Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ Koi wa Kurushimi ❯ And indeed there will be a time ( Chapter 1 )

Koi wa Kurushimi
By Djinn Hashiba-Maxwell

And indeed there will be a time
To wonder, "Do I dare?" and, "Do I dare?" --
Time to turn back and descend the stair

- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock
- T.S. Eliot

* * *

"Ow!!"

Ryo jumped in surprise and fretfully rubbed the back of his head, searching for a bump. "Hey! What the hell was that for?"

Touma tossed another rock in the air and caught it a few times while he thought that over. "Wakarimasen." He finally shrugged. "Give me a second and I'll think of something." He heaved the rock in his hand and then bent to search for another.

"Knock it off!" Ryo demanded as he dodged.

"Hey, I know!" Touma cried triumphantly. "This is for sleeping with my sister!!" He threw another stone at his companion.

"Oh, you are really asking for it, Touma!!" Ryo replied, searching for ammunition of his own. "Besides, you're the one that killed her!"

"Yeah, sure, but that's what we were paid to do! Nothing in the contract about you getting your rocks off!" Touma laughed. "Besides," a very attractive pout, "I thought that's what you kept me around for."

Ryo was helpless against that expression. He tossed aside the rock he had acquired and instead grabbed his companion by the wrists and pulled him close, before roughly shoving him up against one of the crumbling walls of the ruins (an action which brought a shocked yelp from the younger man's throat) and crushing their lips together. Touma made a brief startled noise against Ryo's lips before relenting, one hand tangling in the disorder of Ryo's unbound black hair.

"Nice to see you're still easy." Ryo murmured, somewhat breathlessly, as they parted. Touma, not even winded, just laughed.

"Watch yourself. I'm a mercenary, not a whore!" he replied, flipping his long blue ponytail over one shoulder.

"You mean you can't be both?" Ryo responded, mock serious.

Touma winked. "Only for the right price. But I happen to know that you're a credit risk." He said. "Where is this guy, anyway? The sun is way past noon."

"He'll be here." Ryo said with certainty. "He was damn near desperate."

"For what?"

"A murderer."

* * *

In the city of Takayama, in the Gifu prefecture, the majority of political clout was held by the sickly old lord Aito Kirousu. His health had never been worse than it was these past few years, and it was believed he would not survive his latest illness.

He had only one child and heir - a daughter, Mikitsuna. They called her Ban no Bara, the rose of night, because for all her youth, she was dark and perfect.

And, if assassins had anything to say with it, doomed.

* * *

Date Seiji did not typically work as a bodyguard, but with the amount of money Aito offered, any mercenary would have to be a masochist to refuse. And Seiji, despite his share of nasty rumors, was not a masochist.

And besides, he could not in good conscience refuse to protect a ten year old girl, whether she was the rose of night or the pig sty princess. Innocence was innocence.

Date Seiji was famous for several reasons. One was that he was so handsome, it was said the emperor's youngest daughter had fallen in love with him at first sight. Another was the rumor that he was the bastard son of a European trader, which would explain the shockingly light shade of his hair. But the most significant reason for Date-san's fame was his complete and utter lack of any emotion whatsoever.

It was said that, as a child, Seiji had watched bandits brutally murder his mother and father, and ever since he had let no one close to him. The voracity of this statement was questionable, but Seiji's icy demeanor was pure fact. He was stone.

Cold, pale stone.

* * *

If the stories were to be believed, Seiji's looks had captivated a princess the first time they met. Hashiba Touma, however, captivated the Empress when she happened upon a mere drawing of him on a wanted poster. He was considered to be the most devious of assassins, largely because of those looks. Men and women alike would kill themselves for him, if he but asked. In fact, he had rid himself of more than one lover using a similar ploy.

The only lover who had lasted was Sanada Ryo, a fellow mercenary, and Touma's unofficial partner. Ryo wasn't quite obsessed with Touma - he valued his life too much to fall in love with someone who would easily betray him - but on the other hand, there really was little that he would deny Touma if the blue-haired man asked. Fortunately for him, Touma never asked.

"Just slice up the tyke?" Touma asked, taking a puff off his rolled tobacco cigarette. "Well that's easy."

"No it isn't." Ryo growled at him. "80 ryou, and no haggling, or we leave right now."

The man on the other side of the campfire sputtered at the demanded fee. "B-but I ... I only have 75!"

"That's too bad. Touma?" Ryo stood, expecting the blue-haired to rise and follow.

"Do you have the 75 on you?" Touma asked, leaning closer to the fire, eyes flickering with the red and orange of the flames. He flicked his tongue out over his lips, cocking his head slightly to the side. The buyer swallowed and shifted his hips uncomfortably, trying not to have Touma noticed his ... growing problem.

"H-hai ..." He said uncertainly.

"And you don't think I'm worth another five?" he asked with a pout, long eyelashes fluttering against his cheeks.

