Bonded

Chapter Five

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India

...

At first, I have no idea how to react... The way I had found myself trapped in these arms so very alarming until I had found myself shocked by the words of the gruff man next to me... They had come to apologize...And they had thought me a girl... I cannot say that I do not understand why they thought so... I know that I am a runt... And that my intelligence is what has earned me my place here in the palace, not my size or any physical skill that I might possibly bring... I am simply bright... Small... But bright...

Not bright enough not to get caught staring at a bonded pair with no reservation... But... Still... I am not what one might think of as a physical being... And between that and the way I have known for quite some time that my hair is best left long to be managed and if I shall ever find myself looking for a husband...

Between how madly they made me blush before fleeing and how my hair must have been the only true piece of me that they managed to actually see... I can see why they must have thought me one of the female pupils... My size is not indicative of me being masculine, and neither is my appearance drowning in the same shapeless robes that all of us scholars wear...

"Gentlemen..." Master Qiao struggles as he tries to figure out how to save me...

My body still caught in the arms of this stranger... His hold on me not stiff, but comfortable, the way his hands keep themselves above my waist something that makes me feel so very strange... What if he tells them and then these arms around me stiffen? And I find myself in a situation that might lend itself to me walking away punished for taking the scrolls to my bedroom, but because these two feel misled and demand something to be done to repair their egos...

"Gentlemen..."

"Qiao, just... " The way Jian sighs I know what is about to happen before any of us have a chance to stop it, the way he despises the way his bonded partner trips around his own words when unsure of himself due to the level of kindness he possesses, "India... India is a he, not a she."

The way he says it makes my entire being seemingly stop short, my body more frozen than if I was engulfed in a snowdrift while I await the words or blows that to be thrown my way... My eyes clenching themselves shut, my hands doing what they may to lift themselves up to shield myself from any harshness about to befall me...

Neither words nor fists aimed at me... Not even after waiting what feels like an eternity... Just silence and the drawing of my body seemingly closer to the man holding me... "Is that so?"

...

Ronin

 ...

The voice that announces itself so softly is one that makes my eyes widen just in time to notice the way that my Kavya is holding India changes... And it is in that moment that I know that his reaction to Master Qiao's rather attached scholar's words is just the same as mine...

That he finds himself even more intrigued by India than he already was... Just as I am...

India's reaction very much less than what I ever would have hoped for... The way he flinches so very hard away from us, and away from the statement chipping off a tiny bit of my soul in a way that leaves me wanting to reach out and stroke his tender, gentle, flushed cheek if only to offer him comfort and reassure him that there is nothing to run away from...

Kavya being so much more direct than I am, his hand drawing itself up to dear India's shoulder, turning him more towards himself before carding his fingers through a small bit of the lustrous raven locks that find themselves flowing down around India's I'm slightly stooped shoulders... The scholar's hands finally easing themselves down towards his chest, his hands curling into themselves so that he might tuck them under his chin instead of using them to protect his face so unnecessarily...

The way he peeks his eyes open so that he might look up at me so unsure of our reaction to him so very endearing... As if he is trying to figure out whether or not he needs to be rescued... But seeming almost as though he is not sure he wants to be...

The way he starts to lean into Kavya seemingly unthinkingly making me want to entangle my own arms around them both... None of us realizing that there is anyone else in the room as we all eye each other trying to figure out what this strange draw on our beings that this stunning scholar seems to have... Not until the throat of the Master standing just in front of us is cleared so very loudly at the way I take a step closer to the two of them...

The sight of India so curled up in my Lover's arms so enticing in a way that I cannot make sense of... The way I would like to hold them both so strange... The three of us starting to very hard at the reminder that we are not the slightest bit alone... Not like we had been in the library...

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Kavya

...

Even startled I find that I cannot seem to let go of the delightful scholar in my arms, the way he had started to rest against me so very charming in how natural it felt... Only to have him finally pull away from me thank's to the frown on Master Qiao's face as the older man observes the three of us with eyebrows raised...

So many faces around us flushed just as much as mine and India's... Ronin's face also sporting a color in his cheeks that brightens my own as he moves closer to me to take one of my hands when I find them so devastatingly empty...The way he takes charge of the situation once he realizes that I have no other words to roll off of my tongue at the loss of the warmth that was India's body pressed so carefully against mine...

"Well... The only thing that that changes is that we want to ensure that we've caused him no trouble... And to maybe also ask if there would be anyone... Anyone who might object to us knowing and seeing more of him?" The way that the words flow so effortlessly off of Ronin's tongue makes me wonder if the two of us are sharing the same dream...

And if we might wake up in the barracks only to find ourselves having nodded off after dying my hair instead of coming to find India, his cheeks glowing so fiercely in this moment that I almost dare to ask if he might need to excuse himself to let out steam from his inner fire so that he might cool himself and bring down the temperature that I feel radiating from where he stands... But I do not think that my mind would be able to manifest the shocked looks on the faces around us...

Or the way that Master Qiao seems to find himself staring at our hands as Ronin and I hold on to each other...