Aftermath
By Karasu Yurei and Kouri Arashi
Part Nine
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Subaru dumped the last box onto the sofa. “That’s the last one,” he announced. “Now all I have to do is unpack.”
Seishirou looked at the scattering of boxes. “That’s all you own.”
“Pretty much, yeah.”
“You didn’t leave any in the trunk of the car or anything?”
“No, I got them all.”
“Subaru-kun, you need more stuff. I may be forced to shower you with gifts.”
“Seishirou-san . . .”
“What did I say about that honorific?” Seishirou asked.
“Umm . . .” Subaru decided to escape. “Maybe I did miss a box. I’ll just . . . go check.” He darted out of the room. When he came back up a few minutes later, much more composed (and empty-handed), Seishirou was glaring at a piece of paper. “What’s that?” Subaru asked.
“A fax,” Seishirou answered.
“Thank you for that informative answer,” Subaru said.
Seishirou sighed. “It’s a job,” he clarified.
“Oh.” Subaru looked down. “I suppose it was inevitable.”
Seishirou sighed. “Subaru-kun, some of the work I did . . . that I do . . . is not necessarily bad. The government hires me to . . . remove . . . certain problems. Clean up their messes on occasion. Without me, there’s no one to do it.”
“Doesn’t make me feel any better,” Subaru muttered.
“Well, me neither,” Seishirou said matter-of-factly. “I’m not even sure I can do it anymore. It certainly didn’t work when I tried to kill Kakyou, and that was doing him a favor, or so he saw it. Though I suppose Kakyou is, in an odd way, a friend of mine.”
Subaru hesitated. “If you don’t do it, no one will?”
Seishirou nodded. “And the government would have . . . problems.”
“Then I guess you have to do it.” Subaru’s gaze remained locked on his feet.
Seishirou walked over and tilted Subaru’s chin up, making the younger man meet his eyes. “If it bothers you, I won’t.”
“No, it’s . . . okay,” Subaru said. “I guess knowing that if I asked you to, you’d stop . . . makes it better somehow.” He sighed. “You can still draw magic from the Tree, you know, if I turn the Tree back over to you. The partnership won’t be the same; you’ll be in control of it instead of the other way around. But you’ll be able to use its energy.”
“Yes, but only for a certain amount of time,” Seishirou said gloomily. “I fed the Tree for a reason, Subaru-kun.”
“Hmm.” Subaru pondered this new problem. “Well, with a little research and experimentation, I think I could come up with a way to send the soul on, but keep the psychic energy for the Tree.”
Seishirou looked at him for a second.
“What?”
“Oh, nothing. You’re just taking this far better than I anticipated.”
Subaru smiled a little. “I think we’re both full of surprises. I wasn’t expecting you to offer to quit. That’s why I took it so well.”
“Oh,” Seishirou said. “Well, I’ll let them know I need a few days because of technical . . . difficulties. That should give you time to work out a spell. You know, I could probably look through those books and help you.”
“Oh, yeah, I suppose you could.” Subaru opened a box. “Here, have a stack.” He handed an armload of books to Seishirou.
“Subaru-kun?”
“Nani?”
“You’re getting more sarcastic every day. Stop picking up my bad habits.”
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((Author’s notes: Yes, we wrote a lemon. No, this is not our fault. If we hadn’t, you all would’ve thought we were chicken and you know it. Yes, we are chicken, but we don’t want you thinking that. So, um . . . yeah.
Heather, don’t read this. We like you innocent.
And Inuhoshi, pleeeeeeeease don’t read this. Karasu would die of embarrassment. So would Kouri. We might anyway, in fact.))
“Subaru-kun, there’s no reason to remain glued to your books. We have a few days to come up with that spell. Let’s go to bed.”
“I’m reading,” Subaru protested.
“You just like being dragged into the bedroom and you know it. Come on, put the book down.”
Subaru looked guilty. “Maybe,” he said, closing the book.
Seishirou looked down at him. “And do you think perhaps you could banish your modesty long enough to admit that you don’t need to put a shirt on, since it’ll just end up on the floor anyway?”
Subaru raised an eyebrow. “Maybe I like it when you take it off.”
