Concessions Chapter 17 *Lemon Warning*
TITLE: Concessions
WORD COUNT: 1,338
PART: 18/?
FANDOM: Rurouni Kenshin
GENRE: Romance/Drama/Angst
RATING: R (T)
SUMMARY: Seven years after he left, Sagara Sanosuke returns to pay his respects to old friends, wondering if things have really changed, but only to find himself embroiled in a conflict that would test his values, his beliefs, and ultimately his character. Where does the struggle end and concessions begin?
CHAPTER 17: One Perpetual Night II
Jasmine.
Sano breathed of jasmine as he held her to him, burying his face in her hair, glorying in the luxuriant tresses and having her in his arms like this. It was a pleasant kind of feeling. None of the hot-blooded passion that….. It was warmth that was slow-burning, the kind that lasted. Like she belonged there and nowhere else.
They must have stood there for a very long time. Yet, not a single word passed between them. There was no need; what they felt inside was more palpable than any speech.
(I can’t find the words to tell you how I feel.)
Dark eyes stared deeply into hers, searing her with their intensity and almost forcing her to look away. Instead, she bowed her head like a suppliant.
(I’m afraid that…)
Calloused palms reached up to cup her face, silently asking what she could no more refuse.
(I feel so much.)
Megumi drew a shuddering breath, closing her eyes as she fervently wished this night would never end. All those years…. Was it happening even then? She knew nothing, just that…he was changed and she was changed and they both…wanted….
Was it love? She wondered if it was. He called her ‘love.’ Ai-jou. But…. How much was part of the enchantment of this perpetual night? How much was part of desperation born? She wanted to forget, to drown herself in him. She wanted him to touch her, kiss her, kiss her again and never stop. So she raised her face and offered her mouth to him.
Sano took and thought, This is Megumi in my arms. He tasted salt in her lips and more jasmine. This is her. Never once did he ever think, and yet he wondered…. She was still so beautiful. She was always so…. It was desire. He knew it, felt it, and he wanted more. Touch her, touch her, make her gasp, his mind told him.
Quietly they parted and quietly they turned to step inside the lamp-lit room. The shoji closed behind them with a definite thud, shutting out the wind which was picking up, letting the faint strains of some nameless tune swirl around them.
The light from the lamp flickered across their two figures as he knelt before her and she before him. A mere five inches separated them and a lifetime of difference.
They were about to cross that difference tonight.
Sano lifted his hand to trace the side of her face, feeling her tremble as he did. Her skin was silk, warm and supple, slightly flushed, whether from excitement or embarrassment, he could not tell. He raised his other hand to flutter over her collarbone before moving once more, pulling gently at the cloth that covered her shoulders. His mouth followed where his hands had been.
She was beautiful.
Megumi shuddered when she felt her kimono slip past her shoulders, the chill of the night air creating goosebumps in her skin. But more than that, his mouth was…fire as they moved over her, kissing the skin that was bared to his heated gaze, giving and taking at the same time. She lifted her own hands and shoved them in his hair, clutching desperately as her eyelids began to drop and her lips softly let out a gasp.
Her breath hitched when his mouth found the rapid pulse in her throat at the same moment that his warm hands covered her breasts. He lifted his head to look at her and see what his touch was making her feel.
She stopped breathing for a moment before she released it in a soft sigh. Her face flushed at the first stirrings of sensations that were foreign to her, coiling from somewhere, wounding so tight she could barely breathe. Sano's eyes were glittering strangely as his hands slid lower, starting to unwind the obi from her waist, slowly, slowly, his gaze dragging over her, followed by his fingers, his mouth.
Gently, he lowered her to the futon, kissing her all the while, drugging her with the fire of his touch. Her hands played with the buttons on his shirt, wanting to feel bare skin. But her fingers kept slipping and Sano had to chuckle at the look of frustration apparent in her furrowed brow. He moved to kiss that frown away before he sat up and peeled off his shirt.
He was magnificent.
A languid smile entered Megumi's eyes as she ran her gaze over him. It was nothing that she had never seen before and everything she never saw. There were a few scars here and there and the still fresh one on his shoulder where a sword had run through. Her handiwork held the healing skin together, revealing an angry shade of red. Broad shoulders and tapered hips. Under the light of the lamp, he looked older somehow, but the rest of him was young and strong and...man.
"Sano..."
