Author's Note: There is some nudity in this chapter but it's rather vague. I considered raising the rating to M to be safe but I wasn't sure if this really warranted it and left it at T.

…

Kouyuu's temper had calmed considerably by the next morning although he was still not happy to be stuck with Kochou's body for the week. He shuddered as he looked at the pile of jewelry and sheer fabric on his desk, remembering the perverse task of undressing the former courtesan's body the night before. It seemed wrong to look so he had fumbled at clasps with his eyes closed until he wrapped a sleeping robe around himself. He certainly wasn't wearing that indecent outfit again!

Instead, he took a set of his usual robes from the wardrobe and squeezed his eyes shut again as he slipped off the nightclothes and pulled the maroon robes over his head. They fit him oddly since they were meant for his own figure rather than that of a curvy woman. The sleeves hid his hands, the robes were baggy around his midsection, and the sash had to be clinched much more tightly than usual but it was a great improvement over Kochou's immodest sense of fashion. He rolled up the sleeves to a more fitting length and tied Kochou's long burgundy hair into a simple ponytail with a piece of cord.

Thus prepared, Kouyuu set out to the palace library to give Ryuuki his lessons for the day. Even if he was in a woman's body, he wasn't going to let that stop him from doing his job as the Holy King's tutor properly. Especially after last night's incident, he intended to assign extra work for that stupid king!

…

Kochou took a moment to admire Shuuei's nude form in the mirror before getting dressed. It wasn't a new sight—although she was currently pursuing Seiran, Shuuei had spent some nights in her bed in the past—but she did appreciate a nice male body. Even if she was in the strange position of temporarily inhabiting that body.

But she shouldn't dally long. Knowing Kouyuu's prudish manner, he'd wear something completely inappropriate and give their secret away. She quickly dressed in Shuuei's blue robes and brushed her hair. Grabbing a couple of little cosmetic pots from her vanity table, she slipped them into her robes before going to look for Kouyuu.

…

When Shuuei awoke, he was completely enveloped in fabric. He recalled uncomfortably trying to fall asleep facedown because of Kouyuu's wings but couldn't think of why the covers would be over his head until he realized he felt oddly small and feathery. He had transformed to Kouyuu's bird form in his sleep!

He tried to make his way out from under the sheets but his talons were snagged and he just got more tangled as he struggled against the bedclothes. And he couldn't seem to change back to human form either. Shuuei was used to rescuing Kouyuu when he got into trouble but now that he was in his best friend's body, he wryly wondered if he would be the one who needed rescuing.

…

Kouyuu barely made it down the hall before hearing an irritatingly familiar voice.

"There you are." Kochou frowned and took his arm, pulling him back towards his room. "This won't do at all. Are you trying to ruin my reputation? You have to change clothes!"

"If anything, I'm improving your reputation by dressing decently!" Kouyuu retorted, trying to pull away. He found himself at a disadvantage since Kochou now had Shuuei's physical strength at her disposal. Plus, he wasn't completely used to balancing on the snake tail that he currently had instead of legs.

Kochou caught him as he nearly fell over and brought her face close to his, addressing him in a hushed tones. "Remember, the king and Ensei are the only ones who know what happened last night. And we agreed that we're going to keep it that way until Shuurei returns. Do you want Shou to find out about this? If he sees my body going around dressed like that, he'll know without a doubt that something is wrong!"

"Then, I'll just avoid him this week."

Kochou shook her head. "Even if the palace is large, you'll run into him sooner or later. Besides, there are also the palace servants." She tugged on his arm and added in a light tone, "Come along or I'll have to carry you off like I'm about to ravish you."

"Don't joke about such a boorish thing!" Kouyuu glared but reluctantly allowed himself to be dragged back to his room.

As soon as she locked the door, Kochou got to work disposing of the offending robes.

Kouyuu was quickly left clothed only in embarrassment. An angry blush crept across his cheeks and he grabbed a blanket, wrapping it around himself, as the other took her time untangling strands of pearls from all the other bits of jewelry she regularly wore. "Would you hurry up?"

"How fickle. First, you don't want my clothes and now you're impatient for them."

"Well, it's better than being naked but not by much." Kouyuu yelped as Kochou fastened the jeweled brassiere, the cold metal producing goosebumps on his skin. "Why can't you just wear normal clothes?"

"But that wouldn't be nearly as alluring." She lectured him as she tied the sarong and added more pieces of jewelry. "Remember, you're pretending to be me. That means no trying to cover yourself up or acting ashamed. No one knows that we switched bodies so you shouldn't be embarrassed. If you do act like that, someone is more likely to realize something's wrong."

Kouyuu scowled although there was logic behind her argument. "That's easy for you to say since you got decent clothes." Even if the dragon god was annoying, being stuck in Shuuei's body for a week would have been preferable to Kochou's. "And how much longer is this going to take? We're going to be late for the king's lessons." He complained as Kochou seated him in front of the mirror and brushed his hair, twisting it into a complicated style and weaving in strands of pearls. He never understood why silly women did such impractical things with their clothes and hair.

"I'm almost done. You still need makeup." Kochou pulled the cosmetic pots out of her robes. "Hmm… But no blush. Your face is red enough as it is." She set aside the rouge and dipped a finger into the red substance in the other pot. Taking hold of Kouyuu's chin with her other hand, she carefully applied the lipstick but it still smeared since Shuuei's larger fingers weren't as suitable for the task. She found a handkerchief and blotted at it until satisfied. "Finished."

