InuYasha Fan Fiction ❯ Best Laid plans... ❯ The fence around my heart... ( Chapter 2 )

Best laid plans...

 

Chapter 2: The fence around my heart...

 

By kira

 

Author's note: The following first appeared as part of 30 Au Ban/Jak kisses over at ff.net. It was kiss number 25. I've made a minor adjustment to help it fit into the story as a whole.

 

FYI: Pizza-LA is a real pizzeria in Japan. Italiana is a real item on their menu. So is crab, corn and Italian parsley. Tatsuta mix is a side dish consisting of fried chicken pieces and fried potato sticks.

 

Thank you once again, Jen, for looking it overfor me. I really appreciate it!

 

Still don't own these two...

 

 

888

 

A few days later, Jakotsu sat in the living room, staring blankly at the TV. He had no idea if the program he had been watching had ended or not. Not that he cared as his mind was on other things, namely his life-partner. The cross-dresser, who had never really felt loved, had spent a lifetime building a fence around his heart to keep out the hurt. But somehow, a small, dark man with the most amazing blue eyes, found a way in. It was as if Bankotsu had put a gate in that fence and Jakotsu found he liked it. He was smiling contentedly when Bankotsu returned from the kitchen, a cold Kirin in one hand and a cup of tea in the other.

 

“What happened?”

 

“You put a gate up... no, you tore down the fence,” the cross-dresser said distractedly as he accepted the proffered tea.

 

“Hunh?” Are those pain meds getting to you?

 

Jakotsu looked at his life-partner and blinked as is finally noticing his presence. He smiled sheepishly at him as he carefully shifted position. “I was just thinking about how you tore down the fence around my heart. It's strange because I've always been leery of letting people get close to me,” he said seriously.

 

“But you have a ton of friends.” Bankotsu frowned.

 

“No, Ban honey, I have a ton of acquaintances. I actually have very few friends.” He sipped his tea. “And I've had a number of lovers too, but only one love of my life.” Jakotsu carefully and slowly leaned over and kissed his life-partner's cheek. “Thank you for breaking down that fence.”

 

Okay... “You're welcome...” Bankotsu lifted his arm to let the cross-dresser settle more comfortably against him. “How's your leg?”

 

“It's fine, Ban honey. Sui said it's going to hurt for a while as it heals and the pain meds he gave me have been helping. I feel so stupid slipping on your underwear like that.” He chuckled ruefully, before finishing his tea, handing the empty cup to Bankotsu.

 

“You're just lucky you didn't hit your head on the wall as you went down. You could have had a nasty concussion too.” Bankotsu moved his arm up to rest on his life-partner's shoulder.

 

“I know.” Jakotsu tried settling in, but could not get comfortable; the pain in his broken leg making it difficult to fidget. “The only saving grace in the whole sorry affair was that I was still half-dressed. I knew I should have worn my lucky panties that day.” They laughed. “I really appreciate you worrying about me, but I'll live. I'm just sorry you don't want to go out to dinner any more because of it,” the cross-dresser said softly as he hugged his life-partner.

 

“Don't worry about it, there's nothing wrong with spending your anniversary at home. Why don't I call Pizza-LA and get a large Italiana?”

 

“Okay, but why don't you order half Italiana and half whatever it is you like with mayonnaise and corn...”

 

“Crab and corn with crab sauce. It's the best, Sweetness.” Bankotsu chuckled at the face his life-partner made.

 

“No thanks... Pepperoni and sausage is about as adventurous as I get.”

 

“You want that instead? They'll make it for you.”

 

“No. Honestly, I prefer plain cheese and tomato sauce.” Anything else usually winds up tasting like shit... One of these days, I have to take you to New York for some real pizza. “Ooh... you know what? I feel like having some of their Tatsuta mix too.”

 

“Okay.” Bankotsu reached for the phone. Picking it up, he dialed and placed their order. “It'll be here in a half hour, forty five minutes.”

 

“Good...” the cross-dresser said airily. He closed his eyes and carefully turned his broken leg onto its side. Bankotsu had helped him prop it up on the coffee table earlier but it was starting to get uncomfortable. “Ban honey?”

 

As if reading his mind, Bankotsu got up and slowly brought Jakotsu's leg over to the couch. After making sure the cross-dresser was fine and not in pain, he sat down next to him.

 

“Thanks...” Jakotsu said as he settled more comfortably into Bankotsu's embrace.

 

They “watched” the TV in companionable silence while they waited for their anniversary dinner to arrive, each lost in their own thoughts.

 

Curiosity eating at him, Bankotsu finally asked, “What did you mean before about me tearing down a fence...?”

