Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction ❯ Saccharine ❯ Saccharine ( One-Shot )
[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]
By: Flamika V 
Jin, Touya, and the shards of a broken dream...
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 05.15.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 1.4K | Status: Completed
Jin, Touya, and the shards of a broken dream...
Anime/Manga: Yu Yu Hakusho Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Angst / Romance | Type: One Shot | Uploaded On: 05.15.2003 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.8K | Visits: 1.4K | Status: Completed
Title: Saccharine
Author: Flamika
E-mail: flamika27@yahoo.com
Genre: Shounen-ai
Disclaimer: Jin and Touya are not mine. Pity, because they'd already be married with 2 and a half kids if they were. :D But alas, they belong to Yoshihiro Togashi.
Pairings: Jin + Touya
Warnings: shounen-ai, sap, little angst, Jin's dirty thoughts
Rating: R
Notes: God, I love mush. Also, this is my first Jin and Touya fic, and I will come right out and say that I may be taking a lot of liberties with their relationship since there are only a few hints towards this pairing in the series.
Archiving: You want it, you got it.
All my other YYH fics are archived here:
http://www.geocities.com/flamika27/yyh.html
** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
"Dreams"
Langston Hughes
It was something as simple as a frown, and yet Jin found the expression infinitely fascinating on Touya's normally impassive face. No, take that back. Touya actually had a relatively open face for one known as the Ice Master. Employers and opponents alike automatically assumed that Touya's personality would be every bit as frigid as the painfully cold energy that lashed from his slight body in the heat of battle. That there was no way in hell or heaven that a Master of Ice could be anything other than the wintry element given shape and form.
Jin, of course, knew otherwise. The trick was to watch *all* of Touya's face when searching for a hint of the Ice Master's disposition. Sometimes Touya frowned with his eyes (a slight shifting of green hues beneath the translucent blue irises), or with his mouth (the minute tightening of flesh at the corners of his full lips), or with his voice (a drop in its usual soft, icy cadence).
For one who knew him, Touya's expressions were not *that* hard to read, and his face was always more open when the thought no one was looking. Like now, for instance.
Every single indicator of a Touya-frown was out in full force as Jin hunkered just outside the doorway leading into the Dark Tournament's medical ward. He wanted to grin at the Ice Master's boredom-induced contemplation, but it had only been a few hours since Jin himself had been laid out on one of those smelly, scratchy beds, reveling with a true warrior's giddiness in the healing wounds inflicted by Urameshi Yusuke. Jin's desire to get off his injured backside and be ready in time to watch the Urameshi team fight in the semi-finals had no doubt aided in his quick recovery.
He'd returned to the medical ward with the hopes that one of the nurses on duty would tell him that Touya had made a full recovery and had already been released. Instead, there was no nurse in sight, and the medical ward's only occupant was a deeply pensive Touya, lying on his back and gazing at the ceiling as if entreating the endless stretch of gray to divulge a secret guarded by the metallic plain. He still wore the same baggy pants he had battled in, but his belt and the remainder of his clothes had been removed save for a sleeveless blue tunic that left his arms pale and bare against the azure fabric.
Trying not to think about how enticing that exposed skin looked, Jin gripped the edge of the doorway and swung himself gracefully into the room. "Getting tired of staring up at that ceiling?" he teased.
Touya's pale blue eyes flicked in his direction. Gravity had rewarded Jin with an unobstructed view of both Touya's eyes, the left one currently unadorned by the usual quartet of aquamarine strands that always fell in front of it.
"I thought you would have been released by now," Jin continued, folding his arms behind his head and walking over to stand at Touya's bedside.
"My physical condition is obviously not yet satisfactory," the ice demon replied with only a slight bit of irritation. "I have to wait until that addle-headed nurse returns to check on me."
"I'll just wait with ya, then," Jin grinned, clambering onto the bed beside Touya, pressing himself against the Ice Master's flank while his back wedged against the wall behind him. His feet dangled off the edge of the bed.
Frowning deeply, Touya tried shifting away. "Jin, there is hardly enough room for one person on this bed."
"Aw, shut it," Jin said lightly, casually bracing his head on a closed fist as he stared down at the small-framed ice demon. "It's not like you take up a lot of room anyway."
