log; complete
when; 14 July, late evening.
rating; PG-13. Mildly adult situations. (o mai.)
characters; Sakurazuka Seishirou (sakurazuka_san), Lawrence Hill (nomorechains).
summary; On the day of the love curse, Seishirou decides to reveal a very important detail to Lawrence in the middle of the night.
log;
He had known that Lawrence would show up eventually. It didn't matter whether or not it was of his own will - either way, he would have the other there, waiting for him underneath the very sakura tree in which he sat comfortably. A light breeze tossed about the perennially blossom-covered branches, petals dancing within the smoke from his cigarette... the very same wind seemed to toss about the long tails of his dark coat while he exhaled more silvery wisps into the air. Yes, he was certain that the boy would be there any moment.
A small smirk curved his lips at the thought. Yes, he hadn't known him for too long... and yet already, this boy was guessing whether or not he truly had a connection with the sakura tree. How cute, really. It seemed to oddly fascinate Seishirou, this boy's inquisitive nature. Almomst like a certain someone's... but not really. He eyed a blossom that passed his line of vision as it fell gently to the ground. He'd come soon enough.
Lawr ran a hand back through his wind-swept hair, trying to tame it as he stopped a ways away from the sakura tree, only able to make out a black silhouette that seemed to darken the bright petals. That would be him then, wouldn't it? Seishirou. Subaru had warned him to stay away, but... well, mistakes were always best avoided once they'd been played through once before, right? He smiled, shaking his head slightly. Besides, today he felt like he simply needed to see the man. Maybe his curiosity was getting the better of him once again?
Another moment's pause, and then he continued walking, striding up to the trunk of the tree and looking up at the man. It was strange; he seemed to cut a rather lonely figure against such a beautiful backdrop. It was almost haunting. A hand was placed on his hip, and he smirked. "Have I kept you waiting?"
He heard the voice before he even saw the figure... even before he heard the soft crunching of dead branches underfoot. Seishirou had already had an idea of just what the sound of his voice was. And once he heard the greeting, he smiled and looked down to the other. Yes, Lawrence had a distinctive quality to his voice - given the chance, he would have been able to tell his voice from others'.
"Does it matter?" he answered enigmatically while more smoke left his cigarette. A cold, analytical amber eye stared down to Lawrence, and then Seishirou sat upright against the trunk of the tree. "Interesting. You're alone, aren't you?" Ashes fell from his cigarette, falling from the air to land right atop Lawrence's nose.
Did it matter? Maybe not in the big scheme of things. But for right now, it was simply a question of manners. And wasn't he a kind boy? Lawr liked to think so, at least sometimes. He brushed the ashes from his nose, frowning at them as they were whisked away by a slight breeze. Really, he and Subaru needed to stop smoking. It was bad for their health, not to mention that it smelled terrible.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Answering a question with a question. A children's game, but one that suited purposes nicely. Lawr turned to lean back against the tree, gazing out at the rest of Xanadu without the least sense of interest. He'd been called here, yes, and so he wanted to know why. But where was the fun in rushing it? Just another game of cat-and-mouse.
Cute. He knew that game too well, and Seishirou was almost a pro at it. He had the feeling that Lawrence knew such... that he was toying with him. The thought almost gave rise to indignation, but he knew better than to let such a thing cloud his thoughts. No, the upper hand belonged to him. And he would make certain of such.
Seishirou chuckled a bit before he suddenly landed neatly before Lawrence... before the tree. The harsh amber eye had softened like ice cream, but the opalescent pearl remained as icy as marble. "A protector or two made certain to toss in their hats," he replied, taking one step closer - two more, and he'd have the boy trapped. A smile as slick as water, he kept his eye transfixed upon the other as he leaned against the tree trunk. "Lawr-kun."
It gave him a bit of a start for Seishirou to have suddenly landed next to him like that. Wasn't that dangerous? But then again, the man gave off an air of danger; a little matter such as height was probably nothing to him, right? Lawr met his gaze, studying the different-colored eyes with interest. It reminded him of Subaru. Didn't he also have two different colored eyes? He knew that there was something between them, that much was obvious. But for it to seem to run so deeply.. Maybe it wasn't a surprise that Subaru was stuck on him.
"Oh, did they?" He kept still as Seishirou moved, more than used to this sort of play. He'd seen it more than he'd cared to back in Los Angeles, and knew that to falter now would only lose him the game. So he held his ground and kept his gaze steady, smiling back as he said, "I hadn't expected as such. Maybe from one, but not two."
"Care to take a guess as to whom?" Seishirou called to Lawrence coolly, inhaling more smoke to expel into the other's face. The smile on his face widened, almost brightened as a child's would come Christmas. Yes, Lawr was a tough one - street smart, for certain. That's what made it so entertaining.
Deadened sakura branches and petals crunched underneath the slick black heel of his shoe, and he was closer now. Two. "Or do you care to guess why, instead?" he smoothly continued. Such an interesting boy. But which question would he pick? A glint of a sly grin lit in his eyes for one moment as the breeze picked up, tossing pale pink sakura blooms to contrast against the billowing tails of his coat. Oh, this was getting good.
Lawr fought to keep from coughing, to maintain his cool exterior as he waved the smoke out of his face. Disgusting. A slight smirk touched his lips, and he cocked his head to the side a degree. "I have a feeling I know who. Although.." He shrugged slightly, barely even noticeable, "I suppose the better question would be why."
And then Seishirou was closer, and Lawr could feel the edges of his coat brushing against his legs in the wind. Oh, such a dangerous, treacherous, and addictive game this was. He knew the man was dangerous, knew it from the time he'd seen private dreams, but really, where was the excitement in playing a boring game? It was almost exhilirating to be here, to follow along or maybe lead as he waited to see where the game would end.
For what seemed too long a moment, Seishirou merely allowed silence to continue. It wasn't true silence, though... sweet little whispers intertwined with the rustling of the sakura in the wind. He still could hear Tree-san at times. The link seemed inseparable, even post-mortem. As it should be. A cunning gaze followed the movements of the wind, the petals that seemed to ethereally glow in the moonlight, the dead remains on the ground.
