R-rated JaBun with tennis camp hijinks!
More Jackal/Marui!!! I actually got a super big kick out of writing this one. Tennis camp!!!
Disclaimer: PoT and its characters do not belong to me. I'm just filling in the gaps for Konomi.
Warnings: mildly graphic m/m, voyeurism?, profanity, future timeline
Notes: Many thanks to my beta who is my fanfiction heart and soul. There's a great wiki on zen buddhism if you need it, though any references in this fic are largely irreverent. Written for wolfe_tone for pot_bth
Seeking Enlightenment
Training camp was not the way Marui Bunta dreamed of spending his summer vacation. Beach trips. Video games. Sleeping late. Eating too much ice cream and washing it down with too much soda. That was a vacation. Ideally, Sanada only figured into his vacation plans for the three days of mandatory practice each week of their summer break.
The bus hit another section of unsteady road, jostling Marui to knock his head against the window again. He gritted his teeth, cursed under his breath, and prayed for them to arrive at the lodgings soon. They were heading vaguely east - his genius didn't necessarily extend to geography and directions, so he didn't know exactly where they were or where they were going. The meager airflow provided by the windows - only half of which would lower at all - did nothing to alleviate the heavy summer humidity. The backs of Marui's thighs felt glued to the cheap vinyl bus seating with sweat. Not even his pack of emergency road snacks did anything to lift his mood... particularly because he'd eaten almost all of it. Kirihara had started the trip out chattering like the little monkey that he was, deteriorated into complaining, and now his whining was a constant counterpoint to the frequent applications of the air-brakes. Niou and Yagyuu weren't even sitting together. Niou had fallen asleep shortly after failing to convince Kirihara that they were driving to mainland Asia. Yagyuu was doing his summer homework, which made Marui roll his eyes because nobody - not even geniuses - did their homework until the weekend before it was due. Somewhere along the ride, Yanagi had lost reception for his laptop and resorted to his old notebook methods. Marui thought he was probably revising his planned training regimen for the trip. Sanada sat at the front of the bus, unwavering and silent. He'd decided on the training camp at the last minute. Yukimura wasn't with them. It had been three years since his surgery, and he seemed fully recovered, but the doctors kept a close eye on him. He'd be at the hospital for the week undergoing a variety of medical tests and physical examinations. Sanada's response to Yukimura's hospitalization had been the spontaneous training camp adventure. Marui understood: he was worried. They all were. Yukimura would always be their captain, and he seemed fine. The doctors' constant supervision always made them nervous, though. Sanada mellowed a little when Yukimura was there to run the show, but on this bus ride all Marui saw was the stern, set features of Sanada from their senior year of junior high - the Sanada that had to win it all for Yukimura. It was a side of Sanada that set Marui's nerves on end. He'd rather hope for the best and then kick back and take it easy while fate worked her way.
His hair lifted off of the back of his neck, and he turned to look at the culprit sitting next to him. Jackal let the hair fall through his fingers, and it stuck in patches to his skin. Marui held in a grimace. "You're sweaty," the deep timbre of Jackal's voice barely carried over the rumble of the bus' engine, the hiss of the air-brakes, and Kirihara's whining.
"Duh. Aren't you?"
"A little, yeah," Jackal shrugged, and Marui remembered that he was more or less from a rain forest. Clearly, Jackal would not sympathize.
"This whole trip is hair-brained." The heat, the long, bumpy car-ride, and his partner's latest less-than-complimentary comment were making him feel a little less than diplomatic.
"Give Sanada a break. He's trying to make something productive of this week..."
"No. He's trying to fill up the hours with strenuous activity that will keep him from thinking too hard and make him tired enough that he'll just fall dead asleep at night."
"That too."
Jackal smiled and Marui had to admit that in a pathetic way, it was kind of cute how Sanada freaked out over Yukimura. But he would never admit that aloud. "Anyway, he could freak out on his own without dragging us into it."
"I think that it's reassuring for him to have us around. Like when we were in junior high."
"Okay. Great. So, we're baby-sitting Sanada while he makes us run a ridiculous number of kilometers. I'll let my ancestors know that my charitable works for the year are so done." He was bitching, and sounding dangerously like Kirihara, and he knew it. But he was hot enough to not be hungry - some injustices could not be tolerated lightly.
Jackal only smiled at him and offered a bottle of water. It was lukewarm from the heat of the bus, but it felt good moistening his throat. "Jackal, I want to sleep for the rest of the ride, but I can't lean against the window because I keep smacking my head, and even though I know it'll be hot with our skin touching, I'm going to lay on you because you'll be more comfortable," and Marui flopped over unceremoniously half-into his partner's lap. Jackal was kind enough not to argue and even readjusted Marui's limbs so they'd both be comfortable.
Marui closed his eyes. Jackal was warm, but it was different than the suffocating heat of the bus. It was a good kind of warm. The kind that made his eyes stay shut, and then made him forget anything else for a while.
