Fic: A Midsummer Night's Dream (for Nikolita)
Title: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Rating: M
By: hisoka44
Summary: Some things stay the same, no matter which world he's in.
Notes: I really did try to stay with the original prompt. *shifty eyes* A big, heartfelt 'Gomen nasai!' to Nikolita if that's not quite what you imagined...
Oh, and CC&C is really, really welcome!
Merry Christmas/Yuletide/Hanukah/etc. to everyone!
A Midsummer Night's Dream
"If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here,
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding than a dream."
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act V Scene 1, l.410-15
by William Shakespeare
"Ha ha! Now who won?!" a scruffy-looking man crowed in drunken triumph.
"Yes, yes, you did," his less-inebriated companions chorused.
"Honestly, who'd have thought you'd have left enough braincells to win at hanafuda after the amount of alcohol you consumed?"
"Waaah... Seiran... So meeeaaaaan....." The clearly drunk Ensei was ready to burst into tears.
"And after I shared that delicious Sake with all of you! It was special. And rare and expensive, too. Did I mention 'special'?"
"Maa maa..." a less intoxicated Ran Shuuei tried to intervene. "It's not all bad, right? He won, and we didn't even have to pay anything. Plus, we got these bottles of super-rare special Sake as a bonus, too!"
"Hrmph! I don't see what's so good about besting a couple of lazy-ass drunkards at a children's game!" Li Kouyuu groused, the only one of the group who'd stayed totally sober. "There are more interesting ways to pass the time, you know."
Unnoticed from the green-haired official, a Look passed between the other three individuals. A Look that clearly said 'He does not know what he's talking about!', coupled with 'Why again is he the only one still sober?'... So those three, in their alcohol-assisted, inhibitions-lowered daze decided that something had to be done about that deplorable sober state of their companion.
"Koyuuuuu..." Shuuei slung an arm over his companion's shoulder. "Let's drink those bottles together!"
Ensei and Seiran nodded. What a splendid idea! As it was still pretty early in the evening, there'd be more than enough time for that, right? Right.
Despite their friend's protests, the three of them managed to drag, pull and draw the reluctant Li Koyuu to Ran Shuuei's home. Between the three of them, it was the closest to the Kougarou anyway.
"No, I don't think this is a good idea," Koyuu tried to protest. "And what about Shuurei? Do you really want to leave her alone...?
Nope, not even this usually effective last-ditch effort could save the green-ahireed male from his inevitable fate. He was dragged into the main-room, sat down and relieved of his shoes. ("Now you'll have to stay," Shuuei explained. "Mhm," Ensei added. "No running about without shoes!" Seiran, still at the door, just nodded in agreement.)
".....wait! WAIT! I said." A shoeless Koyuu struggled against the two men sort-of holding him prisoner. "Those are not my shoes...!!"
"And although your argument is appreciated, it is one problem easily rectified," the dark-haired master of the house said, blithely ignoring his friend's squirming. With a pull on a bell-rope, he called a servant, ordering them to bring one of the bottles to the estate of one Kou Shuurei-sama, with compliments of her friends and apologies for their future tardy return.
The servant, long-used to such seemingly non-sensical messages from their master, simply bowed and speedily departed. No, he did not want to be caught even in the vicinity of this latest escapade! The last one had been bad enough. He was just luck this time...
It was a dark and stormy night... Well, not really, since it was only late afternoon - or early evening, whichever you prefer. Such as it was, Friday afternoons are really a terrible time to spend alone. Especially ones like this one promised to be. The heat had been stifling and oppressive all week long, making everyone desperate for relief and praying daily for a cleansing storm. Personally, I would welcome the rain that came with such a weather - if only it would come without the accompanying thunder and lightning! Sigh.
Earlier this day I had accompanied father to the Imperial Palace. He'd been most apologetic at having to stay overnight but with the annual revisions drawing nearer, it couldn't be helped. Although there was so much to do, father had declined my offer to help, citing the old adage of 'Not being caught once doesn't mean the same will happen twice.' -huh? I seriously wonder whether he didn't just make that up on the spot, trying to spare me from difficulties...
Not that I can't understand him... The first time I helped out in the Department of Treasury and Taxation, I had been really, really to not be discovered. What the consequences of such an incident would have been. . . No! Better home alone than bring that down on our heads.
So I smiled and bid my father goodbye, handing him the box with manjuu I had prepared. Then I turned around and went to the streets leading to the market. I still needed to buy tomorrow's meals after all. Come to think of it, wasn't there supposed to be a sale on daikon today! Waaah, I can't miss that!
Fortunately, I had managed to get home before the wind started to pick up (- and I had gotten a good price on the daikon with a side of mushrooms as a gift!).
Judging from the way the air feels heavy right now, the wished-for thunderstorm can't be too far off. I shudder to think of being alone during that but alas, it can't be helped as neither Seiran nor Ensei were back from their errands yet. Oh well... At least I managed to be at home when a servant of Ran Shuuei came by. Although, that servant did leave rather quickly after delivering both the message of his master a gift in the form of a bottle of Sake. Hm, maybe there was troubel at Ran-shogun's house...?
Kaa-ZAM!
The clap of thunder was as sudden as it was loud. Apparently the long-awaited thunderstorm had finally arrived... The next thing I knew was standing in the corner of the room, the bottle of Sake clutched so tightly in my hands as to nearly wring ist neck. Sages, but I hatehatehate thunderstorms!
Maybe... A distraction would help for sure! Maybe I would feel better when I was less focused on the alternating play of thunder and lightning...? And less thirsty?
No sooner thought of than done; the bottle lost its cork and the first cup of Sake found its way down my throat. Hm... Really delicious! With our finances, I knew we wouldn't have been able to buy such an obviously expensive brand. And since nobody was here to share it with...
Being alone like this just seems to bring out my moody side, hm? I stood up from the couch I couldn't remember reclining on and walked towards the small window overlooking our garden. Too bad that Seiran wasn't here. He would have enjoyed the drink as well. I think. Although with Seiran, you never know. Not really. He is much more complex than he might appear to be at first glance. He always had been. Ah, I remember the first time I saw him...
And then all the times he cared for me when I was sick as a child. The times when he would comfort me as I cried for my mother. Or when he protected me from-
"Does this sigh mean you were also thinking about me?" whispered a hypnotically soft, deep voice from somewhere left behind me.
No. No...! How absolutely embarrassing! Being caught by the the object of your thoughts!
"Shuurei..."
Noooooooo...
It couldn't be! He was not here right now! N.O.T! Here to see me shivering and scared from a mere thunderstorm. Sadly enough, it was quite a frequent occurence for me in summer !
Seiran...
I didn't know whether shock had frozen me in place or whether Seiran had just used some spell of his. All I was absolutely certain of was that I did not want to turn around and find out. As if I really have a choice!
Maybe this...nightmare would disappear if I simply ignored it? Maybe it was just some weird dream? Some overzealous figment of my imagination trying to lure me into a guilt-trip...?
"You don't honestly believe that, do you, my darling Shuurei...?"
He chuckled, for all outward appearances as amused as a father might be when his child had done something not-quite intelligent but somehow charming nevertheless. To my ears, however, he sounded more like a cat who had caught a mouse and was wondering aloud whether to play with it or eat it right away. From what I knew about him, Seiran was anything but amused right now. He was - please excuse the expression - pissed as hell. I have a baaaad feeling about this...
"As well you should." The sound of footsteps walking closer ever so softly. Seiran had always been able to move like that; a large cat moving silently with all the lethal grace of a born predator. A tiger, for example, was a predator, true. Only... Seiran was more dangerous by far.
"Well, my darling Shuurei... Don't you have anything to say to me...?" His voice had become even lower, purring along the lines of being barely audible. For humans. For me... It couldn't have been any louder if Seiran had just shouted in my ear.
His voice... It sent shivers down my spine...
He must be standing right behind me now. What...was he going to do? And...
Why was I unable to move? Jump up? Just get away? To...turn around? Anything!
"Anything at all...?"
Damn, why did he sound so amused. So...expectant. As if he was waiting for something. But...for what? I didn't think that I wanted to find out. Not really, anyway.
"Hmmm...?" I heard clothes rustling as he bent closer. His lips were almost touching my ear. I could feel him next to me, his breath brushing past my cheek, though we were hardly an inch or two apart. And yet...
Don't go there, I advised myself. I stared resolutely ahead, concentrating on the movie as if it might offer me salvation from this dilemma I was in. Needless to say, I didn't really see anything.
No, I did not want to talk to Seiran. I did not want to see, hear or feel him either. NO WAY!
"...my dear Shuurei?" That- Did he really think that all this was funny! Maybe some kind of amusement just for his benefit! How dare he-
He chuckled darkly again, obviously enjoying himself immensely. At my expense. Undoubtedly he sensed my discomfort, my anger. And my...confusion?
Before I had time to use my steadily increasing anger for something constructive - like fleeing, for example - I heard Seiran walking around the couch. My awareness of his presence rose to a new height, something I would have believed to be impossible mere moments ago.