And then his stare rounded onto Lawrence once more. One. He had taken the last step. One hand moved to the trunk of the tree, the other to graze over Lawrence's hand before he again took another hit from his cigarette. "You know why the sakura turn pink," he replied in a deadly calm. "Don't you?"
He watched as Seishirou seemed to be distracted by the falling petals, waiting for the silence to end, for something to give, snap, make it end. But it felt too precious, too singular for him to break it himself. As different-colored eyes were once again focussed on him, the slight distance between them gone, and the question asked, Lawr couldn't quite help but feel as though something wasn't going to go quite as he'd thought.
A slight nod, and he murmured, "I do." He'd heard the story from Seishirou, then Subaru had elaborated. "What of it?" A phantom pain pulsed in his chest, reminding him of a time that seemed to have been eons ago, the stab wound that was a true mark of ownership.
"You know...," he muttered, looking over Lawrence's figure scrutinously - a similar build... rather a nice display of male beauty. His roaming stare once more locked onto Lawrence, this time keeping a steady look into his eyes. Something lingered there.... what, curiosity? Perhaps a small tinge of apprehension... perhaps. The thought grew some odd offshoots in Seishirou's mind, but quickly he suppressed them and leaned in a bit to Lawrence.
"You wanted to know who the Sakurazukamori was..." The hand he had free, still clutching a half-burned cigarette, rose into the air. "If it was this man who is standing in front of you..." At his command, the sakura petals fell like a dense snow, and an all-consuming blackness surrounded them. Only he, the tree, and Lawrence remained. A deceptively warm smile followed, and he leaned back once more. "Looks as though you've gotten your answer right now." If Subaru had been as thorough in the task as he knew he would be, Seishirou knew that, indeed, the ante was raised now.
Lawr couldn't deny the slight thrill of apprehension that trailed down his spine at seeing Seishirou look him over and lean in closer. There was no denying it; the man was damn good-looking. If this was another, more familiar world, and he was once again immersed in the seedy world his brother owned, he wouldn't have minded taking this one for a customer.
He followed Seishirou's hand as it was lifted up, and then his eyes went wide, shocked by the sudden lack of..... anything. His gaze broken, he looked around, trying to find some hint, some sign that this was just a dream and that they were still standing in Xanadu. Lawr looked once more to Seishirou, controlled stare and passive expression. "It seems I have, haven't I?" He could tell that this was dangerous, past the thrilling rush and into the realm of possible injury, but he couldn't stop himself. "So what are you going to do about it?"
Seishirou chuckled under his breath, taking in a last long, slow hit. The charcoal-tinged smoke filled his lungs - perhaps the other's lungs felt a similar tightening sensation - and the flavour lingered on his tongue long after he dropped the Mild Seven cigarette butt to the ground. "What do you think I should do, Lawr-kun?" he asked in a low mumble. Catching Lawrence's gaze, he looked down to the ground... the smoke curl was fading from the remains at his feet. "Perhaps I should be rid of you." His toe ground the cigarette... slowly, as though hoping that, by denying the oxygen for so long, the flame would die.
Once no more smoke rose into the air, he slowly looked back up to Lawrence, an eerie look of calm in his serene smile as a sakura branch curled behind the boy. "Would you care?" he asked. The branch slithered further down the trunk, looking poised to strike at any moment. "It could be arranged, you know." Just at that moment, the branch made to coil about Lawrence's throat.
What should he do? Well, there were several things Seishirou could do, Lawr mused, as he watched the slow extinguishing of the cigarette butt. Some of them weren't quite to taste, others that would haunt his dreams for nights to come, and still more that could end in simply... nothing. The two of them could just walk away, never speak of it again. But that couldn't possibly happen, now could it?
"Would I care?" He shrugged, too preoccupied with the person in front of him to notice anything else. "It depends on your meaning." And then his eyes went wide at the sensation of rough bark sliding around his neck, and suddenly the game was way out of control.
He now had the upper hand. And there was no way that he would relinquish it now that it was his. Seishirou's low-timbre laughter seemed almost to permeate the entire area around them, and the branch tightened with a jerk around Lawrence's neck. The sakura almost seemed desperate to claim him... but Seishirou himself could merely bluff on that call. He no longer had that special certain... that defining characteristic of the title Sakurazukamori. But he still could bluff around those who didn't know any better.
"I could just dispose of you right now," he replied. And well that he could - the irony of a dead man killing others seemed only fitting to him. No sacrifice, no gain, though. He damned his death for that... but it still maintained its integrity. His eyes narrowed, lending an almost malicious look to his grin as he leaned in close to Lawrence's ear. "But it depends on what Lawr-kun would like, of course."
A hand came up, and he was clutching at the branch almost desperately, control over his supposedly apathetic demeanor slipping fast. It was hard to breathe, a slow-rising panic threatening to freeze his muscles and choke him, strangle him until there was naught but a quivering child left. And it seemed like that was what Seishirou was trying to do: to scare him, to push him to the point of losing his control and freaking out. There was no real way that a simple tree could kill someone, right?
The thought made no difference, though, as the bark scratched at his throat. Lawr looked up as Seishirou leaned in, catching the slightest glimpse of that devil's smirk, and listened as the words wove a series of images through his mind. He tilted his head back, looking upwards to the best of his ability, and let a sort of detached smile touch his lips. "Of course it would. Then again, it would also depend on your whim, wouldn't it, Seishirou?"
He halted when Lawrence replied. Depend on his whim, also... Something inside this boy made him feel some sort of empathy... How curious. It was something that was similar, like a rhyme half-forgotten and corroded by time. He again chuckled, still remaining close to Lawrence's ear. "I had no idea we were on a casual name basis, Lawr-kun," he whispered, and the branch around Lawrence's neck loosened... and then disappeared.
Attraction, was that it, perhaps? He could admit, the boy held a certain allure... and he had prized himself on being rather a connoisseur of such things. But if it were mutual, in a sense.... Ah, something to take advantage of. "How intimate," he continued as he momved from Lawrence's ear to look once more in the other's eyes. The hand that had rested on the tree bark moved to hold up the boy's chin, almost in a patronising manner. "I suppose that is what you request...?"
