Samurai 7 Fan Fiction ❯ Crimson Hearts ❯ Watch! ( Chapter 10 )

CRIMSON HEARTS
© December 28, 2005 By Rory V. Pascual


CHAPTER TEN: Watch!

"I feel really uncomfortable about doing this."

Rikichi was with Shichiroji. The two men were sitting on opposite sides of a thin screen that led into the private bath.

"This is nothing, Rikichi-san," Shichiroji reassured the fidgety farmer. "We samurai often guard our lords while they're bathing. Next to the bedroom, the baths are vulnerable to any assassination attempts."

"But I feel like I'm peeping," Rikichi argued. "When Kanbei-sama ordered us to watch and listen…"

"He probably just meant to guard him. Simple as that. He would not give us that order if he didn't have a good reason."

The farmer breathed in deeply. "I think he had a different motive for making us stand guard here. I wish I hadn't reacted as badly as Mikumari-sama had earlier."

Shichiroji reached out and patted the distressed man on the back. "It's very difficult for Kirara-dono to accept what she had witnessed these past days. At least, she is very honest with her feelings." He glanced sideways at the screen. "But I'm afraid that she had hurt Kanbei-sama this time with what she had said."

Katsushiro was having a similar conversation with Kikuchiyo. They were perched comfortably on the ledge of a small window outside the bath. Both were bundled up in cloaks as protection against the cold night air.

Kikuchiyo shivered as a breeze blew, that he hugged his axe close to his body. "I don't know about this, Katsu-sama. Whatever it is that Kanbei-sama told us to watch, I don't think I want to find out."

"I believe that command is intended more for Kirara-dono, and perhaps for Shichiroji-dono as well," the young warrior replied. "If you recall, Shichiroji-dono was speaking to him when we rushed to the bow."

"Are you saying you're just going to turn blind eyes and deaf ears towards what's about to happen inside?"

"No. Of course I will watch and listen." Katsushiro then admitted, "I owe Sensei that much."

Kikuchiyo's head tilted inquiringly to the side at that statement. "What do you mean?"

"Three years ago, I made the mistake of judging him prematurely. I was disillusioned when he was captured so easily after he tried to rescue Sanae-dono at the original Capital. I was very angry that he went off on his own and did not take us with him. It's an understatement to say that I berated him for his foolishness. I should've realized then that Sensei was protecting us, that he did not want another one of us to die after we had just lost Gorobei-dono."

"But what if…the bath…it's not something that you want to see?"

"Even if I don't want to, I must. And Kirara-dono must do the same. It is very clear to me that Kanbei-sama is doing this so that we would understand his situation." Katsushiro said in determination, "Even if it is something that I could not take, I will do as he had commanded. It's the least I could do for him."

Against the young woman's wishes, Kyuzo had taken Kirara to the place where they would have the best view – a large air duct overlooking the entire bath.

Kirara's cheeks were burning hotly, her eyes squeezed tight. "We shouldn't be here, Kyuzo-sama!" she hissed at the crimson warrior. "I can't stay a minute a longer!"

"Why?" Kyuzo asked snidely. "Don't you find the view to your liking?"

"Show some prudence and close your eyes, damn it!"

Kanbei was standing under a stream of water falling from the mouth of a carved tiger. Three male attendants were tending to the samurai's scarred, yet still magnificent body. It did not escape Kyuzo's eye the way those attendants lingered over the delectable portions of his anatomy – fingers combing through his long hair, fingertips tracing the firm mounds of his chest, hands cupping his taut bottom.

It irritated the crimson warrior that they could touch the elder samurai so freely.

After they had finished washing him, they led Kanbei into the steaming bath, stepping into the water and sitting down on an unseen seat beneath the lapping waves.

"You can open your eyes now," Kyuzo told the young woman beside him.

Kirara's eyelids fluttered open. "I can't take much more of this. We shouldn't be here in the first place."

