[Fic] [Round 19] Title: Ground Rules, Rating: R
Author: Isha
Title: Ground Rules
Pairings: Gwendal/Anissina
Word Count: 5,082
Rating: R for sex
Any Warnings: Rather long, pointless smut!fic.
Prompt being used: Provided Title
Timeline: Set during season two.
Summary: There are some rules to every relationship.
Disclaimer: I own none of these very entertaining characters, please don’t sue me. Thank you.
Part of my Gwendal/Anissina series. Follows from ‘So This is Love’.
~
One: She hated being taken by surprise.
He had learned that the hard way when he had crept up behind her in her lab one day, and laid a hand on her shoulder. She had given him no warning, her maryokou had suddenly erupted from her skin, and he had had to put up a barrier lightning quick.
‘Anissina!’ he’d grunted, arm still tingling in pain. ‘It’s me!’
She had told him then, that she disliked surprises. He had rolled his eyes and left the room in a huff, but he had remembered it.
He had tried it out later, one day when he had had her favourite dessert prepared for her, and he’d told her he had a surprise for her under the covered dish before them.
The catch was that she could have it only if she would guess what it was.
She had refused to play his litle game, and when he had not obliged and lifted the lid, she had fidgeted, she had tapped her foot, and in the end she had pushed his restraining arm away to lift it herself.
She really did hate surprises, but only because she hated not being in control.
Now that was something he would remember-and have some fun with.
~
‘Come in!’
She didn’t look up as the door opened, that particular knock was only made by Gwendal, anyway. ‘Hello,’ she said distractedly, flashing him a quick smile and turning back to her drawings. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t come down to dinner today, it’s just this new thing I’ve been working on-’
He huffed a laugh, and then there was a plate before her. ‘I guessed as much,’ he said wryly. ‘I had the kitchen staff prepare you something.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, grasping his hand in gratitude as she took it from him and set it on the table. ‘I wanted to come down, but I knew I would have this one if I spent just an hour at the drawing table…’
She trailed off to take a bite of her dinner, chewing preoccupiedly as she looked over her designs again. The table shook a little, and she looked up to see that Gwendal had leaned a hip against it. ‘Hey, you’ll spill that water on my drawings,’ she cried, taking another bite as she tried to push him away with her other hand.
‘Drink it, then,’ he said, handing her the glass.
She took a large gulp, setting it on a side table close by. He said nothing, staring meaningfully at the plate and the glass, and she rolled her eyes as she took another bite of her dinner and washed it down with the rest of the water. Setting the empty glass pointedly on the side table, she made fast work of the food, holding up the empty plate to him when she was done.
‘Happy now?’
He nodded, taking the plate from her and placing it next to the glass. She made to stand up to walk him to the door, but fell back in her seat when the ground tilted under her feet. Her head was spinning, she felt lightheaded…
‘Gwendal-’
When she opened her eyes again, the room was dark. It took her a moment to realise that she was in her bed, and that she was undressed.
‘Gwendal?’ she rasped out, and there was a quick movement to her right.
She tried to dart away instinctively, but her hand was grabbed and bound. She lashed out with her other hand and her feet, and there was a grunt of pain as one of them connected. She thrashed about, but her assailant had moved to the other side of the bed now, and soon her other hand was bound.
She’d been drugged, she realised with sick shock. That would explain how she’d lost consciousness like that. But where was Gwendal? They would had to have gotten past him in order to sneak into her room…
‘Let me go!’ she cried, straining at her restraints. ‘You bastard, what have you done with Gwendal?’
A flint was struck somewhere, and a candle flared to life. She blinked in amazement to see Gwendal standing before her, dressed only in his trousers and holding the candle aloft as he breathed hard, his hair falling out of its usual sleek style. A bruise was developing on his cheekbone, and his eyes glittered strangely.
‘Gwendal?’ she gasped. ‘What-are you doing? Let me out of these at once!’
‘Surprise,’ he smirked, stepping closer to let the candlelight shine down on her. She gaped up at him, shaking her head in amazement. ‘Have you taken leave of your senses?’ she asked finally, glaring at him. ‘Why have you done this?’
He said nothing, moving forward with that same smirk on his face. He sat down on the bed next to her, and she tried to squirm away from him, but she couldn’t go far with the restraints. He laid a hand on her cheek, and she angrily shook it away. ‘Gwendal, if you don’t let me out of here right now, I swear by Shinou I’ll-’
‘I won’t hurt you,’ he interrupted her softly, meeting her eyes. ‘Trust me, Anissina.’
He seemed sincere enough, but that didn’t mean she was going to make it easy. He hadn’t asked her about this-talked to her about it even once-so she held herself rigid when he leaned down to kiss her. He took his time with it, though, and after a while, she opened her mouth to his gentle coaxing. His tongue slid inside, a slow sweep against her own, and she made a small, muffled sound of pleasure.
He sat up, and she raised her hands to pull him back down to her, forgetting the restraints that held her still. ‘Gwendal,’ she growled, and he smiled.
She snapped her mought shut as she suddenly understood what he was trying to do. She’d be damned if she let him see how he’d affected her. His smile widened at her gesture, his hand drifting down to let his thumb run over a hardened nipple. Her eyes slipped shut at the contact, her back arching.
‘That must be uncomfortable,’ he said in a low voice, and then he had leaned forward to pull her hair loose of its tie. He ran the strands through his fingers, arranging them on the pillows, following them to where they pooled on her body, fingers moving to trace gently over her skin.
She was burning up now, she wanted to pull him down and kiss him again, but he wanted her to ask him, so of course she wouldn’t. He looked down at her with dark eyes, and her heart pounded as she wondered what he would do next. She had her answer when he leaned forward to take a nipple between his lips. She moaned, and could feel him smile against her skin. He tortured her with his hot, hot mouth for a few moments while she gasped and whimpered and moved against him restlessly. Then suddenly he was straightening, leaving every nerve in her body tightening painfully.
‘Gwendal,’ she panted, ‘what-’
She trailed off on a gasp when he slid one finger inside her, thumb giving a hard stroke to the tight nub at her centre.
‘Ooh,’ she moaned, and his fingers stilled at the sound. She blinked the sweat out of her eyes as she looked up at him, frowning.