A sense of relief washed over him as the branch disappeared, though a sliver of apprehension, warning him to be cautious, remained. To play a game with Seishirou was like walking a tightrope blindfolded, it seemed. Far too treacherous, and fraught with dangers at every step. He wanted to cut the rope, end the game, land in his safety net and walk away. But the game was so addicting..
Lawr's eyes met Seishirou's, and he smirked ever so slightly, taking the man's wrist in a light grasp and lifting it to his lips as he licked a finger, once more the stray cat. Then he grinned, Cheshire cat smile and half-hearted stare. It felt like he could deal with this, like he was learning the rules of the game again. "My request? Perhaps, perhaps not."
Unusual, definitely, for anyone to be so bold as to touch him. Even Subaru had his moments of reservation around Seishirou, and most people simply avoided him - likely due to the other's interference. And here was this bold American, grabbing his wrist and licking his finger in such a suggestive manner. Oh, he knew that the game was getting just that much more interesting. And Lawrence was holding his own - for the most part.
He smirked a bit at Lawrence, allowing his hand to stay in the other's grip before pulling it away with a jerk. "I see...." A sly look came into his eyes, and quickly his own hands had a much tighter grip on the boy's wrists. They were slammed up against the tree trunk, just over Lawrence's head. Now he had him again. "So, tell me. What will you do now?"
Lawr winced as his hands were seized, held against the tree behind him before he could react. Interesting. The last time he'd licked someone's hand, they'd run away, calling him filthy and all manner of names. And Seishirou hadn't. Not like Adrian had.
He looked up at Seishirou and smirked. It was okay. This was still something he could deal with, even with his hands pinned up above his head. "What will I do? Well, seeing as how I've lost my hands, I could do one of two things. Tell me, would you like a dislocated kneecap?" Fight or flight. The most basic of animal instincts, and Lawr wasn't above following it.
"How cute." Seishirou chuckled, this time leaning in to the boy to fully pin him to the sakura tree with his entire body. Keep pushing the envelope until, finally, it became too much. Well, it would work. After all, it usually did. And, even though Lawrence had some redeeming values, he still could not distinguish too much. And that had always been a characteristic he had run across with other people.
One hand that gripped Lawrence's wrist slid down his forearm tantalisingly. No, Lawrence wouldn't do anything, would he? Bluffing - another familiar trait. He, too wasn't clean of that, but it was to be used to its full advantage, as everything else was. "Would Lawr-kun really want to be held responsible for such cruelty?" he asked, a placid smile on his face while his hand coiled like an anaconda around the boy's forearm threateningly. "Not when I've been such a good sport...?" He was so close now... his lips brushed along Lawrence's - whether it was purely accidental or not was hard to tell. But he was curious now.
And then suddenly the space between them, no matter how small it had been, was gone. Lawr drew himself up, suddenly feeling a lot smaller and not liking it. Cute? Maybe. He'd heard it before, from time to time, but right now, in this situation, it just felt.... weird to hear. Like it wasn't meant to be a good thing at all, like daggers and poison were hiding behind the words. And it wasn't a good feeling at all.
Even if he wanted to kick Seishirou now, there was no room to. He smirked, keeping up the air. "I might, if I was given good reason to." He tilted his head to the side, lips quirking. "A good sport? I'd hate to see your bad side, then."
He could feel the tension in the other's body once he had closed in on him. Yes, Seishirou knew well enough that personal space was a liberty - if taken, one felt rather naked. The pun made him chuckle under his breath, and again, he let his lips brush along the edges of Lawrence's - more deliberately this time. The temptation was strong now... but if he gave in to it just now, the game would be lost.
It was too interesting a game to lose just yet.
"And you, Lawr-kun?" he asked, smirking maliciously by this point. "Do you have a nasty temper?" His whispers floated about on the increasing wind, and it seemed such that only the rustling of sakura was the sound about them both. "We always could find out, right?" He had ways. Subaru-kun was cute when he was angry... and he was willing to bet that Lawrence also was.
Lips brushed, and Lawr almost lost control of himself, eyelids slipping just a little further closer as he resisted the urge to lean forward just a little more so that it'd be more than just a light brush. A game. That's all this was. And he was determined not to lose. It was the least he could do, not to fall to Seishirou's whims, since he'd come to see the man against Subaru's wishes. He'd known how the other felt, and still come anyway. It felt like all he could do to at least stand his ground.
He smirked, impish and acting as if his hands weren't being held above his head, as if he wasn't afraid of the darkness that had swept in around them and wiped out the park, as if the two of them were just having a casual chat. And they were, weren't they? The echoes of whispers floating in the air sent a chill through him, and he murmured back, "We could. I suppose I would, if you provoked me the right way." And he couldn't help but wonder just where Seishirou was going with this.
The boy put on quite the brave face. It was almost commendable, if it weren't a little foolish. Seishirou didn't mind either way, though. In fact, he preferred it this way. But, no, he couldn't continue in this vein for too long. One more little whisper, one more little touch, and perhaps he would completely have Lawrence. Even still, he did allow his fingertips to trace along the other's jawline before he stepped back and let go.
"I see," he replied haphazardly. Seishirou reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a cigarette pack and lighter. "But you don't want to be angry, do you?" His amber eye, hawklike in intensity, lingered a moment as he looked over Lawrence's form once more. Certainly not bad. And then, casually, he let the tobacco of a fresh cigarette catch flame. If he had to, he would provoke the boy.
Lawr let his hands fall back to his sides, slowly, as if he couldn't bear to move any faster. Like if he did, then everything would shatter, and he'd open his eyes to find that all of this was just a dream. What kind of fun would that be? More of a nightmare than a dream, to be sure; but nightmare or not, he much rather preferred this to be reality than some ill-thought out dream.
He watched Seishirou light another cigarette and almost rolled his eyes. It would kill him someday, really it would. But what sense did it make for him to care? Lawr crossed his arms over his chest. "I'd prefer not to be." To lose your temper would mean that you had little control over it in the first place, and if you couldn't even control your own emotions, then how could you expect to control your own life?
"Oh...?" He looked up from the lit cigarette as he shut the lighter with a click of the top. He spotted the crossed arms, the loosened posture, the slight look of disapproval. And Lawrence's line of vision was right on that very vice of Seishirou's that was more like breathing than any habit ever could be. And how he had brushed the ashes so quickly away, not to mention the reaction he had seen when the smoke blew into his face. Very curious.
