Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Night's End ❯ Chapter Five ( Chapter 5 )

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

Disclaimer: Weiß Kreuz and Weiß Kreuz Glühen belong to Project Weiß and whoever else has dibs on them now. I, certainly, am not one of those people, and do not claim to be. (Though it sure would warm up these cold winter nights! ^.~)
It's been far too long since I updated this. Work has been taking so much time recently that it's very hard to keep the style of this true to itself. :( This chapter has actually been sitting on my harddrive for a while now, and I decided to post it just to keep everyone happy. Don't get too attached to it though - I'm intending to go back and revise most of this later on when I have time.
Five

The next day dawned bright and clear, sunlight flooding in through the windows and dancing over the polished floors with a cheerfulness that Schuldig almost envied. The night had been hard, spent as it was on the very edge of the none-too-large cot that he had shared with Reiichi. Despite his almost instinctual fear of being in so vulnerable a position with another male, he had learned through necessity that he could manage if he was not actually touched while asleep. Staying on the farthest side of the bed accomplished this but did not allow for much rest, as he was continually startling awake on the verge of either sliding off the bed or coming too close to his bedmate.

Aya had already breakfasted and left much earlier, his demeanor that of a man going to his own execution as he walked out the door after giving parting instructions for his Consort while he was gone. It was only when the door had safely closed behind him that Reiichi had explained: he was going to visit Yohji, a childhood playmate whom he pretended to despise yet allowed himself to be talked into visiting on a regular basis.

"Perhaps at times he does truly detest him," Reiichi had said, "but for the most part, he tolerates him. Yohji is energetic, full of life, and there was a time when master was as well. Now, Yohji is merely a reminder of a time that he wishes had never gone."

"Perhaps the Consort will change things?" Schuldig had ventured, but Reiichi had shaken his head and said not to hope for too much. Then he had left as well, taking a basket and two pairs of leather riding trousers to be repaired, saying that he had errands to run and would return shortly.

Schuldig had gone into the bedchamber, settling on the end of the bed and watching the sleep-flushed face of his master for any signs of awakening. There had been none, as he had expected, but he dared not leave the boy lest he awaken while alone and become frightened. Such things would doubtlessly reach the ears of the kitsune lord, and he valued his skin much more than a few moments of solitude. So he had curled up in a tight ball at the boy?s feet, careful not to jostle him, and had promptly fallen asleep in the warm, unfamiliar comfort of the down mattress.

When he awoke a half hour later it was to the uneasy feeling that someone was watching him and that he had forgotten something important, something that should not have been forgotten. Slowly, warily, he cracked open one eye and peered up in the direction of the observer.

It was the boy, the Consort, sitting upright against the pillows and gazing at him with undisguised interest and no little confusion. His eyes, large as they had been behind their gossamer eyelids, were enormous and the blue of a clear summer sky now that they were opened. It appeared that he had been awake for some time, though not too long as the rosiness of sleep had diminished but not vanished entirely, and for a moment the two merely stared at one another, the shock of the situation stealing the words from both.

At last, Schuldig remembered the warnings he had recieved the night before and levered himself into a more appropriate kneeling position, balancing carefully so that he did not sink into the soft mattress and tip over on his face. "Master," he whispered, lowering his forehead to touch the silken sheets in obeisance, then straightening once more but keeping his eyes fixed steadily downward.

"Who are you, and where am I?" The boy's voice was clear and ringing, only a few steps away from a child's voice. "And the...kitsunes. Surely they were not a dream?"

Schuldig winced internally, though his expression never wavered. "I do not know who claimed those that were brought with you, Master, but you have been chosen as Consort to Fujimiya Aya. You have been sleeping since yesterday afternoon, when the Choosing was performed. As to your companions, those who were brought with you, I do not know exactly what has become of them."

"C-Consort?" The boy's eyes had grown larger, if that were even possible, and were looking distinctly moist. The stress of the past days would have unsettled even the strongest man, but to combine that with the dulling power of the drugs the captives had been fed left few reservations about humiliating oneself in public. Schuldig, recognizing this and desperate to prevent a scene, shook his head.

"Let's not think of that now. You have been resting for so long, surely you would like to wash the sleep-sweat from your skin? There is hot water, and plenty of soap." The tone of his voice was coaxing, wheedling, but he did not care so long as it staved off an uncomfortable display of emotion. What Reiichi would do if he came back to find the young Consort in tears and half-hysterical, Schuldig did not want to think about...but even worse if Aya were to return unexpectedly. "Come, a good hot bath and clean clothes against your skin will clear your mind. At the very least it cannot hurt, can it?"

