
Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/5029699.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      刀剣乱舞_|_Touken_Ranbu
  Relationship:
      Gokotai/Ookurikara_(Touken_Ranbu), Gokotai/Shishiou, Gokotai/Ookurikara/
      Shishiou
  Character:
      Gokotai_(Touken_Ranbu), Ookurikara_(Touken_Ranbu), Shishiou_(Touken
      Ranbu)
  Additional Tags:
      Shota, Mpreg, Alpha/Omega, Threesome_-_M/M/M, Self-Lubrication, Mating
      Cycles/In_Heat, Scent_Marking, Marking, Anal_Sex, Knotting, Canon-Typical
      Violence, Blood
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-10-19 Words: 8882
****** Three Of A Kind ******
by Tigerine_(sealink)
Summary
     Shishiou and Ookurikara are a mated pair of Alphas with a nice quiet
     life, but a little urchin who smells like garbage is about to change
     all that.
Notes
     Quite possibly the most self-indulgent thing I've ever written. I
     thought about Shishiou and Gokotai and then Ookurikara and Gokotai in
     Alpha/Omega relationships. And then instead of making a love triangle
     or two separate fics, I thought I would finally do what everyone says
     you should do when you have two pairings like this: write a
     threesome. It's not as rigorously developed as I usually do, but
     whatever, it's just a framework for filth, so it doesn't have to be
     perfect.
     As usual, I'm eternally grateful to Harukami for her fantastic beta
     skills and willingness to put up with the laundry list of tags this
     fic acquired as I wrote it.
“You’re gonna stick to this story?”
Ookurikara glances at the pale youth looking back and forth between the two of
them. He rolls his shoulders in a shrug and then looks back at Shishiou across
from him. “He was sitting in the garbage.”
Shishiou sighs roughly, crossing his arms over his chest. “So now what? You’ve
picked up some tantou that doesn’t belong to us. We can’t afford to keep him—“
“Can’t we?”
Shishiou makes a crabby face. “We can’t. Besides, a little thing like him has
to have an owner, caretaker, something like that.”
“Maybe he ran away.”
“All the more reason to give him back, Kuri!” Shishiou points at the slim white
body and the demure expression of the young man kneeling on the floor. “Look at
him!”
Ookurikara’s eyes slip to him briefly and then back to Shishiou. “I have been.”
“He’s got to be at least a low-ranked Beta, maybe even an Omega, not that you
can tell because he stinks like a slaughterhouse in summer—“
“That’s just the garbage.” Ookurikara reaches down and pets the diminutive
young man on the head, prompting the first expression out of him that looks
like a smile. His brown hand trails down the young man’s temple and over his
neck, pulling aside the dirty collar of his shirt and inspecting him. Shishiou
makes a sound of disgust as more reek billows up off of him.
“My eyes are watering.”  
“He’s not marked. Maybe if we clean him up—“
Shishiou looks defeated. “—Only to take him to the council. Someone there will
know what to do with him. We can’t keep him.”
“Why not?”
“Someone would notice if two Alphas suddenly had a third member of their
household.”
“We could have been fertile.”
“Oh my God, Kuri, aside from being too old,” and here he gives Ookurikara a
look like he can’t believe that was even suggested, “He looks nothing like us.
Only an idiot would believe that.”
Ookurikara smirks. “The Council is—“
“—old, yes, but notthat old.” Shishiou chuckles, but he runs a hand through his
hair, agitated. “In any case, he needs to get cleaned up. The smell is giving
me a headache.”
The two of them turn to the tantou, open their mouths and in looking at his
face, placid and beautiful as the moon, find themselves speechless. Shishiou
winces into a grin, tapping thoughtfully at his cheek.
“Come to think of it—“
“—we haven’t really talked to an Omega.” Ookurikara frowns as the problem
unfolds into even more problems seemingly in front of his eyes. Being part of
an Alpha/Alpha pair severely limits their interactions with Omegas.
Occasionally they catch a whiff of one while in town, but Omegas are rarely let
out of their homes on account of the fights they tend to cause.  
“Do you talk to them?” Shishiou looks at Ookurikara, puzzlement on his face.
“Aren’t Alphas supposed to just command them?”
Ookurikara wrinkles his nose. “Maybe he’s a Beta.”
“One way to find out, I guess.” Shishiou draws himself up (though he’s still
significantly shorter than Ookurikara) and looks imperiously at the youth,
expressing all the authority in pheromones that he cannot command in height.
“Tell me your name.”
“Gokotai.” His voice is like wind in wisteria, gentle and kind. He places his
hands in front of him, carefully folded so that the first three fingers on each
hand obscure his thumbs and pinkies, and bows deeply, pressing his forehead to
the floor in a display of total and complete submission.
Silence roars in their ears, broken only by the loud sound of Ookurikara’s dry-
mouthed swallow.
“…Oh my God.”
“Kuri, we—“ Shishiou sidles up next to him, using physical contact to re-affirm
their bond the way they always do, but in this case it’s so clumsy it might as
well be a body check. His voice is lowered to a loud hiss. “We can’t.”
Ookurikara narrows his eyes and does the same sort of command that Shishiou
did, one that is rooted in his scent and the natural desire of an Omega to
please an Alpha. “Do you know how to clean yourself?”
Shishiou blinks at the tone in Ookurikara’s voice, simultaneously gentle and
powerful, but he looks at Gokotai as well to see his answer.
Gokotai slowly sits up from the bow, keeping his lashes lowered, but says
nothing.
Ookurikari and Shishiou trade glances. “Uh, you can speak if you want.”
Shishiou’s words prompt a quivering in Gokotai’s lower lip and then he nods
distinctly, reaching up to hide his face with one white hand, the polite way
for the Omega to hide distress when forced to remain in public. Without the
Omega’s traditional large-sleeved garment, it lacks something of its
effectiveness, but Ookurikara can’t help but let out a breath through narrowed
lips.
“He’s classically trained. Like really classically trained.”
“Like ‘don’t breathe without my permission’ classically trained.”
Gokotai’s hand jerks down, terror written on his face and Ookurikara and
Shishiou both reach out toward him. “No no no no—“
“Keep breathing—“
“I order you to keep breathing!”
Gokotai looks back and forth between them and then nods again, slowly lowering
his hand, though the fear hasn’t quite left his eyes.
“Oh my God, this is a nightmare,” Shishiou mutters.
“It’ll be okay,” Ookurikara replies, although he doesn’t look as convinced as
he did when he carried this ragamuffin Omega in through the back door.
