Fushigi Yuugi Fan Fiction ❯ Interpose ❯ Interpose ( One-Shot )

A/N: This is the result of a challenge between me and another writer. Challenges can turn out some pretty bizarre stories, but I am quite proud of this one. The challenge merely involved writing a heterosexual lemon; the couple was not mine to choose (which is why it is so exceedingly bizarre). The reason for the heterosexual part was because she thought that I couldn't do it. I do admit that I have a very strong leaning towards yaoi, and that this is probably the hardest thing I've ever written, but to say I couldn't do it…

The only requirements were that it had to be Keisuke x Soi, and NC-17. Plausibility was not a requirement, but I'd like to hope that I fulfilled it anyway.

Disclaimer: Neither Fushigi Yuugi nor its characters belong to me. Because if they did, I would make it illegal for Keisuke and Soi to be in the same fanfic.

* * * * * * * * * *

~Interpose~

* * * * * * * * * *

A chill swept through the outskirts of Sairou, lifting up little bits of sand, carrying it far away from its home, and depositing the remains in forgotten wisps as the wind continued its path, stopping for no one.

In a small campsite on the edge of the city, the tragically mismatched team of Seiryuu warriors felt the ice travel through their bodies as they huddled, alone, in their tents. Strands of hair tangled in the wind as they tried to sleep.

Nobody heard the boy call out to his brother in the pitch black of the night. Nobody saw the face paint smear away, wet with salty tears as it trickled onto the man's chest in desolate puddles. Nobody knew how the girl held herself at night, hugging her body, when nobody else would.

The priestess was not the only one who could cry.

Nobody noticed the chill that swept through the camp and underneath their tents, the air that strangled their foggy breaths, the amethyst icicles that encased their hearts; they were already too numb.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Can I get you boys a blanket?" The attendant assigned to the first class train car smiled down at them. "Pillows perhaps?"

Tetsuya sipped his glass of Coke coolly and peered up at her from above his sunglasses. "I think we're fine. Keisuke?" He nudged his friend for input.

Keisuke stirred in his seat against the window and blinked incomprehensively at Tetsuya, sleep overshadowing his pale gaze. "What…?" His fist rubbed gently at an eye, attempting to rid it of its natural desire to close.

"Maybe a pillow."

The attendant nodded politely and extracted a small pillow from her cart, handing it to Keisuke.

"Thanks," Tetsuya answered for him.

The two had been rooted to the spacious first class seats of a train car all night, alternately reading passages from a book that had become a shared third limb for the both of them. Of course, Keisuke had a natural tendency to doze when the sky became black and the atmosphere became still with sleep. Unknowingly leaving the reading to Tetsuya, his heavy eyelids began to think for themselves.

"No!" Keisuke erupted suddenly, his attention returning to the present. "I don't need sleep." The pillow was tossed stubbornly back in Tetsuya's direction. Tormented worries over his younger sister resurfaced quickly, pushing away the sleep and distraction that threatened to divert his attention. "Keep reading. We have to find out what happens to Miaka." He stared into the darkness of his companion's sunglasses, gaze passing through his own reflection, and into the boy's eyes.

Tetsuya held the book transfixed in his lap. "You sure?" he asked, hand moving slowly to find the spot where they had left off.

Keisuke nodded and relaxed back in his seat, knowing that he had won yet another inconsequential battle in their friendship.

Sighing, Tetsuya thumbed through the pages until he reached the point in the story that divided the read from the undiscovered. "The Priestess of Suzaku…"

Why did new passages always seem to begin with "The Priestess of Suzaku…"? Was it that the story was forever destined to be central to her? Maybe it just seemed that way. Who chose the words that appeared on the page? Was the story predetermined? Or did Miaka's own will shape it?

Did it work the other way around?

What if the script in the book was written before it happened… Would it really come true?

Tetsuya's fingers danced lightly over the calligraphy pen that he kept in his shirt pocket, skimming over the engraved kanji that adorned the base. Feeling as if he could mold the character for "Kajiwara" to his touch. Mold it experimentally, deeper into the gold frame of the pen. Mold it…

Could he mold the story…?

