006 // video

[fox_shuuichi]

[When the feed comes on, it's not Kurama on the screen - instead, it's a servant, and she fiddles with the device for a bit until stepping away and revealing Kurama, seated at a low table in his room. She bends to murmur something in his ear, and he nods

Comments

[video]

[punk_emperor]

[Kanji hasn't heard any rumors because he's been kind of...avoiding everything since he managed to--uh. yeah. That. So he only sees his friend hurt and righteous protective anger surges up.]

Who the hell hit you? I'll give 'em a matching one!

[But that aside, it's finally enough to go and check on Kurama. So even though Kurama can't see it, he might be able to hear geta clacking as Kanji heads out the door.]

[action]

[punk_emperor]

[The wiping of his tears is actually what pushes him over into really crying. He leans in, hugging Kurama hard, and cries into his shoulder.]

'm sorry that... 'm sorry you had to--

[Then he cries for a while, unable to say anything more. When it eases, he speaks again, shakily at first, then a little stronger, with his own measure of guilt.]

Told you I was kidnapped... Serial murderer, he-- We were thrown into the other world to get killed by the shadows. I got rescued, most of us did, but--

Nanako-chan appeared on the Midnight Channel--a-all we knew then was that it showed people who would get kidnapped--and we saw this guy throw her in and go after. She was seven. We got her out but she... she died in the hospital and he was there. Namatame. We-- we were gonna kill him. We thought he was the murderer, that the police could never convict him 'cause of the other world. He admitted he'd put us all in. We--

[A harsh breath.] If senpai hadn't got us to stop and think we would have killed... a dupe. The real killer had been using

[action]

[fox_shuuichi]

[The sudden movement, unseen, startles Kurama, but he recovers quickly, holding Kanji to him, even as he listens to the story.

And when Kanji is through, Kurama still doesn't let go, but tucks his head gently into the curve of Kanji's neck and shoulder, and just...breathes, for a long moment. He forgets, sometimes, just how much human contact means.

When he finally speaks, it's soft and halting, muffled slightly where he's hidden his face.]

Thank you. I don't... I can't remember the last time someone cried for me.

[action]

[punk_emperor]

[Kanji just hugs tighter, awkwardly petting Kurama's hair in a gesture he hopes is soothing. He wishes so hard he could help more, but this is all he can manage. It hurts to think of Kurama forced to kill by some bastard.]

Th--that bastard is the real murderer. He just made you and that kid his dupes.

[He's not using the word entirely correctly for what he really wants to say, but he's trying.]

[action]

[fox_shuuichi]

[It helps. It helps more than Kurama could possibly say, and he's content to tuck his head a little more firmly against Kanji's neck for now.]

He - yes. Sensui was...hard on all of us. He made us all face parts of ourselves we would...rather have never seen.

He...killed a member of our team. And although his latent demon blood awoke and saved him, I still...remember that feeling of loss. That sense that - that some part of me had been ripped away. Of an...emptiness, inside.

[action]

[punk_emperor]

We-- It was like that with Nanako-chan. She was-- [He holds back a sob.] We all loved her like a little sister. We were there. We-- We saw.

Then Teddie disappeared. They both... they were both fine in the end but--

[It hurt so much. But it does help, to talk about it like this, even if it's reliving how scared and hurt and angry he was.]

We caught the real killer in the end, and...and stopped Izanami-no-Ookami. She-- We all died. Yosuke-senpai was closer... he got there first, pushed senpai out of the way of her curses. We all did, one by one. I only remember being pulled down and nothing. Then suddenly us all standing there...I don't know how we came back, or how senpai defeated her.

[Part of him feels like this is insensitive, but the rest wants Kurama to know everything. All his secrets, shameful and terrifying and not.]

[action]

[fox_shuuichi]

[He holds Kanji tighter for a moment, shifting one of his hands to card lightly through the short hairs at the nape of Kanji's neck. His senses are already trying to compensate for his loss of sight, and the feel of hair and warm skin against his fingers is comforting in a way he could never hope to explain.]

I - I'm glad I met you, Kanji.

[He says the words softly, into Kanji's skin and the fabric of his clothing.]

It's people like you who...convinced me to stay in the human world. I'd planned to stay only as long as it took me to regain my powers, but then - I saw things. Things like...like love, and friendship, and self-sacrifice. Things that don't exist in the Demon World. And before I knew it, I had started to feel them, too.

