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If you are new to the list and
are interested, or just simply don't remember the story
and want to go back and re-read
it, EST is archived. Look for it under Ladyglen at
Disclaimer: Nothing Ronin
Warriors or YST belongs to me, I'm just borrowing the guys for
a while. Please don't
sue me. I don't have enough money to make it worthwhile, and,
besides, I'm not making any
money off this story.
The only thing, besides the idea for the story, that does belong to
me is Mika.
Oh, and thank you so much to
both Al and Ebon. You guys are the best!
Every Single Time Part 8
By Ladyglen
********************
Forever. Finally. Mine! Filled
with a sudden, intoxicating mixture of awe and triumph,
Rowen explored the slick heat of his friend’s
mouth, his hands creeping up from his
blanket to lift the hair from the nape of Sage’s
neck. Encouraged by the faintest of
groans emanating from deep within Sage’s chest,
his grip firmed, fingers clenching about
the thick strands of gold they were buried in.
He needed this, needed the confirmation
that a night so filled with grief and anger could
end in bliss, needed the fulfillment of
the promise this joining of lips seemed to hint
at. He needed Sage.
Such a simple thing. A kiss was such a simple,
physical act, and yet so powerful.
Beneath the purely physical level, two souls
are exchanged. The strength and ardor of
Rowen’s response drove the last of Sage’s uncertainty
and doubts from his mind. Freed
from the self-imposed fetters of restraint, Sage’s
desire flared as brilliantly as Ryo’s
wildfire and, gasping, he tore his lips from
Rowen’s. It had been the realization of one
of his most private dreams to feed from his archer’s
lips, yet he needed more. He needed
to taste all of Rowen.
Tiny nips along Rowen’s jawline, interspersed
with gentle, warm swipes of a tongue, fanned
the blaze that had been kindled by Sage’s hungry,
demanding lips. It was as if he were
being devoured alive, consumed, absorbed.
He would never be alone again. For all its
headiness, that extraordinary thought was fleeting,
swept away beneath the tide of
sensation that was sensitizing each bit of Rowen’s
flesh.
With difficulty, Sage banked the fire burning
within him as Rowen’s head fell back under
his ministrations. His lover’s position
was almost submissive, vaguely reminiscent of the
way the beta wolf bares her throat in surrender
to the alpha male of the pack. Wonder and
elation that this strong, independent man would
give so much of himself fought with a
surge of dominant triumph deep within Sage.
Rowen was his! All of Rowen was his for the
taking, to do with as he pleased.
Sage slowly smiled. It would very much please
him to bring pleasure and satisfaction to
his partner. Nothing was more important.
He pushed gently against Rowen’s shoulders,
encouraging his lover to lie back against the
sheets, and as Rowen complied, he pushed
aside the blankets that had been hiding Rowen’s
lower body. Sage hoped his smile conveyed
that promise as he straddled his lover’s hips,
for words were beyond him.
Pale blue swam into focus as Rowen fought the
delicious haze that moved through him and
opened his eyes. Pale, heavy-lidded circles
of blue, so often icy and remote, were now
burning with a warmth that was only slightly
tempered by the smiling lips beneath them.
The gaze was nearly predatory in its intensity,
yet rather than frightening, it was
thrilling, its sultry heat radiating to burn
the front of his body in sharp contrast to
the coolness of the sheets at his back.
Shivering in anticipation, Rowen raised his chin
and turned his head to one side in
response to Sage’s gentle nudge. He stiffened
with a small cry, involuntarily thrusting
his hips up against his lover’s weight, as the
series of gentle nips that descended his
neck ended in a harder, sucking bite at the hollow
of his throat.
Sage straightened, fingertips feathering down
over the defined tendons in Rowen’s neck
until they met atop the purple-redness of the
mark at the base of his archer’s throat.
Pressing slightly, he swirled his fingers in
a circle before sweeping them outward over
Rowen’s collarbones to his shoulders. He
gripped tightly, allowing his eyes to close and
his head to fall back as he met another upward
thrust of Rowen’s hips with a downward one
of his own. The unconscious sensuality
of man beneath him enticed Sage’s eyes open after
only a moment, and backtracking, Sage again traced
Rowen’s collarbones, pausing to
possessively stroke his thumbs over the mark
where they met, before continuing downwards.
