Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Dreams Alter Reality ❯ Fire's Decree ( Chapter 12 )

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

Here we go on my story again...let's just say I was feeling it and it came about finally :P As for the ugliness in this chapter, well....don't forget all the asshole stuff Tamahome said to Miaka in the original series. It's apparently a dark side so of course a touch of it would go to Hiroshi. Tama, Tama, Tama....what are we gonna do with you? Did ya think I'd forget all a that?

Much love for the peeps online, Miss Kitty Lynne, iluvmitsukake and the rest. Hope someone out there is still reading it :P
Miss Kitty Lynne, I hope this perks your days and brings you abit of light. I finally saw a glimmer in my activities recently and was inspired finally once more. May all feel a touch of life's warmth :P

Music I listened to while dreaming and typing up my badly handwritten notes: Lady Gaga's Paparazzi, Bad Romance.... and piano renditions of her music. "Meet me Halfway" by Black Eyed Peas (and give this video a chance). FY music, of course, "Fun house" and "Sober" by Pink. I think Sober is a good song for Tomo for some reason, listen to the lyrics and tell me if I'm crazy or not.

Disclaimer: penpaninu does not claim to own Fushigi Yuugi nor the likenesses of its characters. They belong solely to Wataase Yuu and her gorgeous talent. Genbu Kaiden is a marvelous extension of her long tale and a favorite of mine to match her original series. All to Watase.


Dreams Alter Reality chapter twelve
"Fire's Decree"


Tetsuo and Miaka saw each other every chance they had. Tetsuo worked hard at the school, stealing glances at Miaka whenever she passed and stole heated kisses she pressed upon him when breaks would allow. They were worse than young lovers; tea breaks were taken in private, pushed up against a wall. Lunch break was in public, but heated gazes and deliberate touches on wrist and knee were part of the menu.

Tetsuo was growing crazy. They hadn't slept together yet and he wondered in all likelihood when they ever would. As a hardened, lusty young man, he had his share of painful erections as he went around his routine around Miaka and then on the phone with her after his night classes before bed. One look across the office, he was hard. A purred rendition of his name across their cell phones and his hand was stroking the outline of his want as he voiced his declarations through the vibrating decibels across Tokyo. He was going mad for her. Despite her son being a downright turd when he came for dates or to visit, he was going mad for want of her.

He was being careful but Miaka was driving him insane. Tetsuo idly wondered, looking up from a doodle in the margins of his college notes that looked suspiciously like Miaka's full curves, if she wanted him as badly.



****



Miaka was growing crazy. It hadn't been long since Taka was gone, not even two years! But she already knew she wanted Tetsuo in her bed. It wasn't just lust for the unbridled, untamed younger man, or at least Miaka liked to think it wasn't--she cared for Tetsuo and saw Tasuki in his eyes. She was growing to love him as she had once loved Tasuki....because he WAS Tasuki. He was the fire seishi incarnated in her time, to be with her.

Miaka had to reflect to herself if Suzaku wanted her to hook up with his seishi so badly to have sent Tetsuo here to her... but she wasn't complaining. Each night she whispered sweet and sometimes naughty little nothings to him, and each morning she woke bright and early (sometimes having to linger and touch herself like a teenager for it HAD been so long) and would bounce around her house, greeting Hiroshi and rushing off to work eagerly.

Yui was ever a happy bookend to her days and when he visited, Saito was ready with a wink as he nodded at the flameboy. They knew who he was and it warmed Miaka that Tasuki's incarnation had every good wish.

On the only downside, she wished her son would brighten up....but he was a teenager and feeling his father's place being pushed upon. He was just being young, but Miaka would be patient with him. Tetsuo was being perternaturally calm about it and she loved him for it. Even now, Tetsuo's amber eyes were boring a hole right through her blouse across the way. Miaka licked her lips. When her eyes met his, she barely had to flash a rather fetching "come hither" look over her shoulder and her young man was on his feet, bounding to meet her in her office.

Miaka's back was to him as he entered and shut the door rather deliberately. She shivered when she heard the click of the knob being pushed in to lock and peeked back. Tetsuo's chest was rising and falling, his shirt was untucked but beneath the fold of shirt and the lap of his slacks, she could see a push that made her mouth feel dry and her body spark with excitement.

"Tetsuo, I can't quite reach, can you help me?" she heard herself saying. She didn't move, inviting Tetsuo to come up behind her. Tetsuo was stepping up close in a moment, his mouth open, eyes downcast in lust. Miaka widened her stance and looked down at the ground. Tetsuo's large hands covered hers on the bookshelf and she audibly gasped a sweet "moh!" when she felt something hard press between her lower flanks and up.... where she desperately needed it.

Tetsuo stood still, his throat dry and his heart pounding in his ears. They had never gone this far and he may have been going farther still. He was about to pull his foot back from between hers and step away when Miaka pushed back onto him with a sexy sigh and leaned her head onto his shoulder. Her auburn hair fell all over his chest in soft waves and Tetsuo grew harder, strained against her....

His lips moved a few strands of hair aside and he kissed her upturned throat. "Miaka...." She pushed back against him and Tetsuo flew his hands to hike at her skirt and move to his belt. Did she want this? Did she want it now? But work!.... Miaka was breathless, leaning into his arms as he rifled with their clothing. She wanted to so bad and was opening her lips to say so...

"Miaka-san! Miaka, are you in there?" Principal Sumiyoshi knocked suddenly. Tetsuo made a mental eep, his hardness standing stiff and frozen against Miaka's skirt. Miaka looked over her shoulder and Tetsuo was flushed to see she was panting. Because of him? God she was turning him on....

"Yes! What!" she fairly yelled and Tetsuo gripped her waist to steady her. He felt her thighs tremble back against him. His erection throbbed against her through their clothing.

"I have a child here to see you, or have you forgotten?" Sumiyoshi fairly complained. Miaka stepped regretably from Tetsuo's warmth and turned to face him. Her gaze went deliberately low on him. Tetsuo thought he'd explode on the spot.

"Yes... I mean, no I haven't forgotten!" Miaka smoothed her skirt and swept her hands through her hair. The gestures were still sexy and Tetsuo's mouth went dry.