"Kanbei-san gave us an order and we are duty bound to obey it. Why should you find this distasteful anyway? Don't you like to see your beloved in his most unguarded moment like this?"

"I am not a pervert like you! You're the one who seems to be delighted to see Kanbei-sama's bare flesh."

"And you aren't? Doesn't it stir your loins to see him naked, his body being touched and…"

"ENOUGH!" Kirara clapped her hands over her ears. "I don't want to hear anymore!"

She was surprised, however, when the glint of mischief disappeared from his ruby eyes to be replaced by great sorrow.

"But you have to, Kirara-dono," Kyuzo whispered, his voice strained. "Watch and listen. You owe it to that man."

"WELL, WELL!"

The attendants started shrieking at the sound of the Amanushi's voice, and they fled from the bath, leaving a visibly exasperated Kanbei behind them. Then, the evil lord himself appeared, dressed in a long robe with the samurai's katana hanging at his hip.

Kirara was immediately seized by fear. Clutching Kyuzo's sleeve, she said, "We must do something, Kyuzo-sama. I think he intends to kill Kanbei-sama."

To this, the crimson samurai only shook his head. "No, he will not kill Kanbei-san. He has something else on his mind. Something sickening."

Fear was reflected in the young woman's eyes. "Kyuzo-sama…"

"It seems your attendants have abandoned you, my dear warrior," Amanushi declared. "It is only you and I. You cannot escape me this time. I swear that I will make you mine."

"Stop this foolishness, Tetsuo," Kanbei told the lascivious lord. "I am not amused by your role play. Just do what you want with me."

That reply annoyed the Amanushi. "Come now. As you said, this is just a little drama to spice things up between us. Maybe if you showed even a little resistance, it might heat up your blood a bit."

"It is only your blood that will be heated up, not mine. Why even bother with all this playacting? You know damned well that I will always resist you."

"Yes, that is indeed true. It remains my biggest frustration that you never come to me willingly. But still…"

Kyuzo clapped his hand over Kirara's mouth to stifle her shocked cry, as the Amanushi suddenly reached down. Grabbing a fistful of Kanbei's hair, he dragged the older man out of the bath and threw him face down on the tiled floor. The evil lord opened his robe to reveal his stiff erection. Kirara's eyes filled with tears as the Amanushi straddled the samurai she loved.

"There is a certain appeal to having one's consort resisting your advances and then surrendering in the end," the ruler muttered, spreading Kanbei's thighs with his hands and knees. "You have no choice but to surrender. Because if you don't, you know what will happen to your beloved Kanna Village."

"NO!" was Kirara's muffled cry, shaking her head, hearing that painful truth coming from the Amanushi's lips.

"Never mistake my passiveness for surrender," Kanbei declared strongly, even though he knew what was about to happen next. "Inside my heart, I will always detest you. You will never claim me willing!"

"Then so be it!"

"Oh, Sensei!" Katsushiro's hand tightened around his katana, squeezing his eyes shut to stop himself from weeping at the sound of his beloved master's tortured cry. Kikuchiyo could only look at the samurai beside him helplessly, at a loss on how to ease his pain.

Tears trickled on Rikichi's trousers, his hands gripping his knees tightly to fight the urge to run inside the bath and murder the Amanushi right on the spot. Shichiroji took one of Rikichi's hands in his trembling grasp. Those slapping wet sounds seemed deafening to the blond samurai's ears.

Kanbei-dono… Shichiroji bit down on his lower lip, causing blood to trickle from the cut.

Kyuzo knew how agonizing it must be for Kirara to witness Kanbei being violated before her eyes. Having experienced it in the past, he knew her pain. But she had to be witness to the samurai's sacrifice, just as he himself had once been. And Kanbei kept his word. He never surrendered his will to the evil ruler, serving as nothing more than a receptacle for his lust. All for the sake of a tiny farming village in the mist-covered mountains.