What the hell am I thinking? My thoughts, my whole mind had suddenly become a confusing jumble of emotions. And take a guess why!
Then Seiran, gentle, sweet and loyal mystery that he was, did something else to throw me completely off the track.
He sat down.
I did not turn my head. I. Did. Not. Want. To. Look. At. Him!
Seiran snaked an arm around my shoulders, pulling my traitorous, shaking body against his, our hips barely touching through the cloth.
He chuckled. Yes, he was definitely taking great pleasure in comforting me in this situation. I was almost afraid of what that changed Seiran would do next. For once, I would hope to be disappointed. Unfortunately-
"So...my Shuurei..."
It couldn't get worse, right?
"...whatever shall we be doing to pass tonight?"
Cue in thunder rumbling in the distance, complete with flashes of lightning alternatively illuminating the room and leaving it in near-darkness.
He couldn't be serious. . . . . Could he...?
I tried to pull away, to put some distance between myself and...him. Instantly, Seiran's arm around my shoulders tensed. Refusing to let go of me, he instead tightened his grip and, bending even closer, whispered silkily: "You won't get away this easily, Shuurei. . . ."
Damn! Even without having to look, I knew, I absolutely knew Seiran was smirking. It was both like and unlike him. Really, what had gotten into Seiran tonight? He was certainly not acting like he usually did in any way, shape or form! A rather infuriating smirk spread across his face. He knew he had me at a...disadvantage - and was aware of me knowing that. And being powerless to stop him.
". . . not this time. I missed you more than words can say, my princess. My other half..."
I was quite angry by now. Surely Seiran was aware of my helpless rage - not that it seemed to matter to him in the slightest. At least not enough to deter him from whatever he had planned. Why...? Why didn't he pull away and Finally. Leave. Me. Alone!
"My Shuurei. . ." He bent closer still and-
"Ouch! What did you do that for!" I Instinctively whirled around and away from him, facing him. Undoubtedly this was what he had intended but... Why in hell had he bitten me? And...in my ear no less!
Seiran must have seen my chagrin, my confusion. Seen and enjoyed it. He chuckled softly, darkly, for once not quite menacing. I couldn't help but shiver. His voice, especially his laughter, had always had that effect on me... Rich, deep and slightly husky. Making me tingle all over, shivering partly in...discomfort? and partly in...anticipation?
Then I looked. Really Looked at him.
If I hadn't, somewhere in a deeply buried part of myself - could...could I believe it is my heart! - known and somehow...felt that this couldn't be anyone but Seiran, I barely would have recognized him. He was still tall and stately as ever but. . . He had...changed. His appearance really was somehow different - although his demeanor had most certainly remained his former patient, smiling and quiet self. Now, though, it seemed tinged with an edge of...darkness, of secrets come to the fore.
Even before the incident with Sha Sakujun, Seiran had been beautiful, much as I hate to admit it, but now. . . . Now, the darkness interspersed with bouts of thunder and bolts of lightning, now he was stunningly so, masculinely handsome, his beauty heightened to the point of- Don't. Go. There!, I admonished myself. Instead I continued to gaze at him. Seiran, in turn, simply did...nothing. He just remained where he was, smile-smirking at me in that particular way only he could manage.
His hair, once an orderly mass of soft, half-bound locks, had become a wavy, luxurious mane of lilac-colored silk. Absentmindedly I wondered whether it was as soft and silky as it looked. Following the line of his hair upward, I idly noticed that his hairstyle looked...different somehow. Wouldn't the rest of his body also be...? -Wait a moment! What am I thinking!
I stopped then and there. This was about as far as I wanted to...see him.
Seiran moved. Only minutely so, true, but even this small movement jerked me out of my Seiran-induced trance and back to reality. Then, instinctively, I looked at him, right in his face. And then, as if my situation wasn't bad enough, I couldn't but look in his eyes. Great! Just the thing I had wanted to avoid the most. . . .
His eyes had never been so compelling before, dark sapphire pools of radiance, drawing his victim's mind down their wine-coloured depths to where he wanted you to be.
But now... Now they were no less compelling, no, quite the contrary. They were positively mesmerizing. Having turned a brighter, shining green-blue color, they were no less burning, no less intense, their bright fire was... A predator's gaze.
Once someone was ensnared by that hypnotizing gaze of his, his victim was held - and held fast! - until Seiran deemed it fit to release him.
And now - Seiran had caught me.
I looked at him, somehow registering each and every tiny detail about him: from his light-blue coat to that single strand of silken lilac that gently fell on his left cheek, but-
- I was unable to look away! What kind of spell had he worked on me!
"None, my darling Shuurei." Seiran's smile widened a bit. "Yet. . ."
Had I, at this very moment, still had some semblance of control over my body, I would have drawn back, no, run, fled in the opposite direction. However, with Seiran's...'magic' working like that, I had no choice at all but to remain where I was: on the bed-couch in my office - next to me the one person I had fervently hoped to not have to be around with; not after those dreams that recurred with increasing frequency these days.
"Shuurei... I'm hurt," Seiran mock-pouted. "Is that any way to greet a lover who has come so far just to see you?" He reached out.
I flinched. Before, it really was always 'just to see' with him. Before. Not certain what to expect from him but aware he would do somethng, Seiran surprised me yet again. His hand just brushed my temple, trailed gently down my cheek and, upon reaching my jaw, Seiran's hand turned around and tightened its grip.
And still I couldn't look away. . . .
"...After I have come such a long, long way?"
I was beginning to lose my focus, was beginning to lose myself in those infinite, endless pools of shining, green-blue radiance. I was beginning to drown. . . .
Help...
He drew nearer until our faces were only some mere, feeble inches apart.
"My Shuurei. . . ."
Someone... Help me... I could feel his breath ghosting over my face, caressing my features as a lover might do.
Why...? Why couldn't I look away...!
And yet I had no choice. No choice at all. Helplessly pinned by his gaze, I watched him draw closer and closer, not even noticing his other hand coming up to rest on my shoulder.
When our lips were almost about to touch, he whispered softly: "...Ai shiteru..."
...I was speechless. This was something I'd never ever have expected him to say.
He can't be serious! . . . . . . . Or... Can he...?
Still struggling with that 'shocking' revelation of his, I opened my mouth to reply, to give voice to my disbelief in and of his statement - a move that, apparently, had been anticipated. Seiran swooped down, capturing my lips in a fierce, possessive kiss, pressing his mouth harshly on mine.
Shocked to the very core of my being, I instinctively tried to pull away from him. 'Tried to' was the right expression - for when Seiran felt my reaction, he growled deep in his throat and tightened his grip on my shoulder. Cupping the nape of my neck with his other hand, he forcefully pulled me closer against him still. All the while he continued that mind-numbing kiss, simply ignoring my rather pathetic struggles to break free.
In the back of my mind, deep, deep down in my consciousness, I somehow just knew that Seiran wouldn't accept any struggling, only surrender. I was half-afraid of what other...things might still be in the coming. Lifting my hands I set them against Seiran's broad, well-muscled chest, trying to push him away. I could as soon have tried to move a mountain for all the success my efforts showed.
I tried to mumble a protest. That was - as I almost immediately realized - a big mistake. As soon as I opened my mouth, Seiran's tongue swept inside, easily overriding my startled dissent, once again claiming dominance.
The initial urgency of his kiss was, to my great surprise, matched by my own. What had my childhood protector, my confidant, my-NO! What had he done to me that made me react like that? What kind of spell had Seiran used to ignite that...fire, this burning sensation in me? Wasn't he just a faithful retainer, like he'd always been? The orphan my father and mother had resucued from an early and icy grave? And yet... Here I was, reacting to him exactly like I had so recently dreamed to do...
"Ojou-sama... No, Shuurei. My darling, my beloved Shuurei..." Seiran's voice was dark and deep, hypnotizingly seductive in its sultry purr. Somehow, he managed to make me open my mouth to him, accepting the warmth of his tongue with almost grateful delight. Was I slowly loosing my mind? Or... A horrifying thought struck me. Had I really...developed...such feelings for him? And since when had that happened? Before I could ponder that any furter, his tongue engaged mine in a torrid, almost violent duel for dominance. Guess who lost...
Seiran's other hand had, by now, moved from my neck and come to rest on my thigh as well, my resistance somehow, miraculously, becoming nearly non-existent as our kiss continued. His groan of excited pleasure was echoed by one from somewhere deep, deep within me. That groan lengthened and intensified when his hand crept downward and started to almost-burn a bright, hot trail beneath my shirt from thigh to waist. When his hand travelled onward and encountered the soft curve of my breast, Seiran pinched and rolled its nipple roughly, turning it into an aching, hard nub of flesh. Forgetting for the moment who exactly was laying siege to me, I arched upward into his caress.
