by Sessha Batto
Makoto realized he was drunker than he thought not ten minutes later, when he found himself pinned. “I win,” Jun proclaimed. “Now tell me how you got so close to Yoshi.”
Without thinking the interrogator reached up, cradling the burly elite's face in his hands. “I did this,” he muttered before kissing the startled man.
The kiss lingered longer than was necessary for demonstration purposes. Then both men opened their eyes and really looked at who they were kissing. Jun leapt back, stumbling comically before landing hard on his ass, mouth hanging open. Makoto also tried to jump back. Unfortunately he was already laying on the ground, so he only managed to slam his skull into the pavement hard enough to make him see stars.
“You … and my friend…” Jun stammered before rising to his feet. “I weep manly tears of joy that my dear friend has found true love!” he proclaimed. “I vow that I, too, will find my true love.”
Jun yanked the startled interrogator into his arms, squeezing the already drunk and concussed man hard enough to crack ribs as he continued to babble loudly about the wonders of love. Makoto wondered if perhaps he was caught in a particularly diabolical illusion. He made the hand gestures and muttered a release spell, but nothing changed. Maybe I’m dead, he pondered as best he could with his foggy brain. This seems like hell.
The interrogation master reached out and poked the enraptured elite, hard. “Jun, let go,” he managed to gasp just as muscular arms withdrew, dropping him unceremoniously on the ground. “It's not what you think.”
“Oh, were you just using Yoshi for sex then?” Jun cocked his fist and slammed it into the interrogator's face.
“No!” Makoto shouted. “What were you thinking, hitting me like that?” The interrogator rose to his feet, jumping back with a strangled, “Don’t help me.” Once upright the torture master gritted out, “He left me for someone else, and I don’t think he's ever coming back.”
The realization hit the drunken man like a freight train. Makoto dropped to his knees with a resounding crunch and buried his face in his hands, crying all the tears of rage, frustration and loss that had been building up inside him.
“There, there,” Jun attempted to calm the distraught figure. “Let's get out of the street and we shall work out a plan to win back your love.” He hoisted one of the torture master's arms over his shoulder and pulled him to his feet, looking him up and down. “I believe you should go to the hospital.”
****
Daisuke trudged back into his office and began once again sorting through the slowly diminishing stack of paper, squinting crossly at the mess. One of the stacks slid sideways, creating a small avalanche across the surface of the desk and frustrating the Shuhan further. He grabbed a small volume from the pile and flipped it open, interest piquing when he realized it was Rin's private journal.
“Oh, Kami.” He dropped the book as if it were diseased. “Souta, I know what this was all about.”
“What are you talking about Dai?” his lover asked.
“Why Rin hated Yoshi so much,” the Shuhan stated in a calm voice, even though his face was now the color of cottage cheese.
“Put your head down.” Souta grabbed his lover when he began to sway, pushing him back in the chair and shoving his head between his legs. “Breathe deeply and relax.”
“I’m okay,” Daisuke's muffled voice floated up. “It was just startling. She didn’t really lie about it, but she didn’t tell the whole truth either.”
“Are you going to tell me?”
“There was a retrieval that was scheduled to take place, a hostage swap. One of our shinobi was to be returned in exchange for a week with Ren and his nine year old son. Ren committed suicide rather than go through with it and Rin forever lost any chance with the man she was besotted with. She hates Yoshi for being the reason for Ren's suicide, even though he had no idea.”
“He was shinobi,” Souta said. “That carries certain obligations.”
“The assignment was dropped before Yoshi was ever told about it,” Daisuke retorted. “He isn’t responsible for his father's decision.”
“I didn’t say that he was. I just meant that he’d fought and killed. He wasn’t a child anymore, Dai.”
“He was nine years old. Shinobi or not, no nine year old should ever be put in that position,” the Shuhan argued. “How would you feel if it had been me instead of Yoshi?”
“I get your point,” Souta conceded with a shudder. “So what does it mean to us now?”
