Hakuouki fanfic: Amok Time, Part 6/7 (An Oni's Patience)
Title: Amok Time, Part 6/7 (An Oni's Patience)
Fandom: Hakuouki
Pairing: Amagiri x Toudou, Kazama x Hijikata & Shiranui x Harada (background)
Rating: PG-13 (for this part)
Words: 66647 (in all...holy shit how'd it get so long??)
Notes: Ah finally finally done, just need to post the rest now...
Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
Part 4 here.
Part 5 here.
Amagiri had been through the cycle three times, so he could smell it before he came. He was almost full-blooded, so his senses in that department were unaffected and as a bonus, his parents were still around so they gave him a nice, thorough rundown the first time (unlike Shiranui).
He was fully thankful for that the first time when he felt the bite of desire, undeniable and uncontrollable. He'd taken her back to his parents house, his blood thrumming with anticipation, and he'd whispered words of love in her ear before he shut the door into the room set especially aside for that purpose.
When he came to, she was dead.
He'd been barely twenty-three, younger than Shiranui was now. A baby oni. His parents consoled him as much but he left the house and his sympathetic relatives, ashamed. The bond in his mind, fulfilled and torn apart in an instant, fluttered raggedly in his brain.
That was completely different from what he was facing now. As if the fact his previous three bonds were normal, mature, feminine mates he was now faced with -
- a soft double-tap on the door broke him out of his thoughts. Inwardly he sighed; he'd lost track of time meditating again. "Enter," he called out softly, knowing even before the door slid open who would be visiting him at this hour.
Even the sight of him was enough to send the sting of arousal lancing through him. Toudou stood, then knelt again to shut the door, all while balancing a pile of scrolls. "I brought the materials you requested."
He took the towering mess of paper and set it carefully down to the side of an already-overflowing writing desk. These were the documents he had Toudou get from Shiranui - and damn the flighty young bastard anyway, now Amagiri would have to start from scratch - meaning Toudou took time off today after patrol to get on a horse, ride out of the city, sift through a mansion's worth of books, and bring back the relevant ones. No wonder it was past midnight by the time he'd returned.
Though he didn't show anything, inwardly Amagiri was impressed. He'd made this request yesterday through Kazama, who'd noted slyly that he had wonderful timing since Toudou was only partial sick leave, and what a great future mate he would make for the squeaky little rodent. Toudou had looked offended at that, but one look at Hijikata trying to hide his laughter behind a bowl of rice meant someone other than Kazama had gotten blamed.
But an excuse to have Toudou close didn't solve all of his problems. The core of it was...
"Amagiri-dono," the young samurai said respectfully without a hint of flattery or awe, "there are still some that I wasn't able to fit in. The mansion turned out to be quite spacious though Shiranui-san's only using the two front rooms. I'll be back tomorrow evening with the rest." He looked shrunken into himself without the lack of anything to hold.
Amagiri looked into that face with its bags under those brilliant eyes and said, "You should rest instead. We still don't know exactly what happened, so until then you should take it easy in case something occurs, Toudou."
And there - that was one of the things he looked for in Toudou. That fresh split-second of defiance was so refreshing after the drone of endless Satsuma clan retainers, Kazama's humorless smirking and Shiranui's whiny half-needy whine. A second later it was gone as Toudou lowered his eyes and bowed in acquiescence.
"Please, call me Heisuke." The tone was once again flat and neutral as he murmured his parting shot, just like he had all the times before.
Amagiri closed his eyes. The pounding in his ears was intense and throbbing, and a sensation he reveled in a little too much. It'd been ages since he felt this young.
When you made your decision, did you foresee this?, he wanted to yell towards that retreating figure. And now that you've achieved what makes an oni half of what they are, will you keep your promises like a true samurai?
He didn't know enough of Toudou to venture a guess, and the bond wasn't made. Perhaps now, it would never be.
He could feel it struggling under the weight of his pessimism. But he'd seen enough of life to know that disappointments happened to everyone at the most unexpected times. Toudou Heisuke, impassioned and moralistic, could make Amagiri believe in the possibility of human righteousness again...or he could fall to the side like all the others.
He wondered what Toudou was thinking. The bond chafed at him, asking why it hadn't been consummated yet. Such a sweet young thing... So trusting, so accepting of who you are.
That was what he thought about his first bonding too.
His mind ran down old, well-known rationalizations long after he blew out the lantern for the night.
-------------
That was his job, day in and day out. The only contact he ever had with his mate.
Heisuke was never the most patient person. Shinpachi and Sanosuke could vouch for that - he always wanted the fight to start already, wanted to be in the thick of the fray. He wanted things to be happening and he'd never really gotten used to holding perfectly still and calm during meditation. The memory of old tessen welts still stung when he thought about it.
He was assigned to Amagiri-dono in the beginning, right when they moved in. Despite him being thrown into a wall in the past (the first night he'd come by Amagiri-dono had apologized and bowed so low Heisuke had scrambled to do the same), that had always clearly been in the realm of 'not personal' and thus readily forgiven. He came by every night with the same lantern and usually some documents Kazama wanted him to check over. In the past he used to ask if Amagiri-dono needed anything else in particular, but the answer had always been 'no' and finally he'd stopped.
Unfortunately, that also meant every night while he was doing the dishes with Chizuru he was wracking his brains for something new to say.
Chizuru was usually pretty good at this, even if her subject ideas were a little too romantic sometimes. "Have you asked him if he's seen the moon tonight? It's lovely."
"Er...," he almost swallowed his tongue thinking of a way to say Honestly, I don't know if he's even interested in that.
Thankfully Chizuru caught on. "Has he stopped apologizing for getting you hurt?" Heisuke grimaced and nodded; it'd certainly taken a while. The man - oni, he corrected himself - didn't seem similarly inclined to call him Heisuke though, though he'd said it at least a hundred times.
"Have you asked him about the things you brought him? Weren't you kind of interested in that?"
He reddened. "Chizuru-chan...they're about bonds and stuff." When she didn't look at all surprised he buried his head in his hands. "Shiranui-san was smirking at me and everything when I asked him! Don't you think it'd be totally embarrassing to ask him about that when it means we're going to..." He couldn't bear to continue.
Just the merest thought of it made his face flame. Those slight touches that Amagiri-dono always tried to avoid - Heisuke knew about them, and sometimes when he was bold enough he would circumvent them. Then he'd feel the brush of square-tipped, absurdly gentle fingers against his and he'd half-stumble out of the room in his haste to find the nearest abandoned storage room and jerk himself as if he'd just hit puberty.
He was sure Amagiri knew about this. That knowing look he gave every time Heisuke glanced his way made that so obvious. And plus, if Kazama could sense Shiranui could smell Kazama's arousal from three paces away, wouldn't Amagiri be able to smell Heisuke's?
That was why, out of embarrassment he'd taken to keeping the nightly check-ups as short as possible. It seemed most of the other people in the compound thought their relationship was a lot further along than it actually was - the only one that had no illusions was Chizuru.
Which was why she was the lone stalwart supporter of the idea that he should correct that, pronto. Hands on her hips and dishes forgotten, she whirled to face him. "Heisuke-kun!" she admonished, but he was too busy noting that she looked cute even when she was mad or pouting. "Heisuke-kun! Pay attention!" She deflated suddenly. "You've already told him your intentions, so now all that's left is to follow them. Isn't it smarter to be well-informed ahead of time what's going to happen?"
He actually crouched and clunked his head against the cabinet doors in mortification. "You're not the one who's actually going to ask, Chizuru-chan!"
Her cheeks blushed defiantly. "Of course not! He's not going to be my mate, after all!" She turned back to the dishes, anxiety etched clear in every feature.
He frowned; that wasn't usually how she responded. "Chizuru-chan?"
She was quiet for a minute. "It's just...," and Heisuke realized with some glee that she was red to the tips of her ears, "...he's so big."
So hey, he was young, his mind jumped to all the wrong conclusions. "You've seen his..." He was too incredulous to continue.
"NO!!," she squeaked vehemently, eyes wide. They stared at each other and then broke into snickers. "You know what I mean, Heisuke-kun - he's tall and he's older and he's got a beard -"
"Goatee!" Heisuke protested, and that sent them into a fresh set of giggles. Truthfully he didn't really know the term for what it was called. "Chin growth?" he wondered aloud, and Chizuru collapsed over the washbin, practically in hysterics.
(A building away, Amagiri suddenly sneezed. Someone was talking about him?)
When they'd finished the dishes and calmed down considerably with some tea, they returned to the real topic at hand. "But seriously, aren't you curious at all? Or is it...you've reconsidered?"
"Of course not," he waved a hand negligently. "The only other option would be for us to die together, and that's hardly useful."
"That's a good reason, but not a great one. From what Shiranui said, if you're going to live you're going to spend the rest of your life with him. No matter how awkward it is to ask, you'd better make sure of what you're getting into." She peered worriedly into his face. "You...are attracted to him, aren't you?"
Oh, how he was. How could he describe how completely he'd fallen when Amagiri-dono hadn't even done anything? There were nights back when they shared a room when all he wanted to do was creep over and slide against the warmth of that big body. Chizuru was so wrong - Amagiri-dono's size was exactly what Heisuke liked about him. That tall body, wide torso perfectly to take a nap on, those big hands - gods, what would it all feel like when he was tasting it all for himself?
"H-Heisuke-kun?" Chizuru was blushing again. She could probably smell his arousal; he got up to wash their cups and mentally smacked his daydreaming to the back of his head.
He sighed as he thought about it. "I'll ask him tonight," he promised slowly. Chizuru was right, as usual - it wouldn't do him any good to simply stew on it any longer.
Thus he found himself knocking earlier than usual on the door, lantern and remaining papers in hand. Surprisingly enough Shiranui had given him little fuss today except over that thrice-damned nickname ("Hey, Chip, found another." "Hey, Chip, wanna break for lunch?") when he packed up most of the materials he knew Shiranui wanted to look over again. Half-grateful someone out there wasn't trying to nudge him towards Amagiri-dono at every glance, he'd returned the favor by not uttering a single peep about Shiranui going back to headquarters to quiet his raging mate.
("I swear to whoever's up there I'm going to KILL HIM!" had been Sano's exact words this morning.)