"I'm sorry, ojou-sama," Seiran murmured softly, his hot breath carressing the shell of my ear. "I'm sorry... I can no longer resist... I... I need you." He started kissing down the column of my throat, teasing little nips that left me aching, wanting for him to place his mouth on...other parts of my anatomy. Had Seiran chosen to do so, he would have been able to charm people using only his voice. I, sadly enough, was no exception, had no immunity from him - however much I would wish otherwise. Oh, what would my father have say, if he could see me right now! Maybe working for Kochou-neesan in the Kougarou hadn't been such a good idea after all? After all, there I had heard how-
"Seiran... Stop. We...can't..." Can't we?
He looked down at me, his face wry for once. "I, for one, would rather not talk about it right now, if that's what you mean. But I'll certainly agree to discuss it with you at a later date."
What-? Now of all times he's being formal!? "I see," I said coldly, inexplicably feeling hurt.
"No, I don't think you do, Shuurei-san," Seiran drawled. "And I can't explain it, not now, not like this." He moved his larger frame against mine, closing his eyes, sliding his mouth against my throat, whispering thickly, "I'm too excited. I've stopped to talk, but I can't stop forever, not when
I want you this much."
"I can't let you make love to me, Seiran!"
"Yes, you can..." Seiran's mouth closed over mine in a deep, drugging kiss, and I stupidly let him, because, secretly, I really loved the feel of his mouth, his body, his hands.
The fire rushed between us suddenly, making us both stir and moan with excitement, and...
Trouble was, that by now, I really was starting to believe him. I knew, I absolutely knew that come next morning, I would hate myself and quite thoroughly, too, for having given in to temptation so easily and readily but now... Right now... I hate to admit it, but... I don't think I could have cared less. Somehow, I realized that he had always been able to do...that to and with me, even though he'd never done it before.
Seiran withdrew his tongue from the ravaged cavern of my mouth to trail its tip along my jaw. Shuddering slightly, I felt a thousand fires flame within me even as tiny shivers crept along my spine. I didn't know whether this happened because of what he was doing to me - or because of what I knew he was going to do to me. As his tongue laved against my ear, he sucked the lobe and nibbled it - roughly. I yelped, instinctively trying to escape that small pain. No such luck, however, as the one who was still our family's retainer but also so much more, to us, to me, still remained lodged on top of me. And - I actually blushed upon that discovery - quite adamantly so.
With Seiran still lying mostly on top of me and him being the heavier one of the two of us, all I could do was tilt my head away. Instantly I realized that I really, really shouldn't have done that. Why? Well...
"Mmmhmm... Shuurei..."
I forgot that this action on my part would only allow him better access to my neck. Only in hindsight did I remember that he had always had a special 'thing' for my neck. Seiran, being the closet opportunistic hedonist that he was, used this opening immediately of course. The movement brought his pelvis hard against mine, giving further evidence of his arousal. I wonder if he noticed that I was as...ready as he was... Knowing Seiran, that surely was the case - but whether or when he would decide to do something about it or if he would do anything about it at all. . . . . I shuddered at the prospects of what my mind insisted on telling me was yet to come. Why...? Why was I so weak...? Why wasn't I strong enough to...push him away? To refuse him? Why did I allow him to continue like this!
"Because you know that we belong together. We always have. And we always will..." And with that, Seiran decisively moved to my neck, darting out his tongue to rasp over the main artery there. I squirmed, trying to push him off or at least get him away from there. I really, really did not want him there. ...Yet.
-Wait a moment. . . Where had THAT come from... !
I struggled to get away - at least as far as I could. Or, to be more truthful, as far as Seiran would let me. This, as I should have guessed, was naturally just another turn-on for him. I grasped a handful of his wonderful lilac-silken mane and tried to physically drag his head back to my mouth. The idea of the lesser of two evils-Oh hell! Who am I kidding!
Seiran complied, smirking somewhat smugly. Did I ever mention that I...hate that particular brand of male smugness? As if he was any less eager, any less...horny than me!
"Why, Shuurei... I never thought you would be so...eager." That...tease! How does he do it? How does he know so unerringly where and how to push and where to pull. Bastard!
Seiran's first kiss was hungry, ravenous, maybe even primal in its consuming urgency. The second was both different and similar. I felt a...need suffusing the air. Was it his? Or... Was it mine? All I knew at this moment was that suddenly, surprising to myself, I was caught up in this strange...mood. Or whatever 'this' was.
Although I would never ever tell Seiran, right now, I wanted him with a passion that surely matched his own. I wanted him as I had wanted him...since when? I honestly couldn't recall when my fascination with him had begun. (Not that I cared right now. Not particularly, anyway.) Just as surely and as much as I craved sustenance or...what? What exactly was I really after?
Surely all those passion-filled dreams, those nights spant wide awake and-wanting that indescribable something that seemed just out of reach... What exactly was it that I was looking for to find with him? Seemingly endless trysts, the companionable afterglow of two lovers...was that what I was looking for? Or...maybe...?
With a somewhat sinking feeling I realized that Seiran might, just might have a point there. Yes, and there, too. The knowledge made my head swim. Then the last vestiges of rational sanity reared their head. I didn't think of him that way, right? This - whatever 'this' was - could not be true!
'Then why do you keep on letting him do things like that?', a treacherous tiny voice whispered in my mind, just as my tongue reached out to touch Seiran's in another passionate duel for dominance. I could feel the smooth enamel of Seiran's canines as he grinned. Then he moved.
All sense of rational thought fled from me. One moment I was vaguely aware of thinking that surely my legs would buckle beneath me any second now - only to discover that I was already lying beneath Seiran's sensual, aroused, male body. He always had had this talent of...making me feel like...like...I was...flying. . .
Gods, why does this always happen to me...? I wailed silently. Seiran, for once, didn't bother to answer. ...He was occupied differently right now. His hands peeled or, rather, ripped the [SHIRT] off my chest, too impatient to bother with all those tiny, encumbering [BUTTONS/LACES/ ??]. And before the slight breeze from the half-open window could chill my skin, Seiran was raining heated kisses and tiny, erotic nips and bites over it.
Needless to say I was way too far gone by this point to pay attention or even care about such absolutely irrelevant things like office windows, food or anything else. My fingers combed his hair with wilful abandon, my body trembling from his touch as time and again he returned to the depths of my mouth to re-establish his claim. And, shameful as it is for me to admit it, I wanted to provide him with as much pleasure as he gave me with such apparent ease. So...for starters, I ripped up his shirt in return.
Seiran chuckled but before he could utter any more of his witty repartees, I nipped and laved at his shoulder - intending only to take revenge on him, of course. Instead, I found myself gaining unimaginably sensual delights from the muscular strength I discovered.
"Aaaah. . . . . Shuu...rei. . ." Seiran's voice was only a raspy, seductive purr now.
The sheer intensity of my need for him stunned me. I surely had never known such an aching, desperate...want before. . . Dimly, I was aware of the sound of ripping fabric as Seiran feverishly tore away the shredded remains of my [SHIRT] to taste more of my naked flesh.
I felt a shudder of desire rip through me as Seiran's hands slipped beneath my upper body, kneading and massaging the soft mounds of my breasts, leaving them swollen, and full, and aching, sending my nerves on fire along the way.
Seiran, however, wasn't satisfied with simply removing my shirt alone. After he had kissed and teased my neck some more - and undoubtedly given my the hickey of my life - he lowered me back onto the bed again. The he straddled me. And looked at me. Just looked. What was he thinking...?
I must have made some minute movement, because the next thing I knew was Seiran standing up again. Mewling in protest, already half-lost in that haze he had brought me into, I reached out for him. I wanted to feel him again, to have him pressed against me, to have me-
Seiran chuckled. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he must have plucked the image of what I wanted him to do to, no, to do with me from the surface of my mind because he suddenly smirked even more...seductively than before. "Why, my darling Shuurei... I never knew you to be so...eager, so...creative... But if you really want to..."
And with an inhumanly swift move, my retainer-turned-lover seized what was left of my clothing and ripped it off, not caring where bits and pieces of cloth might fall or what would happen to the fabric afterwards. This of course yanked me against his broad chest where I was enfolded in two strong, muscular arms. I was too dazed to mount much of a resistance, and what I did was more for show and decorum than anything else. Seiran knew it as well as I did which he proved by avidly, hungrily kissing me once more.
By the time he propelled me backwards onto the couch again, I was rather unsuccessfully trying to convince myself that it was only a lack of oxygen and willpower that hindered me from moving away. All I could do was lay where he had put me and watch him divest himself of the rather rumpled garments he still wore. And then I saw how far the change I had perceived in him earlier really went.
Before I could do more than blink at him once or twice, Seiran was moving towards me again. He was looking at me as if he wanted me to want what I was seeing. As if he wanted to show me that...what? He was beautiful? I already knew that. That he wanted me as much as I wanted him? That, too, I had been forced to admit already. What then was he trying to tell me with his eyes? That he literally came back for me? That he always would...? I didn't know whether to be frightened or elated at that. In fact, I didn't know anything anymore.
As he seductively crawled all over me, Seiran bent his head and, after nipping softly at my earlobe, whispered, "Shuurei... You think too much." Lick. "You..." Kiss. "...should..." Nip. "...really..." Kiss. "...just." Nip. "...feel." Bite!