His hands roamed the sleek, supple expanse of
Rowen’s chest, a familiar sight, yet
something his hands had never known. Hips
rocking with his archer’s restive movements, he
smoothed his palms over the pebble hardness of
nipples, his fingers over the flat
abdominal plane, his hands up along Rowen’s sides,
tracing each rib, until he was in
position to repeat the circuit.
Rowen’s skin began to hum, his entire body an
instrument for Sage to play. With each
repetition of Sage’s circular path over his torso,
the thrum deep within him built in a
crescendo. A maddening crescendo that never
achieved fruition, since Sage never reached
lower than his navel to grasp the hardness that
was beginning to ache for him, since his
lover moved with him, giving way before his searching
upward thrusts instead of meeting
them. Around and down. Always the
same path. So much sensation, yet, even so, not quite
enough.
Desperate frustration finally prompted action,
and when Sage’s hands paused at the top of
his circle, Rowen grasped his lover’s wrists
with a low cry. Expecting the warmth of
skin, his eyes flew wide at the rustle of silk,
at a chill bite of metal on each his
palms. His surprise piercing his passion
and bringing him a small shred of control, Rowen
released one of Sage’s wrists so he could trace
the gold cufflink that adorned the other.
Quite troubled that their lovemaking had been
so one-sided that Sage was not even
undressed, he struggled to articulate his question.
"Sa-, Sage. Why? You’re not even-,"
"Shhh." Sage leaned down, silencing Rowen’s
husky whisper with a sweep of his tongue over
his archer’s lips. Hardly pausing, he moved
to his right, brushing aside clinging strands
of blue to reveal an alluring glint of emerald.
"In time. I want to learn the feel of
you first," he breathed before mouthing the tiny
stud in Rowen’s left ear, gently tugging
on it before biting into the surrounding lobe.
"Ohh. Ah god. Sage!" Rowen clenched
his eyes shut, gasping as Sage’s teeth once more
sent pleasure coursing through him.
Somehow, Sage again controlled the instinct singing
through him, telling him to meet his
archer’s thrusts until they both were satisfied,
and instead, freed his hair from the
fingers twisting in it. Sliding back to
straddle Rowen’s thighs, he slowly, sensually,
drew his hands over his lover’s satin covered
length, once, twice, but no more as he
realized by the restless tossing of Rowen’s head
that further teasing would be more
tormenting than pleasurable. Swiveling
to kneel at his lover’s side, Sage hooked his
fingers beneath Rowen’s thong, sliding the slippery
bit of green cloth off over Rowen’s
hips and down his slender legs. Returning
to his former position, he gazed with awe at
the powerful beauty of the flesh that jutted
proudly from amidst its nest of blue-tinged
curls. This was his. This was meant
for him.
Good god, *he* had caused this. A tiny,
insidious thread of apprehension worming its way
through his arousal and lodging in his heart,
Sage dropped his hands to Rowen’s hips
instead of his erection. He had caused
this, and if he continued, it would link him
forever to his blue-haired archer friend.
The fortress of his heart would be irreparably
breached; the solitude that had always sustained
him would be forever shattered. All that
he was, all that he had ever been, would be irrevocably
lost to him. He had wanted this;
had believed he wanted this intimacy… but did
he? How could he function if every
foundation that had ever supported him was knocked
from beneath him?
Too much! Not enough! Rowen lost himself
in pure, mindless sensation as Sage raked his
fingers the length of his cloth covered cock.
He only returned when the cool air
displaced by his lover’s movement as Sage again
straddled him swished against his heated
flesh. Strong, slender hands rose, stood
poised, and, breath catching, Rowen closed his
eyes in anticipation of that so long desired
touch. Something that was not *quite* alarm
leeched through his arousal, dragging his eyes
open again, as that touch never came.
Understanding smoothed the sick knot that had
began to form in his stomach as he watched
indecision and uncertainty chase each other in
the eyes of the man frozen atop him.
Rowen had always believed that he knew his cool,
aloof swordsman friend as no other did,
believed that more firmly than ever in light
of the truths they had shared just a short
while ago. He knew that Sage desired him,
desired a life *with* him. He knew why Sage
hesitated. "Sage." When the pale
blue gaze of his love finally focused on him, Rowen
held it for a timeless moment, then held up one
hand and softly smiled. "I do love you."
I. Do. Love. You. With
a low cry, Sage twined his fingers with Rowen’s, bearing his
lover’s hand down with him as he fell forward.