The crimson warrior felt Kirara fall limp into his hands. Removing his tear-drenched hand over her mouth, he released the young woman slowly. At first, Kirara just knelt there, staring blankly, as the Amanushi thrust fiercely into the tanned flesh of the samurai she cared for. Feeling sorry for her, Kyuzo laid a hand on her shoulder. Kirara, however, shook her head. Then, without saying a word, she crawled back out of the duct. He knew, that with the exception of Shichiroji and perhaps even Katsushiro, Rikichi and Kikuchiyo had also left their posts, unable to endure the sounds that they were hearing.

Kyuzo remained, a silent witness to the atrocity that was being committed upon the dignity of the warrior they all respected. For a moment, he thought he saw Kanbei tilt his head a bit to gaze up at the duct where he was hiding. The pain was all too apparent in those deep gray brown eyes.

The crimson samurai's hand closed around the grill of the vent, desperately trying to reach out to the man who was being violated below. Hold fast, Kanbei, he sent out that thought. Don't give in to him. I'm here for you.

"Kyuzo…" That utterance of his name was like a soft whisper inside his head.

Kyuzo pressed his brow to the vent, willing the warmth of his mind and heart to envelop the soul of the poor warrior. I won't leave you. No matter what happens to you, Kanbei, I will never leave you.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I made a terrible mistake! Oh, how could I have been so stupid? And I said all those awful things to him…"

Katsushiro was trying to console the weeping young woman in his arms. "I think all of us suspected it. We just didn't want to believe it."

"That must be the reason why Kyuzo-sama kept on dropping hints all over the place," Kikuchiyo noted. "I'm pretty sure Ayamaro-sama had said something to him about the character of the Amanushi."

Shichiroji chose not to remark on the scholar's comment. He could not mention to them the conversation he had with Kanbei earlier or his suspicions on the nature of the relationship between the two men.

"It pained me to learn that Kanbei-sama is…" Rikichi could not finish what he was going to say. "It's so just like Sanae. He is sacrificing himself for all of us, and for Kanna Village. I cannot allow that he suffer anymore than this."

"And I agree with you on that." The blond samurai said, "Kanbei-sama wanted us to see what he was going through, probably believing that we will find his…relationship…with the Amanushi too disturbing that we would decide to leave. Even if he had been willing, I would never permit that he would remain a toy of that man."
Kirara's tear-filled eyes shone brightly with hope. "Then, we're staying?"

"Of course we're staying!" Katsushiro exclaimed. "We're not leaving this place without Sensei!"

The young samurai blushed scarlet when a happy peck was bestowed upon his cheek. "I'm going to Kanbei-sama right now," Kirara said excitedly. "I'm going to apologize to him and tell him what we've decided."

"Yes, you do that," prodded Shichiroji, smirking. "Tell him he's not going to get rid of us that easily."

As Kirara ran off, it was only then that Kikuchiyo noticed the absence of someone in their group. "Where is Kyuzo-sama anyway?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Kanbei drew his robe close over his moist body, as he strode out onto the balcony of the chamber he shared with the Amanushi. Although the depraved ruler had abruptly departed with a squadron of Nobuseri to the east, the Amanushi had left his mark upon him. His skin still crawled at the memory of those slobbering kisses and heavy caresses. His lower back hurt, and he could feel the squelching of slick fluids inside his belly.

Did they see or hear… The samurai had no doubt that his friends had been witness to his shame.

It had been his intention to shatter his friends' illusions of him, to show them that he was never worthy of their respect. As for Kirara, it had served his purpose to break the girl's heart. Perhaps now they would leave the Capital and give him some peace.

There was a soft clink. Kanbei's brows rose, seeing the grappling hook beside his left hand. Before he could even blink, Kyuzo had already shimmied up to the balcony, draping one long leg over the railing.

"Kyuzo, wha…" Kyuzo's lips upon his own mouth immediately silenced Kanbei. Even as the crimson warrior climbed over the railing, he did not release his hold on the back of the older man's head.

"Kyuzo, stop," Kanbei whispered harshly. "The Amanushi…"

"Is not here," Kyuzo murmured in reply, as he kissed the samurai again. "I saw him leave. So I don't see that there's any problem."