After such an audible lapse in the whispered rendition of "The Universe of the Four Gods", Keisuke should have noticed that his friend's mind was anywhere but where it should have been. The reason that this escaped is notice was that he was asleep again, snoring softly in the nearly vacant midnight train car.

Tetsuya retrieved the pillow from his feet and gently lifted Keisuke's head, slipping the soothing fluff behind his matted hair. He glanced at the sleeping Keisuke, deprived of rest ever since his sister had been taken prisoner in the book that Tetsuya now held open in his lap.

The pages stared up at him, daring him to read more. Daring him…

Tetsuya's hand passed over his pen again, fingers twining around the cold, sleek metal, pulling it out of his pocket with a muted swish of fabric.

What would happen…

He uncapped it, inspecting the hand-crafted tip as he had never bothered to do with such novelty items before. The gold glinted in the dim light, blinding him through his shades as he passed his fingers over it, over the tip to test the ink. A black smudge appeared sinfully over the unmarked skin of his left index finger.

Keisuke muttered softly in his sleep, his golden bangs falling to the right as his head tilted.

To wake him would have been a sin in itself.

To do what the calligraphy pen dared to do as it hovered over the book, grasped lightly by Tetsuya's still hand, was not anything.

Yet.

The act did not bear any significance until the soft scratchings of pen tip on paper echoed in Tetsuya's head, deafening friction, silent to the other passengers; the soundless scrawl of the characters signifying "Keisuke".

* * * * * * * * * *

Soi turned over soundlessly in her makeshift bed, reflexively pulling the rough cloth up to her face for warmth, although she was not shivering. The moon was not yet at its highest point in the sky, not yet sending down a perfectly perpendicular beam of light to splay across the campsite. Not that it would have mattered; the thick layer of clouds overhead intercepted any light that tried to stream through the wisps of condensation and air pressure. Soi could tell that the moon was not yet centered in the sky.

Nakago preferred, when it was in his power to do so, to wait until the others were deep in their own private states of tortured sleep before Soi came to him. Wait until the moon was at its highest.

It was not time for Nakago yet.

Soi turned over again.

Unnoticed was the sleeping figure of another, shielded by the still shadows in the creviced corner of the tent. He lay there, unaware that he was anywhere but a train car heading away from Tokyo. Unaware that he was now in a past that never existed.

Keisuke slowly alerted himself into a state of awakeness, keeping his eyes closed as his lashes fluttered soundlessly against his cheeks. It felt cold.

Instinctively pulling his thin shirt against his chest, he opened his eyes and pushed himself into a sitting position.

Darkness.

Something wasn't right. Before he felt the cool, moist grass under his fingertips, before he smelled the stale scent of war hanging in the air, clouding his nostrils with the putrid essence of blood, before he heard the shallow breathing of a Seiryuu warrior lying ten feet away in a crude arrangement of blankets and cloth, he knew. Before he could even fathom how he got there, he knew.

It had to be the book.

Total darkness, yet he knew…

A lantern flickered on. "Who's there?" Soi called out as she held the light in front of her. "Nakago?" The path of light wavered over to where Keisuke was huddled, still gripping his shirt in the cold. Soi threw back the covers and held the lantern threateningly in front of her. "Who are you?"

Keisuke gave no reply.

"What do you want? Have you come to rob me?" Soi smirked in the dim light. "I'm afraid you chose the wrong victim," she added in a sweet tone, setting the lantern down on a small crate. /A common thief? He didn't really think he could get away with that, did he?/

"I…I'm not a thief," Keisuke spit out nervously, shifting his weight as he crouched down, not daring to stand in the presence of such potential danger. "I swear."

"Then what do you want?" Soi asked, placing her hands on her hips, ignoring the cold that easily pushed its way under her loose robe. /I should know better than to take my armor off when I sleep. But then Nakago… I'd just have to anyway… I should be used to midnight intruders./ Her eyes glinted suspiciously as she stalked closer, staring indignantly at her intruder. "What do you want?" she repeated.