‘Do you want me to continue?’ he ground out.
‘What?’ she asked dazedly.
‘Do you want me to continue?’
‘What do you think?’ she cried incredulously, pulling at her restraints.
‘Ask me, then.’
She drew in her breath sharply, biting at her swollen lower lip. ‘Never,’ she said, glaring at him. He smiled again, fingers stroking her, and she shuddered. She squirmed, trying to evade him, but the restraints held her fast. He kissed her again, fingers still pumping, and she pulled her mouth from his to turn her head away and gasp.
‘Anissina, you won’t be getting anything tonight unless you ask for it,’ he said tauntingly, smile widening.
‘Fine,’ she said, eyes flashing. ‘Gwendal. Untie me so I can kill you for doing this to me!’
He laughed, giving her a hard, deliberate stroke.
She gasped.
‘Do you want to try again?’ he asked.
‘Gwendal,’ she moaned, nearly shaking now, ‘please…please…’
He seemed to realise he had pushed her too far, because he drew away from her to feverishly push his trousers down his hips. He settled himself on her, pulling her legs up around his waist with shaking fingers, and she was gratified to see that she wasn’t the only one nearly undone. She had to have her revenge, though, so she bit down hard on his ear lobe when he was within reach, and he stifled his cry of pain to glare at her with eyes that were wild.
He gave her no warning, he thrust into her suddenly, making her fall back against the pillows with a gasp. He started moving then, hard and fast, and she met his thrusts with frantic movements of her own. She shuddered with her release moments later, Gwendal following her with a muffled grunt into her neck.
A long moment later, he leaned forward to whisper softly in her ear:
‘Still hate surprises?’
And she could only shake her head.
~
Two: Only flat surfaces. Nothing that would cause scratches or end up getting stuck in places that would make it uncomfortable for him to ride a horse.
He’d come up with that one after she’d jumped him in the stables one day.
Really, it wasn’t her fault, she always was a little…worked up…after she’d had a ride. Usually she was able to hold off until she had dragged him into her rooms, but that day it had been unusually warm in Shin Makoku, and he’d taken off his jacket as soon as they had entered the stables. His white shirt had stuck to the lines of his strong back as he’d moved to take the saddle off...
He’d come eagerly enough when she’d pulled him into one of the less-used sheds and had her way with him, but afterwards, as he’d been dressing, he’d scowled.
‘Let’s not do this again,’ he’d growled, and she had stared at him before he had continued: ‘I have hay stuck in some very uncomfortable places.’
She’d stopped giggling at his glare, but she’d very carefully avoided promising any such thing.
~
‘We have to be getting back soon.’
He nodded lazily, not bothering to open his eyes. He’d finally gotten into a comfortable position against the tree trunk, the sunshine was warm on his face, and Gunter had promised that he could have an hour to himself.
‘Unless…’ Anissina’s breath tickled his ear as she leaned closer to him and whispered into his hair. ‘You want to stay here for a while?’
Her smiling lips met his, tongue sliding into his mouth. Somewhere in the middle of the kiss, her hands moved to his jacket, undoing buttons and sliding into his shirt. Her fingernails found his nipples, and he gasped.
Her answering smile was wicked, and he felt his blood heat.
She moved quickly to pull her blouse off, and his hands immediately went to her breasts. She sighed at his touch, reaching down to unbuckle his belt. He caught her wrists when she made to push his trousers down, blinking his desire away to meet her eyes incredulously.
‘Anissina, surely you don’t mean to…here?’
‘Why not?’ she asked, smiling at him. She leaned forward to let her breasts touch his chest, grinding her hips against him slowly. His head fell back against the tree trunk with a thump as he groaned.
‘Anissina-I thought we-agreed,’ he panted, and she interrupted him with: ‘I didn’t agree to anything.’
‘But-’
He broke off to look at her in dismay. He couldn’t use his jacket as a makeshift blanket, he had a meeting to attend immediately after returning to the castle, and he couldn’t go in with a stained uniform. And if he did this without it, he’d be sure to get grass in places that would make it very difficult for him to sit still all through the meeting. After all, she did prefer being on top on such ocassions…
Anissina’s smile fell at his silence, and she scrambled off him to stand up. ‘Fine,’ she blazed at him, picking up her blouse and moving to the opposite side of the tree until he could only hear her angry voice. ‘Go back to the castle by yourself. I’ll be a while.’
He thunked his head against the tree, wondering how to smooth things over with her, when he heard what sounded like…the rustle of clothes? He lifted his head in time to hear a soft sigh come from behind him.
She wasn’t-she wasn’t…
He jumped up, moving around the tree quickly to face her. Anissina was sitting on the grass before him, back to the tree, blouse off and skirt hiked up, and her fingers were moving between her splayed legs. He must have made some sound, because she opened her eyes to meet his gaze, and then slowly and deliberately gave herself a hard stroke.
There was no way he could withstand that.
He was on her in a moment, both of them tumbling to the grass. She laughed as she pushed him to his back and sat up on him, their hands tangling together as they both undid his trousers. He lifted his hips to help her push them down, knowing that he would pay for this later, but not really caring in that moment.
Her eyes met his as she lifted herself onto her knees. Smiling, she slid onto him, and he gasped.
‘Gwendal,’ she said softly, and he opened his eyes to meet her gaze. ‘Watch,’ she said, and with that, she started to move, bracing her hands against his chest as she slid herself up on him, then ground down hard. He moved his hands to her hips to guide her rhythm, but she slapped them away. Rolling his eyes, he moved one hand between them instead, and she arched her back with a cry when his thumb found her.
She picked up the pace then, and soon she was undone, collapsing against him in a gasping heap as he shuddered to his own completion.
‘That was worth a little…grass-related discomfort, wasn’t it?’ she laughed in his ear, and despite himself, he found himself agreeing.
~
Three: Never in her lab. Ever.
They had broken a pipette the first time they had had sex in her lab, and she had decided then and there that she wouldn’t risk any more damage to her equipment. ‘The future of science in Shin Makoku is at stake, after all,’ she’d said that night.
She always pulled him out her lab just before they could be totally lost to passion, and he always tried to see if he could get her worked up enough that she might lose control and forget.
So far, he had not succeeded.