The suddenness of the younger warrior's sensual onslaught proved to be too much for Kanbei. A brief parting for air, and he sagged to his knees. Kyuzo's intense stare was like a hot beam scorching his conscience.

"Do you know…"

Kanbei raised his head to see the crimson samurai shaking in controlled rage.

"Do you have any idea how painful it was to see you in that bastard's arms and…" Kyuzo revealed in a halting voice.

An uncharacteristic leer formed on Kanbei's face. "Yes, disgusting, wasn't it? The Amanushi and I…we always play these…games. He loves it whenever I play the innocent victim and…"

A hard slap fell on his cheek, causing his head to whip to the side, his long hair covering his face.

Kyuzo was livid with anger. "How long do you intend to play the victim, eh? How long are you going to continue to make these sacrifices for others who never understand you?"

The elder samurai's voice was close to breaking as he exclaimed, "Better to be misunderstood than for more innocent lives to be lost!" There was a darkening bruise on Kanbei's face as he whirled to face the younger man. "If you don't approve of what I do, then go! All of you…leave me be!"

The bright glow of the crystal on Kyuzo's wrist mirrored the rebellion inside the warrior's heart. Closing his hands into fists, he turned around and started walking back the way he came.

Despite himself, Kanbei was disheartened to see that stern figure walking away. His hand went up to clutch his chest as a gnawing pain seized his heart.

Don't leave, Kanbei's soul called out desperately, his other hand going up to beckon to the younger man. The crystal suffused his hand with a warm glow. Please don't leave me.

Then, a warm hand clasped his own. Kanbei was startled to see Kyuzo kneeling before him, a rare tender look in his crimson eyes.

Smiling, the samurai caressed the bruise on the older man's face. "How could I even think of leaving you when we still have unfinished business we need to settle between us?" He eagerly took Kanbei in his arms, his hand slipping the left sleeve down an arm and descending even lower to cup a taut mound.

Contact of that warm hand upon his bare bottom caused a blush to go up Kanbei's cheeks. Suddenly remembering his position, he gasped, "Kyuzo, don't." As he hastily pulled his robe back into place, he said, "I…I'm confused. I don't understand why you're doing this."

Kyuzo tilted his head inquiringly. "What do you mean?"

"You always talk about settling the score with me. And, yet, whenever you have the opportunity, such as you do now, you do this. I want to know what I truly am to you. Am I your enemy, your…lover, or am I just a plaything to you, just like the Amanushi…"

At that query, Kyuzo jerked the robe down to Kanbei's waist and pushed him to the floor. Before the older man could say more, he pressed a hushing finger to those parted lips.

"The problem with you, Kanbei, is that you think too much and you ask too many questions," the crimson samurai chided his elder. "Why don't you just accept things the way they are? Are the things I do not enough for you?"

"But there are times when you need words to be understood."

The warrior gazed into those troubled dark gray eyes. "No wonder Kirara is so in love with you. You are just like her. She had said the same thing to Shichiroji once."

"I want to know…Kyuzo…!"

Kyuzo pulled Kanbei into his arms, plundering those lips once more. This time, Kanbei broached no resistance to that heated passion as he all but melted into the younger man's arms. The crimson samurai devoured every inch of his lover's face, lingering to kiss an eyelid, nip at an earlobe, and then return to those full lips again.

As he descended to the side of the elder warrior's neck, Kyuzo murmured, "Your skin still reeks of his scent."

"Forgive me," Kanbei breathed out in apology. "The last time I tried to…cleanse…myself after we coupled, he…hurt and used…me again."

The sight of the healing red line at Kanbei's nape confirmed this, and Kyuzo could only rail inwardly at the evil ruler who dared to inflict this wound.

"I don't think we should do this, Kyuzo. Like you, he would know if another man had bedded me. The next whipping might be worse."

