Into the Forest part 15

[krystalkatz.livejournal.com]

“My lord Sho may I ride with you? I fear that your cousin would fear my ignorance rubbing off on him…” The boy asked with a sharp glare in Jun’s direction and Sho was amused wondering if Jun had realised just what he was getting himself into when he had first started wooing the boy to his bed. The stable hand was far from being one of the simpering youths of the court for all that he was a country bumpkin. It was impertinence of the highest order for a commoner to speak that way to him but Sho thought that it would do his cousin a lot of good.

“Of course you may…In fact as a horseman you may help me stay on the beast…”

“Apple is one of our gentler meres, my lord…She would not throw a man off…” Nino said going to the dapple horse and stroking her long face in much the same way Masaki had when he had been calming her down. The same strange clicking left the young stable hand’s mouth and Sho found himself looking towards the waterfall imagining seeing his…The old god standing there watching him from behind the water. “My lord? Are you okay?”

“Yes…But I have come to believe that I am worse than I suspected on the back of a horse as she threw me…” Sho answered smiling weakly with embarrassment pulling his eyes away from the waterfall as Jun slipped into a mild panic mode fussing over him as he would when they were children saying;

“She threw you? Are you injured? We should take you to a healer…”

“I’m fine…I’m not even bruised…” Sho admitted with surprise as he realised that it was true. He had fallen from the horse, the dried mud on his cloak told him that much but there was no pain, not even a bruise. The dabble wasn’t a small horse either and the ground had been frozen solid and yet not even a twinge of pain could be felt throughout his body. “Come we should leave but first…Boy…”

“This is Nino…” Jun said but the boy scowled tapping his foot on the ground before correcting him with a soft;

“Ninomiya, my lord, Ninomiya Kazunari…Only my friend’s call me Nino and none here can be called that…”

“…Uh…” Jun let out a small noise and then turned away marching back to his horse on the other side of the clearing and Sho tried hard not to smirk. When he had first noticed Jun’s attraction to Nino had been worried that there was going to be a scandal. It had happened before when they were in town with various men and women left broken hearted when they realised that it had just been a dalliance on Jun’s part but it seemed that this Nino knew how to handle his cousin and it also appeared that it was Jun that might be the one left with a broken heart if he wasn’t careful.

“…Ninomiya…Will you say a thank-you for me? To your god in bringing me here safely…” He asked and the boy gave a nod going back to the altar and speaking in the strange clicking tongue. It would be a difficult language to learn as it all appeared to be based on tone rather actual words but he was determined to learn it.

“I’m done my lord…” Nino announced a few minutes later and Sho nodded climbing onto the back of the horse. He put a hand down for Nino but the boy jumped up with surprising ease for somebody so small and Sho smiled at the way Jun was pointedly not looking at them. Rolling his eyes, a little he looked back at the waterfall whispering;

“Thank-you, I’ll be back again…”

TBC
A/N: I hope that this is okay ^_^