The moon was bright and full, the clear sky lit with stars. Smoke drifted lazily from the village roofs into the chill night air as Shion sat outside and waited. He huddled his knees against his chest in a futile effort to keep warm, minutely aware of his groaning stomach. His anxious fingers traced out the edges of the flute which hung at his waist in much the same position as Lord Kamui wore his sword. The irony caused a slight smile to spread across his lips.

He hoped he’d be given somewhere to wash. His skin felt oily, filmed over with dirt and dried sweat, and he sincerely doubted he smelled appealing, either.

Lord Kamui had the most marvelous scent. His hair and skin were always clean, and he had many sets of fine clothes. Sometimes Shion wondered how the man didn’t find him downright repugnant. Surely he’d had many lovers, handsome men far more suited to his station who knew exactly what they were doing. Of course, he wasn’t entirely ignorant of such things, and the body of a lord was no different from anyone else’s, he just had no idea what Kamui expected of him-

A sudden movement on the road jarred him from his thoughts. A dark, slender figure was heading towards him, settled atop a trotting horse. As it came nearer, the moonlight caught at the emerald eyes gleaming between the black cowl covering its head and the one obscuring the lower half of its face.

Shion rose to his feet, bowing, as the boy quietly brought his mount to a stop before him.

“I told you not to do that,” the messenger protested, lowering the cloth to reveal his face. “I am Kagamine Len. I carry Lord Kamui’s seal.” He recited the customary introduction in a bored tone of voice, reaching out to present a tiny scroll sealed with a wax insignia. Shion nodded his recognition, and the youth stuffed it unceremoniously back into his garments. “You already know why I’ve come here, so climb up behind me, quickly.”

Shion was somewhat hesitant in his approach. He’d never been near such an animal before, let alone tried to ride one. Kagamine sighed, grabbing hastily at his arm in an effort to help pull him up. “I know it’s awkward, but- just pretend it’s a tree.”

As absurd as it was, the strategy seemed to work rather well. Somehow between his own clumsy movements and the boy’s impatient wrangling, he managed to get his legs over the horse’s back.

“Hold on to my waist. I’ll try not to shake you around.”

The horse began to move. Shion was certain Kagamine was taking great care to keep his word, but he felt his body constantly slipping one way or the other and was genuinely afraid he would fall off.

“You’re too stiff,” the boy remarked, as if sensing his thoughts. “You have to roll your hips a little.” He moved Shion’s hands down along his torso and held them firmly in place. “Do you feel what mine are doing?”

Shion nodded, his forehead pressed hard against the boy’s warm back. His face was hot- he was honestly glad Kagamine couldn’t see it. Keeping his lower body a careful distance away, he attempted to mirror the movement, apparently with some success. The boy held onto Shion’s hands for what seemed like a very long time. How could he sit so straight and tall, clinging to the great beast with nothing more than his legs?

“Wouldn’t it have been easier just to walk?”

“It isn’t safe to walk the roads at night.” Kagamine removed his hands and whispered something to his mount, which obediently quickened its pace. “When Kamui first came to this province, his reputation kept thieves and criminals away, but after the summer campaign they began to reappear. Someone made it known that he was sick and injured, probably one of the enemy’s men who witnessed it on the field.”

Shion scanned their surroundings with a growing sense of unease.

“Don’t worry. They won’t attack a man on horseback.”

His fear of falling increased exponentially on hearing those particular words. Shion closed his eyes tightly and kept his forehead pressed against the boy’s lithe back.

He’d always assumed Lord Kamui had sequestered himself in the fortress because he was too proud to admit someone had gained the upper hand with him in battle. He’d never stopped to consider the practical implications of the daimyo being seen and his injury being known. It wasn’t stubbornness that had led the man to the training grounds, day after day, but necessity. Lord Kamui hadn’t been refusing to acknowledge the seriousness of his injury. He’d very likely thought of nothing else, all that time knowing, fearing, what the future would bring both to him and to those he wished to protect-

“We’re breaking in to a gallop. There are men ahead of us, in the road. I suspect they mean to startle our mount and make him throw us, but this is one of Kamui’s warhorses. He’ll trample them underfoot if they refuse to give way. You have absolutely nothing to fear, Shion. Do you understand?”

He nodded slightly. “I trust you, Kagamine.” Something about the boy’s presence was oddly reassuring. His utter lack of panic made it easy not to be afraid- well, that, along with the fact Shion’s eyes were still closed and his arms still held Kagamine’s body rigidly in front of him.

“Let’s show these overconfident idiots what men in Kamui’s service are made of!”

Shion concentrated on the movements of the horse beneath him and the youth before him, the way they moved together, one flesh, one will. He felt himself borne along in this heady rush of determination and strength, and he found himself smiling. He opened his eyes just in time to see them, a group of big, powerful men scattering off in all directions. Kagamine managed to get a swift kick in on one of them. His foot connected squarely with the bandit’s jaw just before he crumpled onto the ground. One of the horse’s hooves thudded over another’s leg, and the man fell, howling in pain.

Shion waited breathlessly for some sort of retaliation, but the horse had already clearly outpaced them.

“Is that all of them?,” he asked in an urgent voice. “Are there others waiting?”

“The road before us is clear,” Kagamine responded. “But their plan wasn’t entirely stupid. If we’d brought a less well-trained horse, it likely would’ve worked, and they were clever enough to stage the attack just beyond view of the fortress.”