Kouyuu was not nearly as happy with the result. He looked like he belonged in a brothel! With a groan, he got up and moved towards the door. "Let's go. We must be late by now." At least, conducting Ryuuki's lessons would give him something to keep his mind off of this humiliating appearance for a few hours.

…

After many unsuccessful attempts to free himself from the covers and much squawking, Shuuei heard the muffled sound of a door opening and felt the blanket being moved aside. It wasn't Kochou as he half expected but Shusui! He had a bit of a crush on her but the head of the palace servants didn't seem to like him at all.

"Lord Kouyuu?" Shusui blinked, probably surprised to find the phoenix in this unlikely spot. "Are you all right?"

At that moment, Shuuei felt himself transforming back and remembered half a second too late that he had gone to sleep in the nude.

Shusui gasped and quickly turned away.

He pulled a sheet over his lap and winced as he heard Shusui angrily muttering something about dragon gods and maggots; she'd obviously drawn an unfavorable conclusion about why Kouyuu's body was in Shuuei's bed. Fortunately, he was saved from trying to explain this awkward situation by Kochou and Kouyuu's arrival.

Kochou laughed, pretending to be Shuuei. "Excuse us, Shusui. We'll take care of this lost bird." She squeezed Kouyuu's arm in warning since he seemed ready to lose his temper. "Right, Kochou?"

After Shusui left, Kouyuu turned to Shuuei, hissing. "What are you trying to do? Ruin my reputation?"

"Where have I heard that line before?" Kochou commented ironically.

Shuuei put his hands up in protest. "It was completely unintentional. I didn't want to wrinkle your clothes and my sleeping robes wouldn't fit over your wings." He'd found that Kouyuu's robes were enchanted to allow his wings to pass through but since he didn't normally have wings, his own clothes lacked this quality. He glanced over his shoulder at the feathery appendages. "How do you sleep with these things anyway? I must have transformed in my sleep. I woke up as a bird and Shusui found me." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Then, I suddenly changed back."

Kouyuu didn't look pleased at all, flexing his fingers as if he wanted to throttle someone. "If you weren't in my body…" He grabbed his robes which were draped over a chair and threw them at Shuuei. "Get dressed before some other servant wanders in and sees me naked."

Kochou, who had been admiring Shuuei's temporary body, spoke up teasingly. "There's no need to be so shy, Kouyuu." She smiled mischievously as she peeked under the sheets. "You have a very nice body."

Of course, this brought on another indignant explosion from Kouyuu.

…

"Good morning, Your Holiness. Sorry we're late."

When the trio finally made it to the palace library, Ryuuki was already there with a scroll spread out in front of him. "Good morning. I was starting to wonder if we were still having lessons today."

"Yes, we are. And I would have been on time if it weren't for these two." Kouyuu glared at the other guardian beasts in irritation and the marking on his forehead glowed.

Ryuuki blinked. "What was that?" He noticed Shuuei looking a bit dazed and holding a hand to his head. "Shuuei, are you alright?"

Shuuei wordlessly fell to his knees. He looked strangely smitten as he took one of Kouyuu's hands and brought it towards his lips.

Bewildered, Kouyuu snatched his hand back. "Shuuei! What are you doing?"

Kochou laughed heartily. "Oh, my. You activated my powers to enslave men by looking into their eyes. What a rare sight! The prudish phoenix has fallen for the snake goddess!"

"Gah! It's not funny!" Kouyuu was not amused at all to see his true face staring up at him adoringly. "Your powers are making my real body do disgraceful things!" He glared at Kochou and the vertical eye-like marking glowed again.

There was surprise and dismay in Kochou's expression as the magic slowly forced her to her knees. "But I'm a woman! This shouldn't have any effect on me!"

"Well, you are in Shuuei's body right now," Ryuuki pointed out. "Eep!" Seeing Kouyuu turn towards him, Ryuuki ducked his head and studied his scroll intently. He didn't dare look at Kouyuu in the eye lest he turned out to be next.

Kouyuu had to admit it was slightly satisfying to see Kochou fall victim to her own magic after what she'd put him through that morning but still— "What a bothersome power." He stroked his chin, considering what to do about the pair on the floor. "If you two are supposed to be my slaves, then go sit in the corner quietly and behave!"

"Yes, mistress," they answered in unison and moved to a corner of the library to do as they were instructed.

With that distraction out of the way, Kouyuu turned his attention to Ryuuki and the lessons moved along quickly even with the extra work he assigned. Several hours passed and they were almost done for the day when a new voice caused Kouyuu to freeze.

Shou stood at the library door, surveying the strange scene in the room with a raised eyebrow. "And how are today's lessons progressing?"

To be continued?

…

Author's Notes: It looks like this story will be longer than I originally thought so I'll probably be alternating between writing this, other bits of this AU, and maybe some canon stuff depending on interest. (Since posting the first part of this story, I've put up another AU piece called "The Purple Ribbon" which is actually supposed to come before this story.) I'm not sure when the next chapter will be done; I do have an idea of how I want the story to end but I'm not as sure about what will happen before then. Meanwhile, if you're enjoying this story, reviews would be appreciated.