Four Quarters

South-west

They walked west in silence for what seemed a long time. It's the weed, Dokugaku thought, toking on an empty stomach... Making me sentimental. And the beer, a bit. Maybe- that- with Gojou too. Ah well. He was watching Kou walking a pace ahead of him- guarding Kou's back because that was what he was there for. Watching the well-knit body moving and the dark red hair looking black in the uncertain shadows of the moonlight, head a little bent as if in thought but senses all out and alert because Kou was like that too. Kougaiji stopped. Looked out over the forest before him. Dokugaku stopped. Looked at his prince.

"My brother," he said to the unspoken question. "The one I told you about."

"Half-brother," Kou said. "Half human."

"Forgot to mention that," Doku said. "And on the other side."

Kou didn't turn. "Not a problem?"

"Not a problem. Where else could he be? Most youkai can't tell he's half youkai. Not many humans know he's only half human. He has to be where he fits in."

"With Sanzou."

"With Sanzou. I'm not happy about it, but that's life. He makes his choices, I make mine."

"Unh." Kou nodded, matter settled as far as he was concerned. God, Doku thought, what's the matter with me? going all funny in his gut like he was melting inside. The beer- Gojou-- Yeah, well, Gojou. My asshole little brother who may grow up one of these days, he thought in affectionate exasperation. But since that was what was in the air-- He stepped out in front of Kou, knelt at his feet, and held up his hand, palm out. Kou held out his own hand, curiosity in the watchful green eyes. Doku took Kou's hand in both of his and laid it to his forehead.

"I, Dokugaku-ji, swear myself your man of life and limb, of service and honour, without let or limit, from this day forward. Henceforth my place is at your back. Your path is my path, your good is my good, your enemies are my enemies; your life will be my life and your death will be my death. All this I swear."

"You took that oath to me six years ago," Kougaiji remarked.

"And now I'm taking it again," Doku said, loosing his hand.

"You didn't have to, just because of tonight."

"I know. I'm doing it mostly cause I want to, and partly to make a point. Not to you, as it happens."

Kou was looking down at him. The silk jacket open as always over his russet coloured skin and the hard flat muscles of his chest and abdomen, and the Kou smell here in the chill night air.

"Who to, then?"

"The universe. And Sa Gojou, if he happens to be listening."

"Sa-- Gojou."

"My brother. You know who I am."

"I know who you are. I knew six years ago. But there was no need to say it. I didn't think you'd come to kneel at my feet just because you wanted protection from your kin. Was I wrong?"

"No. I didn't think you trusted your back to me just because you could give me a dog's death any time you wanted. Was I wrong?"

"No. Why are we talking about this then?"

"Just to have it said and over. Because there are too many things pulling you in two directions just now and I don't want to be one of them."

"Then tell me one thing before we send Sa Jien back to his grave. Why did you do it?"

"She had an axe in her hands and was bringing it down on his head. It'd come to that. I didn't care what she did to me, but when it came to him-- She couldn't see he was just a kid, a little kid who wanted her to love him. She couldn't see him at all. That was what her misery'd done to her. She didn't have anything to live for but the thought of how my father had hurt her, so I set her free of it."

"Ahh. I wondered." Kou was still looking down at him. Dokugaku waited. His hands were aching for the feel of Kou's smooth skin and hard muscle. But Kou-- it was better that Kou command him. Better for Kou himself. Something of the prince's long imprisonment had gotten into his soul- turned a part of him into unmoving granite like the mountain fortress he'd been pent in. It was as if the chains were still on him, invisible but binding, hindering his actions. Not for him any more the easy step between will and doing. Something sullen and stonelike and invisible blocked his way, pulling him towards a passivity that simultaneously enraged him. Torn in two directions, always; to be the tiger he'd been before Nataku had bound him with his father; to become wholly the passive stone that had imprisoned him for five centuries. Whatever it took to bring the tiger back, that Doku would do. And so he waited, hoping Kou wouldn't keep him long.

Kou's hand reached out and touched his hair. "My man, then?"

"Yes."

"And ready to prove it with your body?"

"Yes." Doku relaxed.

"And able?" Catlike amusement lurking in back of his serious eyes. Doku grinned.

"With a little inspiration."

"Uninspired by two beers and a joint? Pathetic."

He knew. Or sensed. "That and a few other things. You mind?"

"Your own brother?"

"His idea. And- oh hell, I don't know. It's the night."

