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Sara is the only one allowed to enter the Shogun's inner chambers when she and the Guuji Yae are closeted together.
Once upon a time, even she could not--but the Shogun's notice has turned more keenly to her since the end of the Vision Hunt Decree, and not merely as it has to to the rest of Inazuma's people. Sara finds herself both honored and intimidated by those attentions. It would be easier if they had not also turned to, or rather, as she understands, been re-awakened regarding, Guuji Yae.
At the least, she would rather that she still not be allowed to enter the Shogun's inner chambers when she is alone with the Guuji. For being allowed means that she also, at certain times, must.
"General Kujou," the guard at the door to the throne room greets her, bringing his arm to his chest. "Welcome back."
She can see the curiosity in his eyes, and the worry: her mission was officially secret, but enough people were involved in her transport to Watatsumi that the soldiers have no doubt gossiped, and she knows she does not look her best. All she can do, though, is salute him crisply back and stride past him. She has been ordered to report to the Raiden Shogun as soon as she returns, with no delays, and she did not need to be ordered not to speak of a secret operation first to anyone else.
Perhaps, she thinks in passing, the Shogun could order Guuji Yae out of the room to take her report. It isn't, however, worth entertaining even as a hope. The Guuji will sit and simper and listen, watching Sara with her sharp vulpine eyes, mouth curved with amusement and her sharp vulpine hunger. Unless, by some chance, she is asleep.
But of course, she is not asleep.
The Shogun sits in silent meditation, eyes closed, attention and presence elsewhere. Sara has learned to feel the difference, to know when she is wholly one with her form and when her consciousness has been elevated to some other plane of existence, one where no doubt she can better look over the state of Inazuma and listen to and answer the prayers of its people. There is a faint stirring, for even in this state she is of course aware of Sara's own presence, but the only open and attentive eyes upon Sara are the Guuji's. They are every bit as piercing as Sara had anticipated.
Her smile, too, is as sharp as Sara expected. Moreso, even, while the Shogun cannot see the hunger in it, the flash of fang to remind Sara that a tengu is at heart a crow, and a kitsune at heart a fox, and one of them is far more a predator than the other.
"My goodness," she says, hand going to her mouth. The mock dismay doesn't in the least hide her amusement. "What happened to you? Don't tell me you were caught in a bramble-bush. I would think a tengu would know better."
"There were indeed thornbushes involved," Sara says, mortifyingly aware of how tattered her uniform and her feathers are from the ordeal. "The beast led us quite a chase. I will save the details of my report for the Shogun's full attention."
"Oh, but those injuries look serious. Tsk, tsk, to come before the Shogun in that state...."
Sara takes a deep breath. She will not be goaded. "The Shogun ordered me to report without delay on my return. I am doing so. My injuries are not urgent, and can be tended to once my report is delivered."
"Ah, but see, you've ruined the fun of welcoming you back." Guuji Yae rises, shaking her head, and starts to drift towards her. "For Ei, anyway. I have a little medical training. Half the fun for me will be kissing you better."
Reaching out, she catches Sara's chin, tilting her face to examine the slash on her cheek where the filth-born beast out of the Tatarigami had gotten her with one errant claw. It's half-healed; Sangonomiya had insisted on doing what she could before Sara departed, though it will take time and some of the shrine's arts to fully seal the wounds a creature like that can leave. The Guuji Yae may even be able to do it herself, though the method she proposes casts her sincerity into doubt.
Nonetheless, Sara lets her look, stiff as her back might go when the Guuji casually strokes her thumb along her jaw. Guuji Yae leans in, bright-eyed, smiling, so predatory and sharp that the tiny croaking voice of crow instinct in the back of her head squawks at her to flee, and brushes her lips against the wound. Then, rather than pulling back, she turns Sara's head to smile at her straight-on and presses a kiss to her mouth.
Her tongue flicks against Sara's lips, quick and teasing, and Sara is so taken aback that she unthinkingly lets it in. Seeming to take that as encouragement, Guuji Yae pushes further, tasting Sara, nearly devouring her, mouth warm and clever and thrumming with an Electro pulse that sparks just off-rhythm from Sara's own. She hums in satisfaction, and Sara abruptly comes to her senses, stepping swiftly back. Heat flares in her face.
"Lady Guuji, what-"
"Have you any other wounds?"
At once Sara spins about, fist to her chest, hot all over with mortification as the Shogun speaks. "Almighty Shogun, I- the beast is dead, and I am ready to give my report."
"I will take your report in a moment. First, answer my question: have you any other wounds?"
"Yes. I will go to the Narukami Shrine to have them treated as soon as I finish my report."
"That won't be necessary. Miko can attend to the rest in the same way as she already has the first."
Reaching up, Sara touches the mark on her still-blazing cheek. It's there no longer. She thinks of her other wounds, the one on her arm, the one across her breast, and finds herself going even hotter. She has bared herself before to the Shogun for her pleasure, and has at times, while giving a report, seen the Guuji bared for the same reason. Never, though, has the Guuji seen her in such a state. And the Guuji has already demonstrated that she will not treat Sara's wounds with medical impartiality.
Yet the Shogun's orders cannot be disobeyed. There is some peace, and much relief, at the thought that this is an order, that this will be no less in answer to the Shogun's desire than any other time Sara has disrobed before her. Even if the Shogun's desire here is merely to see Sara back in fighting form. That desire is as much an honor as any other she has been pleased to fulfill.
"As the Shogun commands," Sara says with a bow, trepidation and the eagerness she always feels in the Shogun's bedroom mixing, fluttering and uneasy, in her gut. Her lips seem to tingle with the lingering thrum of Guuji's Electro, that frequency ever-so-slightly different from her own.
She straightens to see the Guuji Yae smiling again, mischievous and satisfied, like a fox with a crow between her teeth.