It was the softest of whispers; the name a prayer on her lips before he leaned forward to steal it away. Their kisses were soft at first, tender hands brushing against each other's flesh before the tempo increased and their breaths came out in gasps. His legs slid against hers, softly parting and she could feel him. From heated skin, the fire spread with their hands, their lips, encircling their hearts, before delving to somewhere deep. And then...he hurt her.
Megumi bit her lip, trying to keep back a gasp. He continued to move and she felt her flesh tear inside her. She wanted to hold him, to stop him and he must have sensed her convoluted thoughts because he paused and looked at her, saw her face.
“Megumi…”
“…it hurts,” she whispered and closed her eyes as he finished his descent, buried inside her, touching her in a way no one had ever touched her before. “It hurts,” she said again, digging her fingernails into his back.
She felt his lips brush her closed eyelids, heard his whispered gasp the same time he started to withdraw. She cried then, softly, her tears unshed, but Sano’s hand was already moving downward, reaching between her legs and finding her.
Megumi’s eyes shot open and her face started to burn as she felt him…move that hand. The other took her face, raining kisses over it, whispering her name again and again as he started moving. A moan escaped, another, and she was lost. She felt only the white-hot pleasure surge inside her in brief spurts, rhythmic like dance, and she turned then to accept his mouth, opening under him.
The pupils in Sano's eyes grew wider, bursting like a dying star, as he let out a groan, burying his face in her neck, inhaling her scent. His name was on her lips as his hands were on her breasts, her hips. She moved and he was drowning, dying…flowing over her, filling every inch, tasting, touching, until the feeling overwhelmed them and the night broke with their quiet cries of release.
For a minute, the world stopped.
No sound came save for the silent wind passing by and the faint chirping of the crickets.
Megumi felt something wet roll down her cheeks and instinctively, she opened her eyes, thinking that the tears belonged to her. But then she saw Sano hovering above her, a shattered expression on his face, his eyes like broken mirrors glittering down at her.
She could not speak. Something inside her was twisting tightly, choking her. It was not pain but it was close…. This was….
After staring down at her for the longest time without speaking, Sano finally lifted himself off her and slid to the side, his lean body still pressed to her. There was a beat and then his hands slid up her shoulders, pulling until his face was buried in her hair.
It was so quiet. The lamplight cast their naked forms into sharp relief, creating flattering shadows where her skin dipped and his muscles swelled.
The lovers slept.
~ tsuzuku ~
WORD COUNT: 1,338
PART: 18/?
FANDOM: Rurouni Kenshin
GENRE: Romance/Drama/Angst
RATING: R (T)
SUMMARY: Seven years after he left, Sagara Sanosuke returns to pay his respects to old friends, wondering if things have really changed, but only to find himself embroiled in a conflict that would test his values, his beliefs, and ultimately his character. Where does the struggle end and concessions begin?
CHAPTER 17: One Perpetual Night II
Jasmine.
Sano breathed of jasmine as he held her to him, burying his face in her hair, glorying in the luxuriant tresses and having her in his arms like this. It was a pleasant kind of feeling. None of the hot-blooded passion that….. It was warmth that was slow-burning, the kind that lasted. Like she belonged there and nowhere else.
They must have stood there for a very long time. Yet, not a single word passed between them. There was no need; what they felt inside was more palpable than any speech.
(I can’t find the words to tell you how I feel.)
Dark eyes stared deeply into hers, searing her with their intensity and almost forcing her to look away. Instead, she bowed her head like a suppliant.
(I’m afraid that…)
Calloused palms reached up to cup her face, silently asking what she could no more refuse.
(I feel so much.)
Megumi drew a shuddering breath, closing her eyes as she fervently wished this night would never end. All those years…. Was it happening even then? She knew nothing, just that…he was changed and she was changed and they both…wanted….
Was it love? She wondered if it was. He called her ‘love.’ Ai-jou. But…. How much was part of the enchantment of this perpetual night? How much was part of desperation born? She wanted to forget, to drown herself in him. She wanted him to touch her, kiss her, kiss her again and never stop. So she raised her face and offered her mouth to him.
Sano took and thought, This is Megumi in my arms. He tasted salt in her lips and more jasmine. This is her. Never once did he ever think, and yet he wondered…. She was still so beautiful. She was always so…. It was desire. He knew it, felt it, and he wanted more. Touch her, touch her, make her gasp, his mind told him.
Quietly they parted and quietly they turned to step inside the lamp-lit room. The shoji closed behind them with a definite thud, shutting out the wind which was picking up, letting the faint strains of some nameless tune swirl around them.