"You don't smoke, do you," he mused, again taking another step toward Lawrence. And once he was properly in reach of the boy, he quickly grabbed Lawrence's wrist and put the cigarette out on the skin below it. A gentle, slow burn... that certainly would leave a mark. Seishirou grinned all the while at Lawrence, barely paying mind as he continued to grind the burning ashes into his flesh. "Terrible habit to uphold, really."
"I don't," he replied, before the space between them once again shrank and his wrist taken hold of. This time, though, he couldn't control himself as he winced and let out a low hiss at the cigarette being pressed to his skin. It burned like hell, and then maybe a little more, as the sensitive flesh was marred and pain lanced up through his arm. He pulled his arm back, to be freed of Seishirou's grasp.
"I've heard that a lack of nicotine makes a smoker irritable. Does it work in the reverse for you, I wonder?" Lawr had to fight to hold his tongue, to resist letting the sudden spark of indignation take control of his words and demand an explanation. The flesh on his wrist hurt, burned, and he wasn't at all happy about having it marred as such.
The cigarette hadn't quite gone out, even after slowly burning into Lawrence's skin. Seishirou always did praise the sturdiness of Mild Sevens - they seemed a much more reliable cigarette than most others at keeping their flame. As he nursed the cinders back to full strength, he eyed the now-covered wrist, smiling satisfactorily while the other hissed in pain. Ah, yes, that would leave a mark. Just as intended.
His hand tensed as it suddenly grabbed Lawrence's neck. "Why would you need to know?" he asked rhetorically. And then the mood seemed to subtly change. The smirk warmed, blossomed into a deceptively caring smile. Even his hand seemed to loosen into a gentle hold around Lawrence's neck. "Are you worried about me, Lawr-kun?"
His breath hitched in his throat as Seishirou's hand wrapped around his neck, and he couldn't help but wonder just why he hadn't left by now. Sure, the man was an enigma all in himself, but now he'd been burned, his skin ruined forever. Maybe over time it would heal, but there would always be a mark, something to mar the once perfect flesh. Lawr raised his wrist to his mouth and licked at it, wondering if perhaps there was a way to remove the scar. But no, on the other hand, maybe he'd keep it, as a reminder to himself.
"Worried? I'd think not." And it was almost true. He wasn't worried for Seishirou, not at all. But he was beginning to worry about himself, images of more burned flesh flickering through his mind. Lawr didn't want to be burned, to be marked, not again. He'd already been marked by his brother, and once more just now; again and he could lose the game. And that was something he really didn't want.
While he took a languid hit from his cigarette, he watched the boy carefully. Worried, hmn? It seemed as though Lawrence was beginning to let that stiff upper lip crumble right before his very eyes. Oh, how Seishirou liked to see such displays. Even with Subaru-kun, those breaking points were amusing. And yet, something told him that it would be far better to let it all simmer. Thoughts like those, once they festered, were hard to uproot entirely.
"Yes, I see...," Seishirou responded in a drawl. His fingertips, almost cold as ice by the wind, made a path down Lawrence's neck to his collarbone, and the warm breath from his lips seemed only more pronounced when he was a hair away from a full-on kiss. He was tempted, yes. Quite so, and how could he not be? Instead, though, he turned to that burnt wrist, pulling it upward to run his lips over the singed skin. "What a shame, then...."
Lawr knew that he was beginning to slip, that Seishirou was started to gain ground whilst he lost it, but that didn't mean that he had to give up. He was stil determined to stand his ground, even if he lost in the end. At least he'd be able to say that he had, right?
His breath hitched in his throat as icy fingers slid across his skin, taking his mind off of his wrist as tempting lips hovered just-so-far away once again. To be teased by such a cruel man.. It was somewhat exhilirating, even the thought of it sending the slightest of shudders down his spine. He let his wrist be pulled again, wary this time, and his eyes went wide as lips slid over the burn. "A shame that I'm not worried? I'm afraid I'll have to ask your meaning, Seishirou."
"Meaning...?" He contemplated for a moment, looking off to the side even as his mouth remained on Lawrence's wrist. He hadn't quite caught the meaning, had he? Silly boy. His mouth curved, still pressed to the wound he had inflicted upon the boy, before they touched on Lawrence's earlobe. "Why do you ask, Lawr-kun?" Seishirou muttered barely loud enough for the other to hear over the increasingly strong winds. Hot air was such a good contrast to the sudden burst of coldness in the breeze - no doubt, a concoction of Seishirou's doing in and of itself - and he had to wonder just how great that difference was as he exhaled onto the edges of Lawrence's ear. A surprisingly sensitive area, really.
The hand that had rested on the boy's collarbone slid further down, along his chest, then over the curve on the side of his waist. A slender waist, really... He had always thought that a fetching quality for some reason. Pity the eyes didn't match. The thought was enough to summon a sly, cool look as Seishirou stared up. No, the eyes matched. Not in the way he preferred most, but still, they were worth observing... wondering how much better it would look with one coupled with a cold opal. And as he moved in for an even closer look - perhaps, this time, a kiss? - he began to fade into sakura petals. The analytical, obsessive gaze was the last thing to be seen before all the sakura petals fell to the ground, as blackness once more became the grass in Xanadu.
And this time, his eyes did slip a little closed, a shiver sliding down his spine as lips touched to his ear, warm breath a strikingly pleasant change from the cold winds that seemed to be picking up. But he caught himself, hoping that Seishirou hadn't noticed, as he shuddered again at the breath on his ear. Such a stark difference from the wind around them, it was, but it was also such a good one.
Lawr inhaled through clenched teeth, skin prickling as the cold hand moved further down his body. He could feel it through his shirt, how the wind had chilled his skin and made it so very cold. He kept his face passive, a slight smirk touching his lips as Seishirou looked to meet his gaze. And then he was leaning closer, and Lawr couldn't help but think that this time, maybe it wouldn't just be a feather-light touch, because now he'd started to want it. He knew that that would mean that he'd lose, but just a single kiss should be okay, right?
