Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Legend ~ Book One: Girl of Legend ❯ Twelve: Making Amends & Other Health Hazards ( Chapter 12 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

   KC woke up disoriented and groggy. She slowly sat up and scratched her head, blearily looked around and frowned when she failed to immediately recognize her surroundings.

   "Good morning, Majesty. I trust you slept well."

   "Yes, thank you. Quite well. Much better than I have in a long while, actually."

   The quiet voices shook KC out of her lethargy and recollection of the previous night flooded her mind. Her face began to take on the rather charming hue of an overripe tomato. She reached up to touch her lips, reliving the memory of Hotohori's impassioned kisses. "That wasn't a dream?" she mumbled into her hand, blinking down at the pristine white coverlet. More importantly … she'd actually spent the night? In his rooms? And had made it through completely unmolested? Hotohori possessed a lot more self-control than she'd given him credit for. Hell, the man was a friggin saint.

   Either that or he'd actually come to his senses sometime between the few minutes he'd put her to bed and taken to his own, realized KC wasn't the living dream he seemed to believe. That seemed a far more likely scenario.

   All the same … she'd spent the night. In the emperor's private quarters. Thereby starting all sorts of juicy rumors that had probably reached the other end of the country by now. "Argh! Tama's gonna harass me all day about this!" she groaned and flopped back into the pillows. Probably every day thereafter, too.

   Even more frightening, Nuriko in all of her freakishly-strong wrath would likely be out for blood. KC felt it would be prudent to avoid the Seishi at all costs. Even if it meant being locked up in the dungeon again. For her own protection, of course.

   "Okay. What I need is an excuse. A really good excuse." She absently gnawed a thumbnail as she thought. "Let's see now. 'Well, Nuriko, at least you found out he doesn't love you before you made a complete ass out of yourself trying to seduce him'."

   Right. Would she like her head to be fried or boiled once Nuriko finished ripping it off her neck?

   "Okay, I can do better. Ummm… 'He was possessed by an evil spirit last night and didn't fully comprehend what he was saying. He really does love you! Waaay deep down inside'…" She grimaced. "Okay, even I wouldn't believe that one."

   She thought some more, then smacked her fist into her palm. "Got it! 'He went temporarily blind due to fatigue and mistook me for you'. That could work!"

   Assuming, of course, Nuriko was completely gullible. And hadn't heard a word of the part about Hotohori always loving the Priestess of Suzaku. KC doubted she was that lucky.

   "Gaah! I give up!" She groaned again and threw herself back onto the pillows. "I might as well kill myself and get it over with. At least I won't make it hurt!"

   Footsteps alerted KC to an approaching someone, and a second later Hotohori appeared in the doorway. He smiled softly when he saw she was awake, and she suddenly found herself overcome with nerves. "I thought I heard your voice," he told her by way of greeting. "Good morning, Your Eminence."

   She mumbled shyly, unable to meet his eyes. Good grief, what did a girl say to the man she'd been heavily making out with the night before? None of the classroom gossip had ever gotten around to discussing the morning after.

   If he noticed her discomfort, he simply ignored it as he approached her, still smiling cheerfully. "What were you talking about, all by yourself?" he questioned. "Were you dreaming?"

   "Oh, just planning out my last will and testament. Nothing important."

   He blinked. "I'm sorry?"

   "Uh, nothing. Anyway, um, thanks for lending me the room. I should probably go back to my own, though, before Mei Lin starts thinking I've been kidnapped or something." She chuckled awkwardly as she slid off the huge bed, found herself face-to-chest with the emperor. She looked up nervously, not sure what he wanted, but she wouldn't have been surprised if he grabbed her and started kissing again, what with that look in his eyes and everything…

   Wait. No. Kissing is a bad thing. Kissing leads to other very bad things! None of that, now, young lady!

   Darn her conscience, anyway. Especially when it sounded just like her mother. If that wasn't enough to knock any amorous ideas clean out of her skull, nothing would.

   Hotohori leaned closer, tilted her face up whilst lowering his own, and she abruptly panicked and backpedaled. She nearly tripped over the rug in her haste. "Um, yeah. Going … now," she stammered as she eased past him and practically bolted for the door. She didn't miss his slightly wounded expression as she raced back to the safety of her own room and guiltily vowed to apologize for her abrupt departure later.

~*~*~*~*~

   KC found it surprisingly easy to avoid Nuriko for the rest of the day. As it happened, Nuriko was doing her darnedest to avoid KC, as well. While this relieved her greatly, it also worried her. If Nuriko was that mad that she wasn't even willing to look at her, much less try and kill her, then how in the world was she going to convince the woman to do her job and be a Seishi?