“Nothing really, with Rin dead it's a moot point, just more dirty laundry to bury,” Daisuke concluded with a bitter laugh. “Even if we had known her motivation from the start it wouldn’t have changed anything.”
“So, do yourself a favor and let it go,” the assassin urged. “It didn’t happen, that's what's important.”
“Thank you.” Daisuke pulled his lover into a tight embrace. “I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“Me either,” Souta retorted. He kissed the Shuhan, smiling when his lover melted into him.
“Ahem,” a deep voice interrupted their lip lock, causing both men to turn towards it in irritation. “Sorry to interrupt,” Genki said. “I need to speak with Daisuke before I go.”
“Go, where are you going?” the Shuhan asked. “We need your help here.”
“I’m going to meet with Yoshi and Kazuki, they asked me to come.” The sage pulled out the invitation in question and tossed it over.
“We can’t let you just go traipsing off to Nakamura shuudan, even with an invitation,” Daisuke decided.
“You can’t stop me. I don't care if you are the Shuhan. I owe it to both of them. They’re willing to give me a chance to fix things between us. Isn’t that what you wanted?”
“That depends. Are you going to make things better or worse? Because we really can’t afford to have you pissing either of them off.”
“Daisuke, you wound me,” Genki said with a broad easy smile. “Don’t you think I’m capable of tact?”
“No,” came the blunt reply. “I think you’re a homophobic idiot who blurts out disgusting things when he's scared.”
“I was a child,” the sage shot back. “That was almost thirty years ago.”
“Stop it,” Souta yelled. “Genki, things have been very stressful and I understand you’re upset, but if you yell at Dai like that again I’m going to throw you out of this office.” Once he had both their attention he continued. “How can you be sure you’re not walking into a trap?”
“I’m not,” the sage admitted. “But I’m willing to take the chance. You should be, too. Don’t you want to get Yoshi back?”
****
Yoshi stayed awake, stormy eye locked on his lover's sleeping form, trying to come up with a plan to make the legendary shinobi stay with him. As soon as Kazuki began to stir he knelt submissively on the bed, hands clasped behind his back and head bowed.
“Koishii, what are you doing?” The sleepy voice startled the tense shadow wolf, making him shift awkwardly before catching himself.
“I thought perhaps you were frustrated, Kazu-sama,” the elite replied in a velvety, sensuous voice. “Do you have desires you’ve been denying? Do you need to hurt me, mark me, make me bleed? I am yours to do with as you please.”
“What are you talking about?” the spell-caster asked, confusion evident in his expression. “Of course I don’t want to hurt you.”
“Are you sure? Perhaps if I looked like this?” He made some gestures and cast an illusion, fashioning himself to look like Hideaki as he continued watching his lover through hazy guarded eyes.
“Why are you doing this?” Kazuki asked. “I don’t understand.”
“Or perhaps this is your greatest desire.” The shadow wolf manipulated the illusion, splitting himself into two beckoning copies, then morphing one into the impressive figure of the swordsman Katsutoshi.
“No,” the legendary insisted. “I want you, just you. Now stop this foolishness and talk to me.”
Yoshi dropped the illusion, fixing his lover with an enigmatic look. “Do my scars bother you?” He ran a hand over his torso as he cast another spell to hide the scars that crisscrossed his chest and abdomen.
“Nothing about you bothers me … except your insistence that I desire someone else.” Kazuki pulled the lanky man into his arms. “What started all this?”
“I wish to make you happy. Is there something wrong with that?” the elite replied. “Some hidden reason, perhaps, that you’re lying to me?”
“Stop this, Yoshi,” his lover hissed. “I’m sorry having the Oonishi here upsets you so, but I have done nothing to warrant your accusations. I have been painfully honest about my feelings for you. If I had wished to beguile you it would have been with words of power, not love.” Kazuki leaned in and kissed a pale cheek. “What has you doubting me so, pretty? Please talk to me.”
“That's just it,” the shadow wolf whispered. “I’m not pretty. I’m freakish, scarred and ugly, inside and out. No one could want me, not really. Seeing Hideaki merely reminded me of what I already knew, and yet you say you don’t desire him. You must want something from me to go to all this trouble, something important that you’re keeping hidden.”
