fic: The Cob Prince (5/6)
Jin ran his finger tenderly on Kame’s throat again, burning the feeling of how his breathing gently vibrated it under his fingers in his memory. He leaned downwards to kiss it, making Kame sigh and turn his head to his side, arching his neck back and immediately opening his legs properly to make more way for Jin.
Maybe it was his spot. That beautiful, long and somehow rough neck of his. He ran his lips softly on it and bit down, gently at first and then harder after receiving a quiet cry from Kame’s lips. The second sound was louder and made his body shudder under him. The friction felt good.
He gently pulled Kame back to a sitting position again, letting him wrap his arms around Jin’s shoulders, partially blocking his movements as he leaned forwards to kiss him on the lips again, his tongue softly brushing the groove between them. He groaned, opening his mouth but using his chance to stop Kame’s dominating try, changing the tables.
He felt heat rushing to his face as their tongues first quickly brushed against each others, making him pull away sharply at first. Ack. Sensitive. Kame tensed under him as he leaned in to repeat the action.
Hesitant, childish and playful. Experimenting as he tried his limits, afraid of taking a few steps too far. He broke the kiss with a breathless pant, moving his hands down on Kame’s thighs as he massaged them gently, purring to Kame’s neck, making him arch it back again with a half-suppressed moan.
And Kame wished that his little animal friends had had the decency to take their leave by that point.
“Am I being too physical?” Jin asked uneasily, pursing his lips and pouting as he forced Kame’s face to face him straight. “I love you in many ways? I really do! But I’ve missed your touch, I’ve missed the feeling of you -”
“I’m sure you have,” Kame sighed. “Physical jerk.”
“And when I’ve been touching myse-” he tried to continue but Kame slammed his hand over Jin’s mouth, face flustered as he almost choked, trying desperately to meet words with his lips.
“I don’t need to know that, Jin. I really don’t,” he told the other man with a hint of panic in his voice. Hell, he did not want to go through this in a conversation. Jin’s taste in topics was surely one of a kind. “So just shut up.”
Jin pushed his hand off his mouth and glanced up at him, seeming hurt. “What, didn’t you miss me too, Kame?”
Kame snorted embarrassedly. “Jin, you aren’t supposed to ask things like that with that tone. But yes, I missed you.”
“Enough to -?”
“No,” Kame said shaking his head. “I spend most of my time as a fucking cob, Jin. Cobs don’t have a sexual drive. Only humans and dolphins do,” he grunted at the other male, starting to seriously regret actually missing the man.
And regretted his thought right after it had popped in his mind.
Of course he had missed Jin. Of course. Jin was refreshing; he was adorable in his own innocent and not-so-innocent way. He was awkward and demanding, dedicated and loving.
Jin was something entirely different from everything else Kame had ever seen. And maybe that was what made Kame love him all the more, how he managed to bring up such stupid and embarrassing things casually in the conversation, not seeming befuddled the slightest bit, straightforwardly sticking with his topic until he got his answers.
Jin’s face fell. “…You spend your time as a cob? For real?”
Kame sighed, fluffing Jin’s hair tiredly. “Jin, what do you think? You just saw me. I’m not a human anymore,” he said, his mood drastically dropping.
Yes, he couldn’t count himself a human. Not anymore. Deep down he was, but for the majority of time… he was so hopelessly far from it.
Jin was in love with a cob. And it was a heartbreaking thought. Because there was nothing Kame could offer in his form. And his time was running out anyway.
Jin’s thumbs massaged his Adam’s apple as he looked up at him. “I’ll save you, Kame. I’ll find a way, I’ll save you and then we’ll get our happily ever after just like everyone else,” he declared, hopelessly naïve and innocent minded. “And I’ll love you even if you are a cob. Even if you are a cob without a sex drive, I’ll still love you. But you’ll be a human around me, right? Our closeness healed you. Yeah! My arrival healed you! You’re a human now, Kame!” he laughed happily, relieved as he reached conclusions in his mind. “My love makes you human!”
Kame shook his head, silencing Jin by gritting his teeth together and seeming uneasy. “No. I’m a cob unless I’m by the lake when the moonlight touches its surface, and when the moon sets down I’ll turn back into a cob again. It has nothing to do with you. And freeing me of the spell… It… it isn’t that easy, Jin. You have to make a vow of everlasting love and prove it to the world.”
