Saiunkoku Monogatari, Reishin/Kouyuu, first meeting/prostitution - 2/3
Reishin looked him up and down critically, then gestured to the bottle on the table in front of him. "Well, hurry up. Poor me some sake."
The boy's eyes flashed but he quickly dropped to his knees and reached for the sake. Reishin rapped him - hard - on the knuckles and the boy jerked his hand back. A glare that could have burned paper shot in his direction.
"Slowly," Reishin said, leaning back on his couch again. "With refinement. Otherwise you may spill my sake."
"Yes, Kou-sama," the boy said, tightly. He reached for the sake bottle again and Reishin watched him like a hawk as he poured it. It wasn't refined - he didn't have the trick of holding his sleeve back and tilting his wrist just so. But it was a start.
"Very good," Reishin said approvingly. The boy passed him the cup, careful not to spill. "Now, tell me something. Tell me how you came to be here."
The boy shifted to face him. "Why do you want to know that?"
His insolence was stunning. Any other day Reishin would have punished him harshly to teach him manners and sent him off to get some proper training in etiquette.
Today it was...fascinating.
He smacked the boy lightly on the forehead. Boys were like dogs, he reflected. If he ever had a child of his own, he would train him like this - a bit of corporal punishment to keep him honest, that was all.
"It is not your place to ask me why," he instructed the boy. "I simply wish to know, and so you will tell me. I am...interested. You may give me a shoulder massage while you tell me."
"Er, yes Kou-sama," the boy replied. Reishin sat up and the boy slipped into the seat behind him, reaching and rather ineffectually digging his fingers into Reishin's shoulders. Reishin poked and prodded with his fan and gave him a few suggestions until he finally settled into a rhythm that was soothing and not painful.
This was actually somewhat enjoyable. A challenge! And one that didn't involve his often-interminable job at the palace.
Now that they were settled, he smiled and sipped at his cup. "Now, answer my question, boy."
"Yes, Kou-sama... I came here this morning because I needed someplace to stay."
Reishin's eyebrow quirked and he fanned himself lazily. "Go on."
"Uh, well...I didn't make enough money last night, so I was hungry," the boy said. "And it was raining, and there was this gang--"
"A gang?" Reishin sat up slightly. Now this was getting interesting! "Were you hurt?"
"No, I didn't fight them. They didn't like that I was on their turf and they tried to mess up my lottery. I ran here, because I knew the mistress wouldn't mind. And I was only going to stay a couple of hours, but then I fell asleep and when I woke up it was too late to go out again," the boy explained haltingly. "If I went out again tonight, I wouldn't have had enough time to make anything for tomorrow."
"I see," Reishin said musingly. "So you don't really work for the mistress, then?"
"Well, she said I could do this in return for staying with her all day and eating her food," the boy said lamely.
"How terrible for you," Reishin murmured. "Are you frightened?" He twisted around to look the boy in the eye, and when the boy looked away he forced his chin up with the tip of his fan. "Are you afraid of what I will do to you, boy? Answer me honestly."
The widening of the boy's pretty green eyes told Reishin all he needed to know.
"I see," Reishin whispered. He leaned closer and was pleased to find that the boy didn't lean away. Much. "But despite your fear, you understand that for so long as you are in this room and I am paying for your time, that you are bound to do whatever I wish to entertain me?"
The boy's Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed. "Y-yes, Kou-sama," he whispered. His voice was a little hoarse.
"Good. Now tell me, did you get enough sleep today?" Reishin asked, tapping his fan against his lips in thought.
"Huh?"
Reishin repressed a chuckle at the confused look on the boy's face. "You said that you would have left earlier, except that you regrettably fell asleep." He finished his cup of sake and set it down. "Are you now well-rested?"