Amagiri-dono didn't look surprised or ruffled or anything to see him a good two hours early. New meaning to the words 'expressionless', he mentally sighed to himself. As usual he relayed what Hijikata and Kazama had given to him to pass onto his future mate.
"What do you think?" Amagiri-dono asked when he was done reading the short missive that'd come with the rest of the materials - a whole stack of letters written in Kondou-sensei's handwriting, in fact.
"What're they having you do?"
"'Pursue Itou at all costs.'" He held it up and indeed that was all that was written on the short missive that was signed by Hijikata and Kazama both in flowing script.
"By yourself?" Not that he doubted Amagiri-dono could do it, just that this was the Shinsengumi, so there was bound to be someone who said there should be more than one person on a case.
"I was thinking of taking Yamazaki with me."
"He's on recon at that SatsuCho teahouse, isn't he? Won't it be detrimental to pull him out of there when he's already established rapport with the enemy?"
"Only on his time off."
Heisuke still didn't understand. "So, you want him to work full time without rest? He's not an oni, you know - he needs more than four hours a sleep a day to function." Probably won't ever be bonded an oni, if the sounds I heard from Saitou's room yesterday were any indication... He shook the irrelevant thought out of his head. Amagiri-dono wasn't the type to appreciate daydreaming.
"I wish I could take you, but you're too well-known." Amagiri-dono shifted his attention back to the writing desk with scrolls and books spread over every visible space. He unrolled the scroll he'd been perusing in a clearly dismissive gesture. Heisuke, on his part, had no idea if the statement was meant to be the compliment it sounded like when it was said exactly like all the other sentences before it.
There was a beat of silence, when Heisuke knew the right chance had come. Heart pounding so loud he just knew Amagiri-dono could hear it, he cleared his throat and said as coolly as he could, "There was one other thing I wanted to ask if you had a moment, Amagiri-dono..."
Blue eyes - Blue! What a lovely color..., he really wished that voice would stop simpering like a lovestruck little girl - pierced him again. "Please," Amagiri-dono patted the only space next to him that was empty of scrolls. Almost as if it'd been left for a person his size to sit there...
"I was wondering some things about - the bond," he managed to force the last part out. "I couldn't help but notice that Kazama-dono and Shiranui-san both succumbed much faster than you did. Is there...are you able to resist it better or something?"
There was a flicker of impressed surprise and then once again Amagiri's face fell smoothly back into impersonal courtesy. Heisuke almost punched the air in glee - he'd asked something smart! "In a manner of speaking, yes. With the right application of meditation and acceptance of one's bonding partner, an oni can stay in the gray area before the urge gets too strong. Though marriage is only consummated when two bodies join together, for onis the bond is a mental thing - thus, acceptance of one's partner is fully necessary, or else the urge quickly accelerates and becomes unbearable."
The clinical way he talked about this was a little unnerving. "So then - that's what Kazama-dono and Shiranui-san did?" And in the case of Shiranui-san, the denial still hasn't quite disappeared...
Amagiri-dono nodded. "This shouldn't be a problem for you - unlike Hijikata-san and Harada-san who have oni blood, from what I can tell you have close to none. You won't feel as if you're ill when the bond is incomplete, and if it is consummated similarly you won't be able to tell many things that they can about their mates - well-being, feelings, surface thoughts and location. For all interests and intents, you will be psi-null to what usually characterizes the oni marriage bond."
From what he'd seen of Sano's pains, he rather thought that gift was a double-edged sword. "If I may respectfully submit, it's 'when', not 'if', Amagiri-dono."
The subtle rebuttal, instead of making Amagiri-dono scowl like Hijikata always did when Heisuke said something particularly dumb, seemed to amuse him. But then again, he was no great reader of straight faces, and Amagiri-dono in particular was a master. "Of course," he accepted the criticism smoothly.
"So, if you know how an oni bond usually is, you've been bonded to another oni before?"
Amagiri nodded affirmative. "Once."
The question tumbled out before Heisuke could stop it. "So you've been bonded before?"
"Three times."
Then that meant twice with humans, and once with an oni. He had one last question but it was the most personal one, and he visibly struggled before he gritted his teeth to spit it out. "Were...were any of them with other males?" He just knew his face was flaming red.
Amagiri-dono's gaze was sympathetic. "No," he answered, and a knot in Heisuke's chest loosened. It meant that, in this, Amagiri-dono had no precedence and thus wouldn't be so inclined to compare him to whatever mate had come before him. Not that he thought Amagiri-dono was petty enough to do that, he was sure every mate before him had probably been gorgeous and every inch worthy of being Amagiri-dono's partner for life...
For the millionth time he shook the pessimistic thoughts out of his head. "I - I also wanted to ask, is there anything I can do to help you with this?" He waved a sleeve towards the awesome mess of documents. "I'd like to learn more about what - happened to me." He almost said what Shiranui did to me but caught himself.
"That would be beneficial to everyone if we could pinpoint exactly how far the boundaries of coming back to life extend. I, for one, am not entirely sure if Shiranui's hocus-pocus will work exactly as he says." Amagiri's jaw tightened. Was it possible that he thinking regretfully that Heisuke was still alive?
Of course not, Heisuke scolded himself. He's a perfect gentleman, and he's got years on top of me to get this way. Even if he secretly thought that, he'd die before he'd say anything that shameful. Unlike that one time he'd from Shinpachi afterward, when Sano had collapsed and muttered about Shiranui would have never chosen him.
"Where should I start?" Gingerly he picked at one thin, paperbound novel-ish looking document.
"Don't -" The warning came too late and the mountain stacked against the wall crashed down over him like an avalanche.
As he worked to disentangle himself, sneezing from the dust that'd puffed up from the interruption, digging out a book that had somehow made it down his shirt, he felt big hands hook securely under his arms and lift him up as if he weighed no more than a feather. Then Amagiri shook him once or twice so the last couple of books fell out of his hakama - and was that an embarrassing place to be right now! - and then set him carefully back down in a clean, opposite corner of the room.
The oni was actually smiling fondly at Heisuke. "Help me get this straightened out, if you would. I know by now the pile of regular work and all the things from that old mansion are mixed up now..."
"You're not very organized, are you?" Heisuke was stooped, picking up materials from the floor when he realized what he'd said.
But a quick glance at Amagiri-dono revealed only the same amused expression. "You're right of course, Toudou. Kazama has always been tidy, and Shiranui the same out of extreme circumstances. I mainly did the meetings, the bowing, and the spying." Was that actually a semi- joke?
"It's 'Heisuke', if you could." They were probably going to have sex in this room soon, he thought with a fit of boldness - the least the big oni could do was call him by his first name!
"Of course," Amagiri-dono murmured in assent, and heads bent together, they began to study.
-------------
Three days later Heisuke felt like clunking one of those thick scrolls over his equally thick head.
What had ever possessed him to volunteer for this? Chizuru was so, so wrong, he moaned. This wasn't study, it was torture.
[When the furnace is strokeed brite, remember to put the poker in sloowly, for the eflurvescent smoke of the genitalias may still be sensitive to the touch. A rithum can be established once the furnace has been fully breeched - just follow the beat of hammer and anvil. Burn with the passion of furnace and poker, peersing the heavens with this oni's prayer of love and happyness!]
Who the hell wrote this crock?, he wondered. He flipped to the cover, where the author's name had been smeared into illegibility by the hands of time. The title of the book, however, stared back up at him as he read disbelievingly.
'Cooling Breezes and Gentle Grasses'? "Was he drunk when he named this?" he muttered mutinously and resisted the urge to toss the hapless book over his shoulder.
"Ah, that one," Amagiri-dono noted with a crinkle in his eye. "That's the one that Shiranui got halfway through before he tossed it across the room. He said it was quite the raunchy read."
"Yeah, if you like metalsmith's terminology - if he hated it so much, why did he put it in the bag for me to bring all the way back over here? Does he want you to suffer or something?"
"He's probably getting back however he can when Kazama and I taught him how to read."
That made Heisuke stop in his tracks. "You - you and Kazama-dono had to teach him how to read? How long ago was this? How long ago did you meet?"
Amagiri-dono held up a hand to steady the flow of questions. "Yes, he didn't know how read anything except the most basic kanji when we first met him, which was just over ten years ago. He's improved much since then, as you can imagine - we forced him to look through Satsuma Clan documents for practice. After he got his hands on actual novels he claimed those documents were drier than the desert, and that he would rather shave his head than read another one."
Heisuke laughed aloud at the image. "Did he throw tantrums back then too?"
"Frequently." Amagiri's eyes flashed with laughter.
"Over?"
"He often didn't understand why we were forcing him to learn things that he never needed to learn on the streets. For the first year we had to work hard to cure of him of his stealing habits - we would often find clothes and wallets around the house that didn't belong to any of us. His quick hands have been of much more use to us in battle once Kazama got his hands on the latest Western firearms for him."
Heisuke remembered the fearless way Shiranui-san threw himself into a knot of Rasetsu soldiers and decimated them by twisting and attacking them from all angles. He shivered to remember from the scant memories of the night he was brought back to life, how he'd been glad for a second that those two monsters were on his side. "He enjoys it a lot, doesn't he? Fighting."
Amagiri-dono's eyes softened into a mildly fatherly look that Kondou-sensei got sometimes too. "He's young," was all he said.
"How old is he?"
"Well, he's never told us his exact birthday but I expect him to be not much older than Harada. Maybe thirty years or so."
"Wow." Heisuke was stunned at the unexpected information. "That's gotta be pretty young for an oni, if it's young for a human too."
"It certainly explains his current predicament," Amagiri-dono agreed. "This is his first bonding, so he's making a lot of mistakes. The reason Kazama doesn't just command him to come home is because he wants Shiranui to realize, and answer to, the consequences he brought upon himself. Any oni worth their salt knows that the urges of a bond can't be denied, yet he has continually defied the natural inclination of his body. His suffering is unnecessary to both him and his mate; a newly bonded couple usually never leave each others' range of vision until the first month is over."
That would explain Shiranui's listlessness and the lack of his usual cocky, upbeat personality. "And yet you're letting the two of them be stupid like this?"
"It's his first bonding - in time, he will come to understand that this is one thing he cannot fight. Even if his body has to drag him back to headquarters unconscious, it will do so, and he will be all the wiser for it."
Heisuke thought about it. "That's kind of harsh coming from you guys too."
