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Lan Fan was simultaneously proud and frustrated that Greed had learned to subdue the maddeningly alien ki of the philosopher's stone within him. On the one hand, it meant that others couldn't track him or readily recognize the fact that he was not human.

On the other, it meant that she couldn't instantaneously pin point him either. And considering the sheer size of the Central Imperial Palace, finding him when he decided to disappear was no small feat. She could only remind herself of the fact that the homunculus would ultimately be fine during an assassination attempt, but it still looked bad on her as his head guard. She could strangle him on these occasions when he so blatantly ignored how much they had to tip toe about in order for their cover-up to remain in place.

But then, he could possibly argue right back that Ling himself had a penchant for such antics, and those thoughts brought a sharp, stinging pain to her chest.

She found him in the harem this time, innocently playing a game of mahjong with one of his 'wives'--who could barely be more than fourteen herself. She inwardly scowled at the fact--it was none of Greed's doing but purely a mechanic of Xing itself. She would never forget the row they'd had when the reality of many of his brides' ages were revealed and how he wanted women and not kids. The fact was that was just how it was in Xing. As soon as a girl was capable of bearing children she was considered marriageable. If it weren't for the way Lan Fan had been raised it would have been the same for her as well.

"Your Imperial Highness," she said, her tone betraying her irritation, even if the words contained the proper amount of elevation. She fell to one knee, bowing her head at the edge of the cushions and hand stitched silk rug that adorned this particularly corner of the Harem rooms. "I am afraid your presence is needed elsewhere."

Elsewhere in private. Where she could ream him for acting like a child. Again.

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Greed could hear the irritation in his 'retainers' voice, and almost couldn't help enjoying the fact that the wives were around, basically forcing him to use his 'Ling' voice. At the same time though, the man was frowning, with his hand placed on his chin as he looked at the board that lay before him. He glanced at the pieces, then back to Lan Fan, and again to the pieces again before letting out a long sigh and shaking his head. Finally he turned his body fully toward the woman and made a little gesture at the girl sitting across from him.

"This is the third time she's beaten me you know. The kid's not even thirteen yet and look at this." He grinned, standing up and giving a slight nod to the girl before closing the distance between himself and his guard. "And speaking of that; I thought we weren't going to bring anymore children in here." He complained with a placid expression and an easy smile. They were still technically in public after all.

Lan Fan grimaced behind her mask, glad that she did not need to keep a completely straight face because of it. "_________ has always had a very bright mind," she answered, purposefully offering a compliment in order to quell the insult Greed had just given, knowingly or not. She stood, offered a polite bow to the young _______ Empress and ushered the Emperor away.

"Do you not think before you speak?!" she hissed as low as she could. "______ was the only suitable bride the ______ clan had to offer other than a woman beyond child-bearing years. You have directly insulted them."

"I didn't tell them to send her back did I?" The man growled irritably, dropping into his normal tone as soon as he was sure no one was around to hear them. "They didn't have to send her right away either. They could have waited until she was old and THEN sent her. Hell it's not like I won't still be around then." He rubbed the back of his neck and then jerked it to either side, cracking his vertibrae loudly.

As he was walking, the man casually slipped into a side hall and caught her sleeve to pull her along after him, making straight for the nearest unoccupied window, where he slipped off his annoyingly long ceremonial robe and stashed it where it wouldn't be seen or harmed, leaving his pants on and kicking off his shoes.

"Implying she wasn't suited for any reason is enough. It is the representation of the clans. It is a race to see who will be the first to bear a son--they do not care about age," her tone was still hushed and angry--though perhaps the anger wasn't entirely focused at him in that statement.

She jerked her head in his direction as he pulled her down a different hall. She furrowed her brow behind her mask. "What are you doing now?" she growled, caught between the urge to simply beat him and the reality that she couldn't risk being seen beating him.

"Come on, we're goin for a stroll." He told her and within a beat he was out the window, scaling the walls quickly until he'd finally cleared the roof, standing shirtless beneath an overcast and quickly darkening sky. He let out a long breath, crossing his arms over his chest. "She could still be the representative for her clan at twenty. S'all I'm sayin." He complained. And that was a true and honest opinion of his. But there was something else that was bothering him as well. A deeper feeling apart with the fact that he was being sent children as wives and being forced to lie. Something he'd never liked or even attempted, even when he was a criminal.