*****
They went to a prestigious school, but it was no Hyoutei. So, it came as no surprise to Marui that the "training camp" wasn't a luxurious sports complex. But he hadn't expected the run-down cabin in no-man's land. What were they? Seigaku? He didn't even see tennis courts. What was the point of this trip? He quickly felt the good mood that his nap had provided evaporating in the face of their accommodations for the week. Renji stood by Sanada's side, likely asking questions about the surrounding area. Kirihara had already bounded off to explore said area. Three years of aging hadn't managed to settle him down much. Marui privately thought he needed a healthy dose of ritalin. Both doubles pairs stood looking at the cabin. Even Yagyuu looked dubious.
"This place is probably haunted..." Niou's voice trailed off ominously.
"Can it, Niou. Kirihara's not around and none of us are buying it." Marui didn't mean to snap. Usually, he found Niou funny; he just wasn't in the mood. He wanted modern convenience. It was a western-style building, so Marui was holding out hope for an air-conditioner or at least fans. He started up the rickety cobbled walkway to the house. "Sanada, is this place locked?"
In response, a key was thrown to his partner. "Set up your bunks and meet down here for conditioning."
The only conditioning Marui was in the mood for involved a compression unit, but he made his appropriate affirmation as he followed his doubles partner into the cabin.
It was hot inside. Hot and stale. Not that he'd ever been in one, but Marui imagined it was what a grave felt like. They wandered in slowly, looking around. It seemed like a rustic vacation house. Probably privately owned by some people the Sanada family knew. Jackal and Yagyuu immediately headed up the stairs. Marui and Niou stood in the common area, staring around.
"Okay. So it doesn't look haunted, but it is kind of decrepit," Niou's voice was deadpan. It wasn't one of his jokes.
Marui nodded his agreement. The place clearly hadn't seen any recent use. There was a fine layer of dust on everything. Rather than running, their first order of business should probably be to make the cabin livable... not that he was going to suggest it. Marui hated housework. He was forever conniving ways to make his younger brothers do his chores. A glance at the far wall made his heart swell: a thermostat! He hurried over, adjusted the temperature, turned it on, and waited for the telltale hum. Nothing. Weird. He looked out the nearest window and easily saw what he suspected used to be the compression unit, and had been transformed by time and nature into a planter. Niou'd followed him over and joined him at the window. A low whistle from his teammate confirmed his suspicions that he was looking at the air-conditioner and that it was in no condition to work. He almost let his forehead sag against the glass, but it was covered in some grime that Marui did not want on his forehead, so he just sighed instead.
By this time, Jackal and Yagyuu were coming back down the stairs, each step echoing loudly in the otherwise quiet house. "What are you two doing? We need to meet Sanada back outside." Yagyuu could really get on Marui's nerves sometimes. Sure he could be kind of devilish and cool on the tennis courts, but Marui suspected that was Niou's influence. Off of them, he was the kind of goody-goody that made Marui want to act like a grade-schooler and put gum in his hair.
Niou chuckled and turned towards the stairs. "I hear ya, but we're gonna wanna open these windows. The AC's not working."
Jackal only nodded and went to doing exactly that. Marui swallowed up his bitterness at his doubles partner being infinitely better at dealing with the weather than he was and hurried up the stairs. There were two bedrooms with four beds in each; Niou was in one, putting his stuff on a bed next to Yagyuu's. Marui turned to the opposite door and tossed his duffle on a bed that creaked alarmingly. They were tiny, metal-framed twin beds. Jackal was going to look comical sleeping in one. He'd had a growth spurt during their freshman year of high school that turned him into a veritable giant. He was 6'4" when he'd finally stopped growing. It impressed Marui as much as it pissed him off - he'd never grown over 5'6". While in the room, he went ahead and opened the window, waiting for a breeze that never came. Weren't they near the mountains? Shouldn't there be some kind of cooling wind? Maybe the nights would be colder. He'd heard about that happening in the mountains, and while he knew they weren't in the mountains... they had to be near them. He didn't bother to grab his tennis racket before he left, as there weren't any visible courts. Some tennis camp.
When he got downstairs Kirihara was grousing his way inside and up the stairs to drop his bag, and everyone else was unloading some basic foodstuffs. He was secretly glad that he'd missed any heavy-lifting, and waited to join Jackal as he made his way back outside to start their training camp.
*****
Night four of training camp found Marui lying in bed hating life... or more specifically hating Sanada. They'd brought up the air-conditioning on day one, after a particularly grueling session of physical conditioning. Sanada's rationale had been that dojo don't have air-conditioning. Right. And Sanada had only become more zen by the day - a steely stoicism replacing his usual zeal in the face of the heat and humidity. Marui didn't know whether it would be the weather or his vice-captain that drove him insane first.
