He set the brush down and folded his hands. In an attempt to lessen his grief, he had chosen an empress to be by his side. She was a wonderful young woman, quiet and gentle, nearly as beautiful as he was himself. Perhaps, in time, she would have become as special to him as the Seishi she resembled.
Except for one unforeseen development...
The other Seishi had been just as stricken by Nuriko's sacrifice and equally as startled by their new empress' appearance. One of their number, however, had an additional burden upon his heart.
"A character in a book," Hotohori mused. He knew now that the relationship he had craved with the Suzaku no Miko would never come to pass, not merely because she was already in love with another, but also because she would soon return to her world--the *real* world--leaving the book and its characters behind.
Her devoted guardian, Tamahome, had been devastated when he realized he couldn't live his life with her. He had tried to break off his involvement in the hope that it would spare her pain, but his resolve had crumbled when he chose to experience love while he could.
The emperor sighed. Perhaps it was that very attitude that had led to the current scandal. And after all, he reminded himself, the poor boy had once been kissed by Nuriko. Was it any wonder that, when faced with so much inner turmoil since the summoning of Seiryuu, he would turn to the closest alternative for comfort?
Houki was a loyal wife. Despite the certainty that he had married her only for convenience, she would ignore the yearnings she felt toward his fellow Seishi, his friend and rival. She would remain chaste in body, if not in spirit.
To see the two of them in the same room, aching to be together yet kept apart by duty and law, would touch the hardest heart. Hotohori had already given up the girl he loved for the sake of her happiness; could he do any less for a woman to whom he had barely begun to form an attraction, and could therefore release almost painlessly?
His decision came all the more easily when he took into account his life's most recent upheaval. A fictional character could not build a future with his Miko. They knew and, finally, accepted this fact. But what of a different girl from the Miko's world?
He didn't know what power brought her to Konan; he knew only that she entranced him as he had never imagined possible. "Koishikawa Miki," he murmured, his rich voice caressing the name.
Her arrival had taken them all by storm. Brave, energetic, and unafraid to speak her mind, she possessed the qualities he admired in Miaka without the Miko's weakness for food or the liability inherent in her position. She was honest and open about her feelings, exclaiming in innocent delight over a cute article of clothing or reacting with intense dismay to reports of Kutou's advances.
The emperor stared dreamily into his reflection's eyes, enjoying the way thoughts of Miki made them sparkle. He couldn't propose to her yet--not until he freed his wife to do as she pleased with Tamahome--but he looked forward to that day. After years of longing and loneliness, he had at last found someone who could truly be his forever.