~
She put a hand to her chin as she looked over her latest invention, wondering what it was that she was missing. Even as she frowned in thought, there was a knock on her door, and Gwendal entered.
‘Anissina, I-’ he broke off suddenly, frowning himself. ‘Where did you get that sword?’
‘This is Practise-Makes-Perfect-Kun,’ she said distractedly, now running her hands over the parts of the machine. ‘It’s to help cadets practise their sword training-no need to wait for a friend to train with you-but every time I try it out, the damned sword goes flying!’
‘Show me.’
She turned the machine on and placed the wrist band on her arm, using her maryokou to power the device. She nodded at Gwendal, and he unsheathed his sword and stepped forward. He raised it in a parry, striking his blade against the sword held by the machine. The next minute, it had fallen to the floor with a clang, and Anissina gave a wordless cry of annoyance as she ripped off the wrist band.
‘Why does that keep happening?’
‘Well,’ Gwendal replied, thoughtfully turning his wrist and making his own sword twirl through the air, ‘if it had been one of my men, I would’ve said that his grip is wrong.’
‘What do you mean 'wrong'?’
‘Pick up the sword.’
She bent and held the sword aloft, and he shook his head. ‘No wonder the sword keeps falling. You must’ve built that thing to hold the sword the same way you do.’
‘Well, what’s wrong with that?’ she asked challengingly, swishing her sword through the air. ‘See?’ She made a few quick moves, like she had often seen him do. He rolled his eyes, and then he had stabbed through the air and knocked her sword to the floor.
She gaped at him, and he smirked. ‘Your grip is wrong,’ he repeated calmly. He bent to pick up the sword, and coming toward her, he pushed it into her hand, adjusting her fingers where necessary. He then quickly faced her again, motioning her to repeat her actions.
This time, her sword stayed in her hand as he parried her attack. It hurt, though, the force of it wrenching her shoulder, and she stepped back as he made to continue, shaking her arm to get some feeling back.
‘Let me try it out,’ she said, moving to Practise-Makes-Perfect-Kun. He watched silently as she adjusted the settings, and strapped the sword in again.
‘Let’s hope this works,’ she said, putting the wrist band on again. She nodded, and he stepped forward with sword outstretched again. He repeated his actions, and this time there was a satisfying ring of metal against metal. Pulling the wrist band off, she flung her arms around Gwendal, crowing in triumph. He grunted as he wrapped his free arm around her waist, and when she raised her lips to his, his surprised eyes blinked at her for a moment before he responded enthusiastically.
Soon his fingers had made their way into her blouse and up her skirt, and she pulled away from him on a gasp when they became bolder. ‘Come on,’ she said, tugging at his hand as she tried to lead him away to her bedroom. He shook his head, though, suddenly hoisting her up onto her countertop.
‘Gwendal!’ she cried, ‘I told you, not in my lab!’
‘I promise I’ll be very, very careful,’ he breathed into her ear, and she shivered at the sensation. ‘Besides, I wouldn’t do anything to jeapordise your inventions, you know that. This latest one looks like it might actually be useful.’
She opened her mouth to scold him for disparaging her work, but he took advantage of it to meet her open mouth with his own, sliding his tongue inside. Their hands collided on the buttons of her blouse, and then he had pulled it open to bare her flesh to his mouth.
His hands, meandwhile, smoothed down over her skin to stop at her hip, where he tapped her lightly. Obligingly, she lifted her hips up so he could slide her skirt up around her waist, holding her breath as he stroked the skin of her inner thigh.
He flashed her a heated look, clamping his hands hard on her hips as he dropped to his knees before her. And then he was lifting one leg, draping it over his shoulder as her head spun.
Surely he wasn’t going to-
‘Oooh,’ she moaned, unable to complete the thought as she felt the first stroke of his talented tongue.
She flung her arms out to clench the tabletop with both hands as he continued. Just a few moments more…a few moments…
So it came as an unpleasant surprise when he stopped and abruptly stood up to face her.
‘What-why did you stop?’ she stammered at him, pressing her thighs together to stop their tingling.
‘Now that I think about it, perhaps you’re right,’ he said calmly, though his voice shook with supressed amusement. ‘We shouldn’t be doing this in your lab, we might damage something. I wouldn’t feel right if-’
‘Gwendal,’ she growled, ‘shut up and come here.’
He did as he was told, even as he chuckled.
~
Four: When he was knitting, he was not to be disturbed.
Now that he had gotten her to break most of her rules, she had taken it as a personal challenge to make him break his own, as well.
There was only one left, and he knew it, too, so he always took care to lock his door when he wanted to knit. Gunter pouted and told him that it was a terrible inconvenience, and what if he had to tell him something important, but Gwendal refused to budge.
‘Send me a pigeon message,’ he’d replied, and Lady Celi had clucked her tongue at him. ‘Really, Gwennie,’ she’d said. ‘Sending a pigeon to someone just down the hall!’
Anissina had said nothing then, but later that night, she had begun planning in earnest.
~
‘Gwendal!’
He looked up at the knock at his door, but did not move from his chair. If he opened the door now, she would try something to distract him from his knitting, he was sure of it. He had seen that gleam in her eye when Gunter had complained about his locking his door whenever he knitted; he knew she was up to something.
‘Not now, Anissina, I’m busy.’
‘Oh, don’t flatter yourself, Gwendal,’ her annoyed voice floated to him. ‘I just needed some wool for a project I’m working on, and I’m all out of red.’
Well, she had been locked up in her lab since last night, so maybe she was telling the truth…
He got up with a sigh, opening the door a crack to so that he could gauge her attitude. She wasn’t smirking in triumph that she had gotten him to open the door, so maybe she wasn’t really here to get the better of him.
She pushed the door open all the way, striding in quickly and pulling open the door to the cabinet where he kept his supplies. She started rooting through his bundles of wool, and he frowned at her back. Anissina didn’t knit much anymore, that she was working on a knitting project now was intriguing.
‘What is it?’
‘Hmm?’
‘What are you working on?’ he asked, frowning as he tried to recall any pattern that called for an abundance of red.
‘Oh, nothing important,’ she replied distractedly.
Damn the woman. She must know he couldn’t just let it go now, he had to find out what it was. ‘Anissina, tell me,’ he insisted, and she finally turned to face him.