A century ago, Touya might have tried to forcibly remove Jin from his personal space, but he had had a fair amount of time to get used to the fact that Jin teased people he liked, and the Wind Master had made his possibly-more-than-friendly interest in his fellow Shinobi obvious on more than one occasion. Surprisingly enough, the knowledge of Jin's romantic intrigue had caused Touya to become more tolerant of the Wind Master's advances, rather than vice versa. Jin didn't quite understand what that meant. Touya confused the hell out of him sometimes.
Pushing wisps of his crimson bangs away from his eyes, Jin glanced at the rows of empty beds. "Where are those damned Reisho and Bakken? They were more beaten-up than you, if my memory serves me correctly."
"They were released this morning with nothing worse than a bunch of bad bruises."
Jin made an impatient noise. "So what's the hold up with you? Let's have a looksy." He grabbed the hem of Touya's blue tunic and lifted it, baring Touya's body from navel to collarbone in one swift motion. A bold move, even for Jin.
"Jin!" the Ice Master snapped, only sounding half-angry. He grabbed Jin's wrist with both of his hands and tried vainly to pry the demon's fingers away from the cloth.
Jin made an appreciative sound as his eyes roved over the pale, almost translucent skin of Touya's taut stomach, the well-developed muscles visible as he breathed. His entire chest was obscured by white bandages. Now, that was no fun!
"Well, dammit, I can't see what's wrong with all those bandages in the way," Jin commented, cramming Touya's shirt up higher so that it was practically bunched up underneath the ice demon's chin.
"Sword wound," Touya grumbled, straining against Jin's grip one last time before letting his fingers go slack. "Broken ribs. That's what wrong. Now put the shirt down."
Jin did no such thing. "Broken ribs from Reisho, eh? Bastard. I should go find him and teach him a thing or two about honor."
Touya's voice was icy. "If anyone punishes Reisho for this injury, it will be me. But what's the use anyway?"
Jin frowned and glanced over at his friend, but Touya's wintry eyes gave away nothing. However, the tight, drawn lines of his face as he stared stonily up at the ceiling alerted the Wind Master to the emotional maelstrom that most likely raged within the ice demon's mind.
"What's wrong with you, Touya?" he demanded, cerulean eyes narrowed with uncharacteristic shrewdness. "You can heal broken ribs, no problem. Same thing with the sword wound. It was just a bunch of plants, for crying out loud!"
He turned his attention to Touya's chest and tugged on the knot that kept the bandages bound over his lower torso.
"Jin, quit messing with those!" Touya chastised.
"Just want to see what the big fuss is about," Jin mumbled.
The knot gave way underneath his strongly persistent fingers, and he unraveled the cloth enough to expose the horrendous bruises on Touya's porcelain skin. It looked like some loony artist had thrown yellow, black, and purple paint all over a pristine canvas. Damn that Reisho. Jin didn't care how much Touya protested; he was going to give that rotten, dishonorable bastard a lickin' first chance he got.
The nurse had done a downright crappy job of binding Touya's injuries. The remaining bandages were loosely-wrapped and fell away with startling ease when Jin pushed them upwards, exposing Touya's pale pink nipples, more bruises, and a still-healing stab wound right below the center of Touya's chest.
"Nearly got your heart there..." Jin mused. Demon hearts only beat occasionally, but he knew in spite of that, Touya would have died almost instantly had Kurama's death plant struck him in the heart. It was bitterly ironic, almost funny, that such a tiny puncture wound had had such a devastating effect on Touya.
Jin leaned over Touya's bare chest, mouth hovering just over the wound that could have claimed his life had Kurama wished it so. The air above Touya's skin shivered with fine vibrations. Touya's heart beating in his chest. Jin wanted to seek out the origin of that heartbeat and trace it with his tongue, but he settled for exhaling a puff of warm breath over Touya's wound.
Touya's whole body shuddered against Jin, breath hitching in his chest. Jin watched in fascination as Touya's nipples tightened in response to the sensation, and he barely resisted the urge to lean over and lick one of those taut nubs of flesh.
"Don't do that," Touya hissed.
"Why?" Jin asked with a lazy smile, one of his hands ghosting over Touya's stomach.
"Because, it makes my skin hot."
