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The evening air was cool and damp as Hiyoko stood outside the concert hall, sipping fizzy water from a champagne glass. Almost everyone else was spending the intermission inside. The mist rising from the river was too chilly for most others, she supposed, but it diffused the city lights into a soft watercolor haze.
A door opened and closed behind her, and a familiar voice called out. "Ah, bonsoir, mon amie! You look lovely tonight. Of course, you always do, but this is the first chance I've had to see you in formal furisode."
She turned and smiled. "Hey there, Yuuya. Are you here by yourself? You look nice too-- although a properly fastened bow tie just looks wrong on you."
With a gallant flourish, Yuuya kissed her hand and then clutched it to his chest. "You may loosen it for me at any time, mon amie. In fact, I have come out here into the cold to invite you to join me for the remainder of this concert. Now that Sakuya has played his étude or rhapsody or whatever it was, Maman has returned to the embassy gala where she was supposed to be all evening. Do sit in the private box with me, or as a non-connoisseur I shall be reduced to solitary acts of vice to stay awake until the final curtain."
She rolled her eyes and lightly smacked his chin with the back of her hand. "Oh, stop it. That doesn't even make sense. I will come sit with you, though."
She followed him back to the concert hall's door, which he held open for her to enter first. The interior lighting made her blink after the misty darkness outside, and initially Hiyoko thought that was the only reason why Yuuya was also pausing behind her. After a moment, he placed a single fingertip between her shoulderblades.
"Oops," she said, quickly moving out of the way. "I didn't mean to block you-- where do we go from here?"
He formally took her arm in his to escort her up the stairs in uncharacteristic silence. Maybe he just wanted to save his most outrageous quips until they were out of the crowd. But he stayed silent even after they reached the enclosed private box and sat down. In fact, he seemed to be staring at her chest. She finished her flute of fizzy water and set it down, wondering if she should have gotten a refill to throw at him.
"Yuuya. Don't even think about asking me to have sex with you up here. The box can't possibly be that soundproof if the music can still come in."
"Oh, nothing could be further from my mind at this moment, mon amie. Or perhaps I should call you ma belle-soeur, now-- Maman said that she'd finally persuaded Sakuya to let her provide a kimono for you, but I didn't know the rest. I thought she'd simply loaned you one of hers."
"No, she said she wanted to have a new one made for me as a gift. She was really nice. She picked out the fabric and everything."
"Or had it specially woven, or found some heirloom silk yardage for the purpose. Monsieur Le Bel must be in conniptions if he knows about this."
"Huh?"
Yuuya reached over to delicately shake out one of the long sleeves of Hiyoko's kimono and turn it upward to show her the back. "Did you not notice these? Maman has given you a five-crest kimono with the Shirogane family kamon brocaded directly into the cloth. It's difficult to see the silver thread against the dove-grey silk, but there it is. See, one spray of feathers on each sleeve, one centered on your back, and one below each collarbone. Félicitations, kon'yaku omedetou, or what have you-- as far as she is concerned, you and my little brother are now betrothed. Did they not tell you anything about this, or is this an involuntary elopement for you?"
"An involuntary... what?!"
"Well, it's at least some comfort to me that you seem as astonished as I am. Didn't my little brother at least tell you when he escorted you here?"
Hiyoko still couldn't decide whether Yuuya was joking or not. "Sakuya's been squirrelled away with the other scholarship finalists for the past week, rehearsing. I don't think he knows what I'm wearing-- your mother didn't send this to me until this afternoon, along with a commando team of kimono experts to put it onto me the right way."
"Ah, Maman," Yuuya mused. "I hope we haven't confused any semi-cognoscenti who've just seen the two of us together, or the society blogs may already be chattering that you're engaged to me. Sakuya's the one with rights to the Shirogane name and crest, not I, but facts are sometimes incidental. Mind you, a formal ménage à trois could be quite charming, if your barbarian customs include polyandry; as I am the older brother, I insist that you marry me and demote Sakuya to a mere concubine."
Hiyoko started to splutter, but Yuuya touched a finger to her lips. "Hush now, mon amie. They're dimming the lights. If I start to snore, do kick me as gently as you can."
---
At the very end of the concert, the scholarship competitors lined up on stage together. For once, Sakuya's tailcoat didn't stand out among all of the male soloists who were also wearing them... except that since he was so accustomed to the garment, he moved in it with an easy grace, unlike the others who kept glancing behind them to check what their coattails were doing. Hiyoko sighed, allowing herself to discreetly swoon a little bit while Yuuya wasn't watching-- he'd already left the box to go fetch Sakuya up here afterward.
When Sakuya bowed, some girlish shrieks and flung roses hurtled up from the audience. He picked up a rose from his feet and touched it to his lips, provoking more shrieking. He was looking in the general direction of Hiyoko's original seat, she realized, but probably the footlights were too bright for him to tell that she was no longer there. He filed off the stage with the others and disappeared.
---
Sakuya bristled as Yuuya poked him between the shoulderblades. "Take your hands off me. What you doing here, anyway?"
"I came as Maman's escort. Alas, she left during the intermission, so during the second half, I was using the private box to sleep with Hiyoko." He ducked. "Or at her, really; I believe she stayed awake through the entire concert. At a decorous arm's length from me, though her feet remained within range. Do desist from kicking me, little brother; I believe that her fearsome lacquered geta have already bruised that ankle black and blue."
Reluctantly, Sakuya desisted, scowling. "Where is she?" He craned about, finally succumbing to a bit of anxiety.