And then Seishirou was swallowed by petals, and the darkness vanished. Lawr's eyes went wide, and he jumped, shocked. "What the..."
rating; PG-13. Mildly adult situations. (o mai.)
characters; Sakurazuka Seishirou (sakurazuka_san), Lawrence Hill (nomorechains).
summary; On the day of the love curse, Seishirou decides to reveal a very important detail to Lawrence in the middle of the night.
log;
He had known that Lawrence would show up eventually. It didn't matter whether or not it was of his own will - either way, he would have the other there, waiting for him underneath the very sakura tree in which he sat comfortably. A light breeze tossed about the perennially blossom-covered branches, petals dancing within the smoke from his cigarette... the very same wind seemed to toss about the long tails of his dark coat while he exhaled more silvery wisps into the air. Yes, he was certain that the boy would be there any moment.
A small smirk curved his lips at the thought. Yes, he hadn't known him for too long... and yet already, this boy was guessing whether or not he truly had a connection with the sakura tree. How cute, really. It seemed to oddly fascinate Seishirou, this boy's inquisitive nature. Almomst like a certain someone's... but not really. He eyed a blossom that passed his line of vision as it fell gently to the ground. He'd come soon enough.
Lawr ran a hand back through his wind-swept hair, trying to tame it as he stopped a ways away from the sakura tree, only able to make out a black silhouette that seemed to darken the bright petals. That would be him then, wouldn't it? Seishirou. Subaru had warned him to stay away, but... well, mistakes were always best avoided once they'd been played through once before, right? He smiled, shaking his head slightly. Besides, today he felt like he simply needed to see the man. Maybe his curiosity was getting the better of him once again?
Another moment's pause, and then he continued walking, striding up to the trunk of the tree and looking up at the man. It was strange; he seemed to cut a rather lonely figure against such a beautiful backdrop. It was almost haunting. A hand was placed on his hip, and he smirked. "Have I kept you waiting?"
He heard the voice before he even saw the figure... even before he heard the soft crunching of dead branches underfoot. Seishirou had already had an idea of just what the sound of his voice was. And once he heard the greeting, he smiled and looked down to the other. Yes, Lawrence had a distinctive quality to his voice - given the chance, he would have been able to tell his voice from others'.
"Does it matter?" he answered enigmatically while more smoke left his cigarette. A cold, analytical amber eye stared down to Lawrence, and then Seishirou sat upright against the trunk of the tree. "Interesting. You're alone, aren't you?" Ashes fell from his cigarette, falling from the air to land right atop Lawrence's nose.
Did it matter? Maybe not in the big scheme of things. But for right now, it was simply a question of manners. And wasn't he a kind boy? Lawr liked to think so, at least sometimes. He brushed the ashes from his nose, frowning at them as they were whisked away by a slight breeze. Really, he and Subaru needed to stop smoking. It was bad for their health, not to mention that it smelled terrible.
"Why wouldn't I be?" Answering a question with a question. A children's game, but one that suited purposes nicely. Lawr turned to lean back against the tree, gazing out at the rest of Xanadu without the least sense of interest. He'd been called here, yes, and so he wanted to know why. But where was the fun in rushing it? Just another game of cat-and-mouse.
Cute. He knew that game too well, and Seishirou was almost a pro at it. He had the feeling that Lawrence knew such... that he was toying with him. The thought almost gave rise to indignation, but he knew better than to let such a thing cloud his thoughts. No, the upper hand belonged to him. And he would make certain of such.
Seishirou chuckled a bit before he suddenly landed neatly before Lawrence... before the tree. The harsh amber eye had softened like ice cream, but the opalescent pearl remained as icy as marble. "A protector or two made certain to toss in their hats," he replied, taking one step closer - two more, and he'd have the boy trapped. A smile as slick as water, he kept his eye transfixed upon the other as he leaned against the tree trunk. "Lawr-kun."
It gave him a bit of a start for Seishirou to have suddenly landed next to him like that. Wasn't that dangerous? But then again, the man gave off an air of danger; a little matter such as height was probably nothing to him, right? Lawr met his gaze, studying the different-colored eyes with interest. It reminded him of Subaru. Didn't he also have two different colored eyes? He knew that there was something between them, that much was obvious. But for it to seem to run so deeply.. Maybe it wasn't a surprise that Subaru was stuck on him.
"Oh, did they?" He kept still as Seishirou moved, more than used to this sort of play. He'd seen it more than he'd cared to back in Los Angeles, and knew that to falter now would only lose him the game. So he held his ground and kept his gaze steady, smiling back as he said, "I hadn't expected as such. Maybe from one, but not two."
"Care to take a guess as to whom?" Seishirou called to Lawrence coolly, inhaling more smoke to expel into the other's face. The smile on his face widened, almost brightened as a child's would come Christmas. Yes, Lawr was a tough one - street smart, for certain. That's what made it so entertaining.
Deadened sakura branches and petals crunched underneath the slick black heel of his shoe, and he was closer now. Two. "Or do you care to guess why, instead?" he smoothly continued. Such an interesting boy. But which question would he pick? A glint of a sly grin lit in his eyes for one moment as the breeze picked up, tossing pale pink sakura blooms to contrast against the billowing tails of his coat. Oh, this was getting good.
Lawr fought to keep from coughing, to maintain his cool exterior as he waved the smoke out of his face. Disgusting. A slight smirk touched his lips, and he cocked his head to the side a degree. "I have a feeling I know who. Although.." He shrugged slightly, barely even noticeable, "I suppose the better question would be why."
And then Seishirou was closer, and Lawr could feel the edges of his coat brushing against his legs in the wind. Oh, such a dangerous, treacherous, and addictive game this was. He knew the man was dangerous, knew it from the time he'd seen private dreams, but really, where was the excitement in playing a boring game? It was almost exhilirating to be here, to follow along or maybe lead as he waited to see where the game would end.
For what seemed too long a moment, Seishirou merely allowed silence to continue. It wasn't true silence, though... sweet little whispers intertwined with the rustling of the sakura in the wind. He still could hear Tree-san at times. The link seemed inseparable, even post-mortem. As it should be. A cunning gaze followed the movements of the wind, the petals that seemed to ethereally glow in the moonlight, the dead remains on the ground.