/The same as everyone./

"Get up," Soi commanded, yanking Keisuke on his feet by the collar of his shirt. But her hand froze as the light washed over his clothing, the foreign appearance staring back at her in utter mockery.

"Who are you?" Soi's grip disappeared as her hand jerked back against her chest. Those clothes were like the ones the priestess wore. Bizarre and unconventional in their simplicity, completely useless for any form of combat, nothing short of frighteningly unfamiliar. "Who are you?"

Keisuke felt an overwhelming mixture of emotions all at once. A simultaneous rush of confusion and excitement and disbelief and power and vulnerability, the bombardment of a consciousness that he was quite positive he would never experience again. As for the question posed, he didn't know quite how to answer.

"Keisuke," he supposed would suffice.

The light against Soi's back cast her face into the darkness, so it was hard to see her response; she left her hand where it was and did not make another attempt at grabbing the boy's shirt. The tone of her voice, contrary to her state of mind, did not waver. "Are you from that…other world?"

Noting, with an inward sigh of relief, that there were no swords anywhere within her immediate grasp, Keisuke nodded.

The other world. The one the priestess was from. But…there wasn't any mention of…a boy coming through. Standing there now, looking at this young man frozen in perpetual stillness against the side of her tent, Soi honestly did not know what to think.

Folding her arms across her chest, but beckoning him with the slight bend of a finger, she motioned for him to step closer into the light. "Come…come here." Soi unconsciously echoed his hesitant steps, edging backward, keeping the distance between them at a constant. /I should tell Nakago…/ Soi walked backwards towards the tent flap, keeping her eyes suspiciously pinned to the boy.

But then, Nakago wouldn't appreciate being roused this early in the night.

/He never appreciates anything anyway./

He would turn to Soi, not bothering to flick the lantern on so he could see her face, and ask, in his cold, steely monotone, why she had disturbed his sleep before it was time. Why she was being such a bother.

/I don't know why I bother…

Why I give him my body when he gives me nothing in return. Why I give him my strength when he abuses it. Why I give him my heart when he pushes it away.

I don't know./

And now this boy was here. Soi couldn't even sort out her thoughts enough to loosely determine if he was on their side or not. On her side.

He was just there. Maybe he didn't have a side to be on.

Standing still in the cold tent, a shudder wracked Keisuke body, the palms of his hands kneading the numb flesh on his arms.

Soi reached down by her feet and retrieved a blanket, skimming over the material with her thumb. It trailed over the grass as she brought it to Keisuke; she lifted her eyes to meet his. "Here. Keisuke…right?"

Draping the cloth over his shoulders, he gave a slight nod, a slight smile that she didn't see.

The cold still pricked at her skin as she went to sit on her bed, not facing him, not wishing to see him. "I'm Soi."

Soi.

That wasn't her real name. Just a connotation; with war and lightning and sex. Those were her powers: lightning and sex. They had names, fancy names that would impress those who didn't know Chinese. But in reality, they were far simpler than all the pretty words. And far less pretty.

/They're all I'm good for…All I've ever been good for. They never wanted me for anything else.

Is he the same? Is that why he's here? To use me? Like everyone else./

She held herself, bringing her knees up to her chin as she sat on the bed, prone to the cold wind as it snuck in through the slits in the tent.

/Why doesn't anybody ever hold me?/

She didn't notice the weight shift on the bed, didn't notice the blanket being wrapped around her back and shoulder, didn't notice the shared body heat, until she felt the arm pull her into Keisuke's chest.

* * * * * * * * * *

His first instinct was to get his friend back.

Every time the attendant came by with a cart of drinks or some extra blankets, he hoped that she would not notice that his companion had been "in the bathroom" for an unnaturally long time.

