Eyes can lie, but beneath the lie, the truth might still reside.
When Xio managed to pry his eyes open just a crack, he found himself exactly where he'd deposited Kirihito: in the chamber's large, ornate bed. His body was a leaden weight, sluggish and unresponsive. His eyelids felt heavy and glued shut, fighting his every attempt to remain awake. A sharp hiss escaped his lips as the throbbing pain from the bites on his arm and neck reminded him of the previous night's ordeal.
Before he could properly gather his thoughts, his heart lurched, skipping a beat with a painful, dizzying thump.
Standing before him was Yuzai. He was smiling, the familiar red rabbit ruby pendant—the one Xio had gifted him years ago—dangling from his hand. Xio's breath hitched in his throat, and his eyes forgot how to blink.
"Xio..." the figure called softly. His red eyes seemed to sparkle, and flowing white hair moved as gently as clouds. But how could this be? Yuzai had died long ago. How could he be standing right there?
"Yuzai... you're... here," Xio whispered faintly, his lips barely moving as he tremblingly raised a hand toward the apparition.
He expected a tender caress, a ghost of a kiss on his palm. Instead, he received a sharp, familiar bite. The sudden, very real pressure shattered the fragile, dreamy expression on his face, forcing his eyes wide open.
"Who is this Yuzai?! Another insect?! You remembered his name! You called his name so sweetly, and 'sweet' is at the top of Fukaki's largest mountain of things you never say!" Kirihito yelled, angrily chewing on Xio's thumb like a disgruntled kitten.
It was Kirihito. He was holding the ruby pendant, having snatched it while Xio was unconscious. His hair was a midnight black, floating in a draft, not white like clouds, and his eyes, though a striking color, were certainly not exposed in the soft, loving way Xio had just imagined. Xio had seen Kirihito through a painful, fever-induced fog, the memory of his lost love blurring the reality of the terrifying snake yokai.
"How dare you remember someone else's name but forget mine?! And that pendant?! You never showed me or gave it to me! I carefully laid you down on the bed when you passed out and stayed here the whole time like a good Snake, and this is how you reward me?!" Kirihito's voice rose to a childish shriek, as he began shaking Xio's shoulder violently.
Xio was stunned for only a few seconds. Then, adrenaline flooded his system. He shot upright and snatched the pendant back from Kirihito's grasp. "Don't touch it! That's mine!" he asserted, his voice possessing a desperate, almost pathetic possessiveness, as if Kirihito had tried to rip out his actual heart. He clutched it over his chest, his wide eyes scanning the ruby with a look of reverence.
Kirihito glared, huffed, and crossed his arms. "Hah! Is this ruby more important than me? The Black Diamond?!" His tone was equally theatrical, dripping with arrogant pride. He was completely, unequivocally certain he was far more valuable than a mere trinket.
"YES! You will never. EVER. Touch this again! Understood?!" Xio warned, enunciating each word as if speaking to a dull-witted child.
Kirihito froze. An insult!
He lunged forward with a furious hiss before Xio could react. "NO! I DON'T UNDERSTAND YOUR LANGUAGE, UGLY INSECT XIO!" Kirihito shrieked directly into Xio's ear.
The fact that this unknown person and their gift were prioritized over him was unacceptable. What was the point of keeping himself locked up here if he was less worthy than a single pendant?
Xio winced, ducking his head and clamping a firm hand over Kirihito's face to push him away. "Stop shouting in my poor ears! You've already chewed so many holes into my neck, isn't that enough?!"
"No, I'm not done yet! I have to make holes in every corner of your body!" Kirihito yelled back, yanking his face free and moving closer until their faces were inches apart.
"Sh... shut up with your nonsense! You know nothing of what you're saying!" Xio yelled back, his voice trembling slightly from the sudden, intense proximity.
"You shut up! You're so rude, yelling at me right after waking up!"
"I wouldn't if you hadn't taken my pendant!" Xio hissed, clinging to the ruby like his dear life's essence.
"Then I should have taken your little head instead!" Kirihito hissed back, his voice changing to a low, dangerous growl as he gripped Xio's head, his fingers tangled in the human's hair, a genuine threat in his eyes.
Xio gasped, momentarily panicking, but quickly regained his composure. "You... you're being a bad Snake right now!"
"I don't wanna be good! I'm just a Snake who only breathes easily after killing those insects!" Kirihito pulled Xio's hair hard, his long, cold fingers wrapped around the dark strands. Xio bit back a yelp and gripped Kirihito's hair in return. They pulled simultaneously, both yelping in pain as their heads yanked back.
"Ah! Let go of my hair, now!" Xio ordered.
"You let go first! My hair is more beautiful and important than yours! You'll look great bald!" Kirihito screamed, taunting him.
"You... you called me BALD!?" Xio demanded in pure, stunned annoyance.
"Yes, I did! What are you going to do?!" He dramatically released Xio's hair, crossing his arms with smug pride and confidence.
"I'll cancel your dragon fruits!" Xio threatened, knowing this would instantly halt the yokai's rampage and secure obedience.
"How—how dare you bring up that topic again?!" Kirihito bellowed, never liking to be poked at the same vulnerable spot.
"Oh, then I should try something else..." Xio smirked faintly, a mischievous glint in his eyes that made Kirihito instantly suspicious of whatever scheme was brewing in the human's head.
Xio leaned in slightly, as if to share a secret, then whispered, "I was thinking of sometimes... taking you outside, into the city, the one far outside of Fukaki and Bayakuya..."
