Xio merely clicked his tongue, a sign of silent exasperation, and led Kirihito into the washroom...
he doesn't wants to think about those..not right now while he was finally enjoying his life which felt like a hell more .
"Pour water over your whole body without removing the robes just yet. Follow my lead, and then we'll change clothes," Xio instructed, carefully helping Kirihito remove the thickest layer of mud and grime from his skin and robe. He was meticulous, being careful not to touch him anywhere except the head, cheek, or hand.
"Will you, however, allow your snake buddy to be washed too? Remove it from your neck." Xio attempted to gently remove the white snake, only to be met with a few light, warning bites. He hissed in mild pain. "God knows what problem it has with me," he murmured.
"No, Wèi's friend is dirty too," Kirihito insisted, petting the snake and ensuring it was carefully cleaned. He was still shivering from the cold.
The black robe, now entirely soaked, clung tightly to Kirihito's hourglass hips. His body was sculpted, a perfect statue of breathtaking beauty. Anyone else would have been instantly obsessed by his looks and his strange, cursed reactions, but Xio still couldn't understand how he remained merely embarrassed.
Xio suddenly remembered about the mischievous, shameless crow, Xì, and asked, "Where is that… crow, Wèi?"
Kirihito tilted his head, thinking. He hadn't been consciously aware of the crow's movements the whole time; he had been… somewhere else, a place even Xio didn't know. "Maybe… gone back to his nest," Kirihito replied, sounding unsure.
Xio blinked. Where had Kirihito been the whole time then? Truly in Bayakuya Village or elsewhere? "Wèi…" he growled faintly, a subtle warning woven into his voice.
"Wèi doesn't know where birdie went! Stop asking! Wèi was just playing with insect heads!"
Xio studied him for a moment, almost suspicious, but Kirihito genuinely looked like he was speaking the truth—or at least, the truth as he knew it. Xio had indeed just seen him playing with the heads. He decided not to linger on the topic.
A small silence filled the wet space.
Kirihito watched Xio work and noticed the way Xio's own body was lightly visible through his clinging, wet robe. Kirihito innocently compared Xio's hips with his own.
Suddenly, he gave a quick squeeze to Xio's hip with a childish, prideful grin, his nails lightly digging into Xio's flesh through the soaked black robe.
Xio's eyes went wide.
He hissed loudly, and the cup he was using to pour water clattered from his hand onto the floor with a loud thud as he jumped back from the sudden, embarrassing action.
"W… What are you doing, Wèi!" Xio barked, his wet, pale cheeks burning. Kirihito always managed to elicit this reaction from him. Xio felt as if his whole spine had been shocked. He quickly removed Kirihito's hand and put a bit of distance between them.
Inside Kirihito, his dark side chuckled and mocked: Scared already?~ It was just a squeeze… but I see you have nothing but cracked bones…
On the surface, Kirihito licked his wet lips mischievously and said, "Matching, matching reactions~"
Xio blinked, hugging himself. "You mean?"
"Butterfly felt the electricity too~ Like Wèi~ But butterfly doesn't have beautiful hips as Wèi's, hehehe~ Yours is boring… not tasty," Kirihito said casually, yet with a distinct tone of teasing.
Xio blinked again, then cleared his throat. He had no idea how to respond. Kirihito was literally comparing their hips by squeezing his, and now he was saying Xio's weren't "tasty"?! Literally not "tasty"?!
"Stop… doing your weird experiments on me. Just let me finish the whole bathing thing," Xio said, almost growling, and started working faster than before.
Kirihito pouted. "Wèi was just playing… Is butterfly angry?"
Xio could feel Kirihito using his innocent charm again. He tightened his jaw. Then, while gently removing the extra water from both their long, wet hair, he said, "No… just stand quietly."
When they were done lightly drying themselves, Xio realized the next hurdle: the dress-changing part. Kirihito didn't even understand the basic settings of the formal robe Xio had brought for him to wear.