"Miaka...." he whispered. She shushed him as the principal answered. He seemed to be reading her mind for his next statement made them both cringe.

"And have you seen Shinwa-kun? He's SUPPOSED to be taking calls, you know," Sumiyoshi griped. Tetsuo felt his ardor begin to fade and regretably willed it to happen. It wasn't the time or place....though it almost had been! His mind was eager to access. Tetsuo burned.

"I--- I haven't seen him," Miaka called back lamely. Her gaze settled on her man and her words seared through him. "But if I do, I'll give him your message."
The message of looove, her eyes seemed to say. Tetsuo grinned toothily at her.

"Hmph. Well, your student is waiting," Sumiyoshi went on his way and Miaka and Tetsuo both sighed greatly in unison.

"Miaka, I shouldn't have..." he began but Miaka shushed him.

"Don't even say that. It'll be our time soon enough," she promised, eyes glowing. Tetsuo's heart thudded hard and he was sure his chest was pushing out with it.

"Miaka, really..." he began and Miaka was on tiptoe, nibbling a kiss onto his mouth. He snaked his tongue into her hot bow lips as his ardor began to make a come-back. "On second thought, I'll shut up."

Miaka played with the buttons on his dress shirt, her face bright red. "Can you come over tonight? I want to see you."

"Do I need my jammies?" he tried to tease. His eyes weren't joking however. Miaka pressed close. Her full breasts leaned just beneath his pectorals.

"Somehow, I don't think you'll need any..." Oh god, was she ever this sexy, this playful? Had years of marital ties to another of Suzaku's men, and the denial of another close to her, have pushed her to wanton levels? Was it this strange, second chance with a denied lover to another life?

"Tasuki!" her memory whispered. Her back on the living room floor, Tasuki's bare hips rising against her thighs in firm pumps, his bandit pants pushed to his knees....

It was him again and Miaka wanted him and everything he had.

"I'll be there when you want. I don't need to go to my class tonight..." Tetsuo promised. Miaka pressed a close kiss on his lips, feeling herself surge toward him.... down, girl.

"Come home with me... Hiroshi will understand." Tetsuo did not falter, but grasped her witih the strength of his incarnation. "Nothing will keep me from you....not this time."

His eyes gleamed with the promise of days past.



****



Hiroshi was melancholy again.

Toya was alone with him in his bedroom after school, under the ever pretense of doing "homework", but it troubled him. The small boy tried to tickle Hiroshi to get him to smile, but it only seemed to awaken a darker side inside of him. Hiroshi had been brooding, but this was bordering on downright dangerous.

Instead of laughing back, Hiroshi's eyes had locked with his and in their embraces, tried to slide inside Toya's mental block into the farthest reaches of his memory and mind.

Toya bit his lip to keep from gasping aloud. He knew from Sadako some of what Hiroshi could do and see now, and had locked the ugliest parts of his past life away inside a concrete brick deep inside his psyche. Ever since Hiroshi's mother, Suzaku no Miko, had gone out with Shinwa Tetsuo, past life Suzaku schiseishi Tasuki, he had been determined to find out his secrets.

And it scared Toya to death.

It made him shocked to know his boyfriend COULD do this, and had glimpsed at Sadako's past life as a whore, but it chilled him to the bone to think Hiroshi was picking away at his spells of evasion, and his elusions would have to be explained or seen. He didn't want to anger Hiroshi, but he was really making him wary and afraid about the whole affair.

Toya moved from Hiroshi to perch on the edge of his bed, listening for hope beyond all hope that Miaka-san would come home and rescue him. He really wanted to talk to her. Seiryuu no Miko would be as wonderful, but it was Suzaku no Miko he had almost deflowered with evil intent. He could really use her advice and good words and just maybe.... guilt was eating him up from the inside about it.

"Hmm!" Toya stiffened, his groin pulsing with warmth despite himself. Hiroshi's hands were under his shirt, touching and firm. His mouth was against his ear and Toya heard his frustration as he tried to chisel away at Toya's block.

"No, 'Roshi," Toya said, despite himself, and found himself shoved down onto the bed. He cringed into the mattress with surprise and shrank in when he saw the look in Hiroshi's eyes. He had seen him upset before, even angry over the years growing up, but this look was something else.

It was downright murderous. He cowered beneath him.

"Roshi?" he quivered.

"I know you're hiding something from me," Hiroshi growled. "You put something up so I couldn't See!"

"Oh, whatEVER are you talking about...." Toya tried to fluff it off but he was shaken up and down. "Ow, Hiroshi!"

"You're not showing me everything! I know you were an opera actor in your past life...." Hiroshi's chest rose and fell dramatically.

"Yes, well, I was..."

"But there's something else you're not telling! What is it?" Toya's teeth rattled as he was jostled up and down.

"Stop it!"

"What is it??"

"Hiroshi, get off me!" Toya tried to shove up at his boyfriend's thin chest but he was like a wall. Panic welled in his stomach.

"Tell me!"

"Get off me!!"

"Tell me now!!"

Toya's hands flew up and shoved against Hiroshi's stomach and chest. In his panic, it was as good as a blow to the chin. Hiroshi whoofed, the wind knocked out of him. Toya had hit as hard as a man then, and was shoving him off and away in the momentary confusion.

"Stop it, 'Roshi, just stop it!" Toya screamed and grabbed his backpack. Tears streamed down his face when Hiroshi leaped off the bed at him, his face a mask of rage. "'Roshi!!"

Hiroshi grabbed his arm hard and twisted, pulling Toya close to him. The boys panted in each other's faces as they jockeyed for the upper hand. It was madness; beyond intimacy.

"If you wanna be my boyfriend, you'll tell me!" Toya's teeth rattled as Hiroshi shook him. "TELL ME!"

Toya reeled back and was surprised when his palm made contact with Hiroshi's face. It was a rather girly slap, but Toya was beyond caring about the position. It made Hiroshi recoil and he was scrambling out the bedroom door and running across the apartment with hope against all hope in the blank whiteness of his panicked mind that he was going to get away.

"Toya! TOYA!" Hiroshi screamed furiously. Toya slammed out the front door and away, running as if oni from the seven layers of hell were after him.

