Disclaimer: Juuni Koki belonged to Fuyumi Ono. There, I said it. Don't stick those lawyer at me =P

AN: This fic is inspired by Western Fruit Pastry by Verna-S Go read hers first before this.

Warning: Youko will be very OOC.

In Vino Veritas??

By: Lafine

It was just sake.

Sake was normal when one was having a party. Especially when En-ou, Shouryu, was the one who housed the party.

Really. Drinking a small cup of sake won't hurt anybody. With the word 'suppose' inserted into the sentence.

She, Nakajima Youko, current empress of Kei, was really a fool to trust the flippant encouragement from Shouryu whose alcohol tolerance was undoubtly much, much higher than her.

"Come on, Youko. Just a sip." Shouryu poured the warm liquid into his guest's cup cheerfully. "Look. Rakushun is already on his third cup."

Youko tried very hard not to sigh at her friend. She, Shouryu and Rakushun were in a quaint pavilion in En's castle. Her faithful kirin, Keiki, was also there conversing with Enki.

It was just a small gathering. She came to En to discuss some political matter. No more than one hour, the matter was thrown out from the window and bottles of sake appeared on the table. It's still a wonder to Youko, how Shouryu chould swap the serious atmosphere into a more relaxing one in an instant.

It's a skill she still didn't have.

"It's delicious." Rakushun commented while sipping the sake calmly.

Youko noted that his whiskers were moving more so than usual. Why, why she didn't notice it as a sign?!! He was in his hanjyuu form, even if he's drunk Youko wouldn't know because the drunken blush wouldn't be seen beyond those thick, gray fur.

"Oh, alright. I'll drink it." She accepted the cup with hesitation.

Shouryu gave a cheer when she raised the cup to her lips. Taking deep breath, she swallowed the alcoholic beverage as fast as she could. However, she didn't expect the burning sensation in her throat as the liquid flowed into her stomach.

Her eyes watered and she coughed pathetically, completely missing the disapproving glance Keiki threw at her. The hard pat Shouryu gave just made the cough worsen.

"Are you alright, Youko? The sake isn't that strong." Shouryu asked as the coughing subsided.

"Shouryu, no sake is strong enough for you. Don't compare yourself to Youko." Enki chided his emperor who in turn gave him a cute pout.

"Your Highness." Keiki went to his master's side, ignoring the banter between his fellow kirin and his master. A touch of worry sparked in Keiki's eyes as Youko slumped further against the chair. Her crimson hair shadowed her face hiding her expression. His worry doubled when Youko went still under his touch. Youko turned her head and stared hard at Keiki, muttering only one word.

"More."

Unison of confused "Huh?" was heard from the other four pavilion's occupant.

"I want more." Youko brandished the small cup like weapon to Shouryu who stared at her with wide eyes.

"Your Highness, pleas stop." Keiki tried to take the cup but his action only aggravated her.

"Keiki!!" She yelled, effectively freezing the said person. "You sit there and enjoy your drink. It's not polite to refuse your host's kindness."

To hear that from someone who demanded her host to give more sake was indeed convincing. Not.

Shouryu gave a loud laugh, obviously amused with Youko's sudden change of character. He poured a generous amount of sake until her cup full to the brim. This time, Youko drank them eagerly though she still cough for some times after she downed them.

She slammed the cup on the table, grinning lopsidedly as her face started to blush.

Enki chose that time to run away.

Alas, his plan was ruined as Kei's young empress glomped him. Imagine that. Youko. Glomping someone.

"Aww, where will lil Enki-chan go?" Youko cooed with slurred voice. A sure sign that she was drunk. "You are so cute."

"I'm 500 years old. I'm NOT cute." Enki sputtered indignantly. "Shouryu, help me!!"

Shouryu was too busy laughing to offer any assistance to his poor, harassed kirin. Rakushun ignored everything else besides his sake. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.

"Keiki." Enki turned to his only hope for escaping. Too bad, his hope didn't fly high before it fell into shattered pieces on the polished floor.

Keiki was in shock. So much in shock, his lower jaw was dropped slightly. Yes, the ever-serious, stoic but still handsome Keiki was doing the famous jaw drop usually used by people whose face was more expressive in surprise. He was THAT shocked.

"You snicker should see your face snicker, Rokuta." Shouryu said before he howled with laughter again as Youko kissed Enki, who shrieked like a banshee, on his cheek. Someone should paint this.

His balloon filled with rare-to-get amusement was inflated immediately when Youko change her victim ... err ... object of her loving attention.

It was Enki's turn to laugh when Shouryu sputtered much like his kirin when Youko hug him and said, "I like uncle Shouryu."

"I'm not old enough to be an uncle." He protested.

Enki snorted. "Yeah right. You're old enough to be her great-great-great- great ..." Enki continued fifteen more times before he end it with a satisfied smirk. "... great grandfather. Of course, you're not old enough to be Youko's uncle."

Shouryu threw the smirking Enki a scowl.

The scowl was immediately vanished though when he felt Youko snuggled against him. Looking bemusedly at the out of character young empress on his lap, he purposefully hugged her waist. His mind schemed to get the situation more interesting.

He didn't have to think much when Youko grinned innocently at him and did something more shocking, more mind twisting and more shameless than a hug in front of the gawking audience. Her kirin would probably die from heart- attack by now.

She KISSED Shouryu. And not on the cheek either. She kissed him right on his lips. And Shouryu being the cruel-teaser-but-still-managed-to-look- innocent he is, had to add oil to the fire.