Amagiri-dono smiled faintly. "We didn't raise him to be just a drunken whiner, though he does do plenty of that."
Heisuke, too, could finally see where Amagiri-dono found Shiranui-san endearing. "I don't think I've ever seen him touch a single drop of sake, though."
Amagiri-dono shrugged. "Most likely he's keeping that habit in check while he deals with his bond. Just watch - once he comes to his senses, he and Harada-san will undoubtedly make it a nightly ritual once more."
Heisuke scrunched up his nose at that thought. "No thanks," he grumbled.
Amagiri-dono's look was appraising then. "You don't like alcohol, then?" he asked.
This time it was Heisuke's turn to shrug. "I don't like the taste, mostly. It smells strange too, though I mean...I can appreciate the medical value, and that people can use it to escape reality for a little while, but I don't think it'll ever be for me." He looked up at his future mate. "Do - do you drink?"
"Occasionally," Amagiri-dono answered. "In particular there's a brewery called 'Setsunasa' at the edge of town that both Kazama and I like to buy from." He looked askance at Heisuke as if assessing his seriousness. "Kazama's foster family sold sake; he has a pretty good mouth for it, if he was ever serious about taste-testing."
"'Foster family'?" Heisuke echoed, confused. "I thought he had a regular family and everything - he said he killed his parents, didn't he?"
Amagiri nodded. "It's tradition for an oni family to send away their purebred sons to live with a trusted human retainer's residence while a young oni in the most danger of being killed by rival clans. Once they feel the young oni is old enough, they reclaim him to began his weapons training and oni studies. Then, when the oni becomes of age, they kill their parents.
"In Kazama's case though, his family has always been traditional to the core, which meant the human family they chose was not very trustworthy. The family's sake business fell on hard times and they sold Kazama's location to a rival oni clan. Through much trial and strife Kazama's family regained him, and raised him successfully to become the heir of his family."
"What happened to human family?" Somehow, Heisuke didn't know why, that seemed like the crux of everything.
"He killed them, all of them down to his foster brothers and sisters. Then, once he was of age he bought the abandoned sake factory and made it successful again, to spite their memory."
Silence fell as Heisuke digested the information. He'd always know that out of all of them, Kazama was probably the most ruthless and driven when it came to the things he wanted, but he hadn't expected this. So far it seemed that all the oni he'd met had some traumatic tragedy in their pasts with the exception of Chizuru. He hoped that he hadn't jinxed her by saying that...
"Er - thank you for trusting me with this," he waved his hands vaguely to gesture 'all that Kazama stuff'. "You didn't have to tell me your leader's secrets, but yet I'm - I'm honored you chose to do so."
As if embarrassed Amagiri-dono turned back to desk and straightened some papers. "You will be my mate," he said finally. "There will only be a one-sided bond between us, but all the same - I would not deny you knowledge about me, or my acquaintances. To do so would be dangerous."
Suddenly Heisuke had even greater respect for the big oni in front of him. He never seemed to lose his cool, always told Heisuke the truth even if it was ugly, never barred him from a single thing that he wanted to know no matter how uncomfortable it must have been to reveal it. Everything he had said so far had been true, that he had already accepted Heisuke as his mate in his mind and was already treating him so.
It made him feel like he wanted to give something back. And that sent the naughty little wheels turning in his head. "I - I was thinking earlier about a much less personal query," he admitted with a rush of relief. "About the fact that I drank the Ochimizu and am a Rasetsu, but if Shiranui-san is right my existence also depends on you now. Wouldn't I have unlimited lifeforce to burn when I turned into a Rasetsu, and wouldn't this...undo some sort of cosmic balance somewhere?"
Amagiri-dono quirked an eyebrow at his unusual way of describing his circumstances. "When you became a Rasetsu, how did you feel?"
"Uh...," Heisuke struggled to remember. "It was painful at first, felt like I was suffocating and that every cell in my body was on fire?"
"After you'd calmed down, was there anything you felt different?"
He frowned. "Not...particularly. It wasn't until I smelled or saw blood that my body started craving it, but - well, I never really used my Rasetsu form very much, so I can't really say if I had any long-term effects..."
There was a snick of a sheath and then the smell of spilt blood filled the room. Amagiri-dono had sliced open his hand! Heisuke stared down shock, hands already reaching for the water basin and the towel hanging off the side of it.
But even as he watched, the wound started to shrink from the edges, pulling inwards as if there was something inside of the the skin that was reversing the process of being cut, until there was nothing but blood left on those fingers where Amagiri-dono had briefly clenched his hand.
In his curiosity Heisuke had leaned forward until his nose was almost touching that hand. Now he gave a sniff. He smelled coppery blood, of course - and that was all. There was no radical tranformation of white hair and red eyes, no uncontrollable thirst for blood or lust to slice something into pieces. He remained, simply, Toudou Heisuke.
Was this a cure, then?
He and Amagiri-dono tore through the stacks after that, leaving the room in a bigger mess than before. But there was nothing on fake onis, Ochimizu, or cures for such written anywhere. Of course, these were also the bonding books, which weren't even written in the right subject.
They both expressed surprise that Hijikata hadn't wondered about this first. Or maybe, he'd wondered and tested and decided not to share his results with anyone. Or maybe he'd been to busy to wonder about it; certainly now that they (and the rest of the Shinsengumi) were Itou-hunting, there wasn't much time for idle thinking.
As they cleaned up the materials so Amagiri-dono would have a place to sleep for the night, the big oni paused and gave him a significant glance. "Toudou...you aren't looking into this because you're hoping to retain your Rasetsu powers, are you?"
"Of course not!" He shook his head vigorously at the thought. "The reason Hijikata and Okita and I took it in the first place was to protect Chizuru-chan from you guys...but now that you're clearly not after her I don't mind. It's not like I needed the extra strength for anything else."
"Don't be so sure that there are still no enemies out there who want her. She's one of the few pureblooded oni left. Even if there was no bond between them some oni might want her to sire his kits, and if he successfully kidnapped her it would be a shame and a loss to us all. Plus, if Itou got wind of her relation with Koudou-sensei, it would bode very ill for all of us. He's more merciless than Kazama when it comes to the things he wants."
"Sano said you knew him?" He was honestly curious now.
"I only spent brief time with him and his family. But he was pampered and spoiled from the start - his parents didn't buy into the normal oni way of sending their children off to be protected." Heisuke thought he could really argue that it was really 'normal'. "From the time he was born, he was raised to be the pride of his family, and it shows."
Heisuke lowered the wick for the lantern where he'd been lighting it. "So...how long has he been a vain bastard then?"
"Four times your age, Toudou." When the young samurai turned to look at him, open-mouthed, he almost smiled. "Did you expect to meet no one older than Shiranui?"
"It's Heisuke," the so-called 'chipmunk' managed. "Is...is Kazama that old too?"
"A little less, I believe." He could see Amagiri-dono was taking it kind on his understanding; he got the feeling the big oni thought if he opened his eyes any wider they would pop out of their sockets.
"And...you?"
A firm, large hand fell on his hair, mussing it briefly before sliding to his shoulder. "Much, much older," Amagiri-dono's voice was low and rumbling, like a storm in the distance. Heisuke could feel his heart flutter in a very girly manner over that.
He stared up into that face that held his gaze with no trace of anger or fear. Amagiri-dono was respected by his comrades and by all of his race for his wisdom and experience; even Kazama-dono learned a thing or to from him, not to mention Shiranui-san. He was tall and strong and a mighty fighter. Over the many years that he lived, he'd seen his share of evils yet his pride as a samurai remained untarnished by malice and deceit, as Itou's was.
And...here Heisuke had been thinking he was a fair match.
He started to say 'thank you' but sudden pain wrenched the words out of his mouth. He would have dropped the oil and wick if it hadn't been for Amagiri's quick hands that carried the hot dish out of his hands. The flame had burned him just briefly; Heisuke held up his reddened thumb and sucked, brows furrowed in embarrassment.
He glanced up at Amagiri-dono. The older oni had set the dish inside of the lantern, and was now staring intently his injured thumb as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
For an instant Heisuke gave into the devious side of him - he let his tongue flicker out over his finger, his eyes never leaving Amagiri's face for a second. Those blue eyes flashed hungry gold at the action, and Heisuke almost smirked a very Kazama-ish smirk. Gotcha.
Amagiri-dono, too, seemed to realized he'd been caught, and offered the lantern almost shyly to his future mate. There was no more touching or teasing as they parted until tomorrow.
"Good night, Toudou."
That tongue licked his lips; he knew Amagiri-dono's ears caught the sound. "Please, call me Heisuke," he murmured in return, and slid the shoji door shut.
----------------
For the millionth time today it seemed, Amagiri resisted the urge to sigh.
It was all Toudou's fault, of course. The young samurai had come in a few nights before, demanding to learn more about bonds. While Amagiri was glad that his curiosity was finally getting satisfied and they were finally a little closer than they were before, he hadn't imagined that it'd awakened the foxy, seductive side of his future mate.
He'd thought Toudou was completely unaware of the looks he got. And he did get plenty of lookers - he was young and fresh-faced, charismatic and beyond skilled with a sword. But what really got people (like Amagiri) was his innocence, the times when a raunchy joke was said that he didn't understand. Then he'd get that bewildered, wide-eyed look and inevitably Amagiri would flex his fingers inside of his sleeves because someone else was looking at the young captain and imagining what it was like to 'educate' him.
But yesterday proved him false. Toudou was completely aware of what he had over Amagiri, and for the first time in what seemed like ages the big oni was being teased. Teased...
He was the one who wanted to do the teasing, now. He wanted to come up with the excuse to brush out Toudou's hair, peel off the layers of clothes to look for his scars. He wanted to take that thumb into his mouth and suck it until Toudou whimpered and looked away. He wanted to learn if the young samurai was ticklish at the ribs and the toes.
Instead, he was stuck watching Itou through a fourth story window of a pagoda at the edge of the city. If he strained his ears he could hear what was being said, but for the most part he was content to read lips and get the gist of the conversation. Itou, for all his pompousness, wasn't stupid - he'd noticed that Amagiri was there, no matter how low he'd forced his presence. That was why nothing of worth was really being said, nothing that pertained to tactics or battle plans.
