Author: Mosh Note: You may not archive, re-post, or alter any of my stories without my permission. Please contact me first. Thanks! |
Lifting an eyebrow impassively, Touda folded his arms over his chest. “So you’re leaving soon for your world?” “Tomorrow morning,” said Tsuzuki, sliding his hands into his trouser pockets and staring out over the rooftops. From up there, the Imaginary World empire sprawled out in a maze of tiled roofs, temple towers, and tall outdoor street lamps. “Now Hisoka’s found a shiki, we really should be heading back.” “The boy seemed unsatisfied,” Touda observed. There had been a gleam of defiance in the boy’s remarkable green eyes, and he decided it bore voicing; something about Tsuzuki’s partner didn’t sit well with him. “Do you really think that’s the end of it?” Sighing, Tsuzuki let his shoulders slump. “Probably not, but it’s the best I can do for him for now. Anyway, Riko’s cute! I think he’ll be good for Hisoka.” “I see.” Touda could almost feel Tsuzuki’s side-long glance at him, but he didn’t return it, gazing straight ahead as the distant sun dipped in the sky, blazing towards the horizon. “I’ll miss you.” “You’ll miss Suzaku,” Touda said, his tone cool even as a curl of distaste played at the corners of his mouth, “because she panders to your whims.” “Sure I’ll miss her,” Tsuzuki replied, unfazed. “But I’m not talking about Suzaku right now. I’ll also miss you.” Now Touda flashed him a look. “You don’t bring me out of here often.” It was spoken almost as an agreement with Tsuzuki’s proclamation. “Are you afraid I’ll wreak havoc on the human world?” “That’s not the reason why.” Tsuzuki’s brows lowered in a frown. “It should be,” said Touda, turning to face him. “I would do it. If you bid me.” Laughing nervously, Tsuzuki scratched the back of his neck. “Well, I don’t think you need to go that far. I don’t wish harm on the human world.” “No,” Touda agreed. “You only ask me to wreak havoc on you.” The sky was purpling high above, golden light burning lower and lower; a few stars glittered in the distance. The sun’s decline resonated with Touda, leaving him to linger within the cold darkness of night, every passing moment like a blanket gently shrouding him. Fire was in his blood, after all; he missed its presence in the sky above. Tsuzuki was silent for a few minutes, lowering his gaze to the tiles at his feet. “That…” he finally whispered, then sighed. “I’m doing much better now. Touda, I originally called to you because I knew you wouldn’t hesitate. I knew I could trust you to be impartial in your task.” “Then perhaps you don’t know me as well as you think.” They hadn’t yet spoken of Kyoto, of what Tsuzuki had asked him to do. As Tatsumi’s shadows had wrapped around Tsuzuki and his partner, Touda had known Tsuzuki would live. At that time, he had also known the day would come when they would talk about what’d happened. Touda wasn’t about to lie, not that what he was about to say was any easier. Opening up was not his forte, or something he had a particular interest in, but this was Tsuzuki. His master. “Do you think I wanted to wipe your existence from the universe?” Touda eventually said, in response to Tsuzuki’s questioning look. “I live to serve you.” A breath, to keep his tone level. “You’re the only reason I’m free to walk the Imaginary World as I do.” Tsuzuki blinked at him, his mouth curving up. “Are you saying you care about me, Touda?” There was a shine rising in his eyes, playful and daring. “That’s not what I said,” muttered Touda, not in the mood to be teased. “A masterless shiki such as I would find himself imprisoned again in a heartbeat - old man Tenku wouldn’t know what else to do with me. He hates that I’m free.” “So, why did you do it?” asked Tsuzuki, his smile fading a little. “Are your ears dysfunctional?” Touda shook his head. “Because I live to serve you.” Tsuzuki pondered this for a few minutes, during which time his face fell deadly serious, his mouth pursed to a thin line, his already china-pale skin blanching of any hint of colour. When he met Touda’s face, the skin between his eyebrows was deeply creased with disbelief and hurt. “That was so selfish of me,” he said quietly, voice but a croak. “I didn’t realise the position I put you in. You live to serve me, yet I asked you to… In which case you would’ve been put back where I found you.” Tsuzuki brought his hands up to his face and let out a breathy, humourless laugh. “It seems no matter where I go or what I do, I’m-” “I don’t have the patience to listen to self-pity,” Touda interrupted, taking a step closer. Batting Tsuzuki’s hands away from his face, he tugged firmly on Tsuzuki’s tie as if to underscore his seriousness on the matter. “If you’re saying goodbye before you leave, is this really how you want to do it?” Worrying his lip for a moment, Tsuzuki then let out a long sigh and re-formed his earlier smile. “You can be so mean sometimes, you know that? Picking on me because you have more muscles… So unfair.” Behind his visor, Touda rolled his eyes. “You can do more of that,” he said, gesturing to Tsuzuki’s face. “Huh?” Tsuzuki reached up to check around his mouth. “Do I have something on my - oh. Oh, right. You mean smile.” That smile broadened. “Hey, what about you - will I ever get you to smile back?” “Perhaps when I have something to smile about.” “So stubborn! Just like Tatsumi.” Tsuzuki tutted. “Come on - just a little one?” “If you’re going to pester