The C. N. A. T. - Page 73

It was generally unrequited, but on one beautiful morning the wheatish prince of Gandhar adjusted his turban and looked at himself in the mirror.

Hmm. It's time I shave.

With a clap of his hands, a servant appeared and Shakuni laid back waiting for the barber to start shaving. Just as the blade was about to touch his skin, Shakuni turned to the right side and sat up. Looking at the barber, he inquired: "what style shaving do you think will suit me?"

The barber looked closely at Shakuni. The ruthless prince was surprisingly asking for the opinion of such a low class person.

"Well your highness, how does a complete shave, no stubble sound?"

"Hmm?"

"Sort of like Vidura's shave."

"Vidura? Pass."

"How about a nice moustache. Thick and large?"

"Like Ganga Putra?"

"Yes sir."

"Pass."

"How about we give you long side burns and we shave a rectangle shape just beneath your lip?"

"Not really a fan of that type of -"

"It would just like RajKumar Dhritrastra's shave."

"But when he got married, he had only stubble and a goatee"

"He requested to get it changed this morning sir."

"Interesting. Let's do that then!"

"But your excellency, I thought you weren't a fan? Are you sure --"

"Just do as you are told sevak." Shakuni glared at him.

The barber immediately lowered his eyes and with a gesture from his hands, he signaled for the Prince of Gandhar to lay back. As the barber got to work, Shakuni thought about who to show his new look too. His wife and kids were to be visiting him sometime this week, but they weren't nearly as important as his sister Gandhari. With his mind bent on who to show his new look too, he closed his eyes and waited on the barber.

When the barber had finished , he bowed deeply and slowly walked across the room. Since the prince was now sleeping, it would be rude to wake him up.

Hours later, Shakuni woke up with a stretch. He rubbed his hand over his chin and noticed the clean shaved area just below his lip, which extended down to his chin. He smiled and walked over to the mirror. Not bad, he thought, not bad at all. He flexed his non-clothed chest and flexed his right arm. Kissing it, he went to the clothes chamber and picked out a different set of clothes. He was on his way to the royal quarters, so it was best he look professional - just in case he ran into someone like Bhishma or the King of Hastinapur, Pandu. Since he wasn't in Gandhar anymore, he had to be aware of his sense of dress.

The sun's rays hit Shakuni and immediately Shakuni raised his left arm to shield him from the burning glare of the sun. He ordered a servant to bring him his chariot and moments later, his charioteer Priyam arrived with his chariot guided by two fine Arabian horses, Pushp and Neel. Pushp was the fine color of molten coal and Neel was well teel. Shakuni leaped onto his chariot and ordered Priyam to take his chariot to the quarters of the eldest prince and princess.

As Priyam took him to the palace of the newly wed Dhritrastra and Gandhari, Shakuni couldn't help but think how his sister would react. In the old days, he would sneak up behind her and cover her eyes with the palm of his hand. But now was different. Even if he uncovered her eyes from the palms of his hands, it would make no difference since she still would be covered in darkness. Shakuni looked back at the dust clouds rising and stood still for a second, stunned by nature. He smirked and turned around to face the now growing palace of his sister and brother in law.

As the chariot came to a stop in front of the palace, a guard approached him and welcomed him.

"Welcome oh prince of Gandhar."

Shakuni merely nodded in his direction and entered the palace. The palace was much larger than Gandhari's back in Gandhar, and the smell of fresh flowers laid across the red silk pathway was enticing. As he followed the path, his eyes noticed the sign of moaning and groaning and short shouts. Curious, he made a left at the end of the hall and followed the direction of the sound. As he came to the particular room that was making these sounds, Shakuni leaned against the door to determine the cause of the sound. He didn't want to disturb anyone after all.

Apart from the moaning and groaning and the short shouts, he noticed the sound of metal against metal. As he continued to listen, suddenly the door opened and he fell down, face first, at the feet of some person.

"Who's there?" came the familiar voice of Dhritarastra.

Phew. Shakuni thought. It was only his brother in law.

"Who's there?" Dhritrastra called again.

Getting to his feet, Shakuni said, "It's me, Shakuni." He couldn't see his brother in law's face since the room was enveloped in darkness, but he didn't want to either.