The slimy oni spy had visited a couple more connections today that hadn't been on the map Hijikata had given him. They would have to extend a little more manpower and spy on exactly what those establishments dealt in too. It was much like a snowball, gathering more and more information as it rolled down the slope - away from Toudou and his shy seduction.
If he closed his eyes he could still smell the scent of arousal in the air. Truly, he was so young compared to Amagiri, it was almost ridiculous. That was why his scent was so intoxicating - every time he leaned forward to place a hand on his shoulder, or accidentally touch his hair, he was reminded what it was to be sweet and fresh and headstrong in one's ideals.
It hadn't just been his lust that'd quickened - it'd also been his heart.
A presence stepped inside of his bubble of space. Without looking, he knew it had to be the ninja boy - who, in regular circumstances, Amagiri might have guessed would've been closer to who he thought he'd be attracted to. He was a quiet, vaguely sarcastic but sincere sort that Shiranui had found interesting, which had in turn made Amagiri reassess him too. For a dying breed of specialists in what would probably be the last age of the sword, Yamazaki was pretty good at what he did.
"Status?" the young man asked.
"No change. I marked down where he visited on the map, though I can't be sure if he just wanted to do business or throw me off of his trail."
A quirked eyebrow was the only response he got. "You let him sense you?"
"Smell, more like. And purebred onis can usually sense when another is near; dampening one's spirit energy has nothing to do with it."
Yamazaki hmm'd thoughtfully. "It sounds like a security perimeter to me."
He smiled at the serious-minded metaphor. This boy, like most of the Shinsengumi, was a bit of a workaholic when it came down to it. "Something like that, yes."
They watched Itou argue over... proper gifts for some Englishman? before Yamazaki gave him another significant look and said pointedly, "You can go now."
He couldn't help it, he sighed under his breath. Now both of Yamazaki's eyebrows were up. "There's not really a point," he admitted. Even from where he stood halfway across the city, he could feel Toudou's signature spelling his location somewhere to the south as he marched with the rest of his team on patrol.
"You're not pleased he's off of sick leave?" The young ninja boy sounded like he was having way too much fun in this.
Amagiri decided to indulge him, just this once. "Of course I am," he answered. His tone of voice said anything but.
Instead of returning to headquarters, he struck out across the city. In the morning, he used to love sitting on the rooftop of their safehouse and watch as the buildings came to life - people waking up, starting their day, opening the shops. The rattle of screen doors, the chatter of voices as humans went about their daily lives. Yes, in battle they were usually weaker even if he'd known some vastly superior swordsmen in his day - but he could admire their resilience in the face of adversity, and their simple ways of understanding.
Toudou was taking a rest, talking with his vice-captain when he stepped out of the alley. He only had to peek out a little before the young samurai was skivving off the rest of the commands and dashing into the space he occupied.
He looked close to seizing Amagiri around the waist in a hug as he drank in the sight of his future mate, standing there and waiting for him. "This won't be a regular thing, I'll have you know," Amagiri told him gravely, but the grin never faltered on Toudou's face.
"I don't care. You're here!" And he gave into the impulse and thrust himself into Amagiri's arms.
Ah..., his whole body seemed to sag in relief around that little form. His blood sang at the touch of those hands, clinging so tenaciously to the back of his coat. As if in a dream one of his hands came up and touched that brown hair, ran gently through those soft strands. Toudou murmured something in contentment and Amagiri felt something powerfully strong surge up in him when those green eyes fluttered shut.
Softly his hand cupped Toudou's shoulder and brought him in close. This...this might be better than sex, he thought. The feelings Toudou stirred in him were awesome in their intensity: fearsome protectiveness, pure-spirited affection and pride. Here was a youth who, despite being younger than all his compatriots, still walked the path of the samurai with his head held up high and his hands steady. He didn't flinch at hardship, he didn't turn his face away when faced with something other people might find impossible - a betrothal, for life, with an immortal oni.
He knew, in that instant, that the bond was right: he would grow to love Toudou, and it would be a bottomless well that he could drink from again and again and never be satisfied with how much more he had left to fall.
He realized Toudou was staring at him apprehensively. "Are...are you angry?" the young samurai asked, pensive.
"For what?"
Embarrassed, Toudou unclasped one arm from his back and simply licked the tip of his thumb in answer.
The sight of that little pink tongue did things to Amagiri's stomach that he thought he'd never feel again. "Of course not," he managed to answer. It was all in good fun anyway, even if Toudou fell far short of the usual seduction techniques Amagiri was used to from the girls in the red light district when Shiranui managed to drag him along. Of course, this was also his future mate - Toudou could probably be swinging upside down from a tree like a monkey and Amagiri would still find him endearing.
Mentally he hung his head. He'd forgotten what it felt like to be 'bond-addled', as Shiranui was so fond of describing their leader. Speaking of which...
He gently extricated Toudou's body a little ways from him (or else Toudou would be feeling something nudge him that Amagiri wasn't quite sure he was ready to unwrap yet), and said, "The main reason I'm here is to tell you that I won't be at home tonight; I'll be going into the mountains to check up on Shiranui."
The reaction was instantaneous. "I'll come with you!" Toudou offered.
Amagiri knew that was coming, and had already entertained fantasies of Toudou sitting behind him. Feeling those legs fit snugly around his back...no, Amagiri had never been taken by a man, despite his passive manner he'd always been the one on top in a relationship. But once Toudou became older, his limbs would fill out and he'd stop looking like a gawky teenager. His face too, Amagiri could imagine lengthening, his jaw strong and his lips inviting. No, Amagiri didn't think it'd be hard to give into an adult-Toudou's wish to be in control at all...
But that was all irrelevant to the topic. Going into the mountains with Toudou...he could carry him all the way there, as Shiranui did the night of Itou's attack, but that would be too much temptation for the right-here and now. Dark, abandoned places and that hot little body in his arms - Amagiri thought he might probably forget his destination before they even left the city and head towards a secluded inn instead.
"By the time you get back, I'll already be gone. I want to stay overnight to monitor him, since Kazama can't be there." They sighed in unison at the thought of Shiranui's pigheadedness on the whole bond affair. "I have to bring him food too."
Now Toudou looked plain incredulous. "Shiranui cooks?" Utter disbelief from those rosy lips.
Amagiri wasn't surprised; he'd been flabbergasted the first time Kazama had been away and Amagiri had been injured, and the gunman had come into the room toting fresh, palatable breakfast for two. "He's not bad, really - not as good as me, but better than Kazama."
Toudou was obviously trying to imagine their smirking oni leader with a ladle in one hand and an apron around his waist, because in the next moment he snickered. "How's his cooking? Should I skip breakfast and eat breakfast on patrol if he gets stuck on cooking duty?"
"He's not that bad, just his mixture of spices is...interesting, to say the least. There was one time he mixed miso, mustard paste and cooking wine, and grilled fish in that..."
Toudou shuddered. "What did that taste like?"
"I suffered through it; Shiranui puts wasabi on everything Kazama makes and eats it as fast as he can. The results are rather amusing; he actually cries while he eats, and afterwards downs a gallon of goat's milk to wash the taste out."
Toudou laughed; Amagiri smiled too, seeing the look on his face. "I guess I'll just have to see for myself, when Hijikata finally puts him on the cooking roster. I'll...see you tomorrow night then?"
No little pure-hearted being like Toudou should ever sound unsure like that. "Of course," Amagiri answered, and ran fingertips down the side of that round cheek before he could stop himself.
Smaller, sword-calloused hands clasped it close. "I - I did have one more thing to ask." His voice was a dry whisper; Amagiri had to lean in a little to hear it. "If you're not angry at me, could you..." Those quick little hands squeezed his fingers as if to beg Amagiri to understand.
Somehow, he did. Lifting the forehead band he first pressed his lips there - one for memory - and then one on both eyes - two for clarity - and finally, one last one on those delectable lips.
One hand clutched at his sleeve when he stopped there and straightened. "Please, Amagiri-dono," Toudou pleaded. He was blushing to the tips of his ears; they were so cute Amagiri almost wanted to make something up and kiss those too. "It was three for true love's rarity, and you've only given me one."
The second kiss was deeper; he sucked the youth's top lip, then the bottom. Toudou leaned against him, warm and pliant and oh-so-right. His hands were fisted tightly in Amagiri's coat as he leaned up on his tiptoes. He opened his mouth and Amagiri took that chance to plunder that sweet mouth; their tongues dashed together and Toudou moaned low in his throat.
He wasn't really aware of what he was doing (which was dangerous), so when they parted for breath he was surprised to see that one hand was cradling Toudou's head upward, sunken into those chesnut strands, and the other hand was...significantly lower, cupped around much more valuable goods.
Tentatively he squeezed; Toudou whimpered and pressed against him in return. Eager little kit, Amagiri could feel demanding arousal against his thigh, even if he couldn't smell it thick in the air. The urge was strong to haul him away from this dinky alley, past his team and somewhere where nobody could find them, and he could ravish that pale skin to his heart's content. He would make it so good, Toudou would surely remember it for years to come...
That's what you said the first time, his mind reminded him darkly.
It was as if cold water had been poured on his senses. Tenderly he extricated Toudou again - the young samurai gave a huff of disappointment - and murmured into the shell of one delectable-looking ear, "I wonder...what would Kazama look like in that geisha kimono Yukimura wore that one night?"
The thought was enough to send Toudou into a fit of laughter, all thoughts of desire forgotten. Smiling fondly, he patted that hair and added, "I'll see you tomorrow night, then." And because it hadn't been three, he pressed one last, chaste kiss on his beloved's lips, and jumped the walls out of sight.
He didn't have to look back to know what kind of expression Toudou had on his face, because it probably mirrored his own. How utterly regretful it was that it wasn't time or place to do anything further. At least now he knew Toudou was somewhat ready for the next step; now all he had to do was create the right mood for it tomorrow night.
Surely he would be as eager as he was just minutes ago? Minutes...it seemed like hours already since he left Toudou behind. Mentally he thought he might count down the time to go before he saw him next, but on the other hand, that was a little extreme even if he was bond-addled.
He lifted one hand to his lips as he almost skipped back to headquarters. Yes, Toudou was a novice at being sexy and seductive. However, that certainly didn't make him any less intoxicating.
--------------
Part 7 here.