And then his stare rounded onto Lawrence once more. One. He had taken the last step. One hand moved to the trunk of the tree, the other to graze over Lawrence's hand before he again took another hit from his cigarette. "You know why the sakura turn pink," he replied in a deadly calm. "Don't you?"
He watched as Seishirou seemed to be distracted by the falling petals, waiting for the silence to end, for something to give, snap, make it end. But it felt too precious, too singular for him to break it himself. As different-colored eyes were once again focussed on him, the slight distance between them gone, and the question asked, Lawr couldn't quite help but feel as though something wasn't going to go quite as he'd thought.
A slight nod, and he murmured, "I do." He'd heard the story from Seishirou, then Subaru had elaborated. "What of it?" A phantom pain pulsed in his chest, reminding him of a time that seemed to have been eons ago, the stab wound that was a true mark of ownership.
"You know...," he muttered, looking over Lawrence's figure scrutinously - a similar build... rather a nice display of male beauty. His roaming stare once more locked onto Lawrence, this time keeping a steady look into his eyes. Something lingered there.... what, curiosity? Perhaps a small tinge of apprehension... perhaps. The thought grew some odd offshoots in Seishirou's mind, but quickly he suppressed them and leaned in a bit to Lawrence.
"You wanted to know who the Sakurazukamori was..." The hand he had free, still clutching a half-burned cigarette, rose into the air. "If it was this man who is standing in front of you..." At his command, the sakura petals fell like a dense snow, and an all-consuming blackness surrounded them. Only he, the tree, and Lawrence remained. A deceptively warm smile followed, and he leaned back once more. "Looks as though you've gotten your answer right now." If Subaru had been as thorough in the task as he knew he would be, Seishirou knew that, indeed, the ante was raised now.
Lawr couldn't deny the slight thrill of apprehension that trailed down his spine at seeing Seishirou look him over and lean in closer. There was no denying it; the man was damn good-looking. If this was another, more familiar world, and he was once again immersed in the seedy world his brother owned, he wouldn't have minded taking this one for a customer.
He followed Seishirou's hand as it was lifted up, and then his eyes went wide, shocked by the sudden lack of..... anything. His gaze broken, he looked around, trying to find some hint, some sign that this was just a dream and that they were still standing in Xanadu. Lawr looked once more to Seishirou, controlled stare and passive expression. "It seems I have, haven't I?" He could tell that this was dangerous, past the thrilling rush and into the realm of possible injury, but he couldn't stop himself. "So what are you going to do about it?"
Seishirou chuckled under his breath, taking in a last long, slow hit. The charcoal-tinged smoke filled his lungs - perhaps the other's lungs felt a similar tightening sensation - and the flavour lingered on his tongue long after he dropped the Mild Seven cigarette butt to the ground. "What do you think I should do, Lawr-kun?" he asked in a low mumble. Catching Lawrence's gaze, he looked down to the ground... the smoke curl was fading from the remains at his feet. "Perhaps I should be rid of you." His toe ground the cigarette... slowly, as though hoping that, by denying the oxygen for so long, the flame would die.
Once no more smoke rose into the air, he slowly looked back up to Lawrence, an eerie look of calm in his serene smile as a sakura branch curled behind the boy. "Would you care?" he asked. The branch slithered further down the trunk, looking poised to strike at any moment. "It could be arranged, you know." Just at that moment, the branch made to coil about Lawrence's throat.
What should he do? Well, there were several things Seishirou could do, Lawr mused, as he watched the slow extinguishing of the cigarette butt. Some of them weren't quite to taste, others that would haunt his dreams for nights to come, and still more that could end in simply... nothing. The two of them could just walk away, never speak of it again. But that couldn't possibly happen, now could it?
"Would I care?" He shrugged, too preoccupied with the person in front of him to notice anything else. "It depends on your meaning." And then his eyes went wide at the sensation of rough bark sliding around his neck, and suddenly the game was way out of control.
He now had the upper hand. And there was no way that he would relinquish it now that it was his. Seishirou's low-timbre laughter seemed almost to permeate the entire area around them, and the branch tightened with a jerk around Lawrence's neck. The sakura almost seemed desperate to claim him... but Seishirou himself could merely bluff on that call. He no longer had that special certain... that defining characteristic of the title Sakurazukamori. But he still could bluff around those who didn't know any better.
"I could just dispose of you right now," he replied. And well that he could - the irony of a dead man killing others seemed only fitting to him. No sacrifice, no gain, though. He damned his death for that... but it still maintained its integrity. His eyes narrowed, lending an almost malicious look to his grin as he leaned in close to Lawrence's ear. "But it depends on what Lawr-kun would like, of course."
A hand came up, and he was clutching at the branch almost desperately, control over his supposedly apathetic demeanor slipping fast. It was hard to breathe, a slow-rising panic threatening to freeze his muscles and choke him, strangle him until there was naught but a quivering child left. And it seemed like that was what Seishirou was trying to do: to scare him, to push him to the point of losing his control and freaking out. There was no real way that a simple tree could kill someone, right?
The thought made no difference, though, as the bark scratched at his throat. Lawr looked up as Seishirou leaned in, catching the slightest glimpse of that devil's smirk, and listened as the words wove a series of images through his mind. He tilted his head back, looking upwards to the best of his ability, and let a sort of detached smile touch his lips. "Of course it would. Then again, it would also depend on your whim, wouldn't it, Seishirou?"
He halted when Lawrence replied. Depend on his whim, also... Something inside this boy made him feel some sort of empathy... How curious. It was something that was similar, like a rhyme half-forgotten and corroded by time. He again chuckled, still remaining close to Lawrence's ear. "I had no idea we were on a casual name basis, Lawr-kun," he whispered, and the branch around Lawrence's neck loosened... and then disappeared.
Attraction, was that it, perhaps? He could admit, the boy held a certain allure... and he had prized himself on being rather a connoisseur of such things. But if it were mutual, in a sense.... Ah, something to take advantage of. "How intimate," he continued as he momved from Lawrence's ear to look once more in the other's eyes. The hand that had rested on the tree bark moved to hold up the boy's chin, almost in a patronising manner. "I suppose that is what you request...?"