Tetsuya stared down at the book, then at his hand, still cradling the calligraphy pen, wondering if he would be able to undo the severe mistake that his curiosity had lured him into. Ever since he had glanced at the seat across from him to find that Keisuke had disappeared, the book had altered storylines. His pen was capped, but the words kept flowing onto the page, laughing cruelly at Tetsuya's inability to stop them.

They described how Soi had found the intruder in her tent, how she had decided, for reasons beyond her own comprehension, not to hand him over to Nakago.

His second instinct was to keep reading.

Ever since he and Keisuke were little, they had always had their adventures together. Going to see movies together, doing homework together, cruising, unsuccessfully, for girls together, getting into trouble together, trying to save his little sister together.

It was almost frightening to suddenly be broken apart. Tetsuya read how Soi had offered Keisuke warmth and how she had sat, alone, on her bed, too lonely to even cry. How Keisuke had come around behind her and wrapped Soi in the blanket with him, which was such an amazingly Keisuke thing to do.

His third instinct was that he should have written his name instead.

Then he would be the one holding Soi. She would be snuggling into his unfamiliar chest. He would be the comfort. The book would tell of his adventures.

Keisuke would be the one worrying.

His final instinct was to get his friend back.

* * * * * * * * * *

"What are you doing?" Soi asked stiffly as icy fingertips ran over her shoulder, flattening as they drifted down her arm.

Keisuke pulled the blanket tighter around both of them, fighting the ever-present suspicion that Nakago was about to cut through the tent with the simple slash of his sword. "Keeping us warm."

This was new. When a foreign arm managed to snake its way around Soi's body, it usually had very little to do with warmth. "Why?" Her body relaxed into his subtle caress, uneasiness slipping out of her system, no matter how she yelled at it to come back.

"Because it's cold." He pulled his arm away suddenly, aware of the danger that his naiveté could bring about. "I'm sorry. I…didn't mean to…"

Soi urged his arm back around her, leaning into his chest. "I didn't say you had to stop. I just asked you why."

/Why. Why am I letting this happen. Why am I playing to his touch. Why.

Why should he be different from the rest./

Keisuke sensed something in her hold, small as it was. Sensed something in the subtle weight of her head against his chest, in the way her breath shot past his skin in even waves, as though she were not frightened, even though she should be. He would have understood if she had called Nakago, if she had blasted him out of her room, if she had left him to die underneath the cold, unfeeling moon of Sairou.

But no. What he understood even better was why she didn't.

And he understood why the simple presence of an arm around her could almost put her in a trance.

"Where did you come from?" she asked softly, her warm breath slipping through the pores in his shirt.

The answer to this was not really important. It was more just to hear his voice. A validation of existence.

"Does it matter?"

"No." /As long as you're real./

"I'm not quite sure how I got here." Keisuke brushed Soi's head with the tip of his nose. Her hair was naturally silky, undone and dripping down over her shoulders in waves of that piercing shade of not-quite-purple. The color was hard to make out in the dim light, but he knew what it looked like. What she looked like. She smelled like a woman. So beautiful. And such a waste. "I'm not sure when I'll have to go back."

Soi lifted her head, brushing his shirt against her cheek. The hue of his eyes was unidentifiable, but they glowed in the dim light as the flames from the lantern reflected off of them. She couldn't describe his hair either, except that it was too light to be black, and too dark to be blonde.

Blonde. Not many people had blonde hair anymore. There was only one that she could think of. Only one. And she thought of him enough.

/Why should I give my body to anyone anymore?/

Abused and neglected and unappreciated.

/Why should I let anyone into my heart?/

Battered and worn. Ice too thick to crack open.

/Is it even there anymore? Yes. Or else it wouldn't be so painful./

She gazed into eyes that had no description, only feeling. They weren't harsh. They didn't demand service, or seek revenge, or stare mindlessly at the ceiling in the middle of what was supposed to be passion. They didn't look through her, pushing her away with careless indifference.

They looked at her.

/Why should I trust you?/

Keisuke's hold tightened as she looked up at him, keeping her warm as he promised. Her gaze questioned him from underneath long lashes, peering between the shadows and into his heart.