It didn't help that Renji had decided that all activities would be done with a partner. Seemed awesome at first... until he realized that Jackal would be permanently partnered with Kirihara - being the only one who could continually control the little brat. Marui honestly didn't know how Jackal didn't lose his patience and snap the cocky sophomore in two. Despite Kirihara's rather impressive growth spurt, he wasn't nearly as big as Jackal. No one was. No, Marui didn't get the pleasure of Jackal's company, but he wasn't stuck with Kirihara. He didn't get to hang out with Niou, but he didn't have to be bored by Yagyuu. Even better: he got to play third wheel to Yanagi and Sanada. He wasn't Yukimura and he had no place in that little trifecta, nor did he want one. Yanagi wasn't so bad - nice, if quiet. But with Sanada there, next to him, breathing down his neck, he couldn't complain about anything. He'd actually tried reasoning quietly with Yanagi about the insanity of the workout during a set of sit-ups, but somehow Sanada had heard and assigned him an extra fifteen for whining. It hadn't even been whining!
Marui attempted to unstick himself from the scratchy sheets, shifting sore, sweaty limbs as little as possible. He felt a drop of sweat make its slow way down over his collar bone and shoulder, grossing him out and not doing anything to cool him off. He shuddered. He wasn't going to survive the week.
"Bunta," the quiet whisper barely carried over the hum of cicadas, but the groan of the bed frame next to his definitely did.
"You never call me by my given name in front of our teammates," Marui turned his head towards Jackal's impressive silhouette.
"They're sleeping."
"Ah. Yes. Well, what makes you talkative this evening? Aren't you so exhausted that you want to fall dead asleep? We all know that was the plan, after all."
There was a short pause before Jackal answered. "I've been having trouble sleeping on these beds... They're uncomfortable."
Marui snorted and immediately covered his mouth. He lifted his head and checked the only other occupied bed in the room. Kirihara didn't move, which didn't surprise Marui in the least; the kid fell asleep all kinds of places. The only person in the universe more adept at sleeping was that fanboy of his from Hyoutei.
"You haven't been sleeping well either," Jackal didn't say it like a question, which meant he knew that Marui had spent the nights laying in his puddle of sweat and staring at the ceiling in misery.
"It's too hot to sleep properly. And why the hell didn't you say anything sooner if you were awake?"
"I was hoping that one of us would eventually get some rest."
"Well... that's kinda thoughtful," Marui admitted reluctantly.
"You're hot?"
"Yes, Jackal. I'm hot. I think I've said it a million times since we got here and that hasn't changed in the time we've spent at this beautiful summer retreat."
"There's a lake..."
"What?" He covered his mouth again. He was really going to have to get control of those little outbursts. They both listened for any movement from their teammates. Clearly, Sanada's Operation Exhaust Team was working for everyone else.
"Kirihara found it, actually," Jackal continued after several minutes passed without any sound from Kirihara or the room across the hall.
"So, his random activity has proven useful, after all." Marui climbed off the bed. Unless the lake was fed by a hot spring - and they'd all be smelling sulfur in that case - it would feel infinitely better than this house. "Come on, Jackal. We're going swimming." He could just see his partner's toothy smile in the scant moonlight the window provided. He grabbed his t-shirt off the foot of his bed, yanked it over his head, and noticed that Jackal was doing the same. They stopped at the door to the room to shove their feet into their tennis shoes and continued to creep out, concentrating on being as quiet as possible. They were so focused, they didn't notice the shift of the figure in the bed across from Jackal's.
Down the stairs, out the back door, Marui tried not to laugh or make any other noise. It felt good to be breaking out of Sanada's structured days. There was enough moonlight to easily find their way along the path that lead from the cabin. They hurried along it, not quite running. It was amazing that after days of running, he could still move quickly and wanted to.
"It's not far," Jackal didn't say the words so much as breath them as he turned off the path and into some brush. Marui was doubly glad that he'd taken time to grab his shirt. He didn't want to be wandering around the woods in naught but his boxers.
He wouldn't have been wandering long. They quickly came out of some trees that opened to a lake shore. It was a much bigger lake than Marui'd expected. Big enough to be put on a map. He briefly wondered what its name was... then he noticed Jackal stripping and such details seemed trivial. He hurried to join his partner, kicking his shoes off at the base of a tree and throwing his shirt and boxers over a branch. Jackal was already walking to the water by the time Marui'd undressed, and he waited till Jackal was knee deep before running at the water and his partner with the full intention of knocking him down. Only, he forgot sometimes that Jackal was nicknamed the Wall. He hit Jackal hard... and Jackal didn't so much as flinch. Marui clung to the broad shoulders futilely. Jackal's laughter rumbled in his chest, Marui had only a moment to suffer indignance before he was plucked from Jackal's back, yanked around his body, and tossed further into the lake. He hit the water with a slap and tried to imagine that he hadn't actually squealed and flailed on the way down.
Jackal was still laughing when he came up sputtering. "Not cool," he didn't want to sound as petulant as he did.
"You tried to knock me down."
"But I didn't."
"Only because you couldn't."
"Totally irrelevant."
Jackal waded out to him and Marui couldn't help noticing that the water only came up to Jackal's hips. It was cold. The lake must've been fed by those mountains that had to be around somewhere. He shivered in the pause of conversation and activity.
"Not hot anymore?" Jackal smiled a small smile - just the tiniest curve of his mouth that was beyond sexy in Marui's esteemed opinion.