Desperate doubt was beaten back, unable to
withstand the force of Rowen’s confident reassurance.
‘I do love you.’ Those words
summed up the only thing that was important.
They were enough. He did want this, and he
did love Rowen. If his familiar foundations
crumbled to dust as a result of this joining,
then so be it. He could learn to live with
a heart that was no fortress; he could learn
to be sustained by that love instead of solitude.
Never alone, perhaps, but no longer
lonely. New foundations could be set in
place; the first one would be Rowen himself.
With one last, lingering kiss, Sage sat back,
intently studying his love’s face as he
reverently grasped Rowen’s penis. For him.
His. Sage dropped his gaze to the unflagging
hardness enclosed in his fist, firmly pumping
once, then again, slowly smiling at the
sharp hiss of air that whistled in between his
archer’s clenched teeth. Judging by that
response, and by the long, drawn out sigh of
a moan that Rowen released when he continued
to pump, his lover was still very much on the
edge in spite of his hesitation. It
wouldn’t take much to push him over.
Giving way before the increasingly purposeful
thrusts beneath him, Sage swung over and
down to rest on his elbow at Rowen’s side, freeing
the archer’s hips of his weight. He
slid his palm up to gather the moisture leaking
from his lover’s penis, spreading it,
easing his motion. He ignored the fingers
that twisted almost painfully in the hair at
the back of his head, disregarded the temptation
of the nipple that rose and fell so
tantalizingly near his mouth with each heave
of Rowen’s chest. So close. So close, and
he needed to see the evidence of his partner’s
pleasure this first time. Again, and
again, and again. Sage timed his movements
to Rowen’s thrusts, his own arousal increasing
in proportion with his love’s, until his trousers,
which had once hung loosely on his
hips, felt about two sizes too small. Building.
Closer. Yes! With a final, low cry,
Rowen stiffened, peaked, and glistening whiteness
flowed beneath and between Sage’s
fingers. He continued to slowly pump, fascinated
with his lover’s response to him,
fascinated that Rowen’s erection did not fade,
but only diminished slightly.
Rowen opened his eyes as his arousal ebbed to
witness the last bit of white light fade
from around the blond head beneath his hand.
Perhaps it was simply the afterglow of
release, of being gifted with a satisfaction
never before achieved either with another
partner or on his own. Perhaps it was the
halo for which his love’s armor was named.
Perhaps in the wake of a really mind-numbing
orgasm, his brain had melted and he was
imagining things. Smiling at his own silliness,
Rowen tugged gently at Sage’s hair, all
too aware of the fact that while he had been
pleasured to within an inch of his life, his
partner had not, was still completely dressed
no less. At his lover’s lack of response,
Rowen tugged again, murmuring, "Hey, you still
with m-," He broke off with a gasp when,
instead of raising his head, Sage leaned down
to nip at his nearest nipple, sending a jolt
of pleasure rippling through him, bringing a
surge of renewed hardness to the flesh that
Sage still lazily manipulated.
Not done yet. Good. Pleased, Sage
noted that the flesh he was stroking had firmed until
its rigidity nearly matched that of the nub he
held between his teeth. Very good, indeed,
for Sage was far from finished with his partner.
With a last flick of his tongue, he
released Rowen’s nipple, raising his head to
meet his archer’s hazy gaze with a smile.
"I’m still very much with you, Rowen."
He watched Rowen’s eyes sharpen at his soft
affirmation, but didn’t know what that meant
until his partner moved, and by then it was
too late.
With me, huh? You’d better be, because enough
is enough already. Rowen rolled his love
over onto his back, and, heedless of the messy
remains of his release, pressed his entire
length against Sage. Lowering his head
until their foreheads touched, he flicked his
lover’s nose with his tongue, then whispered,
"This is a good thing. I know you said you
wanted to learn the feel of me, Sage, but don’t
you think that would be easier if you lost
the clothes?"
Sage closed his eyes with a soft groan, surrendering
his lips to those which leaned down
to claim them. Rowen might just have a
very good point. He was beginning to feel as much
on edge as his lover had before, and he didn’t
know how much longer he had before his
desire would consume the remaining shreds of
his control. He reached up to grasp Rowen’s
hips, pulling them down to meet the upward rise
of his own.
Resisting the pressure on his hips, Rowen rose
to his knees. Shaking his head slightly,
he murmured, "Not this way, Sage."