“First things first, we need to contact the authorities.” Shishiou takes a
delicate sniff of Ookurikara’s clothing and then looks at Gokotai, disgust
evident on his face. “It’s late, and you needed a bath anyway, but…him first,
then you.” 
“Right.” Ookurikara looks down at Gokotai and then jerks his head toward the
bathroom door. “Follow me.”
A low groan escapes Shishiou as he watches Gokotai all but levitate up from his
position on the floor, rising up without aid so gracefully that he might be a
dancer. Ookurikara stares at him for a moment and then spears Shishiou with a
pained look.
“Classically trained?”
“Classically trained.”
“Right.”
Ookurikara settles his hand on the back of Gokotai’s neck and guides him toward
the bathroom. Shishiou tries to determine which he’s more jealous of: Gokotai
getting touched by his mate, or his mate touching Gokotai. His hand tightens
into a fist as the door closes behind them, and a heavy weight settles even
more deeply into his heart as he finishes his phone call and sets out for the
village.
Getting groceries is simple enough, the small market having more than enough
for his and Kuri’s needs, but Shishiou has to carefully include extra food for
Gokotai—for the Omega. “Shouldn’t think of him by his name,” Shishiou corrects
himself under his breath as he gets back into the car. “After all, he’ll be
gone soon, and then things will be back to normal.”
He barely has the door open before Ookurikara is on him, shoving the market
bags in on the floor and stepping outside, breathing heavily and stinking of
arousal and shame. The night insects and frogs sing out loudly in the grass and
bushes, but Ookurikara is puffing like a steam engine, hot and pressured.  
“I’m home,” Shishiou says weakly.
“It’s good… that you’re home,” Ookurikara says around his breaths. “We have a
problem. Gokotai is in heat.”
Shishiou’s blood turns to ice and fire at the same time. He looks at the closed
door and then at Ookurikara. “What?”
“In heat,” Ookurikara pants. “Or so close to it I can’t tell the difference.”
He swallows hard; in the dim light from the house, Shishiou can see the glow of
sweat on his skin. “When he was bathing, he scrubbed his skin and it came up---
came out—the smell did—“
“Oh my God.” Shishiou leans up and nuzzles Ookurikara’s neck with the side of
his head that he wears his bangs over. The patch of scent glands there is
large, and sometimes a little unsightly when he’s fully aroused, but the strong
scent easily calms Kuri. In response, Ookurikara clings to him, his hands
shaking as they settle on Shishiou’s shoulders. They furiously rub their
temples together, Kuri’s labored breathing becoming more regular the longer
they mark each other.
“Did you breed him?”
“No,” Ookurikara says, his voice low. “I didn’t.”
Shishiou reaches up one hand to press it against Ookurikara’s back, his fingers
curling against the fabric. In any other situation, he would never doubt
Ookurikara’s faithfulness or the strength of their bond, but a heat is
something they are all but programmed to respond to.
“What do we do?” Ookurikara sounds tightly wound, like he’s on the edge of
losing himself.
Shishiou pulls back, looking up at Ookurikara. “We go back in there and put
him… in the bathroom until we can figure something out.”
Kuri’s hands tighten into fists. “I need to stay out here a while.”
“Okay,” Shishiou replies. “It’s gonna be okay.”
Ookurikara nods once and steps away, walking out toward the street, vanishing
into the darkness.
Inside, the house is a miasma of Ookurikara’s enflamed scent, like heavy amber,
sweet and resinous. Shishiou opens his lips slightly, sucking air in through
his mouth until his tongue is coated with Ookurikara; just the scent is
stimulus enough that he’s nursing a half-erection. “You weren’t kidding,” he
mumbles.
A small footstep slaps against the hard floor; Shishiou turns to see and
immediately wishes he hadn’t. A yellow shirt with a Peter Pan collar hangs off
of Gokotai’s body like a shroud; below the hem, slim dark pants barely dust
Gokotai’s ankles. In his hands, his true self, a short dagger in a spotted
sheath.
“H-He put you in my clothes,” Shishiou says in a strained voice.
Gokotai nods slowly, silent in the absence of any need to speak.
Shishiou lifts his hand and rubs his face roughly before gathering up the sacks
of groceries and carrying them into the kitchen. Gokotai steps forward like he
wants to help, but Shishiou shakes his head. “No, you stay there.”
The command freezes Gokotai in one place, and he nods stiffly, sitting down in
the middle of the room to wait for permission to move again.
Once the groceries are all put away, Shishiou comes back into the main room,
finding Gokotai still sitting dutifully in one place, his delicate features
looking less lined with concern than they did a few hours ago. Shishiou sighs
roughly, hunkering down on the floor across from him. “I’m Shishiou,” he says.
“My mate is Ookurikara. We…. He found you and thought you might be lost.”
Gokotai nods and then Shishiou holds back a curse. “So, you can speak freely
with me, and with Ookurikara. We only want to help you.”
“But… Alpha-sama…”
The use of the most extreme honorific is accompanied by an outpouring of
pheromone, and without the garbage it’s clear as a bell, smelling heavily of
vanilla or lily flowers. As piqued as Shishiou’s blood is, the scent of
Gokotai, clean, receptive and willing, is intoxicating. He’s not quite in heat
yet, but it’s close, within a matter of hours, maybe by morning.
“You—you knew your heat was coming, didn’t you?”
“Y-yes, Alpha-sama.”
“Shishiou.”
“Shishiou-sama.”
“Close enough,” Ookurikara says, closing the door behind him. “I couldn’t even
get him to say my name.” His face looks calmer, and if his demeanor is any
indicator, he’s had to take measures to avoid entering a mindless mating
frenzy.
Shishiou turns back to Gokotai, looking again at the dagger in his hands. He’s
not holding it like he wants to attack anyone, cradling it like it’s a
treasure. “You knew your heat was coming and you went outside?”
“Yes, Al—Shishiou-sama.” 
“Why? You’re not pair-bonded.” 
Gokotai’s eyes slide away from Ookurikara, coming to rest on the floor. “No.”
Ookurikara shakes his head, flatly displeased. “I’m not used to this stuff
where you have to ask them exactly what you mean or they don’t answer.”
Shishiou stands up, looking down at Gokotai with an expression of helpless
frustration, sniffing and then closing his eyes as the pheromone slips over his
tongue, smelling like nectar tastes. His eyes open suddenly and then he looks
down at Gokotai. “You rubbed that garbage all over yourself, didn’t you? To try
to hide the scent?”
Color stains Gokotai’s cheeks pink and then he bows low to the ground, pressing
his forehead to the floor again. “P-please forgive me, Alpha-sama.”