To his surprise, Kougaiji laughed out loud. "It's the night, yes. You're not the only ones." A relief. Not the only--

"Kou!!" His jaw felt like it would hit the ground. Forgetting everything, he grabbed Kou desperately about the hips.

"No no no. What do you take me for?" Kou was half-amused and half-furious. "With that??"

"I- ohh, hell." He looked up at Kou, feeling Kou's body under his hands, feeling the lines of lust between them thickening to strong golden cords. The smile went from Kou's face. They were falling into each other as always before. The command was in Kou's eyes and that had to be enough, because Doku couldn't stand waiting any more. He reached out and unfastened the closings of Kou's trousers, drew them open and down. Kou was hard already, wanting him. Doku bent his head and took him into his mouth, and heard Kou's deep sigh of relief, an instantaneous reward. Kou's hands rested heavily on his shoulders, and his own hands grasped the hard rounds of Kou's buttocks. Slowly and carefully he mouthed at Kou, around Kou, flick flick with his tongue in the places Kou liked it. Kou sang a low deep note under his breath, the purr of a great beast.

Doku worked at him slowly, to spin it out, to hold off the pleasure for both of them. His hands squeezed Kou's ass. He loved the feel of Kou's ass, he loved kissing it and biting it and screwing it, and he was going to do that soon maybe, one or two or all of those things. 'It wasn't my idea and I bet it wasn't yours.' Well no- not to start with, how could it have been? But once he'd done it, done the impossible thing that Kou had asked of him, and learned to do it the way Kou liked it, well, after that he'd had no complaints at all about this part of his service. Straight fact- he loved it. Which he wasn't about to say to his snot-nosed little brother on the other side, who'd trot right off and tell Sanzou all about it. No way.

But he loved it when Kou lay naked on his bed, brown-russet skin and wine-red hair falling across the shot purple and burgundy silken cover, and he could tongue him front and back and front again, lap at him like this while Kou made that silver keening noise that reverberated in Doku's heart until it got too much for them both and he had to get himself inside Kou at last. He loved it even better when Kou did that for him, that dangerous thing he couldn't ask him for but adored when Kou did it, the thing he jerked off to on the nights when he was alone. He could see it clearly in his head even now- Kou with his back turned to him, crouched on elbows and knees, face buried in the cushions of his bed and arse upraised where Doku could reach it easily, open completely for his mouth and tongue so he could get at the tight red balls and the little puckered opening, could kiss the bit he loved so much just where the swell of Kou's ass met the leg, and Kou loved it too even if he hated it, hated the humiliating position and endured it because he loved it when Doku kissed him right at that line of flesh, he always came then and maybe tonight he'd do it again, maybe maybe as Kou began to quiver in his mouth--

"Stop--" Kou's nails dug into his shoulders, little pain points in the middle of Doku's red arousal. Doku's tongue stopped. Kou sucked air, panted above his head. The delicate scratch of a talon through his short hair, back and forth as Kou ran a finger across his scalp. Kou liked that too, liked the fact that Doku had to curve his back to do this and bend his head because of the difference in their heights, and that was fine. He'd lie on his belly and kiss Kou's feet if that was what Kou wanted. Kou's hand pushed his forehead back, gently, and Doku let him slip from his mouth. Looked up to see what Kou wanted done next.

The prince was looking down at him, face shadowed in the night. His fingers dug a little into Doku's shoulder. "I always make you do all the work," he said.

"That's what I'm here for."

"Maybe I should do my share for once."

Odd, the way his stomach dropped even as his heart lifted.

"If you like."

Kou nodded, silent.

"Sure. What do you want to do?"

"What you're thinking I want to do."

Odd. Doku was afraid. That was what the shrinking in his stomach was, had to be. Very odd. He was afraid of doing what Kou wanted, afraid to have Kou do to him what he did to Kou. He didn't dare look at the emotion any more closely, in case it turned out to be not fear but terror. Because whatever it was it couldn't be allowed to weigh with him any more than a feather. 'Without let or limit,' he'd just finished saying, and Kou was doing him the honour of taking him at his word. He put his face to Kou's stomach for a moment, pressed against the dark skin he loved so much. "That's my prince," he said approvingly, but what he meant was 'only for you, I couldn't do this for anyone else, only you.' He let him go, pulled down the suspenders that held his own loose trousers up, undid the fly and took them off. They were all he had on. Naked, he reached into his dimension pocket, behind the sword where he kept all his other stuff, including the cream he used for various things including, sometimes, this, and got it out. Took a scoop and put it on Kou, kneading him a little in his hands because it felt so good, while he faced the problem of getting it in himself. He always did it for Kou, because he liked doing that as well, but there was no way he could ask Kou to do it for him. And he couldn't do it himself. Couldn't. Even if it hurt, this was going to have to be enough.