‘I wouldn’t want to disturb you,’ she said, and he rolled his eyes in irritation.
‘Anissina,’ he growled, and she held up her hands in surrender.
‘Alright, if you insist,’ she said, hands moving to the buttons of her blouse.
‘What are you doing?’ he cried, quickly closing the door to his room and locking it. ‘I knew it, it was all just a-’
He fell silent when she finally pulled off her blouse.
‘Do you like it?’ she asked coyly, even as her lips twitched. ‘His Majesty’s mother sent one to both me and Lady Celi. In her note, she says it’s called a ‘bra’.’
Did he like it? Was the woman insane? Of course he liked it.
‘Why-’ he cleared his throat, and tried again. ‘Why do you need the red wool?’
‘Well, I wanted to add a little bow in the middle, right here-’
He groaned as he stepped toward her, knowing that had fallen perfectly into her trap and that this meant she had won.
She was laughing at him as he kissed her, but surrender had never been so delightful.
~
Five: Their relationship was to be kept secret from everyone else in the castle. Especially from his mother.
They had both agreed on this one, the thrill of meeing in secret, of breaking away from their daily routines for a torrid interlude was too good to pass up.
This was theirs. It was still all too new, too precious to share with anyone else.
Besides, if his mother were to ever find out, she’d insist on a wedding-it seems you’re my only hope for blood-grandchildren, Gwennie darling!-so fast that it would make their heads spin.
So they had to be careful. And above all, they had to be discreet.
Of course, it was hard to remember that when they fought.
~
He yawned as he raised himself on one elbow to blow out the lone candle that burned in his rooms.
‘Goodnight,’ he said, settling himself into bed again.
‘What are your plans for tomorrow?’ a sleepy voice answered him as he tried to find a comfortable position. It was strange to get used to someone else in his bed when he had been alone for so long, it was always a while before he could get to sleep.
‘Yozak should be coming in tomorrow with his report,’ he said tiredly, as Anissina fidgeted in the bed herself. ‘What about you?’
‘Quick Notes-Kun should be ready for its test tomorrow,’ she replied, yawning. ‘So you might need to put about an hour aside for me.’
‘Anissina,’ he muttered, pounding his pillow into proper shape, ‘there are far more important things for me to worry about than one of your stupid inventions. If Yozak’s last message is right, we might have found one of the Boxes and-’
Suddenly the bed heaved, and he felt her foot on his hip. There was a movement, and then he had tumbled to the floor.
‘Did you just…push me out of my own bed?’
She scrambled out, clutching the blankets to her as she glared down at him.
‘Don’t you ever call my inventions stupid!’
He got to his feet, shaking in his anger. ‘How dare you push me out of my own bed!’
‘You deserved it!’
‘Well, so did you, because your inventions are stupid! None of them ever does what it’s supposed to do!’
She gasped. ‘You take that back!’
‘The truth hurts, does it?’ He asked, smiling nastily.
She drew herself up proudly, glaring at him icily. ‘Get out.’
‘What?’
‘Get. Out.’ She repeated through clenched teeth.
He laughed harshly, crossing his arms. ‘Sorry, but these are my rooms. I’m not going anywhere.’
She muttered under her breath as she began to move to the door, but she stopped when he called out: ‘And leave the sheets, those are mine, too.’
She whirled to face him, her lips thinned, and for a moment he thought she was going to hit him. Then she exhaled harshly, and let the sheets drop to the floor. She grabbed his nightrobe off the chair before her, swinging around to pin him with a glare that said: object to this and I will happily kill you.
He crossed the room to pointedly gather up his sheets as she struggled into his robe and belted the waist. He had just wrapped the sheets around himself when he heard her say sweetly, ‘Gwendal?’
He looked up to see that she had picked up the water pitcher that stood on his nighttable, and there was a devilish light in her eyes.
‘Don’t you dare!’ he shouted, and she smiled.
‘I dare.’
~
He jerked awake, wondering what had happened to wake him from one moment to the next.
Then he heard it: a distant roar of rage, followed by a door slamming shut. There was the sound of running feet, and Conrart was out of his bed in moments, reaching for his sword and unsheathing it quickly. Were they under attack? There would have been an alarm in that case, but…
He pulled the door open silently, only to see his mother standing in her own open doorway, a finger to her lips. She pointed down the hall with a gleeful smile, and he tilted his head in that direction in time to see Gwendal’s door open and slam shut. He stared at his older brother as he ran down the corridor away from them, water dripping from his unbound hair and a sheet around his waist.
‘Anissina!’
Now that he knew she was there, he could make out her form in the feeble light from the torches that lined the walls. Gwendal reached forward and fisted his hand in the robe she was wearing, drawing her to a halt. He blinked, squinting as he tried to make out…was that Gwendal’s robe she was wearing?
They were too far away to make out their conversation, but he could see that they were talking-with a lot of angry gesticulation-and then suddenly Anissina stepped closer, laying a hand on Gwendal’s arm. His brother’s face softened, and he spoke less forcefully now. Anissina nodded, and then she caught Gwendal by the hand and led him back to his room.
As the door closed behind them-more softly, this time-Conrart looked at his mother, shaking his head in amazement. That those two could have been carrying on right under everyone’s noses all this time, and none of them had been the wiser, not even His Eminence!
His mother grinned back at him, bouncing on the balls of her feet in happiness.
Well, if they wanted to keep it secret…
He stepped forward, and his mother met him in the corridor.
‘Maybe we should keep this between ourselves, mother,’ he started.
‘But Conrart,’ she replied, clasping her hands together with a winning smile, ‘this is wonderful news! Everyone deserves to know, and they deserve congratulations!’
‘I think they would prefer to make the announcement themselves,’ he insisted quietly, and after a quick, disappointed sigh, she nodded. ‘Alright then, I’ll wait. And I promise I’ll act surprised when they do tell me.’
He nodded, satisfied. ‘Well, good night, mother,’ he said softly, turning to go back into his room, and she grinned as she replied:
‘Neither one of us is going to have as good a night as those two, I bet.’
~
Sooner or later, though, most rules are broken.
~
A/N: Hee. That was fun to write. *G*
Thanks for reading, all comment and concrit is welcome. =)
Sequel 'Never Again' is here.