“It’s not a complaint you have with us, it’s with your Alpha,” Ookurikara
snaps, a sharp edge to his voice. “Are you usually this disobedient?”
“N-no, Alpha-sama.”
Shishiou glares at Ookurikara, anger twisting his lips. “Don’t snap at him.”
“It’s his fault,” Ookurikarai spits, any calm he might have bought himself by
being out of Gokotai’s vicinity completely dashed. “He knew he was going into
heat and he ran off anyway.” He turns his eyes on Gokotai reprovingly.
Shishiou looks between the two of them, feeling the pressure of an unmated
Omega heavy between his legs, knowing that Ookurikara must be feeling much more
stressed by the extended period of time he’s had to restrain himself. A pang of
sympathy for his mate rings in Shishiou’s heart: the point of being part of an
Alpha pair in the absence of an Omega was so you weren’t reduced to jerking off
by yourself. “Gokotai,” he starts slowly. “Your Alpha hasn’t mated you yet,
correct?”
Gokotai’s fingers tremble and then press against the wood until his already-
pale fingers blanch. “No, Shishiou-sama.”
“But you knew your heat was coming, so this isn’t your first heat.” Shishiou
rubs the back of his neck. “I don’t mean to keep going over this, but no Alpha
would let an unmated Omega out of the house without an escort. So you ran away,
right?”
“Y-Yes, Shishiou-sama.” His words are forced through a tightened throat, on the
verge of tears.
“Will you tell us why?” Ookurikara’s mastered himself again and come back into
the conversation, although from the smell of him, any misstep could put him
back on the road to ruin.
“I’m very sorry, but I must not speak any more, Alpha-sama.” Gokotai’s fingers
ball up into fists on the floor and a whiff of total submission creeps into the
air, stronger than Gokotai’s normal scent, and it hooks into Shishiou’s nose
and refuses to be dislodged.
“Ah,” Shishiou says, trying to ignore the soft weeping. He looks at Ookurikara,
his lip curling slightly as he snorts softly, trying to divest himself of the
smell.
Ookurikara shakes his head slowly. “Even though you’ve run away from your
Alpha, you would still protect him? Did he abuse you?”
“I’m v-very sorry, Alpha-sama, but I must not speak any more.”
“Jeez,” Shishiou frowns, rubbing his nose.
“Classically trained,” Ookurikara quips.
Shishiou rubs his face, the scent of Gokotai starting get into him, to heat his
blood and make it impossible for him to think. “I—I can’t do this right now.”
“Need me to open a window? Hard to think like this,” Ookurikara grumbles.
Shishiou nods gratefully and then looks down at Gokotai’s huddled body. “Can I
talk to you in the kitchen after that? Just for a minute?”
Ookurikara grunts as he flips the latch and opens the window. Shishiou reaches
down and pulls at Gokotai’s shoulder. “Sit up, okay? We’re not angry at you.
We’re just going to talk for a minute, we’ll be right back. In just a minute,”
he says, shuffling backward into the kitchen.
Ookurikara trails into the kitchen behind Shishiou and is met with a hard look
from one pale blue eye, and then the other as he tucks blond hair behind his
left ear. “So, he’s… “Shishiou lets his hands fall to his side helplessly. “I
can’t send him back to a bad Alpha.”
Abuse by an Alpha of a fertile Omega is almost universally frowned upon, if not
actually prohibited. In practice, however, so few Omegas can escape an abusive
Alpha that most of society looks the other way.
“Why hasn’t he been mated yet? Or marked?” Ookurikara looks through the kitchen
door at Gokotai staring numbly at the floor. “Especially if his Alpha was
abusive?”
“Is,” Shishiou corrects him.
Ookurikara pins Shishiou with a piercing look. “You just said you weren’t going
to send him back.”
“I know what I said,” Shishiou protests. “I just… don’t know what to do with
him. His heat isn’t quite here yet, but it’s soon. Tomorrow, maybe just a few
hours, I don’t know. We can either give him up to the Council and his Alpha
will get him back just as he becomes fertile—“
“—giving him exactly what he doesn’t want—“
“—or we can keep him here.”
“How?” Ookurikara hisses. “How are two Alphas not going to lose their minds
with an unmated Omega in heat in the same building?!”
The hum of the lights in the kitchen is constant, barely a backdrop for a
conversation which has their whole lives—together and apart—at risk. Shishiou
lifts his head, afraid to even ask, but needing to know which way the chips
will fall, if fall they must. “Which… which of us should breed him? If it comes
to that?”
Ookurikara looks wounded. “If we were going to do that, I could have done it
this morning and all this would be over.”
Shishiou waves those words away, reaching out to take Ookurikara’s hands in his
own. “What if it gets too bad, Kuri? What if we have to?”
The specter of supporting a tantou (and in turn, supporting a kit)
notwithstanding, there were grave social and financial consequences for those
swords who eschewed the normal channels for acquiring a companion sword. That
being said, the consequences for the companion sword were potentially far
worse.
“We…” Ookurikara scowls. “We should ask him. It’s his life.”
“It’s our lives too,” Shishiou pouts.
“Yeah, but if he goes back to that Alpha, it’s like a death sentence. For a
crime he hasn’t committed.” Ookurikara shivers, and Shishiou looks up at him,
afraid that he’ll see the rut take hold of him, but it’s only the tingling
sense of a fate narrowly avoided spreading over his skin.
He speaks with the skin of Ookurikara’s throat against his lips, breathing him
in. “No matter what, we’re a pair,” Shishou murmurs. “Right?”
“Right,” Ookurikara repeats, smearing the side of his face against Shishiou’s
and mingling their smells. Their greasy scent collects in each other’s hair,
and once they smell appropriately like each other, the tiniest purr begins near
the top of Ookurikara’s chest, prompting a smile from Shishiou. In response, he
reaches up and pulls Ookurikara down into a bruising kiss, nibbling at his
lips.
“You’re biting me again,” Ookurikara mutters between each meeting of their
mouths.
“It’s all this musk,” Shishiou says, his voice husky. “I want to—“
“Breed me?” Ookurikara can’t help a smirk as his arms wind around Shishiou.
Shishiou growls. “Don’t joke about that right now or you’ll end up with a sore
ass.”
“I bet y—“ Ookurikara goes suddenly quiet, his eyes on the doorway into the
kitchen.
Shishiou turns in his arms, and Gokotai is standing there, worry written on his
face. His tantou is clutched in his hands.
“It’s been a minute, I guess,” Shishiou says, already feeling the hair on the
nape of his neck stand up as surely as if Gokotai had run a finger up his back.