He finished. Looked up at Kou. Kou looked back at him, long mouth flat and intent, eyes pooled with lust and ownership. "It's fine," he said to Kou's unspoken question. "You mind if we leave it like this?"

"I don't mind if you don't."

"Mh." He gave him a grin, wondering how he could, but it was exactly like being split in half, being two people feeling two perfectly separate things, and the half of him that was triumphant and proud and very deeply satisfied grinned up at his prince and ignored the half that wanted to throw himself on the ground and beg to be spared. Well, and he was going to do something pretty damned close to that too, because he could guess how Kou wanted him. He turned around, turned his back on Kou, and even as he thought 'I can't do this' put his forearms to the ground and his face on top of them and raised his ass, because he'd couldn't stand to have Kou say 'Get your ass up.' And because his face was hidden he could let his face go into a snarl, and he did, hating it hating it hating it almost more than he could bear, being like this, vulnerable and humiliated. And at the same time the other half of him was thinking 'this is what it's like for him, this is what it's like to be him when he does it for me' and no wonder Kou hated it, but also in a funny way it made him Kou's equal as he would never be otherwise.

Kou put a hand on the small of his back. Doku took a startled breath at the hot touch. Surprising that it felt so exciting, sending tingles up his spine straight into his brain. But then the heat of Kou's flesh was pressed up close against his ass as Kou knelt behind him, and he squeezed his eyes shut waiting for it to come. It didn't. Hardness came between his legs, pressing his balls to one side, but not inside him. Kou put his arms on Doku's back and leaned his weight on them.

"Do you want this?" Kou asked him, voice perfectly level.

There were two answers in his head, but only one would do out loud. "Yeah," he said, through his teeth.

"Tell me the truth. Your mouth says yes but your body says no. Do you want this?"
"Never mind what I want. Do what you want."

"What I want," Kou said, bending closer above him. "Easily said. You're not the first to tell me that. But it's not that simple, not for me. Why do I want this? To prove something to you? To prove it to myself? To prove it to Sanzou, who won't even know I've done it? Let's say I'm doing it because of something Sanzou said, and I rather think I am. Is it still my desire at work or is it Sanzou's desire working through me? How do I know what *I* want? I'm never a single I, I'm a whole multitude of Kougaijis, because I change a little every time I speak to another person or they speak to me, so that in the end I'm wrapped about with other people's thoughts like a fly trapped in a web. And so I have to ask you, Dokugakuji, my nearest and most loyal retainer-- because for you and for Sanzou and for his men all desire seems to be one and not the many it seems to me-- do you want this? Say yes and I'll do it. Say no and I'll stop. Which is it?"

Doku took a deep breath. "Both."

"That's no help," Kou's voice said, serious and amused at the same time.

"Tough," Doku said to the ground, holding on to the truth as he knew it. "It's the way it is. Nothing's simple in this world. Not for me, for sure, whatever it looks like." He turned his head a little to the side so Kou would hear him clear. "And forget what Sanzou says. He's a damned liar. You can take that as gospel, cause I got it from someone who ought to know." He heard Kou's little snort of amusement. That was better. "You want it straight, here it is. I hate this position. I'm scared spitless at the idea of being fucked. I'm so pleased you want to fuck me I just can't tell you how pleased I am."

"Why?"

"Which why? Because I feel like an asshole and because it's going to hurt and because I'm honoured that you're going to do for me what I've always done for you. Or that you want me to do for you what you've always done for me, if that's the way you look at it. Whichever, it's not a one-way street any more."

The little pinpricking of Kou's finger running down his spine. Doku caught his breath. Little shivers across his skin at Kou's touch...

"You're going to talk like you were my older brother until the day you die," Kou observed.

"Yeah, probably. Habit. I can't kick it. Is that a problem? You could do with an older brother occasionally."

"If you want someone to protect, there's your real brother. Though I don't suppose he'd let you."

"You don't suppose right. And I don't want to protect you. Just take the pressure off from time to time."

"To carry it yourself. Who takes the pressure off you?"