"This way?" As if his lover’s words were in a
different language, Sage struggled for
understanding through the waves of sensation
cresting over his body.
"Not like this." Cupping his lover’s cheeks,
Rowen elaborated, "I want you to make love
to me."
"You want me to-," Eyes widening as comprehension
penetrated the fog shrouding his mind,
Sage slowly shook his head. As much as
he wanted to, as much as very the idea sent a
tracery of fire racing along every nerve ending,
he couldn’t. They didn’t have the
necessary supplies, and without them, there would
be pain. Covering one of the hands on
his cheeks, he murmured, "Rowen, we can’t.
Neither one of us is prepared for that
tonight."
"So, prepare me." Rowen smiled slowly, grinding
his hips against his love’s in a slow,
suggestive circle.
"Rowen, you know what I mean! I will *not* hurt you!"
"I want this, Sage. I need to learn the
feel of *you*." Rowen leaned down to suck the
frown off his lover’s lips, stopping only at
Sage’s low moan. "We’re resourceful, Sage.
Intelligent. We’re Ronin Warriors.
We’ve kicked the collective asses of numerous bad
guys. We’ve saved the world. I think
we can come up with *something* to use for
lubrication." When Sage’s eyes finally
focused on him again, he arched one brow and
suggested, "Why don’t we check out your overnight
bag. You only stuffed it with the
entire contents of our freaking bathroom before
leaving tonight. There’s got to be
something in-," Rowen broke off with a yelp.
Sitting back on Sage’s thighs, he rubbed at
the sting his love’s hand had left on his rear.
"Spanking me won’t make it not true, you
know," he admonished, though his smugness quickly
diminished when he suddenly found
himself wrapped firmly in Sage’s arms being soundly
kissed.
"I can spank you later, Ro," Sage promised with
a smirk as Rowen’s eyes opened wide.
"Lord knows you deserve it. But right now,
I thought we were going to go look for some
lube."
***********************
"G’night, Mia. Ryo." Kento paused
for just a moment, then added with an over-exaggerated
leer, "Don’t do anything *I* wouldn’t do!"
Ryo rolled his eyes and muttered disgustedly, "Impossible."
Sai smiled slightly at his friends’ banter, then
added his own wishes for the well being
of the two he and Kento were leaving. "Good
night both of you. Sleep well."
"Hah! Think they’re going to be sleeping?"
"Kento!"
"Aw, Mia, you’re blushing!"
"Kento, remember what I said I’d do with that tongue of yours if you don’t watch it!"
"Ohhh, I’m *sooo* scared," Kento mumbled around
the tongue that was hanging out of his
mouth.
"Impossible," Ryo repeated, shaking his head.
Turning to Sai, he suggested, "Why don’t
you go get a leash and put him to bed.
Keep him there. Tie him, if necessary. I
*reaally* think he needs to sleep before he becomes
an honest to god threat to society."
As Ryo’s innocent tease kindling an all too real
warmth in the pit of his stomach, Sai’s
vision faded. Hmmm, Kento tied to a bed?
What potential that idea had. Too quickly, the
warmth he was feeling soured and faded as Sai
remembered that such an idea would never
contain anything more than potential. He
sighed regretfully as Ryo’s door swung shut.
He’d been down that road already with Kento not
so long ago, however the road to achieving
his heart’s desire had been completely blocked
by an obstacle the size of Tokyo: Kento’s
monumental lack of interest in him. He
had confessed how very much he wanted a more
intimate relationship with his closest friend,
and Kento had rebuffed him. He’d done it
gently, and with a concern for his feelings that
was quite out of character for such a
tactless person, but Kento had made it perfectly
clear that such a relationship would
never happen. They had survived, he and
Kento, their friendship intact, growing and
deepening in spite of his failure, and that personal
experience had been one thing that
had prompted him to try and nudge Rowen and Sage
together. He wanted those two to be
happy. He wished for them the fullness,
the richness, of love that he would never have
for himself. There was no one besides Kento
he longed for, and he had promised to never
make any unwelcome advances on his friend ever
again.
"Yo, Sai! Hello! Earth to Sai!"
Coming back to himself with a start, Sai realized
that he had no idea how long he’d been
staring blankly at the closed door to Ryo and
Mia’s room. "Sorry, Kento," he offered with
a weak smile.
"You all right? You really spaced out there
for a sec. Didn’t even hear me the first
gazillion times I called." Without waiting
for a response, Kento put his arm around his
slighter friend’s shoulders and turned him towards
their room. "C’mon. I think *you’re*
the one who needs to be put to bed."