And in a way, maybe they were.

Hiroshi barged out the front door a few moments too late-- Toya was good and well gone. He panted hard in anger and punched the wall with a sharp cry. His fist left a hole in the plaster. A moment later he was wheezing his frustration into the living room carpet, tears stinging his eyes.

"What's happening? What's going on??" he wondered. Sobs were his only answer.

And Toya, his boyfriend, was gone.


****


"Hiroshi! What is it, I was just lighting the candles for prayers...." Mitsuko peered around the door to the shrine, tucking his robes around his slight frame. His blue-haired friend wobbled, clutching his hoodie sweatshirt that seemed to be falling off one shoulder. He looked like he'd been crying; his eyes were red and puffy and he was smiling strangely.

"I'm sorry, Mitsuko, I really am... I just... I need your advice," Hiroshi laughed weakly but it sounded futile to the monk's ears. Mitsuko stepped out the door onto the concrete courtyard and peered up into his friend's face.

"I'm always here for you, 'Roshi! You an' the others know that," Mitsuko smiled bravely, trying to lend his optimism to the distraught teen. "What's going on? Did you have a fight with your mother or something?"

The Suzaku no miko....

Hiroshi laughed weakly again and it sounded odd in the cold early evening breeze. "No, nothing like that... with Toya actually."

"Oh, Hiroshi..." Mitsuko said. It wasn't that he was familiar with ways of the opposite, or even same sex, having to abstain from intimacy in the shrine. But he could lend his support and some words of wisdom that could apply.

"I... I... I fought him, Mitsuko. He wouldn't tell me something maybe I shouldn't know about....an I pushed him down..."

"Hiroshi, just apologize, it'll be okay..." Mitsuko tugged at Hiroshi's hand like a child. Hiroshi looked down, his eyes naked with emotion.
"I just want it to be okay... I just want him back! But I can't cause there's all these things going around that I can see!"

Mitsuko felt a small twinge of uneasiness. "Things, huh?"

Hiroshi looked down at the ethereal streamers floating from Mitsuko's shaven scalp and laughed in pain. "I can even see the ties extending from you. It won't go away, and it's making me look at people in past ways! I just want it to stop!"

"Oh, Hiroshi!" Mitsuko held his arms out and Hiroshi fell into them. The smaller teen wobbled and collapsed onto the concrete. Hiroshi lay cradled in his robed arms, and finally let his hurt out. Mitsuko patted him carefully, trying to ease his pain. He didn't know what else to do right now.... his eyes looked around the shrine courtyard and picked out a familiar image of blond youth.

"Naisen, hey..." he greeted. The tall boy walked over and towered over his friends crouched on the ground like a pair of magpies. Hiroshi's gaze upturned, and so like his father's, was twisted in anguish and tears.

"How do you know mama when she was young?" Hiroshi murmured, seeing the wisps of his friend taller, his mother small against his ancient armor...."How is this possible? Naisen, how?..."

"Hiroshi..." Mitsuko said. He grasped Hiroshi's wrist, but he pulled away.

"Tell me! Naisen, you were there too, weren't you? And Sadako? What did you do to her..."

Naisen waited calmly as Hiroshi clambered to his feet, nose to nose with him.

"What did you do to my mother too??"

".....I'll show you," Naisen interjected simply with the ease of soul's passing. Hiroshi's mouth partially opened in surprise. He grasped Hiroshi by the neck and tugged him close enough to kiss.

Naisen didn't miss the surprised dart of red across his friend's features, but ignored it and merely pressed his brow against his. The blue symbol of Nakago glowed from his skin and flushed warmth against Hiroshi's face.

His eyes were wide with shock. "What is...."

"Oh, Naisen..." Mitsuko murmured from their left. Naisen closed his eyes and let Hiroshi in.

Hiroshi wailed soundlessly as he tumbled into the abruptly opened door of Naisen's psyche and fell past the memories of their childhood to something far more ancient and harmful. "Naisen! What are you...." Hiroshi asked mentally but his friend's presence shushed him.

"Watch. And see."

Hiroshi Saw. He saw a small, blond boy brought dead-eyed and heartsick before an old, bearded man resplendant in robes that reached past his throne and seemed to fall down towards him below the dais.
Then he saw what was beneath the robes and what Naisen had to do.

"Very good, Nakago. You have earned our favor," the old man laughed. He heard the courtesans laugh, he saw the snide looks of the guards, felt the humiliation and fear of the boy until he grew big, grew strong... killed...hurt... and mastered his magicks.

Hiroshi saw Nakago as Sergeant, as Lieutenant, and then, as General. He saw the fear he finally instilled in everyone as he became the strongest.

"Because.... only the strong can win," Nakago's deep voice murmured. A lifetime of pain and emptiness echoed from him to his father.

His father was in Nakago's arms and he was crying as he died. Hiroshi watched all this with his mouth open in astonishment.

"So you see," Naisen whispered. Tears spilled from Hiroshi's eyes as he felt his friend's uncertainty in their shared psychic link.

"You knew my papa?" he asked in a very small voice. Naisen clasped Hiroshi's hand.

"YES. I have done things to him..."

Whipping Tamahome's back. The half naked warrior screaming with each red welt of pain as Aunt Yui screamed with him from somewhere nearby...

"Against him..." Nakago pulling Tamahome up by the hair and licking his face.

"To your precious mother..."

Powerful Nakago talking to painted Tomo...his Toya.

'So you couldn't rape the Suzaku no Miko,' his boyfriend in a role of uncertainty.

'When I tried to touch her, she was sealed by a red light.' His oldest friend for once in his powerful form looking troubled.

Images of his very young mother appearing damaged, doll-like, as she lay on a tent floor, her school uniform torn apart around her.

Hiroshi's eyes bled tears but the grief in Naisen's eyes anchored him. "Did you..."

"No. And neither did Toya, though it shames me to tell you, we tried to very much," Naisen's smooth voice cracked and his breath hitched. In their mind's eye, Tomo's hair lashed longer, and held young Miaka down.

The two teenagers came back to, their foreheads pressed together and crying.