Jin's fingers met the waistband of Touya's pants and retreated slightly, drawing a circle around the ice demon's navel. "But you already have such nice, warm skin. Especially for an Ice Master, you know."
Jin didn't know if it was the words or the languid caresses, but he finally achieved what he'd been aiming for: a faint pink tinge that spread across Touya's high cheekbones, marring the crystalline perfection of his face but making him appear more alive and ravishing. Jin had experienced more than a few fantasies of making love to Touya, the smaller demon flushed and tossing beneath him, lost in rapturous pleasure. To heat an ice demon's blood, to make that sweet, pale flesh hot with passion-fire...
Touya's blush turned deeper, and Jin realized a ghost of his thoughts must have flickered across his eyes. Oops. He grinned wolfishly at the smaller demon. Touya made a point of turning his face away, prying Jin's fingers away from his bandages and lowering his shirt over that alluring expanse of pale skin.
Undeterred by his friend's actions, Jin sighed and laid his head on Touya's shoulder, careful not to jostle his chest and exacerbate his injuries. The skin of Touya's arm pressed taut and firm against Jin's bare chest, and the Wind Master decided that he didn't care if Hanging Neck Island fell down around his ears, if he could only remain with Touya like this. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it was sort of silly of him to enjoy such one-sided cuddling, but hey, if he allowed little things to deter him from his ultimate goal, he would never achieve anything in life!
Another contented sigh escaped Jin's smiling mouth as he closed his bright blue eyes and settled himself more comfortably on the narrow shoulder beneath his cheek. Nice, soothing winds drifted from Touya's body, and Jin eagerly wrapped himself in the placating air. Touya always had great winds coming off of him, not too hot, not too cold, not smelly like Bakken's nasty sweat or pungent like the late Gama's make-up. Another one of the many reasons Jin was so fond of the Ice Master.
The recent bodily contact had made Touya's muscles tense slightly, but as silence spread its soft-tipped wings over the empty medical ward and Jin dozed easily next to his friend, the ice demon slowly relaxed, sighing with such sensuous softness that Jin barely quelled the full-body shudder that fought to roll through him. Winds could be so capricious at times. Littlest things got them all riled up.
The familiar scent of Touya's skin and the slow, steady rush of his breath in and out of his body soon lulled Jin into a state that damn near bordered on sleep. He'd had enough rest to last him a lifetime, but hell, he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to fall asleep curled against Touya.
"It was all I had," the smaller demon said, voice so soft that for a second, Jin thought he'd already fallen asleep and Touya was whispering to him from within a dream.
"Hm?" he responded wisely, trying to shake the heavy press of sleep's seductive fingers from his eyelids.
"The dream. Of the light," Touya clarified, his words quiet and lonely in the silence.
Jin stirred restlessly, a bit unnerved by Touya's sadness. "That's not true. You had yourself a good fight with that Kurama and-"
"Stop. You know I am not like you. I enjoyed fighting with Kurama, but the pleasure of battle is a poor replacement for what might have been ours had I beaten him."
"You almost beat him."
"Almost did not win us this island," Touya responded, leaving no room for argument.
And for the life in him, Jin could not think of anything else to say. He lay there so close to his friend, and yet he'd never felt further away. Alienation did not bode well with Jin, and unfortunately, whether he realized it or not Touya often isolated himself from his companions. Jin, on the other hand, was constantly in motion like the winds he had gained dominion over, and he liked being around people, even ones he wasn't particularly fond of. Being alone was so boring.
After a minute of silence, Jin hoisted himself onto one elbow and looked down at his friend, contemplating the finely-chiseled features of Touya's face, like a creature sculpted of only the softest, most icy colors known to demons. But as soft as Touya's pale skin or light blue hair might have seemed, the overall effect was rather forbidding. Pale coral lips looked kissable but cold to the touch. And his eyes: almond-shaped and pale blue with no pupil to speak of, only hints of green, white, and darker blue that sometimes writhed and contorted underneath the frigid iris. Touya's eyes used to unnerve him, now they captivated him.
Smiling to himself, Jin lightly brushed his knuckles against Touya's cheek, the skin like cool silk underneath his touch.
"I liked listening to you tell Kurama about the dream," Jin said. "You always made it sound like such a grand thing."