"You do. Half my responsibilities vanished when I became your man. Now I don't have to wonder what I want. I want what you want. It's really very simple, I don't know why you're making such a big deal out of it. What does it matter why you want to fuck me? If you want to, then do it."

"And do I want to?" Kou mused. He slid a little back and forth between Doku's legs. "This feels just fine, and infinitely cleaner."

"Clean I won't argue about, if it bothers you. Fine, I'm not so sure."

Kou stopped. "Hurts?"

"Uncomfortable."

"It'll hurt more if I'm in you."

"So? Kou, for God's sake- It's cold and I'm butt naked. Would you just make up your mind and do it?"

"Cold? Ah well then..."

Kou's hand reached beneath Doku and got hold of his cock. Hot, terribly terribly hot, Kou's hand, that had never before touched him there. Strong and hard, pulling at him roughly. His master's hand, and a red-hot tidal wave went through Doku at the idea, taking his sight and his thoughts and very nearly his self with it. He yelled, muffling his voice as much as he could, and his hips bucked wildly against Kou's body. He was pent like a steer in a corral, Kou in back of him, Kou's hand in front of him, caught and held and powerless.

He reared up onto his hands because his spine was trying to stretch his head as far away from his body as it could. "Kou!" he gasped, "Kou!" the one word he could say, his cock tortured inside Kou's dry hard hand wanting desperately to be inside the soft slick heat of Kou's ass, wanting only that and straining for the release it couldn't quite get. "Kou--" he gasped, "Stop--"

The hand stopped moving, but still gripped him hard. Doku's head dropped. He sucked air, face screwed up. "Do it," he said, on a sobbing breath. "Put it in. I want it--" not even sure that was true but wanting, yes wanting, whatever would take him over the edge if he couldn't have that other thing he wanted so much.

"Saa. Get down a little," Kou said, his hand pushing the small of Doku's back. Doku spread his legs to hold the position and steadied himself on his forearms. "Yes, that's right." Heat was all round Doku's eyes like tears trying to happen and his chest was full of something squeezing his lungs and his belly. Kou let go of him. Kou's hands were pulling his ass open. Doku screwed his eyes tight shut, braced himself desperately. He couldn't seem to feel anything but the aching in his cock, blind red need between his legs so stiff it brushed his stomach. Everything else was muffled by its yelling and so maybe he wouldn't feel- that- when it happened.

"Relax," Kou's voice said, thinner than usual, distant and far away. "Don't fight me." Something there, in the tight ring of muscle. Small-- sliding in- Kou's finger, carefully because of the sharp talon, sliding in easily, greasily he must have got the cream... Oh Kou-- he thought helplessly, pierced by a terrible tenderness, because Kou needn't have done that, shouldn't have done that for him. But of course, if he'd been thinking, it was exactly what Kou would do, because Kou put his people's welfare first and his own safety and convenience second. When you gave your life to Prince Kougaiji, he took good care of it for you because he knew- you both knew- that at any moment he might have to ask you for it permanently. Doku smiled without meaning to, felt his mouth lengthening all on its own as Kou's finger slid in and out of him, getting him good and lubed. How did he get so lucky to have a guy like this at the centre of his life, to have someone like Kougaiji take him on no questions asked? It was more than he could ever have deserved in five lifetimes of clean living and he was getting it all now. He relaxed all over, going soft and warm inside, welcoming his prince and his friend. Come on in Kou the water's fine and Kou slid into him, solid yeah and big enough and yeah it hurt some but not like he'd thought it would, he couldn't even tell did it feel good or didn't it, it just felt. And his cock seemed to have no complaints about it at all because the red heat there was going up behind his eyes and down his back and into his pelvis and he was glowing like a furnace with a three-tree fire inside it, stoking away and going hotter every time Kou moved out and then back into him.