"Well ... of course you are." The buyer said, trying to cover the bulge in his hakama with his cloak. Ryo himself was quite turned on as well, and the seduction wasn't even aimed at him.

Touma trailed fingertips over his lips. "How much am I worth?" He asked lowly.

"80 ryou?" The buyer suggested uncertainly.

Touma sat back with another pout. "Only 80?" he repeated, managing to make it sound a paltry sum.

The buyer seemed to make a quick mental calculation. "You are worth 100 ryou." He said quickly.

"Really?" Touma asked, sounding intrigued, and leaning dangerously close to the fire, the light dancing over the smooth planes of his face. "And if I offered my ... services for a price of 100 ryou, you'd pay it?"

Ryo knew he should somehow be stepping in at this point. If Touma wanted to, for the sake of the game he would fuck the guy right here, without so much as asking Ryo to turn around. But before Ryo could utter a word of caution to his partner he heard a sharp gasp from their hentai patron and caught the firelight glinting off silvered steel in Touma's hand.

"You, sir, are nothing but a pedophile." Touma said, hands going through his clothes. "I'm only 16, and this is close as you'll ever get to me touching you. And by the way, I can tell from here that you have far more than 75 ryou in your pouch." The blade hovered half a millimeter over the old man's stomach. "You really shouldn't carry such wealth on you; there are thieves everywhere, you know." With nimble fingers Touma removed said wealth and tossed the small leather pouch to Ryo. The other boy nearly missed it, his mind focused on the glint of moisture on Touma's slightly parted lips. "We'll take the job." Touma finally said.

And then he sheathed the knife in his boot, from where it had come, and winked with a smirk. The patron, who was smarter than he looked or acted, turned and ran.

Ryo wasted no more precious time. He dropped the money to the ground and pushed Touma up against the wall, wrenching a started grunt from the other boy, and proceeded to all but tear the other boy's clothes off, exposing moonlight pale skin to hands, eyes and mouth.

"Ryo ..." Touma laughed, but Ryo silenced him by sealing his mouth over the other boy's as he slid his hands down Touma's pale thighs. He lifted the lithe boy easily, bracing against the cold stone wall. Without thought Touma wound his thighs around Ryo's hips for stability, while Ryo struggled to undo his hakama one-handed, letting them fall. Touma tore his mouth away, perhaps to offer a word of restraint, but it was quickly lost when Ryo pushed in to him, almost brutally, and just this side of painful. Then all that remained was a low moan, broken by the occasional gasp as Ryo fucked him hard against the crumbling stone wall. Ryo was nearly weeping from the sweetness of it when he finally came, deep inside the younger man.

As they both slid down to the grass, Touma's laugh was low and breathy and very near Ryo's ear, causing him to shiver. "I love it when you're spontaneous, Ryo." He whispered, flicking his tongue in the shell of the darker boy's ear before sitting back comfortably in the grass and promptly dropping off.

Ryo didn't fall asleep so quickly. He raised himself up on one elbow to look over the smooth planes of his lover's face. Even when asleep Touma's mask stayed in place, his lips curled up in a slight smile. Sometimes, at times like these, Ryo wondered if that smile was genuine. He knew nothing of Touma's past, only that when he met the younger man three years ago Touma's back already carried crisscrossed scars from the lash. If Ryo asked about them, Touma never replied except to laugh and change the subject.

Touma was never without his laugh. He laughed during sex.

No one had ever seen Touma cry.

Ryo more than occasionally thought back to Touma's sister. They were twins; her with hair a shade or two light than Touma's and silver-grey eyes. Her name was Shizuru. Ryo had slept with her, true, but it was barely short of rape, and even that had been more to piss off Touma than because he was horny. Touma, perversely, hadn't been pissed at all. Nor had he been (to Ryo's disappointment) jealous over Ryo's 'infidelity'.

Touma had killed her himself, off in the woods, refusing to let Ryo watch. Touma took work seriously; it wasn't the first time he had refused to let Ryo witness his kill. He said that death was like sex, and only two people should be concerned with it. But even from the woods Ryo had heard her screams, first of fear, then of anger and bitter anguish. Touma was coated with blood when he returned, panting and triumphant.

'She fought.' He'd said contentedly. 'I knew she'd fight.'

"Stop thinking so loud, Ryo." Touma murmured sleepily, cracking an eyes open. "Go to sleep. Please."

Ryo smiled and fumbled in his nearby pack for a blanket. He pulled the coarse wool over them and wrapped an arm around Touma's bare chest. Quickly he found sleep.

* * *

It was the following night, when Seiji was sitting cross-legged on the roof above Mikitsuna's apartment in the manor, that he saw the shadowed figure. It moved so fast that at first glance Seiji wasn't sure that it wasn't a trick of the flickering lantern light. But when he saw the tree branches shuddering from the movement among them, he knew he had not been mistaken. He shifted to the edge of the roof, scanning the branches of the old fig tree.