Title: Ground Rules
Pairings: Gwendal/Anissina
Word Count: 5,082
Rating: R for sex
Any Warnings: Rather long, pointless smut!fic.
Prompt being used: Provided Title
Timeline: Set during season two.
Summary: There are some rules to every relationship.
Disclaimer: I own none of these very entertaining characters, please don’t sue me. Thank you.
Part of my Gwendal/Anissina series. Follows from ‘So This is Love’.
~
One: She hated being taken by surprise.
He had learned that the hard way when he had crept up behind her in her lab one day, and laid a hand on her shoulder. She had given him no warning, her maryokou had suddenly erupted from her skin, and he had had to put up a barrier lightning quick.
‘Anissina!’ he’d grunted, arm still tingling in pain. ‘It’s me!’
She had told him then, that she disliked surprises. He had rolled his eyes and left the room in a huff, but he had remembered it.
He had tried it out later, one day when he had had her favourite dessert prepared for her, and he’d told her he had a surprise for her under the covered dish before them.
The catch was that she could have it only if she would guess what it was.
She had refused to play his litle game, and when he had not obliged and lifted the lid, she had fidgeted, she had tapped her foot, and in the end she had pushed his restraining arm away to lift it herself.
She really did hate surprises, but only because she hated not being in control.
Now that was something he would remember-and have some fun with.
~
‘Come in!’
She didn’t look up as the door opened, that particular knock was only made by Gwendal, anyway. ‘Hello,’ she said distractedly, flashing him a quick smile and turning back to her drawings. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t come down to dinner today, it’s just this new thing I’ve been working on-’
He huffed a laugh, and then there was a plate before her. ‘I guessed as much,’ he said wryly. ‘I had the kitchen staff prepare you something.’
‘Thank you,’ she said, grasping his hand in gratitude as she took it from him and set it on the table. ‘I wanted to come down, but I knew I would have this one if I spent just an hour at the drawing table…’
She trailed off to take a bite of her dinner, chewing preoccupiedly as she looked over her designs again. The table shook a little, and she looked up to see that Gwendal had leaned a hip against it. ‘Hey, you’ll spill that water on my drawings,’ she cried, taking another bite as she tried to push him away with her other hand.
‘Drink it, then,’ he said, handing her the glass.
She took a large gulp, setting it on a side table close by. He said nothing, staring meaningfully at the plate and the glass, and she rolled her eyes as she took another bite of her dinner and washed it down with the rest of the water. Setting the empty glass pointedly on the side table, she made fast work of the food, holding up the empty plate to him when she was done.
‘Happy now?’
He nodded, taking the plate from her and placing it next to the glass. She made to stand up to walk him to the door, but fell back in her seat when the ground tilted under her feet. Her head was spinning, she felt lightheaded…
‘Gwendal-’
When she opened her eyes again, the room was dark. It took her a moment to realise that she was in her bed, and that she was undressed.
‘Gwendal?’ she rasped out, and there was a quick movement to her right.
She tried to dart away instinctively, but her hand was grabbed and bound. She lashed out with her other hand and her feet, and there was a grunt of pain as one of them connected. She thrashed about, but her assailant had moved to the other side of the bed now, and soon her other hand was bound.
She’d been drugged, she realised with sick shock. That would explain how she’d lost consciousness like that. But where was Gwendal? They would had to have gotten past him in order to sneak into her room…
‘Let me go!’ she cried, straining at her restraints. ‘You bastard, what have you done with Gwendal?’
A flint was struck somewhere, and a candle flared to life. She blinked in amazement to see Gwendal standing before her, dressed only in his trousers and holding the candle aloft as he breathed hard, his hair falling out of its usual sleek style. A bruise was developing on his cheekbone, and his eyes glittered strangely.
‘Gwendal?’ she gasped. ‘What-are you doing? Let me out of these at once!’
‘Surprise,’ he smirked, stepping closer to let the candlelight shine down on her. She gaped up at him, shaking her head in amazement. ‘Have you taken leave of your senses?’ she asked finally, glaring at him. ‘Why have you done this?’
He said nothing, moving forward with that same smirk on his face. He sat down on the bed next to her, and she tried to squirm away from him, but she couldn’t go far with the restraints. He laid a hand on her cheek, and she angrily shook it away. ‘Gwendal, if you don’t let me out of here right now, I swear by Shinou I’ll-’
‘I won’t hurt you,’ he interrupted her softly, meeting her eyes. ‘Trust me, Anissina.’
He seemed sincere enough, but that didn’t mean she was going to make it easy. He hadn’t asked her about this-talked to her about it even once-so she held herself rigid when he leaned down to kiss her. He took his time with it, though, and after a while, she opened her mouth to his gentle coaxing. His tongue slid inside, a slow sweep against her own, and she made a small, muffled sound of pleasure.
He sat up, and she raised her hands to pull him back down to her, forgetting the restraints that held her still. ‘Gwendal,’ she growled, and he smiled.
She snapped her mought shut as she suddenly understood what he was trying to do. She’d be damned if she let him see how he’d affected her. His smile widened at her gesture, his hand drifting down to let his thumb run over a hardened nipple. Her eyes slipped shut at the contact, her back arching.
‘That must be uncomfortable,’ he said in a low voice, and then he had leaned forward to pull her hair loose of its tie. He ran the strands through his fingers, arranging them on the pillows, following them to where they pooled on her body, fingers moving to trace gently over her skin.
She was burning up now, she wanted to pull him down and kiss him again, but he wanted her to ask him, so of course she wouldn’t. He looked down at her with dark eyes, and her heart pounded as she wondered what he would do next. She had her answer when he leaned forward to take a nipple between his lips. She moaned, and could feel him smile against her skin. He tortured her with his hot, hot mouth for a few moments while she gasped and whimpered and moved against him restlessly. Then suddenly he was straightening, leaving every nerve in her body tightening painfully.
‘Gwendal,’ she panted, ‘what-’
She trailed off on a gasp when he slid one finger inside her, thumb giving a hard stroke to the tight nub at her centre.
‘Ooh,’ she moaned, and his fingers stilled at the sound. She blinked the sweat out of her eyes as she looked up at him, frowning.
‘Do you want me to continue?’ he ground out.