“The only thing I want is for you to stay with me. I’m dying, and I’m scared. I want someone to hold me when it happens, and cry for me when I’m gone. I want to be remembered. I want the things anyone would want. Will you give me that? Can you? I know it's cruel to ask you to care for me when I’m going to leave you, and I’m sorry.”
“It's my fault, you know,” Yoshi stated. “Everyone I care about dies too soon, my father, my shishou, now you. I’m a curse, you were doomed the moment you took me from Kenta.”
“I don’t believe that, koishii,” the spell-caster retorted. “You have done nothing to hurt me, and I don’t believe you ever would. But even if that were the case I wouldn’t change what's happened. The only thing I need, my sole desire, is for you to show me how much you love me.”
“That I can do, gladly.” Yoshi captured thin lips with his own, swallowing his lover's needy moans as he guided them towards the bed. He pressed the smaller man into the soft pile of bedding, holding him there as he pulled back to observe, eyelids drooping lustfully as he memorized the way the lithe figure writhed under his touch.
“Stop with the teasing and love me,” Kazuki demanded, surging up to grasp a fine-boned wrist and pull the shadow wolf down on top of him.
“I’m not teasing. I want to remember you just like this, always.” Yoshi lavished the legendary with needy kisses, pulling away from his lips to suckle the long column of Kazuki's neck, continuing down across prominent collarbones to the flat planes of his chest. The shadow wolf rubbed soft pink nipples with the pad of his thumb until they stiffened before bending to nip and suckle the taut buds.
Yoshi took his lover's bobbing erection in his hand, lightly rubbing the satiny skin as he palmed the rigid length, before dropping his head and swallowing it to the root. Kazuki screamed his delight when that hot, wet mouth engulfed him, sending ripples of pleasure through his frame.
“That's it, sing for me,” the shadow wolf crooned before once again taking the twitching length deep in his throat. His wicked tongue distracted the spell-caster as two fingers slid deep inside his ass, hastily stretching him for what was to come. Unable to delay in the face of his lover's wanton pleas, Yoshi slicked his cock and slid into the well prepared entrance, stopping when he was fully seated to revel in the clutching heat.
“Move, damn you,” Kazuki cursed, desperately trying to thrust his hips against his larger lover. He gasped in delight, all protest forgotten, when pale hips pulled back and thrust forward, chasing the breath from his lungs when his prostate was grazed. The shadow wolf noticed and teased the spot, pulling back an inch or two, only to push back in, rubbing the tender bundle of nerves until the legendary was keening his approval. He pulled out, ignoring his lover's heated protest, and rearranged them, pulling the lithe man into his lap and down onto his impressive length. Yoshi clutched the quivering form close to his chest as he drove up into him.
When a long-fingered hand wrapped around his dripping erection Kazuki began to writhe, pressing back onto the length piercing him before thrusting up into the encircling hand, letting go with a piercing shriek of the shadow wolf's name. Yoshi continued to drive into the clutching heat, growling in abandon when the passage suddenly seemed to shrink two sizes. He caved in to the pleasure jolting through him, filling his lover to the brim with his cum. After pulling out he pressed Kazuki's face to the bed, leaning down to lap at the quivering ring, tasting himself on his lover as he memorized the sight of his seed dripping out of the powerful man.
“Again,” the spell-caster gasped. “Love me again.”
“I need to rest first,” Yoshi whispered. “Give me ten minutes.”
“No more than that. I don’t want to waste a minute of the time I have left,” Kazuki replied. “I have a lot of wasted years to make up for and not much time to do it in.”
“Well then, we’ll have to make the most of the time we have.” He pulled the slighter man close, running his fingers soothingly through long silky hair as their breathing returned to normal. Yoshi lifted the light figure to straddle his lap, wrapping strong arms around his lover and kissing him possessively.