"Naisen, are you okay?" Mitsuko asked from his nest of robes. Naisen nodded once and looked into Hiroshi's eyes. The blue-haired boy was hiccupping with all the knowledge he had seen. Naisen's eyes stilled and he leaned to kiss Hiroshi on the forehead. His symbol faded before their eyes, but left a burning impression.

"I'm fine. Hiroshi, you should be too, because we've all done something we're ashamed of. You should trust your mother, and Toya too. And forgive him our trespasses. We've had a lifetime of hurt."

"I....I will. I'll try," Hiroshi scrubbed his wrist across his eyes.

"That's good, cause I need you too," Toya stepped off the wall down the street and approached his boyfriend. It took his whole world to dare as he reached to touch the tears on Hiroshi's cheeks.

Hiroshi waited and leaned into Toya's arms. He snuffled against his shoulder. Naisen looked to Mitsuko and nodded.

"Let's leave them alone...." for once Tomo had a true love he did not magick himself.

Mitsuko nodded and gestured to the temple. "Want to come in for prayers? I think you need a cleansing." Naisen waited for him to adjust his robes and stepped into the shrine with him.

Inside, Naisen took off his shirt and let his long hair fall down the lithe muscles of his back. Mitsuko patted his friend's chest, and urged him to kneel.

"Thank you, my friend," Naisen mumbled. Mitsuko ruffled Naisen's bangs and laid a clean towel over his head and back.

"I know your pain, Naisen.... the guilt eats me too," Mitsuko picked up the shinto prayer stick and rattled the beads into the air.

Outside, Toya's hands reached up across Hiroshi's thin, lithe back and clung to him. He pressed desperate kisses to his face and neck now that they were alone.

"Please, 'Roshi... please, be with me. I need you," he begged plaintively. His hand dipped and pressed against Hiroshi's crotch, fingers kneading against rough material. Hiroshi saw tears in Toya's eyes. It was a whoreish gesture, but one he knew only how to express and from his past life. Hiroshi swelled despite himself but cried in frustration against Toya's sleeve.

Would it ever be good between them? Would they ever feel so good and happy again?
At this point, he didn't know.


****

The next day.

"It's too bad you fell asleep on me," Miaka teased. Tetsuo sighed and leaned back on the couch. He leaned his head back and yawned deeply.

"Believe me, I'm the one that's sorry. I take a night off school and crash out on you. You must be fed up with me," Tetsuo looked up at the ceiling, smiling ruefully.

Miaka leaned close, tucking her feet under her skirt. She played with his touseled bangs and kissed his unshaven cheek. Stubble grit against her lips, but it wasn't unpleasant.

"Not at all. And I intend to keep you here today," Miaka smiled cheekily. The lines at the corner of her eyes crinkled. Tetsuo smiled back, his knees widening. Flashes sparked through his mind of her smile, but he focused on the here and now.

He had almost had an embarrassing moment that morning waking with Miaka beside him. It had never given him problem, or at least MUCH of, in his past life.... but he was alone with her without many friends, alone in her bed and that was much an indication to the progression of their relationship! She had been fast asleep, and far be it to be gentlemanly for their first time to be him molesting her in her sleep.
That brought back far too many uncomfortable memories in fact.... Tetsuo traced a finger along Miaka's cheek and tried to banish the bad feeling. He had hopped out of bed and into the shower, racing to get back into clothes and a new day.

"I'm not going anywhere, odango," Tetsuo finally let himself relax. She was his now! When Miaka pulled his face close for a kiss, Hiroshi sidled out from his room, and halted. He opened the front door, and slammed it deliberately. When Tetsuo fell off of his mother's face, Hiroshi stalked back to his room. His face was drawn so low, someone could have tripped over his lower lip. Tetsuo felt his stomach clench. The kid was going to give him shit again. The storm was heightening in that gaze.

"Hi, son!" Miaka called cheerily, but rather belatedly. Hiroshi grimaced, noticing the dart of pink across her face and Tetsuo's. The old friend, the man child. He sighed mightily.

"Hi, Mom. Is he staying?" Hiroshi didn't know what his mother and Tetsuo had been doing last night after he got back from the shrine, but he prayed against all hope that it was nothing sensual whatsoever.
It might have been his own inadequacies sexually as a youth, as a gay boy, and as a virgin. It was also that he just hated Tetsuo. He could see more images from the man, and there were the friendly encounters from a lifetime ago. Teasing his mother, the two singing and joking about something or another.

Seeing the irate look of dismay replacing Tetsuo's blush made Hiroshi alittle smug but empty inside. Yes, he did hate the newly turned 19 year old...he was not that much older than him! Why was his mother with him so badly?? Uncle Asakura was there, and had expressed an interest.... and he was Aunt Yui's brother in law.....

"Er, yes, I hope to," Tetsuo said carefully. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. Miaka squeezed his arm and Hiroshi was ready to eat his own lip off at the assuring look they shared. Why did they have to have such a nauseating bond???

"Well, do whatever, I just don't have to know about it," Hiroshi snapped. Tetsuo's eyes dipped but he looked like he was getting angry.

Good, that made two of them.

"What's that supposed to mean? Hey, Hiroshi..."

"Hiroshi!" his mother rebuked. "What's gotten into you?"

Hiroshi threw his knapsack across the living room and ran back into his sanctuary.

"He shouldn't have said that to you," Tetsuo swore, his face flushed. Miaka grabbed his hand, the both of them rushing to follow.

"It sounded like he said it more to you," she guessed. "Hiroshi, stop!"

The two stopped at the closed bedroom door. When they pushed it open, a hot wind seared out and threw the couple back. Tetsuo planted his feet and steadied Miaka. "What the!" he yelled and Miaka gasped around his arms.

"Suzaku!" her legs went weak and even with Tetsuo's might, went to her knees. Whether in supplication or surprise, one couldn't be sure.
Suzaku smiled, stepped forward. His wings dipped and folded into place as he moved, allowing room behind him in the cramped space.

"Suzaku?...What is..." Tetsuo gazed at the god of his past life. It was all here, all here now... He felt Miaka hugging onto his leg; it was enough that he could have joined her on the floor.

"Yes, it is me. Do not bow so, my priestess. Rise and be well. I havce come to see the two of you in good faither after all," Suzaku's voice rolled from a creation eons before the first humans began to scratch a living in the dirt.