He got his hand on himself, pulled and squeezed in time to the thudding feeling in his gut and his ass. But it was funny the way the feel-good feeling was all over him now, not in one place like it usually was, not really in his cock but in his ass as well and somehow in his belly and behind his eyes. He didn't quite know where to concentrate because what he was feeling most was Kou inside him moving in and out, not quite pain but not exactly pleasure, slow and rhythmic back and forth the way Kou himself liked it but somehow not quite enough for him. Doku worked at his cock hard, providing the fierceness he wanted for himself, and still somehow, he was still hanging on a hook of pleasure, going on and on with no sign of it stopping. And that was great, he didn't want it to stop but he wanted that moment when it went crescendo and it wasn't doing it. He groaned desperately, the sharp zzing feel in his ass the dull ache in his cock the heavy weight in his belly torturing him with their infinite not-yet. There was another sensation, the sharp scrape of Kou's nails sinking into his skin, the sign of orgasm. Then Kou was slumped across the small of Doku's back, lying atop him breathing deeply with his hair sliding across Doku's ribs. He so wanted to turn around, to hold Kou's sweaty and shaking body in those last moments to oh dammit have himself in Kou again. Couldn't. He was dying here, he could cry with it, hanging forever straining for release that danced away from him as he ached and ached and ached... "Kou," he groaned into his forearm, through his teeth, "Kou," the sweet swell of his ass the lovely undercurve "Kou-" rubbing the place in his cock where it ought to happen, promised to happen, wasn't happening---

Kou's hands on his shoulders, pulling him up. Doku came upright, willy-nilly, sitting back on his heels against the hardness of Kou's body kneeling behind him. Kou put an arm around his neck from behind, and turned Doku's head back and up to look at him. Kou's face was dark and the flame markings on his left cheek were dully livid as always after sex. Kou's hand cradled Doku's jaw, Kou's claws lying just on Doku's skin, little pinpricks. Kou looked down at him, somber and unsmiling, and then Kou's mouth closed down on his own, that had never happened ever ever before. Kou's tongue came inside his mouth in the rare kiss of youkai together, filled the whole of Doku's mouth, and that was the end of it for him. Blackness exploded behind his eyes, the whole rushing universe whooshed out of his belly and into his cock and out, and his body thrashed in Kou's constraining arms like a man under the lash.

But he- Doku- he, Dokugakuji, he was here in his head where Kou held him and invaded him, not the blind meeting of genitals unseen below in the body's dark cellar, but up here in the attic where the sun shone all day and he was always himself. And Kou was up here too, inside him, taking the thinking rational him face to face and breath to breath so there was no denying it even if he'd wanted to, all of him belonged to Kou, head and heart and all. He couldn't even cry out because Kou was filling his mouth completely and Kou's mouth had sealed his own. He put his arms up behind Kou's neck and closed his eyes and gave in completely to what Kou was doing to him, yielded to him more completely even than when Kou had wanted his ass. His tongue licked against the warmth of Kou's tongue, so strange a thing to be doing but also so exciting. And he'd thought he knew all there was to know of Kou's body but still there were things he'd never even suspected. Like the sensation of Kou's tongue on his, that bit of Kou that he'd never felt before. Like the clear water taste of Kou's mouth, unexpected and refreshing, and how would he have ever known what that was like if not for this? Like Kou's lips moving against his own, curved and resilient, their touch feeling somehow more intimate than anything his own mouth had ever done in the past to pleasure Kou. Amazing, amazing, the things there were still left to know...

Kou loosed his mouth. Doku stayed still, looking up at the shadowed eyes looking down at him. What was happening between them Doku couldn't say, or what kind of pact they'd just sealed together. But back of him- back of them- he could sense a satisfaction golden as the evening sun on clouds. Not just satisfaction of the body. Something else, lodged solid and happy just about the level of his heart. Kou stroked his cheek, once. Doku caught his hand and kissed it, the fingers' ends where the sharp talons grew. He didn't know if he was smiling, but Kou must have known that he was smiling inside, all over his soul. Kou let him go. Doku gave a deep sigh, coming back to the real world, and turned about to face him. He wiped the remains of the ointment from Kou's cock with his hands, noting with a corner of his mind and an obscure relief that there was no shit on it at least, or blood either. He licked the pointed head just to be sure, ignoring Kou's small noise of protest.

"It's alright," he said. "I want to."

"Even so-"

"Indulge me, ok? Just for a minute." He licked some more till he got the Kou taste back and not the greasy vegetable one, then tidied Kou back into his clothes. Reached for his pants but suddenly felt too tired to do any more. He slumped back on his heels.

"It didn't hurt," he said, because Kou would want to know. "Not to mention particularly."

"Good," Kou said, waiting.

Doku was about to go on but thought better of it. Things had changed between them. "You always make me do all the work," he said. "It's your turn now."

"Ah," Kou said, acknowledging the point. He still didn't speak right away. Doku waited. After a long moment Kou said, "You're wondering if this is going to be the new order from now on. And you aren't particularly sure you care for it."