 

“Well, ummm... despite being outgoing and knowing a lot of people, there aren't many people I'm close to. It goes without saying that you are one of those people, Ban honey, if that's what you're worried about.”

 

“No, I was just trying to understand you better. That's all.”

 

Jakotsu laughed. “Good luck, cuz I don't even understand myself.”

 

“I guess that it's just that I find it very hard to believe that someone as charming and popular as you are has very few friends.”

 

“Oh... Well, that's because despite being afraid of being hurt and a disappointment to others, I'm an optimist at heart and that's why I turn on the charm. I keep hoping I'll meet someone who'll like me for me and not because I'm famous or something...”

 

“Yeah...?”

 

“Yup.” The cross-dresser sighed. “Growing up I've always felt different, besides looking different from most people, I figured it out at puberty that I must be gay. It's hard when your friends go on about so-and-so suddenly losing her kooties and becoming cute, when you look at said friend and think he's cute. I also dated a lot of girls in junior and senior high, but never more than a date or two, so I had a reputation as a ladies' man,” he laughed, “And yet, all the girls still all wanted to be my friend, even if they couldn't be my girlfriend. I always thought that was odd.” He frowned. “Sui once said that's because I was a safe date, one where they could practice their feminine wiles without worrying about leading me on, not that any us of realized that's what we were doing... And then I came here, got into college, disappointed my parents in my choice of a major to the point that after a year, my father refused to pay for my housing and I met Sui. I was just starting to build that `fence' so he got in pretty easily, although not giving a shit that I was gay, and by then beginning to cross-dress as part of becoming an onnagata, had a lot to do with it.”

 

“Really?”

 

The cross-dresser nodded. “Yeah...while I had played with make-up before then, that's when I got really serious about it. It was my second semester there, and I got cast in the role as some background princess. I might have had a line or two, I don't remember, but apparently I was so good everyone thought I was a girl and my teachers pushed me in that direction.” Jakotsu smiled at the memory. “So I lived the role to help bring me closer to a feminine ideal as so many onnagata before me have done.”

 

“That's nice, but it doesn't really explain a thing, Sweetness.”

 

“No?” Jakotsu sat up too quickly, and he winced at the pain in his leg.

 

“You okay?”

 

“Yeah...”

 

“Anyway, while it's nice to know you've dated girls,” Bankotsu teased. “It doesn't explain shit about your fence.”

 

The cross-dresser smiled. “It's the art of misdirection... tell just enough so that someone feels they know me, but not everything. I'm sorry, Ban honey, but it's a hard habit to break. I know you'd never hurt me, but...”

 

“But the fear of something is hard to get over.”

 

“Yeah...”

 

Bankotsu sighed. “I know I've said it a million times, Sweetness, but I'm not Naraku.”

 

“I know you aren't, Ban honey, but that was a huge hurt and you came along at a time when it would have been better if you hadn't...” Jakotsu sighed. “And yet, maybe you did come along at the right time. Maybe if you hadn't I'd be fifty and all alone and miserable.”

 

“It's good thing you're not fifty yet cuz you've got me.” Bankotsu gave his life-partner's shoulder a gentle squeeze.

 

“I know... and that's exactly why that fence around my heart is coming down. If it wasn't for you, I probably would have wound a lonely old man with a wall instead of a fence around my heart, drifting from one meaningless relationship to the next.” Jakotsu smiled impishly. “It really is true what they say...”

 

“What is?”

 

“Good things really do come in small packages,” the cross-dresser chortled.

 

“Sweetness! Not another short joke.” Please tell me it's my height your making fun of and not my package...

 

“Sorry... what can I say, I like cute little things,” he giggled.

 

“Yeah...?”

 

“Yup!” Jakotsu smiled at his life-partner. His eyes went wide when it hit him and he giggled. “You didn't think I meant your umm... hehehehe... ummm... packahahahaha...”

 

“What?!” The younger man felt his cheeks heating up.

 

“You did!” Jakotsu chortled. “Hehehehe...”

 

“Did not!”

 

“Did too!” The cross-dresser giggled. “I'm sorry if you thought I was insulting your manhood... I mean it too,” he said seriously, before having another giggle fit.

 

“I know it's just the meds talking...”

 

“Ban honey, you are the best thing that ever happened to me and I'd never hurt you in a million years. And if I could, I'd build a fence around your heart with me inside, just so I can selfishly keep you all to myself, and I'd do it in a heartbeat too...” he trailed off softly, leaning in to kiss his the younger man.

 

Me too... Bankotsu thought as he met him halfway for the kiss.