Yami No Matsuei Fan Fiction ❯ Shadows and Flame ❯ Chapter 6 ( Chapter 6 )

Shadows and Flame6

 

Tatsumi sat on his living room couch sorting through the half ton or so of paperwork he had brought home. He had tried to get some sleep but found his mind was full of too many things to really settle down. So he had opted to tackle the paperwork, which usually cleared his head. Tonight it wasn't working though. He kept thinking about Blaze and Watari and what they were probably doing right now. It was driving him crazy.

 

He took off his glasses and settled back on the sofa, putting one arm over his eyes to block out the glare of the overhead light. Stop torturing yourself baka. You might have been able to do something about what's going on between them if you'd said something earlier but it's too late now.

 

He thought he heard a light knock on his door. Almost as if the person knocking didn't really want him to hear it. He waited for a moment, listening. Then heard another knock, this time more forceful. Glancing at the clock he noticed it was nearly two in the morning. Who would be knocking on my door at this hour?

 

He only realized he was wearing nothing but pajama bottoms when he opened the door and saw Blaze staring at him. He slowly started turning the color of the dress she was wearing. He immediately turned around.

 

“Sorry. I wasn't expecting anyone at this hour,” he said.

 

“Evidently not,” she said. “It is an extremely nice view though. Who knew that was under a suit?” She was admiring the lean lines of muscle that ran down his back. “Can I come in?”

 

“Oh! Certainly,” he said stepping out of the way.

 

She came in and shut the door behind her.

 

“Dear gods, Seiichiro, I think you're trying to kill me again,” she said. Letting her eyes run the length of his shoulders and back as he started searching under the paperwork for something. Her hands suddenly itched and longed to follow the path of her eyes. Wondering what his skin would feel like under her fingers.

 

“How so?” he asked distractedly. He was looking for his robe, remembering he'd left it in the bedroom.

 

“Never mind,” she said. Taking a deep breath and expelling it slowly as he turned around. The view from the front was even better than the back. “You left your jacket at the restaurant. Yutaka went back and got it. I thought I'd bring it back to you.”

 

“Thank you,” he said, taking the jacket from her arms. His fingers brushed along the bare skin on the inside of her arm. He pulled his hand back so fast Blaze would have sworn he'd been burned.

 

She sighed heavily. It wasn't a verbal rejection but it was close enough. She didn't think anything else had hurt so much in all her afterlife. Wondering how both she and Hisoka could have been so wrong at reading his reactions to her. I'd better leave before I say or do something stupid, she thought.

 

“Well, I'll let you get back to your paperwork,” she said, turning to leave.

 

Baka, she's leaving again. Do something! “Blaze, wait,” he said.

 

She turned back around and looked at him expectantly.

 

Thinking quickly he said, “We never got to finish our dance.”

 

“I'm pretty sure you don't have any tango music in your collection,” she said, smiling slightly.

 

“No. But I'm sure I can find something to dance to,” he said, going over to the radio and flipping through the stations for a minute before finding one he liked.

 

“Will you do me the honor of dancing with me?” he said, bowing slightly to her and smiling.

 

Blaze blinked, startled for a second. She didn't think she had ever seen him smile like that in the over fifty years she had known him.

 

“Certainly,” she said, putting one hand on his shoulder.

 

“Blaze, this isn't a formal dance,” he said, sliding both arms around her waist.

 

She wound both arms around his neck and put her head against his chest.

 

Listening absently to the words of the song playing on the radio, Tatsumi thought the lyrics were extremely appropriate.

 

Should have told you by now

But I can't find the words

If I could show you somehow

But I don't have the nerve.

 

He couldn't think of anything that had ever been better than to have her arms around his neck. Feeling the weight of her body against his as they slowly swayed in time to the music. The brush of silk from her dress across his bare skin. It just felt right to have her in his arms.

 

The contented sigh she gave shot straight to the core of him. He took a deep breath and let all of his shields drop. Allowing her to feel everything he had tried to keep blocked from her.

 

She moved her head to look up at him. The force of his feelings for her had nearly knocked her over.

 

“I love you too,” she said.

 

She stretched up and put her forehead against his then very slowly, giving him enough time to pull away if he wanted to, kissed him.

 

After the initial shock wore off it seemed to her that his hands and lips were everywhere she had bare skin.

 

“Seiichiro, what were you doing before you lost your mind and decided to tackle the paperwork?” she asked.

 

“Going to bed.”

 

“Good,” she almost purred. “Take me with you.”

 

The smile he gave her was utterly wicked. “Do you want to be carried into the bedroom?”

 

“After fifty years of sexual frustration, you'd damn well better carry me.”