Jin stared at him. “…Me? A vow? Hell, what kind of ancient spell is that?”
Kame growled, frowning as he nudged Jin angrily. “Don’t make fun of it, it’s not funny. Not in this situation. And magic is an ancient art. It has ancient rules and limitations.”
Jin pursed his lips, looking at Kame hesitantly. “…So I have to declare my love for you publically?”
“That could do it,” Kame gulped tensely. “I’m not sure if it’s a good idea. The company -”
“The company can handle it!” Jin chirped happily and smooched him quickly on the lips, excited as he rocked their bodies together, wrapping his arms around Kame’s lower back. “Jewellery should be sold with the presence of love, don’t you think? Our love will make it bloom even better. It might be hard at first but hell, I’m sure it will become something greater than ever in its history! Especially after the fusion! Because of course we will fusion them now that we’re together -”
“…No one ever said anything about being together, Jin…” Kame muttered quietly but Jin only fluffed his hair uncaringly, not stopping to make a comment about it, sure that his point was what he had said it to be now that they both clearly liked each others. No, not liked. Loved.
The word made him all giddy and warm.
Love. He was in love with Kame. Kame was in love with him.
Jin and Kame equalled love.
How funny.
He gasped in enlightenment, a wide smile spreading on his lips as he kissed Kame passionately on the lips again, tilting his head to make their lips join smoothly as he pressed them together and sucked, repeating the motion time and time again before Kame pushed him away.
“I know Kame, I know! I know!” he chirped happily, collecting thick strands of Kame’s hair in his hands as he kissed him on the lips again. “The auction will be tomorrow night, it’ll be held at our summer mansion! It starts at eight o’clock but your company will be the great bravura, I’m sure it won’t be before midnight! You’ll come and join us and in front of all those television cameras I’ll announce my love for you and we’ll declare you non-missing and regain your company! We can announce the fusion then too! Doesn’t that sound like it would work? Doesn’t it?!”
Very technical. …It was Jin’s idea of being romantic.
Hopelessly and idiotically stupid. Dramatic, over the top and annoying.
But it could work. And then he would be free.
He buried his fingers in Jin’s hair and pulled him closer to kiss him again. Jin complied happily, truly exhilarated that Kame agreed to his suggestion, excited about the night to come. Kame could feel his fluttering heartbeat against his chest as he
rocked upwards, wrapping his legs around Jin’s lips.
And it felt good. Being there with Jin like that.
Jin rubbed their noses together and playfully bit his. Kame frowned and grumbled, sinking his nails in the man’s back, making him gasp loudly. Jin shivered violently and crashed their bodies closer together, whimpering as he gently pulled the lobe of Kame’s ear with his teeth.
Kame sighed, pushing Jin off him to his side, turning around to lie on his side as well, still holding him in his arms gently and caressing his curly locks wonderingly as he lied there calmly.
“…Can we just lie in here?” he asked quietly. “Just for a while. Just lying in here like this.”
And Jin stopped molesting him. He looked at him and then to the starlit sky. Kame pressed him gently closer and buried his face in his shoulder, breathing in his scent, enjoying the familiar odour.
“You don’t want to do it,” Jin stated the fact. Kame was surprised he had managed to pick it up, turning to look at him hesitantly but Jin didn’t seem offended. Maybe slightly disappointed but that was about it. “Not yet anyway, am I right?”
“Mm,” Kame answered. Jin started stroking the bridge of his nose gently so that he had to squint slightly thanks to the tingling it caused and heat it brought to his face. “Not tonight.”
Because what if it was all about the chase for Jin, even unconsciously? Kame didn’t want to risk it. He couldn’t stand risking his life.
He couldn’t be a cob forever. Couldn’t. Jin needed motivation. He needed goals to reach, he needed something to work for.
“Tomorrow?” Jin asked and Kame almost punched him again. Impatient, hormone driven twenty-two year old teenager.
Instead of that he merely sat up and hugged his knees, looking up at the sky over the dark lake, tilting his head tiredly as he followed the floating clouds.
“If you manage to keep me human until the sun is up,” Kame answered him. Jin smiled widely as he put his arms behind his neck. Kame turned to look at him and Jin faced him happily, almost like a puppy that had lost his long-lost, beloved owner.
“There’s one more thing,” Kame continued, sitting over Jin slowly, entwining their fingers and loving the sight of Jin’s hair scattered around in the dirty ground, a few small sticks tangled in his knotted locks. “If you declare your love for the wrong person, I die.”