Touya did not respond, did not look at him. But that was okay. Jin hadn't really expected much of a reaction. Touya spoke from his heart without any care as to how the words sounded or how others reacted to them. But Jin still liked to think such pretty words were a reflection of the fount from which they had originated.
Jin glanced down at where one of Touya's hands rested on his stomach, fingers curled slightly on the dark blue cloth. Reaching down, he covered Touya's hand with his own. The Ice Master's fingers jerked slightly, but did not pull away. Jin took that as encouragement and softly stroked the back of Touya's hand with the pads of his fingers, slowly trailing over to the rise of the smaller man's knuckles. Jin explored the calluses on Touya's fingers and palm, mute testimonies to the years he had spent learning the art of ice from a relentless Master. Their lives as Shinobi had also left rough rewards on Touya's hand; Jin could feel the softening calluses Touya's katana had inflicted before he had switched to ice-dominated tactics.
"You're too noble, Touya," Jin mused.
That earned him a mirthless laugh. "Gama died for nobility. Bakken and Reisho have forgotten the meaning of the word. And you and I lost our matches."
Jin made a noncommittal noise and carefully lifted Touya's hand to his mouth, running his lips over the lax fingers before kissing them gently. Touya shifted awkwardly, and Jin resisted the urge to smile. No more alienation. Touya's thoughts and attention were most definitely hear and now, on what he was feeling and what Jin was doing to him. //Enough to inflate anyone's ego// Jin thought to himself, and flecked the tips of Touya's fingers with his tongue.
Touya jumped at the sensation, his leg brushing Jin's. His voice emerged a bit strained as he said, "Now is not the time...for your...overtures."
The Wind Master sighed against Touya's palm, nuzzling the tempting skin. "It was my dream, too, you know. I cope with our loss, and I keep on going."
"You are stronger than I am," Touya said candidly.
"No," came the equally simple negation, spoken into the tender flesh of Touya's wrist.
Jin pillowed his cheek against the slowly-warming skin and looked down at his friend. "I heard you ask Kurama to kill you. Is that why you're still here with a set of broken ribs you could have healed within a couple of hours? Because you wanna die?"
Touya turned his face away, the sudden bout of emotion wringing a mournful, heartbreaking song from the winds around him. The sound tightened Jin's throat and stirred his previously motionless heart into frenzied pounding. He suddenly dropped Touya's hand and clung desperately to his friend, tucking his head underneath the diminutive demon's chin and tangling one of his much longer legs with Touya's.
Every muscle in his friend's small body locked. "Jin?"
"Don't leave me, Touya," he entreated, words tumbling out in a rush. "Our light is still there. We'll find it if we stay together."
The words sounded sad and weepy, even to him. But he couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed, not when the thought of Touya leaving him made him so frantic. Gama was dead, Reisho and Bakken were undesirable company, and now Touya was fading...
A graceful hand came to rest on Jin's trembling back, stroking the flesh left exposed by the straps of his shirt. Touya's caressingly soft voice reached his ears, soothing the ache created by the winds' bittersweet symphony. "I won't leave you, Jin. Not now. Not..." The words trailed off into nothing.
Jin was all over the promise hanging in the air, lifting his head so that he could see Touya's face. "Say it!"
The ice demon looked alarmed and embarrassed. "Say what?"
"What you were about to say!" Jin urged. "You were gonna say something important, right?"
"No, well..." Touya fumbled. "I just don't like the idea of being separated from you...anytime in...the near future. Or ever."
Naked and honest. Truth blazing in Touya's voice and eyes. Jin suddenly realized why the loss of the island, why the setback in their quest for light, why it all hadn't wounded him as deeply as it had Touya. He'd found his Light a long time ago.
Another delicately pink blush colored Touya's cheeks, and Jin was reminded of how remarkably adept Touya was at reading his expressions. "Jin..." he murmured, breath soft against the Wind Master's face.
Jin couldn't prevent himself from watching Touya's lips form his name any more than he could quell the powerful urge to finally lean down and claim that tempting mouth. He'd been fighting a joyless battle with his heart's desire for years, and at long last he could finally admit defeat.