   The frantic palace activity had settled into a lazy crawl with the departure of the visiting warriors. As it turned out (and not very surprisingly), Hotohori had thoroughly chastised them and sent them on their way. "Thanks, but you're not who we're looking for, considering you tried to off the Priestess and destroyed half the courtyard while doing so" was pretty much the gist of it. Surprisingly enough, they'd all gone on their merry way without so much as a grumble. Probably because they were just glad to get away from that lunatic girl with their heads still attached to their necks.

   While KC was relieved that none of those men were her Seishi (or were holding any grudges, for that matter), it didn't really help her current situation. A few more late arrivals had trickled in after the rest had already gone, but none of them appeared to have a mark, either. One or two insisted that they were a Seishi, but a few simple questions and a quick round of combat with both Tamahome and Hotohori quickly put an end to that ruse. None of them stood a chance against the two highly-skilled warriors, and they gave up trying after only a few minutes.

   In the meantime, KC still had four more people to find. People who could potentially be scattered halfway across the world, and just sitting around on her duff avoiding the Seishi she did have wasn't going to get her anywhere.

   "So where've you been hiding all day?"

   KC squealed loudly and jumped three feet into the air. "T-T-Tama!" she gasped, clutching at her heart. "Would you not do that?" She punched him soundly on the arm and glared. "What are you, part cat?"

   "S-s-sorry about th-that."

   His apology might have sounded more sincere if he didn't have to force it out between guffaws.

   KC tapped her foot, crossed her arms and pursed her lips until the Seishi managed to calm down. "So," he continued, "you didn't answer my question. Oh, wait!" A sly grin crossed his face. "I know where you were. Probably holed up in His Majesty's bedr—" He suddenly found her clenched fist two inches from his nose.

   "Finish that sentence and you'll be eating my knuckles. For your information, I wasn't 'holed up' anywhere. Where've you been, anyway?"

   "Who me? Oh, I was asked to … escort the rest of those guys out of town. Just to make sure they found their way and all." His smile bordered on evil and KC decided she'd rather not know. "I figured since I was already there I might as well do a few odd jobs while I was at it." He casually pulled what looked like a string of coins with holes drilled into the middle of them from his tunic. "Been earning me some spare cash." He cackled and held the weird-looking money to his cheek lovingly before looping the string around his neck like a gaudy necklace.

   KC pouted. "You went into town and didn't take me?"

   "Well, I'd have invited you along, but I figure what with you being engaged and all, you'd rather spend your time snuggling with your boyfriend," he sniggered.

   "I'm not engaged, you dork," she huffed, turning red. "I didn't exactly say yes."

   Tamahome's jaw dropped, and he immediately placed a warm hand against her flushed forehead. "You turned down the Emperor of Konan's proposal? Are you sick or something?"

   "Shut up," KC hissed when his exclamation managed to attract the attention of several nearby servants. She gripped his sleeve and pulled him further away. "I kind of told him no, but he seemed to take it as more of an 'I'll think about it' and I didn't really correct this assumption…"

   "So there's still hope. Just tell him you thought about it and have decided you'd be completely insane to reject him," Tamahome pressed.

   "But I don't even know the guy that well. I'd be completely insane to just accept him. Besides, I've gotta go home at some point, you know."

   "Girls from your world really are crazy," Tamahome scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief.

   "I'm not crazy. I'm practical."

   "Whatever. I'm gonna count my money now, so if you'll excuse me…" And with that, he pulled the string from his neck and started tallying his coins. Right there in the middle of the walkway.

   KC wrinkled her nose as she watched him. "You have a really creepy look on your face."

   "Twenty-two… Uh-huh," he murmured distractedly.

   She rolled her eyes. "And your head's on fire."

   "Thirty-nine… That's nice. Be quiet. Forty-one…"

   "Fifty-three. Ninety-two."

   "F-forty-five… Forty-six…"

   "Sixty-seven. Twenty-two. Nine hundred and eighteen. Twelve."

   "Ninety—Er, no. Wait… Twenty-seven… I mean, nine hun—Gah! Stop that!" Tamahome glared at her as she snickered.

   "Serves you right for ignoring me. By the way, you haven't seen Nuriko around, have you?"

   "Why, are you looking for her?" he responded absently as he recounted his precious coins.

   "Oh, sure. It's a secret fetish of mine. To have my living flesh flayed from my bones by jealous former concubines with permanent PMS, I mean."

   "Oh. Well, in that case, did you check her room?" Tamahome finally reached the end of his coin string, frowned darkly and untied the knot to dump its contents onto the middle of the walk. Where he then proceeded to count them all over again, muttering something about being stiffed three coins.

   KC sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead. "And clearly, the only way I'm gonna get any decent conversation out of him is if I glue a bag of money to my face," she grumbled as she stalked away.

~*~*~*~*~

   As it turned out, Nuriko was not in her room. Rather, she stood just outside it. She leaned against the railing of the outer hallway, gazing wistfully up at the sky, which was just showing the pale colors of sunset. It's amazing how pretty and serene she looks when she isn't attempting to gouge out my eyeballs, KC thought as she cautiously approached.