The throaty groan that broke the silence of the room could not have come from me. Just as the soft, mewling sounds following could not be mine. And it could not be me who started to writhe under Seiran as the older male began his devilish ministrations like a sculptor carving a statue from a block of marble.
"...oh, Shuurei... When will you...finally stop lying...to yourself...?" Seiran's voice was astonishingly patient, yet amused as always. And still he was continuing to drive me crazy with his hands roaming all over my body in ways that would make even Ran Shuuei light up like a red lighthouse-beacon.
"...when...Aaaaah!...yoooouu...take me...seriously," I managed to gasp out between his twirling my nipples into pebbles and his stroking my [SECRET PLACE] so expertly, so just-before-the-edge it was a pain-filled hurt. But oh-the promise of the pleasure to follow that-
A momentary lapse in movement made me look up at him. Seiran watched me in a cat-ate-the-canary-and-polished-off-the-cream way. His smile was really, really starting to scare me...
"Oh...but I do intend to take you seriously!" He mock-assured me before simultaneously squeezing my clitoris and thrusting two fingers into a wet ring of muscle that was unused to such a treatment.
I did the only thing I could. I screamed.
And I screamed even louder as Seiran started to move his fingers around, searching for...something. Unable to escape from his fingers, his wandering mouth or his waves of lilac silk slithering over my heated body, I writhed and bucked under him as Seiran added a third finger, widening and stretching what was already warm, wet and rather obviously welcoming. At the same time he was again and again rubbing over the spot that made me see the sun even in the middle of the night. He did not allow me release, however, near though it was.
When he withdrew his fingers, I keened in loss of the sensation, grasping blindly for completion. Seiran quieted me swiftly by sealing my mouth with his, at the same time lifting my trembling legs over his shoulders, positioning his cock at my waiting entrance. I whimpered mindlessly, too eager for fulfilment to care for anything beyond him and now, all but begging him to finally take me.
And take me he did.
With one strong push, Seiran seated himself within me, filling me as only he and no-one else ever could. Then he started to move, slowly driving his erection in and out of the tight sheath that was my ass. And with each thrust home, Seiran brushed and hit against my pleasure-spot until I saw stars, felt a monumental wave of... something dawning on the horizon of my awareness.
I arched up against him, levering myself on his shoulder. "Seeeeii.........raaaaann..."
While he continued to move and I continued to writhe, both of us caught in heated passion not felt for all too long a time, Seiran's lips had meandered from ravishing my pliant mouth to nipping at my neck. And when I wantonly pressed up against him, all but yielding myself to his dominance, his teeth clamped down on the delicate skin over my aorta, not breaking skin but somehow adding the kind of erotic pain that wasn't really pain at all - only a heightening of pleasure. He immediately started worrying that patch of skin, each bite of his teeth sending ever-increasing thrills of pleasure surging through my veins, all the while keeping up his relentless, pounding rhythm.
The dual sensation of Seiran sucking at my neck and driving his cock in and out of me were to much for me to bear any longer. With a long, shuddering wail I came hard and fast, Seiran following soon after me. This was a release I had not known that I craved until I had savoured it.
Afterwards, we just lay there for a while, resting, recuperating from something I lack the words to describe in its entire complexity. Seiran had enfolded me in his arms once more, gently cradling my yielding limbs against his larger frame, for once content to just...relax, drift slowly off into sleep. As for me...
...I was in heaven for I was complete once more.
Epilogue
It is often that you are woken from sleep by someone leaving your side. Strangely enough, this was not what had roused me today. But... Then what had?
As I sat up, I simultaneously noticed several things. The shades were still drawn, closed so as to not allow any rays of the sun to reach me. There was someone coming up the hallway to the room I was in, someone chirpy, chipper and loud, to be precise. And, wonder of wonders, I was fully clothed. I blinked at that discovery. Last night...Seiran...and... Blushing at some particularly...graphic images didn't really help here, either. Hadn't I...?
I distinctly remember falling asleep in my lo-Seiran's arms. But if that was true then... This lead my mind to the most important observation I must subconsciously have refused to make.
There was no Seiran in this room! Not even a tiny sign! No smiling, patient protector hidden in the shadows. None. Nothing.
Now I was really confused. Confused, yes, but not surprised. Not really. He simply was like that. There today and gone tomorrow. ...Yeah, I wish! Chuckling wearily to myself, I stood up, heading for my desk and the comfortable chair behind it. This was what I was needing right now. That is, apart from-No, I would NOT contemplate that!
Once I was sitting in said seating accommodation, I was for once actually grateful for the fast healing capacities my age entailed. Otherwise, sitting in or on anything would have been very, very uncomfortable for the time being. I decided not to go looking who or what was trampling towards my room. Yes, I was feeling too lazy for that.
'- or too...satiated maybe...?' a traitorous, tiny voice whispered, rising from my subconscious. Quelling it and stuffing it back where it had risen from, I argued that if this really were trouble, I would not have to look for it. Trouble always seemed to be looking for me, instead. And I was more than fit to deal with it.
Anyway, I felt a bit... disappointed that Seiran had left. Especially after a night like the last one. So... Why did he leave again? Leave...me? I refuse to believe that he had simply given up. Not his style. Not if Seiran knew what was good for him.
Blink. Blink. Now where had that come from? Masaka... Don't tell me I was giving in, starting to get used to-
WHAM!
With a disruptively loud bang, the door to my room flew open. For lack of a better weapon, I had a heavy tome on agricultural studies in the Sha-province in my hands, ready to throw - only to face a rather shocked Ran Ryuuren in the doorway, a somewhat hung-over Ensei slightly to his left. Seiran looked a bit...'suffering' as well but was able to hide it better, standing behind them.
"You know, trying to surprise someone by kicking down their door could get you severely injured. It's not a very healthy thing to do in the long run." Sighing, I put the book down again, leaning back into the comfort of...my chair. Blink. What had I expected?
"Speaking of healthy..." Ensei mused as he walked around his two companions. "...how did you like that bottle of Sake I sent you... hime-chan?" And with that, tried to sit on my desk, missed it by miles and tumbled to the floor. "Owwww...!"
"Soul-friend No. 1, your friend seems unwell." Ryuuren peered interestedly at a pouting Ensei, the scruffy male rubbing his abused posterior.
"Hm... I do wonder why..." Seiran added, for some reason glaring at the prone form of his friend. "After all, it's not as if he got...drunk last night, is it?"
Uh-oh... I hadn't seen Seiran smile this saccharinely sweet very often but whenever he did, it didn't bode well for the other parties involved. What had Ensei done now?!
"Ah... So that is the reason soul-friend no.1's friend is looking as if he-"
"Maa, maa... It has been somewhat...quiet without you guys around," I interrupted, looking them in the eyes. "Ryuuren, you know it's...lonely and so... boringly calm when you are not here." I was fighting down a blush that I knew only wanted to confirm the lie I had just uttered. Calm... Lonely... Boring... Hah! As if!
"Ryuuren-san!" Ensei admonished, all indignant and pouting at Ryuuren's conversation with me. Shouldn't he be used to that by now? But then again, he oftentimes still acting very much the child he once might have been. Part of his charm, I guess. "That is not the proper way for a home-coming to be!"
"Oh?" A lilac eyebrow raised in a perfect arc of amused tolerance. "...then tell me, Ensei-chan... What is? What is your idea of a home-coming? Hm...?"
If he had been a cat, Ensei's hair would have bristled at Seiran's comment. As it was, the scruffy male just huffed, glaring at the other man, trying to gather his rather ruffled dignity while also trying not to look at me. Quite unsuccessfully so, I might add. Then, when he had recovered as much of his shredded-beyond-recognition dignity, Ensei came to stand in front of my desk.
"Shuurei-san... Tadaima..."
"Ojou-sama, I'm back."
"Soul-friend no. 1, we meet again! <3"
Their various greetings, accompanied by more (Ensei) or less sheepish (Ryuuren, Seiran) expressions, made me smile. Yes, even Ensei was, at times, endearingly cute, in his own rather special way.
"...Okaerinasai, minna," I greeted them, smiling. "...I'm glad you guys are home, too."
"Anyway," I turned towards the other three men currently sitting in my office. "How was your night?"
The three men looked at each other, silently communicating, looks of...unease? on their faces. Or, in Ryuuren's case, airey contemplation.
"What?" Now I was starting to get worried. "Did something happen?"
"Well, soul-friend no. 1, Ensei-"
"NO!" Ensei half-shouted, his larger hand clamped firmly on a struggling Ryuuren's mouth, frantically dragging the smaller male throught the doorway and out of the room. "Nothing happened! Nothing. At. All!!!"
Both Seiran and I unwittingly sweatdropped at that. Typically Ensei, those antics...
The lilac-haired male chuckled. "Yes, ojou-sama, nothing happened last night." He turned to leave as well, throwing one last look backwards. A smoldering look filled with such passion, such...heat that I involuntarily shuddered. "Nothing at all. . . . ."
Groaning, I buried my head in my hands. I am so doomed...