But where Shishiou begins to close himself off, Ookurikara lifts his chin.
“Gokotai.”
“Yes, Alpha-sama.”
“If you could pick one of us to breed you, which one would you pick?”
The shock on Shishiou’s face is only half that on Gokotai’s: his eyes widen and
he clutches his tantou even tighter. “It’s just a possibility,” Shishiou
stammers. “We’d use protection. It would just be to put off your heat for a few
weeks.”
“Until the Council can figure out what to do with you.”
Gokotai looks between them, obviously distressed. “You are both Alphas.”
Shishiou looks up at Ookurikara and then back at Gokotai, trying to ignore the
delicious scent that has invaded their space. “Yes.”
“Do…do you not want me?” Each of them is subjected to Gokotai’s plaintive
expression, the small quiver in his lower lip. “Am I unsatisfactory?”
“No,” Ookurikara says, his hand tightening around Shishiou’s upper arm as he
tries to control his urge to pin Gokotai down and fuck him blind. “We are a
pair, and your presence here is threatening that. Do you understand?”
“Can’t I belong to both of you?”
“Eeh??”
“Both of us?” Ookurikara looks at Shishiou, and for once they’re both blushing
as if they haven’t been a mated pair for several seasons already.
Shishiou haltingly tries to explain. “Two Alphas… can’t share one Omega…”
“You had to know this, right? It’s why Omegas cause fights.”
Even their pairing, which was of average stability between two Alphas, had been
strained by the arrival of a stressor like Gokotai. Any other two Alphas would
have torn each other apart by now.
Gokotai steps forward, lifting his nose and opening his lips slightly to draw
air over the scent organ in his mouth. Shishiou swallows nervously, drinking in
Gokotai’s scent as he gets closer. Ookurikara’s scratchy purr stills in his
chest as he watches Gokotai sniff at both of them, both attracted to and wary
of him. Shishiou’s hand tightens against Ookurikara’s back as Gokotai inspects
them. Somehow the relieved smile on Gokotai’s face doesn’t really translate to
any ease for the two of them.
“Both of you,” Gokotai breathes, as if hardly daring to believe his luck. As
Shishiou and Ookurikara watch, he kneels in the doorway, holding his dagger up
toward them, like an offering. “Shishiou-sama, Ookurikara-sama…please consider
me.” His hands shake. “Please!”
“Tell us who your Alpha is.”
Gokotai winces at the command. “Oue-sama, of the constabulary. I beg of you—“
“The Kebiishi?” Ookurikara looks at Shishiou, his eyes narrowed.
“Please!” Gokotai’s voice is shaking.
The Kebiishi, the fearsome policemen in blue cloaks who consider anything
outside of the normal sedition, questioning everything and its purpose in their
society, and expunging it if necessary. If it is just one policeman, they
might—
“We’ll discuss this after your heat,” Shishiou says, his nostrils flaring. “We
don’t have a lot of time to get ready.”
In the space of two hours, Ookurikara uses his expertise to make a fortifying
meal of noodles, with broth made from bones and lots of dark green vegetables.
Gokotai clearly hasn’t eaten in days; in almost no time, he bolts down one bowl
that should have been big enough to fill Ookurikara’s belly to bursting.
Shishiou transforms the spare bathroom into a den for Gokotai, layering an
unused futon and pillows in the tub and putting a few small snacks next to the
sink in case the fever makes him hungry. He pauses only when adding one thing
that might make Gokotai’s heat easier.
“Kuri, I’m going to put your toy in here with him, okay?”
“WHAT?”
“It’ll make his heat go faster if he can use it on himself! We’ll get another
one,” Shishiou says dismissively as he walks into the room with a pink plastic
cock in his hand and a fresh pair of batteries.
“Gokotai—“
Scent is already pouring off of Gokotai, and as Shishiou addresses him, he
shifts from side to side like he needs the toilet, color staining his cheeks.
“Shishiou-sama,” Gokotai whimpers, his voice faint.
Shishiou swallows hard and opens the vibrator, jamming the batteries down into
the casing. “Here’s the switch, okay?”
Gokotai nods eagerly and licks his lips, looking longingly at the false cock.
Shishiou demonstrates how to turn it on and the vibe stays silent, leaving him
fumbling to insert the batteries correctly while all his senses are screaming.
In the end, Ookurikara snatches it from him, deftly inserts the batteries and
hands it off to Gokotai, looking tense enough to snap. “Don’t break it.”
“We’ll check on you tomorrow night.” Shishiou quicksteps Gokotai over to the
bathroom and ushers him into it, almost slamming the door behind him.
To Shishiou’s knowing eye, Ookurikara is already looking pinched, breathing
through his mouth, drawing every molecule of Gokotai’s arousal across the organ
in the top of his mouth. “Block the door,” Ookurikara says. “So we can’t get to
him.”
Anything and everything that isn’t tied down is used in the barricade, and
they’re already stronger, already on the edge of entering that blood-red haze
that will crowd out higher thought in favor of brute force and athleticism.
When this happens normally, Ookurikara and Shishiou stay home and fuck like
beasts, until their bedding is soaked with lube and cum and they barely have
the strength to move. This time, there’s an Omega around, and they’ll need all
their endurance to avoid entering their usual breeding frenzy.
They stop, breathing hard, staring at the pile of furniture tied together
loosely with some red rope that all but obscures the door. Shishiou stands next
to Ookurikara, and in the quiet, they can hear the sound of Gokotai climbing
into the tub, the faint rustle of fabric, and then a constant, distant hum. 
Ookurikara growls low in his throat, and Shishiou matches it, putting himself
between the door and Ookurikara, pushing bodily against him.  
“Kuri, we need to den, now.”
Ookurikara looks at Shishiou, a snarl already on his lips. His pupils are
large, more than half-eclipsing the gold of his eyes. His pulse flashes fast at
his throat and Ookurikara shows the glint of his teeth, white and sharp; he
lifts his nose, scenting the air.
A thin moan comes from the bathroom and Shishiou’s mouth goes dry. Every fiber
of his being wants to tear the barricade apart. The scent of Ookurikara ready
to breed, ready to fight, fills his nose and somehow, that familiar pheromone
overpowers the nascent musk rolling out from under the bathroom door.
The door to their bedroom slams shut and Shishiou shoves Ookurikara toward the
bed, a rumbling growl from deeper in his chest. Their clothes all but fall off,
buttons flying into dark corners of the room. Shishiou’s hand is at the back of
Ookurikara’s neck, pushing him down into the pillow with a brutal grip.