"Not so much. No." Though, it was a welcome change from the heat, he didn't particularly like being cold, either. Marui was a person of moderate temperatures; he liked to save "extreme" for things like emotions, tennis, and eating.
"I could keep you warm," Jackal's voice was low and rough, and Marui didn't have to guess what he meant. Even though they were in the middle of nowhere, there was something incredibly arousing about Jackal saying that out in the open.
"You wouldn't hear any arguments from me," Marui's fingers found Jackal's leg, sliding up the firm muscles to the smooth plain of the front of his hip.
Jackal groaned, and it was all the warning Marui received before arms wrapped around him and yanked him against his partner's very warm chest. He tilted his head up to meet Jackal's kiss. It was impatient, like it had been waiting all week for this moment. He opened to the kiss, inviting Jackal deeper, moaning into the press of lips.
His leg slid against Jackal's, and a knee slid between his. He sucked in a breath, and Jackal sucked on his bottom lip. The water lapped against his back, and Marui was surprised that it wasn't evaporating with how hot he felt - an infinitely better kind of heat than he'd felt all week. He scraped his teeth down Jackal's neck, loving the growl that rumbled through Jackal's chest and into his, loving the hands tightening on his back, loving the way he was pressed so firmly against Jackal that he wasn't sure he'd be able to move.
A dark figure watched from the trees near the lake's shore with eyes wide, breath short, heart pounding, and shorts tight.
Those hands on his back and hips were gripping and groping and Marui knew that he'd spend the rest of the week looking like bruised fruit. It only made him want to return the favor. "Pick me up, 'Hara." He didn't have to ask twice, and large, strong hands slid down over his ass, grabbed, and lifted. Their chests rubbed together. Their erections pressed against one another. It felt too good. Marui leaned in and sunk his teeth into Jackal's shoulder. Jackal grunted, and those hands on his ass gripped unforgivingly tight. His legs wrapped around Jackal, pulling him closer to the delicious friction.
God, it felt good. Nothing felt as good as this. Marui's fingers dug in where they clung to Jackal's back, nails biting skin. Jackal loved it. He knew Jackal loved it by the way he groaned into Marui's hair and the way he roughly ground against him. Marui couldn't keep his voice down, secretly enjoying the way any sounds they made echoed back at them in the clearing. They thrust against each other; faster; heat building. The water splashed against them, cold droplets dotting Jackal's skin. Marui licked them away.
He wasn't going to last. He pressed his face into Jackal's chest, hot against his cheek. His teeth clenched. Heat curled low in his belly, his balls drew up painfully tight. Jackal grunted, choked, and jerked; his hands tightened and their hips bumped together painfully hard. Come spurted hot and sticky between them. Marui thrust against Jackal, sliding in the thick and viscous liquid. He felt his muscles seizing, felt the heat erupt. It hit him like a wave, a dozen waves. He trembled with them, lucky to still have Jackal's arms holding him up. He couldn't breathe or think. He just held on until the world came back into focus.
"Bunta... I need to put you down," Jackal's voice was strained and his breathing was labored.
Marui only nodded, and the water was even colder this time. He leaned against Jackal and let it rinse away any evidence of what had just happened. They sagged together, catching their breath. Marui used the time to enjoy the way Jackal's skin felt when it was wet. "You always know how to cheer me up, Kuwa-chan."
"Of course I do, Buntita."
"I thought -ito was the masculine ending."
"It is, but Buntita sounds cuter."
"You are really lucky that I don't take offense to that sort of thing." Marui finally stood under his own power and looked up to Jackal's smiling face.
The bushes near the water's edge shook with hurried movement.
"Kirihara thinks that we didn't notice him," Jackal chuckled.
"The little pervert. That should give him something to think about for the rest of the camp."
"Who's the pervert? We let him watch," Jackal raised an eyebrow.
Marui shrugged. "He needed an education. I don't really care about anything else when you're touching me, anyway." He lowered himself backwards into the water, legs lifting up as he floated.
Fingers slid along his back under the water, and he shivered. "I intend to be the only one touching you."
"Possessive." Marui didn't mind.
"I'm possessive? You left a bite mark."
"I'm going to have bruises all over my back and hips and ass."
"It's not my fault you have such pale skin." Marui knew that his skin was one of Jackal's favorite things, so the comment had no weight.
"It should be pretty interesting in the showers tomorrow."
"I don't think anyone will say anything..." Which meant that Jackal hoped that no one would say anything. Niou might, but Marui wouldn't mention that.
"I just hope it wrecks Sanada's zen a little to see finger marks on my ass."
"You can wreck anyone's zen."
"I don't know... I'm feeling pretty at peace with the natural world at the moment."
"Zen?"
"Sure."
"What we just did is zen?"
"Why not? Don't you feel closer to enlightenment? My inner voice is definitely quieted."
"Did you just compare orgasm to satori?"
"Scandalized yet?"
"No, I think you're onto something. The buddhist monks should've discovered it ages ago."
"It kinda involves being tied to the flesh a little, though."
Jackal shrugged. "But it's a kind of 'out of body' experience."
Marui laughed and sank into the water. When he came back up Jackal brushed his wet bangs back from his face. He did feel calmer. "Mm. 'Hara, we should meditate like this more often."