The boy nodded slowly, lifting one small long-fingered hand to brush at his damp eyes with something like annoyance before turning to slide off the tall bed. Given no more warning than the twist of the boy's body, Schuldig barely managed to catch him before he landed on the floor, his legs too weakened by his drugged quiescence to hold him up. A squeak of dismay floated up from where the small, flushed face was pressed into his chest but the older human ignored it, lifting the boy, carrying him across the main living area to the bathing room and settling him down on the low bench beside the tub.

Reiichi had taken the time to show him where everything was stored before leaving to run his errands, and so it took little time to find the necessary bath oils and soaps. Before long the water was flowing, hot and steaming, into the tub and filling the air with the delicate scent of roses: Aya's favorite, or so Reiichi had said. The boy protested briefly when Schuldig tried to strip the thin robe from him, but gave in quickly when he realized he couldn't keep his balance long enough to undress himself, and allowed himself to be lowered into the deep tub with no more than a sigh of pleasure.

"It feels good," he whispered. "The water is so very nice and hot."

Schuldig smiled, slipping a supporting arm behind the boy's shoulders. "It will help to sweat the last dregs of the sleeping potion from your blood and awaken you. Then a good, full meal and you will feel back to rights, master."

A small frown showed between the boy's brown eyebrows, and he tipped his head back to peer groggily up into Schuldig's face. "Omi. My name is Omi...Tsukiyono."

Schuldig grunted, then covered the impertinent noise with a slight cough. It was obvious that the boy knew something about Consorts in general; there would be time enough to explain the particulars of being a Consort later. No need to point out that that was no longer his name just now. No need to upset him, when he seemed to be calming so nicely.

For a few long moments silence lay heavy in the misty air of the bathing room, only their rhythmic breathing and the occasional splash breaking it. At last, with a deep sigh, the boy straightened. "Tell me about him - about the kitsune who claimed me. About what I am to do here; why I was taken from my home. Can you do that?"

Schuldig paused, considering the water for a moment before beginning uneasily. "Yes, I can tell you somewhat. Not about your lord - I was only brought here last evening so what little I know has come secondhand from his manservant, Reiichi - but I can tell you why you are here and what will be expected of you. First, sit up a bit more and let me wash your hair. We cannot talk while your ears are filled with water." A few precious moments of time in which to gather himself might prevent anything untoward from slipping out in the explanations.

Omi seemed not to see through the ruse and only smiled, relaxing a bit more, and acquiesced, bowing his head and helping to scrub handfuls of the gelatinous soft soap into his unruly locks. It took three applications to rinse the road-grime of the past days out, but as soon as it was done he looked up expectantly and settled back against the tub's edge for the tale. Schuldig sighed.

"Very well, though I am sure that Reiichi could tell it far better than I." His tone was almost hopeful, but one small hand rose to wave him on despite the hint. Schuldig sighed. "I will begin at the beginning, if that is acceptable to you, Master." When there was no response but a vague nod of the golden, now-clean head, he gave in.

"The kitsune race is a dying one: slowly dying but dying all the same. Long ago, something occurred within the blood of the kitsunes that caused fewer of their females to be born; at first the decline was not noticeable, but at last it became a cause of great worry because if there were few females then there were few children. Soon there would be no children, and then the kitsunes would die out. So, the elders began to search for a way to propagate their kind. They tried impregnating the females of every tribe that they conquered, they tried conquering new tribes and races in the hope that they might eventually find one that was compatible. But nothing worked."

"There was not a way to cause more of their own females to be born? Or to make those that there were more fertile?"

"No, or at least no way that they could ever find. But finally they came to a small village of Men, and there they had a bit more luck. Whereas they had never before been successful in impregnating a female of another race, a few of these humans not only became gravid but bore offspring. Stillborn offspring, dead before they could draw breath, but it gave hope.

"Years later, however, they had still been able to coax nothing more than stillborn babes from the wombs of human women. Desperate now, afraid that they had made a grave error and thrown away valuable years on a failed experiment, they began searching for anything, anything at all, that might work. And it was then that one of the elders took to his bed a boy, a human boy who had only just passed his majority and had yet to develop the hard angles of a man. At first it was only done in lust, not meant to produce anything more than a few moments of physical pleasure, but four months later the boy's pregnancy was visible to any who had the gift of sight. Five months after that, he bore a live infant son. A human child, but they did not admit defeat and with time they discovered the secret of fathering kits on their consorts."

Omi half-lifted out of the water, allowing Schuldig to scrub more soap over the soft skin of his chest and back down to his hips. "So that is why I am here? Why the kitsunes raid human villages? Because only human males can bear them children?" The voice held a small quiver, and when he tilted his head back on his shoulders to look Schuldig in the eye the other human could see that his cheeks had gone pale as well.

"Yes, because so far in all their research only human males have produced live offspring."

"I shall be expected to have intercourse with the kitsune who claimed me. Like man and wife." It was not a question, rather a quietly wondering statement, and Schuldig decided that discretion was indeed the better part of valor, keeping his tongue safely behind his teeth for once. The next question was stronger, as though Omi had already swallowed the strangeness of his new position and found that he could survive it.