O W A R I
Rating: M
By: hisoka44
Summary: Some things stay the same, no matter which world he's in.
Notes: I really did try to stay with the original prompt. *shifty eyes* A big, heartfelt 'Gomen nasai!' to Nikolita if that's not quite what you imagined...
Oh, and CC&C is really, really welcome!
Merry Christmas/Yuletide/Hanukah/etc. to everyone!
A Midsummer Night's Dream
"If we shadows have offended,
Think but this, and all is mended,
That you have but slumber'd here,
While these visions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding than a dream."
A Midsummer Night's Dream: Act V Scene 1, l.410-15
by William Shakespeare
"Ha ha! Now who won?!" a scruffy-looking man crowed in drunken triumph.
"Yes, yes, you did," his less-inebriated companions chorused.
"Honestly, who'd have thought you'd have left enough braincells to win at hanafuda after the amount of alcohol you consumed?"
"Waaah... Seiran... So meeeaaaaan....." The clearly drunk Ensei was ready to burst into tears.
"And after I shared that delicious Sake with all of you! It was special. And rare and expensive, too. Did I mention 'special'?"
"Maa maa..." a less intoxicated Ran Shuuei tried to intervene. "It's not all bad, right? He won, and we didn't even have to pay anything. Plus, we got these bottles of super-rare special Sake as a bonus, too!"
"Hrmph! I don't see what's so good about besting a couple of lazy-ass drunkards at a children's game!" Li Kouyuu groused, the only one of the group who'd stayed totally sober. "There are more interesting ways to pass the time, you know."
Unnoticed from the green-haired official, a Look passed between the other three individuals. A Look that clearly said 'He does not know what he's talking about!', coupled with 'Why again is he the only one still sober?'... So those three, in their alcohol-assisted, inhibitions-lowered daze decided that something had to be done about that deplorable sober state of their companion.
"Koyuuuuu..." Shuuei slung an arm over his companion's shoulder. "Let's drink those bottles together!"
Ensei and Seiran nodded. What a splendid idea! As it was still pretty early in the evening, there'd be more than enough time for that, right? Right.
Despite their friend's protests, the three of them managed to drag, pull and draw the reluctant Li Koyuu to Ran Shuuei's home. Between the three of them, it was the closest to the Kougarou anyway.
"No, I don't think this is a good idea," Koyuu tried to protest. "And what about Shuurei? Do you really want to leave her alone...?
Nope, not even this usually effective last-ditch effort could save the green-ahireed male from his inevitable fate. He was dragged into the main-room, sat down and relieved of his shoes. ("Now you'll have to stay," Shuuei explained. "Mhm," Ensei added. "No running about without shoes!" Seiran, still at the door, just nodded in agreement.)
".....wait! WAIT! I said." A shoeless Koyuu struggled against the two men sort-of holding him prisoner. "Those are not my shoes...!!"
"And although your argument is appreciated, it is one problem easily rectified," the dark-haired master of the house said, blithely ignoring his friend's squirming. With a pull on a bell-rope, he called a servant, ordering them to bring one of the bottles to the estate of one Kou Shuurei-sama, with compliments of her friends and apologies for their future tardy return.
The servant, long-used to such seemingly non-sensical messages from their master, simply bowed and speedily departed. No, he did not want to be caught even in the vicinity of this latest escapade! The last one had been bad enough. He was just luck this time...
It was a dark and stormy night... Well, not really, since it was only late afternoon - or early evening, whichever you prefer. Such as it was, Friday afternoons are really a terrible time to spend alone. Especially ones like this one promised to be. The heat had been stifling and oppressive all week long, making everyone desperate for relief and praying daily for a cleansing storm. Personally, I would welcome the rain that came with such a weather - if only it would come without the accompanying thunder and lightning! Sigh.
Earlier this day I had accompanied father to the Imperial Palace. He'd been most apologetic at having to stay overnight but with the annual revisions drawing nearer, it couldn't be helped. Although there was so much to do, father had declined my offer to help, citing the old adage of 'Not being caught once doesn't mean the same will happen twice.' -huh? I seriously wonder whether he didn't just make that up on the spot, trying to spare me from difficulties...
Not that I can't understand him... The first time I helped out in the Department of Treasury and Taxation, I had been really, really to not be discovered. What the consequences of such an incident would have been. . . No! Better home alone than bring that down on our heads.
So I smiled and bid my father goodbye, handing him the box with manjuu I had prepared. Then I turned around and went to the streets leading to the market. I still needed to buy tomorrow's meals after all. Come to think of it, wasn't there supposed to be a sale on daikon today! Waaah, I can't miss that!
Fortunately, I had managed to get home before the wind started to pick up (- and I had gotten a good price on the daikon with a side of mushrooms as a gift!).
Judging from the way the air feels heavy right now, the wished-for thunderstorm can't be too far off. I shudder to think of being alone during that but alas, it can't be helped as neither Seiran nor Ensei were back from their errands yet. Oh well... At least I managed to be at home when a servant of Ran Shuuei came by. Although, that servant did leave rather quickly after delivering both the message of his master a gift in the form of a bottle of Sake. Hm, maybe there was troubel at Ran-shogun's house...?
Kaa-ZAM!
The clap of thunder was as sudden as it was loud. Apparently the long-awaited thunderstorm had finally arrived... The next thing I knew was standing in the corner of the room, the bottle of Sake clutched so tightly in my hands as to nearly wring ist neck. Sages, but I hatehatehate thunderstorms!
Maybe... A distraction would help for sure! Maybe I would feel better when I was less focused on the alternating play of thunder and lightning...? And less thirsty?
No sooner thought of than done; the bottle lost its cork and the first cup of Sake found its way down my throat. Hm... Really delicious! With our finances, I knew we wouldn't have been able to buy such an obviously expensive brand. And since nobody was here to share it with...
Being alone like this just seems to bring out my moody side, hm? I stood up from the couch I couldn't remember reclining on and walked towards the small window overlooking our garden. Too bad that Seiran wasn't here. He would have enjoyed the drink as well. I think. Although with Seiran, you never know. Not really. He is much more complex than he might appear to be at first glance. He always had been. Ah, I remember the first time I saw him...
And then all the times he cared for me when I was sick as a child. The times when he would comfort me as I cried for my mother. Or when he protected me from-
"Does this sigh mean you were also thinking about me?" whispered a hypnotically soft, deep voice from somewhere left behind me.
No. No...! How absolutely embarrassing! Being caught by the the object of your thoughts!
"Shuurei..."
Noooooooo...
It couldn't be! He was not here right now! N.O.T! Here to see me shivering and scared from a mere thunderstorm. Sadly enough, it was quite a frequent occurence for me in summer !
Seiran...
I didn't know whether shock had frozen me in place or whether Seiran had just used some spell of his. All I was absolutely certain of was that I did not want to turn around and find out. As if I really have a choice!
Maybe this...nightmare would disappear if I simply ignored it? Maybe it was just some weird dream? Some overzealous figment of my imagination trying to lure me into a guilt-trip...?
"You don't honestly believe that, do you, my darling Shuurei...?"
He chuckled, for all outward appearances as amused as a father might be when his child had done something not-quite intelligent but somehow charming nevertheless. To my ears, however, he sounded more like a cat who had caught a mouse and was wondering aloud whether to play with it or eat it right away. From what I knew about him, Seiran was anything but amused right now. He was - please excuse the expression - pissed as hell. I have a baaaad feeling about this...
"As well you should." The sound of footsteps walking closer ever so softly. Seiran had always been able to move like that; a large cat moving silently with all the lethal grace of a born predator. A tiger, for example, was a predator, true. Only... Seiran was more dangerous by far.
"Well, my darling Shuurei... Don't you have anything to say to me...?" His voice had become even lower, purring along the lines of being barely audible. For humans. For me... It couldn't have been any louder if Seiran had just shouted in my ear.
His voice... It sent shivers down my spine...
He must be standing right behind me now. What...was he going to do? And...
Why was I unable to move? Jump up? Just get away? To...turn around? Anything!
"Anything at all...?"
Damn, why did he sound so amused. So...expectant. As if he was waiting for something. But...for what? I didn't think that I wanted to find out. Not really, anyway.
"Hmmm...?" I heard clothes rustling as he bent closer. His lips were almost touching my ear. I could feel him next to me, his breath brushing past my cheek, though we were hardly an inch or two apart. And yet...
Don't go there, I advised myself. I stared resolutely ahead, concentrating on the movie as if it might offer me salvation from this dilemma I was in. Needless to say, I didn't really see anything.
No, I did not want to talk to Seiran. I did not want to see, hear or feel him either. NO WAY!
"...my dear Shuurei?" That- Did he really think that all this was funny! Maybe some kind of amusement just for his benefit! How dare he-
He chuckled darkly again, obviously enjoying himself immensely. At my expense. Undoubtedly he sensed my discomfort, my anger. And my...confusion?
Before I had time to use my steadily increasing anger for something constructive - like fleeing, for example - I heard Seiran walking around the couch. My awareness of his presence rose to a new height, something I would have believed to be impossible mere moments ago.