Seishirou walked over to stand behind him, running his fingers through Subaru’s hair. “I could take off a few other things . . .”
Subaru leaned backwards, into his touch. “That doesn’t sound like a bad idea . . .”
“Is Subaru-kun getting forward?”
Subaru turned around, getting to his knees as he went and running his hands up under Seishirou’s shirt. “Maybe . . .”
“Then what are we still doing out here?” Seishirou put an arm around Subaru’s waist and lifted him to his feet, half-carrying him into the bedroom. Subaru broke free from his grasp long enough to shut the door. Seishirou stood there waiting, until Subaru walked back over and simply pushed him backwards onto the bed.
((Author’s notes: Now if it was up to us, the scene would end right there, okay?
Heather, if you’re still reading, this is really the point at which you need to stop.
Inuhoshi . . . you shouldn’t have even gotten this far.))
“You are being forward,” Seishirou said with a smirk.
“Seishirou-san?”
“Nani?”
“Shut up.” Subaru leaned down to kiss him.
Seishirou wrapped his arms around Subaru’s shoulders and pulled him down closer. After a minute, Subaru pulled away, still sitting on Seishirou’s legs. “And what are you planning to do now?” Seishirou inquired.
“Take your shirt off.” Subaru proceeded to do so, slowly, lingering over each button. “Now sit up,” he instructed.
“I can’t with you sitting on my legs.”
“Yes, you can, and you’re enjoying it.”
Seishirou smirked and managed to halfway sit up, allowing Subaru to push the shirt back off his shoulders. Subaru looked vaguely disappointed at the white undershirt he was wearing, then hooked his fingers under it and pulled it off.
Subaru slid his hands up Seishirou’s chest, fingers brushing lightly over his nipples and coming to rest on his shoulders. He leaned down again, brushing his lips against Seishirou’s neck, lightly biting to see what kind of reaction he would get. Seishirou let out a low moan and ran his fingers up Subaru’s back, nails digging in a bit. Subaru gasped a little, then moved his lips to Seishirou’s ear. He experimentally sucked on his earlobe for a minute, then, when Seishirou gave every indication that he liked that, began to nibble on it.
Seishirou managed to get a hold of himself long enough to tug Subaru’s shirt over his head and toss it onto the floor. Then he put his arms around Subaru’s shoulders and rolled him over, pinning the younger man firmly to the bed. He pinned Subaru’s hands over his head and kissed him fiercely, taking advantage of Subaru’s momentary distraction to slide his tongue into the younger man’s mouth. Subaru let out a very muffled moan and writhed underneath him.
Seishirou kept his lips on Subaru’s until he thought the younger man would pass out from pleasure and lack of oxygen. Then he pulled away, gasping for air, and moved his lips to Subaru’s chest. Subaru whimpered and knotted his hands in Seishirou’s hair. Seishirou pulled away a little and looked down at Subaru. He tried to catch his breath long enough to speak. “Subaru . . . kun . . . maybe . . . we shouldn’t . . .”
“Yes we should,” Subaru said, tugging Seishirou back down to him.
Seishirou resisted for a minute. “Are you sure?”
As an answer, Subaru moved his hands from where they were on Seishirou’s waist to fumble with Seishirou’s pants button. Seishirou was surprised, but didn’t stop him. Subaru pushed Seishirou’s pants down, then tugged on his boxers before he could lose his nerve. Seishirou stood up long enough to kick them the rest of the way off.
Subaru couldn’t keep his jaw from dropping or all the blood from rushing to his face. He fought the blush down, realizing that he was staring, but he couldn’t seem to look away. Seishirou reached out a hand and tugged Subaru into a standing position, putting an arm around the younger man’s shoulders and pulling him into another kiss. Again taking advantage of Subaru’s distraction, he unbuttoned Subaru’s pants and let them fall to the ground. Subaru sighed and stepped out of them. Seishirou ran his hands down Subaru’s sides and slid the younger man’s boxer shorts off. Then he pushed Subaru back down on the bed.