A sense of relief washed over him as the branch disappeared, though a sliver of apprehension, warning him to be cautious, remained. To play a game with Seishirou was like walking a tightrope blindfolded, it seemed. Far too treacherous, and fraught with dangers at every step. He wanted to cut the rope, end the game, land in his safety net and walk away. But the game was so addicting..
Lawr's eyes met Seishirou's, and he smirked ever so slightly, taking the man's wrist in a light grasp and lifting it to his lips as he licked a finger, once more the stray cat. Then he grinned, Cheshire cat smile and half-hearted stare. It felt like he could deal with this, like he was learning the rules of the game again. "My request? Perhaps, perhaps not."
Unusual, definitely, for anyone to be so bold as to touch him. Even Subaru had his moments of reservation around Seishirou, and most people simply avoided him - likely due to the other's interference. And here was this bold American, grabbing his wrist and licking his finger in such a suggestive manner. Oh, he knew that the game was getting just that much more interesting. And Lawrence was holding his own - for the most part.
He smirked a bit at Lawrence, allowing his hand to stay in the other's grip before pulling it away with a jerk. "I see...." A sly look came into his eyes, and quickly his own hands had a much tighter grip on the boy's wrists. They were slammed up against the tree trunk, just over Lawrence's head. Now he had him again. "So, tell me. What will you do now?"
Lawr winced as his hands were seized, held against the tree behind him before he could react. Interesting. The last time he'd licked someone's hand, they'd run away, calling him filthy and all manner of names. And Seishirou hadn't. Not like Adrian had.
He looked up at Seishirou and smirked. It was okay. This was still something he could deal with, even with his hands pinned up above his head. "What will I do? Well, seeing as how I've lost my hands, I could do one of two things. Tell me, would you like a dislocated kneecap?" Fight or flight. The most basic of animal instincts, and Lawr wasn't above following it.
"How cute." Seishirou chuckled, this time leaning in to the boy to fully pin him to the sakura tree with his entire body. Keep pushing the envelope until, finally, it became too much. Well, it would work. After all, it usually did. And, even though Lawrence had some redeeming values, he still could not distinguish too much. And that had always been a characteristic he had run across with other people.
One hand that gripped Lawrence's wrist slid down his forearm tantalisingly. No, Lawrence wouldn't do anything, would he? Bluffing - another familiar trait. He, too wasn't clean of that, but it was to be used to its full advantage, as everything else was. "Would Lawr-kun really want to be held responsible for such cruelty?" he asked, a placid smile on his face while his hand coiled like an anaconda around the boy's forearm threateningly. "Not when I've been such a good sport...?" He was so close now... his lips brushed along Lawrence's - whether it was purely accidental or not was hard to tell. But he was curious now.
And then suddenly the space between them, no matter how small it had been, was gone. Lawr drew himself up, suddenly feeling a lot smaller and not liking it. Cute? Maybe. He'd heard it before, from time to time, but right now, in this situation, it just felt.... weird to hear. Like it wasn't meant to be a good thing at all, like daggers and poison were hiding behind the words. And it wasn't a good feeling at all.
Even if he wanted to kick Seishirou now, there was no room to. He smirked, keeping up the air. "I might, if I was given good reason to." He tilted his head to the side, lips quirking. "A good sport? I'd hate to see your bad side, then."
He could feel the tension in the other's body once he had closed in on him. Yes, Seishirou knew well enough that personal space was a liberty - if taken, one felt rather naked. The pun made him chuckle under his breath, and again, he let his lips brush along the edges of Lawrence's - more deliberately this time. The temptation was strong now... but if he gave in to it just now, the game would be lost.
It was too interesting a game to lose just yet.
"And you, Lawr-kun?" he asked, smirking maliciously by this point. "Do you have a nasty temper?" His whispers floated about on the increasing wind, and it seemed such that only the rustling of sakura was the sound about them both. "We always could find out, right?" He had ways. Subaru-kun was cute when he was angry... and he was willing to bet that Lawrence also was.
Lips brushed, and Lawr almost lost control of himself, eyelids slipping just a little further closer as he resisted the urge to lean forward just a little more so that it'd be more than just a light brush. A game. That's all this was. And he was determined not to lose. It was the least he could do, not to fall to Seishirou's whims, since he'd come to see the man against Subaru's wishes. He'd known how the other felt, and still come anyway. It felt like all he could do to at least stand his ground.
He smirked, impish and acting as if his hands weren't being held above his head, as if he wasn't afraid of the darkness that had swept in around them and wiped out the park, as if the two of them were just having a casual chat. And they were, weren't they? The echoes of whispers floating in the air sent a chill through him, and he murmured back, "We could. I suppose I would, if you provoked me the right way." And he couldn't help but wonder just where Seishirou was going with this.
The boy put on quite the brave face. It was almost commendable, if it weren't a little foolish. Seishirou didn't mind either way, though. In fact, he preferred it this way. But, no, he couldn't continue in this vein for too long. One more little whisper, one more little touch, and perhaps he would completely have Lawrence. Even still, he did allow his fingertips to trace along the other's jawline before he stepped back and let go.
"I see," he replied haphazardly. Seishirou reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a cigarette pack and lighter. "But you don't want to be angry, do you?" His amber eye, hawklike in intensity, lingered a moment as he looked over Lawrence's form once more. Certainly not bad. And then, casually, he let the tobacco of a fresh cigarette catch flame. If he had to, he would provoke the boy.
Lawr let his hands fall back to his sides, slowly, as if he couldn't bear to move any faster. Like if he did, then everything would shatter, and he'd open his eyes to find that all of this was just a dream. What kind of fun would that be? More of a nightmare than a dream, to be sure; but nightmare or not, he much rather preferred this to be reality than some ill-thought out dream.
He watched Seishirou light another cigarette and almost rolled his eyes. It would kill him someday, really it would. But what sense did it make for him to care? Lawr crossed his arms over his chest. "I'd prefer not to be." To lose your temper would mean that you had little control over it in the first place, and if you couldn't even control your own emotions, then how could you expect to control your own life?
"Oh...?" He looked up from the lit cigarette as he shut the lighter with a click of the top. He spotted the crossed arms, the loosened posture, the slight look of disapproval. And Lawrence's line of vision was right on that very vice of Seishirou's that was more like breathing than any habit ever could be. And how he had brushed the ashes so quickly away, not to mention the reaction he had seen when the smoke blew into his face. Very curious.