What the hell am I thinking? My thoughts, my whole mind had suddenly become a confusing jumble of emotions. And take a guess why!
Then Seiran, gentle, sweet and loyal mystery that he was, did something else to throw me completely off the track.
He sat down.
I did not turn my head. I. Did. Not. Want. To. Look. At. Him!
Seiran snaked an arm around my shoulders, pulling my traitorous, shaking body against his, our hips barely touching through the cloth.
He chuckled. Yes, he was definitely taking great pleasure in comforting me in this situation. I was almost afraid of what that changed Seiran would do next. For once, I would hope to be disappointed. Unfortunately-
"So...my Shuurei..."
It couldn't get worse, right?
"...whatever shall we be doing to pass tonight?"
Cue in thunder rumbling in the distance, complete with flashes of lightning alternatively illuminating the room and leaving it in near-darkness.
He couldn't be serious. . . . . Could he...?
I tried to pull away, to put some distance between myself and...him. Instantly, Seiran's arm around my shoulders tensed. Refusing to let go of me, he instead tightened his grip and, bending even closer, whispered silkily: "You won't get away this easily, Shuurei. . . ."
Damn! Even without having to look, I knew, I absolutely knew Seiran was smirking. It was both like and unlike him. Really, what had gotten into Seiran tonight? He was certainly not acting like he usually did in any way, shape or form! A rather infuriating smirk spread across his face. He knew he had me at a...disadvantage - and was aware of me knowing that. And being powerless to stop him.
". . . not this time. I missed you more than words can say, my princess. My other half..."
I was quite angry by now. Surely Seiran was aware of my helpless rage - not that it seemed to matter to him in the slightest. At least not enough to deter him from whatever he had planned. Why...? Why didn't he pull away and Finally. Leave. Me. Alone!
"My Shuurei. . ." He bent closer still and-
"Ouch! What did you do that for!" I Instinctively whirled around and away from him, facing him. Undoubtedly this was what he had intended but... Why in hell had he bitten me? And...in my ear no less!
Seiran must have seen my chagrin, my confusion. Seen and enjoyed it. He chuckled softly, darkly, for once not quite menacing. I couldn't help but shiver. His voice, especially his laughter, had always had that effect on me... Rich, deep and slightly husky. Making me tingle all over, shivering partly in...discomfort? and partly in...anticipation?
Then I looked. Really Looked at him.
If I hadn't, somewhere in a deeply buried part of myself - could...could I believe it is my heart! - known and somehow...felt that this couldn't be anyone but Seiran, I barely would have recognized him. He was still tall and stately as ever but. . . He had...changed. His appearance really was somehow different - although his demeanor had most certainly remained his former patient, smiling and quiet self. Now, though, it seemed tinged with an edge of...darkness, of secrets come to the fore.
Even before the incident with Sha Sakujun, Seiran had been beautiful, much as I hate to admit it, but now. . . . Now, the darkness interspersed with bouts of thunder and bolts of lightning, now he was stunningly so, masculinely handsome, his beauty heightened to the point of- Don't. Go. There!, I admonished myself. Instead I continued to gaze at him. Seiran, in turn, simply did...nothing. He just remained where he was, smile-smirking at me in that particular way only he could manage.
His hair, once an orderly mass of soft, half-bound locks, had become a wavy, luxurious mane of lilac-colored silk. Absentmindedly I wondered whether it was as soft and silky as it looked. Following the line of his hair upward, I idly noticed that his hairstyle looked...different somehow. Wouldn't the rest of his body also be...? -Wait a moment! What am I thinking!
I stopped then and there. This was about as far as I wanted to...see him.
Seiran moved. Only minutely so, true, but even this small movement jerked me out of my Seiran-induced trance and back to reality. Then, instinctively, I looked at him, right in his face. And then, as if my situation wasn't bad enough, I couldn't but look in his eyes. Great! Just the thing I had wanted to avoid the most. . . .
His eyes had never been so compelling before, dark sapphire pools of radiance, drawing his victim's mind down their wine-coloured depths to where he wanted you to be.
But now... Now they were no less compelling, no, quite the contrary. They were positively mesmerizing. Having turned a brighter, shining green-blue color, they were no less burning, no less intense, their bright fire was... A predator's gaze.
Once someone was ensnared by that hypnotizing gaze of his, his victim was held - and held fast! - until Seiran deemed it fit to release him.
And now - Seiran had caught me.
I looked at him, somehow registering each and every tiny detail about him: from his light-blue coat to that single strand of silken lilac that gently fell on his left cheek, but-
- I was unable to look away! What kind of spell had he worked on me!
"None, my darling Shuurei." Seiran's smile widened a bit. "Yet. . ."
Had I, at this very moment, still had some semblance of control over my body, I would have drawn back, no, run, fled in the opposite direction. However, with Seiran's...'magic' working like that, I had no choice at all but to remain where I was: on the bed-couch in my office - next to me the one person I had fervently hoped to not have to be around with; not after those dreams that recurred with increasing frequency these days.
"Shuurei... I'm hurt," Seiran mock-pouted. "Is that any way to greet a lover who has come so far just to see you?" He reached out.
I flinched. Before, it really was always 'just to see' with him. Before. Not certain what to expect from him but aware he would do somethng, Seiran surprised me yet again. His hand just brushed my temple, trailed gently down my cheek and, upon reaching my jaw, Seiran's hand turned around and tightened its grip.
And still I couldn't look away. . . .
"...After I have come such a long, long way?"
I was beginning to lose my focus, was beginning to lose myself in those infinite, endless pools of shining, green-blue radiance. I was beginning to drown. . . .
Help...
He drew nearer until our faces were only some mere, feeble inches apart.
"My Shuurei. . . ."
Someone... Help me... I could feel his breath ghosting over my face, caressing my features as a lover might do.
Why...? Why couldn't I look away...!
And yet I had no choice. No choice at all. Helplessly pinned by his gaze, I watched him draw closer and closer, not even noticing his other hand coming up to rest on my shoulder.
When our lips were almost about to touch, he whispered softly: "...Ai shiteru..."
...I was speechless. This was something I'd never ever have expected him to say.
He can't be serious! . . . . . . . Or... Can he...?
Still struggling with that 'shocking' revelation of his, I opened my mouth to reply, to give voice to my disbelief in and of his statement - a move that, apparently, had been anticipated. Seiran swooped down, capturing my lips in a fierce, possessive kiss, pressing his mouth harshly on mine.
Shocked to the very core of my being, I instinctively tried to pull away from him. 'Tried to' was the right expression - for when Seiran felt my reaction, he growled deep in his throat and tightened his grip on my shoulder. Cupping the nape of my neck with his other hand, he forcefully pulled me closer against him still. All the while he continued that mind-numbing kiss, simply ignoring my rather pathetic struggles to break free.
In the back of my mind, deep, deep down in my consciousness, I somehow just knew that Seiran wouldn't accept any struggling, only surrender. I was half-afraid of what other...things might still be in the coming. Lifting my hands I set them against Seiran's broad, well-muscled chest, trying to push him away. I could as soon have tried to move a mountain for all the success my efforts showed.
I tried to mumble a protest. That was - as I almost immediately realized - a big mistake. As soon as I opened my mouth, Seiran's tongue swept inside, easily overriding my startled dissent, once again claiming dominance.
The initial urgency of his kiss was, to my great surprise, matched by my own. What had my childhood protector, my confidant, my-NO! What had he done to me that made me react like that? What kind of spell had Seiran used to ignite that...fire, this burning sensation in me? Wasn't he just a faithful retainer, like he'd always been? The orphan my father and mother had resucued from an early and icy grave? And yet... Here I was, reacting to him exactly like I had so recently dreamed to do...
"Ojou-sama... No, Shuurei. My darling, my beloved Shuurei..." Seiran's voice was dark and deep, hypnotizingly seductive in its sultry purr. Somehow, he managed to make me open my mouth to him, accepting the warmth of his tongue with almost grateful delight. Was I slowly loosing my mind? Or... A horrifying thought struck me. Had I really...developed...such feelings for him? And since when had that happened? Before I could ponder that any furter, his tongue engaged mine in a torrid, almost violent duel for dominance. Guess who lost...
Seiran's other hand had, by now, moved from my neck and come to rest on my thigh as well, my resistance somehow, miraculously, becoming nearly non-existent as our kiss continued. His groan of excited pleasure was echoed by one from somewhere deep, deep within me. That groan lengthened and intensified when his hand crept downward and started to almost-burn a bright, hot trail beneath my shirt from thigh to waist. When his hand travelled onward and encountered the soft curve of my breast, Seiran pinched and rolled its nipple roughly, turning it into an aching, hard nub of flesh. Forgetting for the moment who exactly was laying siege to me, I arched upward into his caress.
