Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Night's End ❯ Chapter Three ( Chapter 3 )

Disclaimer: Weiß Kreuz and Weiß Kreuz Glühen belong to Project Weiß and whoever else has dibs on them now. I, certainly, am not one of those people, and do not claim to be. (Though it sure would warm up these cold winter nights! ^.~)

Chapter Three

He was reading, sitting in his favorite chair by the window with the book open in his lap, when the page knocked. Sighing, but not really annoyed as it was a tome on military tactics and therefore dry as the earth in a drought, he set the book aside.

"Yes?"

"Your lordship asked to be notified when the new Consorts arrived, and they have. The convoy were just escorted through the gates, and the Healers are preparing the humans for the cleansing now."

"Ah, I see. How long until the Healers are ready?" He realized suddenly that he had leaned forward in his chair, as though reaching for the news, and relaxed against the back with a small groan. It wouldn't do to look so eager later, when he was given his choice of the small beauties.

"An hour, perhaps two if all does not go smoothly."

"Very well. Dismissed."

He waited, listening to the ringing of the page's footsteps recede down the hall before turning back to his book.

***

They had been bathed, all of them together in a large pool set into the floor of a long and exquisitely decorated room. Mosaics had covered the walls, ceiling and floor of the room, every scene displaying kitsunes conquering the enemy in epic battles or performing feats of courage. Even the floor of the pool had been covered with the colorful pictures, and the boys had whispered and exclaimed as they scrubbed themselves vigorously. It had felt so good to be clean finally, after so many long days of travel in the filth of the cart! The guards, apprentice healers it seemed, had stood outside the bathing room door, listening carefully but not interfering, and that small fact had only served to make the bath a hundred times sweeter. After their bath they had been given short gray tunics and had been led to another room, this one containing a row of sleeping pallets and smelling strongly of dried herbs and healing potions. From there they had been taken one by one to the small examination room with its bare wooden table in the center of the floor, to be examined thoroughly by the kitsune healer.

Omi had lain, naked and shivering, on the bare wood table in his turn and borne it quietly as the healer pressed experienced fingers into his soft belly. Up and down his body the fingers had ranged, sometimes pressing only the fingertips against his flesh, other times kneading the muscles with the heel of the hand. His teeth had been minutely scrutinized, his hair picked over and his scalp massaged, his hips measured with a long tape like the one Omi himself had occasionally used to gauge the dimensions of a particularly long piece of weaving. His sex and scrotum had been examined, his thighs held apart and his anus probed at length with a single fingertip. And through it all he had obeyed without question, mindful of the two apprentice healers ready to assist should he cease cooperating and not wanting to be held forcibly in place so long as he could avoid it. When the examination was at last over he had been returned to his pallet and tucked neatly beneath the thin sheet, the order to stay where he was put stern but not unkind.

The last boy was led, shaking and sobbing softly, from the cubicle a short while later and when he was folded safely into his cot and had calmed a little the healer's two apprentices had passed out twelve bowls of steaming hot soup, one to each of the exhausted humans. The food had tasted remarkably good after four days of nothing but increasingly stale bread and salty dried meat and had been wolfed down with barely a pause for breath. Ten minutes later, all twelve of the boys were sound asleep, thanks partly to their exhaustion from the tension of the journey but mostly thanks to the sleeping aid that had been mixed into their soup broth.

***

Another knock on the door, this one entirely unexpected, made him glance up in annoyance and close his book, keeping one finger between the pages to mark his place.

"Hn."

"Ah, Aya, so you haven't left! Well, are you going to let me continue standing here in the hall?"

Aya shut his eyes, allowing his head to fall back against the chair. "No, Yohji, give me a moment." Trust Yohji to appear just when he wanted a few moments of blessed quiet to steady himself. He stood up, brushing his robes smooth around his legs, and set the book aside on the writing desk as he made his way to the door. It did not do to keep Kudou Yohji waiting; he could be insufferably loud and irritating when he felt he was being forgotten or ignored, and Aya preferred not to be reminded of his lapse in manners for months to come.

Slipping the door open, he waved Yohji inside with a curt flick of the wrist. Yohji, knowing that his childhood friend had a short temper at the best of times, wasted no time edging past him into the room, throwing a cheeky smile over his shoulder as he went. "Since when does the indomitable Aya answer the door in person? Has your manservant taken ill?"

"No, I sent his down to the slave's quarters to fetch a suitable attendant for my Consort. He hasn't returned as yet."

Yohji laughed. "Ah, yes, I imagine I would have trouble finding something that you would deem 'suitable' down there as well. Do you mind my asking why one of those and not one of the trained attendants that Reiji offers?"

Aya growled low in his throat. Yes he minded, minded terribly, wanted only to be left alone and allowed to think in peace. None of which could he rouse the heart to say out loud to the overly cheery kitsune, he found to his further irritation. "I wanted something with spirit, obedient and capable but not a limp rag like those trained things. Something that is worthy to care for my Consort and for my children when the time comes."

Yohji shook his head. Aya had always wanted the impossible, or the nearly impossible, and had never expected any less from himself or anyone around him. This was only one more example of a trait that, Yohij felt, would one day drive his childhood friend insane. But he let it go for the moment. "And good luck to your poor manservant. At any rate, I came to ask if you felt inclined to walk down to the Great Hall with me. A page came with the summons a few minutes ago and I told him not to bother informing you, that I would tell you." A wicked glint lit his green eyes, and he winked easily at the other kitsune. "In truth, he seemed rather relieved to be shed of the responsibility."