Ookurikara flips over as Shishiou tries to dominate him, twisting away across
the bed until Shishiou’s long legs ensnare him.
“Kuri—“ Shishiou’s hands are already around Kuri’s ribs, cruelly twisting his
nipples to try to bring him around.
 Ookurikara sucks in a breath, his back arching. “Shishi—“
“We’ll make it through tonight,” Shishiou says hoarsely against Ookurikara’s
back. “And then if he’s not done by tomorrow—“
“—Shishiou—“ Ookurikara’s voice is gravelly, like Shishiou’s name is the only
word he can manage through the rut that’s threatening to take hold of him. His
hips press back, grinding into Shishiou’s erection.
“Kuri—“
“No—“
Shishiou sinks his teeth into Ookurikara’s neck, into the mark he’d given him
upon their first mating. The pale scars split, and Ookurikara’s hands twist in
the sheets, a gargled cry of submission on his lips. He sags back against the
bed, easing back into Shishiou’s hold. His hand reaches up, over his shoulder,
to feel for the companion mark on Shishiou where his neck and shoulder meet.
“Thanks.”
Shishiou spits out Ookurikara’s neck, grumbling. “It’s my fault. I left you
here with him.”
Ookurikara grunts and then reaches behind him, his hand skating over Shishiou’s
flank, to pull their bodies closer, and he flinches when Shishiou moans. “You
too…”
They shift in bed, and Shishiou leaves a shiny smear of pre-cum on the small of
Ookurikara’s back.  “I’m only flesh and blood, Kuri,” Shishiou whines.
Ookurikara presses back again. “You don’t want to risk it?”
“Both of us rutting would—“ Shishiou doesn’t have to finish the thought. Their
partnership splintered by an Omega, one or both of them badly wounded as they
fought to breed him, a kit to raise, a mate to mourn, and the kebiishi on top
of that. No, someone needs to keep a clear head.
“When he’s gone…“
“I’ll do you until you can’t walk,” Shishiou replies, licking absently at the
small trickle of blood from Ookurikara’s wound.
They drift off in each other’s arms, holding on to each other through the light
sleep that comes over them as they listen for a change in their circumstances.
                                      xXx
The smell wakes Shishiou first; he’s hard before he’s even fully awake. It’s
sweet, and every time he sucks it in, he feels hungrier and hungrier for the
feeling of being engulfed in someone. Ookurikara groans next to him and
Shishiou reaches out to pat him reassuringly and maybe roll him over for a
sleepy morning coupling.
His brain makes the connection between the scent and his hard-on around the
same time his hand touches Gokotai’s back.
 “The fuck—“ There’s a moment where Shishiou honestly tries to think through
the lust that’s sweeping over him like a backdraft. “Kuri?”
“I’m here,” Ookurikara murmurs, a low rumble in his chest, and he still smells
like anticipation, like need.
The steady glow of a small bedside lamp light is barely enough to see by as
Shishiou tries to rub the sleep out of his eyes. He leans up on one arm,
sleepily looking at Gokotai and Ookurikara naked together in bed. “Kuri??
He’s—“
“Shishiou-sama—“ Gokotai’s voice is soft, plaintive, and sounds like what he
needs most is an Alpha inside him, right now.
“Kuri, you didn’t—“
“No, he was here when I woke up,” Ookurikara growls, his voice ending in the
beginning of a courtship bellow. “Between us.”
Shishiou swallows audibly. That sound is one only associated with mating, and
their bed already stinks of musk and Gokotai’s heat. “You’re going to do this?”
Half-lidded eyes flick up to Shishiou and then Ookurikara lifts his head,
almost purring to Gokotai.  The mating instinct is already strong at work
making Ookurikara beyond the reach of reason. Waiting for Shishiou to wake up
has taxed Ookurikara to the breaking point; his cock is dark with blood. “Look,
Shishiou,” Ookurikara’s dark hand slides over Gokotai’s chest, teasing his
nipples into an agonizing state of hardness. “Go ahead. Show him,” Ookurikara
croons, his voice seeming more like a deep bedroom whisper than it usually
does.
With averted eyes and pink staining his cheeks, Gokotai presents his backside,
holding himself open. The glisten of his skin is visible even in the low light,
his body is already yawning open, wet and begging to be filled. Ookurikara’s
fingers slide through the fluid that’s seeping out of Gokotai, spreading it
over his taint, leaving traces of it on his sack. Gokotai shivers through a
gasp, going still until the last shiver of pleasure runs its course.
“He used the vibrator to stretch himself out,” Ookurikara says, nosing through
Gokotai’s hair with an air of indulgent satisfaction.  “He’s ready.”
“Shishiou-sama, please…”
Shishiou’s erection twitches at the begging whisper, ready even if Shishiou is
still trying to think through the mating urge that is thrumming in his
arteries, surging through his veins. A rut is not inevitable; he might not lose
control if he breeds him, and it would even end the heat. He reaches out for
Gokotai, his fingers moving over his shoulder and curving over his ribs.  Lust
burns through him, white-hot and unstoppable, sizzling over his fingertips,
making every place he’s touching Gokotai into a brand.
“Just do it,” Ookurikara orders him, steel and fondness in his voice, and
compulsion in his scent.
Shishiou slides up behind Gokotai, carefully pressing the head of his erection
into him, a small noise of pleasure and surprise leaving him. Gokotai stiffens,
his mouth opening and eyes widening as Shishiou pushes forward slowly.
Ookurikara kisses the corners of Gokotai’s lips and scoots closer, until their
bodies are touching. His purr becomes a deeper courtship bellow, thrumming
through the three of them, a primal sound of arousal that makes Gokotai quiver
with need.
“Gokotai,” Shishiou murmurs, a slightly less deep version of the low-frequency
bellow rattling in his chest.
Slender arms lock behind Ookurikara’s neck, and then Shishiou grabs his slender
hips and his hips roll into him. Shishiou buries his nose in Gokotai’s neck,
letting the heat take control of his body and use him only for one thing, to
procreate, to fill this vessel to the brim with his seed. His teeth test
Gokotai’s shoulder, but he doesn’t mark him. Not yet.
“Oo—kuri—kara,” Gokotai cries, his voice swaying with each slam of Shishiou’s
hips into him. His fingers lace together as Ookurikara bends over his neck,
licking the patches of skin that produce that heady pheromone, drinking him in,
sweet and intoxicating. The glands at Ookurikara’s temples are seeping,
darkening his hair and mixing with his sweat; he rubs it off on Gokotai without
caring where he grazes him. Ookurikara reaches between them, jerking Gokotai
off at the same pace Shishiou fucks into him.