Seishirou leaned down for another kiss. He put a hand on Subaru’s shoulder and ran it down his chest. Subaru tensed a little as his hand traveled lower, letting out another moan against Seishirou’s lips. Seishirou sat up a little to admire the slim body beneath him. He kept his hand moving as Subaru writhed. He bent down again and gently bit Subaru’s neck as his hand found the most sensitive part of the younger man anatomy. Subaru gasped, and clawed reflexively at Seishirou’s back.
Subaru’s hands moved up to twist in Seishirou’s hair as the older man’s lips moved lower. Instinctively, his fingers traced the lines in Seishirou’s neck and shoulders, then moved down his back and onto his hips. He heard Seishirou let out a small gasp against his neck as his hands came around to brush against his manhood.
Seishirou recovered enough to return his attention to making Subaru twist and squirm with pleasure. He applied a slight pressure and Subaru’s back arched appealingly. Subaru’s eyes sagged closed as he was lost in the new sensation. Watching the younger man twitch and moan was such a turn on that Seishirou felt himself growing impatient, but he was determined to make Subaru’s first time pleasurable, and took things slowly.
Keeping one hand busy, he fumbled for the drawer in the night stand and then patted around in the drawer blindly for what he was after. It only took a minute or so to retrieve the massage oil. Subaru barely even noticed, as lost as he was in what Seishirou was making him feel. The older man fumbled a moment and managed to apply some of the oil to the fingers of his free hand.
Subaru fingers convulsively twined in Seishirou’s hair and scrambled down his back and the man put both hands on his aching need. Then one hand slid farther down, and applied gentle pressure. Subaru gasped as Seishirou’s finger entered him. It hurt, and he couldn’t help but tense.
Seishirou spoke softly to reassure the younger man. “It’ll get better, I promise. Relax.” Subaru attempted to do as he was told. The older man moved his finger gently until he heard Subaru gasp in pleasure once more. He added a second finger to the first, and continued what he was doing.
Subaru moaned, his fingers digging into the back of Seishirou’s neck, pulling the older man closer against him. Seishirou went willingly, brushing his lips against every inch of Subaru’s skin that came close to his mouth. He slid his fingers out and reached for the massage oil again. Fortunately, he’d left it on top of the nightstand and managed to reach it easily.
He distracted Subaru with another deep kiss, sliding his tongue in easily as the younger man traced patterns on his back with soft fingertips. With the hand that wasn’t caressing Subaru’s chest, he flipped the bottle open and poured some oil into his hand. He broke the kiss to move his lips to Subaru’s ear, bringing his hand in between their bodies to apply the oil to his erection.
He put one hand on Subaru’s thigh, gently pushing Subaru’s legs apart. He gave Subaru one more quick kiss, then, unable to contain his impatience any longer, pushed into him.
Subaru let out a gasping cry, nails scraping against the skin of Seishirou’s back. He felt burning pain combined with incredible pleasure as Seishirou thrust himself further in. His hips rocked against Seishirou’s, in time with the older man’s movements, driving him deeper every time he arched upwards.
Seishirou put a hand to Subaru’s erection and moved his hand in time with their other movements. Subaru felt himself coming closer and closer to his climax with the now doubled sensation of pleasure. He was so close it almost hurt. He could hear Seishirou gasping sporadically as he too neared his threshold. Just as Subaru thought he couldn’t take it any more he tipped over the edge and climaxed with a moaning sigh of gratification.
Seishirou, almost immediately, gave in to his own need. The wave of pleasure made him go limp on top of his younger lover. After a few moments he pulled away from Subaru and laid down beside him.
There were a few minutes of satisfied silence. Then Seishirou leaned over and fished a pack of cigarettes and a lighter out of the nightstand. He took out two, then lit one and handed it to Subaru. The younger man looked at it somewhat dazedly, then accepted it and put it between his lips. Seishirou lit his own and put the lighter back in the drawer, drooping back down. He grabbed the ashtray off the nightstand and put it on the bed between the two of them.
They smoked in silence, then Seishirou stubbed his cigarette out and half sat up, regarding Subaru with a small smile. The younger man looked decidedly content and extremely worn out. Seishirou sat up the rest of the way, swinging his legs over the side of the bed.
Subaru looked at him somewhat sleepily. “Where’re you going . . .?”
“To take a shower,” Seishirou answered. “You might want to as well.”
