Of course, it came as no surprise that he chose me and offered me his hand. Without breaking eye contact, I took it and let him pull me up. Maybe he wanted to correct his actions earlier, or maybe he just wants to disturb my inner calm, but he suddenly pulled me close and kissed me in front of every single female in the palace. This unexpected public display of affection elicited a loud chorus of gasps that was then followed by pin drop silence.

As Kaname expertly invaded my mouth with his tongue, I found myself closing my eyes in response. I held on to his upper arms for support as he seemed to want to eat me whole, his kiss was fierce and hungry and tasted of alcohol. Despite these, I didn't kiss him back or push him away. Instead, I just let him conquer every crevice of my mouth. When I noticed that he had no intention of stopping, I dug my nails onto his biceps as a warning. He responded by grabbing my nape gently and giving my lower lip playful bites in between kisses. The b.a.s.t.a.r.d clearly didn't care!

I was nearly out of breath when he decided to remove his lips from mine. I was still gasping for air when he spoke.

"You look especially breathtaking tonight, my love," his eyes looked so warm and gentle that I almost missed the way he addressed me.

'My love? Just what does this half-drunk b.a.s.t.a.r.d have in mind?' I slightly narrowed my eyes at him before replying, "My lord, you're too… You're too sweet."

He smiled then ran his forefinger on my lower lip before giving me a quick peck. "Shall we go?" he asked as he hooked my arm to his.

I lowered my eyes to sneakily glance at Ayaka. She was looking down at the floor, her beautiful face was red, and her slightly concealed hands were balled into fists. She's angry, I realized. My lips curled.

Deciding to make use of Kaname's little game, I spoke a bit louder, "Wait, my lord, your lips are stained with my lip rouge."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw her look up at us. With my thumb, I wiped off the lipstick on Kaname's lips. As I felt his hot gaze at me, I felt an urge to roll my eyes at him. 'I'm only doing what I'm doing because I want to anger a certain someone, buster. Don't get the wrong idea!' I almost blurted out.

I wanted to take my goading to the next level so I grabbed his arm and pressed my body closer to him so my b.r.e.a.s.t.s were pus.h.i.+ng against it. "Lady Ayaka," I said. "I'm sorry but I'm spending the night with the shogun."

Her eyes widened. "W-what do you m-mean, Lady Hinata? Why are you apologizing?"

"Didn't you ask me to do you a favor?" I feigned confusion. "You wanted me to decline should Lord Kaname choose me tonight so he would then have no choice but to spend his visit you."

"I do not remember saying such a thing," she bit her lip, continuing with her fake innocence.

"Oh? But didn't you say you want to tell the shogun something?" I turned to Kaname. "My lord, she has a surprise to tell you."

"She does?" Kaname asked before looking at her. "Lady Ayaka, what is it?"

"I-it's nothing, my lord. Lady Hinata, please don't make up stories!" her eyes glared at me openly.

"Lady Ayaka, why would your nee-chan make up stories?" I let go of Kaname to bend my knees and lower my body so that I am sitting on my heels before her. "Your big sister will never betray you."

Her features darkened as she surrendered to her anger. I waited for her verbal reaction but she just continued to look at me sharply. Seeing that she had no plans to speak any more, I patted her head, got up, and held Kaname's arm once more. Before we left for my room, I gave Ayaka a smirk. I couldn't wait for our next meeting.

~~~

Once inside my room, I immediately dropped the loving wife façade and let go of Kaname. As he followed me to the bedroom proper, I noticed that he had a cup and the liquor bottle with him from earlier. He sat on a cus.h.i.+on and placed them both on a low table while I got ready to remove my makeup. I smiled ruefully when I saw how my smudged lipstick made me look slightly like Ronald McDonald.

Kaname was still drinking when I got back from was.h.i.+ng my face. "Did you come here just to continue to drink?" I asked with a disapproving frown.

"Iie[1]," he answered although he was pouring himself another cup. "I came here to be with you. I intend to make my beautiful wife's room as my little nakoku. Your room will be our room."

"Kaname, stop fooling around."

"You don't want to be in the same room as me? Ha… Hahahaha!" he started laughing. "Too bad there's no escaping me, Hinata. I will stick to you like a leech!" he replaced the cup on the table loudly. "I will personally guard you so you can't go back to your time!"

"Are you out of your mind!?" I furrowed my brows and placed my hands on my hips. "You're spouting nonsense!"

"Blah, blah, blah," he made yapping gestures with his hand. "I'm staying here and you can't do anything about it."

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Some of you commented that Hinata has forgotten what year she's currently in, that she shouldn't be acting the way she's acting because Kaname is the shogun. I believe she hasn't forgotten these at all. Instead, it's exactly because of these that she's directly opposing him. As someone who came from the modern era, she's making him see that his being the male & great leader doesn't give him the right to do whatever he wants JUST BECAUSE HE CAN. She's reminding him that he's not perfect, that he can make mistakes, & that being the leader doesn't equate to being faultless. Now I'm not saying your opinions are wrong, I'm just merely stating what was going through my mind while I was writing the parts where she's defying him. Please do not take this the wrong way, my dear nasties. I love reading your comments/opinions but I also think it would be nice to make you see my perspective.