Ahahaha for all those Hakuouki oni lovers out there~
Fandom: Hakuouki
Pairing: Amagiri x Toudou, Kazama x Hijikata & Shiranui x Harada (background)
Rating: PG-13 (for this part)
Words: 66647 (in all...holy shit how'd it get so long??)
Notes: Ah finally finally done, just need to post the rest now...
Part 1 here.
Part 2 here.
Part 3 here.
Part 4 here.
Part 5 here.
Amagiri had been through the cycle three times, so he could smell it before he came. He was almost full-blooded, so his senses in that department were unaffected and as a bonus, his parents were still around so they gave him a nice, thorough rundown the first time (unlike Shiranui).
He was fully thankful for that the first time when he felt the bite of desire, undeniable and uncontrollable. He'd taken her back to his parents house, his blood thrumming with anticipation, and he'd whispered words of love in her ear before he shut the door into the room set especially aside for that purpose.
When he came to, she was dead.
He'd been barely twenty-three, younger than Shiranui was now. A baby oni. His parents consoled him as much but he left the house and his sympathetic relatives, ashamed. The bond in his mind, fulfilled and torn apart in an instant, fluttered raggedly in his brain.
That was completely different from what he was facing now. As if the fact his previous three bonds were normal, mature, feminine mates he was now faced with -
- a soft double-tap on the door broke him out of his thoughts. Inwardly he sighed; he'd lost track of time meditating again. "Enter," he called out softly, knowing even before the door slid open who would be visiting him at this hour.
Even the sight of him was enough to send the sting of arousal lancing through him. Toudou stood, then knelt again to shut the door, all while balancing a pile of scrolls. "I brought the materials you requested."
He took the towering mess of paper and set it carefully down to the side of an already-overflowing writing desk. These were the documents he had Toudou get from Shiranui - and damn the flighty young bastard anyway, now Amagiri would have to start from scratch - meaning Toudou took time off today after patrol to get on a horse, ride out of the city, sift through a mansion's worth of books, and bring back the relevant ones. No wonder it was past midnight by the time he'd returned.
Though he didn't show anything, inwardly Amagiri was impressed. He'd made this request yesterday through Kazama, who'd noted slyly that he had wonderful timing since Toudou was only partial sick leave, and what a great future mate he would make for the squeaky little rodent. Toudou had looked offended at that, but one look at Hijikata trying to hide his laughter behind a bowl of rice meant someone other than Kazama had gotten blamed.
But an excuse to have Toudou close didn't solve all of his problems. The core of it was...
"Amagiri-dono," the young samurai said respectfully without a hint of flattery or awe, "there are still some that I wasn't able to fit in. The mansion turned out to be quite spacious though Shiranui-san's only using the two front rooms. I'll be back tomorrow evening with the rest." He looked shrunken into himself without the lack of anything to hold.
Amagiri looked into that face with its bags under those brilliant eyes and said, "You should rest instead. We still don't know exactly what happened, so until then you should take it easy in case something occurs, Toudou."
And there - that was one of the things he looked for in Toudou. That fresh split-second of defiance was so refreshing after the drone of endless Satsuma clan retainers, Kazama's humorless smirking and Shiranui's whiny half-needy whine. A second later it was gone as Toudou lowered his eyes and bowed in acquiescence.
"Please, call me Heisuke." The tone was once again flat and neutral as he murmured his parting shot, just like he had all the times before.
Amagiri closed his eyes. The pounding in his ears was intense and throbbing, and a sensation he reveled in a little too much. It'd been ages since he felt this young.
When you made your decision, did you foresee this?, he wanted to yell towards that retreating figure. And now that you've achieved what makes an oni half of what they are, will you keep your promises like a true samurai?
He didn't know enough of Toudou to venture a guess, and the bond wasn't made. Perhaps now, it would never be.
He could feel it struggling under the weight of his pessimism. But he'd seen enough of life to know that disappointments happened to everyone at the most unexpected times. Toudou Heisuke, impassioned and moralistic, could make Amagiri believe in the possibility of human righteousness again...or he could fall to the side like all the others.
He wondered what Toudou was thinking. The bond chafed at him, asking why it hadn't been consummated yet. Such a sweet young thing... So trusting, so accepting of who you are.
That was what he thought about his first bonding too.
His mind ran down old, well-known rationalizations long after he blew out the lantern for the night.
-------------
That was his job, day in and day out. The only contact he ever had with his mate.
Heisuke was never the most patient person. Shinpachi and Sanosuke could vouch for that - he always wanted the fight to start already, wanted to be in the thick of the fray. He wanted things to be happening and he'd never really gotten used to holding perfectly still and calm during meditation. The memory of old tessen welts still stung when he thought about it.
He was assigned to Amagiri-dono in the beginning, right when they moved in. Despite him being thrown into a wall in the past (the first night he'd come by Amagiri-dono had apologized and bowed so low Heisuke had scrambled to do the same), that had always clearly been in the realm of 'not personal' and thus readily forgiven. He came by every night with the same lantern and usually some documents Kazama wanted him to check over. In the past he used to ask if Amagiri-dono needed anything else in particular, but the answer had always been 'no' and finally he'd stopped.
Unfortunately, that also meant every night while he was doing the dishes with Chizuru he was wracking his brains for something new to say.
Chizuru was usually pretty good at this, even if her subject ideas were a little too romantic sometimes. "Have you asked him if he's seen the moon tonight? It's lovely."
"Er...," he almost swallowed his tongue thinking of a way to say Honestly, I don't know if he's even interested in that.
Thankfully Chizuru caught on. "Has he stopped apologizing for getting you hurt?" Heisuke grimaced and nodded; it'd certainly taken a while. The man - oni, he corrected himself - didn't seem similarly inclined to call him Heisuke though, though he'd said it at least a hundred times.
"Have you asked him about the things you brought him? Weren't you kind of interested in that?"
He reddened. "Chizuru-chan...they're about bonds and stuff." When she didn't look at all surprised he buried his head in his hands. "Shiranui-san was smirking at me and everything when I asked him! Don't you think it'd be totally embarrassing to ask him about that when it means we're going to..." He couldn't bear to continue.
Just the merest thought of it made his face flame. Those slight touches that Amagiri-dono always tried to avoid - Heisuke knew about them, and sometimes when he was bold enough he would circumvent them. Then he'd feel the brush of square-tipped, absurdly gentle fingers against his and he'd half-stumble out of the room in his haste to find the nearest abandoned storage room and jerk himself as if he'd just hit puberty.
He was sure Amagiri knew about this. That knowing look he gave every time Heisuke glanced his way made that so obvious. And plus, if Kazama could sense Shiranui could smell Kazama's arousal from three paces away, wouldn't Amagiri be able to smell Heisuke's?
That was why, out of embarrassment he'd taken to keeping the nightly check-ups as short as possible. It seemed most of the other people in the compound thought their relationship was a lot further along than it actually was - the only one that had no illusions was Chizuru.
Which was why she was the lone stalwart supporter of the idea that he should correct that, pronto. Hands on her hips and dishes forgotten, she whirled to face him. "Heisuke-kun!" she admonished, but he was too busy noting that she looked cute even when she was mad or pouting. "Heisuke-kun! Pay attention!" She deflated suddenly. "You've already told him your intentions, so now all that's left is to follow them. Isn't it smarter to be well-informed ahead of time what's going to happen?"
He actually crouched and clunked his head against the cabinet doors in mortification. "You're not the one who's actually going to ask, Chizuru-chan!"
Her cheeks blushed defiantly. "Of course not! He's not going to be my mate, after all!" She turned back to the dishes, anxiety etched clear in every feature.
He frowned; that wasn't usually how she responded. "Chizuru-chan?"
She was quiet for a minute. "It's just...," and Heisuke realized with some glee that she was red to the tips of her ears, "...he's so big."
So hey, he was young, his mind jumped to all the wrong conclusions. "You've seen his..." He was too incredulous to continue.
"NO!!," she squeaked vehemently, eyes wide. They stared at each other and then broke into snickers. "You know what I mean, Heisuke-kun - he's tall and he's older and he's got a beard -"
"Goatee!" Heisuke protested, and that sent them into a fresh set of giggles. Truthfully he didn't really know the term for what it was called. "Chin growth?" he wondered aloud, and Chizuru collapsed over the washbin, practically in hysterics.
(A building away, Amagiri suddenly sneezed. Someone was talking about him?)
When they'd finished the dishes and calmed down considerably with some tea, they returned to the real topic at hand. "But seriously, aren't you curious at all? Or is it...you've reconsidered?"
"Of course not," he waved a hand negligently. "The only other option would be for us to die together, and that's hardly useful."
"That's a good reason, but not a great one. From what Shiranui said, if you're going to live you're going to spend the rest of your life with him. No matter how awkward it is to ask, you'd better make sure of what you're getting into." She peered worriedly into his face. "You...are attracted to him, aren't you?"
Oh, how he was. How could he describe how completely he'd fallen when Amagiri-dono hadn't even done anything? There were nights back when they shared a room when all he wanted to do was creep over and slide against the warmth of that big body. Chizuru was so wrong - Amagiri-dono's size was exactly what Heisuke liked about him. That tall body, wide torso perfectly to take a nap on, those big hands - gods, what would it all feel like when he was tasting it all for himself?
"H-Heisuke-kun?" Chizuru was blushing again. She could probably smell his arousal; he got up to wash their cups and mentally smacked his daydreaming to the back of his head.
He sighed as he thought about it. "I'll ask him tonight," he promised slowly. Chizuru was right, as usual - it wouldn't do him any good to simply stew on it any longer.
Thus he found himself knocking earlier than usual on the door, lantern and remaining papers in hand. Surprisingly enough Shiranui had given him little fuss today except over that thrice-damned nickname ("Hey, Chip, found another." "Hey, Chip, wanna break for lunch?") when he packed up most of the materials he knew Shiranui wanted to look over again. Half-grateful someone out there wasn't trying to nudge him towards Amagiri-dono at every glance, he'd returned the favor by not uttering a single peep about Shiranui going back to headquarters to quiet his raging mate.
("I swear to whoever's up there I'm going to KILL HIM!" had been Sano's exact words this morning.)
Amagiri-dono didn't look surprised or ruffled or anything to see him a good two hours early. New meaning to the words 'expressionless', he mentally sighed to himself. As usual he relayed what Hijikata and Kazama had given to him to pass onto his future mate.