Aya ignored the playful insult, going instead into his bedchamber to the armoire in the corner of the room and plucking out an outer robe before returning. "Let us go, then; Reiji does not like to be kept waiting and the Choosing cannot begin until all are present."

The Great Hall was filled with silent spectators when they entered, but to Aya's silent relief only three of the six prospective young nobles were present. He would never have forgiven Yohji if they had been the last ones in their places, but as they were only next to last he settled with sending a scorching glare in the other kitsune's direction. Yohji, as usual, responded with a carefree grin and shrugged easily in apology.

As it happened, Reiji, the chieftain, was the last to arrive. Reiji's two sons, Masafumi and Hirofumi, had elected not to attend as their own Consorts were due to birth soon and were confined to bed, but Reiji himself had no such scruples and had brought along his Consort, Sena, though he was heavy with child. The boy stood, shifting uncomfortably from foot to foot to ease the pain in his lower back, as Reiji gave the traditional congratulatory speech and then called forth the first of the impatiently fidgeting young nobles.

Crawford, heir to a fair-sized barony and present only because it was expected that he bring forth heirs of his own to continue the line of descent, walked resolutely to the long table where the twelve thickly swaddled bundles had been laid out in a neat row. Beginning with the closest bundle, he methodically pulled back the blankets just far enough to peer in at the small face, replaced the cloth and moved on to the next in the row. At last, more than half-way down the table he stopped and nodded decisively.

"I, Crawford of the southern barony, hereby claim this Consort as mine own."

Reiji made an expansive gesture tht bespoke a high lord conferring a trifle upon an unworthy and gave the traditional response. "And may your seed bloom within him and may he bear you many heirs to carry on your line." Crawford acknowledged the reply and took his leave, returning to his rooms with his new Consort clutched firmly in his arms.

Two more nobles were called, each one taking a bit longer than the last as they went from Consort to Consort and back again, seemingly unable to make up their mind. But at last, they too called out their claims and Reiji responded, sending them on their way with their new mates. Aya was the fourth, and as he stepped forward he wondered briefly what he would do if none of those left lying there on the table interested him. He had never heard of anyone refusing to take a mate in the Choosing, but he could not see lying with a human boy who did not interest him. Steeling himself, he pulled back the cloth from the first bundle and found himself staring down into the pale face of a boy with delicate high cheekbones and a small pink mouth. The eyes, hidden under transparent lids that were fringed with dark brown lashes, would be large and gently slanted when open, probably as brown as the wisps of hair that curled down over the high forehead. Altogether a beautiful boy, but not the right one. Firmly, Aya replaced the cloth and moved down the row to the next. This boy also was lovely, his nose small and upturned and his hair a pale shade of gold that could be lighter if he were allowed to spend too much time in summer sunlight. But still not the right one; not the boy that Aya had seen with his mind's eye on late winter nights when he could not find his rest.

It was with something like despair that he reached the final bundle in the line and stood for a brief second before it. If this one, this last of his hope, was not his then what would he do? Which one of the ones before would he take instead? True, they were all beautiful and were no doubt all quite capable of being trained as he saw fit, but they were none of them his. With a sigh, he reached out and took hold of the cloth masking the face of the final boy.

And realized swiftly that there had been no need to worry himself. There, framed in a nest of Healer's-gray blanket and flushed with sleep, was the face that he had been expecting behind every flap of cloth before. A small face, smaller than any of the others save the first, with golden lashes and round pink cheeks. The mouth was bitten red, and flashes of white teeth shone as the boy worried his lower lip in his sleep. Relieved, Aya reached out and touched a finger to the damaged flesh, watching as the teeth stopped their work immediately and a pointed tongue reached out to probe the fingertip briefly before slipping back inside. Then he turned and acknowledged his choice, his voice ringing strongly in the echoing room.

"I, Aya of the house of Fujimiya, hereby claim this Consort as mine own."

"And may your seed bloom within him and may he bear you many heirs to carry on your line."

Swiftly he swept his precious bundle up and wove his way through the crowd of onlookers, hardly hearing the soft congratulations as he made his way to the door. His manservant was waiting in the corridor and held out his arms to take his master's burden, but Aya waved him off and continued on down the hall, his servant falling in behind him. "Did you find what I sent you for, Reiichi?"

"Yes, master, I found an attendant. He will require some training, but the overseer swore that he is capable of learning and that he has already well-learned in the basics. Dressing, bathing, providing amusement, and the like."

Aya frowned, shifting his burden in his arms as he thought. "What will he require training for, then?"

Reiichi winced. "Well, it seems that the boy has an unfortunate tendency to speak out of turn and to use language unbecoming to his new station when he is angered. He can be returned if you do not approve of him, of course, but he is quite good at everything else that is requisite. And the overseer says that he is entirely responsible, only a bit rough about the edges..."

Aya stopped in the middle of the corridor, staring sharply at the man who had cared for him since he had left the nursery. For an instant it seemed that he would be angry, but then the moment passed and he resumed walking. "Very well, I will take that into account. I trust your judgement; it has never steered me wrong before. But if he proves himself unfit and will teach my Consort vulgarities I will not allow him to stay."

Reiichi nodded, keeping his head down and his eyes fixed on the stone floor of the corridor as he followed his master.