Whatever was found there was like nothing Soi had every witnessed. Even if she had not found something to appease her loneliness, she might have tipped her head towards his anyway. Altered the angle so that his mouth could find hers. But Keisuke was not like the others. And that made the difference.

He sighed into her arms as she leaned up to kiss him, opening his mouth hesitantly as the soft tip of her tongue passed over the crevice between his lips.

/Why should I trust you?

Because you already do./

* * * * * * * * * *

Staring thoughtfully, the untainted voyeur sits.

He certainly hadn't been getting off on any of the happenings thus far, and he hadn't planned to on any subsequent adventures that the book had in store for his best friend. But it really threw him when the Seiryuu warrior who had multiple times tried to kill Keisuke's sister, leaned over and offered a kiss to his innocent lips.

It wasn't that Tetsuya thought he didn't deserve to be kissed by an undoubtedly attractive woman, or that he wasn't worthy of any further…gifts she might happen to bestow upon his body. And it wasn't that he didn't see it coming either. He was well aware of the high degree of sensitivity that his friend possessed. But that was the problem. Keisuke was just so damn…

Nice.

Always. He was always like that. Hypersensitive to the feelings of others; never to his own. It wasn't a bad quality, it just wasn't always an asset. Keisuke lived to make people happy, loved to see them happy. But 'martyr' was not the proper term. He didn't give up anything of his own for anyone else. He turned their plight into his. Their happiness became one in the same. He would cry with them.

If Soi needed someone to love, then he would let her.

It was Tetsuya who had to give for a cause. His friend was now in a book, instead of in the seat across from him, offering silent comfort as he slept.

Tetsuya was the martyr. And a selfish, regretful one at that.

But Keisuke always came back from his crusades, never leaving Tetsuya alone for too long, dragging him along for the ride. They were best friends. He always came back. He had to…

"Would you like anything to drink?" A cheerful smile shone down on him. "We have juice, soda, beer…"

Tetsuya slammed the book on his hand. "Uh…No…I'm good."

"Anything for your friend when he gets back?"

"…No…I think he's fine."

* * * * * * * * * *

Silence washed over the Seiryuu camp as the warriors slept, their shallow breaths swallowed up in the night as the wind passed by. All was still to the stars and the moon that covered the sky, hidden by waves of clouds that refused to budge, the light trapped inside, unable to reach the sleeping bodies. To them, the stars did not exist. They slept heavily in the night, existing only for themselves, only for what they could see.

Except for Soi, who existed for another. And Keisuke, who did the same for her. At least while he was there…

"What if…" Keisuke muttered between kisses. "If I'm not supposed to be here…If I'll cause problems…"

Soi trailed a finger from the base of his neck to his tender lips, washing over their pulsing redness with her fingertip. "No. You're probably not supposed to be here." She moved closer in his lap and brushed her mouth against his, teasing it with her breath. "But you are."

Keisuke parted his lips in agreement, sliding his tongue out to meet hers. The wetness that played across the insides of his cheeks and back over his tongue sent chills through his body that had nothing to do with the cold.

/Does he really love me?/

Does it matter?

/Will he let me love him?/

Yes.

/Am I really this lonely? Lonely enough to give myself to the first man I see?/

Lonely enough to have someone accept you. Yes.

/Will he accept me?/

Yes.

/Am I lying to myself?/

It depends what is asked.

Soi broke their contact, pulling away from his lips with a silent apology. Her hand danced along his chest, drawing promising patterns that told of more to come. "Will you stay with me?" she asked against his neck.

"Yes," he lied.

"At least for tonight?" Soi began to pepper kisses back up his jaw.

"Of course."

Their lips met again, attacking each other with a gentle ferocity that neither had ever experienced in their numbered days of physical love. Soi leaned into Keisuke's hold, giving herself to the arms that tightened around her shoulders, letting the silken strands of her hair glide through his fingers. The heat between their mouths rushed to Keisuke's ears, dyeing them a bright shade of pink, even in the shallow glow of the lantern; it spread through his arms, ending in piercing shockwaves at his fingertips; it grew and multiplied, dispersing itself through parts of his body that had never known such warmth, doing the same for Soi.