Then he saw him. Black coated him like a second skin, no flesh seemed visible at all. He crouched in the tree, cat-like, not using his hands for support. His face was upturned, unmistakably aimed towards Mikitsuna's window.

Seiji pulled a throwing knife from the folds of his robe and sent it flying.

It struck the darkened figure in the thigh, but glanced off with a metallic ping. Body armor, beneath the black. Seiji cursed under his breath as he jumped to the ground. The shadowed figure echoed his movements.

"I'm only scouting tonight; didn't intend to fight." A cheerfully lilting voice called, muffled by the mask. Seiji saw a glint of silvered steel as his opponent drew a pair of katanas. "But if you're ... up for one, I'll oblige." He managed to make the sentence sound very dirty.

"Shut up." Seiji said shortly. "You're here for the girl, aren't you?"

"The so-called 'Rose of Night'? Who else? But I already told you; not tonight." The stranger laughed.

Seiji had had enough of conversation. He lunged.

The stranger was no slouch at swordsmanship, but he was obviously not formally trained. His movements were a bit stiff, and it was only a matter of time before Seiji got through his guard. The blonde's heavy blade sliced deep into his opponent's shoulder.

He expected a cry, or at least a grunt of pain. All he got was his sword wrenched out of the flesh it was imbedded in, and then night's clouds broke and for the first time, they could see each other clearly.

"Date Seiji." The stranger breathed in surprise.

All Seiji could see was a pair of deep indigo eyes.

And then, almost before Seiji realized his opponent was retreating, he was gone.

* * *

Ryo nervously paced the ruins that served as their base. He'd told Touma not to go out alone. He'd told him that they should go together. But Touma had always been too independent for his own good.

"Damn it. If he's gone and gotten himself killed ..." he muttered.

Just then the boy in question stumbled in. His arm hung limply at his side and he looked rather dazed. His clothes had a peculiar sheen they shouldn't had, as if they were damp.

"Touma! Thank the gods. Where were you?? As if I need to ask." Ryo asked. He reached out, grasping Touma by the upper arms. Touma jerked at the contact and brushed Ryo off.

"Lemme 'lone."

"Touma!! What are you ..." Ryo suddenly looked down at his hands. The right was almost completely coated in blood, from Touma's shoulder. "K'so! Touma, you're hurt. Let me see your arm."

Touma shook him off. "'M fine. I just wanna go to sleep."

Ryo finally had to grab Touma and cut his shirt off with a small dagger.

The wound in his shoulder went all the way down to the bone, and blood poured from the slit skin. But the cut was clean, indicating that the blade that had made it was sharp. "Shimatta ... I'll have to sew it closed. I have some opium, it'll dull the pain."

Touma glared as best he could. "Don't need it. Just give me a bullet to bite on."

Ryo bit back an annoyed insistence. Touma had no fear of pain. "All right. Sit down."

* * *

"And you didn't get a look at his face?" The head guard asked Seiji.

"It was dark, and he wore a mask." Seiji replied in annoyance. "But I wounded him pretty badly. Even if he doesn't bleed out, he'll be too weak to do much."

* * *

"Don't flinch." Ryo said softly. He pinched the two halves of split flesh together. "This is going to hurt, Touma. A lot."

"Get on with it, Ryo." Touma growled, his teeth gritted.

The long, fine needle went easily through Touma's skin. The blue-haired boy, obediently, did not flinch as Ryo tied off the first loop in the thick, colorless thread they kept in their pack.

* * *

"And the princess is fine?" The guard prompted.

"Mikitsuna did not even wake." Seiji confirmed.

* * *

"Touma?" Ryo cradled Touma face in his palms, looking into half-lidded indigo eyes. "Touma. You awake?"

"Mmm-hmm." Touma muttered.

"Touma, tell me how it happened." Ryo insisted.

"The princess in the tower has a guard dog." He muttered, laughed weakly, and leaned forward to pillow his head on Ryo's shoulder. His uninjured arm curled around Ryo's waist. "'M tired, Ryo-chan." He said into Ryo's collarbone, trying to sound young, still joking even in this condition.

"You've lost a lot of blood. Go to sleep." Ryo whispered soothingly, running a hand down Touma's bare back, trying not to shudder from the stick warmth of Touma's breath against his skin. Touma was quickly out like a light.

* * *

Djinn: Hey guess what!

Kaiya: *poof* What?

Djinn: GAH!! Where did you come from? You're not in this story!

Nai: *poof* We live in your head!!

Djinn: Gah ... well, anyway, I have the next two chapters of this story written, BUT ... you don't get them until I get a good number of reviews! I'm not specifying a number because I don't have to.

Kaiya: And no one-or-two word reviews, ne?

Nai: Koishii, you're so picky!

Djinn: Click the button below and review! I'm gluttonous!

Kaiya: Anou ... when are you gonna work on OUR story again?

Nai: Yeah! Your leaving people hanging on 'The Universe'!

Djinn: Considering what I'm planning to do to you, I don't think you want me to continue! Heeheehee.