The light from the lamp flickered across their two figures as he knelt before her and she before him. A mere five inches separated them and a lifetime of difference.
They were about to cross that difference tonight.
Sano lifted his hand to trace the side of her face, feeling her tremble as he did. Her skin was silk, warm and supple, slightly flushed, whether from excitement or embarrassment, he could not tell. He raised his other hand to flutter over her collarbone before moving once more, pulling gently at the cloth that covered her shoulders. His mouth followed where his hands had been.
She was beautiful.
Megumi shuddered when she felt her kimono slip past her shoulders, the chill of the night air creating goosebumps in her skin. But more than that, his mouth was…fire as they moved over her, kissing the skin that was bared to his heated gaze, giving and taking at the same time. She lifted her own hands and shoved them in his hair, clutching desperately as her eyelids began to drop and her lips softly let out a gasp.
Her breath hitched when his mouth found the rapid pulse in her throat at the same moment that his warm hands covered her breasts. He lifted his head to look at her and see what his touch was making her feel.
She stopped breathing for a moment before she released it in a soft sigh. Her face flushed at the first stirrings of sensations that were foreign to her, coiling from somewhere, wounding so tight she could barely breathe. Sano's eyes were glittering strangely as his hands slid lower, starting to unwind the obi from her waist, slowly, slowly, his gaze dragging over her, followed by his fingers, his mouth.
Gently, he lowered her to the futon, kissing her all the while, drugging her with the fire of his touch. Her hands played with the buttons on his shirt, wanting to feel bare skin. But her fingers kept slipping and Sano had to chuckle at the look of frustration apparent in her furrowed brow. He moved to kiss that frown away before he sat up and peeled off his shirt.
He was magnificent.
A languid smile entered Megumi's eyes as she ran her gaze over him. It was nothing that she had never seen before and everything she never saw. There were a few scars here and there and the still fresh one on his shoulder where a sword had run through. Her handiwork held the healing skin together, revealing an angry shade of red. Broad shoulders and tapered hips. Under the light of the lamp, he looked older somehow, but the rest of him was young and strong and...man.
"Sano..."
It was the softest of whispers; the name a prayer on her lips before he leaned forward to steal it away. Their kisses were soft at first, tender hands brushing against each other's flesh before the tempo increased and their breaths came out in gasps. His legs slid against hers, softly parting and she could feel him. From heated skin, the fire spread with their hands, their lips, encircling their hearts, before delving to somewhere deep. And then...he hurt her.
Megumi bit her lip, trying to keep back a gasp. He continued to move and she felt her flesh tear inside her. She wanted to hold him, to stop him and he must have sensed her convoluted thoughts because he paused and looked at her, saw her face.
“Megumi…”
“…it hurts,” she whispered and closed her eyes as he finished his descent, buried inside her, touching her in a way no one had ever touched her before. “It hurts,” she said again, digging her fingernails into his back.
She felt his lips brush her closed eyelids, heard his whispered gasp the same time he started to withdraw. She cried then, softly, her tears unshed, but Sano’s hand was already moving downward, reaching between her legs and finding her.
Megumi’s eyes shot open and her face started to burn as she felt him…move that hand. The other took her face, raining kisses over it, whispering her name again and again as he started moving. A moan escaped, another, and she was lost. She felt only the white-hot pleasure surge inside her in brief spurts, rhythmic like dance, and she turned then to accept his mouth, opening under him.
The pupils in Sano's eyes grew wider, bursting like a dying star, as he let out a groan, burying his face in her neck, inhaling her scent. His name was on her lips as his hands were on her breasts, her hips. She moved and he was drowning, dying…flowing over her, filling every inch, tasting, touching, until the feeling overwhelmed them and the night broke with their quiet cries of release.
For a minute, the world stopped.
No sound came save for the silent wind passing by and the faint chirping of the crickets.
Megumi felt something wet roll down her cheeks and instinctively, she opened her eyes, thinking that the tears belonged to her. But then she saw Sano hovering above her, a shattered expression on his face, his eyes like broken mirrors glittering down at her.
She could not speak. Something inside her was twisting tightly, choking her. It was not pain but it was close…. This was….
After staring down at her for the longest time without speaking, Sano finally lifted himself off her and slid to the side, his lean body still pressed to her. There was a beat and then his hands slid up her shoulders, pulling until his face was buried in her hair.
It was so quiet. The lamplight cast their naked forms into sharp relief, creating flattering shadows where her skin dipped and his muscles swelled.
The lovers slept.
~ tsuzuku ~