 

“Your wish is my command,” he said. Sweeping her off the floor and into his arms.

 

“I'll remind you that you said that. Often.”

 

He laughed and headed for the bedroom.

 

“Seiichiro?”

 

“Hmmm?” he said, trying to open the door and not drop her in the process.

 

“Where do you keep your ties?”

 

 

Blaze woke to late morning sunlight. She sighed contentedly and curled closer to Tatsumi's side. A woman could certainly get used to this, she thought.

 

“Good morning.”

 

She looked up into his eyes and smiled.

 

“Yes, it certainly is a good morning. I told you I could find a better use for your ties.”

 

He laughed. “I always knew I'd enjoy waking up to you,” he said, squeezing her tighter.

 

“I have to get up soon though. I promised Hisoka I'd have brunch with him.”

 

“Call him and say you're otherwise occupied. For at least a couple of years.”

 

“That could be fun. However, you and I both have work on Monday morning,” she pointed out to him.

 

This started a train of thought in him. “Blaze, how are we going to manage this?” he asked.

 

“Manage what?”

 

“This. Us. We both have intense harrowing jobs that we're locked into. Yours is more dangerous than mine ever endeavored to be. Not to mention you're halfway around the world from here most of the time.”

 

“We'll figure something out. Now, hand me the phone so I can call Hisoka and postpone our brunch date. Then I need to call Honey and get my clothes.”

 

“Why?”

 

“Because I can't very well go to work like this come Monday morning,” she said laughing.

 

“Yes. But you won't need your clothes until Monday. I can almost guarantee that.”

 

“Mmmm. Promises, promises,” she said, sliding her hands up his chest to his shoulders.

 

“You know I keep my promises.”

 

Several hours later Blaze did call Hisoka, who seemed to have expected she wouldn't make brunch in the first place. They made plans for dinner Monday evening. Watari said he'd bring her clothes later that afternoon. Leaving her free to wander about the apartment in one of Tatsumi's nightshirts.

 

Blaze sat reading with her feet in his lap while he finished sorting through the paperwork in the living room. She smiled slightly at the comfortable silences and light touches that to the outside world would have marked them as a long standing couple.

 

“Seiichiro?” she finally said.

 

“Hmmm?”

 

“Do you still have feelings for Honey?”

 

“What kind of question is that?” he asked startled.

 

“A valid one. Considering when anyone mentions him you suddenly spark up. It isn't as intense as it is with me, but it's still there.”

 

“What's your point, Blaze?”

 

“The point is: I may have a solution for that as well.”

 

“Really? Do tell.”

 

She smiled and told him what she had in mind.

 

 

There was a knock on the door at around seven that evening. Tatsumi answered it and Watari bustled in. Setting down a bag with Blaze's clothes in it.

 

“Sorry it took me so long. I went to take the plants to the lab and got distracted.”

 

“And this surprises absolutely no one,” Tatsumi said smiling.

 

“There's something I haven't seen on you in a while,” Watari said.

 

“What?”

 

“The smile. The real one, not the fake you put on for the office. I'm glad to see it again.”

 

“Frankly, so am I.”

 

“Seiichiro,” Blaze called from the bedroom doorway. “Did you mention something about supper?”

 

“No,” he said grinning slyly. “But dessert seems to have finally arrived.”

 

“What?” Watari said, looking puzzledly between the two of them.

 

Blaze had crossed the room and grabbed one side of the lab coat, Tatsumi snagged the other and they started to drag Watari toward the bedroom.

 

“What do you two think you're doing?” Watari asked in disbelief.

 

“I would have thought that was obvious,” Tatsumi said. “Do you want to carry him, or should I?”

 

“I'll do it. He's heavy,” Blaze said, turning loose of the lab coat and quickly bending and tossing the much taller man over one shoulder. Tatsumi couldn't help but laugh at the picture this presented. Watari's hair had come out of the ponytail he usually kept it in and was falling all around his face and shoulders. His arms and legs nearly dragged the floor because he was so much taller than Blaze. Watari's startled and confused expression was no less than priceless.

 

She carried him easily into the bedroom and threw him down on the bed. Watari lay there for a moment, staring at both of them as if they had lost all reason. He suddenly grinned at Tatsumi.

 

“Couldn't keep up, huh?”

 

“Oh, I can keep up,” Tatsumi said smiling. “She's just dangerous when she doesn't get her way.”

 

“There is that,” Watari said smiling.

 

Those were the last coherent words any of them had to say for a long time.

 

*********************************Author's Notes************************************

The song used in this portion of the story is If You Needed Somebody by Bad Company. I don't own it either.