The Council meeting felt like it had gone on for an eternity and they still weren’t any closer to getting Kai back. Uruha had argued fiercely for Kai’s rescue, as had Kai’s father, but the Kyuubi-no-Kitsune and the Ryu Lord had proclaimed that there was no way they could expect to go against the full military might of the Nine Hells and expect to win, plus wasn’t Aoi a better match for Kai then some human turned nagah who just so happened to stumble into the Enclave?
Uruha was running his fingers through his hair, stroking the head of one of his hair snakes, when he suddenly heard a banging on the door.
The Kyuubi-no-Kitsune looked up, opening the doors with a wave of her hand. “You may enter!”
Uruha glanced over, welcome for something, anything to distract him from his worry and boredom.
In the doorway, stood a creature like Aoi, but with larger horns and goat legs, his face rougher than Aoi’s, a prominent scar across the bridge of his nose. God, why the hell is a demon here?
Kai’s father jumped up from his seat. “Why the hell is your kind here? Come to gloat after you stole away our crown prince?”
“I’m not here to pick a fight.”
“Then why the hell are you here!” Uruha jumped up, shocked at the words that just came out of his mouth.
The demon threw his hands up in the air. “Easy! I’m here to help get your crown prince back.”
Uruha glared at him. He wasn’t feeling particularly trustworthy towards the demon, and his hair snakes were just as agitated as he felt. “How the fuck do I know that you aren’t going to lead us to Aoi on a silver platter?”
The Council hall suddenly erupted into shouts of disorder, howls and hisses amongst the more conventional sounds of arguing voices. In the midst of all the commotion, The King of the Beasts stood up from his seat, slowly walking towards the demon in the entranceway.
“Do none of you see that this could be an opportunity for us to figure out the Crown Prince of the Nagah’s actions? If he really did leave us to marry the Demon Prince, then we could simply slip into the inner chambers of the Nine Hell’s castle and get confirmation-”
Uruha gritted his teeth. “He. Did. Not. Leave. Us.”
“As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, we could either get confirmation if he really did run off with the Demon Prince or rescue him if he was actually kidnapped.”
The Kyuubi-no-Kitsune rolled her eyes. “Atsushi-san, do you honestly expect that the full military might of the Nine Hells will simply roll over and allow us to take away their leader-to-be’s chosen consort?”
Kai’s father gestured to the rest of the Council members. “Does anyone else have any better ideas?”
The rest of the room erupted into more arguing.
*********************************************
God, how the hell did this day go from the best day of my life to this kind of shit? Kai thought as he tried to twist his way out of Aoi’s bindings. His cheek was pressed uncomfortably against the stone floor, and his tail was strung up from the ceiling with magic bindings that stung whenever he pressed into them too hard.
“Kai!” The door suddenly swung open.
Oh, fuck. Not again. Kai tilted his head to the side slightly, seeing Aoi walking through the door, wearing tight pants and an unbuttoned military jacket.
“I don’t suppose that you could undo these bindings?” Kai let out a nervous laugh.
Aoi’s face twisted into something dark and ugly. “Do you honestly think that I would let you? The instant I let you free, I know you’re going to go right back to that witch bastard’s arms.”
Kai tilted his head, before jerking backward at the sharp sting. “Witch?”
Aoi sat down on the floor, his hand stroking Kai’s cheek in some twisted mockery of love. “How else could he have taken your heart from its rightful place at my side? He must have used some sort of love potion or spell. A strong one, too, given that it hasn’t broken already.”
Aoi removed the flask attached to his waist, a pink liquid that billowed out into clouds of swirling smoke when Aoi uncorked it.
“The hell is that?” Oh shit, please don’t let it be some sort of love potion, please!
“You really shouldn’t worry. It’s just one of the ingredients to undoing whatever the hell that witch did to you.”
Oh, god, that’s a love potion. Uru, I’m sorry!
Aoi suddenly grabbed Kai’s head and pried open his mouth, forcing the liquid down Kai’s throat, the taste stinging his tongue and making his head grow foggy. Uru, I’m sorry! Please forgive me! Please-
Suddenly, a brightly colored fog stung his eyes and he blacked out.
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Uruha was lying on his and Kai’s bed, staring at the ceiling. He could still hear the ringing tones of the Council members engaged in fierce debate over what to do about Kai. In the end, they had decided to ignore Reita’s offer of help and done nothing, sending Uruha up to his and Kai’s room.
God, can I even call it our room anymore? A single tear slipped down his cheek. Ruki had offered to comfort him, help in any way he could, but Uruha had sent him away. He wanted to be alone.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the door open and a figure slip their way in.
“Ruki, I told you that I-”
“‘I’m not Ruki.”
Uruha looked up. Reita was leaning against the doorframe, a strange expression on his face.
“What do you want?”
He stepped into the room. “Same as I said in front of all the others. I want to help you rescue your husband.”
Uruha tilted his head. “What do you get out of all of this?”
“Can’t a guy just do something out of the goodness of his heart?” Reita walked into the room.
“Given that your boss just kidnapped the love of my life, I’m not inclined to believe that.”