Lan Fan huffed angrily behind her mask and darted out the window after him. "And you think they would be satisfied without any representation for the next eight years? That isn't how these politics work and any extreme change to them will only incite a civil war--you know this." She watched him then while his back was turned, and for a brief moment she let herself forget it was Greed inside that body and not Ling... shirtless during practice, always hating too much fabric hanging on his skin.

He would have hated his royal garb just as much as Greed.

"Yeah...I know." He said, his voice growing quiet for a moment as he hung his head, looking at the rooftop. He seemed to become caught up in his own thoughts for a while, trying to figure out what he was doing up there. But soon enough he turned ad strode toward her. "That's not important right now though." His expression remained serious as he drew close to the woman, intentionally looking right through the slits of her mask to stare into her eyes. A second later and his hand was on the edge of her mask, the ceramic smooth under his fingers.

Carefully he pushed upward, a bit more cautious than he normally would have been, mainly because he didn't want to hear about it from her again. On days like this one he really hated that thing that prevented him from seeing her face properly. "Lan Fan." He started but cut short before muttering half under his breath. "I don't want them anyway".

Lan Fan looked up as he approached, catching his eyes and a now familiar warmth spread through her--or more accurately the irritation she felt shifted to something else with the way he was looking at her. Her face flushed under the mask and her eyes darted away, looking very much like a suddenly cornered animal. Her breath quickened, feeling the pressure of his fingers on her mask and the movement as he pushed it up and away from her face while she struggled to stay in place, her eyes darting about, trying to see if there were any prying eyes and looking anywhere but at him.

"Someone will see," she protested at barely above a whisper, her hands hovering before her as if about to set against his chest to hold him at bay but hesitating simply because of his bare skin.

His response to her complaint was a slight grunt, but he didn't move his face closer to hers despite the fact that his eyes reamained intently on the woman's face. It took some effort for him to finally scan around the area, spotting an ornate looking spire that would work well to conceal them from any prying eyes. Small drops of water began to plip against Lan Fan's mask and Greed's shoulders just as he turned toward her to see if she was appeased by the place he'd decided on, indicated by a slight jerk of his head in the general direction.

In truth the man didn't really care if some guard saw them, he could always find a way to ensure their secret would be kept. But it bothered her and he really couldn't have that.

Lan Fan knew she should be directing him back inside, off of the roof and and into his robes to play the little facade again. She knew that, and yet she found herself moving slowly toward the concealed corner on the roof. When had she fallen so far? Lost her unfailing iron grip on duty? Started to allow herself to bend...

When she had lost Ling. And now it was herself and Greed, painstakingly trying to live through this sham in order to unify Xing. The very nature of the charade turned everything she had been taught on its head--so really, what did this matter...?

And even if they were caught? The argument could be made that he was the emperor. And the emperor wasn't to be denied. She would be the one facing the repercussions. Her status and position called into question--Emperor 'Ling's' militaristic put under additional scrutiny--because clearly his captain of the guard and primary retainer had been chosen not for her skills in battle but for what she would offer in bed.

They both knew that was utter horse shit--but she knew how she would be viewed. How she had often been viewed in the past...

And despite it all, she still backed toward that corner, taking that chance again.

A slow smile crept across his face as they made their way quietly toward the little gazebo like structure. By now the rain was falling in heavy sheets, drenching the man's hair and covering his bare chest, and her as well. He couldn't help but think she probably had no idea, the way even the rain looked good on her.

If they were discovered, really discovered, he knew he would probably have to do something drastic to keep her close to him. And he wouldn't hesitate either. She'd be pissed sure, but just let them try and take whats his. The whole damn country could just see what happens then.

Just the thought made his pace quicken, and not a moment after they were inside and out of the rain he was drawing close to her, his breath sharp and meaningful, his hands already trying to find their way into her dark, water soaked hair.

She barely felt the rain, her body too heated through to register the coolness of the water, her eyes caught in the way it hit his shoulders and ran down his chest and lower across his stomach. She finally looked up and met his eyes directly without her mask to shield her, whispering his real name as her hands came in contact with his chest and her head tilted back into his fingers.

There was a sharp intake of breath and he dipped his head down, kissing her face roundly before coming to her mouth. He loved, loved when she used his name. It was something that had over time, become personal, and even intimate between them. Even the few others who knew; Mei and the Elrics really, couldn't use it without risking his being discovered.