Touya had the damn sweetest mouth Jin had ever kissed, with a tongue as hot as dragon's blood and lips as soft as his returned kisses. Warm lips. Not cold or even cool as Jin had expected. Touya took a second to respond to the gentle pressure of Jin's mouth, but then the redhead felt the air sigh out of Touya's body in a cleansing rush. And it was Touya underneath him, mouth open, tongue pushing carefully into Jin's mouth, mindful of the small, sharp fangs. Jin met the questing muscle with his own tongue, trying not to botch the gentle entreaty with his own eagerness, he was ecstatic that Touya had been the first to request entrance, returning Jin's want and yet offering his own in the same breath.
It was a kiss mainly woven of sweetness, with passion playing a small but ever persistent part. Hands warmed by desire stroked up and down Jin's mostly bare back, leaving trails of fire that were the delicious antithesis of the element their owner controlled so masterfully. Jin's hand roamed down Touya's ribcage to cup the curve of his small backside, and he allowed his hand to linger before urging it along its path to caress a thigh whose warmth Jin could feel even through the durable cloth of Touya's pants.
Jin savored the saccharine taste of Touya for as long as he could before the need for air finally put a damper on his desire. He drew back, panting slightly as Touya's face swam back into focus. A blush rode high in Touya's pale cheeks, and a sideways glance showed that even his arms had a faint pink tinge to them. Touya was a body-blusher, Jin realized with no small amount of delight. And damn, if he blushed *this* much from a few kisses...well, Jin couldn't wait to see him caught in the throes of orgasm.
"What is it?" Touya asked a little breathlessly, and Jin realized that a small smile must have found its way to his lips.
It took him a couple of tries to find his voice, but he finally managed, "You took the wind right outta me, you did!"
Touya smiled, an expression Jin hadn't seen in a while. "Next time, remember to breathe."
Jin laughed, and he felt his pointed ears twitch, excited at the prospect that there would be a 'next time.' But right now, he needed his wind back. Kissing Touya on the tip of his small nose, he once again tucked his head underneath the ice demon's chin. Touya hooked a leg over Jin's hips, and the Wind Master couldn't remember the last time it had felt so good to be tangled with another person.
Next time, he would *definitely* remember to breathe.
~fin
12 May 2003
I am ready for love
Would you please lend me your ear?
I promise I won't complain
I just need you to acknowledge I am here
If you give me half a chance
I'll prove this to you
I will be patience, kind, faithful and true
To a man who loves music
A man who loves art
Respect's the spirit world
And thinks with his heart
I am ready for love
If you'll take me in your hands
I will learn what you teach
And do the best that I can
"Ready for Love"
India Arie
Author: Flamika
E-mail: flamika27@yahoo.com
Genre: Shounen-ai
Disclaimer: Jin and Touya are not mine. Pity, because they'd already be married with 2 and a half kids if they were. :D But alas, they belong to Yoshihiro Togashi.
Pairings: Jin + Touya
Warnings: shounen-ai, sap, little angst, Jin's dirty thoughts
Rating: R
Notes: God, I love mush. Also, this is my first Jin and Touya fic, and I will come right out and say that I may be taking a lot of liberties with their relationship since there are only a few hints towards this pairing in the series.
Archiving: You want it, you got it.
All my other YYH fics are archived here:
http://www.geocities.com/flamika27/yyh.html
** ** ** ** ** ** ** **
Hold fast to dreams
For if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird
That cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
For when dreams go
Life is a barren field
Frozen with snow.
"Dreams"
Langston Hughes
It was something as simple as a frown, and yet Jin found the expression infinitely fascinating on Touya's normally impassive face. No, take that back. Touya actually had a relatively open face for one known as the Ice Master. Employers and opponents alike automatically assumed that Touya's personality would be every bit as frigid as the painfully cold energy that lashed from his slight body in the heat of battle. That there was no way in hell or heaven that a Master of Ice could be anything other than the wintry element given shape and form.
Jin, of course, knew otherwise. The trick was to watch *all* of Touya's face when searching for a hint of the Ice Master's disposition. Sometimes Touya frowned with his eyes (a slight shifting of green hues beneath the translucent blue irises), or with his mouth (the minute tightening of flesh at the corners of his full lips), or with his voice (a drop in its usual soft, icy cadence).