“Does it feel good?” Ookurikara asks, his lips against Gokotai’s shoulder.
Gokotai mewls constantly, barely capable of speech. “Hot,” he whimpers. “My
body…”
“Already,” Shishiou interrupts over Gokotai’s shoulder, his fingers digging
into Gokotai’s skin hard enough to hurt. “I’m already—“ His throat closes and
he grits his teeth together, panting and slowing his pace. Barely lucid, he
rubs the head of his cock up against Gokotai’s smooth inner walls, groaning
with satisfaction as blood suffuses his flesh, swelling his knot until the
spines dig into Gokotai.
“S-shishiou--!”
It’s not his orgasm, but Ookurikara’s teeth punch through the skin of Gokotai’s
neck when he recognizes the strangled moan that follows. Gokotai screams,
crumpling back against Shishiou; his cum splashes over Ookurikara’s lower
belly. With a satisfied lick to the bloody wound, Ookurikara leans across
Gokotai to give Shishiou a breathless kiss. Shishiou’s only noise is his
labored breathing; as he shifts, the barbs inside Gokotai provoke a whimper
with each movement.
Shishiou pats Gokotai’s hip clumsily, his senses coming back to him.
“Sensitive, huh?”
Gokotai nods slowly, looking up at Ookurikara and then back over his shoulder
at Shishiou.
“It’ll get better the more you do it,” Ookurikara says with a flat tone that
doesn’t match his still-unsatisfied erection.  Gokotai reaches out and taps the
tip of it, testing the slippery feel of pre-cum between his fingers. 
“Will you breed me as well, Ookurikara-sama?”
“Ambitious, for a little tantou,” Ookurikara retorts, but the low rumble starts
again in his chest despite himself. 
Gokotai squirms, rocking forward, tugging Shishiou with him by the knot.
Shishiou moves after him with only a faint whine of protest, sighing
contentedly and leaning against Ookurikara’s thigh as Gokotai draws level with
Ookurikara’s hips.
Ookurikara watches Gokotai, lust simmering in his eyes as Gokotai lowers his
lips to the head of his cock. At the first touch of his tongue, Ookurikara
pillows his head on his arm to look down at the dainty, kittenish licks Gokotai
uses against his flesh.
“That is not going to help this go down any faster,” Shishiou protests.  
Ookurikara glances at him and then looks back at Gokotai. His broad hand rests
lightly on Gokotai’s hair, petting him. “He wants to,” Ookurikara murmurs, his
courtship bellow like the purr of a cement mixer.
Gokotai pauses, pushing the tip of his tongue through Ookurikara’s slit,
meeting Ookurikara’s eyes before sealing his lips around the head and causing
Ookurikara to suck in a breath, stretching his muscles with pleasure.
“Good,” he says shortly, his fingers curling slightly against Gokotai’s scalp.
“Good boy.”
A soft sound of pleasure leaves Gokotai’s mouth at the praise. He tries to push
his head down even further, hunching over slightly as his gag reflex triggers.
Ookurikara strokes the back of Gokotai’s neck as he puts his hand to his mouth,
coughing.
“It’s okay,” Shishiou mumbles.  “He’s big. I gagged the first time, too.” He
breathes out suddenly when his shrinking knot pops out of Gokotai. Cum dribbles
out of him, and Shishiou slides his fingers through it, trying in vain to push
it back inside him.
Gokotai shivers, rolling onto one hip and reaching between his legs to rub his
fingers through Shishiou’s seed. Wonder and then hesitant desire creep across
his face. “Can… can we do it again?”
Shishiou’s laugh is tinged with disbelief, but Ookurikara’s eyes slide over him
covetously. He eyes the slick proof of Gokotai’s breeding between his legs; his
cock twitches, needful and hot.
“Kuri?”
Ookurikara’s answer is a soft growl, warning Shishiou away from the prize he’s
about to take. He shakes the growl out, letting the jealous sound fade, and
then helps Gokotai to move up on the bed, settling between them. The rattle in
his chest doesn’t stop but deepens into something old and primal.
Wordlessly, Ookurikara nuzzles him, burying his nose in his hair and testing
his teeth against Gokotai’s ear. He holds him close, his bellow vibrating
through both of them and encouraging Gokotai’s body to respond in readiness.
Grasping and molding his flesh, Ookurikara lifts Gokotai’s leg, smoothing his
hand over the inside of his thigh. A chirp escapes Gokotai as his hips roll
back at the touch, presenting his opening to Ookurikara.
Shishiou moves up next to Gokotai, peppering kisses over his collarbone and
neck. His voice is low; he’s trying not to provoke Ookurikara. “Hold on to me.
Tightly.”
Arranging Gokotai’s leg over his hip, Ookurikara shoves roughly into Gokotai,
sinking deep into him and drawing out a tremulous cry as their hips meet. It
doesn’t matter that he’s bigger than Shishiou or the vibrator.  The rut, the
scent of Gokotai’s heat, it clouds Ookurikara’s mind until that cry is the only
thing he wants to hear, the only language he understands.
As Gokotai grabs onto Shishiou’s shoulders to hold himself steady, Ookurikara
growls, and slams into Gokotai again. “Shishiou-sama! I…!”
Shishiou claims Gokotai’s mouth and begins to jerk him off at the same time,
swallowing his whimper. Gokotai kisses back eagerly, trying to hold down his
voice; pink on his cheeks and chest, Gokotai’s body instinctively flexes
backward to meet Ookurikara and forward into Shishiou’s hand. Ookurikara fucks
him as if he does not care how untouched he was before tonight, or how unused
he is to the power of an Alpha in rut.
The kiss falls apart and Gokotai’s voice rings around the room again, rising
each time Ookurikara rams home.  “M-more, Oo—kuri—kara-sama!”
Even if Ookurikara is deep in the throes of a rut, his cognition suppressed by
the hot desire at the base of his spine, he can hear and respond to a sound
like that. The rhythm of his hips seeks satisfaction; Gokotai keens, rubbing
his face against Shishiou’s temple, blending him with Ookurikara’s and his own
scent. Already, Ookurikara’s knot is beginning to burgeon, forcing him to grind
up into Gokotai instead of thrusting. The barbs on his cock scrape along the
inside of Gokotai, scratching at him like claws down his back in the middle of
coupling.
“Shishiou-sama…I’m…”
“You’re…?” Shishiou says huskily. “Are you going to come?”