me, you might as well go and find one of the others.” “Yeah… but I’m finding it difficult leaving here. It’s peaceful on the rooftops. With you. I mean, up here, it’s pretty and quiet. I like watching the sunset.” Tsuzuki cast him a surreptitious glance, the skin above his cheekbones flushing. “I don’t get to see you - or the others - enough.” “You could simply come here more often to visit,” Touda pointed out. “Is that your way of saying you miss me, too?” The bounce was back, Touda noted, almost as if their earlier, much darker discussion had never happened. Touda decided not to push that any further for now. If Tsuzuki wanted to talk about it more, then fine, in his own time. Exasperated, Touda pursed his mouth. He’d never known anyone so desperate for reassurance as Tsuzuki. “Stop twisting everything I say.” “Then, if it’d make you happy, I’ll definitely come here more often.” The smile - the one Touda had requested earlier - was starting to get annoying now. “Don’t put yourself out,” he muttered under his breath. He felt Tsuzuki shifting closer, the fine wool of his black suit brushing against Touda’s bare shoulder. The material was warmed by Tsuzuki’s body beneath, soft unlike the leather garments and metal buckles Touda always wore. “I would do it. If you bid me.” Underlying the linger of cologne, Tsuzuki smelled sweet like the tea Rikugo drank before hitting the library, of lemon and sugar and cream. Touda had turned down a cup once, on one of the rare occasions he had gone into the library for a look around, but he’d never forgotten the scent of it. It wasn’t lost on him that Tsuzuki had echoed his earlier statement, word for word. “I wouldn’t want anyone else to be with me when… at the end, if it came to that.” Tsuzuki was so close Touda could feel hot breath on his jaw. “But I don’t want to leave any more. I realise now it’s okay to feel sad and to be guilty about the past. It’s natural to feel that way. A lot of people do. But not all of them have friends like I do.” “Then I suppose that’s how we are the same, you and I,” said Touda, the words coming out softer than he’d intended. With Tsuzuki so close Touda fancied he could feel the lightest brush of lips on his jaw. He realised he should be stepping away, or better yet - taking flight - but something had him rooted to those tiles, something he couldn’t fight because he didn’t understand it. “We were lost, yet now we both have something to live for.” Tsuzuki hummed, confirming that yes, he had pressed a long, lingering kiss to Touda’s jawbone. Heat bathed the ridge, Tsuzuki’s tongue darting out to lick experimentally. “We have things we want to protect.” A hand slid beneath Touda’s arm, curving around his lower back to settle against his spine. Tsuzuki stepped around him until they were face to face, his lips now ghosting down to Touda’s chin. “I will do my best to protect you as you protect me. It’s the least I can do.” Touda wasn’t sure at which point he had clenched his fists so hard his talon-hand guards had bit through his skin, but he was growing aware of the hot spill of blood, sliding in thin rivulets down his palms, coating his fingers beneath. “You’ve done enough,” he growled, his resolve cracking beneath the heat of Tsuzuki. Wasn’t he, Touda, the serpent of flame and ash, anyway? What was this searing hold Tsuzuki had on him - the bonds Touda couldn’t see but could feel at that moment, pulling him from the inside, tightening all over his innards and straining hard. “Tsuzuki, you’re my master. It’s unwise to blur the lines.” “Maybe, but you’re the only one who knows how it feels to be lost in despair like that.” He didn’t have to elaborate; Touda knew of what he spoke - he would never forget his countless years of imprisonment, or the fact that he was a sinner, that the title was scored into him and could not be washed clear. “I want to be close to you, because I might not see you again for a while.” While Touda knew he should back off, he found himself sliding his arms around Tsuzuki’s waist, the action unintentionally drawing Tsuzuki closer until not even a sword’s blade could pass between them. “You’re so hot, you feel like fire,” Tsuzuki observed, before a wild flush rose across his face. Up close, his eyes seemed to burn purple, part embarrassed and part something much deeper and darker - something Touda wasn’t sure he wanted examine too closely. “So do you.” The epiphany hit Touda, spinning his mind as Tsuzuki leaned in: this man would be his downfall, one way or another. The most shocking thing was that Touda didn’t care, that he was unable to resist or deny Tsuzuki what he wanted. Damn him. “Damn you…” “Heh, too late - already damned.” Tsuzuki spoke against Touda’s mouth, the words shaping movement in his own lips. “But it’s not turning out so bad.” After that, there was no more room or breath for speaking, bar another low hum that played from the back of Tsuzuki’s throat, contented, a little surprised, probably at his own boldness. Although Touda tried to be gentle, the twisting pull deep in his abdomen made him burn with excitement. The arousal struck like a series of thunderbolts that didn’t weaken him but made him feel more powerful. Touda wanted to devour, the urge deep-rooted in him and impossible to temper or ignore. Squeezing Tsuzuki to him, Touda clung not only to the sweet-tea taste of him, but also to his own sense of mind. The moan that rose and repeated in his ears was all too