“Just cause I work for the throne doesn’t mean I work for Aoi.” He shook his head, his hooves digging into the floor.
Uruha got up from the bed. “The hell does that mean?”
“I’m attached to the throne, not Aoi. His Most Lustful Majesty can’t have me killed without going through his retainers or my uncle.”
“How did I know you he didn’t put you up to this?”
“You don’t.”
The two men stared in silence at each other for a while,
“Reita, have you-” Ruki poked his head around the corner, stopping when he saw Uruha.
“Ruki? What the hell are you doing here?”
Ruki ignored him and turned to Reita. “Reita, are we going now?”
“Going where?”
Ruki rolled his eyes. “To the Nine Hells. Reita can summon up a portal to the outskirts of Bael, and we can grab Kai.” He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Uruha turned to face Ruki. “And you’re just going to trust him?”
“What choice do we have? Do you know something I don’t!”
“He works for Aoi! Do you honestly think that he won’t hand us over to the guards the instant we step into the palace?”
“Isn’t that a risk you’re willing to take? Kai could be getting brainwashed into Aoi’s love slave right know and you’re willing to wait?”
“I...I don’t want to wait. I just don’t trust him.” His mind tormented him with thoughts of Aoi’s body wrapped around Kai’s, Aoi’s tongue worming into Kai’s eagerly waiting mouth, Aoi’s slender hand reaching downward, Kai moaning in ecstasy…
“Let’s go.”
*************************************************************************************************************
Aoi was silently steaming .
It was in the middle of a boring council meeting about how the university in Stolas needed a bigger budget for some sort of astrology project, and the potential to expand the budget for all the universities, but Aoi didn’t care about that.
His mind quickly wandered to his husband-to-be, who must be getting so bored and impatient with him, having to wait in their bedroom.
In a minute, my love. I know you must be missing me, but I just have to stay for a few more minutes!
Aoi began distracting himself with thoughts of Kai’s lovely body winding around his own, Kai’s cock deep in his ass, god he’s so lovely I can’t wait-
“Shiroyama-sama!”
Shit!
*************************************************************************************************************
“Ow!”
An ashamed-looking devil jumped away from where she’d stepped on Uruha’s tail, Ruki silently snickering next to him. Uruha pressed his hands further into the pockets of his coat, hoping to escape the bitter cold.
Uruha had lost count of how long they’d been traveling for, slithering over cold streets and trying not to die of hypothermia. Reita had, of course, neglected to mention that the city of Bael was carved into the side of a massive mountain of ice, or that snakefolk were much, much, much more sensitive to cold than people.
God, is he trying to get us killed?
The train car jolted to a complete stop, Ruki almost falling over. As the doors swung open, Reita turned to face the two snakefolk.
“We’re here.”
Uruha peered out the doors. His eyes caught on a magnificent castle of shining black stone, thin, spindly towers reaching up into the dark sky, magical torches of green flame lighting up intricate carvings that decorated the side. He turned to Reita.
“How do you suppose that we get up there?”
Reita stared back at him. “I...uh...I know how to get into the castle walls, and where Aoi’s personal rooms are, but…”
“Are you telling me that YOU DIDN’T KNOW HOW TO GET US THERE?”
Ruki rolled his eyes. “Gods, Uru, I can shield us both with a simple spell. That’s why Reita brought me along, remember? ”
“That’s a good idea!” Reita began walking off of the train, setting towards the castle. Ruki turned to Uruha, placing his hands on his own and muttering something under his breath. A wet feeling radiated out of where Ruki had touched him, and Ruki seemingly disappeared into thin air not a moment later.
*************************************************************************************************************
Uruha had spent who-knows-how-long trying to navigate through the dark, winding hallways of the Royal Palace, the nigh-omnipresent cold biting through his cloak. Reita had been whispering directions to him as quietly as he could manage, which wasn’t much, and Ruki had been clinging to Reita’s side. There had been a few close calls, one where the invisibility spell almost failed before Ruki made it over to his side and restored it with a touch of his cheek, and another where a hulking demon guard tripped over his tail.
How much longer is this going to take? Uruha though as Reita walked towards a door concealed in an ornate archway.
“This is the last of the pleasure chambers. If Kai’s not here, we’re going to check the prison cells.”
Ruki sighed. “You honestly think Aoi’d keep ‘the love of his life’ in a dirty and cold prison cell?”
“Hey, maybe he was being uncooperative.” Reita pushed open the door, revealing a dark room with a massive bed in the center. The whole place had a sickly-sweet smell to it that made Uruha’s tongue burn in his mouth. He felt something tugging at his scalp, his hair snakes flickering just out of view, and he raced towards the bed.
His eyes caught onto a long figure slumped over in the middle of the bed, closer inspection seeing that it was Kai, dressed in a skimpy outfit that would have stirred something deep inside him if he wasn’t so worried at his prone state. He was lying limp across the bed, a lazy smile on his face. Uruha picked him up, holding him in his arms.
“Kai, love, are you okay?”
Kai turned to look at him, confusion in his eyes. “I’m sorry, who are you?”