"She's waiting in the box. Do come up with me; we can fetch a bottle of champagne on the way. And more roses, if you wish. I see Maman had a new tailcoat made for you. It matches Hiyoko's kimono, did you know? Very nice."
Sakuya swatted Yuuya's hand off his collarbone. "Stop touching me, I said. First, let's go fetch my belongings from the dressing room. You can carry them for me, since you're already dressed like a butler."
"I am so overwhelmed by this honor that I can scarcely express my gratitude," Yuuya said, letting Sakuya herd him backstage.
---
"I don't even like champagne," Sakuya grumbled as Yuuya handed him an ornamental bucket of ice with three bottles he'd just taken from the bar. "And if this bucket drips onto my new tailcoat and leaves water spots, I shall never forgive you."
"Pfft. I'm sure Maman's sartorial minions can ninja out any manner of stains, no questions asked. And at least one bottle is fizzy water, but anything you don't finish, I'm taking home myself. Get that tray of little crunchy things too; they look like they won't crumble too badly in my pockets."
They squirmed out of the crowded reception area and were halfway up the side stairs before it occurred to Sakuya to ask, "Sakazaki, did you even pay for these?"
Yuuya grinned, balancing another tray of snacks on his bundle of Sakuya's clothing and sheet music. "It's all part of the overhead from the scholarship fund, I'm sure. What are you going to do, take them back and apologize? Up the stairs now, go. Your beloved awaits you, faint with longing. Or hunger. I don't think Maman's minions let Hiyoko eat anything once the kimono went on. For all I know, they made her swear not to eat anything until the kimono comes back off again. Hence the importance of feeding her now."
"Shut up," Sakuya snarled. They'd reached the box entrance, but neither of them had a spare hand to knock with. Yuuya tapped the door with one elbow, and Hiyoko opened it. Occupied by fending off water droplets, Sakuya didn't look up at first, but once Yuuya relieved him of the tray and ice bucket, he finally had leisure to see her. His eyes widened. "Oh. Oh, Hiyoko, you're--"
Yuuya snapped a handkerchief at Sakuya's hand. "Zut alors, little brother. After all that fuss about water spots on the tailcoat, you're just going to dry your hand on it fresh from the ice bucket? For shame. Some people have no respect for proper attire."
Sakuya grabbed the handkerchief, dried his hands thoroughly, and threw it back at Yuuya in a wadded-up ball. "Go away, Sakazaki."
"Ah, young love," Yuuya sighed. "I shall lock myself in the box with the refreshments, then. Do enjoy your privacy out in the hallway." He pushed Hiyoko out at Sakuya and closed the door.
---
Hiyoko looked around the hallway, but no one else was there; everyone else must've already gone downstairs to the reception. Even before she could turn back toward Sakuya, his arms wrapped around her in a tight embrace. "Hiyoko," he breathed into her hair. "Ma blanche et douce colombe, how I've missed you."
"It's only been a week," she said reasonably, before joyously kicking reason to the curb and kissing him as if they'd been apart for months or years. "But I've missed you too."
"Your mouth tastes strange," he murmured against it. "You're wearing lipstick?"
"So are you, now." She touched his face, smiling, and he trapped her hand for a familiar cascade of small passionate love-bites, nipping and inhaling and tasting her skin.
"Mmmm. I almost didn't recognize you. But you look beautiful."
"Hey, is that an insult?" She laughed and swayed against him, already weak-kneed from remembering what those love-bites felt like elsewhere on her body. "Anyway, you look much nicer than I do. You always do. Your mother's wardrobe ninjas deserve all the credit for dressing me up like this."
"Ninjas?" He pulled her closer and looked around wildly.
She squeezed his waist. "It was a metaphor. Should we try to get Yuuya to let us in yet?"
"Only if we can kick him out," Sakuya muttered, but knocked on the box door anyway.
---
"I already gave at the office," Yuuya blandly told them through a crack in the door.
"Sakazaki, open this door at once." Sakuya's icy dignity was only slightly impaired by the vivid smear of lipstick across his mouth.
"Oh, very well, I'll order two boxes of Thin Mints. Call me when they come in."
"Open the door or I will kick it in."
"The check is in the mail?"
"Yuuya," Hiyoko sweetly said, "open the door, or the next time I see you, I will skin you like a rabbit and throw you over a cliff."
He opened the door wide and flourished them in. "That's the spirit. Welcome back to your ancestral hall, my lord and lady Shirogane."
Sakuya immediately commandeered the abandoned handkerchief to wipe lipstick off his face, then turned to Hiyoko more hesitantly. "Did I get it all? Do you want me to remove yours?"
Yuuya exhaled and slumped into a chair. Was his little brother just refusing to mention the engagement to him, or was he really that unobservant? Sakuya was certainly being attentive enough at dabbing the damp cloth against every inch of Hiyoko's upturned face to remove lipstick, face powder, eyeshadow, and whatever else was on there. On the other hand, Sakuya looked like he might be in the process of already forgetting that Yuuya was even there. Yes, there went that poor abused handkerchief again, callously flung aside as Sakuya leaned closer to her with his lips parted, and...
"Ahem." Sakuya twitched violently when Yuuya cleared his throat. Hiyoko simply opened her eyes again, not quite as startled. "Could you perhaps wait to consummate your betrothal until you get home? Or at least until I leave?"
"Then leave," Sakuya snapped, before twitching again. "Our what?!"