Fake Fan Fiction ❯ Sakura Monogatari (Cherry Blossom Tale) ❯ Chapter 7

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

***Hiya! No lemons here, but there's still at least one lemon planned before the end, so don't despair! ^_-
 
 
Disclaimer: I don't own Fake.
 
For a week Dee tortured himself over the incident at the Inn and wondered how he could mend it. What would he say, how could he face Ryo? Days went by and he came no closer to a conclusion. Finally he decided he had to stop making excuses and just go to see Ryo. Rose insisted that he go along to mediate between Dee and the Innkeeper, considering the circumstances of their last visit.
 
However, despite Rose's presence and his word that Dee would remain calm, the Innkeeper turned them away, saying curtly that Ryo wasn't there. His manner left little doubt that this was simply an excuse to bar their entry. Dee felt himself flush with anger, but Rose persuaded him to leave and try some other time. However, when they were refused a second time, both of them were at a loss. They knew the Innkeeper was much too greedy to continue to turn away business simply out of spite for Dee's reckless behavior. Maybe it was true when he said Ryo wasn't there. But then where would he be?
 
Dee sulked as the days wore on and resisted all attempts to be forced into a better mood by his comrades. When he sat dejected while the others drank one evening at a private room behind the theater, he finally heard some news of his lover, but from an unexpected source.
 
"Aww, cheer up Dee!" whined JJ as he wiggled on Drake's lap. "If it'll make you feel any better, I think I know where your little danshou is hiding."
 
Dee's head whipped around to stare at the onnagata. "If you're joking JJ, I swear!" he said threateningly.
 
The man waved his hands in front of him, "Never, never!" he protested. "Now be nice or I won't tell you," he pouted.
 
Dee calmed himself and asked as politely as he possibly could, "Will you tell me where he's at, please?"
 
JJ looked coy for a moment, then gave in- he never could hold gossip for long. "Well, I heard that his mother, who's apparently been ill for quite some time, is finally at death's door and he's refused to leave her side for days in fear that she'll pass away in his absence!" JJ said with his typical dramatic flair.
 
"Thank you JJ!" Dee said with genuine gratitude, standing up at once.
 
"Don 't I get a 'proper' thank you?" JJ pouted.
 
"Fine," Dee said, in too much of a hurry now to care, he planted a firm kiss over the man's mouth.
 
"HEY!" cried Drake in protested, but Dee was already halfway out the door.
 
"Tell me where he is," Dee demanded a half hour later as he stood facing the glaring stare of the Innkeeper. When the burly man remained silent, Dee pressed a few coins into the man's palm by way of a small bribe. It wasn't much, but it was all Dee had at the moment and he prayed it would be enough to pacify the stubborn man.
 
It was.
 
Within an hour Dee was banging on the front gate of the tea house that the Innkeeper had indicated was Ryo's mother's residence and received a scathing look from an older woman who presently opened the gateway.
 
"Quiet! You're making a spectacle of yourself! Tell us me your business and be gone!" she hissed.
 
"I want to see Ryo, where is he?" Dee said in a serious tone.
 
"I- he's not to be disturbed!" she stuttered.
 
But Dee could see she was wavering.
 
"Please," he insisted, "please, it's very important I see him!"
 
The woman paused, then shook her head, "No, I'm sorry, you'll have to wait, I-"
 
But as she refused him, Dee firmed his resolve and pushed his way none-to-gently passed the protesting woman, determined not to be detoured. "Ryo!" he called as he slid open the main door and rushed inside.
 
Frantically, he roamed the house until he came upon a small woman kneeling in front of the sliding door she had just closed. She looked worn and disheveled; sounds of stifled crying could be heard from the room beyond.
 
/Here/, Dee thought.
 
This must be where Ryo's mother lay dying, he could almost feel the grief floating in the air. He stepped up toward the woman. She was one of the older geisha and presumably a close friend of the dying woman. Turning her head, she looked up at this dark, commanding young man with eyes full of unspoken despair. And for a moment Dee hesitated- maybe he should leave these people to their grieving. But, no. He couldn't back down now. He needed to see Ryo and he could feel more than ever that Ryo needed him.
 
Screwing up his resolve, Dee stepped passed the surprised woman and slid open the door. "Ryo!" he called and his breath caught in his throat. There was Ryo, lying crumpled on the floor next to a sprawled figure wrapped in blankets. The blond man's shoulders were trembling as he clutched at the material, tears soaking into the silken sheets.
 