"What's happened to Hiroshi? Is he okay??" Miaka's gaze went past the tall legs of the god's form to see her son sprawled unconscious along the floor as if taking a nap. Tetsuo felt her small hand tighten at the fabric of his jeans near the knee.

"He's just fine!" a second voice chirped from nowhere. "I can wait for him to revive, no da, for we've got to have alittle talk too, no da."

Miaka gasped as a skinny figure stepped directly FROM Suzaku's shadow as if part of it all along. The mask was set aside and the scarred face smiled; his one good eye sparkled with tears. Tetsuo gaped at the spiky white hair stabbing the air between them.

"Chichiri! Oh my, Chichiri!!" Miaka called joyfully. She went from Tetsuo to her old beloved seishi and went joyously into his open, thin arms.

"I know you! Chichiri.... it's been too long!" Tetsuo was hit with an onslaught of flashes centered on that enigmatic smile. Chichiri smiled at him knowingly and squeezed Miaka.

"It's good to see you again, Miaka-chan. Aren't we a pair, so much older, no da!" he laughed."Tasuki, I envy your new youth. I hope you two have been well."
'And I hope you two found each other finally!' his gaze read openly.

Tetsuo laughed and scrubbed the back of his neck. "It's Tetsuo now. But I'm here again... and I'll protect Miaka."

Chichiri glanced guiltily to Suzaku's side.... Miaka and Tetsuo didn't know it, but Taka's spirit was tucked back inside one mighty wing and silently observing all. It had been at Suzaku's behest, but unless they both kept quiet... he would see all, too.

"I'll hold you to that, Tetsuo, no da," Chichiri knelt beside Hiroshi's comatose figure. He could feel Taka's eyes anguishly watching the blue hair across a young, pale face.

"I will," Tetsuo leaned and clasped Chichiri's hand. His head swam.

Suzaku turned, tucking his wings most elegantly. "Chichiri-san...will you stay with the boy? There is much to tell him."

"I will, Suzaku, no da," Chichiri adjusted his kesa and smiled his perpetual beatific smile. But he was worried for Taka's sake.

"Chichiri..." before Miaka could ask further, Suzaku lifted one hand and spread his long, ivory white fingers wide.

"Miaka!" Tetsuo grabbed her as flames shot forward and carried them away. Suzaku crossed his powerful arms as Tetsuo and Miaka hovered in a warm, far-off dimension through time and space.

"Where are we?" Miaka wanted to know. Tetsuo held onto her tightly. Suzaku smiled and animated images spurt from his fingertips, surrounding the pair who glanced about them with awe as if they were babes lost in the wood.

"You both have had a strong connection before..." images of Tasuki the bandit joking and picking fun with a much younger Miaka.

"Through all the good times...." Miaka hugging Tasuki and Nuriko's arms, all three shouting some song together.

"And the bad..." Tetsuo's eyes widened and he squeezed them tight at the horrible image that came next. Tasuki...no, HE was on top of Miaka in an inn forcing her to try and.... and...

Miaka flushed with unhappiness as she heard herself from far away across the memory.

"Tasuki! Tasuki, this isn't you! No! Takaaaa!" Tetsuo choked and ducked his head. Miaka gazed at him worriedly. His bangs had fallen into his eyes.

"You are Tasuki and Tasuki is you. Become the fire that you know to reach..." Suzaku held out one hand and Tetsuo looked up warily. "Do not let the bad of the past stop you."

Extended between God and Man, was a long iron tessen, glittering in diamond dust. Miaka gasped highly and covered her mouth. Tetsuo felt all of hiimself slide down a long tube, elongate, looking back at himself.... and when he reached to trail his fingers along the handle...

.... he slammed into one. "Tetsuo!" Miaka said.

Tetsuo grasped the tessen and roared a familiar old yell. His hair brightened to a full orange flame and fell in longer waves. His shoulders filled out, his chest and thigh muscles grew more taut, defined....

When he opened his amber eyes to look for Miaka, he saw he had gained a few inches in height. Tetsuo looked in wonder to the tessen in his hand and brought his spare hand to Miaka's cheek. Her eyes trembled in moisture.

"I AM Tasuki... I know what I am here for.... to know your kindness and seek your forgiveness..."

Miaka cried and squeezed his hand to her cheek; pressed kisses to it. "I already forgave you, Tetsuo. So many years ago..."

Taka peeked out from Suzaku's wing, for he knew he wouldn't be noticed at THIS point. His spiritual jaw dropped and if he had a stomach, it would have fallen to his shoes.

He didn't know these images of memory Suzaku now spun around the fully equipped Tetsuo and Miaka.... they weren't of this new life, but of Tasuki... and his wife, much younger.

Too much Tasuki and his wife, much younger....

Tetsuo's cheeks flushed as he saw himself explicitly entering Miaka, willing and spread on the floor. Miaka bit his finger as she remembered the sighs, and they were audible for Suzaku now. The two gazed at each other with heat in their eyes.
To make that fire again....

And to Taka. 'Miaka? Miaka had..... with Tasuki? When? Where? TASUKI??' Suzaku smiled beatifically at the two and spread his wings back, folding Taka back purposefully. If there ever was a time to curse his patron god, Taka found it. He beat at the red feathers encircling him small and unseen. He was held back effortlessly.

They were ready and what he wanted would be achieved....

"Become the flame, my children. Embrace the fire and make your own heat in the world..." he invited and began to fade, his words tolling like a bell. At his departure, a hotter gust of wind pushed Miaka forward against Tetsuo's chest.

"Tetsuo..." she murmured. "You're here... you're really here..."

Tetsuo ached, his muscles growing heated and a lower portion of him more so. "Miaka, I've waited a long time..." he hoarsely said. Miaka invited his hands to unbutton her blouse and tug her bra off. Her nipples pushed hotly against his chest. His large hands rounded the undersides and to her back.
Miaka spread her hands down the expanse of muscle across chest and belly and rested on his hips. Her fingers were busy with the button and zipper of his confines as Tetsuo breathlessly stood, at attention so to speak.