Kirihito's expression instantly switched to one of pure, petrified boredom. He froze solid.
Xio continued his teasing, "There are so many colorful things, beautiful clothes, shiny gems, and tasty food that I bet you'll want to live there forever..."
"N... no, you're lying! You're just trying to make me do whatever you want!" Kirihito tried to deny it, terrified of the idea of being permanently locked in a human's house, which Xio was planning to seal off.
"No, it's true~ But since you don't want to listen to me... I don't want to listen to you either~" Xio sang softly.
"No! You have to take me there! You have to!" Kirihito demanded, grabbing Xio's sleeve desperately.
"Nope~"
"Insect Xio!!"
"Nope~"
"You can't lock me here!"
"But I have to~"
"Stop joking!"
"I'm serious~"
"I'm also s-s- what did you say... I mean, I'm serous too!!" Kirihito struggled with the pronunciation, refusing to back down.
"You can't even say 'serious,' how can you be serious?~"
"Just because I struggled to say 'serious' doesn't mean I'm not serious!"
"Yes, you're not serious."
"No, I'm serious!"
"No~"
"Yes!!"
"No, no, no~"
"YES, YES, YES, A THOUSAND TIMES YES! Just speak again, I'm really going to take off your head!"
"A thousand times NO!"
From the corner of the room, Xi watched their argument unfold while leisurely peeling and eating a banana. He took a large bite, his mouth full, and mumbled, "Xi has to say, those two... are a truly great comedy pair..."
Both Xio and Kirihito spun around as if Xi had committed the worst offense of his life. Their jaws tightened with synchronous rage as they screamed: "SHUT UP! NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!!!"
"Alright, alright, Xi isn't disturbing anyone," Xi said, raising his hands in mock surrender.
"Didn't I tell you to leave earlier?!" Xio hissed, pointing a furious finger at Xi. He truly could not tolerate the sight of the flirtatious fox yokai.
"Don't worry, Xi hasn't collected his 'heir' yet from Kirihito-sama~ Xi will take it in private~ The bed will have lots of space so we can play for hours~ So not a single drop gets missed..." Xi purred in a deliberately flirtatious way, winking with a smoldering smirk.
Xio's face went scarlet, and he mentally lost it again.
Kirihito paused, his anger momentarily forgotten, his mouth slightly agape in confusion. He completely missed the innuendo, trying to logically process the terms. "What is 'heir'? And... which things drop, hmm? But Kirihito would love to play~ You'll lose because I'll break the whole bed and you~ Because Kirihito is the best!" he asked innocently before concluding with a smug expression, utterly oblivious to the double meaning of his boast.
"Oh, my!~ Then I'd rather you be the top and I bottom, okay?~" Xi said with an excited, wicked grin, his cheeks already flushing.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll be the top~ You're going to cry so~ hard because I play too good~"
Xio's face burned a deep crimson. His eyes widened so much they felt like they might pop out from the sheer audacity of their unholy talk. He felt an intense, uncomfortable heat pool in his stomach. He grabbed a pillow and hurled it at Kirihito.
"Ah! What was that for?! I was just talking to him!" Kirihito complained in annoyance. He retaliated by throwing a pillow at Xi, but the fox dodged it with a smug grin and a playful flick of his tongue. "You can't~" Xi teased.
Xio growled in utter frustration.
"SHUT UP, YOU UNHOLY MOUTHS! IS THAT WHAT YOU CALL NOT DISTURBING?! CAN'T YOU TALK NORMALLY FOR A SINGLE SECOND?!" Xio yelled so loudly his voice cracked into a high-pitched squeak.
He threw two demon-face talismans, which instantly detached themselves from his hand and lunged to capture Xi.
"Oh-oh." Xi's eyes widened. He scrambled to jump out the window. "Why does this human always get so irritated?!" he silently lamented while fleeing the powerful seals.
"Insect Xio! Why are you torturing my friend? He just wanted to play with me privately!" Kirihito protested, yanking Xio's collar. Xio hissed from the sharp pain in his neck wound.
But Xio was beyond irritated. He wasn't like his easy-going uncle; he wasn't going to be lenient with this yokai, especially not one who was widely viewed as a "breeding machine" yet acted with the mind of a confusingly sharp, yet unbelievably dense child.
"SHUT UP, YOU KNOW NOTHING!!!" Xio yelled again, grabbing Kirihito's face a little too firmly this time.
But then, the atmosphere shifted. Kirihito's entire aura changed. The childish petulance vanished, replaced by something still innocent but far more mature. The suddenness of it surprised Xio.
Kirihito delivered another blow to Xio's defenses by pulling him closer by the collar, the move innocent yet deeply intimate without any conscious effort. Their chests almost touched; Xio could feel the cool brush of the snake yokai's breath.
Xio's heart hammered against his ribs.
Xi, still scrambling to escape the talismans, paused. "What the??"
Xio froze, his eyes wide and silent, his face heating up until it felt scorched. The sudden, intense proximity made his heart pound louder than a war drum.
" but really.. If I... be like that Yuzai... will you remember me..this time?" Kirihito asked, his voice low, innocent, and curious, heavy with an inexpressible emotion. He wasn't jealous of the person, only the memory that held Xio so tightly.
For a moment, all the yelling, the fighting, the threats, and the childish mischief stopped. Xio blinked. Once. Twice.
He had no answer for this.
Because it wasn't that easy.
It never was.