"Yeah," Doku said.

"But you think it's good for me to take the active role. More fitting, perhaps?"

"Well, not exactly that--"

"Ahh. Leadership training, then."

"Hell no, I-- Kou!" Doku said, outraged, and not certain whether Kou was laughing at him or not.

"And you know if you were anyone else I'd have you whipped for your impertinence?"

"Would you?" he asked with interest.

"I'd think about it. There's a limit to how much I can take of being treated like an adolescent."

"I'll keep it in mind." He waited. "So?"

"So." Kou brooded down at him. Then he smiled wryly. "Frankly, I prefer letting you do all the work. But I've no objection to changing about from time to time. As needed."

"Fine by me," Doku said, not trying to deny his relief. "Whatever way you want it."

"Hmpf," Kou said, letting Doku interpret that as he pleased. "We should be getting back."

"Yeah." Doku hauled himself to his feet and pulled his pants on. They walked in silence to the rendezvous point. Yaone was already there. She bowed as Kougaiji approached.

"Did you find anything?" Kougaiji asked her, voice neutral.

"No," she said, but said no more.

"Nor us. Obviously a false report."

"Yes," she said, monosyllabic.

"Where's Lirin?" Doku asked, looking about.

"Lost track of time again, probably," Kougaiji said. "Playing stone scissors paper with Sanzou's monkey."

"What?!" Doku was stunned. Yaone looked amazed.

"Well, that's what she was doing when we saw her last."

"We--?" Yaone asked.

"Sanzou and I. We met in the forest and patrolled a bit together." Yaone was speechless. "Safer having him under my eye than away."

"Ahh- that's true too," Doku said. There was a small silence.

"Anou- Kougaiji-sama," Yaone said tentatively.

"Mh?"

"I was wondering- was it ever learned- who was responsible for Hyakugan Maoh..."

"Ah. Yes. I thought you knew. Sanzou's Hakkai." Doku, listening, wondered what he was hearing in Kou's too-uninflected tone.

"Oh. Hakkai-dono," Yaone said, expressionless. "I see." And after a minute, said, in one word, "How?"

Kougaiji shrugged. "Who knows? A man never knows what he can do till he has to, perhaps."

"Ahh..." Yaone said, and was silent. And what's all that about? Doku wondered. It seemed Yaone had picked up somewhere that the man she'd taken on was the one who'd destroyed her old enemy. Perhaps that was troubling her delicate notions of honour. These warriors... Doku sighed internally. They do make problems for themselves. He looked over at Yaone's closed face, with the eyes turned inwards on her own thoughts, obviously mulling over the question 'Can I go on fighting the man who killed my would-be rapist?' As if the answer to that wasn't 'Sure. Why not?' Maybe he'd better have a big-brother talk with her at some point when they got back. Big brother to all the world, that's me, and he grinned a little. And at exactly the same moment two puzzle pieces came together in his head. 'You're not the only ones,' Kou'd said. Meaning not him and Sanzou- or Lirin and Gokuu, naturally- which left... Doku pulled his expression straight and sent what he was thinking to the back of the back of his mind where not a sniff of it could be scented by Kou or anybody. Oh. My. God. I think I'm in over my head on this one. At least until he'd thought it through a bit. And the other half of his mind was a little surprised. Yaone of all people, who seemed so much the virgin warrior. With Hakkai... Well, perhaps not that surprising, come to think of it-- A lot alike, those two.

"Nii-saaan!" Lirin's voice cut through the night as she came bounding up to them. High good spirits rose off her like an aurora borealis, and a cat-in-the-cream-jug satisfaction. Uh-oh, Doku thought. Now what's she done? and steeled himself to hear the worst.

"There you are, finally. What kept you?" Kougaiji demanded.

"I won!" Lirin said. "I won against Gokuu." She snickered, and snickered some more as if she couldn't stop. Giddy adolescent. Kou's eyes glanced at Doku's and Doku raised his eyebrows at him.

"Good for you," Kou said to her, sardonic. "A whole pile of chestnuts. Congratulations." Lirin snickered again. Kou sighed. "You two ready?"

"Mnh," Doku said.

"Yes, Kougaiji-sama." Yaone stepped closer to him. Doku put a casual hand on her shoulder just for a moment, a comrade's touch. She looked up at him from her thoughts and smiled. Good.

"Home," Kougaiji said, and turned his right earring, and the forest winked out around them.