The frantic nod quickly turns into a wail and a set of red stripes on each of
Shishiou’s shoulders from Gokotai’s nails.  Shishiou lowers his teeth to
unbloodied side of Gokotai’s neck, kissing his pale skin before biting down
hard enough to leave his own bond mark. A twisted yowl claws its way out of
Gokotai’s throat, and he butts his head against Shishiou hard enough to break
the grip of his teeth. Even if it hurts, he’s still aching to come, and a few
more frenetic movements of Shishiou’s hand spills his seed for him.
The renewed scent of Gokotai’s cum is enough to halt the rough grind of
Ookurikara’s hips, and a yell falls from his lips, sudden enough to leave him
shaking, pulling Gokotai against his body. Gokotai reaches down between his
legs, feeling the swollen cock in his ass tremble and pulse cum into him. With
a satisfied sigh, he relaxes completely into Ookurikara’s arms. Shishiou leans
back on his pillow, letting Ookurikara have the closeness he rarely allows
himself even with Shishiou.
“Ookurikara-sama… Shishiou-sama…” Gokotai picks up his head, looking at
Shishiou. “Do I belong to you now?”
Shishiou sees Ookurikara freeze in his post-coital stroking of Gokotai’s belly
and then sighs. “I don’t know. How did you even get in here?”
Gokotai gives him a curious look. “The door wasn’t locked on the inside.”
The door to the bathroom, blocked off so they could not access it from the
outside, opened perfectly to the inside. So all Gokotai would have had to do
was—
“You climbed through the barricade.” Ookurikara’s voice is hoarse, barely human
at all. Shishiou rolls over, retrieving a water bottle from the nightstand and
offering it to them. Gokotai drinks first, and then Ookurikara guzzles the rest
of the water, handing the empty bottle back to Shishiou without a word.
“I did.” Gokotai curls up slightly, still pinioned by Ookurikara’s knot, unable
to escape if things are suddenly dangerous for him. “Will I be punished?”
“Not by us,” Ookurikara mutters. “We will have to deal with the council now.”
Shishiou makes a face. “They’re going to have a fit.”
“Mm.”
Gokotai sits up on one elbow, wincing at the pain that shoots through both his
shoulders. “Will the council take me away?”
Ookurikara and Shishiou exchange glances. “If you wanted us to breed you just
so you wouldn’t have to return to your Alpha, that’s not how it would go.”
Ookurikara nods, his deep voice sounding more normal with every passing moment.
“Your Alpha has the right to kill your kit if it isn’t his.”
“Our kit,” Shishiou says. “We have some claim, having marked and bred you,
but…”
“If he’s a cruel Alpha, he might kill you for your disobedience.” Ookurikara
sighs softly. “It’s a problem.”
“I’m not going back.” Gokotai’s voice is firm, matching the resolve on his
delicate face. He rolls onto his back, blood from his shoulders staining the
sheets. “I would rather die than go back.”
Shishiou frowns. “Hey, now—“
“It’s his choice,” Ookurikara interjects, grunting as he eases his soft cock
out of Gokotai.  “The council won’t completely ignore his input.”  He grabs a
pillow, tucking it under Gokotai’s butt and holding his legs closed. “Stay like
this for a while,” he orders, backing it with a burst of scent.
Gokotai hugs his knees to his chest, nodding. Ookurikara looks at Shishiou and
they both reach for their underwear at the same time, stumbling out of the
bedroom door.
“He’s so small. He didn’t even have to move anything,” Shishiou mumbles,
looking at the pristine barricade.
“No point now.”
They move the barricade, slowly disassembling it into its component chairs and
tables and chests, pushing them back into place. A quick poke of their heads
into the bathroom has them scrambling to vent the heavy, fecund scent before
they end up ravaging Gokotai again.  Closing the door firmly, they look at each
other and then at the bedroom door.
“Kuri, are you okay?”
“Hn.”
Shishiou cages Ookurikara’s head between his hands, looking at him. “You sure?”
“I’m fine.” Ookurikara looks down at Shishiou. “He’s in a bad place.”
“Yeah.” Shishiou rubs the back of his neck. “It’s not going to be easy. I don’t
know how sympathetic the council will be to a runaway. And on top of that, a
mated pair staking a claim to an unmated Omega.”
“It’s what he wants.”
“It’s not that easy, and you know it.”
Ookurikara looks away, folding his arms over his chest with a pout. Shishiou
opens his mouth to scold him again.  
A heavy thud comes from the front door, followed by another, and another.
Shishiou and Ookurikara are already retrieving their true selves from the
bedroom when the order comes, hurled at their door in a desperate yell.
“Open up in the name of the Emperor!”
Gokotai lifts his head, mouth open but Shishiou presses his index finger
against Gokotai’s lips and shakes his head. “Stay here.”
“Shishiou-sama—“
“Don’t argue,” Ookurikara hisses, unsheathing his blade and tossing the
scabbard on the bed next to Gokotai.
They slip out to the front hall, staying away from the window and leaving the
lights off. Ookurikara creeps up on one side of the door. Shishiou moves to the
other side, his palms pressed into the black rayskin wrapping around his
handguard. With a nod, Ookurikara flips on the light.  
“What business does the constabulary have with us? Post your order!”
The door rattles again, the wood cracking and splintering under the weight of
the Kebiishi’s attack. “Don’t test my patience! I know he’s in there!”
Shishiou looks at Ookurikara across the doorway; Ookurikara shakes his head,
remaining silent. Shishiou frowns. “I say again, show your order!”
The door caves in as one clawed foot rips through their front door as if it
were no more than wet paper.  A black blade seething with cold fire hacks
wildly at the frame until the constable shoulders his way through the wreckage.
Huge and unnatural, he fills the entryway, imposing in his banded armor, even
the lacing seeming to glow with foul intent.  Shishiou pales at his eyes, blue
points of light that hover in the shadow of the helmet.
Ookurikara presses himself against the wall, melting into the shadows.
Summoning up some cockiness, Shishiou lifts his chin. “Oue-sama, I presume?”
The kebiishi turns slowly, his hulking armor making it difficult for him to
move. “My name. You speak it so easily.” A small cloud of vapor frosts the
mouthguard of the kabuto.  “Do you not have a natural sense of fear?”
Shishiou smirks, lifting his sword. “Sure, when there’s something to be afraid
of.”
Oue laughs, and the sound seems to rattle around in his armor like bones in a
can. His clawed feet scar the floor under them as he shifts to face Shishiou.
“Filth. I will teach you some respect!”
Ookurikara steps forward from the shadow next to their door, bringing his blade
down on Oue’s backplate with a spray of sparks.