Turning the innocent kiss into long, tongue involving French kiss, he groaned deliberately. "Youko gasp don't push there."

Which is not a complete lie since layers of heavy, thick fabric of imperial dress he wore added with Youko AND her own heavy garment was quite .... well, heavy.

"Eww," was Enki's reaction to the whole display.

Keiki has gone beyond shock. Right now, his shock has turned into anger. His mind only producing one thought. 'How dare En-ou touch HIS empress like that!!' The fact that it was HIS empress who initiated the first contact was lost to him.

He stalked to them and grabbed the drunk empress as rough as kirinly possible. Throwing a glare to the who-me?-I'm-innocent Shouryu, Keiki picked Youko bridal style, much to Shouryu amusement.

"Excuse us, En-ou. We have to retire early today." His voice was thick with icy politeness that screaming with rage. Then he stormed away gracefully before Shouryu had the chance to say anything.

"That was fun." Shouryu chuckled. "I never knew he can be like that."

Enki threw him the I-can't-believe-you look. "You were doing that to make Keiki mad?"

"Those facial muscles need exercise." Shouryu defended himself. "It's not good to be constantly frowning."

"Better than someone who always grin like an idiot." Enki countered.

"Do you think it's wise to let Keiki alone with Youko in such condition? She might attack him."

Enki and Shouryu turned to Rakushun who had been silent through the whole ordeal. He was still sipping his sake calmly. Only ten bottles of sake strewn on the desk showed that he wasn't idle the whole time he was silent.

"It would be fun if it happened." Shouryu smirked.

Enki threw him a disgusted look then he turned to Rakushun. "Don't said anything weird to defile his already dirty mind."

Rakushun just shrugged. "What can I say? I'm drunk."

In the guest's room, Keiki put the drunken girl on the bed, scowling all the way. He left the room and returned shortly with a cup of warm tea.

"Your Highness." He shook her shoulder gently despite the stern expression he showed. "Drink this."

Youko obliged. Her mind still fuzzy and her ears still buzzing but she could recognize Keiki's voice anytime. Making a wild guess, she reached for the left cup. Her disoriented mind asked why there's three Keiki in front of her.

Keiki sighed when Youko grabbed the air. Sitting on the bed, he put the cup on her lips, guiding her carefully to drink. Putting the empty glass on the table, he prepared to give the longest lecture about etiquette and moral to his drunken master.

He didn't have the chance to even say one word.

Youko grabbed him and threw him on the bed. The word died in his throat when she straddled his waist.

"Y ... Your Highness?" He managed to push the word out under the intense stare. "You have to stop this."

Youko grinned smugly and said with a husky voice. "Shut up, Keiki."

And Keiki did shut up when her lips touch him in a soft kiss. She moved her lips gently to coax the tense man under her. Stroking his face with her palm, she kissed his forehead, making him jerk when her lips touch the place where his horn should be.

"Your Highness." He moaned.

"Call me Youko."

"Yo ... Youko."

"Yes, that's good." She kissed his lips again but this time Keiki kissed back. Hesitantly at first but the passion grew as the lip lock continued. His arms circled around her waist, pushing her closer to his body while the other tangled with her hair, releasing her hair from the bound.

They separated for air before lunging again into another heated kiss. Youko grew bolder as she trailed her kiss onto Keiki's neck, nipping at his delicious skin while her hand wandered on his chest. Keiki's hand searched for an opening on her robe but found none. Note to self, next time Youko want to wear more comfortable and lighter cloth, let her. It's hard to disrobe her imperial dress.

Meanwhile, Youko already opened his black robe and torturing him by kissing every inch of his bare chest. He suppressed the moan building inside him.

And then it stopped.

Keiki looked quizzically at the red head resting on top of him. "Youko?" He raised his hand to touch her face.

A light snore was her answer.

Keiki didn't know if he's supposed to be relieved or disgruntled with the sudden turn of event. He heaved a sigh and turned the sleeping empress so she slept on her back and not using him as a pillow. He stood up and smoothing the wrinkle out of his cloth made by their ... uh, activity.

Looking back at his master, he couldn't help but bending down to give her a kiss on her forehead. "Good night, Your Highness."

Swiftly opened the door, Keiki didn't expect the sight of a grown-up man, a fledging kirin and a hanjyuu to tumbled into the room.

"What is the meaning of this?" He asked as the three of them stood up immediately.

"We're just checking on you." Shouryu had the guts to look innocent. "Don't want you to be eaten by Youko. Right, Rokuta?"

"Don't bring me into this." Enki mumbled. His cheek was pink.

"We're just worried, Kei-taiho. Nothing else." Rakushun added, trying to pacify the situation. "Since both of you are fine, we'll just go on our way."

Shouryu and Enki nodded at Rakushun words and the three of them walk away as fast as possible, not wanting to be the receiving end of Keiki AND Youko's wrath when she knew.

Keiki could only shake his head in resign.

While Youko ....

They had to convince a terribly, thoroughly embarrassed Youko to get out of her room in the next morning. It seems she was the type who remembered when drunk.

And for the next following week, she couldn't look straight at Keiki ... or anyone for that matter.

Only after Keiki convinced her master, she could looked at him without blushing as red as her hair again.

As for how Keiki convinced her ... let's just say it's beyond the closed door

End

AN: I don't know why it turned citrus-y at the end. And the ending is bad. Flame me all you want. And about Youko's OOC-ness. It's a personal experience. A friend of mine, who is very stoic and cold, turned into a hugging maniac who grins like a lunatic after she drank a glass of single rum cappuccino. Talk about very low alcohol tolerance.