encouraging. Did Tsuzuki have any idea how dangerous it was to awaken this kind of carnal energy? Two powerful beings, pushing each other higher and higher, stretching the precarious shield of self-control scarily thin. Touda had only ever wanted freedom, but he hadn’t been expecting the form in which it came to him, all those years ago. When he’d longed for death, he had instead been found by Tsuzuki. Now, standing on the rooftops, Tsuzuki tasted of freedom, reminded him of that moment he’d broken the chains binding Touda, during his darkest, coldest days locked within the bowls of the palace. There were hints of that freedom lacing Tsuzuki’s curious mouth as he pressed harder into the kiss, more hints on his tongue, that he licked against Touda’s in an almost obscene thrust. Although some might argue in serving Tsuzuki he was not free, Touda had never felt so liberated. ‘I can’t… I have to - just a little!’ Settling his canines at the fleshy curve of Tsuzuki’s lower lip, Touda bit down, at first carefully but then a little harder. The body in his arms bucked against him and another, much more soulful groan burst from Tsuzuki’s throat. The first coppery tang of blood on his tongue sent a violent shiver through Touda. The pulsing fire beneath that flavour seemed connected to every inch of him; he was barely able to hold on. Hands fisted at Touda’s back, Tsuzuki moved against him, urging him harder and harder until he thought he would explode with arousal. The firm rise of Tsuzuki’s cock strained in a vivid, thick line against his own. For every rough, aching thrust of Tsuzuki’s hips, Touda matched it, taking and giving friction, but always needing more. With a swift nip to Tsuzuki’s lip, he reopened the cut and flicked his tongue out once again to catch a couple of drops of rich, lively blood. The hiss of pain he heard was not one that signalled to stop. Touda knew he should have never let things go this far, but he was helpless to stop it, not when he was so close, almost in reaching distance of release. A sudden tensing of Tsuzuki’s body against his, mixed with a choked gasp into his mouth indicated Tsuzuki had let go. Touda could only hold him as he rode it out, as his master sagged slightly in his arms. “Hnn… feels so good,” Tsuzuki murmured, breathing sharp and uneven. He pressed his face to Touda’s shoulder and pursed his lips there to kiss the skin, a lazy gesture, but one that tipped the scales within Touda, who came with Tsuzuki’s name in his head and in his mouth, a plea and a thank you and a curse all at the same time. Hot spurts of come coated his cock and balls and abdomen within his leathers, each one wrenching aching pleasure from him, setting his body alight with sensation. At that moment, Touda didn’t even care about the mess or how undignified it was to orgasm so suddenly and openly on himself while hissing out his master’s name like it was the last thing he’d ever say. He feared the only thing keeping him from tearing Tsuzuki apart and consuming him was the protective visor that’d been installed on him years ago. When the euphoric shivers had all but subsided, Touda became aware how dark it was now, the sun having climbed down from the sky to immerse them in cool dusk. For probably the first time ever, Touda didn’t feel cold or so startlingly distant from the sun’s glow. “Are you all right?” Tsuzuki’s voice floated up, muffled by leather; he had buried his face against Touda’s neck. “Are you?” If only he didn’t sound so ragged. Touda slowly released his hold, letting Tsuzuki go and pulling back a little way to assess the damage. Tsuzuki’s mouth was red where Touda had bitten it and drawn blood, his skin flushed and damp with sweat, eyes unfocused and a dark, fathomless purple in the faded light. “I feel great,” Tsuzuki said, then smiled one of his genuine, if groggy, smiles. Then he added more sheepishly, “Er, though I have to go wash. Sorry, this isn’t really an ideal place to… well.” Yes, the weight of what had just happened was lowering onto him; Touda watched the embarrassment settle on Tsuzuki’s face, saw how hard he refrained from curling into a ball. To his credit, he kept himself together. “I lost control.” “You aren’t the only one.” The taste of Tsuzuki’s blood lingered in his system. Touda wondered if it would ever leave, didn’t really want it to. “I drew blood - I apologise.” “Oh, no, don’t.” Tsuzuki reached up and rubbed at the red mark on his lower lip. “It doesn’t hurt - it’s nothing to worry about.” Looking away to the distance, Tsuzuki then added, “We don’t have to worry about each other any more, okay?” “Can you make that promise?” Touda asked, breathing in the enduring scent of their sex rising from them both. “I can try.” Turning on his heel in the direction he’d arrived, Tsuzuki touched Touda’s arm quickly. “Is that okay?” Touda watched his face closely for a minute, finally able to let out a soft huff. “That’s good enough for me. Have a careful journey back.” “I will see you soon, Touda. Count on it.” Listening to the sound of Tsuzuki’s footsteps retreating over the roof tiles, Touda closed his eyes behind his visor, blocking out the approaching night - the stars above and street lanterns below - and seized the warmth in his blood, the resonance of the sun and Tsuzuki’s body, resolved never to waste a moment of that freedom. It was the least he could do. ~Fin~ |
Email | Post a comment on this story | Back to index | Back to Top |