For one who knew him, Touya's expressions were not *that* hard to read, and his face was always more open when the thought no one was looking. Like now, for instance.
Every single indicator of a Touya-frown was out in full force as Jin hunkered just outside the doorway leading into the Dark Tournament's medical ward. He wanted to grin at the Ice Master's boredom-induced contemplation, but it had only been a few hours since Jin himself had been laid out on one of those smelly, scratchy beds, reveling with a true warrior's giddiness in the healing wounds inflicted by Urameshi Yusuke. Jin's desire to get off his injured backside and be ready in time to watch the Urameshi team fight in the semi-finals had no doubt aided in his quick recovery.
He'd returned to the medical ward with the hopes that one of the nurses on duty would tell him that Touya had made a full recovery and had already been released. Instead, there was no nurse in sight, and the medical ward's only occupant was a deeply pensive Touya, lying on his back and gazing at the ceiling as if entreating the endless stretch of gray to divulge a secret guarded by the metallic plain. He still wore the same baggy pants he had battled in, but his belt and the remainder of his clothes had been removed save for a sleeveless blue tunic that left his arms pale and bare against the azure fabric.
Trying not to think about how enticing that exposed skin looked, Jin gripped the edge of the doorway and swung himself gracefully into the room. "Getting tired of staring up at that ceiling?" he teased.
Touya's pale blue eyes flicked in his direction. Gravity had rewarded Jin with an unobstructed view of both Touya's eyes, the left one currently unadorned by the usual quartet of aquamarine strands that always fell in front of it.
"I thought you would have been released by now," Jin continued, folding his arms behind his head and walking over to stand at Touya's bedside.
"My physical condition is obviously not yet satisfactory," the ice demon replied with only a slight bit of irritation. "I have to wait until that addle-headed nurse returns to check on me."
"I'll just wait with ya, then," Jin grinned, clambering onto the bed beside Touya, pressing himself against the Ice Master's flank while his back wedged against the wall behind him. His feet dangled off the edge of the bed.
Frowning deeply, Touya tried shifting away. "Jin, there is hardly enough room for one person on this bed."
"Aw, shut it," Jin said lightly, casually bracing his head on a closed fist as he stared down at the small-framed ice demon. "It's not like you take up a lot of room anyway."
A century ago, Touya might have tried to forcibly remove Jin from his personal space, but he had had a fair amount of time to get used to the fact that Jin teased people he liked, and the Wind Master had made his possibly-more-than-friendly interest in his fellow Shinobi obvious on more than one occasion. Surprisingly enough, the knowledge of Jin's romantic intrigue had caused Touya to become more tolerant of the Wind Master's advances, rather than vice versa. Jin didn't quite understand what that meant. Touya confused the hell out of him sometimes.
Pushing wisps of his crimson bangs away from his eyes, Jin glanced at the rows of empty beds. "Where are those damned Reisho and Bakken? They were more beaten-up than you, if my memory serves me correctly."
"They were released this morning with nothing worse than a bunch of bad bruises."
Jin made an impatient noise. "So what's the hold up with you? Let's have a looksy." He grabbed the hem of Touya's blue tunic and lifted it, baring Touya's body from navel to collarbone in one swift motion. A bold move, even for Jin.
"Jin!" the Ice Master snapped, only sounding half-angry. He grabbed Jin's wrist with both of his hands and tried vainly to pry the demon's fingers away from the cloth.
Jin made an appreciative sound as his eyes roved over the pale, almost translucent skin of Touya's taut stomach, the well-developed muscles visible as he breathed. His entire chest was obscured by white bandages. Now, that was no fun!
"Well, dammit, I can't see what's wrong with all those bandages in the way," Jin commented, cramming Touya's shirt up higher so that it was practically bunched up underneath the ice demon's chin.
"Sword wound," Touya grumbled, straining against Jin's grip one last time before letting his fingers go slack. "Broken ribs. That's what wrong. Now put the shirt down."
Jin did no such thing. "Broken ribs from Reisho, eh? Bastard. I should go find him and teach him a thing or two about honor."
Touya's voice was icy. "If anyone punishes Reisho for this injury, it will be me. But what's the use anyway?"
Jin frowned and glanced over at his friend, but Touya's wintry eyes gave away nothing. However, the tight, drawn lines of his face as he stared stonily up at the ceiling alerted the Wind Master to the emotional maelstrom that most likely raged within the ice demon's mind.