"What do you think?" Amagiri-dono asked when he was done reading the short missive that'd come with the rest of the materials - a whole stack of letters written in Kondou-sensei's handwriting, in fact.
"What're they having you do?"
"'Pursue Itou at all costs.'" He held it up and indeed that was all that was written on the short missive that was signed by Hijikata and Kazama both in flowing script.
"By yourself?" Not that he doubted Amagiri-dono could do it, just that this was the Shinsengumi, so there was bound to be someone who said there should be more than one person on a case.
"I was thinking of taking Yamazaki with me."
"He's on recon at that SatsuCho teahouse, isn't he? Won't it be detrimental to pull him out of there when he's already established rapport with the enemy?"
"Only on his time off."
Heisuke still didn't understand. "So, you want him to work full time without rest? He's not an oni, you know - he needs more than four hours a sleep a day to function." Probably won't ever be bonded an oni, if the sounds I heard from Saitou's room yesterday were any indication... He shook the irrelevant thought out of his head. Amagiri-dono wasn't the type to appreciate daydreaming.
"I wish I could take you, but you're too well-known." Amagiri-dono shifted his attention back to the writing desk with scrolls and books spread over every visible space. He unrolled the scroll he'd been perusing in a clearly dismissive gesture. Heisuke, on his part, had no idea if the statement was meant to be the compliment it sounded like when it was said exactly like all the other sentences before it.
There was a beat of silence, when Heisuke knew the right chance had come. Heart pounding so loud he just knew Amagiri-dono could hear it, he cleared his throat and said as coolly as he could, "There was one other thing I wanted to ask if you had a moment, Amagiri-dono..."
Blue eyes - Blue! What a lovely color..., he really wished that voice would stop simpering like a lovestruck little girl - pierced him again. "Please," Amagiri-dono patted the only space next to him that was empty of scrolls. Almost as if it'd been left for a person his size to sit there...
"I was wondering some things about - the bond," he managed to force the last part out. "I couldn't help but notice that Kazama-dono and Shiranui-san both succumbed much faster than you did. Is there...are you able to resist it better or something?"
There was a flicker of impressed surprise and then once again Amagiri's face fell smoothly back into impersonal courtesy. Heisuke almost punched the air in glee - he'd asked something smart! "In a manner of speaking, yes. With the right application of meditation and acceptance of one's bonding partner, an oni can stay in the gray area before the urge gets too strong. Though marriage is only consummated when two bodies join together, for onis the bond is a mental thing - thus, acceptance of one's partner is fully necessary, or else the urge quickly accelerates and becomes unbearable."
The clinical way he talked about this was a little unnerving. "So then - that's what Kazama-dono and Shiranui-san did?" And in the case of Shiranui-san, the denial still hasn't quite disappeared...
Amagiri-dono nodded. "This shouldn't be a problem for you - unlike Hijikata-san and Harada-san who have oni blood, from what I can tell you have close to none. You won't feel as if you're ill when the bond is incomplete, and if it is consummated similarly you won't be able to tell many things that they can about their mates - well-being, feelings, surface thoughts and location. For all interests and intents, you will be psi-null to what usually characterizes the oni marriage bond."
From what he'd seen of Sano's pains, he rather thought that gift was a double-edged sword. "If I may respectfully submit, it's 'when', not 'if', Amagiri-dono."
The subtle rebuttal, instead of making Amagiri-dono scowl like Hijikata always did when Heisuke said something particularly dumb, seemed to amuse him. But then again, he was no great reader of straight faces, and Amagiri-dono in particular was a master. "Of course," he accepted the criticism smoothly.
"So, if you know how an oni bond usually is, you've been bonded to another oni before?"
Amagiri nodded affirmative. "Once."
The question tumbled out before Heisuke could stop it. "So you've been bonded before?"
"Three times."
Then that meant twice with humans, and once with an oni. He had one last question but it was the most personal one, and he visibly struggled before he gritted his teeth to spit it out. "Were...were any of them with other males?" He just knew his face was flaming red.
Amagiri-dono's gaze was sympathetic. "No," he answered, and a knot in Heisuke's chest loosened. It meant that, in this, Amagiri-dono had no precedence and thus wouldn't be so inclined to compare him to whatever mate had come before him. Not that he thought Amagiri-dono was petty enough to do that, he was sure every mate before him had probably been gorgeous and every inch worthy of being Amagiri-dono's partner for life...
For the millionth time he shook the pessimistic thoughts out of his head. "I - I also wanted to ask, is there anything I can do to help you with this?" He waved a sleeve towards the awesome mess of documents. "I'd like to learn more about what - happened to me." He almost said what Shiranui did to me but caught himself.
"That would be beneficial to everyone if we could pinpoint exactly how far the boundaries of coming back to life extend. I, for one, am not entirely sure if Shiranui's hocus-pocus will work exactly as he says." Amagiri's jaw tightened. Was it possible that he thinking regretfully that Heisuke was still alive?
Of course not, Heisuke scolded himself. He's a perfect gentleman, and he's got years on top of me to get this way. Even if he secretly thought that, he'd die before he'd say anything that shameful. Unlike that one time he'd from Shinpachi afterward, when Sano had collapsed and muttered about Shiranui would have never chosen him.
"Where should I start?" Gingerly he picked at one thin, paperbound novel-ish looking document.
"Don't -" The warning came too late and the mountain stacked against the wall crashed down over him like an avalanche.
As he worked to disentangle himself, sneezing from the dust that'd puffed up from the interruption, digging out a book that had somehow made it down his shirt, he felt big hands hook securely under his arms and lift him up as if he weighed no more than a feather. Then Amagiri shook him once or twice so the last couple of books fell out of his hakama - and was that an embarrassing place to be right now! - and then set him carefully back down in a clean, opposite corner of the room.
The oni was actually smiling fondly at Heisuke. "Help me get this straightened out, if you would. I know by now the pile of regular work and all the things from that old mansion are mixed up now..."
"You're not very organized, are you?" Heisuke was stooped, picking up materials from the floor when he realized what he'd said.
But a quick glance at Amagiri-dono revealed only the same amused expression. "You're right of course, Toudou. Kazama has always been tidy, and Shiranui the same out of extreme circumstances. I mainly did the meetings, the bowing, and the spying." Was that actually a semi- joke?
"It's 'Heisuke', if you could." They were probably going to have sex in this room soon, he thought with a fit of boldness - the least the big oni could do was call him by his first name!
"Of course," Amagiri-dono murmured in assent, and heads bent together, they began to study.
-------------
Three days later Heisuke felt like clunking one of those thick scrolls over his equally thick head.
What had ever possessed him to volunteer for this? Chizuru was so, so wrong, he moaned. This wasn't study, it was torture.
[When the furnace is strokeed brite, remember to put the poker in sloowly, for the eflurvescent smoke of the genitalias may still be sensitive to the touch. A rithum can be established once the furnace has been fully breeched - just follow the beat of hammer and anvil. Burn with the passion of furnace and poker, peersing the heavens with this oni's prayer of love and happyness!]
Who the hell wrote this crock?, he wondered. He flipped to the cover, where the author's name had been smeared into illegibility by the hands of time. The title of the book, however, stared back up at him as he read disbelievingly.
'Cooling Breezes and Gentle Grasses'? "Was he drunk when he named this?" he muttered mutinously and resisted the urge to toss the hapless book over his shoulder.
"Ah, that one," Amagiri-dono noted with a crinkle in his eye. "That's the one that Shiranui got halfway through before he tossed it across the room. He said it was quite the raunchy read."
"Yeah, if you like metalsmith's terminology - if he hated it so much, why did he put it in the bag for me to bring all the way back over here? Does he want you to suffer or something?"
"He's probably getting back however he can when Kazama and I taught him how to read."
That made Heisuke stop in his tracks. "You - you and Kazama-dono had to teach him how to read? How long ago was this? How long ago did you meet?"
Amagiri-dono held up a hand to steady the flow of questions. "Yes, he didn't know how read anything except the most basic kanji when we first met him, which was just over ten years ago. He's improved much since then, as you can imagine - we forced him to look through Satsuma Clan documents for practice. After he got his hands on actual novels he claimed those documents were drier than the desert, and that he would rather shave his head than read another one."
Heisuke laughed aloud at the image. "Did he throw tantrums back then too?"
"Frequently." Amagiri's eyes flashed with laughter.
"Over?"
"He often didn't understand why we were forcing him to learn things that he never needed to learn on the streets. For the first year we had to work hard to cure of him of his stealing habits - we would often find clothes and wallets around the house that didn't belong to any of us. His quick hands have been of much more use to us in battle once Kazama got his hands on the latest Western firearms for him."
Heisuke remembered the fearless way Shiranui-san threw himself into a knot of Rasetsu soldiers and decimated them by twisting and attacking them from all angles. He shivered to remember from the scant memories of the night he was brought back to life, how he'd been glad for a second that those two monsters were on his side. "He enjoys it a lot, doesn't he? Fighting."
Amagiri-dono's eyes softened into a mildly fatherly look that Kondou-sensei got sometimes too. "He's young," was all he said.
"How old is he?"
"Well, he's never told us his exact birthday but I expect him to be not much older than Harada. Maybe thirty years or so."
"Wow." Heisuke was stunned at the unexpected information. "That's gotta be pretty young for an oni, if it's young for a human too."
"It certainly explains his current predicament," Amagiri-dono agreed. "This is his first bonding, so he's making a lot of mistakes. The reason Kazama doesn't just command him to come home is because he wants Shiranui to realize, and answer to, the consequences he brought upon himself. Any oni worth their salt knows that the urges of a bond can't be denied, yet he has continually defied the natural inclination of his body. His suffering is unnecessary to both him and his mate; a newly bonded couple usually never leave each others' range of vision until the first month is over."
That would explain Shiranui's listlessness and the lack of his usual cocky, upbeat personality. "And yet you're letting the two of them be stupid like this?"
"It's his first bonding - in time, he will come to understand that this is one thing he cannot fight. Even if his body has to drag him back to headquarters unconscious, it will do so, and he will be all the wiser for it."
Heisuke thought about it. "That's kind of harsh coming from you guys too."