“I would never do that,” Jin chuckled and pressed tighter with his fingers, a confident smile on his lips. “Why the hell would I tell I love someone?”
“Even a friend. Anyone. If you do that before tomorrow night, before the vow’s been made…”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jin insisted, brining Kame’s left hand closer to him and kissing it gently. “I’ll keep my mouth shut. I’ll make it right.”
And of course he would. Jin would do this one thing for him and then somehow ridiculously the outcome would be like from a fairytale. Because that’s how things went.
“Expect me at midnight then,” Kame whispered to Jin and kissed him gently and long, caressing the other man’s lips. “I’ll turn and I’ll come. And we’ll set things straight before he has time to even suspect anything.”
“He?” Jin asked furiously. “Who? I’m going to rip his head off -”
“There’s no need. You do what you’re supposed to do, break the spell and we’ll leave him behind moaning his misery,” Kame objected, having a very clear mental image of Jin trying to fight with the wizard. “Do it for me.”
Jin pouted, caressing his hair with his right hand, the other one gently placed on his hip. “Fine. For you, then.”
“Okay. It’s settled then,” Kame answered him, starting to feel optimistic.
Tomorrow would be his last day as a cob. Of that he was sure. To one way or another.
“You need to go home,” Kame realised quickly, pulling Jin up to his feet and brushing some of the dirt off him. “Go home and make sure everything will work out. And have a shower, will you?”
Jin glared at him angrily, muttering quietly something along the lines ‘Who was the one who pushed me down anyway.’
“That direction,” Kame said and pointed with his finger. “Go straight ahead. No turns, you hear me? Straight ahead. Shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Don’t make fun of me,” Jin grumbled, crossing his arms and pursing his lips. “And I need to find Pi.”
“I’ll find Pi for you,” Kame snapped. “Just go. You need to be there so that they won’t move or cancel the auction. And he can’t see you in here. It isn’t like you’re going to get Pi home in that dehydrated state of his. I’ll find him and bring him with me tomorrow.”
Jin hesitated but Kame pushed him grumpily forwards.
“Stop being a child and trust in me. Tomorrow, midnight,” he told him strictly.
Jin smiled and nodded. Then he blinked, realising something and smiled as he pulled a skull necklace from his pocket, handing it over to Kame who took it with wide eyes.
“…You found my necklace,” he mumbled, dumbfound. “Thank you. Thank you, Jin.”
“My reward?” the older man pouted. Kame rolled his eyes and pulled him into their last, already yearning kiss.
He fluffed Jin’s hair and turned him around again. “Alright, Jin, time to go. Straight ahead.”
“I’m not stupid!” Jin snapped at him. “Don’t make me disobey!”
Kame couldn’t help chuckling.
He was in love with the most idiotic child on the world.
And he found himself loving every single second of it, he realised as he watched Jin’s back disappearing, the man looking back so that he bumped into a couple of trees on his way.
Kame walked back in the water, feeling the soothing waves massaging his ankles with the cold water. He smiled as he stretched his arms, looking up at the sky to the moon and tried to playfully catch it with his hand, feeling better than he remembered feeling in ages. If ever.
“So he found you,” a word chuckled mockingly from behind him and he turned, seeing Ryo walk out of the shadows, a bitter smile on his lips. “He found you and you’re naïve enough to think you can run away from me with him.”
And suddenly Kame’s world was coming crashing down, cold sensations hitting him in waves as he wordlessly stared at his captor who now sat by the riverside, picking up a small rock from the ground and starting to pass it from one hand to another. Ueda followed him, looking dark and gloomy as always as he stayed standing, crossing his arms as he stood next to Ryo.
A grin spread on his face. And if Ueda had something to grin about, Kame could be sure it was bad.
“I think someone’s been in here for a bit too long,” Ueda purred delightedly, enjoying the awakening despair in the air. “Have you forgotten about the moon cycle, Kazuya?”
Ryo grinned, dropping the little stone with a cruelly delighted laughter that echoed from the woods. Kame paled and looked up at the sky.
Crescent moon. Very crescent.
He shook his head, his chest feeling heavy and tight as he gulped. “No. No,” he stuttered. “No no no no no!”