‘What?’ she asked dazedly.
‘Do you want me to continue?’
‘What do you think?’ she cried incredulously, pulling at her restraints.
‘Ask me, then.’
She drew in her breath sharply, biting at her swollen lower lip. ‘Never,’ she said, glaring at him. He smiled again, fingers stroking her, and she shuddered. She squirmed, trying to evade him, but the restraints held her fast. He kissed her again, fingers still pumping, and she pulled her mouth from his to turn her head away and gasp.
‘Anissina, you won’t be getting anything tonight unless you ask for it,’ he said tauntingly, smile widening.
‘Fine,’ she said, eyes flashing. ‘Gwendal. Untie me so I can kill you for doing this to me!’
He laughed, giving her a hard, deliberate stroke.
She gasped.
‘Do you want to try again?’ he asked.
‘Gwendal,’ she moaned, nearly shaking now, ‘please…please…’
He seemed to realise he had pushed her too far, because he drew away from her to feverishly push his trousers down his hips. He settled himself on her, pulling her legs up around his waist with shaking fingers, and she was gratified to see that she wasn’t the only one nearly undone. She had to have her revenge, though, so she bit down hard on his ear lobe when he was within reach, and he stifled his cry of pain to glare at her with eyes that were wild.
He gave her no warning, he thrust into her suddenly, making her fall back against the pillows with a gasp. He started moving then, hard and fast, and she met his thrusts with frantic movements of her own. She shuddered with her release moments later, Gwendal following her with a muffled grunt into her neck.
A long moment later, he leaned forward to whisper softly in her ear:
‘Still hate surprises?’
And she could only shake her head.
~
Two: Only flat surfaces. Nothing that would cause scratches or end up getting stuck in places that would make it uncomfortable for him to ride a horse.
He’d come up with that one after she’d jumped him in the stables one day.
Really, it wasn’t her fault, she always was a little…worked up…after she’d had a ride. Usually she was able to hold off until she had dragged him into her rooms, but that day it had been unusually warm in Shin Makoku, and he’d taken off his jacket as soon as they had entered the stables. His white shirt had stuck to the lines of his strong back as he’d moved to take the saddle off...
He’d come eagerly enough when she’d pulled him into one of the less-used sheds and had her way with him, but afterwards, as he’d been dressing, he’d scowled.
‘Let’s not do this again,’ he’d growled, and she had stared at him before he had continued: ‘I have hay stuck in some very uncomfortable places.’
She’d stopped giggling at his glare, but she’d very carefully avoided promising any such thing.
~
‘We have to be getting back soon.’
He nodded lazily, not bothering to open his eyes. He’d finally gotten into a comfortable position against the tree trunk, the sunshine was warm on his face, and Gunter had promised that he could have an hour to himself.
‘Unless…’ Anissina’s breath tickled his ear as she leaned closer to him and whispered into his hair. ‘You want to stay here for a while?’
Her smiling lips met his, tongue sliding into his mouth. Somewhere in the middle of the kiss, her hands moved to his jacket, undoing buttons and sliding into his shirt. Her fingernails found his nipples, and he gasped.
Her answering smile was wicked, and he felt his blood heat.
She moved quickly to pull her blouse off, and his hands immediately went to her breasts. She sighed at his touch, reaching down to unbuckle his belt. He caught her wrists when she made to push his trousers down, blinking his desire away to meet her eyes incredulously.
‘Anissina, surely you don’t mean to…here?’
‘Why not?’ she asked, smiling at him. She leaned forward to let her breasts touch his chest, grinding her hips against him slowly. His head fell back against the tree trunk with a thump as he groaned.
‘Anissina-I thought we-agreed,’ he panted, and she interrupted him with: ‘I didn’t agree to anything.’
‘But-’
He broke off to look at her in dismay. He couldn’t use his jacket as a makeshift blanket, he had a meeting to attend immediately after returning to the castle, and he couldn’t go in with a stained uniform. And if he did this without it, he’d be sure to get grass in places that would make it very difficult for him to sit still all through the meeting. After all, she did prefer being on top on such ocassions…
Anissina’s smile fell at his silence, and she scrambled off him to stand up. ‘Fine,’ she blazed at him, picking up her blouse and moving to the opposite side of the tree until he could only hear her angry voice. ‘Go back to the castle by yourself. I’ll be a while.’
He thunked his head against the tree, wondering how to smooth things over with her, when he heard what sounded like…the rustle of clothes? He lifted his head in time to hear a soft sigh come from behind him.
She wasn’t-she wasn’t…
He jumped up, moving around the tree quickly to face her. Anissina was sitting on the grass before him, back to the tree, blouse off and skirt hiked up, and her fingers were moving between her splayed legs. He must have made some sound, because she opened her eyes to meet his gaze, and then slowly and deliberately gave herself a hard stroke.
There was no way he could withstand that.
He was on her in a moment, both of them tumbling to the grass. She laughed as she pushed him to his back and sat up on him, their hands tangling together as they both undid his trousers. He lifted his hips to help her push them down, knowing that he would pay for this later, but not really caring in that moment.
Her eyes met his as she lifted herself onto her knees. Smiling, she slid onto him, and he gasped.
‘Gwendal,’ she said softly, and he opened his eyes to meet her gaze. ‘Watch,’ she said, and with that, she started to move, bracing her hands against his chest as she slid herself up on him, then ground down hard. He moved his hands to her hips to guide her rhythm, but she slapped them away. Rolling his eyes, he moved one hand between them instead, and she arched her back with a cry when his thumb found her.
She picked up the pace then, and soon she was undone, collapsing against him in a gasping heap as he shuddered to his own completion.
‘That was worth a little…grass-related discomfort, wasn’t it?’ she laughed in his ear, and despite himself, he found himself agreeing.
~
Three: Never in her lab. Ever.
They had broken a pipette the first time they had had sex in her lab, and she had decided then and there that she wouldn’t risk any more damage to her equipment. ‘The future of science in Shin Makoku is at stake, after all,’ she’d said that night.
She always pulled him out her lab just before they could be totally lost to passion, and he always tried to see if he could get her worked up enough that she might lose control and forget.
So far, he had not succeeded.