The crimson samurai let out a rare chuckle. "You should stop worrying about my back and be more worried about the state of this once I'm through with you." For emphasis, he gave the samurai's behind a sharp smack.

"Kyuzo!"

"No more talk!"

There were only two times when Kanbei had experienced fear – the first had been five years ago, the second was when he had been presented to the new Amanushi. When that alien emotion had hit him hard, he had instinctively shut off his mind to what was about to happen next. That stern command brought him back to those moments, so that his surroundings no longer registered to him. Even Kyuzo's face ceased to become a comforting image for him. Blind terror instantly caused his mind to go into automatic shutdown.

Kyuzo felt the older man falling limp into his arms, his eyes going blank. "Oh no! You're not going to do this to me!" He started shaking the warrior hard. "Kanbei! Kanbei! Come on, wake up! It's me! Kyuzo! Kanbei!"

At first, Kanbei did not respond, but after two more shakes, those gray brown eyes blinked, slowly focusing on the man above him.

"I won't hurt you, Kanbei," Kyuzo whispered reassuringly. "You know I could never hurt you."

Kanbei let out a weary sigh. "You should just kill me, Kyuzo. I don't want you to get entangled in my mixed life any more than you already have."

"I think you should let me decide that for myself. Now…" A tender smile of longing. "Please, Kanbei? Let me hold you."

It was an entreaty that Kanbei could not deny, even if the fear was threatening to overwhelm him. As he raised trembling arms to the younger man, he told himself again and again, There is nothing to fear. It's Kyuzo. It's Kyuzo.

The older warrior's apprehension was all too apparent to Kyuzo. He took those tremulous hands and laid them over his neck. As he leaned into Kanbei's tentative embrace, he eased the robe gradually down, showering every inch of bared skin with butterfly kisses.

Kyuzo felt the samurai's luscious shudder, as his lips teased a swollen nipple. When Kanbei arched his body upward, the crimson warrior was only too eager to pay lingual tribute to those sensitive gems. But he wanted so much more. He dipped even lower, licking a trail down that firm, washboard belly and poking at the hollow of his navel. In turn, something poked at his chin, and Kyuzo was delighted to see the samurai's member demanding his attention.

Kanbei bit down on the knuckles of his right hand to stifle his cry when Kyuzo took his member inside his mouth and devoured it to the root. The nest of dark curls at the older man's crotch tickled his nostrils with its intoxicating musk. Again and again, Kyuzo moved on that length, milking it of the succulent juices that it contained.

A deep, rumbling moan was elicited from Kanbei's lips as he poured his seed down his lover's throat, and Kyuzo imbibed it all, like a man who had tasted the sake of the gods and could not get enough of it.

Kyuzo drew away for a moment to gaze down at his lover. While most become aroused by a man's nakedness, he was different. Never had he seen Kanbei as alluring as he was now – in a state of dishabille, his long graying brown hair fanning out on the floor in silken waves, his robe still tied with a sash at the waist, but opened above and below that thin strip of cloth, revealing his flushed, sweat-moistened torso, long, strong legs, and the member that was again stirring to life between them.

Kyuzo could no longer hold back at the sight of the tempting feast before him.

"Are you going to… Do you want…" Knowing what was expected of him, Kanbei slowly turned to go down on all fours.

The crimson samurai stopped him and gently laid him once more on his back. Noting the questioning look, he said, "Not that way. I won't be like…" Kyuzo stopped himself from finishing what he was going to say. Tracing the older man's full lips with his fingertip, he whispered, "I want to see your face. This way, I would know if I am hurting you. Because I don't want to see you in pain. All I want to see is your pleasure."

Kanbei spread his legs in welcome. "Just do what you will with me, Kyuzo."

The submissiveness of the samurai disturbed Kyuzo, but he could no longer ignore his aching need. He yanked his trousers down to his knees to free his erection. With no further preamble, he drove his rod hard into his lover's body.