Disclaimer: PoT and its characters do not belong to me. I'm just filling in the gaps for Konomi.
Warnings: mildly graphic m/m, voyeurism?, profanity, future timeline
Notes: Many thanks to my beta who is my fanfiction heart and soul. There's a great wiki on zen buddhism if you need it, though any references in this fic are largely irreverent. Written for wolfe_tone for pot_bth
Seeking Enlightenment
Training camp was not the way Marui Bunta dreamed of spending his summer vacation. Beach trips. Video games. Sleeping late. Eating too much ice cream and washing it down with too much soda. That was a vacation. Ideally, Sanada only figured into his vacation plans for the three days of mandatory practice each week of their summer break.
The bus hit another section of unsteady road, jostling Marui to knock his head against the window again. He gritted his teeth, cursed under his breath, and prayed for them to arrive at the lodgings soon. They were heading vaguely east - his genius didn't necessarily extend to geography and directions, so he didn't know exactly where they were or where they were going. The meager airflow provided by the windows - only half of which would lower at all - did nothing to alleviate the heavy summer humidity. The backs of Marui's thighs felt glued to the cheap vinyl bus seating with sweat. Not even his pack of emergency road snacks did anything to lift his mood... particularly because he'd eaten almost all of it. Kirihara had started the trip out chattering like the little monkey that he was, deteriorated into complaining, and now his whining was a constant counterpoint to the frequent applications of the air-brakes. Niou and Yagyuu weren't even sitting together. Niou had fallen asleep shortly after failing to convince Kirihara that they were driving to mainland Asia. Yagyuu was doing his summer homework, which made Marui roll his eyes because nobody - not even geniuses - did their homework until the weekend before it was due. Somewhere along the ride, Yanagi had lost reception for his laptop and resorted to his old notebook methods. Marui thought he was probably revising his planned training regimen for the trip. Sanada sat at the front of the bus, unwavering and silent. He'd decided on the training camp at the last minute. Yukimura wasn't with them. It had been three years since his surgery, and he seemed fully recovered, but the doctors kept a close eye on him. He'd be at the hospital for the week undergoing a variety of medical tests and physical examinations. Sanada's response to Yukimura's hospitalization had been the spontaneous training camp adventure. Marui understood: he was worried. They all were. Yukimura would always be their captain, and he seemed fine. The doctors' constant supervision always made them nervous, though. Sanada mellowed a little when Yukimura was there to run the show, but on this bus ride all Marui saw was the stern, set features of Sanada from their senior year of junior high - the Sanada that had to win it all for Yukimura. It was a side of Sanada that set Marui's nerves on end. He'd rather hope for the best and then kick back and take it easy while fate worked her way.
His hair lifted off of the back of his neck, and he turned to look at the culprit sitting next to him. Jackal let the hair fall through his fingers, and it stuck in patches to his skin. Marui held in a grimace. "You're sweaty," the deep timbre of Jackal's voice barely carried over the rumble of the bus' engine, the hiss of the air-brakes, and Kirihara's whining.
"Duh. Aren't you?"
"A little, yeah," Jackal shrugged, and Marui remembered that he was more or less from a rain forest. Clearly, Jackal would not sympathize.
"This whole trip is hair-brained." The heat, the long, bumpy car-ride, and his partner's latest less-than-complimentary comment were making him feel a little less than diplomatic.
"Give Sanada a break. He's trying to make something productive of this week..."
"No. He's trying to fill up the hours with strenuous activity that will keep him from thinking too hard and make him tired enough that he'll just fall dead asleep at night."
"That too."
Jackal smiled and Marui had to admit that in a pathetic way, it was kind of cute how Sanada freaked out over Yukimura. But he would never admit that aloud. "Anyway, he could freak out on his own without dragging us into it."
"I think that it's reassuring for him to have us around. Like when we were in junior high."
"Okay. Great. So, we're baby-sitting Sanada while he makes us run a ridiculous number of kilometers. I'll let my ancestors know that my charitable works for the year are so done." He was bitching, and sounding dangerously like Kirihara, and he knew it. But he was hot enough to not be hungry - some injustices could not be tolerated lightly.
Jackal only smiled at him and offered a bottle of water. It was lukewarm from the heat of the bus, but it felt good moistening his throat. "Jackal, I want to sleep for the rest of the ride, but I can't lean against the window because I keep smacking my head, and even though I know it'll be hot with our skin touching, I'm going to lay on you because you'll be more comfortable," and Marui flopped over unceremoniously half-into his partner's lap. Jackal was kind enough not to argue and even readjusted Marui's limbs so they'd both be comfortable.
Marui closed his eyes. Jackal was warm, but it was different than the suffocating heat of the bus. It was a good kind of warm. The kind that made his eyes stay shut, and then made him forget anything else for a while.