Dee had never witnessed such naked anguish, laid bare before his eyes. He suddenly felt like more of a blatant voyeur than Rose, to have intruded into such a personal moment.
 
"Oka-san!" he heard Ryo whimper through his tears. The pain in the other man's voice rooted Dee's feet to the spot in the doorway. The dark-haired man's brow furrowed in conflict. Should he go to him? Should we leave him? He didn't know. Never before had he felt so useless.
 
"OKA-SAN!" Ryo cried again. But before Dee could go to him, the woman from outside had rushed passed him and sat herself next to Ryo.
 
"Young master!" she said gently, tugging at his hands which still clung to the sleeve's of his mother's kimono. "Please, Ryo-san, you must rest now. Your mother needs her rest as well, you must not carry on like this in front of her," she said the words with equal sympathy and firmness and managed to somehow permeate the young man's clouded and grief-stricken mind. He looked up and nodded.
 
Slowly the woman untangled his hands and helped him to raise. Ryo followed her guidance like a man in a dream, not really seeing what was before his eyes. From his weak, sluggish movements, Dee guessed it had been some time since the blond man had allowed himself time to eat and quickly stepped in to help steady the man when he stumbled out the doorway.
 
"Dee..." Ryo said in a faint, surprised voice when he looked up to see who had aided him.
 
"Ryo, I-" Dee began, wanting to explain himself, but even as he spoke Ryo's eyes fell shut and his body slumped as it finally gave into the fatigue he'd been fighting against. In one swift motion Dee picked him up in his arms and was alarmed at how light he felt in his embrace. Dee bit back the bitter taste forming on his tongue as he thought back to how he had left Ryo so many days ago and the torture the man must've endured by his rejection and now his mother's sudden ill health.
 
Leaning down, Dee brushed a tender kiss to his forehead in a silent vow to never again abandon this man. /Forgive me Ryo/, he prayed, /forgive me... please./
 
The quiet woman lead him to Ryo's quarters without a word and Dee laid the blond man down onto the futon and quickly nestled beneath the covers with him. Holding him close, he fell asleep, one thought spinning through his mind as he drifted into sleep.
 
I'll never leave you, Ryo...
 
 
When the early rays of the sun awakened the two sleeping man, Dee looked into Ryo's weary gaze and kissed him deeply before he even had time to speak a word. The dark-haired man wanted to express through his actions everything he couldn't say in words: how ashamed he was of judging Ryo and how he accepted everything the man was without reserve.
 
Ryo sighed into the kiss and felt his body relax for the first time in days. Although he knew Dee would've liked to press his attentions further, Ryo was too weak at the moment for anything more than the man's gentle kisses and caresses. Sensing the blond man's hesitation, Dee pulled away and looked down at him. Even now, worn as he was, Ryo was still beautiful to him, but he was so vulnerable as well.
 
Dee curled himself about Ryo from behind, draping an arm and leg over him as if he could shield his body from the outside world. Ryo cradled Dee's arm next to his chest and let the man's warmth engulf him.
 
"I- I'm sorry," Ryo suddenly whispered and Dee felt the cool trickle of tears falling over his hand as the blond held it up to his face. "I'm so sorry for not telling you the truth before," he explained. He shut his eyes tight as he remembered the look on Dee's face when he'd walked in on him before. "I wanted to be honest with you, I just-"
 
"Shhh," Dee hushed him with a soft kiss across his cheek. "I'm sure you would have if you had thought I would be reasonable about it," Dee replied. He hugged the man closer to him and told him, "I'm the one who should apologize. I didn't even try to understand your situation. I'm sorry for that."
 
"Dee..." Ryo whispered in surprise. No one had ever shown him such acceptance -or respect- and he found fresh tears spring to his eyes, this time in gratitude.
 
"I love you, Ryo," Dee said passionately.
 
"I... I love you, Dee-san..." Ryo replied in a barely audible whisper. He felt as if all the walls were listening and worried that if he expressed his feelings aloud, it would somehow doom them. But he couldn't hide it any longer.
 
Behind him, Dee clutched him closer, unable to ever be close enough to this man. He could never let him go. Never. But Ryo couldn't afford to keep him as his sole lover, and Dee couldn't afford to see Ryo without Rose waiting in the wings. How long could they survive in this situation before it gnawed away at both their hearts? Being able to be together, but never truly being alone with each other?
 
Dee would think of something. Somehow, he would free them both. At the very least, he had to keep this hope in his heart.
 
Because hope was all they had left.
 
 
****** Review always welcome!