Ink Stained

48: teacher*

先生

"I'm sorry, where are we going?"

Shiori laughed at the astounded shock in Pai's voice as she sang, "You heard me. We're going to Kyoo-too."

She gave her a dead-eyed look as she stared at Shiori's reflection in her mirror, her mouth snapping shut from hanging agape in startled surprise. "I assume you realize that when I say where are we going, you know I mean why are we going to Kyoto."

Shiori laughed, then tugged Pai's hair up higher so that she held it in a firm fist right on top of her head. She snapped the hairband tied at her wrists around the hair and let it go, weaving her fingers through the long ponytail that swung down to hang at the middle of Pai's back.

"We're going because it's time for the Kings to sign the Territory Treaties, and this year, Kouta's father is holding the accords at the main village." Shiori's fingers tap-danced over Pai's hair. "The place where they sign the Treaties changes every year. Last year it was the Ookami who held the signing, then before that it was the Hebi."

"I got that part," Pai grumbled. She reached up and pulled at a few strands of hair in the ponytail until she felt like the needle poking into her scalp was gone, then let Shiori continue on with whatever hairstyle she'd so badly wanted to try out on her. They still had an hour to get to school, and she hadn't had the energy to even bother with putting her hair up when she woke. "What I do not understand is why we are going as well."

"Oh, yeah, I didn't say that, did I?"

"You did not."

Shiori stuck her tongue out at Pai in the mirror. She reached over and picked up a small dark pink hairband from her dressing table and fixed it on her wrist, then started plaiting the long ponytail of Pai's hair.

"We are going because Kouta's the Heir, and he has to be present for the signing of the Treaties. He's had to go since he was twenty, which is apparently the 'legal age' for an Heir to inherit. You know, for when he's the one who has to do the signing. Plus, Kouta said his mother wants to see me, so I kind of have no choice. You don't say no to the queen of the Tengu."

"That sounds like it would be quite stupid to say no." She admitted. "But why am I going?" no one had asked for her to go.

Shiori's eyes slid away from hers in the mirror to focus on the braid she was plaiting. "Um...I am...I kind of need you..."

Her heart twisted at the words.

She remembered what Shin told her three days ago, the night she tried to kill him without even knowing what she was doing. Shaking her head to focus on the present, she glanced up at Shiori's averting gaze.

"You want me there?" she asked, watching Shiori closely in the mirror.

"You're my best friend. It'll be weird if you're stuck here alone."

"But that is not the only reason."

"Well, it's not like I don't like Misao-san. She's great, and she doesn't seem to mind me as much as Kouta's father. But I've only met her once. Honestly, when your boyfriend's mother says she wants to meet you, you get scared."

"I would not know." She remarked. She'd never had a boyfriend. "And why would you be scared? You just said that she is great."

"She is. But I don't know if she likes me. She's one of those types you just can't get a read on." Shiori laughed nervously. "And if the mother doesn't like the girl, it's only a matter of time."