Wish he meant that the way it sounded. And
if wishes were fishes, I’d be up to my gills
in fins. Sai firmly controlled the wistful
urge to lean into Kento’s side, knowing full
well that his friend most certainly did *not*
mean that the way it had sounded. Kento was
concerned for him, would always be there for
him, would always take care of him, and Sai
loved him for that. But for all Kento’s
concern, there was still one thing he had to do
before he could retire for the night. Abruptly
stopping, Sai held out the black jacket
that had been draped over his arm, already missing
Kento’s warmth as his friend traveled a
pace beyond him before turning back. "I
need to return this to Sage before going to
sleep, Kento. You go ahead, and I’ll meet
you in our room in a few minutes."
"Sai, I *really* don’t think that’s such a good idea."
Though he wasn’t entirely sure that it was such
a good idea himself, Sai resisted the
gentle tug on his sleeve that Kento used to try
to draw him towards their room. "I have
to Kento. This mess between them tonight
was all my fault. I need to know that they’re
all right."
Kento shook his head, frowning. The last
thing that Rowen or Sage needed at such a time
was for Sai to drop into mother hen mode and
go check up on them, yet the deep concern for
all his friends’ well being was such an integral
part of Sai, that Kento couldn’t fault
him. He wouldn’t, couldn’t, order Sai not
to go, but he could, and would, warn. "Sai,
the way I see it, one of three likely scenarios
is playin’ in that room right now. One,
they’re sleeping, regardless of whether or not
they settled the situation. Two, they
didn’t make up, and they’re fighting. Three,
they decided to stop dancing about each
other and are now makin’ like bunnies.
Whatever the case, barging in there could be
dangerous."
"Don’t you think you’re exaggerating just a tad?"
"Ummm, no. Not at all. You couldn’t
pay me enough to come between those two right now.
Rowen’s bad enough, but Sage is downright scary
when he’s mad. You’re taking your life in
your hands if you enter that room tonight."
"Oh, c’mon, Kento. It can’t be as bad as
all that!" Well, maybe it could, but Sai still
felt that he had to go.
"I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this, am I?"
"Look, I just want to check on them, but if I
hear anything like screams or moans,
regardless of whether or not they’re of pleasure
or pain, then I won’t knock. Will that
satisfy you?"
"No, but I guess it’ll have to do." Kento
closed the distance between he and his friend
and advised, "Just remember to dodge. We
can’t have you damaged now, can we?" He raised
a hand to cup his friend’s chin, rubbing his
thumb over Sai’s cheek. "Especially your
pretty face." Without waiting for any reply,
he spun on his heel and moved off down the
hall, waving one hand over his shoulder.
"Ja ne! Don’t expect me to wait up for ya!"
Sai stood motionless in the middle of the dimly
lit hall, staring after his friend and
brushing the fingers of one hand over the cheek
that Kento had caressed, completely at a
loss for any rational explanation for Kento’s
action. If wishes were fishes… Sai dropped
his hand and moved off in the opposite direction.
Kento had made it eminently clear to
him that he wasn’t interested; he had to cease
juxtaposing his desires onto his friend.
Besides, he couldn’t think about it right now.
Not only would it eventually give him a
headache or stomachache, he had a mission to
carry out.
************************
Nothing. Not a single thing. Sai couldn’t
hear *any* sound coming from the room that
Rowen and Sage were supposedly sharing that night.
Where were those much complained about
paper thin hotel room walls when you needed them?
Sai hesitated, his fist poised to
strike, wondering whether or not he should knock
again, since there’d been such a
spectacular lack of response to his first try.
While it was a good thing his friends
weren’t yelling at each other in anger, Sai still
wished he knew what, if anything, was
going on in there. Maybe the two *were*
asleep. Then again, maybe they *had* been
fighting, and had been kicked out of the hotel.
Clenching his other hand in frustrated indecision,
Sai felt the edges of a hard…
something, dig into his palm and fingers.