*****
They went to a prestigious school, but it was no Hyoutei. So, it came as no surprise to Marui that the "training camp" wasn't a luxurious sports complex. But he hadn't expected the run-down cabin in no-man's land. What were they? Seigaku? He didn't even see tennis courts. What was the point of this trip? He quickly felt the good mood that his nap had provided evaporating in the face of their accommodations for the week. Renji stood by Sanada's side, likely asking questions about the surrounding area. Kirihara had already bounded off to explore said area. Three years of aging hadn't managed to settle him down much. Marui privately thought he needed a healthy dose of ritalin. Both doubles pairs stood looking at the cabin. Even Yagyuu looked dubious.
"This place is probably haunted..." Niou's voice trailed off ominously.
"Can it, Niou. Kirihara's not around and none of us are buying it." Marui didn't mean to snap. Usually, he found Niou funny; he just wasn't in the mood. He wanted modern convenience. It was a western-style building, so Marui was holding out hope for an air-conditioner or at least fans. He started up the rickety cobbled walkway to the house. "Sanada, is this place locked?"
In response, a key was thrown to his partner. "Set up your bunks and meet down here for conditioning."
The only conditioning Marui was in the mood for involved a compression unit, but he made his appropriate affirmation as he followed his doubles partner into the cabin.
It was hot inside. Hot and stale. Not that he'd ever been in one, but Marui imagined it was what a grave felt like. They wandered in slowly, looking around. It seemed like a rustic vacation house. Probably privately owned by some people the Sanada family knew. Jackal and Yagyuu immediately headed up the stairs. Marui and Niou stood in the common area, staring around.
"Okay. So it doesn't look haunted, but it is kind of decrepit," Niou's voice was deadpan. It wasn't one of his jokes.
Marui nodded his agreement. The place clearly hadn't seen any recent use. There was a fine layer of dust on everything. Rather than running, their first order of business should probably be to make the cabin livable... not that he was going to suggest it. Marui hated housework. He was forever conniving ways to make his younger brothers do his chores. A glance at the far wall made his heart swell: a thermostat! He hurried over, adjusted the temperature, turned it on, and waited for the telltale hum. Nothing. Weird. He looked out the nearest window and easily saw what he suspected used to be the compression unit, and had been transformed by time and nature into a planter. Niou'd followed him over and joined him at the window. A low whistle from his teammate confirmed his suspicions that he was looking at the air-conditioner and that it was in no condition to work. He almost let his forehead sag against the glass, but it was covered in some grime that Marui did not want on his forehead, so he just sighed instead.
By this time, Jackal and Yagyuu were coming back down the stairs, each step echoing loudly in the otherwise quiet house. "What are you two doing? We need to meet Sanada back outside." Yagyuu could really get on Marui's nerves sometimes. Sure he could be kind of devilish and cool on the tennis courts, but Marui suspected that was Niou's influence. Off of them, he was the kind of goody-goody that made Marui want to act like a grade-schooler and put gum in his hair.
Niou chuckled and turned towards the stairs. "I hear ya, but we're gonna wanna open these windows. The AC's not working."
Jackal only nodded and went to doing exactly that. Marui swallowed up his bitterness at his doubles partner being infinitely better at dealing with the weather than he was and hurried up the stairs. There were two bedrooms with four beds in each; Niou was in one, putting his stuff on a bed next to Yagyuu's. Marui turned to the opposite door and tossed his duffle on a bed that creaked alarmingly. They were tiny, metal-framed twin beds. Jackal was going to look comical sleeping in one. He'd had a growth spurt during their freshman year of high school that turned him into a veritable giant. He was 6'4" when he'd finally stopped growing. It impressed Marui as much as it pissed him off - he'd never grown over 5'6". While in the room, he went ahead and opened the window, waiting for a breeze that never came. Weren't they near the mountains? Shouldn't there be some kind of cooling wind? Maybe the nights would be colder. He'd heard about that happening in the mountains, and while he knew they weren't in the mountains... they had to be near them. He didn't bother to grab his tennis racket before he left, as there weren't any visible courts. Some tennis camp.
When he got downstairs Kirihara was grousing his way inside and up the stairs to drop his bag, and everyone else was unloading some basic foodstuffs. He was secretly glad that he'd missed any heavy-lifting, and waited to join Jackal as he made his way back outside to start their training camp.
*****
Night four of training camp found Marui lying in bed hating life... or more specifically hating Sanada. They'd brought up the air-conditioning on day one, after a particularly grueling session of physical conditioning. Sanada's rationale had been that dojo don't have air-conditioning. Right. And Sanada had only become more zen by the day - a steely stoicism replacing his usual zeal in the face of the heat and humidity. Marui didn't know whether it would be the weather or his vice-captain that drove him insane first.
It didn't help that Renji had decided that all activities would be done with a partner. Seemed awesome at first... until he realized that Jackal would be permanently partnered with Kirihara - being the only one who could continually control the little brat. Marui honestly didn't know how Jackal didn't lose his patience and snap the cocky sophomore in two. Despite Kirihara's rather impressive growth spurt, he wasn't nearly as big as Jackal. No one was. No, Marui didn't get the pleasure of Jackal's company, but he wasn't stuck with Kirihara. He didn't get to hang out with Niou, but he didn't have to be bored by Yagyuu. Even better: he got to play third wheel to Yanagi and Sanada. He wasn't Yukimura and he had no place in that little trifecta, nor did he want one. Yanagi wasn't so bad - nice, if quiet. But with Sanada there, next to him, breathing down his neck, he couldn't complain about anything. He'd actually tried reasoning quietly with Yanagi about the insanity of the workout during a set of sit-ups, but somehow Sanada had heard and assigned him an extra fifteen for whining. It hadn't even been whining!