Amagiri-dono smiled faintly. "We didn't raise him to be just a drunken whiner, though he does do plenty of that."
Heisuke, too, could finally see where Amagiri-dono found Shiranui-san endearing. "I don't think I've ever seen him touch a single drop of sake, though."
Amagiri-dono shrugged. "Most likely he's keeping that habit in check while he deals with his bond. Just watch - once he comes to his senses, he and Harada-san will undoubtedly make it a nightly ritual once more."
Heisuke scrunched up his nose at that thought. "No thanks," he grumbled.
Amagiri-dono's look was appraising then. "You don't like alcohol, then?" he asked.
This time it was Heisuke's turn to shrug. "I don't like the taste, mostly. It smells strange too, though I mean...I can appreciate the medical value, and that people can use it to escape reality for a little while, but I don't think it'll ever be for me." He looked up at his future mate. "Do - do you drink?"
"Occasionally," Amagiri-dono answered. "In particular there's a brewery called 'Setsunasa' at the edge of town that both Kazama and I like to buy from." He looked askance at Heisuke as if assessing his seriousness. "Kazama's foster family sold sake; he has a pretty good mouth for it, if he was ever serious about taste-testing."
"'Foster family'?" Heisuke echoed, confused. "I thought he had a regular family and everything - he said he killed his parents, didn't he?"
Amagiri nodded. "It's tradition for an oni family to send away their purebred sons to live with a trusted human retainer's residence while a young oni in the most danger of being killed by rival clans. Once they feel the young oni is old enough, they reclaim him to began his weapons training and oni studies. Then, when the oni becomes of age, they kill their parents.
"In Kazama's case though, his family has always been traditional to the core, which meant the human family they chose was not very trustworthy. The family's sake business fell on hard times and they sold Kazama's location to a rival oni clan. Through much trial and strife Kazama's family regained him, and raised him successfully to become the heir of his family."
"What happened to human family?" Somehow, Heisuke didn't know why, that seemed like the crux of everything.
"He killed them, all of them down to his foster brothers and sisters. Then, once he was of age he bought the abandoned sake factory and made it successful again, to spite their memory."
Silence fell as Heisuke digested the information. He'd always know that out of all of them, Kazama was probably the most ruthless and driven when it came to the things he wanted, but he hadn't expected this. So far it seemed that all the oni he'd met had some traumatic tragedy in their pasts with the exception of Chizuru. He hoped that he hadn't jinxed her by saying that...
"Er - thank you for trusting me with this," he waved his hands vaguely to gesture 'all that Kazama stuff'. "You didn't have to tell me your leader's secrets, but yet I'm - I'm honored you chose to do so."
As if embarrassed Amagiri-dono turned back to desk and straightened some papers. "You will be my mate," he said finally. "There will only be a one-sided bond between us, but all the same - I would not deny you knowledge about me, or my acquaintances. To do so would be dangerous."
Suddenly Heisuke had even greater respect for the big oni in front of him. He never seemed to lose his cool, always told Heisuke the truth even if it was ugly, never barred him from a single thing that he wanted to know no matter how uncomfortable it must have been to reveal it. Everything he had said so far had been true, that he had already accepted Heisuke as his mate in his mind and was already treating him so.
It made him feel like he wanted to give something back. And that sent the naughty little wheels turning in his head. "I - I was thinking earlier about a much less personal query," he admitted with a rush of relief. "About the fact that I drank the Ochimizu and am a Rasetsu, but if Shiranui-san is right my existence also depends on you now. Wouldn't I have unlimited lifeforce to burn when I turned into a Rasetsu, and wouldn't this...undo some sort of cosmic balance somewhere?"
Amagiri-dono quirked an eyebrow at his unusual way of describing his circumstances. "When you became a Rasetsu, how did you feel?"
"Uh...," Heisuke struggled to remember. "It was painful at first, felt like I was suffocating and that every cell in my body was on fire?"
"After you'd calmed down, was there anything you felt different?"
He frowned. "Not...particularly. It wasn't until I smelled or saw blood that my body started craving it, but - well, I never really used my Rasetsu form very much, so I can't really say if I had any long-term effects..."
There was a snick of a sheath and then the smell of spilt blood filled the room. Amagiri-dono had sliced open his hand! Heisuke stared down shock, hands already reaching for the water basin and the towel hanging off the side of it.
But even as he watched, the wound started to shrink from the edges, pulling inwards as if there was something inside of the the skin that was reversing the process of being cut, until there was nothing but blood left on those fingers where Amagiri-dono had briefly clenched his hand.
In his curiosity Heisuke had leaned forward until his nose was almost touching that hand. Now he gave a sniff. He smelled coppery blood, of course - and that was all. There was no radical tranformation of white hair and red eyes, no uncontrollable thirst for blood or lust to slice something into pieces. He remained, simply, Toudou Heisuke.
Was this a cure, then?
He and Amagiri-dono tore through the stacks after that, leaving the room in a bigger mess than before. But there was nothing on fake onis, Ochimizu, or cures for such written anywhere. Of course, these were also the bonding books, which weren't even written in the right subject.
They both expressed surprise that Hijikata hadn't wondered about this first. Or maybe, he'd wondered and tested and decided not to share his results with anyone. Or maybe he'd been to busy to wonder about it; certainly now that they (and the rest of the Shinsengumi) were Itou-hunting, there wasn't much time for idle thinking.
As they cleaned up the materials so Amagiri-dono would have a place to sleep for the night, the big oni paused and gave him a significant glance. "Toudou...you aren't looking into this because you're hoping to retain your Rasetsu powers, are you?"
"Of course not!" He shook his head vigorously at the thought. "The reason Hijikata and Okita and I took it in the first place was to protect Chizuru-chan from you guys...but now that you're clearly not after her I don't mind. It's not like I needed the extra strength for anything else."
"Don't be so sure that there are still no enemies out there who want her. She's one of the few pureblooded oni left. Even if there was no bond between them some oni might want her to sire his kits, and if he successfully kidnapped her it would be a shame and a loss to us all. Plus, if Itou got wind of her relation with Koudou-sensei, it would bode very ill for all of us. He's more merciless than Kazama when it comes to the things he wants."
"Sano said you knew him?" He was honestly curious now.
"I only spent brief time with him and his family. But he was pampered and spoiled from the start - his parents didn't buy into the normal oni way of sending their children off to be protected." Heisuke thought he could really argue that it was really 'normal'. "From the time he was born, he was raised to be the pride of his family, and it shows."
Heisuke lowered the wick for the lantern where he'd been lighting it. "So...how long has he been a vain bastard then?"
"Four times your age, Toudou." When the young samurai turned to look at him, open-mouthed, he almost smiled. "Did you expect to meet no one older than Shiranui?"
"It's Heisuke," the so-called 'chipmunk' managed. "Is...is Kazama that old too?"
"A little less, I believe." He could see Amagiri-dono was taking it kind on his understanding; he got the feeling the big oni thought if he opened his eyes any wider they would pop out of their sockets.
"And...you?"
A firm, large hand fell on his hair, mussing it briefly before sliding to his shoulder. "Much, much older," Amagiri-dono's voice was low and rumbling, like a storm in the distance. Heisuke could feel his heart flutter in a very girly manner over that.
He stared up into that face that held his gaze with no trace of anger or fear. Amagiri-dono was respected by his comrades and by all of his race for his wisdom and experience; even Kazama-dono learned a thing or to from him, not to mention Shiranui-san. He was tall and strong and a mighty fighter. Over the many years that he lived, he'd seen his share of evils yet his pride as a samurai remained untarnished by malice and deceit, as Itou's was.
And...here Heisuke had been thinking he was a fair match.
He started to say 'thank you' but sudden pain wrenched the words out of his mouth. He would have dropped the oil and wick if it hadn't been for Amagiri's quick hands that carried the hot dish out of his hands. The flame had burned him just briefly; Heisuke held up his reddened thumb and sucked, brows furrowed in embarrassment.
He glanced up at Amagiri-dono. The older oni had set the dish inside of the lantern, and was now staring intently his injured thumb as if it was the most fascinating thing in the world.
For an instant Heisuke gave into the devious side of him - he let his tongue flicker out over his finger, his eyes never leaving Amagiri's face for a second. Those blue eyes flashed hungry gold at the action, and Heisuke almost smirked a very Kazama-ish smirk. Gotcha.
Amagiri-dono, too, seemed to realized he'd been caught, and offered the lantern almost shyly to his future mate. There was no more touching or teasing as they parted until tomorrow.
"Good night, Toudou."
That tongue licked his lips; he knew Amagiri-dono's ears caught the sound. "Please, call me Heisuke," he murmured in return, and slid the shoji door shut.
----------------
For the millionth time today it seemed, Amagiri resisted the urge to sigh.
It was all Toudou's fault, of course. The young samurai had come in a few nights before, demanding to learn more about bonds. While Amagiri was glad that his curiosity was finally getting satisfied and they were finally a little closer than they were before, he hadn't imagined that it'd awakened the foxy, seductive side of his future mate.
He'd thought Toudou was completely unaware of the looks he got. And he did get plenty of lookers - he was young and fresh-faced, charismatic and beyond skilled with a sword. But what really got people (like Amagiri) was his innocence, the times when a raunchy joke was said that he didn't understand. Then he'd get that bewildered, wide-eyed look and inevitably Amagiri would flex his fingers inside of his sleeves because someone else was looking at the young captain and imagining what it was like to 'educate' him.
But yesterday proved him false. Toudou was completely aware of what he had over Amagiri, and for the first time in what seemed like ages the big oni was being teased. Teased...
He was the one who wanted to do the teasing, now. He wanted to come up with the excuse to brush out Toudou's hair, peel off the layers of clothes to look for his scars. He wanted to take that thumb into his mouth and suck it until Toudou whimpered and looked away. He wanted to learn if the young samurai was ticklish at the ribs and the toes.
Instead, he was stuck watching Itou through a fourth story window of a pagoda at the edge of the city. If he strained his ears he could hear what was being said, but for the most part he was content to read lips and get the gist of the conversation. Itou, for all his pompousness, wasn't stupid - he'd noticed that Amagiri was there, no matter how low he'd forced his presence. That was why nothing of worth was really being said, nothing that pertained to tactics or battle plans.