“New moon,” Ryo sang happily. “There will be no moonlight tomorrow night - and so there will be no silvery light touching the water’s surface and activating your transformation. Tomorrow’s the one night in the month that you’ll remain a cob, Kame.”
Kame could see the beautiful world around him shattering. He felt angry tears filling his eyes as he splashed water at Ryo and Ueda furiously, screaming out of frustration. Ueda smiled amusedly and Ryo hissed as he got up and tried to wipe dry his clothes.
“This will be your last chance, Kame. Since I can’t ask you tomorrow for you can’t answer in that pretty cob-form of yours,” Ryo asked him, remaining at the strandline as he watched the frustrated and desperate fit he was throwing in the water. “Will you marry me and live or will we settle this?”
Kame let out a madman’s laughter again, throwing his neck back as he spun around and around in the water, splashing it around as his feet moved, creating small waves as he embraced the sky with his widely opened arms.
“I’ve told you that my answer remains the same every night: over my dead body,” Kame laughed, turning to look at Ryo with a crazy grin on his face. “So go ahead. Do it.”
“One last chance -”
“No. No more chances,” Kame stated coldly, starting to calm down as he faced Ryo icily, glaring at him as he faced him proudly with his head held high. “It’s over, Ryo. You didn’t make it.”
“I don’t want to do this to you, Kame,” Ryo said. “It’s such a waste. Someone like you. Your perfection in its finest.”
“There’s only so long that perfection will last,” Kame swallowed, walking closer slowly, the weight of the water slowing him down and making him drag his feet almost tiredly. “And perfections never have happy endings.”
“He’s right,” Ueda joined the conversation, sighing with a sadistic smirk on his lips, eyes gleaming with excitement as he pondered about the idea he had obviously gotten. “The perfect things get the most tragic endings.”
Ryo raised his eyebrows at Ueda. “Please, go on. Share.”
“You don’t have to lay a finger on him,” Ueda pointed out, looking at Kame with his hands stuffed in his pockets, cocking his head back slightly. “They can destroy themselves on their own.”
“…Vow to the wrong person?” Ryo tried to keep up with him. “Why would he do that?”
“Because,” Ueda stated, biting his lower lip, “he doesn’t notice that something’s wrong until it’s too late.”
“…You. You,” Ryo gasped, jumping up and taking a hold of Ueda’s shoulders. “You’re a genius. The most twisted person on earth.”
“I’d just hate to make it boring and messy,” Ueda said, shrugging.
Kame shook his head. “No. If you want to do it, at least have the guts to do it yourself! Don’t mix Jin up in this mess!” he hissed furiously, grabbing Ryo from his collar aggressively. Ryo grabbed him from his wrist and twisted it so that Kame was forced down on his knees to the shore, hissing in pain.
“’Over my dead body’, you said. It was bound to end in his misery too, wasn’t it?” Ryo said to him, rubbing his wrist gently with his thumb. “It will destroy him, when he realises what he’s done.”
“No,” Kame groaned, trying to fight himself off from Ryo’s hold. “You can’t do that! Not that!”
“You will live long enough to see your love betray you,” Ryo whispered to him, a smirk dancing on his lips as he looked up at Ueda. “And you will feel the life being sucked out of your weakening body, slowly and delicately like a flower withering.”
He pushed Kame further in the lake, water splashing around as he gasped on his knees. Ryo turned to Ueda, pursing his lips and looking at him, deep in thought. Ueda narrowed his eyes.
“Ryo. If you dare to -” Ueda started threatening dangerously but Ryo had already pressed his lips on the smaller man’s who stumbled back for a few steps in shock, letting out a soft cry as he felt the magic enter him.
In a matter of less than ten funny seconds Kame was faced with an exact replica of himself, dressed formally in a suit. Ryo pursed his lips and knocked his head.
“Lacks something. Oh, ah, now I get it!” he said cheerfully and gave one last smooch to him, making a skull necklace appear on his neck.
“You -!” Kame bellowed furiously and lunged forwards, but realised that his feet refused to carry him anymore, making him fall down to the water, gasping in pain.
Ryo looked at the gold glow surrounding his shaking form and looked up at the skies, smiling at the thick clouds as he pulled Ueda closer and ruffled his hair, non-caring about his sour expression.
“I’ll grant you all the fun, Ueda. Go and score it,” he told the other man as he glanced at Kame’s cob-turned form, hopelessly looking up at the sky and swimming in a circle, letting out sour and furious cries as he kept glancing at them.