Subaru put out his own cigarette and said, “Yeah . . .”
Seishirou extended a hand to Subaru and pulled him to his feet, then gently propelled him towards the bathroom. He made sure Subaru managed to clean himself up without falling asleep, then dried him off and moved him back to the bedroom. Seishirou gave the sheets a quick glance and decided they were okay to sleep on. Subaru curled up on his side, not even bothering with pajamas. Seishirou turned the light off and crawled into bed next to him.
Subaru, already half-asleep, snuggled up closer to him. Seishirou wrapped an arm soundly around his waist. He leaned close and whispered, “Was it everything you hoped it would be?”
Subaru gave a little half nod. “Seishirou-san . . . ai shiteru . . .”
Seishirou’s arm tightened around him. “I love you too,” he reassured the younger man.
Subaru mumbled something else, but his words trailed off as he drifted into sleep. Seishirou smiled and followed suit.
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((Heather, you can start reading again. Inuhoshi, you too.))
Subaru woke up slowly, wrapped in a satisfied sense of peace. He took a deep breath and reveled in the memory of what had happened the night before.
Until he tried to move.
Oh . . . I hurt . . . Subaru opened his eyes and was somewhat disconcerted to see that the bed was empty except for him. “Seishirou-san?” he asked the empty air.
Seishirou walked back in. “Oh, you’re awake,” he said cheerfully. “Ohayo goziamashita.”
“Uhh . . .” Subaru rubbed both of his hands over his face and then up through his hair, which was standing up on end. “Ohayo . . .”
Seishirou sat down on the edge of the bed and put a tray of food down. “I told you to get used to breakfast in bed,” he said to Subaru’s surprised look. Then he chuckled. “Besides, correct me if I’m wrong, but I don’t think you want to be moving right now.”
“Ugh,” Subaru agreed. He took a long drink of the tea, then flopped backwards onto the pillows. “I ache in places I didn’t even know I had . . .”
Seishirou looked down at him and said reassuringly, “It gets better, Subaru-kun.” He smirked. “You need practice. Guess we should do this more often.”
“Yeah, ask me that again when I can move,” Subaru said.
“Other than stiff and sore, how do you feel?” Seishirou asked.
Subaru closed his eyes and gave a smile so large that it was bordering on silly. “Satisfied . . . pleased . . . way less tense . . .” He paused. “I think I could use a hot bath, though . . .”
Seishirou chuckled again. “Eat your breakfast first.”
Subaru sat up and began to eat. “Kamui’s going to give us Hell,” he muttered.
“We can deny anything we please.”
“He won’t believe us.” Subaru sighed. “Oh well, it was worth it.”
Seishirou smirked. “I should hope so.”
Subaru looked at him curiously. “Why do you have that massage oil, anyway? Right in the nightstand, where . . . you know, never mind.” Subaru turned red and looked back at his plate.
“You still blush quite prettily,” Seishirou said, smiling. “The massage oil is for what you think it’s for, and from now on it’s going to be for you, and only you.”
Subaru blushed even more fiercely. “S-Seishirou-san . . .”
“And for God’s sake, quit it with the honorific. It’s hardly appropriate anymore.”
For once, Subaru didn’t argue. “I’ll try. But old habits die hard, remember?”
“I remember.” He watched Subaru eat his breakfast, wincing a little whenever he had to move too much. “Do you want me to go start the hot water running?”
Subaru managed to not blush. “Thank you.”
Seishirou stood up and left the room. Subaru finished the food and somehow managed to get out of bed. Upon doing this, he remembered suddenly that he was entirely naked. Embarrassed for no reason whatsoever, he grabbed the sheet and wound it around him.
Seishirou walked back in, stopped, and said, “Subaru-kun, you’re unbelievably adorable. And way too modest.”
“I am not,” Subaru protested.
“Of course not. Your bath is ready.”
“Oh good.”
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Sorata stared. “Okay,” he said. “I might’ve been wrong before, but I’m not wrong this time. You got some.”
“Sorata, don’t make me tell Arashi you were making rude comments about her chest,” Subaru said calmly.
Sorata turned very pale. “I’ll take the hint and shut up.”
“Thank you.”
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