She prompted his chin into the air, sucking her way down his throat in a wet trail. Keisuke writhed under the heat, his groans of pleasure engulfed by the night.

"Let me love you…" she begged, licking over his collarbone and delving into the shadows of his shirt.

Keisuke lifted her chin, cupping her face in his hands as he passed over her melancholy smile with his thumb. "Only if I can do the same."

An invisible breeze rustled through the tent, causing Soi's robe to slip down on her shoulder; maybe she let it slip. Keisuke felt a hand on his, leading it to the sash on her robe as his breath grazed the smooth expanse of her bare shoulder. Their fingers twined together, working to undo the knot that sat in her lap, sitting so precariously and begging to be undone.

Soi moved over to the hem of his shirt, once satisfied that his hands could figure out what to do on their own. She lifted it up, making him shiver as her hands flattened over barely-defined chest muscles, memorizing the contours as she worked the material higher up off his body.

Keisuke leaned back on the bed, luring Soi down with him as she pulled the shirt over his head. Her robe was undone in the front, showcasing her creamy skin as it slid back off her shoulders. So beautiful and worn in with experience, so soiled, so neglected.

Fingertips trailed down her cheek as she hovered over him, assuring her that he thought she was anything but soiled, promising her that the negligence would not last. "You're so beautiful," Keisuke whispered, worshipping the gentle curve of her breast as he washed over it with his touch.

"No I'm not."

Her robe fell down against the back of her calves as she leaned over him, hair flowing past her shoulder and onto his chest, casting the hand that insisted on touching her into darkness. "You are." He moved Soi into his lap, leaning forward so that he could press his cheek against her. Kisses formed a path from her lips to her belly, pausing to take in the scent that belonged only to Soi.

She ran her hands over his back, traveling around to the front when he relinquished her body. The button on his jeans stared up at her with an air of mystery, taunting her into undoing it; pulling down the zipper without a pause, though she had never seen one before in her life. She knew what to do anyway.

Maybe it came with the job description. Or maybe she just wanted it enough…

Keisuke lifted his hips as Soi hooked her fingers into the waistband of his pants, watching his chest spasm with excited little breaths as she pulled them down into an obsolete pile at his knees. Boxer shorts soon followed.

Soi pushed him back against the bed, taking in the sight a man who wanted her. For once. He writhed under her touch as she massaged over his chest and in between his thighs, bringing the arousal, that he had up until then kept very hidden, to a new level that was far too prominent to go unnoticed any longer.

"Soi…" Keisuke gasped as the heat of her hand engulfed his erection. He gently thrust into her grasp, sighing heavily when she relinquished him.

/No one ever calls out my name into the night. Not Nakago. Not ever.

I'm not even a person to them. Not even to him…

Screw them all./

Soi fell down on Keisuke and rolled him over. Her glittering eyes gazed up at him, face framed by a mane of hair, dark purple in the shadows, that splayed across the blankets. She leaned up to kiss him, sinking back as he nudged a leg in between her thighs, warmth pooling between their bodies as he pressed into her.

The cool air did nothing to chill the damp sweat that appeared in droplets on Keisuke's back, dripping down his neck and onto his chest, mixing with Soi's as their bodies made contact.

Keisuke moved against her, placing the palms of his hands against her shoulders as he thrusted, kneading the skin in time with the grinding of his hips; worshipful friction that he didn't even know was in his power to give. Soi wrapped her arms around his shoulder in response, reaching up to tangle her fingers in his hair as he heightened the feeling of pleasure with every movement of his body, every inch that his hands passed over. Every time he muttered her name in the midst of the low breathing that filled the night.

They moved together in perfect synchronization, building up a tension that pulsed within their bodies, no longer dormant in the depths of their souls. They were immune to anything else. The chill rebounded off the heat and passion, the ice shattered in the face of true love making.

