Thread: Kaminoyama {Zella and Alan23}

Ling-We was hardly able to breathe, such was her panic. The empress was expected to be always, utterly perfect. It was embarrassing enough for any girl or woman to lose a comb, which served to make her look utterly ridiculous and, even, made other women laugh somewhat cruelly. For it to happen to the empress in public was unprecedented indeed. It was no wonder, she thought, that her mistress had fled from the scene of her embarrassment, and was even for she knew her well obviously fighting back tears. She, Ling-We, would have liked to have done something to fix the damage to the complex hairstyle, but even this was impossible, for Momoko had pushed her away, and she dared not defy her. In any case, she had left the fallen comb behind in her panic. And her mistress' humiliation was her own, for was it not her job to ensure that everything was absolutely perfect. As for Zumozo, his heart went out to his sister. She had suffered one of the most severe mortifications that could happen to any woman, and for it to have happened in front of her retainers made it doubly worse. Though they were all keeping strict poker-faces, he knew that once in the privacy of their quarters they would laugh about it, endlessly repeating and re-enacting what had happened, that word might even get out to the public, making the empress look utterly ridiculous. Normally, no-one of Zumozo's lowly status would have dared to do what he did next, but as he saw it, he was damned either way. A mere soldier was most definitely not allowed to touch the empress' person... yet to do nothing would be equally unpatriotic, and would make him hate himself for ever after. Swiftly, he scrambled to his feet and snatched up the fallen comb, then walked out onto the balcony in the wake of the two women. Ling-we was flapping her arms helplessly, moaning and pleading with Momoko to allow her to help, and getting nowhere for her trouble. He heard the sharp intake of breath of various of the court officials at the unprecedented break with protocol, yet he no longer cared. If they were going to stand around like stunned carp and ignore her plight, it was his job to do something about the situation. After all, was it not his job to protect her, in any way he could. And surely that applied to threats to her emotional well-being as much as her physical person. He walked up behind her, holding the comb, and cleared his throat. Your most serene and beautiful highness, I do apologise, he said, forcing himself to sound contrite, though everyone had seen it had not been his fault the comb had fallen. That, in my ignorant clumsiness, my waving arm dislodged your comb. before anyone could react, he swiftly replaced the item, rearranging her hair as best he could. Though he did not, of course, have Ling-We's expertise, he was able to get her complicated tresses back into some kind of order, and even secure another comb that had also been about to fall out. The court officials would all know that it had not been him that knocked the comb free at all - it had fallen loose of its own accord - but it was one of those situations where if you tell a lie firmly an confidently enough, it might be believed. or, at least, everyone would present would sieze upon it as true simply because they wished to believe it. With his body between her and the watching people, he worked quickly. Straightening the rear collar of the empress' kimono, which had shifted in her agitation, and was revealing far more of her neck than was decent. He reached around her and hoisted the front of the garment, tucking her breasts and under-kimono downwards to hide any sigh of either. This meant he could not help touching her breasts, but he reasoned that whatever happened he was in so much trouble it was too late to worry about it. The scent of her perfume, the slenderness of her body, her helplessness, these things combined to make him feel more protective... more in lust with her... than ever. By the time he stepped back, her appearance was again perfect. He swiftly flung himself down onto both knees, unclipped the scabbard of his dress-uniform sword and laid it before her, the position of a surrendering criminal. I await whatever punishment you deem appropriate for my extreme clumsiness, beloved and beautiful empress, he said, in a firm clear voice.