"Kazuki!"

Kazuki looked up, blinking mildly as Jubei's dulcet tones, and the gentle thump of hitting the wall before he found the doorknob, dragged him from his reverie. He had been deeply involved in the book of thirteenth-century Chinese court poetry he'd been reading, but if Jubei required his attention, poetry could go hang. Despite knowing that there was no way for Jubei to see, he smoothed his hair down anyway. "Jubei? What is the matter?"

Jubei stumbled through the door and fell to his knees by Kazuki. "As I was meditating by the river," he intoned passionately, "on my attempts to learn the art of humour, I was struck by an unrelated but nevertheless vitally important realization!"

Breath catching, Kazuki focussed all his attention on Jubei. Jubei was using large words; it had to be important. "Yes?"

"I love you," Jubei said, catching at Kazuki's sleeves a few times before Kazuki offered his hands for the clutching. "I love you more than I can put into words. My heart, my soul, my body are all yours--"

Tears filling his eyes, Kazuki raised Jubei's hand to his face, rubbed his cheek there. "Oh, Jubei, I love you too."

"In fact," Jubei said, triumphantly, "my love for you is blinding!"

Very slowly, Kazuki put his hands down. "I think," he said coolly, "that you'd better return to your studies of humour."

"...no good?"

"No."