The slimy oni spy had visited a couple more connections today that hadn't been on the map Hijikata had given him. They would have to extend a little more manpower and spy on exactly what those establishments dealt in too. It was much like a snowball, gathering more and more information as it rolled down the slope - away from Toudou and his shy seduction.
If he closed his eyes he could still smell the scent of arousal in the air. Truly, he was so young compared to Amagiri, it was almost ridiculous. That was why his scent was so intoxicating - every time he leaned forward to place a hand on his shoulder, or accidentally touch his hair, he was reminded what it was to be sweet and fresh and headstrong in one's ideals.
It hadn't just been his lust that'd quickened - it'd also been his heart.
A presence stepped inside of his bubble of space. Without looking, he knew it had to be the ninja boy - who, in regular circumstances, Amagiri might have guessed would've been closer to who he thought he'd be attracted to. He was a quiet, vaguely sarcastic but sincere sort that Shiranui had found interesting, which had in turn made Amagiri reassess him too. For a dying breed of specialists in what would probably be the last age of the sword, Yamazaki was pretty good at what he did.
"Status?" the young man asked.
"No change. I marked down where he visited on the map, though I can't be sure if he just wanted to do business or throw me off of his trail."
A quirked eyebrow was the only response he got. "You let him sense you?"
"Smell, more like. And purebred onis can usually sense when another is near; dampening one's spirit energy has nothing to do with it."
Yamazaki hmm'd thoughtfully. "It sounds like a security perimeter to me."
He smiled at the serious-minded metaphor. This boy, like most of the Shinsengumi, was a bit of a workaholic when it came down to it. "Something like that, yes."
They watched Itou argue over... proper gifts for some Englishman? before Yamazaki gave him another significant look and said pointedly, "You can go now."
He couldn't help it, he sighed under his breath. Now both of Yamazaki's eyebrows were up. "There's not really a point," he admitted. Even from where he stood halfway across the city, he could feel Toudou's signature spelling his location somewhere to the south as he marched with the rest of his team on patrol.
"You're not pleased he's off of sick leave?" The young ninja boy sounded like he was having way too much fun in this.
Amagiri decided to indulge him, just this once. "Of course I am," he answered. His tone of voice said anything but.
Instead of returning to headquarters, he struck out across the city. In the morning, he used to love sitting on the rooftop of their safehouse and watch as the buildings came to life - people waking up, starting their day, opening the shops. The rattle of screen doors, the chatter of voices as humans went about their daily lives. Yes, in battle they were usually weaker even if he'd known some vastly superior swordsmen in his day - but he could admire their resilience in the face of adversity, and their simple ways of understanding.
Toudou was taking a rest, talking with his vice-captain when he stepped out of the alley. He only had to peek out a little before the young samurai was skivving off the rest of the commands and dashing into the space he occupied.
He looked close to seizing Amagiri around the waist in a hug as he drank in the sight of his future mate, standing there and waiting for him. "This won't be a regular thing, I'll have you know," Amagiri told him gravely, but the grin never faltered on Toudou's face.
"I don't care. You're here!" And he gave into the impulse and thrust himself into Amagiri's arms.
Ah..., his whole body seemed to sag in relief around that little form. His blood sang at the touch of those hands, clinging so tenaciously to the back of his coat. As if in a dream one of his hands came up and touched that brown hair, ran gently through those soft strands. Toudou murmured something in contentment and Amagiri felt something powerfully strong surge up in him when those green eyes fluttered shut.
Softly his hand cupped Toudou's shoulder and brought him in close. This...this might be better than sex, he thought. The feelings Toudou stirred in him were awesome in their intensity: fearsome protectiveness, pure-spirited affection and pride. Here was a youth who, despite being younger than all his compatriots, still walked the path of the samurai with his head held up high and his hands steady. He didn't flinch at hardship, he didn't turn his face away when faced with something other people might find impossible - a betrothal, for life, with an immortal oni.
He knew, in that instant, that the bond was right: he would grow to love Toudou, and it would be a bottomless well that he could drink from again and again and never be satisfied with how much more he had left to fall.
He realized Toudou was staring at him apprehensively. "Are...are you angry?" the young samurai asked, pensive.
"For what?"
Embarrassed, Toudou unclasped one arm from his back and simply licked the tip of his thumb in answer.
The sight of that little pink tongue did things to Amagiri's stomach that he thought he'd never feel again. "Of course not," he managed to answer. It was all in good fun anyway, even if Toudou fell far short of the usual seduction techniques Amagiri was used to from the girls in the red light district when Shiranui managed to drag him along. Of course, this was also his future mate - Toudou could probably be swinging upside down from a tree like a monkey and Amagiri would still find him endearing.
Mentally he hung his head. He'd forgotten what it felt like to be 'bond-addled', as Shiranui was so fond of describing their leader. Speaking of which...
He gently extricated Toudou's body a little ways from him (or else Toudou would be feeling something nudge him that Amagiri wasn't quite sure he was ready to unwrap yet), and said, "The main reason I'm here is to tell you that I won't be at home tonight; I'll be going into the mountains to check up on Shiranui."
The reaction was instantaneous. "I'll come with you!" Toudou offered.
Amagiri knew that was coming, and had already entertained fantasies of Toudou sitting behind him. Feeling those legs fit snugly around his back...no, Amagiri had never been taken by a man, despite his passive manner he'd always been the one on top in a relationship. But once Toudou became older, his limbs would fill out and he'd stop looking like a gawky teenager. His face too, Amagiri could imagine lengthening, his jaw strong and his lips inviting. No, Amagiri didn't think it'd be hard to give into an adult-Toudou's wish to be in control at all...
But that was all irrelevant to the topic. Going into the mountains with Toudou...he could carry him all the way there, as Shiranui did the night of Itou's attack, but that would be too much temptation for the right-here and now. Dark, abandoned places and that hot little body in his arms - Amagiri thought he might probably forget his destination before they even left the city and head towards a secluded inn instead.
"By the time you get back, I'll already be gone. I want to stay overnight to monitor him, since Kazama can't be there." They sighed in unison at the thought of Shiranui's pigheadedness on the whole bond affair. "I have to bring him food too."
Now Toudou looked plain incredulous. "Shiranui cooks?" Utter disbelief from those rosy lips.
Amagiri wasn't surprised; he'd been flabbergasted the first time Kazama had been away and Amagiri had been injured, and the gunman had come into the room toting fresh, palatable breakfast for two. "He's not bad, really - not as good as me, but better than Kazama."
Toudou was obviously trying to imagine their smirking oni leader with a ladle in one hand and an apron around his waist, because in the next moment he snickered. "How's his cooking? Should I skip breakfast and eat breakfast on patrol if he gets stuck on cooking duty?"
"He's not that bad, just his mixture of spices is...interesting, to say the least. There was one time he mixed miso, mustard paste and cooking wine, and grilled fish in that..."
Toudou shuddered. "What did that taste like?"
"I suffered through it; Shiranui puts wasabi on everything Kazama makes and eats it as fast as he can. The results are rather amusing; he actually cries while he eats, and afterwards downs a gallon of goat's milk to wash the taste out."
Toudou laughed; Amagiri smiled too, seeing the look on his face. "I guess I'll just have to see for myself, when Hijikata finally puts him on the cooking roster. I'll...see you tomorrow night then?"
No little pure-hearted being like Toudou should ever sound unsure like that. "Of course," Amagiri answered, and ran fingertips down the side of that round cheek before he could stop himself.
Smaller, sword-calloused hands clasped it close. "I - I did have one more thing to ask." His voice was a dry whisper; Amagiri had to lean in a little to hear it. "If you're not angry at me, could you..." Those quick little hands squeezed his fingers as if to beg Amagiri to understand.
Somehow, he did. Lifting the forehead band he first pressed his lips there - one for memory - and then one on both eyes - two for clarity - and finally, one last one on those delectable lips.
One hand clutched at his sleeve when he stopped there and straightened. "Please, Amagiri-dono," Toudou pleaded. He was blushing to the tips of his ears; they were so cute Amagiri almost wanted to make something up and kiss those too. "It was three for true love's rarity, and you've only given me one."
The second kiss was deeper; he sucked the youth's top lip, then the bottom. Toudou leaned against him, warm and pliant and oh-so-right. His hands were fisted tightly in Amagiri's coat as he leaned up on his tiptoes. He opened his mouth and Amagiri took that chance to plunder that sweet mouth; their tongues dashed together and Toudou moaned low in his throat.
He wasn't really aware of what he was doing (which was dangerous), so when they parted for breath he was surprised to see that one hand was cradling Toudou's head upward, sunken into those chesnut strands, and the other hand was...significantly lower, cupped around much more valuable goods.
Tentatively he squeezed; Toudou whimpered and pressed against him in return. Eager little kit, Amagiri could feel demanding arousal against his thigh, even if he couldn't smell it thick in the air. The urge was strong to haul him away from this dinky alley, past his team and somewhere where nobody could find them, and he could ravish that pale skin to his heart's content. He would make it so good, Toudou would surely remember it for years to come...
That's what you said the first time, his mind reminded him darkly.
It was as if cold water had been poured on his senses. Tenderly he extricated Toudou again - the young samurai gave a huff of disappointment - and murmured into the shell of one delectable-looking ear, "I wonder...what would Kazama look like in that geisha kimono Yukimura wore that one night?"
The thought was enough to send Toudou into a fit of laughter, all thoughts of desire forgotten. Smiling fondly, he patted that hair and added, "I'll see you tomorrow night, then." And because it hadn't been three, he pressed one last, chaste kiss on his beloved's lips, and jumped the walls out of sight.
He didn't have to look back to know what kind of expression Toudou had on his face, because it probably mirrored his own. How utterly regretful it was that it wasn't time or place to do anything further. At least now he knew Toudou was somewhat ready for the next step; now all he had to do was create the right mood for it tomorrow night.
Surely he would be as eager as he was just minutes ago? Minutes...it seemed like hours already since he left Toudou behind. Mentally he thought he might count down the time to go before he saw him next, but on the other hand, that was a little extreme even if he was bond-addled.
He lifted one hand to his lips as he almost skipped back to headquarters. Yes, Toudou was a novice at being sexy and seductive. However, that certainly didn't make him any less intoxicating.
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Part 7 here.
Ahahaha for all those Hakuouki oni lovers out there~
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