not the same figure," he objected. "Believe me on that point, please!"

"Oh, you're impossible!"

He reached out and pulled her down onto his chest. "I can't say that I would not have been attracted to Nuriko, if we had met under different circumstances," Saiheitei whispered in her ear. "But at the time I was interested in the Priestess of Suzaku, and Nuriko declared to anyone who'd listen that he loved me the minute he saw me. That's not love. It's a crush, or it's love of an illusion, but it wasn't love of me."

"What about me? I -"

"As I recall, you took one look at me and tried to run away. You definitely didn't fall in love at first sight."

Houki giggled. "I see your point..." she replied. "But he has changed. I think that you would find him to be sincere now."

Saiheitei shrugged. "He was always sincere. That was half the problem. He didn't know it was a crush. And I couldn't respond, because I really didn't feel the same. I couldn't let him give himself to me when I couldn't give him anything back."

"Ah," Houki said, wriggling around on his chest, settling down to sleep.

"May I ask, before you go to sleep, what brought this all on?" Saiheitei asked, settling in himself.

"Oh, I asked Nuriko to dinner with me tomorrow night," Houki breathed.

"Oh, is that all?" he replied. "Hang on - dinner? Houki!"

But Houki was already asleep.

Author's Notes

    1. I'm not going to get into a debate with anyone over whether Taoism had actually reached that far down into China at that stage in its history. The World of the Four Gods is already a mishmash of China from different periods; the addition of this  particular element will only add a philosophical touch to the confusion.
    Houki is a Taoist because Taoism is a philosophy that originated in China, and preaches acceptance of each individual on the individual's own terms, not yours. Both Hotohori and Nuriko require this quality above all others in their mate/s; Hotohori because he needs someone who will look past the crown and the Shichiseishi symbol to the man, while at the same time accepting the requirements and obligations of each, and Nuriko because he needs somebody who can accept both his past and his future.
    While I am familiar with Taoism, I am not an expert on the subject either. So please tell me if I got anything fundamentally wrong!

    2. The practice of fighting with fans is an old and, unfortunately, today a little-practiced branch of martial arts. Created and traditionally practiced by women, it enjoyed popularity among Chinese upper-class women because it was graceful and not obtrusive. A woman's fighting fan, if well-made, at a glance is indistinguishable from an ordinary fan.
    There is no evidence in canon (that I know of) that Houki was educated in fan-fighting, but to the best of my knowledge there is no proof that she wasn't, especially as fans are a defensive weapon.

    3. Yes, I know I've taken extremely severe liberties with  Suzaku Hi Den (Hotohori's novel, which details his activities in Konan while everybody else was off in Hokkan and Sairou). I know he and Houki met under very different circumstances, and I know Suzaku-seikun had nothing whatsoever to do with the Palace coup. Put it down to artistic license, the demands of the story, and my own romanticism. Anybody who still objects: biiiidah!