/Nothing has ever felt this real…/

Keisuke moaned over her, kissing her, licking her, biting her. Letting her bite at his throat as he moved, the perpetual rhythm unstoppable as their mouths clashed. She could feel it too. Driving her towards the edge as his hands traveled over her body, worshipping the curves and the femininity that had been ignored and ignored and ignored.

Soi gasped into his mouth, caressing his tongue with hers as her orgasm washed over her in unstoppable waves. It was rather surprising that he had not climaxed first. They usually did. And they never waited for her.

She would wait.

Keisuke came soon after, driving his body against Soi's, clutching her as if it were his only solace. They fell into each others arms, naked with glistening sweat in the dull light of the fading lantern. Fading as their eyes closed. The heavy lids too much to keep control over.

Nothing had ever been like that.

Nothing.

/And nothing will again./

Keisuke brushed his mouth against her forehead, leaving the whisper of a kiss to do as it pleased as he fell asleep in her arms.

* * * * * * * * * *

There was no word to describe the absolute…uniqueness of what he had just experienced. Reading about his best friend making love as he was doing it was something that deserved no description.

Yet, Tetsuya had no choice but to keep reading. The book would not progress unless someone on the outside world was experiencing it too.

The book acted in funny ways.

The insistent voyeurism was, in fact, the least of its eccentricities. What was more susceptible to change, and far less logical, was the way it arbitrarily decided when it was time to enter and leave.

Well, perhaps the entering part, at least this time, had not quite been the full fault of the book. The exiting part was far more debatable.

Some would see it as fulfillment. When the person taken into that book had fulfilled the requirements that had sent them there in the first place, they were returned.

But what if the person wasn't sent there for a reason. What if he made it there because of a mistake. An Idiot. Foolish. Mistake.

Would it make up a reason?

If so, Keisuke's reason undoubtedly pertained to Soi, or else he wouldn't have landed in her tent. And he undoubtedly met his requirements, for there wasn't much else that he could do without Nakago slicing him in half.

Or maybe there was no logic.

It was arbitrary, totally and completely. And Keisuke only did what he thought he should.

Was that the way it worked?

Tetsuya didn't know on what basis it made its decisions, but he hoped that it would be on his side on this one. He wanted…no…

Heneeded Keisuke back.

It wasn't a matter role fulfillment. Not to him. Not anymore. Tetsuya didn't give a crap what that godammed book wanted Keisuke for. He just wanted his best friend back.

He was his friend. He needed to be back with him. Needed his damn niceness.

Did the book understand the will of a human being? The will of the people reading, the will of the people in it.

Tetsuya didn't care. Just so long as it gave Keisuke back. He needed him.

Needed him to come…

* * * * * * * * * *

Back.

Tetsuya slammed the book and let it fall to the ground at his feet. Keisuke stirred in the seat across from him, still asleep.

Maybe the book did understand willpower.

It had even had the decency to put his clothes back on.

Keisuke looked so peaceful, so unbearably, sinfully content, even in his sleep.

Tetsuya reached over and found the pillow that had been abandoned so suddenly, smoothing it out as he lifted Keisuke's head, smoothing his bangs back over his forehead as he let the boy settle into the fluff.

So content. Both of them.

* * * * * * * * * *

Content.

The wind whistled through the night as the moon reached its highest peak in the sky. Nakago did not even notice when Soi did not wake him up for their ritualistic exchange of energy. Which was all it was.

She pulled the blankets back over her, not bothering to put her robe back on, still savoring the lingering memory of his caress on her skin.

He was gone now. She knew it would happen. But it didn't bother her. Not half as much as knowing that she would never experience such love again. That no one would accept her love like that again.

Not anywhere near as much as knowing that she would get up to go make love to Nakago in twenty-four hours.

But not tonight.

She pulled the blanket tighter around her, smiling sadly to herself in the darkness. The cold washing over her in waves that she had never bothered to feel before.

She shivered.

* * * * * * * * * *

~fin~