Cooled Passions Chapter 48

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Chapter 48: Hidden Feelings:

Yasaka could not have known, but her attempt to relax me had far reaching consequences. Her drawing me into her own meditative state was the best instruction in the art I could have ever asked for. I must admit, the ease at which I found myself meditating on my next attempt did endear me heavily towards the Matron of Kyoto.

I was overseen by Ranni, as was proper for when I was dealing with something like this, but unfortunately she could not assist overmuch. Apparently the soul was something deeply personal, any form of interference or action by an outside force could result in unforeseen consequences, even for one such as her.

Especially for one such as her.

Still, she was able to observe, to ensure that I was warned off of doing anything stupid as well as offering advice should I need it. Closing my eyes, remembering the feeling that the Nine-Tailed Fox had induced within me, I sank into the trance. Feeling the thrumming core at the centre of my being, I resumed my examination of the cage around my soul in earnest.

“It is odd…” I murmured, deeply immersed in the feeling and construction of the cage, “But not surprising, upon further thought.”

“What might that be, mine Consort?” Ranni asked, her mental voice soft, not wishing to be a disturbance.

“This construction, the way the seal’s magic is structured… It feels familiar.” I responded.

“That is to be expected.” Was the response, “The seal has been a part of thee for a while yet, my dear. Plenty of time for thou to become familiar with the construct.”

“Yes, but…” I trailed off, my mind turning it over, “It feels more than that. There is something that is tickling the back of my thoughts. Let me think…”

Ranni stayed quiet as I thought it over. One of the things that irked me about this seal is who could have placed it. Currently, there were three major suspects. Serafall, Catharsis and the parents of this body. I had hoped that examining the seal would have helped me narrow it down, but it was proving frustratingly stubborn to my attempts at divining its secrets.

Even more annoying, it didn't show to my Geass, or at least I had not yet figured out how to use my Geass upon my own soul. It would be so much easier if I could just find a weak point to Lock and bring the whole thing down… Wait.

My realisation brought me out of my meditation, my eyes snapping open as I rose from where my body had been resting against the Goddess.

“Damocles? Hath thy achieved a breakthrough?” She asked, causing me to turn to her.

“Perhaps. Let me try something.” I turned back to the garden, reaching for my family trait.

Pulling it into existence, I Locked the movement of the air in a wide area. Once done, I activated my Geass and examined the structure of the magic in deeper detail. I had done this before, when attempting to garner more understanding of my clan trait, but I had reached a dead end in that department. Now, the reasoning for such a stop could have revealed itself.

Looking at the construction of the Lock, I could see it. It was different, it looked unlike the seal on my soul, but the patterns… The patterns were there. The building blocks of the two different magic constructs were the same, even if their final visages differed vastly.

“I think…” I spoke, turning back to Ranni, “That the seal on my soul was a Lock, from the Sagan Clan trait.”

“I see, so thy theory that it could have been placed by thine mother was correct.” Ranni answered, a small smile on her face, “I am thankful that it was not an action by an enemy. It was likely placed as a safety measure, from what I could glean from the tales about her.”

“Yes.” I sagged, in mixed relief and frustration, “I am thankful that it is not a kill switch or something more insidious, but there is a problem.”

“What is that, Consort??” Her head tilted slightly.

“I have no idea what it is Locking. And seeing as it likely is using my own Demonic Power to power itself… Fighting it blind would be unlikely to succeed.”

“I see.” She murmured, before rising to her feet, gently drawing me into a four armed embrace, “I am sorry, Damocles. Answers have only spawned more questions in this regard. However, I have faith that thou shalt prevail and overcome this trail.”

Hugging her cool body to me in return, I mentally agreed with her. Even though I was no closer to actually undoing the seal, at least I was no longer stumbling blind in the dark.

Just that was already a large amount of progress.

---XXX---

One part of owning a successful Trading Company is the unfortunate reality that I occasionally had to actually run said company. I delegated, of course, accounting and contract enforcement being handled better than I could by Shiro and CC, but allowing someone else to have full control was not in my nature.

So I had to sit at my desk in my Office every now and then, making sure that things were going as I would want them to. I remained the final say in any decisions in regards to the company, meaning that I had quite the ever cycling pile of paperwork to go through and approve. In the past couple of years, I had grown rather competent at this task, files and documents slowly but surely moving themselves from the ‘in’ to the ‘out’ pile.

I had taken some time out of my schedule with my Peerage in order to stay on top of this, meaning that I was rather surprised by the knock on my office door. Wondering who could be disturbing me at the moment, despite knowing that I was busy with work, I called out to the mystery visitor.

“Come in.”

The door opened, revealing my dutiful Knight holding a tray, upon which lay a slice of the cake I had made for lunch and a steaming cup.

“Sorry to bother you.” Kasane spoke, her voice even, “I brought you something to help.”

“Thank you, Kasane.” I smiled at her, despite my surprise.

This was something I would expect from her sister, not the rather focused Kasane. Still, I appreciated the gesture. Kasane walked forwards and placed the tray down before stepping back. Lifting up the cup, idly glancing down and confirming its contents at tea, I took a long sip before signing the paper in front of me and moving it to the out pile.

I noticed that Kasane had stilled after placing down the tray, her body language formal and tense. Looking at her out of the corner of my eye, I saw the very slight swaying of her hips, her nervousness being betrayed by the motion.

“You can relax Kasane. I don’t bite.” A small bit of tension left her shoulders at my words, “Unless you want me to.”

That got a small laugh out of her, the rest of her tension dissipating as she took in a deep breath and let it out.

Resolved, she turned to me, causing me to also move to face her, “Damocles, I want to try something.”

I raised an eyebrow, causing her to flush, “Oh?”

“Something… intimate.” She fidgeted as she admitted it, causing me to grin. Seeing my expression, her flush deepened as she pouted slightly, “I’m not good at explaining things. Don’t tease me.”

“Sorry, sorry.” I held up my hands, “What did you want to try?”

“Well… I saw… There was a thing on the DevilNet and…” She started and stopped, her blush not abating in the slightest even as she carefully controlled her expression.

“Kasane.” I spoke, causing her to stop and look at me attentively, “You don’t need to ask permission or explain yourself. If you want to do something with me, just try it and if it’s not something I’m into I’ll stop you, okay?”

“I understand.” She responded, before shocking me as she immediately dropped to her knees and started to crawl under my desk.