Kazuki gasped when he felt his lover's erection pressing against his softened entrance, wiggling in the confining embrace as he tried to press back against it. “No, no, no, I’m the one in charge, remember,” Yoshi whispered, thrusting his tongue in the spell-caster's mouth as he pressed inside to the hilt.
The shadow wolf refused to relinquish those lips, continuing the demanding kiss as he slowly began to thrust, arms holding his writhing lover firmly in place as he set an achingly slow, measured pace. The elite was determined to hold out as long as possible, changing the rhythm whenever he felt himself drawing close until he could no longer maintain his composure. Yoshi drove up into the man in his arms with deep, punishing strokes until Kazuki shot burst after burst of hot seed between them. At the sound of his lover screaming his name, the elite gave himself permission to let go, thrusting madly into the sucking wet heat until he felt the hot coil inside him snap. He came with a strangled moan, dropping his head on the older man's shoulder and panting wildly as he held on tight, refusing even now to relinquish what he had found.
****
Genki approached the site of Kazuki's headquarters with trepidation. As Daisuke had so helpfully pointed out, an invitation did not necessarily indicate safety. Knowing the feelings the two men inside had for him, the sage was fairly certain he’d be lucky to survive the encounter. Still, he’d said he was coming and it was a promise he intended to keep.
“My lord,” the servant bowed deeply, waiting for a signal before continuing. “You have a visitor. Shall I show him in?”
“We have company, Yoshi,” the spell-caster called to his lover. “Put something on and come here.”
A few minutes later the shadow wolf wandered out of the bathroom, dressed in only a pair of sweat pants slung low on his hips, dampness still sparkling in his disheveled locks. “Good morning,” he husked as he dipped his head to nibble the long column of the legendary's neck, never noticing as the door opened and Genki was shown inside.
“What are you doing here?” Kazuki hissed, causing the elite to stop what he was doing and lift his head to regard the sage with mild distaste.
“I asked him to come. I thought, perhaps, you had things to say before … while you can,” Yoshi explained. “You loved him once.”
“I thought we settled this,” Kazuki retorted. “Why do you keep insisting I want someone else?”
“I don’t want you to have any regrets,” the elite fired back. “I couldn’t live with that.” Genki's mouth dropped when Yoshi gathered the powerful shinobi into his arms and kissed his forehead. “Your happiness is important to me, Kazu-sama. At least clear the air between you. I
promise not to be jealous.”
“I should hope not, pretty,” the spell-caster retorted. “This is your idea, after all.”
“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Genki muttered. “It's very rude, especially since you invited me.”
“Yoshi invited you,” Kazuki pointed out. “He's trying to distract me from my imminent demise, not to mention more pleasurable pursuits.”
“I would never distract you from the pursuit of pleasure,” the shadow wolf purred. “But that still leaves a lot of hours in the day.”
“Not necessarily, koishii.” The spell-caster pressed himself against his taller lover and rocked his hips suggestively.
“Stop that,” the sage bit out, hand over his eyes. “Are you going out of your way to make me uncomfortable?”
“Hardly,” Kazuki retorted. “I’m attempting to enjoy myself with my chosen companion. It shouldn’t be so surprising considering my projected life span.”
“Who says you’re dying anyway?” Genki asked. “You look a hell of a lot better than I do. You even look better than Yoshi. I would never guess you were on your last legs.”
“Watch yourself old man,” the elite snarled, moving protectively in front of his lover. “I don’t like what you’re implying.”
“Is that so, brat?” the sage growled back. “Well, maybe I don’t like the fact that you’re sleeping with a traitor. Not to mention the details, like the fact that said traitor is not only a man, but also old enough to be your father.”
“Why is any of that your business?” Yoshi asked, body rigid and fists tightening.
“You’re family, even if I never had the guts to acknowledge it before now,” Genki mumbled. “I’m trying to protect you.”
“You’re too late,” the shadow wolf retorted. “By about twenty years. I guess chasing women was more important than claiming your only living relative.”
“I didn’t … I wouldn’t… How could I…?” the sage stammered, unable to muster a comeback in the face of his indignation. “You can’t just dump everything on me, I wasn’t even around.”