“Attack from behind?!” Oue’s rage fills the front of their house. “Dishonorable
wretch!”
Shishiou darts forward, his light blade slipping into his unarmored armpit. Oue
roars, his sword arm coming around to knock Shishiou away with a heavy blow.
Shishiou crashes into the wall behind him with a sickening crack and slides to
the floor, motionless.
Ookurikara snarls, hacking at Oue’s armor, carving deeply through the ties that
hold it together. It sags away from one shoulder, and fell fires flare to life
at Oue presses his advantage on the smaller Ookurikara. “Loathsome sword,
without respect for the authority of the Emperor,” Oue booms. “Your insolence
will be punished!”
Ookurikara is as lightly made as Shishiou, and every attack he tries to make
seems as ineffective as a wasp stinging a pain-maddened bull. He can barely
avoid the mighty cleaves of Oue’s oodachi as it whistles through the air,
cringing to the side as it trenches the floor in a cloud of dust and
splinters.  Ookurikara slips underneath his attack, raking the edge of his
sword up over Oue’s chest. The other side of Oue’s armor hangs loosely, but
Ookurikara’s attack leaves him prone.
“Not enough!” Oue chuckles, looming over Ookurikara, his kabuto veiled in low
flames that do nothing to disperse the darkness. “A waste of my time!” He
brings his sword up over his head to administer the killing blow.
“No!”
The yell is much softer than any Shishiou would give, and certainly the blade
that is suddenly wedged hilt deep under the helmet is too short to be anything
but a tantou. The critical strike pours a river of malevolence out over the
blade as Gokotai pulls it free, holding on to Oue’s pauldrons as he vaults over
his Alpha and lands next to Ookurikara.
The soul-fire blubbers up from Oue’s mortal wound, turning to vapor the moment
it makes contact with the air. With a gurgling sound, Oue collapses in on
himself in a heap of blackened metal. His body wastes away in moments, like
white ash from a bonfire, leaving only a suit of armor caked in soot, and the
hollow ringing of his blade dropping on the floor in two pieces.
                                      xXx
“You have to understand that this is highly extraordinary. You do, don’t you?”
Shishiou looks at Ookurikara next to him and then back up at Mikazuki
Munechika, nodding. “It wasn’t our intention to cause trouble.”
Kogitsunemaru leans on his kyousoku, amusement dancing around his lips, but
says nothing.
Mikazuki adjusts the thin spectacles that are perched on his nose and looks
back down at the papers in front of him with slightly pursed lips. “Seeing as
how you defeated Oue-dono in martial combat, you are entitled to his lands and
possessions, including his breeding stock, but you’ve already availed yourself
of that.”
Kogitsunemaru opens his fan, hiding his smile. Souza Samonji, the third member
of the Council, watches passively, with a gentle smile on his face.
“If it pleases you, we only have one request to make of the Council,”
Ookurikara says, speaking for the first time since the hearing began.
Kogitsunemaru’s eyebrows lift, Souza’s face falls and Mikazuki lowers his
spectacles and nods. “You may speak.”
“Oue-dono had in his possession a number of tiger cubs, which belong to
Gokotai, his Omega.”
“Yes?”
“We only seek the return of those cubs and enough property to support
ourselves.”
“All three of you?” Souza’s voice is quiet. “Two Alphas fighting over an Omega
like starving wolves?”
“We don’t fight over him,” Shishiou counters. “We’re a mated pair.”
“And the rest of Oue’s holdings?” A page kneels outside the room, sliding the
door open and crawling into the room before shutting the door behind him.
Kogitsunemaru, nearest the door, snaps his fan shut at the impertinence,
leaning up off his armrest to shoo him off, but the page produces a folded note
and offers it to him. Souza continues, unperturbed by the interruption. “What
will you do with those, since you already have the ripe fruit you fought over?”
Shishiou looks at Souza and then watches Kogitsunemaru unfold the note,
scanning its contents, his red eyes flashing to the page when he reaches the
end. He dismisses the boy with a nod and then hands the paper over to
Mikazuki’s serene appraisal, snapping open his fan with a delighted smile.
“We would like to submit the remainder of Oue-dono’s holdings to the care of
the Council,” Shishiou says, caution in his voice. “We have no need for wealth,
and as long as we can support Gokotai and our kit, we don’t want anything more
than that. “ Ookurikara nods solemnly at Shishiou’s words.
Souza frowns as Mikazuki’s eyes slip down each line of writing, noting the
moment when his eyes widen and he looks at Kogitsunemaru. Wordlessly, he hands
the missive to Souza, looking at his two petitioners.
“As you know,” Mikazuki says, “Gokotai is being examined by the saniwa as a
condition of your hearing. We have just been delivered the results of their
meeting.”
The paper in Souza’s hands crinkles as he lowers it to look at Shishiou and
Ookurikara. He smiles faintly, a tense, hopeful look ghosting over his face.
“You are to be congratulated.”
Shishiou can’t restrain himself. He reaches out to Ookurikara, taking his hand
and squeezing it tightly. The saniwa has looked into the spirits surrounding
Gokotai’s body, as she does with every sword who has been mated, to determine
whether a child will be born. It doesn’t matter which of them is the father;
they’ll raise him together, the four of them a family.
“Not just congratulated,” Kogitsunemaru grins, unable to hold back his glee any
longer. “Twins!”
“Twins?” Shishiou, looks at Ookurikara, who shrugs and waits for the Council
members to clarify the meaning of their excitement.
“The birth of twins, if successful, means that one of the children is a sword
of antiquity, reborn.” Mikazuki folds his hands in his lap. “There is always
the hope that… a certain sword will return to us.” With these words, he glances
at Souza, but doesn’t elaborate. “The vaults will be searched at the same time
the new sword is forged, closer to his delivery date.”
Ookurikara looks at Shishiou. “Two kits?”
“Twins?” Shishiou repeats, slightly agog.
“We will follow Gokotai’s pregnancy closely to make sure he is well taken care
of.” Kogitsunemaru says with a wink, shutting his fan. “It seems like there is
some extra land that must be put aside, isn’t there, Mikazuki?”
Mikazuki nods, but there is still an aura of shock around Shishiou and
Ookurikara, their mouths still slightly open. “It seems we must allow you some
time to get used to the idea.” Mikazuki chuckles pleasantly, getting to his
feet. Kogitsunemaru follows him, and Souza rises as well, folding the missive
tightly into shape and leaving it on the tatami in front of his cushion.
Mikazuki pauses at the threshold, his lips twitching into a smile. “It is a
good thing there are three of you.”
 
 
 
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