"I'm sorry, ojou-sama," Seiran murmured softly, his hot breath carressing the shell of my ear. "I'm sorry... I can no longer resist... I... I need you." He started kissing down the column of my throat, teasing little nips that left me aching, wanting for him to place his mouth on...other parts of my anatomy. Had Seiran chosen to do so, he would have been able to charm people using only his voice. I, sadly enough, was no exception, had no immunity from him - however much I would wish otherwise. Oh, what would my father have say, if he could see me right now! Maybe working for Kochou-neesan in the Kougarou hadn't been such a good idea after all? After all, there I had heard how-
"Seiran... Stop. We...can't..." Can't we?
He looked down at me, his face wry for once. "I, for one, would rather not talk about it right now, if that's what you mean. But I'll certainly agree to discuss it with you at a later date."
What-? Now of all times he's being formal!? "I see," I said coldly, inexplicably feeling hurt.
"No, I don't think you do, Shuurei-san," Seiran drawled. "And I can't explain it, not now, not like this." He moved his larger frame against mine, closing his eyes, sliding his mouth against my throat, whispering thickly, "I'm too excited. I've stopped to talk, but I can't stop forever, not when
I want you this much."
"I can't let you make love to me, Seiran!"
"Yes, you can..." Seiran's mouth closed over mine in a deep, drugging kiss, and I stupidly let him, because, secretly, I really loved the feel of his mouth, his body, his hands.
The fire rushed between us suddenly, making us both stir and moan with excitement, and...
Trouble was, that by now, I really was starting to believe him. I knew, I absolutely knew that come next morning, I would hate myself and quite thoroughly, too, for having given in to temptation so easily and readily but now... Right now... I hate to admit it, but... I don't think I could have cared less. Somehow, I realized that he had always been able to do...that to and with me, even though he'd never done it before.
Seiran withdrew his tongue from the ravaged cavern of my mouth to trail its tip along my jaw. Shuddering slightly, I felt a thousand fires flame within me even as tiny shivers crept along my spine. I didn't know whether this happened because of what he was doing to me - or because of what I knew he was going to do to me. As his tongue laved against my ear, he sucked the lobe and nibbled it - roughly. I yelped, instinctively trying to escape that small pain. No such luck, however, as the one who was still our family's retainer but also so much more, to us, to me, still remained lodged on top of me. And - I actually blushed upon that discovery - quite adamantly so.
With Seiran still lying mostly on top of me and him being the heavier one of the two of us, all I could do was tilt my head away. Instantly I realized that I really, really shouldn't have done that. Why? Well...
"Mmmhmm... Shuurei..."
I forgot that this action on my part would only allow him better access to my neck. Only in hindsight did I remember that he had always had a special 'thing' for my neck. Seiran, being the closet opportunistic hedonist that he was, used this opening immediately of course. The movement brought his pelvis hard against mine, giving further evidence of his arousal. I wonder if he noticed that I was as...ready as he was... Knowing Seiran, that surely was the case - but whether or when he would decide to do something about it or if he would do anything about it at all. . . . . I shuddered at the prospects of what my mind insisted on telling me was yet to come. Why...? Why was I so weak...? Why wasn't I strong enough to...push him away? To refuse him? Why did I allow him to continue like this!
"Because you know that we belong together. We always have. And we always will..." And with that, Seiran decisively moved to my neck, darting out his tongue to rasp over the main artery there. I squirmed, trying to push him off or at least get him away from there. I really, really did not want him there. ...Yet.
-Wait a moment. . . Where had THAT come from... !
I struggled to get away - at least as far as I could. Or, to be more truthful, as far as Seiran would let me. This, as I should have guessed, was naturally just another turn-on for him. I grasped a handful of his wonderful lilac-silken mane and tried to physically drag his head back to my mouth. The idea of the lesser of two evils-Oh hell! Who am I kidding!
Seiran complied, smirking somewhat smugly. Did I ever mention that I...hate that particular brand of male smugness? As if he was any less eager, any less...horny than me!
"Why, Shuurei... I never thought you would be so...eager." That...tease! How does he do it? How does he know so unerringly where and how to push and where to pull. Bastard!
Seiran's first kiss was hungry, ravenous, maybe even primal in its consuming urgency. The second was both different and similar. I felt a...need suffusing the air. Was it his? Or... Was it mine? All I knew at this moment was that suddenly, surprising to myself, I was caught up in this strange...mood. Or whatever 'this' was.
Although I would never ever tell Seiran, right now, I wanted him with a passion that surely matched his own. I wanted him as I had wanted him...since when? I honestly couldn't recall when my fascination with him had begun. (Not that I cared right now. Not particularly, anyway.) Just as surely and as much as I craved sustenance or...what? What exactly was I really after?
Surely all those passion-filled dreams, those nights spant wide awake and-wanting that indescribable something that seemed just out of reach... What exactly was it that I was looking for to find with him? Seemingly endless trysts, the companionable afterglow of two lovers...was that what I was looking for? Or...maybe...?
With a somewhat sinking feeling I realized that Seiran might, just might have a point there. Yes, and there, too. The knowledge made my head swim. Then the last vestiges of rational sanity reared their head. I didn't think of him that way, right? This - whatever 'this' was - could not be true!
'Then why do you keep on letting him do things like that?', a treacherous tiny voice whispered in my mind, just as my tongue reached out to touch Seiran's in another passionate duel for dominance. I could feel the smooth enamel of Seiran's canines as he grinned. Then he moved.
All sense of rational thought fled from me. One moment I was vaguely aware of thinking that surely my legs would buckle beneath me any second now - only to discover that I was already lying beneath Seiran's sensual, aroused, male body. He always had had this talent of...making me feel like...like...I was...flying. . .
Gods, why does this always happen to me...? I wailed silently. Seiran, for once, didn't bother to answer. ...He was occupied differently right now. His hands peeled or, rather, ripped the [SHIRT] off my chest, too impatient to bother with all those tiny, encumbering [BUTTONS/LACES/ ??]. And before the slight breeze from the half-open window could chill my skin, Seiran was raining heated kisses and tiny, erotic nips and bites over it.
Needless to say I was way too far gone by this point to pay attention or even care about such absolutely irrelevant things like office windows, food or anything else. My fingers combed his hair with wilful abandon, my body trembling from his touch as time and again he returned to the depths of my mouth to re-establish his claim. And, shameful as it is for me to admit it, I wanted to provide him with as much pleasure as he gave me with such apparent ease. So...for starters, I ripped up his shirt in return.
Seiran chuckled but before he could utter any more of his witty repartees, I nipped and laved at his shoulder - intending only to take revenge on him, of course. Instead, I found myself gaining unimaginably sensual delights from the muscular strength I discovered.
"Aaaah. . . . . Shuu...rei. . ." Seiran's voice was only a raspy, seductive purr now.
The sheer intensity of my need for him stunned me. I surely had never known such an aching, desperate...want before. . . Dimly, I was aware of the sound of ripping fabric as Seiran feverishly tore away the shredded remains of my [SHIRT] to taste more of my naked flesh.
I felt a shudder of desire rip through me as Seiran's hands slipped beneath my upper body, kneading and massaging the soft mounds of my breasts, leaving them swollen, and full, and aching, sending my nerves on fire along the way.
Seiran, however, wasn't satisfied with simply removing my shirt alone. After he had kissed and teased my neck some more - and undoubtedly given my the hickey of my life - he lowered me back onto the bed again. The he straddled me. And looked at me. Just looked. What was he thinking...?
I must have made some minute movement, because the next thing I knew was Seiran standing up again. Mewling in protest, already half-lost in that haze he had brought me into, I reached out for him. I wanted to feel him again, to have him pressed against me, to have me-
Seiran chuckled. If I didn't know better, I'd swear he must have plucked the image of what I wanted him to do to, no, to do with me from the surface of my mind because he suddenly smirked even more...seductively than before. "Why, my darling Shuurei... I never knew you to be so...eager, so...creative... But if you really want to..."
And with an inhumanly swift move, my retainer-turned-lover seized what was left of my clothing and ripped it off, not caring where bits and pieces of cloth might fall or what would happen to the fabric afterwards. This of course yanked me against his broad chest where I was enfolded in two strong, muscular arms. I was too dazed to mount much of a resistance, and what I did was more for show and decorum than anything else. Seiran knew it as well as I did which he proved by avidly, hungrily kissing me once more.
By the time he propelled me backwards onto the couch again, I was rather unsuccessfully trying to convince myself that it was only a lack of oxygen and willpower that hindered me from moving away. All I could do was lay where he had put me and watch him divest himself of the rather rumpled garments he still wore. And then I saw how far the change I had perceived in him earlier really went.
Before I could do more than blink at him once or twice, Seiran was moving towards me again. He was looking at me as if he wanted me to want what I was seeing. As if he wanted to show me that...what? He was beautiful? I already knew that. That he wanted me as much as I wanted him? That, too, I had been forced to admit already. What then was he trying to tell me with his eyes? That he literally came back for me? That he always would...? I didn't know whether to be frightened or elated at that. In fact, I didn't know anything anymore.
As he seductively crawled all over me, Seiran bent his head and, after nipping softly at my earlobe, whispered, "Shuurei... You think too much." Lick. "You..." Kiss. "...should..." Nip. "...really..." Kiss. "...just." Nip. "...feel." Bite!
