Wildflowers ~ Chapter 3

“I bet you I run faster than you do.”

“Do not!”

“I bet I do!” Kurei said with a smirk, looking at Renge from under a mess of golden bangs. The two sat beside the small lake near their lands, having just recently jumped in to cool themselves from the summer heat. “Besides, you're tinier than me, so I have an advantage anyway!”

“Nuh uh! I'm not tiny! Even if I was, I bet I could still run faster than you can!” Renge shot back, standing from where he had sat on the waters edge.

Kurei smiled, taking Renge's standing as a challenge, and stood as well. “Then how about we race?” he asked, smiling at Renge in the way the he hated. “To the docks? What do you say, Renge? Or are you going to wimp out like the pretty little girl that you are?”

“I'm not a girl, Kurei, you ass!” Renge cried, his hands balling into fists at his side. “And I'll race you any time, any place! And win, too!”

“Hahaha, we'll just see about that!” Kurei said with a devilish grin, before he dashed off around the lake shore, leaving Renge to stand by himself slightly confused.

“Hey! No fair! Cheater!” he called, as he ran after his garnet-eyed companion.

“Tch,” was all Kouka would say, rather miffed, as he tended to Tsumekuso's slight head injury. He needed stitches, and as Kouka laced the thread through his skin, Tsumekuso only bit his lip, and winced when he finished. He was at least brave, Kouka would have to give him that. There was faint evidence of other similar injuries to the boy's head, and various other places, at which Kouka gave yet another ‘tch', and then busied himself with putting his sparse medical tools away.

All the while, Tsumekuso had only sat there quietly, often with a smile on his pretty lips, following Kouka with his eyes, something that unnerved the purple haired slave. Finally, he gave up trying to ignore him, and turned on him, glaring down at him in a very inconvenienced way though he continued to smile. “So, Tsumekuso, was it... Why the hell don't you say anything? Like ‘hi' or, I don't know, how about... ‘Thanks'.”

He only grinned up at Kouka. “'A slave is not to speak unless it is required by their duties',” an obvious quote from some Nurikan law. “And neither of my duties require me to do so,” he said simply, his eyes never leaving Kouka.

“And what the fuck, pray tell, are your duties?” Kouka asked, a brow raised to the high-and-mighty demeanor of this slave.

“'To work in the mines where it's hot, and then make it hot where it's not',” he said with a mischievous grin, winking at Kouka. “And seeing as how there don't seem to be any mines around, and you seem to be a strapping young lad -and my superior...” Having said which, he hooked his fingers to the top of Kouka's pants and pulled him forwards.

“Hold on just an effing minute!” Kouka growled, grabbing Tsumekuso's wrist and harshly pinning him against the wall by it. He noticed, however, the involuntary wince that crossed Tsumekuso's otherwise perky features, and looked at his wrist under his fingers only to find old bruises and burn marks. Tsumekuso wrenched his hand away, and held it to his chest, his head bent over it.

“The prince likes to have his fun...” Tsumekuso said with a pathetic laugh, his fingers gingerly tracing the bruises on his other wrist. “Who am I to deny him is princely privileges..?”

Kouka frowned, and crossed his arms, staring down at the pathetic excuse for a teenage boy before him. He was pretty, sure, and seemed to be physically strong enough to somewhat handle what he was dealt. That's probably how he'd attracted Yuusuge's attention. That and the fact that he seemed so willing to please. He wondered how long it had taken for the boy to break...

“My name is Kouka,” he finally said with a sigh, shaking his head slightly at the boy. “You're not a sadist prince's toy anymore, so you're not required to do... That. The most strenuous thing you'll be doing here is kitchen duty under me, but you sure as hell had better do that well.”

Tsumekuso snorted and giggled, grinning wryly up at his superior. “Yes sir, I'll be sure to do a good job under you.” Kouka only rolled his eyes and turned on his heel to leave. Why did things like this always happen to him..?

“Damnit... Kingyosou!”

“Y-yes brother..?” the young prince answered meekly, stepping into his older brother's temporary room. He'd given up trying to chase around Kanakuri, as Bara had drug him off with such efficiency. Besides which, Kingyosou was sure he'd have much alone time with his idolized prince later...

“Come in here, you stupid little ingrate,” Yuusuge growled, and his young sibling instantly complied, stepping in the doorway and to the side of the bed the older prince sat on, quite obviously brooding. He grabbed a handful of Kingyosou's long red hair, and turned his head up to glare down at him. “You're so useless,” he finally said, pushing him away.