“Tomorrow night,” Ryo stated, looking at the sky as well as he caressed Ueda’s newly formed hair gently, curling it around his finger and kissing it softly with his lips, “we will see the grand finale of this tragedy.”
And there was nothing Kame could do.
It wasn’t like a mere cob could save the situation, no matter how much he wished for it.
The clouds covered the stars that night.
***
When Jin arrived back home the next morning, he was the happiest man on earth.
He smiled and danced around happily, making his way to Takki after a long and deafening lecturing and worrying interrogation from his mother. Takki looked up at him, waving and letting out a relieved sigh.
“Shotgun, Jin? Had you finally lost it?” he asked, motioning for Jin to sit down with him. “Where’s Pi, I heard he was with you?”
“He’ll come tonight,” Jin answered Takki with a smile that almost reached his ears, leaning to the table with his elbows and waving his legs happily. “He’ll come. With my date.”
Takki looked up at him suspiciously. “How did you get yourself a date, Jin? Weren’t you completely stuck with Kame?”
“There’s this someone I met when we got lost,” Jin chirped mischievously, trying to create a mysterious atmosphere. “And he’s the gentlest person I have ever seen, the one who’s beautiful and graceful like a cob. And he had sad eyes that told me that he loved me.”
“I see you’ve increased your vocabulary and capability in compliments,” Takki acknowledged with an approving nod. “…So a cob, huh? You aren’t bringing an actual cob in here, are you?”
“What, of course not!” Jin laughed, thinking about the irony of the situation. His eyes watered and he wiped them, the laughter refusing to die. “Not really. He looks pretty human to me under the moonlight.”
“I see,” Takki sighed. “I wouldn’t have wondered. It’s more probable that you ran into a cob in the woods rather than someone who’d be able to pass over your devotion to Kame.”
“You have no idea,” Jin chirped. “What are you writing anyway?”
“Final arrangements for the auction,” Takki answered, showing the paper to him briefly. “Picking flowers. Arranging the seats, making sure there’s enough space and nice filming angles for the press. Checking the order of the things in the auction.”
“Kamenashi’s company for the last, right?” Jin asked. “Right, right?”
Takki stared at him suspiciously, narrowing his eyes slightly. “You’re in an awfully good mood.”
Jin nodded. “I’m in love. And I’m going to confess to him tonight.”
“You surely waste no time waiting,” Takki sighed and shook his head. “You do know that moving ahead too fast drives people away? And are you sure you’re in love and this isn’t just yet another extremely bad case of infatuation?”
Jin shook his head. “No. This time I’m sure. I’ve been for quite some time. So, what kind of flowers? Tell me! Surely the house will look beautiful, right?”
“Yes,” Takki answered hesitantly. “Tulips. Orange tulips.”
Jin’s face fell. “Orange tulips? Are you serious?”
“What, what’s so wrong about tulips? They’re beautiful. Sophisticated,” Takki argued. “Not to mention they fit here nicely. And orange is a warm colour.”
“No, no, no!” Jin objected strongly. “No. White flowers. Nice, beautiful, gentle and pure white flowers. Roses, maybe. Yes, white roses!”
“Jin… I hate to break it to you, but this isn’t a wedding,” Takki sighed. “White flowers are overly dramatic. Stop with the planning, it doesn’t fit you.”
“No, white flowers! Beautiful, white flower decorations! Bouquets, filled with pretty white flowers!” Jin exclaimed excitedly. “You can put the tulips in your own room if you like them so much. But I want white flowers.”
“Jin, you aren’t getting your white flowers,” Takki stated strongly. “Now go, get ready and help your mother, she’ll have a nervous breakdown soon. Just be useful, will you?”
“Fine,” Jin pouted angrily and stood up, crossing his arms. “You’re the biggest jerk on earth. For once when I’m asking for something -”
“Introduce me to your date tonight, Jin,” Takki mumbled, pulling his mobile phone from his pocket and starting to dial the flower shop’s number. “That’s all I’m asking.”
Fifteen minutes later Jin stole the number, cancelled Takki’s order and left him very angry, dumbfounded and clearly angry at the person whom he knew to be responsible for tons and tons of different kinds of white flowers arriving.
Jin made sure to stay out of the way and well hidden to value his pretty and already bruised face for the night. He had to look good for the cameras when the time would come.
( PART 6 )