The throaty groan that broke the silence of the room could not have come from me. Just as the soft, mewling sounds following could not be mine. And it could not be me who started to writhe under Seiran as the older male began his devilish ministrations like a sculptor carving a statue from a block of marble.
"...oh, Shuurei... When will you...finally stop lying...to yourself...?" Seiran's voice was astonishingly patient, yet amused as always. And still he was continuing to drive me crazy with his hands roaming all over my body in ways that would make even Ran Shuuei light up like a red lighthouse-beacon.
"...when...Aaaaah!...yoooouu...take me...seriously," I managed to gasp out between his twirling my nipples into pebbles and his stroking my [SECRET PLACE] so expertly, so just-before-the-edge it was a pain-filled hurt. But oh-the promise of the pleasure to follow that-
A momentary lapse in movement made me look up at him. Seiran watched me in a cat-ate-the-canary-and-polished-off-the-cream way. His smile was really, really starting to scare me...
"Oh...but I do intend to take you seriously!" He mock-assured me before simultaneously squeezing my clitoris and thrusting two fingers into a wet ring of muscle that was unused to such a treatment.
I did the only thing I could. I screamed.
And I screamed even louder as Seiran started to move his fingers around, searching for...something. Unable to escape from his fingers, his wandering mouth or his waves of lilac silk slithering over my heated body, I writhed and bucked under him as Seiran added a third finger, widening and stretching what was already warm, wet and rather obviously welcoming. At the same time he was again and again rubbing over the spot that made me see the sun even in the middle of the night. He did not allow me release, however, near though it was.
When he withdrew his fingers, I keened in loss of the sensation, grasping blindly for completion. Seiran quieted me swiftly by sealing my mouth with his, at the same time lifting my trembling legs over his shoulders, positioning his cock at my waiting entrance. I whimpered mindlessly, too eager for fulfilment to care for anything beyond him and now, all but begging him to finally take me.
And take me he did.
With one strong push, Seiran seated himself within me, filling me as only he and no-one else ever could. Then he started to move, slowly driving his erection in and out of the tight sheath that was my ass. And with each thrust home, Seiran brushed and hit against my pleasure-spot until I saw stars, felt a monumental wave of... something dawning on the horizon of my awareness.
I arched up against him, levering myself on his shoulder. "Seeeeii.........raaaaann..."
While he continued to move and I continued to writhe, both of us caught in heated passion not felt for all too long a time, Seiran's lips had meandered from ravishing my pliant mouth to nipping at my neck. And when I wantonly pressed up against him, all but yielding myself to his dominance, his teeth clamped down on the delicate skin over my aorta, not breaking skin but somehow adding the kind of erotic pain that wasn't really pain at all - only a heightening of pleasure. He immediately started worrying that patch of skin, each bite of his teeth sending ever-increasing thrills of pleasure surging through my veins, all the while keeping up his relentless, pounding rhythm.
The dual sensation of Seiran sucking at my neck and driving his cock in and out of me were to much for me to bear any longer. With a long, shuddering wail I came hard and fast, Seiran following soon after me. This was a release I had not known that I craved until I had savoured it.
Afterwards, we just lay there for a while, resting, recuperating from something I lack the words to describe in its entire complexity. Seiran had enfolded me in his arms once more, gently cradling my yielding limbs against his larger frame, for once content to just...relax, drift slowly off into sleep. As for me...
...I was in heaven for I was complete once more.
Epilogue
It is often that you are woken from sleep by someone leaving your side. Strangely enough, this was not what had roused me today. But... Then what had?
As I sat up, I simultaneously noticed several things. The shades were still drawn, closed so as to not allow any rays of the sun to reach me. There was someone coming up the hallway to the room I was in, someone chirpy, chipper and loud, to be precise. And, wonder of wonders, I was fully clothed. I blinked at that discovery. Last night...Seiran...and... Blushing at some particularly...graphic images didn't really help here, either. Hadn't I...?
I distinctly remember falling asleep in my lo-Seiran's arms. But if that was true then... This lead my mind to the most important observation I must subconsciously have refused to make.
There was no Seiran in this room! Not even a tiny sign! No smiling, patient protector hidden in the shadows. None. Nothing.
Now I was really confused. Confused, yes, but not surprised. Not really. He simply was like that. There today and gone tomorrow. ...Yeah, I wish! Chuckling wearily to myself, I stood up, heading for my desk and the comfortable chair behind it. This was what I was needing right now. That is, apart from-No, I would NOT contemplate that!
Once I was sitting in said seating accommodation, I was for once actually grateful for the fast healing capacities my age entailed. Otherwise, sitting in or on anything would have been very, very uncomfortable for the time being. I decided not to go looking who or what was trampling towards my room. Yes, I was feeling too lazy for that.
'- or too...satiated maybe...?' a traitorous, tiny voice whispered, rising from my subconscious. Quelling it and stuffing it back where it had risen from, I argued that if this really were trouble, I would not have to look for it. Trouble always seemed to be looking for me, instead. And I was more than fit to deal with it.
Anyway, I felt a bit... disappointed that Seiran had left. Especially after a night like the last one. So... Why did he leave again? Leave...me? I refuse to believe that he had simply given up. Not his style. Not if Seiran knew what was good for him.
Blink. Blink. Now where had that come from? Masaka... Don't tell me I was giving in, starting to get used to-
WHAM!
With a disruptively loud bang, the door to my room flew open. For lack of a better weapon, I had a heavy tome on agricultural studies in the Sha-province in my hands, ready to throw - only to face a rather shocked Ran Ryuuren in the doorway, a somewhat hung-over Ensei slightly to his left. Seiran looked a bit...'suffering' as well but was able to hide it better, standing behind them.
"You know, trying to surprise someone by kicking down their door could get you severely injured. It's not a very healthy thing to do in the long run." Sighing, I put the book down again, leaning back into the comfort of...my chair. Blink. What had I expected?
"Speaking of healthy..." Ensei mused as he walked around his two companions. "...how did you like that bottle of Sake I sent you... hime-chan?" And with that, tried to sit on my desk, missed it by miles and tumbled to the floor. "Owwww...!"
"Soul-friend No. 1, your friend seems unwell." Ryuuren peered interestedly at a pouting Ensei, the scruffy male rubbing his abused posterior.
"Hm... I do wonder why..." Seiran added, for some reason glaring at the prone form of his friend. "After all, it's not as if he got...drunk last night, is it?"
Uh-oh... I hadn't seen Seiran smile this saccharinely sweet very often but whenever he did, it didn't bode well for the other parties involved. What had Ensei done now?!
"Ah... So that is the reason soul-friend no.1's friend is looking as if he-"
"Maa, maa... It has been somewhat...quiet without you guys around," I interrupted, looking them in the eyes. "Ryuuren, you know it's...lonely and so... boringly calm when you are not here." I was fighting down a blush that I knew only wanted to confirm the lie I had just uttered. Calm... Lonely... Boring... Hah! As if!
"Ryuuren-san!" Ensei admonished, all indignant and pouting at Ryuuren's conversation with me. Shouldn't he be used to that by now? But then again, he oftentimes still acting very much the child he once might have been. Part of his charm, I guess. "That is not the proper way for a home-coming to be!"
"Oh?" A lilac eyebrow raised in a perfect arc of amused tolerance. "...then tell me, Ensei-chan... What is? What is your idea of a home-coming? Hm...?"
If he had been a cat, Ensei's hair would have bristled at Seiran's comment. As it was, the scruffy male just huffed, glaring at the other man, trying to gather his rather ruffled dignity while also trying not to look at me. Quite unsuccessfully so, I might add. Then, when he had recovered as much of his shredded-beyond-recognition dignity, Ensei came to stand in front of my desk.
"Shuurei-san... Tadaima..."
"Ojou-sama, I'm back."
"Soul-friend no. 1, we meet again! <3"
Their various greetings, accompanied by more (Ensei) or less sheepish (Ryuuren, Seiran) expressions, made me smile. Yes, even Ensei was, at times, endearingly cute, in his own rather special way.
"...Okaerinasai, minna," I greeted them, smiling. "...I'm glad you guys are home, too."
"Anyway," I turned towards the other three men currently sitting in my office. "How was your night?"
The three men looked at each other, silently communicating, looks of...unease? on their faces. Or, in Ryuuren's case, airey contemplation.
"What?" Now I was starting to get worried. "Did something happen?"
"Well, soul-friend no. 1, Ensei-"
"NO!" Ensei half-shouted, his larger hand clamped firmly on a struggling Ryuuren's mouth, frantically dragging the smaller male throught the doorway and out of the room. "Nothing happened! Nothing. At. All!!!"
Both Seiran and I unwittingly sweatdropped at that. Typically Ensei, those antics...
The lilac-haired male chuckled. "Yes, ojou-sama, nothing happened last night." He turned to leave as well, throwing one last look backwards. A smoldering look filled with such passion, such...heat that I involuntarily shuddered. "Nothing at all. . . . ."
Groaning, I buried my head in my hands. I am so doomed...
O W A R I