“Why would they bother? It’s not as though we’re carrying anything they might steal.”

“You’re wrong in that. I have Lord Kamui’s seal. That’s arguably the most valuable thing in this entire province, and, anyway, killing someone connected to the daimyo would send a pretty clear message that people should be afraid. It implies that their lord can no longer protect them-”

“Is that why you broke that man’s jaw?,” Shion asked quietly. “To send a message?”

Kagamine tilted his head in the direction they’d just come. “Do you want to go back and set it?”

He buried his face between the boy’s shoulder blades and softly shook his head.

“Serve Kamui in your own way. I’ll serve him in mine.” As if in response to some unseen signal, the horse began to slow its pace. “We’re coming up on the gate.”

A bleary-eyed guard came to meet them just outside, nodding briefly to Kagamine as he dismounted with acrobatic grace. Shion halfway slid and halfway tumbled to the ground. He met the man’s eyes awkwardly before turning away, a bloom of intolerable heat coloring his face.

“Finally brought someone home, eh, Kagamine?”

“No,” the youth responded matter-of-factly. “He’s for Kamui. Please relay the message that we’ve made it here safely.”

Shion wanted nothing more than to run off and hide somewhere in that moment, but instead he stood there silently, waiting for the gate to be opened. Kagamine handed off the horse to another guard, and together the two of them entered the courtyard.

“The nerve of them,” the boy complained under his breath the moment they made it past. “I don’t know why everyone just has to remind me-”

Kagamine’s face was as red as his own, now that he bothered to look at it. Embarrassment seemed a bit out of place on the boy’s set features.

“Try being introduced as ‘for Kamui,’ “ Shion teased.

“What’s so bad about that?” The youth kicked at the ground. “It’s a great honor to be chosen by the daimyo. You’re in service to him as much as anyone else here, and at this point, indulging his desire is probably the most helpful thing anyone could do for him.”

It must’ve been a very long time since Kamui had been with anyone. For Shion it felt like forever. It was deeper than that, too. Neither of them had family there, no one to seek out for comfort, a kind word, a gentle touch. All there had been- was pain, and isolation-

“Forgive me for asking this,” Kagamine added, “but why did you say yes to him if you’re so embarrassed by it?”

“I want to make Lord Kamui smile.”

The boy stared at him incredulously. “What- do you mean?”

“I want to make our lord smile,” he repeated. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever known. It doesn’t really matter how- I just want to see it and know I put it there, and I want to do all I can to make sure it never leaves him.”

Kagamine laughed, and kept laughing, as though he couldn’t stop.

Shion frowned at him. “Is there something wrong with my answer?”

“No, not at all! It’s just that-” The boy gave a casual shrug. “You’ve got a lot of work ahead of you.” He shook his head, still grinning. “I didn’t realize anyone could possibly be so innocent as that-”

“You’re the virgin here,” Shion muttered, half-under his breath. “Not me.”

A dangerous light leapt into Kagamine’s eyes for just the slightest moment, then vanished nearly as quickly as it had come. The boy levelled an appraising gaze at him. Oddly enough, something about it seemed to signal his approval.

He ushered Shion inside the nearest structure. The air was thick with incense and the smoke of burning oil, along with a strange humidity which made him feel a little dizzy.

“Where are the other servants?”

“There aren’t any.” Kagamine shut the screen behind them. “It’s dangerous belonging to a daimyo’s household. If this territory is ever taken by force, I will most likely be killed.” The boy shrugged slightly. “Perhaps worse.” Shion found it disconcerting how easily he dismissed this all-too-plausible fate. “Kamui only took me with him because I had no other place to go.”

“You lost your parents too, then.”

Kagamine gave him a sympathetic smile. “Let’s get you into the bath,” he coaxed, “before the water turns cold.” As the boy reached for the top of his sleeve, Shion instinctively pulled away. He tried once more, with the same result.

Kagamine put his hands on his hips. “How am I supposed to bathe you if you won’t undress?”

“It’s kind of you to offer, but I would prefer to do it myself-”

The boy shook his head. “The offer isn’t mine. It’s Kamui’s. Which is to say it isn’t really an offer at all, but a command.” Kagamine reached for his clothing yet again. “You mustn’t refuse a lord’s hospitality, Shion. It’s considered a terrible insult.”

He sighed. He’d already managed to do that only hours before, with nearly disastrous results.

“Kamui wants you receptive and relaxed.” The boy’s hand trailed over Shion’s collarbone. The touch was a bit too lingering, too intimate. He blushed hotly. “You must try to enjoy yourself.”

“Is that also a command?”

Kagamine favored him with a playful grin. “You know, you're pretty headstrong for someone who’s come to be Kamui’s plaything.”

"Lord Kamui’s. Not yours.”

“If he trusts me, though, shouldn’t you?” Some vague, long-suppressed impression of their first meeting back at the gate stirred deep within his memory. Kagamine had helped him then, hadn’t he? There, too, on the road-

The boy’s grin grew a bit more cunning. “Kamui hasn’t revealed much about himself, has he? Though I’m sure he’s spoken to you about all sorts of other things. I know everything about him, and I’ll tell you what you wish to know, all of Kamui’s secrets, but first you have to promise you’ll do exactly as I ask.”

“Everything- I want to know?”

Kagamine nodded. “Everything. All of it.” He leaned in closer. “All you have to do is trust me.”