Risk of Conviction

We passed through a double door on the left side of the room. It opened into a dark humid place, full of red and white light. A large bath with black tiled walls was sunk into the boarded floor. There were spaces between the beams for water to fall through, like a loosely fit porch, black underneath. The corners of the room were framed with fantastic, newly put together gardens. Those plants were not silent. They had been moved recently, cut from various forests and assembled recently. Their roots were tender, rhizomes disturbed.

 

I began to reach out to heal them. Though it tired me, my heart felt better to hear their life sing out.

 

He let go of me. Then the stench of tobacco hit me. I turned to see Koenma selecting a cigar from a small box, rolling them between his fingers and gliding them under his nose. He snorted. He clapped the box shut and went about preparing to light it.

 

“I get such a kick out of these things.”

 

I tried not to sneeze. The smoke dried my throat. I smothered a cough and held a hand to my mouth. “Nicotine affects you?”

 

The prince puffed as the lighter brightened his face for a moment. He exhaled a loose ring of smoke and laughed, pointing. “Ha, ha! Look at that.”

 

“Very nice.”

 

“Do you want one?”

 

“No. I’m human, it isn’t – “ I started coughing. “Isn’t safe.”

 

“Sorry,” Koenma said, passing around me. He shoved a large, brocade covered chair from the corner of the room – completely inappropriate furniture for a moist place – and dragged it around near the edge of the bath. He sat down with a groan and kicked his long legs out. His heels fell just over the edge. “Well?”

 

I looked up.

 

He motioned to the water. “Go on, get in. I want to see you wash.”

 

I shifted slightly, rubbing my arms. I didn’t like hot water. I didn’t even run the hot tap at home. I found the whole idea of heating water unnatural and too human for me, even in my new state as a human.

 

“I would like to wait, please.”

 

“You look like trash. Get in.” Koenma pulled the cigar away.

 

“It’s still steaming. I prefer to let it cool.” I tried to imitate Botan’s firm impertinence; she had dealt with him longer than I. She was sharp. I trusted her approach. It also made sense. Admitting I had no control would not lessen the threat; there was no reason not to bluff.

 

“Get in.”

 

“I will not.”

 

 He put down the cigar on the chair arm and stood, stalking towards me.

 

I waited the experiment out.

 

Koenma stood behind me and spoke into my ear. His baritone was a hot, deep vibration. “Get in the water, please, darling.” He poked me hard in the back.

 

I stumbled forward to the edge and looked in. There were steps, like a public pool, but the water had no smell, not chlorine or copper, just steam. I put my foot over my jittering reflection, aiming for the most shallow step.

 

I slid in, surface tension encasing my dry leg like a slick glove. At first there was nothing, but then the heat became prickles and unbearable sharp warnings. I jerked out, spinning away, coming eye to eye with Koenma’s chest.

 

“I guess I’ll have to help you then,” he said, grabbing my arm and leg and picking me up like a lamb over his shoulders.

 

“No, wait – "

 

He jerked two steps and tossed me. I fell, hip and elbow nicking the hard wooden edge, and was surrounded by water. The heat penetrated my skin. I was in pain all over. My robe was tangled to me like seaweed as I tried to paddle, forming a skintight straitjacket.

 

I kicked out, finding the bottom at an angle, reoriented and shot up. I howled when I hit air. I swam to the edge and pulled myself out. I clung to the boards, breathing the cool air beneath them, seeing stars in the blackness when the water pouring off me caught the light as it fell.

 

Koenma strode around the pool. “Stay in, fox. We’re getting the fleas off you.”

 

“It’s scalding!” I cried, crawling away. I fell backwards and scrambled with my hands like a crab.

 

The motion triggered him. He grabbed a fistful of my hair, close to the scalp. I grabbed him around the thighs then. He was trying to crowd me, so close that his feet were nearly between my knees. I pressed against him, pushing my cheek hard in and grabbing my elbows to lock my grip.

 

“Kurama!” He pulled away and I knocked him over, wrestling him to the ground.

 

I matched our bodies quickly and lay along his, kissing him with promises.

 

“I’ll get in. I will.” I grabbed his hand, kissing his knuckles. I locked my eyes to his, begging, “I will, just - slowly. Let me take my time. It’s too hot, it burned me.”

 

He sighed. Kissing back, he wrapped his arms around me. He sat up, pulling my legs to the side, and eased into the water with me on his lap.

 

The water hurt instantly, more than before.

 

I panicked and pulled away, breaking for the side. “No – “

 

“Yes, pet,” he drawled. The prince hooked his elbow around my neck and dove under, towing me away from the air, like he would drown us together.