   If Nuriko was aware of her Priestess's presence, she gave no sign of it. Nevertheless, KC didn't relax her guard any more than she would around a coiled-up rattlesnake. After a long moment, during which she continued to be ignored, she drew in a deep breath and forged ahead. "So, um, I guess our plan kind of backfired a little, huh?"

   A finger twitched on Nuriko's right hand.

   "Look. I swear on my father's grave—Well, I would if he was dead, anyway—that I had no idea Hotohori felt even remotely anything like that for me. I mean, I still think it was like all some big joke and that the next time he sees me he's gonna laugh in my face about it. I can't imagine someone like him would feel … that way… about somebody like me. It just doesn't compute."

   Nuriko glanced over at her through icy eyes, her face perfectly expressionless. KC fought the overwhelming urge to shiver.

   "Eh … um … he was fatigued and suddenly got possessed by an evil spirit and went temporarily blind and mistook me for you?"

   The Seishi gave a rather unladylike snort as her lips twitched upward, just a little. "Oh, never mind." She sighed dramatically and delicately massaged her temple. "How can I possibly stay angry at somebody as pathetic as you?"

   "Um." KC couldn't decide whether she felt more relieved or insulted.

   "All the same." Nuriko fixed her with a pointed look. "You cost me my best maidservant, my place in the seraglio, and my future husband all within a single week. Don't I have just cause to be a bit … miffed?"

   "That's not my fault!" KC protested.

   "Of course it is. You showed up, didn't you?" Nuriko sniffed and turned her nose into the air. "Mei Lin was my only servant, you know, and very well-trained. I haven't found a suitable replacement for her yet."

   "She's not a poodle," KC muttered. It would probably be unwise at this juncture to point out that the reason why Mei Lin was so obedient was because "Lady Kourin" scared the shit out of her. "Besides," she continued grumpily, "it wasn't like I asked Hotohori to take away your maid, and I sure as hell never asked him to propose to me!"

   "Well, all you need to do about that is turn him down, of course." Nuriko calmly picked a stray thread off the embroidery of her sleeve.

   "Well…"

   She shot the Priestess a sharp glance. "You did turn him down, didn't you?"

   KC squirmed guiltily. "I tried to, but…"

   "But what?" Nuriko growled.

   "Well, I sort of got the feeling he wasn't going to give up so easily. I mean, he is the emperor, right? I'm probably, like, the first person who ever told him no. It's probably just an ego thing, that's all. Doesn't wanna lose face being rejected by me," KC hurriedly explained.

   Nuriko pursed her lips. "Then I suppose you'll just have to resist his advances until he does give up," she said. "It shouldn't be so hard. A man can only take so much rejection before his pride gets the better of him, after all."

   KC scowled. "Sure. I'll do that. Piece of cake," she muttered sarcastically. Nuriko made it sound so easy, but fending off Hotohori when he was in full-out, come-hither seduction mode was about as simple as catching rain in a butterfly net. She was only human, after all. Her poor, teenage hormones could only handle so much testosterone before her higher brain functions began to shut down.

   As her last encounter with the enigmatic emperor had so nicely proven.

   "As for Mei Lin, if you simply send her back to me, I suppose I'll be willing to forgive you for that little misunderstanding, as well."

   KC winced. She couldn't possibly do that to Mei Lin. It'd be on par with sending a lamb into a wolf den, and she'd never live it down if she ended up permanently traumatizing the poor kid. "Can't you just … train another girl or something? Mei Lin just got settled in and—"

   "I've already told you, nobody else is working out. Lazy girls, the whole lot of them."

   KC gritted her teeth. "Well, what if … I stepped in and took over for awhile," she offered tightly. "Just 'til, you know, you can find a proper replacement."

   "Hmmm …" Nuriko pressed a finger to her pursed lips and eyeballed her in the manner of a lion sizing up an unwary gazelle. "The Priestess of Suzaku, whom I am meant to serve … serving me, instead?" A slow smile spread across her lips, one that set KC's teeth on edge. "I do believe that irony is simply too delicious to pass up!" She reached out to snatch KC by the wrist. "Very well, your offer is accepted. Let's get started right away. A trial run, shall we say?"

   KC yelped as she found herself being hauled into the Seishi's chambers and confronted with the sight of clothes and linens draped everywhere. Dishes on the small table waited to be cleared, and the whole room contained the sort of general untidiness she might expect to find in … well, her own bedroom, to be exact. "Wow. This place is a pigsty," she commented, impressed. Then yelped when Nuriko's bruising grip tightened painfully.

   "Very observant. Clean it up," she growled as she shoved a broom into KC's free hand. "I'll be having my evening bath, now. When I come back, I expect this place to be presentable. You have two hours."

   And with a careless wave of her hand, Nuriko swept from the room and left the befuddled Priestess wondering what she'd just gotten herself into.