~
She put a hand to her chin as she looked over her latest invention, wondering what it was that she was missing. Even as she frowned in thought, there was a knock on her door, and Gwendal entered.
‘Anissina, I-’ he broke off suddenly, frowning himself. ‘Where did you get that sword?’
‘This is Practise-Makes-Perfect-Kun,’ she said distractedly, now running her hands over the parts of the machine. ‘It’s to help cadets practise their sword training-no need to wait for a friend to train with you-but every time I try it out, the damned sword goes flying!’
‘Show me.’
She turned the machine on and placed the wrist band on her arm, using her maryokou to power the device. She nodded at Gwendal, and he unsheathed his sword and stepped forward. He raised it in a parry, striking his blade against the sword held by the machine. The next minute, it had fallen to the floor with a clang, and Anissina gave a wordless cry of annoyance as she ripped off the wrist band.
‘Why does that keep happening?’
‘Well,’ Gwendal replied, thoughtfully turning his wrist and making his own sword twirl through the air, ‘if it had been one of my men, I would’ve said that his grip is wrong.’
‘What do you mean 'wrong'?’
‘Pick up the sword.’
She bent and held the sword aloft, and he shook his head. ‘No wonder the sword keeps falling. You must’ve built that thing to hold the sword the same way you do.’
‘Well, what’s wrong with that?’ she asked challengingly, swishing her sword through the air. ‘See?’ She made a few quick moves, like she had often seen him do. He rolled his eyes, and then he had stabbed through the air and knocked her sword to the floor.
She gaped at him, and he smirked. ‘Your grip is wrong,’ he repeated calmly. He bent to pick up the sword, and coming toward her, he pushed it into her hand, adjusting her fingers where necessary. He then quickly faced her again, motioning her to repeat her actions.
This time, her sword stayed in her hand as he parried her attack. It hurt, though, the force of it wrenching her shoulder, and she stepped back as he made to continue, shaking her arm to get some feeling back.
‘Let me try it out,’ she said, moving to Practise-Makes-Perfect-Kun. He watched silently as she adjusted the settings, and strapped the sword in again.
‘Let’s hope this works,’ she said, putting the wrist band on again. She nodded, and he stepped forward with sword outstretched again. He repeated his actions, and this time there was a satisfying ring of metal against metal. Pulling the wrist band off, she flung her arms around Gwendal, crowing in triumph. He grunted as he wrapped his free arm around her waist, and when she raised her lips to his, his surprised eyes blinked at her for a moment before he responded enthusiastically.
Soon his fingers had made their way into her blouse and up her skirt, and she pulled away from him on a gasp when they became bolder. ‘Come on,’ she said, tugging at his hand as she tried to lead him away to her bedroom. He shook his head, though, suddenly hoisting her up onto her countertop.
‘Gwendal!’ she cried, ‘I told you, not in my lab!’
‘I promise I’ll be very, very careful,’ he breathed into her ear, and she shivered at the sensation. ‘Besides, I wouldn’t do anything to jeapordise your inventions, you know that. This latest one looks like it might actually be useful.’
She opened her mouth to scold him for disparaging her work, but he took advantage of it to meet her open mouth with his own, sliding his tongue inside. Their hands collided on the buttons of her blouse, and then he had pulled it open to bare her flesh to his mouth.
His hands, meandwhile, smoothed down over her skin to stop at her hip, where he tapped her lightly. Obligingly, she lifted her hips up so he could slide her skirt up around her waist, holding her breath as he stroked the skin of her inner thigh.
He flashed her a heated look, clamping his hands hard on her hips as he dropped to his knees before her. And then he was lifting one leg, draping it over his shoulder as her head spun.
Surely he wasn’t going to-
‘Oooh,’ she moaned, unable to complete the thought as she felt the first stroke of his talented tongue.
She flung her arms out to clench the tabletop with both hands as he continued. Just a few moments more…a few moments…
So it came as an unpleasant surprise when he stopped and abruptly stood up to face her.
‘What-why did you stop?’ she stammered at him, pressing her thighs together to stop their tingling.
‘Now that I think about it, perhaps you’re right,’ he said calmly, though his voice shook with supressed amusement. ‘We shouldn’t be doing this in your lab, we might damage something. I wouldn’t feel right if-’
‘Gwendal,’ she growled, ‘shut up and come here.’
He did as he was told, even as he chuckled.
~
Four: When he was knitting, he was not to be disturbed.
Now that he had gotten her to break most of her rules, she had taken it as a personal challenge to make him break his own, as well.
There was only one left, and he knew it, too, so he always took care to lock his door when he wanted to knit. Gunter pouted and told him that it was a terrible inconvenience, and what if he had to tell him something important, but Gwendal refused to budge.
‘Send me a pigeon message,’ he’d replied, and Lady Celi had clucked her tongue at him. ‘Really, Gwennie,’ she’d said. ‘Sending a pigeon to someone just down the hall!’
Anissina had said nothing then, but later that night, she had begun planning in earnest.
~
‘Gwendal!’
He looked up at the knock at his door, but did not move from his chair. If he opened the door now, she would try something to distract him from his knitting, he was sure of it. He had seen that gleam in her eye when Gunter had complained about his locking his door whenever he knitted; he knew she was up to something.
‘Not now, Anissina, I’m busy.’
‘Oh, don’t flatter yourself, Gwendal,’ her annoyed voice floated to him. ‘I just needed some wool for a project I’m working on, and I’m all out of red.’
Well, she had been locked up in her lab since last night, so maybe she was telling the truth…
He got up with a sigh, opening the door a crack to so that he could gauge her attitude. She wasn’t smirking in triumph that she had gotten him to open the door, so maybe she wasn’t really here to get the better of him.
She pushed the door open all the way, striding in quickly and pulling open the door to the cabinet where he kept his supplies. She started rooting through his bundles of wool, and he frowned at her back. Anissina didn’t knit much anymore, that she was working on a knitting project now was intriguing.
‘What is it?’
‘Hmm?’
‘What are you working on?’ he asked, frowning as he tried to recall any pattern that called for an abundance of red.
‘Oh, nothing important,’ she replied distractedly.
Damn the woman. She must know he couldn’t just let it go now, he had to find out what it was. ‘Anissina, tell me,’ he insisted, and she finally turned to face him.