Marui attempted to unstick himself from the scratchy sheets, shifting sore, sweaty limbs as little as possible. He felt a drop of sweat make its slow way down over his collar bone and shoulder, grossing him out and not doing anything to cool him off. He shuddered. He wasn't going to survive the week.
"Bunta," the quiet whisper barely carried over the hum of cicadas, but the groan of the bed frame next to his definitely did.
"You never call me by my given name in front of our teammates," Marui turned his head towards Jackal's impressive silhouette.
"They're sleeping."
"Ah. Yes. Well, what makes you talkative this evening? Aren't you so exhausted that you want to fall dead asleep? We all know that was the plan, after all."
There was a short pause before Jackal answered. "I've been having trouble sleeping on these beds... They're uncomfortable."
Marui snorted and immediately covered his mouth. He lifted his head and checked the only other occupied bed in the room. Kirihara didn't move, which didn't surprise Marui in the least; the kid fell asleep all kinds of places. The only person in the universe more adept at sleeping was that fanboy of his from Hyoutei.
"You haven't been sleeping well either," Jackal didn't say it like a question, which meant he knew that Marui had spent the nights laying in his puddle of sweat and staring at the ceiling in misery.
"It's too hot to sleep properly. And why the hell didn't you say anything sooner if you were awake?"
"I was hoping that one of us would eventually get some rest."
"Well... that's kinda thoughtful," Marui admitted reluctantly.
"You're hot?"
"Yes, Jackal. I'm hot. I think I've said it a million times since we got here and that hasn't changed in the time we've spent at this beautiful summer retreat."
"There's a lake..."
"What?" He covered his mouth again. He was really going to have to get control of those little outbursts. They both listened for any movement from their teammates. Clearly, Sanada's Operation Exhaust Team was working for everyone else.
"Kirihara found it, actually," Jackal continued after several minutes passed without any sound from Kirihara or the room across the hall.
"So, his random activity has proven useful, after all." Marui climbed off the bed. Unless the lake was fed by a hot spring - and they'd all be smelling sulfur in that case - it would feel infinitely better than this house. "Come on, Jackal. We're going swimming." He could just see his partner's toothy smile in the scant moonlight the window provided. He grabbed his t-shirt off the foot of his bed, yanked it over his head, and noticed that Jackal was doing the same. They stopped at the door to the room to shove their feet into their tennis shoes and continued to creep out, concentrating on being as quiet as possible. They were so focused, they didn't notice the shift of the figure in the bed across from Jackal's.
Down the stairs, out the back door, Marui tried not to laugh or make any other noise. It felt good to be breaking out of Sanada's structured days. There was enough moonlight to easily find their way along the path that lead from the cabin. They hurried along it, not quite running. It was amazing that after days of running, he could still move quickly and wanted to.
"It's not far," Jackal didn't say the words so much as breath them as he turned off the path and into some brush. Marui was doubly glad that he'd taken time to grab his shirt. He didn't want to be wandering around the woods in naught but his boxers.
He wouldn't have been wandering long. They quickly came out of some trees that opened to a lake shore. It was a much bigger lake than Marui'd expected. Big enough to be put on a map. He briefly wondered what its name was... then he noticed Jackal stripping and such details seemed trivial. He hurried to join his partner, kicking his shoes off at the base of a tree and throwing his shirt and boxers over a branch. Jackal was already walking to the water by the time Marui'd undressed, and he waited till Jackal was knee deep before running at the water and his partner with the full intention of knocking him down. Only, he forgot sometimes that Jackal was nicknamed the Wall. He hit Jackal hard... and Jackal didn't so much as flinch. Marui clung to the broad shoulders futilely. Jackal's laughter rumbled in his chest, Marui had only a moment to suffer indignance before he was plucked from Jackal's back, yanked around his body, and tossed further into the lake. He hit the water with a slap and tried to imagine that he hadn't actually squealed and flailed on the way down.
Jackal was still laughing when he came up sputtering. "Not cool," he didn't want to sound as petulant as he did.
"You tried to knock me down."
"But I didn't."
"Only because you couldn't."
"Totally irrelevant."
Jackal waded out to him and Marui couldn't help noticing that the water only came up to Jackal's hips. It was cold. The lake must've been fed by those mountains that had to be around somewhere. He shivered in the pause of conversation and activity.
"Not hot anymore?" Jackal smiled a small smile - just the tiniest curve of his mouth that was beyond sexy in Marui's esteemed opinion.
"Not so much. No." Though, it was a welcome change from the heat, he didn't particularly like being cold, either. Marui was a person of moderate temperatures; he liked to save "extreme" for things like emotions, tennis, and eating.