Kanbei hissed in pain at that initial entry, but willed himself to relax to accommodate the younger man's girth. Despite his early abhorrence, Kyuzo was a bit relieved that the Amanushi's slick fluids still lubricated the warrior's channel.

Kyuzo's thrusts were slow at first, trying out a steady rhythm that was not painful to his lover. But when Kanbei encircled his legs around Kyuzo's pistoning hips, the crimson samurai knew that it was no longer necessary to hold back. He quickened his pace, angling his rod so that it would strike that one part that gave his lover pleasure. To further heighten the blissful sensations, Kyuzo took Kanbei's length in his relentless grip, pumping it in time with his thrusts.

Kanbei clung tightly to Kyuzo, his exhalations coming out as soft cries of pleasure. He knew it was a terrible sin to feel such ecstasy, and in the arms of the man who was sworn to kill him. He felt like he was betraying the memory of those he had loved dearly and lost most painfully. But he could not deny what was inside his heart. It was only in Kyuzo's arms that he felt safe and complete.

As he came in the crimson warrior's hand, Kanbei pulled Kyuzo close until their bodies were pressed tight. Kyuzo's shuddering release was felt as a trembling of flesh and the spurting of warm seed inside his body.

Hugging the younger man close, Kanbei remembered Kyuzo's answer to his desperate question earlier.

"You should accept things the way they are," Kyuzo had said to him.

It was not the answer he had wanted to hear, and he doubted if he would ever get an answer. There was only one thing he was sure of.

If the miserable existence he called his life were to end, Kanbei would want this man, and this man alone, to end it for him.

"No…"

That shocked whimper caught the two men's ears, and they turned their heads in unison to see the crying figure standing before the open door.

"Why?" That one word was too heartbreaking for Kanbei to hear. "You told me to watch and I did. I believed that you were doing it against your will. But now I see you doing this…and with him…?"

"Kirara-dono…it's not what you think," Kanbei stammered, hissing in pain as Kyuzo's member was yanked out of his body at his sudden movement to face the young woman. "Let me explain."

"How long has this been going on?" Kirara demanded, fury and jealousy reflected in her anguished eyes. "How long have you been making fools out of all of us, of me?"

It was Kyuzo who was now shaking in anger. "Watch your mouth, girl! I will not have you speaking to him in that manner!"

"And how, pray tell, should I speak to him, Kyuzo-sama?" Kirara said that honorific with utter derision. Her eyes flashed with daggers and lightning as she focused on the stricken older warrior. "You are no samurai, Shimada Kanbei! You are nothing but a common whore!"

"YOU BITCH!" Kyuzo made to rush at Kirara, but as the girl fled, a cold hand around his wrist stopped him from pursuing her.

"Let her go, Kyuzo," Kanbei said, his voice heavy with misery.

"I cannot let this slight pass, Kanbei," the crimson warrior insisted. "That woman has to learn her place."

"But she's right, you know? I am no samurai. I haven't been a samurai since that night five years ago. You know that. All that traveling, all that…pretending… Nothing is going to change the fact that I am a whore."

Kyuzo's teeth clenched in anger, as he gripped the older warrior's shoulders. "Stop saying that! You were never a whore to me!"

"Then what am I to you, Kyuzo? Tell me!" Kanbei cried. "You play with my body and my heart, and yet I know nothing of your true feelings for me! You say you want to save me? But every time you take me, I feel as if I am ever sinking into the mud! That nothing could wash away the filth that has permeated to the very marrow of my bones! It is you, Kyuzo, more than anyone else, who has treated me like a whore, and it shames me greatly that, despite what you're doing to me, I could never get enough of you!"

Kyuzo was at a loss for words. Here was the confirmation he had been searching for from this samurai he had long pursued. And yet, cowardice prevented him from saying those words that he knew would ease the pain and guilt inside Kanbei's heart.

Three words… So easy to say….

In the end, all Kyuzo said was "I'm sorry," and he ran for the balcony and climbed down the rope, before Kanbei could berate his conscience any further.

* * * * * * * * * *