"You don't smoke, do you," he mused, again taking another step toward Lawrence. And once he was properly in reach of the boy, he quickly grabbed Lawrence's wrist and put the cigarette out on the skin below it. A gentle, slow burn... that certainly would leave a mark. Seishirou grinned all the while at Lawrence, barely paying mind as he continued to grind the burning ashes into his flesh. "Terrible habit to uphold, really."
"I don't," he replied, before the space between them once again shrank and his wrist taken hold of. This time, though, he couldn't control himself as he winced and let out a low hiss at the cigarette being pressed to his skin. It burned like hell, and then maybe a little more, as the sensitive flesh was marred and pain lanced up through his arm. He pulled his arm back, to be freed of Seishirou's grasp.
"I've heard that a lack of nicotine makes a smoker irritable. Does it work in the reverse for you, I wonder?" Lawr had to fight to hold his tongue, to resist letting the sudden spark of indignation take control of his words and demand an explanation. The flesh on his wrist hurt, burned, and he wasn't at all happy about having it marred as such.
The cigarette hadn't quite gone out, even after slowly burning into Lawrence's skin. Seishirou always did praise the sturdiness of Mild Sevens - they seemed a much more reliable cigarette than most others at keeping their flame. As he nursed the cinders back to full strength, he eyed the now-covered wrist, smiling satisfactorily while the other hissed in pain. Ah, yes, that would leave a mark. Just as intended.
His hand tensed as it suddenly grabbed Lawrence's neck. "Why would you need to know?" he asked rhetorically. And then the mood seemed to subtly change. The smirk warmed, blossomed into a deceptively caring smile. Even his hand seemed to loosen into a gentle hold around Lawrence's neck. "Are you worried about me, Lawr-kun?"
His breath hitched in his throat as Seishirou's hand wrapped around his neck, and he couldn't help but wonder just why he hadn't left by now. Sure, the man was an enigma all in himself, but now he'd been burned, his skin ruined forever. Maybe over time it would heal, but there would always be a mark, something to mar the once perfect flesh. Lawr raised his wrist to his mouth and licked at it, wondering if perhaps there was a way to remove the scar. But no, on the other hand, maybe he'd keep it, as a reminder to himself.
"Worried? I'd think not." And it was almost true. He wasn't worried for Seishirou, not at all. But he was beginning to worry about himself, images of more burned flesh flickering through his mind. Lawr didn't want to be burned, to be marked, not again. He'd already been marked by his brother, and once more just now; again and he could lose the game. And that was something he really didn't want.
While he took a languid hit from his cigarette, he watched the boy carefully. Worried, hmn? It seemed as though Lawrence was beginning to let that stiff upper lip crumble right before his very eyes. Oh, how Seishirou liked to see such displays. Even with Subaru-kun, those breaking points were amusing. And yet, something told him that it would be far better to let it all simmer. Thoughts like those, once they festered, were hard to uproot entirely.
"Yes, I see...," Seishirou responded in a drawl. His fingertips, almost cold as ice by the wind, made a path down Lawrence's neck to his collarbone, and the warm breath from his lips seemed only more pronounced when he was a hair away from a full-on kiss. He was tempted, yes. Quite so, and how could he not be? Instead, though, he turned to that burnt wrist, pulling it upward to run his lips over the singed skin. "What a shame, then...."
Lawr knew that he was beginning to slip, that Seishirou was started to gain ground whilst he lost it, but that didn't mean that he had to give up. He was stil determined to stand his ground, even if he lost in the end. At least he'd be able to say that he had, right?
His breath hitched in his throat as icy fingers slid across his skin, taking his mind off of his wrist as tempting lips hovered just-so-far away once again. To be teased by such a cruel man.. It was somewhat exhilirating, even the thought of it sending the slightest of shudders down his spine. He let his wrist be pulled again, wary this time, and his eyes went wide as lips slid over the burn. "A shame that I'm not worried? I'm afraid I'll have to ask your meaning, Seishirou."
"Meaning...?" He contemplated for a moment, looking off to the side even as his mouth remained on Lawrence's wrist. He hadn't quite caught the meaning, had he? Silly boy. His mouth curved, still pressed to the wound he had inflicted upon the boy, before they touched on Lawrence's earlobe. "Why do you ask, Lawr-kun?" Seishirou muttered barely loud enough for the other to hear over the increasingly strong winds. Hot air was such a good contrast to the sudden burst of coldness in the breeze - no doubt, a concoction of Seishirou's doing in and of itself - and he had to wonder just how great that difference was as he exhaled onto the edges of Lawrence's ear. A surprisingly sensitive area, really.
The hand that had rested on the boy's collarbone slid further down, along his chest, then over the curve on the side of his waist. A slender waist, really... He had always thought that a fetching quality for some reason. Pity the eyes didn't match. The thought was enough to summon a sly, cool look as Seishirou stared up. No, the eyes matched. Not in the way he preferred most, but still, they were worth observing... wondering how much better it would look with one coupled with a cold opal. And as he moved in for an even closer look - perhaps, this time, a kiss? - he began to fade into sakura petals. The analytical, obsessive gaze was the last thing to be seen before all the sakura petals fell to the ground, as blackness once more became the grass in Xanadu.
And this time, his eyes did slip a little closed, a shiver sliding down his spine as lips touched to his ear, warm breath a strikingly pleasant change from the cold winds that seemed to be picking up. But he caught himself, hoping that Seishirou hadn't noticed, as he shuddered again at the breath on his ear. Such a stark difference from the wind around them, it was, but it was also such a good one.
Lawr inhaled through clenched teeth, skin prickling as the cold hand moved further down his body. He could feel it through his shirt, how the wind had chilled his skin and made it so very cold. He kept his face passive, a slight smirk touching his lips as Seishirou looked to meet his gaze. And then he was leaning closer, and Lawr couldn't help but think that this time, maybe it wouldn't just be a feather-light touch, because now he'd started to want it. He knew that that would mean that he'd lose, but just a single kiss should be okay, right?
And then Seishirou was swallowed by petals, and the darkness vanished. Lawr's eyes went wide, and he jumped, shocked. "What the..."