"I could keep you warm," Jackal's voice was low and rough, and Marui didn't have to guess what he meant. Even though they were in the middle of nowhere, there was something incredibly arousing about Jackal saying that out in the open.
"You wouldn't hear any arguments from me," Marui's fingers found Jackal's leg, sliding up the firm muscles to the smooth plain of the front of his hip.
Jackal groaned, and it was all the warning Marui received before arms wrapped around him and yanked him against his partner's very warm chest. He tilted his head up to meet Jackal's kiss. It was impatient, like it had been waiting all week for this moment. He opened to the kiss, inviting Jackal deeper, moaning into the press of lips.
His leg slid against Jackal's, and a knee slid between his. He sucked in a breath, and Jackal sucked on his bottom lip. The water lapped against his back, and Marui was surprised that it wasn't evaporating with how hot he felt - an infinitely better kind of heat than he'd felt all week. He scraped his teeth down Jackal's neck, loving the growl that rumbled through Jackal's chest and into his, loving the hands tightening on his back, loving the way he was pressed so firmly against Jackal that he wasn't sure he'd be able to move.
A dark figure watched from the trees near the lake's shore with eyes wide, breath short, heart pounding, and shorts tight.
Those hands on his back and hips were gripping and groping and Marui knew that he'd spend the rest of the week looking like bruised fruit. It only made him want to return the favor. "Pick me up, 'Hara." He didn't have to ask twice, and large, strong hands slid down over his ass, grabbed, and lifted. Their chests rubbed together. Their erections pressed against one another. It felt too good. Marui leaned in and sunk his teeth into Jackal's shoulder. Jackal grunted, and those hands on his ass gripped unforgivingly tight. His legs wrapped around Jackal, pulling him closer to the delicious friction.
God, it felt good. Nothing felt as good as this. Marui's fingers dug in where they clung to Jackal's back, nails biting skin. Jackal loved it. He knew Jackal loved it by the way he groaned into Marui's hair and the way he roughly ground against him. Marui couldn't keep his voice down, secretly enjoying the way any sounds they made echoed back at them in the clearing. They thrust against each other; faster; heat building. The water splashed against them, cold droplets dotting Jackal's skin. Marui licked them away.
He wasn't going to last. He pressed his face into Jackal's chest, hot against his cheek. His teeth clenched. Heat curled low in his belly, his balls drew up painfully tight. Jackal grunted, choked, and jerked; his hands tightened and their hips bumped together painfully hard. Come spurted hot and sticky between them. Marui thrust against Jackal, sliding in the thick and viscous liquid. He felt his muscles seizing, felt the heat erupt. It hit him like a wave, a dozen waves. He trembled with them, lucky to still have Jackal's arms holding him up. He couldn't breathe or think. He just held on until the world came back into focus.
"Bunta... I need to put you down," Jackal's voice was strained and his breathing was labored.
Marui only nodded, and the water was even colder this time. He leaned against Jackal and let it rinse away any evidence of what had just happened. They sagged together, catching their breath. Marui used the time to enjoy the way Jackal's skin felt when it was wet. "You always know how to cheer me up, Kuwa-chan."
"Of course I do, Buntita."
"I thought -ito was the masculine ending."
"It is, but Buntita sounds cuter."
"You are really lucky that I don't take offense to that sort of thing." Marui finally stood under his own power and looked up to Jackal's smiling face.
The bushes near the water's edge shook with hurried movement.
"Kirihara thinks that we didn't notice him," Jackal chuckled.
"The little pervert. That should give him something to think about for the rest of the camp."
"Who's the pervert? We let him watch," Jackal raised an eyebrow.
Marui shrugged. "He needed an education. I don't really care about anything else when you're touching me, anyway." He lowered himself backwards into the water, legs lifting up as he floated.
Fingers slid along his back under the water, and he shivered. "I intend to be the only one touching you."
"Possessive." Marui didn't mind.
"I'm possessive? You left a bite mark."
"I'm going to have bruises all over my back and hips and ass."
"It's not my fault you have such pale skin." Marui knew that his skin was one of Jackal's favorite things, so the comment had no weight.
"It should be pretty interesting in the showers tomorrow."
"I don't think anyone will say anything..." Which meant that Jackal hoped that no one would say anything. Niou might, but Marui wouldn't mention that.
"I just hope it wrecks Sanada's zen a little to see finger marks on my ass."
"You can wreck anyone's zen."
"I don't know... I'm feeling pretty at peace with the natural world at the moment."
"Zen?"
"Sure."
"What we just did is zen?"
"Why not? Don't you feel closer to enlightenment? My inner voice is definitely quieted."
"Did you just compare orgasm to satori?"
"Scandalized yet?"
"No, I think you're onto something. The buddhist monks should've discovered it ages ago."
"It kinda involves being tied to the flesh a little, though."
Jackal shrugged. "But it's a kind of 'out of body' experience."
Marui laughed and sank into the water. When he came back up Jackal brushed his wet bangs back from his face. He did feel calmer. "Mm. 'Hara, we should meditate like this more often."