And though he never mentioned it to the woman, there were times when it helped to have someone else remind him of who he really was. And soon her name was on his lips as well. Quiet, desperate. Only ceasing once his mouth found hers. He lingered there for some time, pressing against her again and again as his fingers mischievously found their way to the string that bound her hair.

Her breath caught as his lips moved across her face, her own lips parting easily as she then sighed. Lan Fan hummed quietly, a tiny whimper finding its way out as well as he kissed her directly. Her hands moved higher to his shoulders before half wrapping her arms around his neck. She gasped lightly against his mouth, feeling her hair come loose and the strange tingle move over her scalp with the movement.

His hands tangled in her hair, combing it down around her shoulders, where he was soon working at the ties that secured her armor in place, and the cloth of her hood. More than just wanting these annoying articles of clothing gone, Greed had some genuine concern as well that the rain soaked clothing could make her sick and give her a chill. When her neck and shoulders were finally exposed though, he moved his mouth regrettably away from hers, kissing down along her neck, which gave his arms better access to the lower parts of her clothing, decided he would come back up for the chest bindings in a moment.

Pausing just as he was about to pull off her dripping wet pants, the man grinned slightly, raking his teeth lightly against her stomach and speaking in a rough but slightly demanding voice.

"Lan Fan...remove your 'Emperor's' hair tie already."

Lan Fan moaned against his lips, even as her armor clunked on the stone floor, sucking in a breath through her nose as the weight left her chest, and yet the restriction of her bindings was still there, doubled by the wetness of the fabric. She nipped at his lips, feeling him work her top free, lifting her arms to make the removal easier.

She gasped more audibly as his mouth descended on her throat, leaning harder against the wall at her back as her mind swam--even if this was far from the first time this had occurred it was still new to her and she was greedy in her experience of the touches--something Greed certainly had to love. Her stomach muscles jumped at the scrape of his teeth and she looked down at him with heavy eyes, her face flushing dark with sudden embarrassment. She hated being caught off guard--and it was so easy to do when he had her worked up like this.

And it also meant that she wouldn't fire back the way she would otherwise, simply because she didn't want him to stop. Instead she just shoved lightly at his head momentarily before her flesh hand tangled into his hair, pulling at the tie in near desperation before dragging her fingers through it.

A sharp exhale left his nostrils as he felt her hands running through his hair, and for just a bit he toyed with the woman, sliding his first two fingers under the hem of her pants and running his hands along the edge, across her hips without removing the article just yet. Not until he could see the moment he'd been waiting for, a slight disturbance in the crotch of her pants that always gave her away. And he grinned with just a bit of dark mischief and moved the line of her pants down just a bit more, chuckling darkly before running his tongue across her bellybutton.

Greed always enjoyed the way her muscles reacted to him. How they betrayed her even on the days when she pretended to be stoic or uninterested. But that thing. That always answered best. Now it was just a matter of how long she could stand his teasing. He lowered her pants a bit more once again, and already he could feel it brush against the tips of his index fingers.

Lan Fan huffed lightly, her fingers tangling into his hair even more. The rain water was clinging to her skin, her breast bindings feeling suffocating--and despite how cool it was and the way her skin covered in gooseflesh and the way her nipples tightened she felt like she was burning up on the inside.

And between her thighs her little curse had flared to life as well. She shifted on her feet, wishing there was a way to hide it by pressing her thighs together but knowing it was hopeless--and knowing he didn't want that anyway. Her muscles jumped as his tongue ran over her navel and her erection pulsed almost in time with them. She let out a small whimper, her head falling back against the wall, her eyes closing and her brow knitting at the slight hint of contact. She lifted her metal arm, her hand covering her face as she whimpered again into the palm, turning her face to the side.

If he could have heard her thoughts, Greed would have rounded argued against the notion that any part of her was 'cursed'. Her tiny yearning sounds made the man smile a little more, and he could feel his own erection pressing against his damp pants, throbing impatiently even as he finished teasing her, pulling her own garments down and sliding them off of her along with her footwear.

Finally he came back up to the bindings on her chest, shielding just his index finger and raising his body up, pressing close to her and slipping his hand under her arm and around to her back so that he could slice through one of the outer strips there. Even now, with his breath on her neck and his cock pressed tauntingly against hers through his pants, even in this moment he still managed to be careful, so that she could use the bandages again when they were ready to go back down. He could hardly believe he'd grown so cautious, when he used to be so much more reckless than this.

"Secret chamber's almost finished" He murmured into her neck "I'm gonna miss comin' up here for this."