"Oh Bratha Shakuni. Pranipath. What are you doing here?"

"Well, I just got a new shave and thought I would show it to --"

"You came to show me your new shave? How sweet of you Brahta Shakuni."

Shakuni glanced at his brother in law and shook his head.

"Actually ..."

"Bratha Shakuni, no one has ever come to show me their shaved face. Not even Pandu. By making this gesture, you have really made my day."

Shakuni laughed. "Sure. No problem. So what are you up to?"

Dhritarastra looked sheepish and slyly turned in the order direction.

That was weird. Shakuni thought, but he played along and pushed Dhritarastra to tell him.

"Tell me. Come on tell me na. Tell me."

Dhritarastra just shook his head.

"Fine. If you won't tell me, I won't let you touch my face."

Dhritarastra's eyes opened wide and he turned around.

"No no. Fine I'll tell you. I was ..."

"yes"

"I was ..."

"Don't be shy. You are after all the mighty pati of Gandhar's rajkumari."

Mustering some courage and strength, Dhritarastra said, "I was drawing a painting of you."

Shakuni laughed. A blind man drawing a picture. How stupid.

Dhritarastra took offense and turned around once again.

"I knew you would laugh..."

Shakuni, feeling somewhat pity, lied. "I wasn't laughing at you. I was laughing because I thought you were doing some fighting. I heard the sound of metal against metal, amidst various other sounds."

"Oh I was testing some things out."

"Ahh. So show me the picture."

"It's actually not done yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Well I have your head down, but I can't draw your body."

"Let me have a look."

Grabbing Shakuni's hands, Dhritrastra made his way over to the painting and gestured.

Shakuni, on the other hand, was having trouble seeing. The chamber was not lit so he had to walk carefully. Luckily, with Dhritrastra as his guide, he made it without getting hurt. Shakuni chuckled at how the blind man was being his guide.

When they stopped, Shakuni did not notice the gesture of his brother in law, nor was he able to make out the picture.

"Uhh Dhritrastra. I can't see your painting."

"Oh how silly of me. I paint in the dark since it makes no difference to me. My apologies for that."

With a clap of his hands, the room slowly glowed in the radiance of candles (for the skeptics, no his clap did not make the room light up. Servants were present in the room waiting to light the candles).

"Ekant." Dhritrastra's deep voice roared and all the servants quickly scurred out the room.

As the painting slowly came into view, Shakuni noticed how accurate the head was, but when it came to the body, sometimes his arms were not symmetrically lined up, while other times, his legs were his arms and his arms were his legs. However, in all the paintings, his head was perfect.

"I'm sorry Bratha Shakuni that I couldn't get your body right. Your head was done from memory from that elephant ride."

Shakuni closed his eyes thinking about the elephant ride with his brother in law. For those that didn't know, this was when Shakuni was first attracted to his brother in law. It was a temporary thing, so he convinced himself, but it still was something.

Smiling, his mood changed, Shakuni looked at Dhritarastra and quickly looked away.

"Dhritarastra, you're naked!"

Immediately, Dhritarastra covered his private parts in embarrassment.

"You see Bratha Shakuni, no one ever comes to visit me when I'm painting and I like to be naked for the greatest flexibility."

Flexibility? Flexibility? He was supposed to be painting, not doing the gymnastics! Shakuni thought.

"I actually don't have my clothes with me in this chamber. It's on the top floor. I'll quickly go and get it."

"Wait. Just call a servant or something." Shakuni said, still turning away.

"Well I ordered them to leave the room. I didn't want to hear them laugh at my paintings."

Shakuni raised his eyebrows. They were all alone it seemed. A sly smile rose to his face.

"So I'll just go and get it."

"It's actually okay Dhritarastra. There is no worries about clothes. Here, take this."

Shakuni pulled off his shawl and gave it to Dhritarastra, who just stood there.

"Aren't you going to put it on?"

"I've never been able to dress myself, to tell you the truth. My mother or grandmother would do it for me when I was a child, and now that I have grown up, a maidservant usually dresses me."

"No problem then. I can -" *wink* "dress you brother in law."

"Oh that's so sweet of you. Thank you."