[action]

[punk_emperor]

[He starts to relax, shifting to bury his face further in Kurama's shoulder, nuzzling a little with the feeling of comfort that springs up. His hands stroke slowly through Kurama's hair and down his back as he shifts to bring the hug closer--more intimate, but that's not his intent. His voice is rough with all the lingering emotions--the grief, the hurt, the loss, the fear--but they're slowly easing and being replaced by gentle affection and a giddy trickle of joy at being accepted and cared for.]

I'm glad I met you too. Kurama. I'm glad-- Those things are important. Before... I didn't know. I was so scared that I pushed everyone away. I'm glad I could be for you what senpai and the others were for me...

[Just remembering how lonely he was then makes him cling even tighter for a moment.]

[action]

[fox_shuuichi]

[Kurama presses eagerly into the touches - he's always been intensely tactile, even more so now that he's vulnerable and frightened and opening up to someone - and there's warmth and comfort, and Kurama isn't even aware that part of it isn't coming from him.

At least, not until that vein of loneliness sparks through him, and he sucks in a quick breath through his teeth. It's like being dunked into a pool of frigid water, and he curls against Kanji without meaning to, his fingers tightening convulsively in Kanji's hair.]

[action]

[punk_emperor]

[Kanji gives just as eagerly, shifting and opening so that they're closer, wrapped more completely around each other. He's drinking in the contact like a starving man would a sudden feast.

He doesn't even realize the curl is in response to his own loneliness, clutching and pulling even closer until Kurama might as well be in his lap if he isn't already. There's a thread of concern and a want to sooth and comfort. A want to make Kurama smile, to please him--]

[action]

[fox_shuuichi]

[He goes easily into Kanji's lap, taking comfort in strong arms wrapped around him, in the warmth of the body pressed against him and the heartbeat he can feel under the thin skin of Kanji's neck.

And suddenly, he can't help but realize just how similarly built Kanji is to a particular other redhead back home - strong and sturdy and warm - and then Kurama's thinking about the many times Kuwabara has carried him away from battles, cradled him to his chest the way Kanji is doing now, and that's probably bad thing, because Kurama's always sort of had feelings for Kuwabara, and now those feelings are all muddled up in what he's feeling for Kanji.]

[action]

[punk_emperor]

[He isn't really aware of Kurama's feelings leaking into his own, mixing with his own affection and want to please, only that he feels a sudden urge to protect and hold Kurama to his chest and never let go.

He lifts his head slightly, cheek sliding across Kurama's throat. His voice is soft, like if he's too loud something will break.]

...Kurama...

[action]

[fox_shuuichi]

[Kurama makes a soft noise in the back of his throat at the slide of skin on skin, and he takes advantage of the change of position to nuzzle into the dip of soft skin behind Kanji's ear. It's all comforting warmth, the kind that makes Kurama want to melt bonelessly against the body underneath him, shot through with a vague undercurrent of the kind of warmth that makes him shiver slightly when Kanji says his name.]

Mm?

[action]

[punk_emperor]

[The shiver sets off an echo in him. He feels so warm. Safe, wanted. A faint tingle of pleasure hums beneath his skin at the nuzzle, nearly lost in all the warmth. He returns the action, breathing out in a long, low sigh.]

I... I don't know.

Beautiful.

[Whether he means Kurama, or the moment itself or both he couldn't answer even if he wanted to. His fingers flex absently against Kurama's back and hip though he doesn't move other than that.]

[action]

[fox_shuuichi]

[He gives his own, shaky sigh, tipping his head slightly to give Kanji better access, knowing that he's exposing his most vulnerable spots and thrilling in the fact that he can trust someone enough to do so. The motion brushes his lips across Kanji's ear, and it seems like the most natural thing in the world to lean in and draw the lobe between his lips, touching it gently with his tongue.

Kanji's words make him hum absently, softly, and the soft flex of fingers against him make him shift and turn the hum a little breathier. The hand that's not tangled in Kanji's hair slides across his chest and slips under fabric, just for more of that warmth that comes from skin against skin.]

[action]

[punk_emperor]

[His heart is suddenly tripping over itself in his chest with something that's like excitement but...not quite. It's--Kanji doesn't have a word for it, almost hypnotized by the slow touches and how natural it feels. His lobe is a little sore--the hoop recently moved from a different spot to keep the holes from closing fully--and his breath shudders out as Kurama's mouth simultaneously antagonizes and soothes. The shuddering breath morphs into an open-mouthed kiss against the dip there with only instinct to guide it. What experience gained last time is lost in that haze of unbridled desire. This is different, slow, soft, intimate in completely different ways.

He shifts again, open and trusting, to let Kurama touch where he will as his own hands move in a slow, dazed exploration, mapping by touch.]