Lan Fan shifted as he pulled the last of her clothing off, swallowing hard as she felt her erection bob freely. Her hands found his shoulders again as he rose, trying to grind forward against him as he taunted her, caught in the frustration of wanting the touch against her cock and lower between her thighs. She moaned as the bindings came free and the blood rushed to her breasts.

She turned her face into his hair, panting a bit as she rolled her hips forward again. "It will... be more secure..."

"You say that like it's a good thing" He grumbled, though his tone didn't have an ounce of bite to it as he moved his hands up to massage her breasts and kiss her fervently once again, running his tongue along her teeth. "The risk is part of the fun. That little bit of danger is nice isn't it." He was teasing her again, while enjoying the way she tensed and pressed against him.

Finally he managed to convince his hands that they would be better served in removing his own pants, freeing his hardened cock to rub up against her skin directly. One of his hands immediately returned to her chest, but the other found it's way down to her own cock and the soft, quickly dampening skin beneath it as well, and he pressed his fingers shamelessly against the base of her shaft, curling them around so that his thumb could work her soft pussy at the same time.

"We can't afford risks," she answered, half breathless as his hands moved over her breasts, further words being lost on a swallowed moan. She breathed for a moment, trying to ground herself again as he pulled away to finish with his own clothing, running her flesh hand over her face and back through her hair.

She watched him with heavy eyes as he drew back in in, her hands moving to his shoulders, flesh fingers sliding into his hair to pull him close while his hands roamed over her body. She shuddered and bit back a loud moan as his fingers curled around and stroked her most intimate parts, her knees almost buckling with the sensation.

He made his own little groaning sound, moving his hand off her breast so that he could bring her close to him as her knees went weak. He laid her down slowly, taking his time and enjoying how her hand felt in his hair. So much intimate contact, in a way that his 'assigned women' couldn't give him. He almost pitied them, because they couldn't match this passion.

His other hand had moved as well, cradling her waist to assist in lowering her against the cool ground. As soon as possible though he moved it back, this time sliding past her cock and allowing his fingers to invade her pussy with relish.

Lan Fan shuddered as her skin met with the cold stone, making her grasp for him that much more desperately, her fingers twisting in his hair and their metal counterparts biting into his back, especially as his fingers entered her. Her hips jumped upward toward his hand, her body hungry for his touch.

Greed followed the tension in the woman's hand and bend his head down to kiss her firmly, parting his lips momentarily to run his tongue hungrily across her teeth. Unable to keep himself focused one area for long, the man's fingers found their way back up to shaft and he shifted his hips forward so that his own erection pressed against her vagina, jumping seemingly with it's own greedy desperation, the muscles in his abdomen tensing in synchronization with the throbbing.

She moaned into his mouth before sliding her tongue against his, her hips jumping toward his hand again as he moved it back to her erection. She gasped again feeling his cock pressed against her, her body practically straining to draw him inside. She mumbled his name again, panting against his lips before nipping them lightly.

His breathing was heavy, escaping his lungs with a rough, almost growling sound. She was so attractive like that, he couldn't stand it, and almost before he'd even decided, his cock was already sliding into her body. He was always, always caught by the way her entire being seemed to beg him for this. All the pretense and stoic defense fell away and she was laid completely bare before him. And she was the most beautiful radiant woman he had ever seen.

His tongue met hers hungrily, again and again. As his hips thrust forward Greed's hand moved from her cock up to her breasts, massaging them before tweaking her nipples a little and letting out a low, gruff chuckle, filled with dark mischief.

That slight growl escaping him made her blood boil even more, and she moaned wholly as she felt him enter her, exhaling sharply against his his lips before her voice came in a familiar low whine as he moved inside her, her walls gripping him tightly and all by trying to hold him inside her each time he withdrew.

His name escaped her again, her head falling back as her back arched, pressing her breasts more firmly against his hands. She couldn't even react to that chuckle, that would mean she would need to pull her attention away from what she was feeling.

Hearing his name on her lips again, the man began to thrust more forcefully into her. He wanted more, he wanted, so badly for her to scream his name to the heavens, and to hell with the consequences. He knew it wasn't something he could have. But of course, that was even more reason for him to want it. His hands slipped away from her breasts, so that he could maneuver them beneath her back, drawing close to her so that he could kiss that beautiful mouth that called his name with such urgent longing, and rake his nails lightly across her back.

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