Shakuni took back his shawl and he tried to not look at Dhritarastra but it was impossible. He slowly turned his head and face his brother in law. The plan was to quickly throw the shawl over his brother in law's body and wrap it around his waist. But as he opened his eyes, he couldn't help notice the muscular body of the price of Hastinapur. His arm muscles were very toned, and he had a six pack.

"Woah, Dhritarastra. You have a six pack? Can I feel it?"

Dhritarastra smiled. "Sure Bratha Shakuni."

Dropping the shawl to the ground, Shakuni raised his hand and placed it on the rock hard abs of his brother in law.

"Damn. These are pretty rock hard."

Dhritarastra coyly smiled, shy that his brother in law was touching his abs.

"Mine aren't as hard as yours but they are pretty hard." Shakuni boasted, winking after every 3rd word.

Why he boasted, only Shakuni knew, but Dhritarastra slowly began to feel Shakuni's upper body. Shakuni's eyes once again rolled back as he remembered the embrace between him and Dhritarastra during the elephant ride. There was no embrace this time, but the heat of the moment was intense. His brother in law was naked before him, his brother in law was feeling his upper body, and he was feeling his brother in law's abs.

Dhritarastra, blind, was still busy feeling the body of Shakuni. To him, he was once again getting an image of Shakuni's body to make his painting even more perfect. As he lowered his hands to the thighs of Shakuni and to his knees and finally to his feet. At last his picture would be perfect. As he started to remove his hands from Shakuni's feet, he noticed that there was a noticeable gap between both legs. Since Shakuni was wearing a dhoti, it was slightly hard to tell, but Dhritrarastra figured it. Using Shakuni's legs as barrier, Dhritrarastra, under the sway of curiosity, moved his hand back and forth between each leg, slowly rising.

Shakuni's eyes opened wide and he glanced down and quickly stepped backwards. He once again regained his presence of mind and quickly grabbed the shawl on the floor and covered Dhritarastra's lower body part.

"So Dhritarastra." Shakuni said, winking. "Do you want to see my shaved face?"

Dhritarastra agreed.

Shakuni, reliving the moments from the elephant ride, once again placed his palm on the left hand of Dhritarastra and guided it to his face.

"See how there is now a clean shave right here."

"Just like mine?"

And Shakuni smiled and moved Dhritarastra's hands to the clean shaved portion on the chin. He slowly moved Dhritarastra's fingers up until it touched Dhritarastra's lips. Then he guided the hand back to his own chin and slowly up, until the fingers touched his own.

A cold shiver ran down his back and Shakuni opened his mouth and placed Dhritarastra's fingers inside.

Dhritarastra was beyond ecstatic. His brother in law Shakuni was so open that for the sake of his painting, he was giving a full tour of even the inside of his mouth. He thanked his ancestors for sending Shakuni as a brother in law. He counted each and every teeth, making note that there was a difference between the top half and bottom half of Shakuni's upper teeth and lower teeth. He touched Shakuni's tongue and his tonsils.

The door creaked open and a woman's voice softly spoke.

"Arya? Are you here?"

It was Gandhari. Shakuni's eyes opened wide and he looked down at Dhritarastra's fingers in his mouth and Dhritarastra smiling from ear to ear.

He quickly pulled out the fingers and walked out the room winking at Dhritarastra again and again, completely ignoring Gandhari.

But Gandhari, now being able to focus on the other energies of her senses, asked:

"Arya who was that?"

"Oh that was Bratha Shakuni. He came to see my painting and help me painting a better picture of him." Dhritarastra replied.

"Isn't that nice of him. I'm glad you too are getting along so well."

"Me too. He is like the brother I never had. Pandu would never put my fingers in his mouth so I can count his teeth, but Bratha Shakuni sensed my thoughts and willingly placed my fingers in his mouth."

Gandhari raised her eyebrows. That was odd behavior, even for her brother Shakuni. Thinking that Dhritarastra was having an affair so soon, she only looked away and walked outside the chamber.

Dhritarastra sensing his wife had left, resumed his painting. Now he can paint a full body picture of Shakuni and get it accurate to every last detail, especially his ...

Author's note: His teeth. His Teeth.. HIS TEETH!!!!