"Now… I have to change your robes… and your blindfold," Xio said, feeling a surge of embarrassment and a little fear at the intimacy he was about to initiate.
Kirihito hissed faintly. Removing the robe meant Xio would see him. He immediately protested, "No. Wèi will not change robes… nor blindfold."
"We can't go to town if you don't! Your robe is wet and dirty. I have a beautiful, clean robe for you, and maybe even… a new blindfold," Xio reasoned.
Kirihito thought for a while. Then he stated, "You'll not look at Wèi…"
Oh, Xio thought, that snake actually has dignity? Good, at least he's not totally brainless.
"Fine," Xio conceded. "I'll close my eyes while I change you first. Then I'll do mine."
"Wèi will hold your eyes," Kirihito said, his tone innocent but containing a soft, dangerous warning.
Xio felt the silent danger behind the words.
He sighed. "Alright… as you wish. But," he pointed at the white snake wrapped around Kirihito's neck, "this will stay outside." Xio said this because he could tell the snake was also a yōkai, like the crow, and he didn't want it to see Kirihito's body either.
"OK," Kirihito said softly, putting the snake outside the washroom. The snake hissed in annoyance that Kirihito had actually agreed to its removal.
Xio took a deep, steadying breath.
He closed his eyes, holding the clean robes in his hands.
Kirihito opened his own blindfold and placed his hands gently over Xio's eyes.
Xio's heart silently pounded at the realization of what he was doing.
But his hands worked anyway.
He slowly unbundled Kirihito's wet waist belt. The single pieces of the black garment slid down from his body to pool near his legs.
Kirihito's pale, perfect body was on display, yet Xio was not looking at him, his eyes totally shut. Kirihito's silver skin glowed under the faint washroom light.
Kirihito silently followed Xio's lead, his straight attention focused on Xio's face and moves. His eyes—which he had never showed to anyone—peeked into Xio's wet, black hair.
His dark side spoke: Too innocent… surely not my type, but my other side's.
On the other hand, Kirihito's innocent side felt a little… touched by how carefully Xio was working.
He slipped his hands into the new black and red sleeves as Xio gently fixed his waist belt, doing so with extra care so that he did not accidentally touch Kirihito's hips or any other part of his now-dry body.
The whole moment was a silent, intimate dance of hands and breaths.
Once finished, Kirihito quickly hid his eyes behind his long, messy, half-wet bangs and turned aside.
Xio sighed, feeling like he could finally breathe. "You're done. Now go outside. I'll change mine."
Kirihito stepped out of the washroom but paused. "Wèi needs a new blindfold too."
Xio wondered if he had a suitable spare. He suddenly remembered he had a red ribbon which could be used as a blindfold if worn with a double layer.
He pointed toward his dressing table and instructed in a way Kirihito would understand. "The handle you see?"
"Hmm… a rabbit head," Kirihito confirmed, looking at the white jade rabbit figurine on the handle.
"When you open it, you'll see lots of things… and a red ribbon. Same color as your robe. Take it and wear it on your eyes," Xio finished and watched as Kirihito moved toward it.
"Wèi has understood," Kirihito said, successfully finding the ribbon—and not missing the opportunity to take some beautiful gems that had clearly attracted his eye.
Xio parted his mouth to object—those were gifts from Língxi—but then just resigned himself. "Do not… break anything. Just play. I'll be back in minutes."
"Hu~" Kirihito hummed in acknowledgment.
Xio disappeared into the washroom and started to change his own robes.
He swallowed hard as he couldn't help but remember the sudden hip squeeze, Kirihito's "tasty" opinion about it, and… the charged moment of changing his clothes.
That was too much. Too much for one day. And of course, he would have to get used to these dangerous doses since he really had… lifted Kirihito's beautiful hips.
"Weirdo… God knows which lifetime's lesson I'm getting," Xio hissed to himself, his cheeks silently red.
Outside the washroom, Kirihito's Dark Side murmured, almost like an answer: Something only 'we' know~