Puzzled, he held up Sage’s jacket, rummaging
through its pockets until his fingers finally
groped over what felt like a rectangular bit
of plastic. Shaking his head at Sage’s
carelessness, Sai pulled out what he thought was
one of his friend’s credit cards, only to find
it was the key to the room he stood
before. Oh dear. Was Sage even in
there? What if his friend had been unable to swallow
his pride and ask for admittance? What
if Sage had asked, but Rowen had refused to let
him in? What if Sage, with nowhere else
to go, was alone in the hotel’s bar, or on his
way home? What if, and Sai couldn’t quite
repress a shudder, what if Sage had sought that
Mika person out and was even now in bed with
*her*?
His imagination painting increasingly vivid pictures,
Sai hesitated for just a moment
longer, then resolutely slid the card into the
door’s lock. Even if Sage wasn’t there, he
still had to make sure Rowen was all right.
Most likely he was, most likely he hadn’t
answered the door simply because he was, as Kento
had suggested, asleep, but Sai still
needed to make sure. If Rowen was asleep,
he’d just slip over and tuck his archer friend
in, then slip out again. If Rowen was awake,
then perhaps he needed a friend to talk to
right about now.
Sai pulled the key card out and slid it back into
the pocket of Sage’s jacket as he ever
so quietly turned the door handle. Pushing
the door open only wide enough to admit his
slim body, Sai slipped into the room. Hugging
the wall and feeling like some actor out of
a bad spy flick, he peeked his head around the
corner to see how Rowen fared. A dim lamp
on the table in the opposite corner was the room’s
only source of light, but it was bright
enough to clearly reveal that Rowen was by no
means alone, and he was faring rather well
indeed.
Oh. My. Eyes widening, Sai brought
Sage’s jacket up to his face and bit into it to
stifle his cry. Good god, what had he walked
into? Kento had been all too right, he
should have just waited to see his friends in
the morning.
Oh my goodness. Oh dear! A tiny, very
distant part of Sai’s mind was screaming at him
that he should leave, that he had no right to
see this, yet he found himself paralyzed,
held spellbound and motionless, the bit of cloth
he clutched to his face his only tenuous
anchor to reality. He had seen his two
friends move through every day life. He’d seen
them dance. He’d seen them sparring and
in actual battle. In every circumstance, in all
ways, Rowen and Sage always moved with an easy,
natural, inner elegance, yet never had Sai
seen the two move in any way that came near to
matching the sublime grace of this moment.
Two bodies intertwined, one golden, the other
pale, yet both standing out in sharp relief
against the glowing backdrop of the stark white
sheets of the hotel bed. Rowen lay
beneath Sage, his legs draped over the blond
swordsman’s arms, his head thrown back, his
mouth slightly parted. Muscles rippled
along Sage’s side and flank with each slow,
deliberate thrust he made. Muscles flexed
and relaxed in response as Rowen moved with his
lover, matching him movement for movement in
a perfectly choreographed dance. Silence,
intense, impregnated by the building power of
the coming release, held the room apart,
separate, as if Sai and the occupants of the
bed were encased in a bubble that the sounds
of the outside world could not breach.
A tiny cry, nothing more than a sighing groan,
was the pinprick that burst the bubble, the
trickle of water that ruptured the dam and allowed
the flood waters to rage. Any sense of
deliberation in Sage’s movements fled as he reared
back, as the pace of his thrusts
quickened. The slender fingers of two hands
intertwined, then lowered to jointly stroke
the turgid flesh that had been trapped between
the two straining bodies.
A tiny cry and the calm before the storm shattered.
With a reality twisting wrench, Sai
returned to himself, body tingling in the electrified
atmosphere. Oh god, he had to get
out of there. He *had* to. Immediately.
Right *now*! *Without* being discovered. Oh
god, they’d never forgive him this intrusion
if he were discovered! He closed his eyes
briefly, forcing a slow, deep breath, forcing
his hands to release the cloth they’d been
clutching, forcing a calm that would quell the
rising tide of panic that threatened to
engulf him. Scarcely daring to breath,
Sai edged backwards, inching towards the door one
painstakingly slow step at a time.
*Snick* The faint sound of the latch catching
as Sai eased the door shut behind him was
as loud as an explosion, was enough to overpower
the throb of his heartbeat. He froze,
expecting at any moment that the door handle
would be wrenched from his grasp and he would
be forced to confront his two furious friends.
A minute passed. Another. Finally, one
more. Slowly the adrenaline rush ebbed,
and Sai slouched back into the support of the
door, head back, eyes closed. Slowly, the
adrenal rush of fear and panic faded, giving
way to a burning arousal that left him aching
instead. Aching with the knowledge that he
had no one but himself he could turn to for relief.