“I'm not useless, brother...” Kingyosou said quietly, crawling on the bed beside his brother. He leaned onto the older young man, his hands on his shoulder. “Please tell me I'm not useless, brother Yuusuge. I got especially pretty today just for you-”

“Don't lie to me, you little prick,” Yuusuge shot angrily, pushing Kingyosou off of him and onto his back on the bed, his hand covering his younger brother's face. “You got all dolled up for that stupid prince Kanakuri, your unrequited love, you little liar.”

“Kanakuri's not stupid..-!”

Yuusuge glared, and then moved his hands from Kingyosou's face to his neck. “Don't you dare contradict me, you worthless idiot.” Kingyosou choked out a sob and an apology, and Yuusuge let up his hand. “Don't be so weak,'” he said softly, his thumb tracing his brother's bottom lip. “I wish I could kill you, Kingyosou. But gods you do look so pretty today...”

Kingyosou smiled, and put his hand on top of Yuusuge's. “I'm glad you think so, brother,” he said happily. “You said you liked these robes..-”

“Well I lied,” Yuusuge shot, leaning down so his lips were nearly brushing against Kingyosou's, his eyes heavy with lust. “I hate you in everything. I hate you. Everything about you. I'd kill you if I could.”

“Please don't' say you hate me, brother!” Kingyosou cried, tears in his eyes. “Please don't hate me!”

“Why?” The older prince asked, glaring down at him. “Do you want me to love you?”

“Yes...”

“Right here?” he asked, smirking in a sultry way, his hand slipping down Kingyosou's chest to deliver feather soft touches to a sensitive part of him. His younger brother bit back a moan, and wrapped his arms around his neck, pulling him closer. “Right now?”

“Yes,” Kingyosou managed to squeak out.

“Did you lock the door?”

“O-of course...”

“Good boy,” Yuusuge said, a smirk upon his lips.

Tsumekuso had driven Kouka insane all day. Not because of insubordination, or because he was just horrible with menial tasks. It was the exact opposite. He followed Kouka around all day, and did every little thing that he was instructed too. Always, which was the worst part, with that stupid grin on his lips like it was his idea or.. Kouka really didn't know. He just didn't know what to make of this crazy, green-haired slave from Nuriko.

Nor did he know what to do with him. He had told the king of Yuusuge's ‘selfless gift', but he had seemed thoroughly uninterested, and just told Kouka to look after him until he had the time to order his room prepared. At which, of course, Kouka, eager to rid himself of the strange young man, offered to do it himself, but was told only that acquiring and housing a royal slave took time, and it would be seen to once it could be done thoroughly and right, by the correct people, and not a moment before.

So he was stuck, it seemed, rooming with the newest cause of his seemingly constant annoyances. It was just as bad as putting up with Bara or her will-less brother, though perhaps worse because Tsumekuso actually listened to him, something he wasn't sure how to react to.

At present, the annoyance in question was sitting on his bed, lazily kicking his feet back and forth, smiling -of course. Kouka narrowed his eyes as he looked at him, but finally gave up in exasperation, deciding it wasn't entirely the boy's fault. “We can't both sleep on the bed, you know,” he said finally. “It's not exactly large.”

And that was true. It was only a twin size bed, because Kouka preferred sleeping in the dinning wing where he worked most often to the much more lavish slave quarters by the king, who rarely required his services by nightfall. Tsumekuso's smile only widened. “Then I'll sleep on the floor.”

“No you wont,” Kouka said, rolling his eyes. “There's no way I'll go on any guilt trip tonight on your account.”

“Well it's your room,” Tsumekuso said with a pout. “So you shouldn't have to sleep on the floor...” His familiar smile crossed his lips again, and he scooted back onto the bed, leaning against his elbows. “We could share, you know. It looks like enough room for two, if you ask me,” he said with a smirk, his eyes intent on Kouka.

Kouka rolled his eyes, and grabbed a pillow off of the bed. “I'll sleep on the floor.”

“Waait,” Tsumekuso protested, much to his own dismay closing his legs at the same time. “I'll scoot over, and I promise I wont take up much room. I'm all skin and bones anyway,” he said with a grin. “And I promise to face the wall, and you can face the door, and you don't have to see me all night... C'mon, please,” he said with a pout, and Kouka rolled his eyes again.

“Fine. You'd better not snore or kick or anything, Because I swear I'll kick your ass out of this room so fast...”

“Mmm, is that the only thing you'll be doing to my ass tonight..? Kidding, kidding! Ah, geez! Watch it where you throw that pillow, mister!!!”

Aww, Kanakuri didn't make it in here at all~ :) Oh well, I suppose he's not really the main character in this anyway.. Hahaha, I can't believe I would say that~