When Miaka exposed his nether region, her lidded eyes drank in his bronzed skin and his spearing organ. Her hand shyly explored him with wanton interest. Tetsuo arched his back and moaned. Denim clung to his hips and lower thighs.

He captured her mouth with his. They were swept in a wall of flame and grit that felt like dust....not dust...sand... That dream, the dream in the desert, Miaka's mind hazily pinpointed. They were soon naked to its will. Chest to breast, hip to hip... it had come true. Miaka's toes were curling, setting her on tiptoe in iron arms holding her open to him.
Tetsuo had long set aside his tessen and had pushed Miaka back. Her legs spread willfully; she stroked his pulsing organ. His large hands gripped her thighs as she pulled him in. He was certain she had screamed in pleasure; he could hear nothing but his own heartbeat.

Their moans filled the world and each other's ears.

"Uhn! Uhn! ah...." Tetsuo sounded like he was wheezing but he didn't care. Miaka was crying out up against his chest, yelling into his bodily thrusts. Higher and higher, Tetsuo felt his mind detach and all there was, was heat and her and his readiness clamped tightly by hot, wet walls....so hot... so GRIPPING....

"AH!" they arched together and at the crux of climax.... Tetsuo thought how life was so warm... so sweet... spurted to an existence of once inch with quick, creamy fluid....

Miaka curled into his chest and Tetsuo's hands curled around her scalp tenderly. His celestial symbol blazed hot crimson on his wrist. He was still and thrust hard twice more, his eyes rolling back. Miaka bit his chest above his heart. Her walls throbbed around him. The two sank down and the fires dissipated down as their passion cooled.

The world clicked and began to move again whereas their limbs lay scattered across the floor of Miaka's bedroom.




****



Hiroshi stirred to, conscious to how his neck was cramped. Why WAS he asleep? It didn't feel like his bed.... what had happened?

"Hiroshi...." a familiar mellow voice said beside him. Hiroshi's heart crashed and he scrambled up from unconsciousness. It was so hard to get back! Why couldn't he lift his head and merely open his eyes?

"He's coming to, no da! I have longed to see your boy in person, Taka-kun, no da..." a chipper voice reverberated and echoed at Hiroshi's right side. He had never heard this person before... and half of what he said made no sense at all. But he was saying his father's name!

"He'll be with us soon enough. Hiroshi.... son, wake up."

It was Papa... Papa! Hiroshi's fingers grappled for purchase and fisted the carpet. "Papa!" he cried and his dazed eyes opened blurrily. The most outlandish person he had ever seen was kneeling at his side. He couldn't even see his eyes and a perpetual smile was on his lips.... his white hair was absurd, sticking out at insane angles. And he was dressed like some kind of Shaolin monk from a kung fu film!

"Who...who are you??" Hiroshi scrambled back and scrubbed a wrist across his eyes as he did. He couldn't see!

"I'm here, son..." Hiroshi whirled to see his fatehr beside him... but half spectral like in a movie, ghostly and outlined, the edges of his form tugging and drifting on the air....

"Papa?? Papa! You're here...you're really here...." hiroshi's grin was wide though tears cascaded from his long lashes. If Toya could see THIS.... Naisen, too.

Chichiri smiled to Taka's soul and nodded. "Yourr son has missed you, my friend. do you need a moment with him?"

Taka smiled ruefully, his eyes sad but kind. "No, Chichiri... we have only so long with him. Hiroshi, listen to me... everything that's happened, is happening...is a long time in being written. It began when your mother fell into a book and met me.... in my past life."

Hiroshi gaped, but nodded... even with an inkling of a memory nagging him... Uncle Keisuke hiding a red wrapped book hurriedly...

"I think we may have to explain, no da..." Chichiri kindly suggested but the teen surprised him.

"I saw something from Naisen...and Toya... and Sadako... I think I know how they knew you and Mama from years ago... it's so hard to say into words!"

Chichiri looked astounded but Taka's smile reassured him. "My son has a handle on it even though it may seem impossible."
The old monk laughed. "He IS your son, Taka-kun, no da! Some abilities must have come from you straight to him."

"Indeed my warrior," Suzaku murmured. Hiroshi gaped as the most supernatural man he had ever seen FORMED his way through the walls and crossed his arms. His red feathered wings of flame folded back and Taka favored the god with a half-lidded look. It wasn't a very happy face, but it sure was resigned to the situation. Had Suzaku known about that... TRYST.... this whole time? He wondered about Chichiri too, for that matter...

Hiroshi gaped and leaned against the only substantial man in the room. Chichiri held him up and smiled.

"Everything you've seen... everything that is happening... as well as Tetsuo..." Suzaku's eyes were hard shards of flint as they bore into the teen. "...is all for a reason. All of the pieces are true.... all of it."

"It's all true...." His friend's memories flew through Hirosh's mind. The child whore... the skinny soldier with the coloring of an outside... the opera actor with the pure voice of a star, and the natural talent to magick his pimps away...

Now this old warrior monk, and the faded memories his father had of a glorious past life that had been thrustily revisited onto him with his mother's approach. The old monk was squeezing his hand and nodding. Hiroshi nodded back.... he knew deep in his heart of hearts that he could trust this old person. His father he already knew... but this god-man he didn't know if he COULD trust.

If he was for Tetsuo, anyway, it was a black mark.

Suzaku looked down on him disapprovingly, and no matter how Hiroshi felt about the whole situation, he knew he shouldn't cross toes with a god.

"Trust in Suzaku, Hiroshi-kun. He knows what he's doing," Chichiri chirped. Taka nodded and Hiroshi noted the resignation in his eyes. He couldn't like being replaced after all.

"His will seems off, sorry," Hiroshi muttered. "So you left my mother along with... him?"

Suzaku's eyes were not kind. "HIM is the reincarnated celestial star Tasuki, mortal son of Taka," Suzaku boomed. Hiroshi felt himself not liking his title one bit. "I guard the fire and the heart's stoking of flame. For all that you don't like about Tasuki, know this, mortal son..."

'Of Taka, yeah yeah yeah,' Hiroshi thought irritably.

"...For all his quick attributes, Tasuki held back his position. My Suzaku no Miko had more to fear of losing her bodily innocence to your father than to him."