Ah, Kento, why can’t you love me the
way I so desperately want you to?
************************
Shuddering arms finally giving way, Sage slid
from Rowen, and rolled to his side so that
his weight would not fall atop his lover.
Tiny, explosive aftershocks still rocking his
body, he groped blindly for Rowen’s lips, sighing
contentedly as he found them.
"Mmmmm, what was that for?" Rowen followed
his lover’s movement as Sage rolled onto his
back, going up on one elbow. Slipping his
free hand beneath the golden bangs that
obscured his love’s face, he gently lifted them
away. The peace in his swordsman’s face,
in his smile, matched the peace in that sigh.
It served to confirm the triumphant,
satisfied sense of rightness that had been singing
in him since they had shared their
first tentative kiss, their first ‘real’ kiss.
What, indeed? Sage looked within, checking
the fit of his emotions with the same
meticulous care he’d use to check the fit of
a new suit. Doubt, fear, discontent, that
horrid ‘out of place’ feeling, all had vanished,
unable to withstand the warmth of Rowen’s
smile. Rowen fit. He fit. Together.
No alterations were necessary. "I’m very
comfortably happy, Rowen."
With a low chuckle, Rowen bent and brushed his
lips over those beneath him. "Comfortably
happy, huh? That’s got to be better than
just plain, old happy, I bet."
"Quite a bit better."
"I’m happy, too." It was too much to hold
within. Like a bird of prey taking to the sky,
Rowen’s elation surged, reaching out and sweeping
Sage beneath its wings. He closed his
eyes with a groan, as an answering passion swelled
to meet him, to move around him and
through him. And he knew. Knew beyond
a shadow of a doubt that Sage *was* happy, was
jubilant, was content, was as whole as he.
He was Sage, and Sage was him. They were
joined. They were together. They
just were.
Too fierce to sustain, the sense of joining faded,
but did not disappear altogether.
Rowen forced his eyes open, and gazed down at
his love in foggy bewilderment. "What-," he
croaked around a suddenly parched throat, "What
was that?" Was? Not quite. There was a
part of him that remained connected to Sage,
and if he tried, Rowen found that through
that connection, he could still sense the flow
of his lover’s emotions. "Let me rephrase
that question," he murmured, still hoarse.
"What *is* this? It’s not gone."
Excitement. Confusion. Fascination.
Awe. An instinctive need to understand, to solve
the puzzle. It was all there for Sage to
experience. All that, and more besides. Slowly
smiling up into his love’s eyes, Sage realized,
there was no more fear in his lover than
there was in himself. "I don’t know, Rowen.
Maybe it’s our armors. Maybe they approve
of our pairing."
"Think so?" It could be possible.
There were still many aspects of their armor they knew
little, if anything, about. Frowning slightly,
Rowen asked, "So, what? Now we’re empaths
or something?"
"Don’t know, and don’t much care right now."
Sage raised a hand and traced the wrinkle
that had formed between Rowen’s eyes. Though
he was already sure of the answer, he asked
anyway, "Do you mind?"
"Hm, no, but I’d-,"
"Just like to know why?"
"Gah! Now he’s finishing my sentences!"
Softly laughing at Rowen’s flair for the dramatic,
Sage rose to his elbow as his love
flopped onto his back and draped one forearm
across his eyes. His laughter faded back
into a sigh when two slender hands cupped his
cheeks and drew his face down.
"The question is, do *you* mind?" All seriousness,
Rowen stared into pale blue and
awaited an answer.
Turning his head, Sage laid a kiss onto one of
Rowen’s palms, asking, "Don’t you already
know?"
"I need to hear it, Sage. It doesn’t have
to be often, but sometimes, I need to hear
it." Rowen ran one thumb along Sage’s cheekbone,
then lowered it to trace the outline of
his lips.
"I love you, Rowen. I do love you," Sage
breathed into the lips parted beneath him before
lowering his onto them.
*************************
fini
I had such a distinct fear of not
living up to all your expectations that I almost didn't
write this part, in spite of needing
the lead in to the sequel. Should I have left well
enough alone? Well, I wrote it,
and what's done is done. I just hope it came out all
right.
Please, let me know? Please
send replies directly to me at ladyglen@sprintmail.com. With
the way the ml has been acting
up for me lately, I'd rather receive your comments, etc.
(if any) directly. ^_^
Thanks!
Ladyglen
--
