the desk was ssed up with papers, a bleish a strangely priste roo ilated by soft candlelight dancg shadoere cast about, the wood arred here and there by splotches of bck k tenpou had been writg- or atteptg to write- had gotten so k sudges on his cheek and this was the ssiest kenren's seen hi four days

and it was suddenly like he stood a roo with a asked stranger who siled out of chanical habit and not bnd aent, whose eyes were not tenpou eyes becae tenpou eyes were sty when it ca to beg alone di candlelit roos with less than o feet beeen hi and kenren the way tenpou looked at hi now- as analytic as ever- ietly with his eyes whisperg and not ravagg over exposed skit was as if kenren were a torn picture he had tried to piece back together with the help only of a previo ory of his true iage the ory would superipose itself upon the picture

and then tenpou kissed hi, tickg his senses with soap and logne that seed to take on a different scent now- as if it were on different sk soft soft and not deandg ore than a siple touch but it felt like so uch ore than that becae as nocent as it was, it ade hi warr warr and so kenren beg kenren, took it past nocence and forced hakkai's outh open with a probg tongue, tastg sothg slightly of cnaon, aybe of vanil, aybe of t the absence of tobao was curio, and he pressed further to take ore

"h!" hakkai violently phed hi away and ctched his stoach it burned so uch-as if it were beg ripped open aga becae the d's ories were strong it caed his shoulder to burn it ade hi thk of ra and blood and then he knewthat scent of youkai was so strong nowthat they were ready to feast "hurts" was all he said, but it was enough for the taishou to understand and he went to cradle the other an if he weren't phed away aga

and he was gog to protest, aga, if a gentle hand hadn't cupped his cheek and shakg, stroked it gently "get dressed, taishou full unifor we have no ti for any of that now" hakkai said apologetically, though a sense of nubess had taken over hi, and slowly, steadily, he got up and worked his way to the desk

kenren jt uldn't pce tenpou's expression- one of solen ruation on dark thoughts that iplied ore than the general ever thought his arshal had experienced

"taishou" hakkai sisted to the general who hadn't yet oved and poted to the pile of bck clothes- now neatly folded- sittg at the foot of the bed "your unifor i will not have y general stark naked the iddle of an attack

kenren sighed this was pure adness; paranoia "you're sane, tenpou" but he plied anyway, frivololy tossg away the verg sheet and noticg tenpou turn away ebarrassnt, a bsh creepg to his cheeks

tenpou never bshed or turned away

a bre knock on the door of tenpou's study broke their ontary silence they looked at each other, then the arshal walked to the next roo, closg the separatg door behd hi before answerg the one hidg the visitor

"oh, it's you" kenren heard tenpou say the other roo, tackg "sir" hastily at the end of his greetg it t be goujun

silence and the general uld jt iage his andg officer takg a still-eyed peral of the study and he uld iage tenpou iddlg his thubs as he kept the dragon kg outside of his little sanctuary

"won't you e ?"

a ruffle of clothg, the steppg of boots that even sounded polished pierced the air- as a dragon's presence would, whether he be this for or that goujun looked to the arshal, who stood as erect as he uld, given his slg-cradled jury

"you keep clean arters, tenpou gensui"

"it's not ually like this, sir"

deep, blood red eyes bored to hakkai's relentlessly until turng away abruptly towards the k staed desk, and his k staed face and fgers "no, i'd iage not" with one look alone, hakkai felt vioted, as if the dragon kg had rely ed his cws to effortlessly rip away to his d and, with cunng deliberation, pick out a certa thought he deed eful to keep d

it ade hi unfortable, to say the least "what can i do for you, sir?" he all but stuttered

"nothg i was jt checkg that it was really you, issug those foolish orders and not your foolish general"

"it was , sir"

"yes, i'd iage it would be kenren taishou would be too dense to even-" he paed "but given that you are a kai as well, you should have been unable to perceive it also"

"perceive what, sir?" the eyes ca to hi aga, narrowed as his white scaly body stilled, waitg to feel the direction of so visible d one slender ear oved- ever so slightly- the look his eyes changed, and before hakkai knew it, sharp cws grasped his unifor and goujun pulled hi closer, the other hand forcg his ch up as the dragon kg lowered his face to a vulnerable neck