Chichiri blushed as Taka fixed Suzaku with a decidely more aloof and lowly angry hooded stare. Hiroshi flushed as his stomach did emotional flipflops. Of course he didn't want to hear anything sexual regarding his mother.... she was his MOTHER!

"So you're saying 'Tasuki' has been in love with my mother since back then?" Hiroshi grumped hotly. This was going alittle too far, now. Far be it for Suzaku to grant the two time for a booty call, now this? It was borderline insulting.

Suzaku twisted his head much like the bird of his namesake. "Yes."

"Why you..." Hiroshi felt faint.

"What we mean, Hiroshi-kun, is that time gave Tasuki a chance now, no da. I would never begrudge your mother an ounce of happiness for all she's given our world, no da," Chichiri integrated in his smooth, calm matter.

"Chichiri..." Taka's ethereal form looked at him.

"And she loved your father very much, no da. It can be enough that she was fortunate enough to love Taka in two lifetimes, no da," Chichiri clasped the boy's skinny shoulder.

That made more sense and did much to calm Hiroshi's trouled soul. He looked into the monk's face and smiled. Taka sighed.

"It's strange.. how things change from life to life..." Tasuki in Miaka's arms flashed through Taka's mind. "But then how everything is very much the same."

"I don't want any part of this..." of THEM... "But she is my mama. I'll watch over her as best I can."

"Thank you, son." Taka caught Suzaku's piercing stare and waited. Before they had come, Suzaku had promised him a moment alone with Miaka. But if she was with Tasuki/Tetsuo, how was he going to get around THAT?

"Be well, Hiroshi-kun. I'll try and stop in from time to time as my duties permit," Chichiri bowed, then pulled the skinny boy for a hug. Hiroshi was surprised but hugged back. It wasn't too abnormal to embrace this funny, old monk.

"Thanks Chichiri-san. Papa... will I ever see you again?" Hiroshi asked in a small voice. Taka smiled and his soul glowed a few moments in love.

"I think you know the answer to that one, son. Whether as I am now or in a new form.... I will see you again. You're a fine man. Never lose your nobility."

Taka held up one ghostly hand and Hiroshi slowly plunged his fingers through them. He shivered.

"I love you, Papa."

"I love you, son."

"Taka. Are you ready?" Suzaku boomed suddenly. Chichiri knelt by his side, ready to depart. Sukunami Taka's spirit regarded his god with a solid stare and nodded. He was lucky he was dead because it would have hurt too much... well even in the limbo effect of afterlife, he hurt. He would have to be ready to face his wife.

"Yes. Take me now." To Miaka..

Suzaku swept his wing forward and swept Taka away. Hiroshi was buffeted back by the wave of heat extended and fell onto his bed. When he looked up, only he remained in his room.

As well as stray red feathers littered about.




****



Miaka lay awake in her bedroom watching Tetsuo sleep. The pair were fully naked and sprawled across the carpet, having missed the bed entirely once Suzaku's flame had deposited them back from the dimension they had explored...

'Each other and then some,' Miaka thought and tired not to giggle aloud. Tetsuo had filled out and looked more as Tasuki had... his muscular chest rose and fell in tandem to his breaths; his red hair flung in gorgeous waves around his angelic expression.

Miaka's eyes crinkled and she leaned closer, tickling her fingers along Tetsuo's belly... her full breasts leaned into the ground and his side as she pressed closer. Tetsuo smiled and made a cute purring sound in his sleep. Tasuki had returned. What they had tried so briefly, so unlike her careful life seven years ago... had been repeated.... and again on her bedroom carpet... and hopefully again soon.

Miaka bit her lip and dipped her questing fingers along the small line of hair below Tetsuo's navel. She would love to get things started along those THOSE thoughts.

Before her fingers could reach the bodypart she had been introduced to so forwardly, there was a flash by their touching feet.

Miaka had time to see Tetsuo's long toes flex as he remained in slumber, but she was alert to whatever had transported into her room.
She knew Suzaku seemed to like her, but even she was not going to feel comfortable in her birthday suit around him.

"Miaka..." the ethereal figure said sadly and Miaka gaped, her eyes wide....and then really searched frantically for their scattered clothing. How did Taka get here? Her late husband... this was definately not a good time!

"Taka!" Miaka gasped and cursed unladylike in her head. If she ever got the courage to relate this to Yui, she knew she'd die of laughter. Not at her expense, oh never... but it was funnier when it wasn't happening to you. All she could come up with was her blouse and she clasped it ot her breasts as she clamped her thighs shut.
How funny of Suzaku to send only that, Tetsuo's jockey shorts, and their socks back. Her patron god seemed to be developing an odd sense of humor as of late.

The spirit of Sukunami Taka gazed upon his wife with still eyes. "Miaka... my love.... I know about you and Tasuki seven years ago."

Miaka blushed a bright red, dropped Tetsuo's shorts onto his privates and wished she could drop through the floor. Or into the middle of a battlefield. Whichever came first that is.
She WAS caught as it was. In the flesh bare and open.

"You... you know about that, Taka?" Miaka's eyes filled with tears. She burned with guilt. "I.. I'm so sorry... I should have told you, Taka."

"You should have," Taka agreed and crossed his ghostly arms. The edges of his form fanned out slowly. "Did Tasuki need to be forgiven so much? Did you not think of me?"

"I...." Miaka looked down at her bare legs, still taut at her age. "It's now how you think. He didn't come for a sneak about...You had been at the school and he just appeared..."

How could she explain it without it sounding so cheap? Though it always made her guilt-ridden, the memory was a good one. The utter look on her flame seishi's face when they had kissed.... how peaceful and happy his visage when he dared enter her as he balanced on sturdy elbows. "He was so guilty... about that time...with Hikou and the inn." Miaka's face flushed.

It had been more than sex.

"He was in hell, Taka! And I.... I needed to forgive him..." It had been atonement. Purification of his guilt. And she had offered it to him the way he would have understood.... because she wanted it.