‘I wouldn’t want to disturb you,’ she said, and he rolled his eyes in irritation.
‘Anissina,’ he growled, and she held up her hands in surrender.
‘Alright, if you insist,’ she said, hands moving to the buttons of her blouse.
‘What are you doing?’ he cried, quickly closing the door to his room and locking it. ‘I knew it, it was all just a-’
He fell silent when she finally pulled off her blouse.
‘Do you like it?’ she asked coyly, even as her lips twitched. ‘His Majesty’s mother sent one to both me and Lady Celi. In her note, she says it’s called a ‘bra’.’
Did he like it? Was the woman insane? Of course he liked it.
‘Why-’ he cleared his throat, and tried again. ‘Why do you need the red wool?’
‘Well, I wanted to add a little bow in the middle, right here-’
He groaned as he stepped toward her, knowing that had fallen perfectly into her trap and that this meant she had won.
She was laughing at him as he kissed her, but surrender had never been so delightful.
~
Five: Their relationship was to be kept secret from everyone else in the castle. Especially from his mother.
They had both agreed on this one, the thrill of meeing in secret, of breaking away from their daily routines for a torrid interlude was too good to pass up.
This was theirs. It was still all too new, too precious to share with anyone else.
Besides, if his mother were to ever find out, she’d insist on a wedding-it seems you’re my only hope for blood-grandchildren, Gwennie darling!-so fast that it would make their heads spin.
So they had to be careful. And above all, they had to be discreet.
Of course, it was hard to remember that when they fought.
~
He yawned as he raised himself on one elbow to blow out the lone candle that burned in his rooms.
‘Goodnight,’ he said, settling himself into bed again.
‘What are your plans for tomorrow?’ a sleepy voice answered him as he tried to find a comfortable position. It was strange to get used to someone else in his bed when he had been alone for so long, it was always a while before he could get to sleep.
‘Yozak should be coming in tomorrow with his report,’ he said tiredly, as Anissina fidgeted in the bed herself. ‘What about you?’
‘Quick Notes-Kun should be ready for its test tomorrow,’ she replied, yawning. ‘So you might need to put about an hour aside for me.’
‘Anissina,’ he muttered, pounding his pillow into proper shape, ‘there are far more important things for me to worry about than one of your stupid inventions. If Yozak’s last message is right, we might have found one of the Boxes and-’
Suddenly the bed heaved, and he felt her foot on his hip. There was a movement, and then he had tumbled to the floor.
‘Did you just…push me out of my own bed?’
She scrambled out, clutching the blankets to her as she glared down at him.
‘Don’t you ever call my inventions stupid!’
He got to his feet, shaking in his anger. ‘How dare you push me out of my own bed!’
‘You deserved it!’
‘Well, so did you, because your inventions are stupid! None of them ever does what it’s supposed to do!’
She gasped. ‘You take that back!’
‘The truth hurts, does it?’ He asked, smiling nastily.
She drew herself up proudly, glaring at him icily. ‘Get out.’
‘What?’
‘Get. Out.’ She repeated through clenched teeth.
He laughed harshly, crossing his arms. ‘Sorry, but these are my rooms. I’m not going anywhere.’
She muttered under her breath as she began to move to the door, but she stopped when he called out: ‘And leave the sheets, those are mine, too.’
She whirled to face him, her lips thinned, and for a moment he thought she was going to hit him. Then she exhaled harshly, and let the sheets drop to the floor. She grabbed his nightrobe off the chair before her, swinging around to pin him with a glare that said: object to this and I will happily kill you.
He crossed the room to pointedly gather up his sheets as she struggled into his robe and belted the waist. He had just wrapped the sheets around himself when he heard her say sweetly, ‘Gwendal?’
He looked up to see that she had picked up the water pitcher that stood on his nighttable, and there was a devilish light in her eyes.
‘Don’t you dare!’ he shouted, and she smiled.
‘I dare.’
~
He jerked awake, wondering what had happened to wake him from one moment to the next.
Then he heard it: a distant roar of rage, followed by a door slamming shut. There was the sound of running feet, and Conrart was out of his bed in moments, reaching for his sword and unsheathing it quickly. Were they under attack? There would have been an alarm in that case, but…
He pulled the door open silently, only to see his mother standing in her own open doorway, a finger to her lips. She pointed down the hall with a gleeful smile, and he tilted his head in that direction in time to see Gwendal’s door open and slam shut. He stared at his older brother as he ran down the corridor away from them, water dripping from his unbound hair and a sheet around his waist.
‘Anissina!’
Now that he knew she was there, he could make out her form in the feeble light from the torches that lined the walls. Gwendal reached forward and fisted his hand in the robe she was wearing, drawing her to a halt. He blinked, squinting as he tried to make out…was that Gwendal’s robe she was wearing?
They were too far away to make out their conversation, but he could see that they were talking-with a lot of angry gesticulation-and then suddenly Anissina stepped closer, laying a hand on Gwendal’s arm. His brother’s face softened, and he spoke less forcefully now. Anissina nodded, and then she caught Gwendal by the hand and led him back to his room.
As the door closed behind them-more softly, this time-Conrart looked at his mother, shaking his head in amazement. That those two could have been carrying on right under everyone’s noses all this time, and none of them had been the wiser, not even His Eminence!
His mother grinned back at him, bouncing on the balls of her feet in happiness.
Well, if they wanted to keep it secret…
He stepped forward, and his mother met him in the corridor.
‘Maybe we should keep this between ourselves, mother,’ he started.
‘But Conrart,’ she replied, clasping her hands together with a winning smile, ‘this is wonderful news! Everyone deserves to know, and they deserve congratulations!’
‘I think they would prefer to make the announcement themselves,’ he insisted quietly, and after a quick, disappointed sigh, she nodded. ‘Alright then, I’ll wait. And I promise I’ll act surprised when they do tell me.’
He nodded, satisfied. ‘Well, good night, mother,’ he said softly, turning to go back into his room, and she grinned as she replied:
‘Neither one of us is going to have as good a night as those two, I bet.’
~
Sooner or later, though, most rules are broken.
~
A/N: Hee. That was fun to write. *G*
Thanks for reading, all comment and concrit is welcome. =)
Sequel 'Never Again' is here.