"Do they have to be young men? Boys, like the first one? Or do the kitsunes simply prefer it that way?"

"No, it is not a requirement for the conception that the bearer be young. But it is favored among kitsunes that their bed partners, whether consort or slave, be young and pretty boys." Schuldig snorted indelicately. "The definition of pretty may vary from kitsune to kitsune, but some level of youth and beauty is a necessity for their tastes."

Omi stood, leaning against the side of the tub for support as Schuldig sluiced clean water over him to rinse off the clinging soap suds. As he finished, carefully lifting the young consort from the rapidly cooling bath onto a mat laid out to catch drips, another question occurred to the boy's quick mind.

"But if the children are born from the seed of a kitsune and the body of a human, does that not make them half-human?"

"No, when the bond is present the issue will be full-blooded kitsune, ears and tail intact. And when a kitsune lies with a human slave the issue is fully human. Nothing is done by halves, though I'm sure few or none could explain why."

Omi halted in the act of wrapping a towel about his head, another already tightened about his hips to protect his modesty. "Bond? What bond is this?"

"When the kitsune master and the consort lie together their first night, a bond is begun between them. It is intangible to humans, cannot be seen or felt, but to the kitsune it is like a drug and they find it utterly irresistible for the first fortnight or so of the pairing. During that fortnight the bond grows in strength, becoming more and more powerful until at last even the consort can feel its presence. The aphrodisiac quality of it wears off after a bit, usually at the end of the fortnight, and the only evidence that is left of it is the consort's ability to bear." Schuldig shrugged, reaching out to take the towel from over Omi?s head and vigorously rub his sodden hair dry. Omi sighed.

"And to think it was all a mistake, a chance finding that could otherwise never have been discovered."

"It might have been better that it never be discovered, but there is little help for that now. Now, would you like something to eat before other duties arise? Something light, perhaps."

Omi smiled, but Schuldig noticed that the expression had turned wan at the mention of "other duties". Apparently, the idea was yet galling him more than he cared to let show. "Yes, I am hungry though I had not noticed it at first. What is there to eat?"

The redheaded attendant laughed, feeling slightly giddy now that the initial explanation was finished. "Better to ask what there is not! Reiichi must have ordered the kitchens clean this morning, in preparation for your awakening. But I know for a fact that there is fruit and fresh, soft bread, some milk and cold porridge. The fruit is grapes, an apple or two, and some citrus slices, I believe." He bent down to gather the dampened mat off the floor, draping it over the side of the bath as Omi engulfed himself in an overlarge bathrobe that was all too obviously his lord's.

"I'm not sure...maybe I can just look and see?"

The tone was suddenly weary and Schuldig straightened from his search for a suitable hairbrush to gaze at the boy with worry in his green eyes. "Of course, Master. Would you like to rest on the settee while I prepare it?"

Omi nodded, small hands pulling the robe tighter about his otherwise naked body. He was preoccupied, staring at the wall opposite him yet clearly not seeing anything but the thoughts that roiled in his head. "That might be best. Where is...what am I to address him as?" The question hadn't occurred to him before and he paused with his head tilted, birdlike, to await the answer.

"My lord, you address him as 'my lord'."

"Thank you. Where - where is my lord? He was not in the bedchamber, nor was he in the living chamber when we passed."

"He left earlier this morning to visit a childhood friend who has also claimed a consort. I do not know when he will return, though Reiichi said that such visits often encompass several hours so it should not be before you finish your meal. Unless you eat very slowly, that is." He threw the boy a lopsided grin hoping to elicit a response from him, but the return smile was a weak and colorless thing.

"I won't, I promise. I just wanted to know how long I have to prepare myself. He-he will want...will want that when he returns, will he not? For a fortnight at least, maybe more."

"I expect so, Master" Schuldig answered quietly, allowing the boy's solemn mood to dampen his own. "It will be perhaps a bit rough at first, due to the growing bond, but it will not be so bad. There is pleasure enough in the act, no matter how rough, if you let your mind roam and concentrate only on the sensations."

Omi only nodded, perhaps recognizing the personal experience that had laced the tone, and thoughtfully followed his attendant from the steam-fogged bathing chamber to the more airy living quarters. He ate his meal - a cluster of sweet white grapes and a small bowl of the cold porridge that Aya favored above all else - in silence, cross-legged before the low table in the living area with the bathrobe tucked about his knees. Reiichi returned as he was picking at the stems of the grapes, dipping them in the porridge and licking them off with an air of total concentration, but Omi spared only enough attention to smile and wish him a good morning, wasting little time beyond polite formalities when he realized that the newcomer was not Aya. The manservant did not seem surprised and merely went about his business, tucking away the items he had brought without a word.