Taka sighed and looked away. He looked distraught. "When I came into the book and everyone who must have ever held a torch for you was deceased; they all held their peace. Except for Tasuki. Do you know how that hurt me, even then? I couldn't fully remember Tamahome, but I had to endure his competition? I may not have been as much in hell as Tasuki, but I've had my share of lumps. Miaka..." Taka's eyes were very sad. "Why didn't you ever tell me? I had to see his incarnation come to you to find out about his 'soul's journey.' "

Miaka reached out to Taka.... her fingers ghosted his ethereal cheek and sank through. Frozen, she withdrew her cold digits sorrowfully. And laid them on Tetsuo's warm shoulder.

Taka's eyes flicked, noting the gesture.

"I am so sorry, Taka. I loved you so much.... but you left me inside for a time. At one point in our marriage, you turned me down for work. I ...I was lonely. And I was so glad Tasuki had come to visit me. I don't want to say it just happened..." Even though it did....
"But I care about him too, in some way."

And it was any wonder if Miaka didn't shock herself yet again. She had loved each seishi in their own way, from wistful what-if in Hotohori, far off possibility in Nuriko's gender-bended life, and staved off heat from Tasuki when she had returned.

It had always been Taka... but when Tasuki had crash-landed in her living room when Hiroshi was a child..... she finally saw him as a man. He had needed her.

"And maybe, just maybe... I need him too," Miaka whispered.

"I love you, Miaka. I've always loved you."

Miaka smiled sadly. "I love you too, Taka. And I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

"Just be happy, Miaka. You're with him now, I suppose."

"Yes..." Miaka flushed and tried to block their more than naked attributes. "I am."

Taka shrugged.... it would have taken a blind man to not notice the state he had found them in. If he had come in five minutes later, he bitterly thought, he would have found Tasuki's incarnation mounting her. Suzaku could be thanked only so far at this point.

"Whichever the case, I wish you joy. I just hope the flameboy treats you well."

"Don't worry about me," Miaka smiled through her guilty tears. "Have you seen..."

"I've been with our son," Taka nodded. His sad eyes smiled ever so briefly. "Be good to him."

"I will," Miaka nodded. "And please.... say goodbye to Chichiri for me!"

Taka smiled truthfully at that. "Maybe he and I will take rebirth together and be with you again. And Tasuki... I mean, Tetsuo... will have to watch out for me again."

Miaka sighed and was still. Her thoughts stretched a mile wide to open spaces. How melancholy and quite sad. "Taka..."

"Goodbye, my Miaka," Taka whispered. He leaned forward and touched his ghostly lips to hers. Miaka closed her eyes and shivered at the cold breathy exchange. Twin tears streamed from the closed lids to the windows of her soul.

When she opened them once more, Taka's shade had passed. Her young man was as naked as a greek god beside her but Miaka lingered on her husband. She buried her face in her knees and cried quietly.

Tetsuo opened his eyes slowly. He looked around, his hand on his belly, and found Miaka clasping her arms around her knees, partially hiding her femininity. He smiled and laid a hand on her back. Miaka raised her reddened eyes and smiled. Alarmed, Tetsuo sat up, not caring if she exposed herself and took her shoulders in his hands.

"Miaka! What is it?" she asked furtively. He was relieved when Miaka touched his face.

"Oh, Tetsuo.. I just... I saw Taka's spirit," she said. Tetsuo's heart thudded. His old rivalry reared its ugly head in his mind as his body seized.

"He... he did... Miaka, are you alright?" Tetsuo blurted, with all the brash caring he was known for. Miaka nodded and kissed Tetsuo's large palm pressed to her face.

"I am... he told me... he saw us seven years ago," Miaka blushed. Tetsuo blushed more. How unabashed they had been in their mutual understanding... and their nakedness now. His penis twitched as he eyed her curves despite himself.
"I hope he didn't see us now... he would have gotten an eyeful," Tetsuo murmured softly trying to calm Miaka. She clung to his strong arms and buried her face in his broad chest. She laughed painfully in spite of herself.

"It's just so strange... and so much to take in..." she sniffed. Tetsuo turned her face up with a crooked finger. He coudl feel heat build in his stomach, and begin to coil to something strenouous. He gazed into Miaka's eyes with a slowly building fire.

"Let me love you, Miaka.... You deserve to be taken care of," he promised. Miaka sighed as her body warmed against his.
"Oh my...." she felt him harden against her hip. "Are we going to be getting used to each other all day now?"

"All I know..." Tetsuo pulled Miaka flush to him. He was pleased to hear her gasp in surprise. "..is that I love you. And I'll make sure that..."

Miaka's fingers clutched his back as he lowered her to the carpet. Her feet gripped the backs of his thighs.

"...you're used to the better moments... uhn!" Tetsuo interrupted himself to probe against the appropriate cavern and pushed hard, driving his hips flush to hers. Miaka cried out against his shoulder.
"In..." thrust
"This..." thrust
"Life!"

Miaka rocked with his body's pushes, her head lolling on the ground. Her eyes locked on his, her face was very red. Her lips parted and she held onto him. Tetsuo thust slowly but harder, his face a grit mask of red determination. Think of ME... not your dead husband!

"Miaka... Miaka!" She clung to his wide shoulders, helpless beneath his onslaught. Each squeeze of her walls around his plump member made her see stars. Stars... her celestial lover...

This was real... this was now!

"Tetsuo..." her legs lifted, knees clasping him to her. Tetsuo couldn't have retreated if he wanted to... and he didn't want to.

'Make me yours... make me healed...' Miaka clutched onto his hips as Tetsuo rocked back and forth on his palms, slamming his hips at frightening speeds. His muscles stood out rock hard on his chest and he felt lightheaded. He was going to lose it... but he wanted Miaka to black out first.

They clutched each other as bliss turned their movements languid and fulfilled.



End for now

I borrowed a line from Utena for Taka to his son. Never lose your nobility.... I think the prince in Utena meant a thinly veiled reference to her virginity... subliminal messages in anime! Who'da thunk it?
This one was fun to write in the wee witching hours at work. Funny how your mind goes to smut when you have some free time :P Much apologies if there are any stray typos; I usually do a good job at catching them while I'm typing the rough, but had a limited time to get it up online before sleep for work.
I'm looking forward to the holidays and have two Avatar movies on the mind. Hmm...
Like it? Didn't like it? Please review!

sincerely yours, pen rose
12/08/09