"What's wrong with you, Touya?" he demanded, cerulean eyes narrowed with uncharacteristic shrewdness. "You can heal broken ribs, no problem. Same thing with the sword wound. It was just a bunch of plants, for crying out loud!"
He turned his attention to Touya's chest and tugged on the knot that kept the bandages bound over his lower torso.
"Jin, quit messing with those!" Touya chastised.
"Just want to see what the big fuss is about," Jin mumbled.
The knot gave way underneath his strongly persistent fingers, and he unraveled the cloth enough to expose the horrendous bruises on Touya's porcelain skin. It looked like some loony artist had thrown yellow, black, and purple paint all over a pristine canvas. Damn that Reisho. Jin didn't care how much Touya protested; he was going to give that rotten, dishonorable bastard a lickin' first chance he got.
The nurse had done a downright crappy job of binding Touya's injuries. The remaining bandages were loosely-wrapped and fell away with startling ease when Jin pushed them upwards, exposing Touya's pale pink nipples, more bruises, and a still-healing stab wound right below the center of Touya's chest.
"Nearly got your heart there..." Jin mused. Demon hearts only beat occasionally, but he knew in spite of that, Touya would have died almost instantly had Kurama's death plant struck him in the heart. It was bitterly ironic, almost funny, that such a tiny puncture wound had had such a devastating effect on Touya.
Jin leaned over Touya's bare chest, mouth hovering just over the wound that could have claimed his life had Kurama wished it so. The air above Touya's skin shivered with fine vibrations. Touya's heart beating in his chest. Jin wanted to seek out the origin of that heartbeat and trace it with his tongue, but he settled for exhaling a puff of warm breath over Touya's wound.
Touya's whole body shuddered against Jin, breath hitching in his chest. Jin watched in fascination as Touya's nipples tightened in response to the sensation, and he barely resisted the urge to lean over and lick one of those taut nubs of flesh.
"Don't do that," Touya hissed.
"Why?" Jin asked with a lazy smile, one of his hands ghosting over Touya's stomach.
"Because, it makes my skin hot."
Jin's fingers met the waistband of Touya's pants and retreated slightly, drawing a circle around the ice demon's navel. "But you already have such nice, warm skin. Especially for an Ice Master, you know."
Jin didn't know if it was the words or the languid caresses, but he finally achieved what he'd been aiming for: a faint pink tinge that spread across Touya's high cheekbones, marring the crystalline perfection of his face but making him appear more alive and ravishing. Jin had experienced more than a few fantasies of making love to Touya, the smaller demon flushed and tossing beneath him, lost in rapturous pleasure. To heat an ice demon's blood, to make that sweet, pale flesh hot with passion-fire...
Touya's blush turned deeper, and Jin realized a ghost of his thoughts must have flickered across his eyes. Oops. He grinned wolfishly at the smaller demon. Touya made a point of turning his face away, prying Jin's fingers away from his bandages and lowering his shirt over that alluring expanse of pale skin.
Undeterred by his friend's actions, Jin sighed and laid his head on Touya's shoulder, careful not to jostle his chest and exacerbate his injuries. The skin of Touya's arm pressed taut and firm against Jin's bare chest, and the Wind Master decided that he didn't care if Hanging Neck Island fell down around his ears, if he could only remain with Touya like this. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he knew it was sort of silly of him to enjoy such one-sided cuddling, but hey, if he allowed little things to deter him from his ultimate goal, he would never achieve anything in life!
Another contented sigh escaped Jin's smiling mouth as he closed his bright blue eyes and settled himself more comfortably on the narrow shoulder beneath his cheek. Nice, soothing winds drifted from Touya's body, and Jin eagerly wrapped himself in the placating air. Touya always had great winds coming off of him, not too hot, not too cold, not smelly like Bakken's nasty sweat or pungent like the late Gama's make-up. Another one of the many reasons Jin was so fond of the Ice Master.
The recent bodily contact had made Touya's muscles tense slightly, but as silence spread its soft-tipped wings over the empty medical ward and Jin dozed easily next to his friend, the ice demon slowly relaxed, sighing with such sensuous softness that Jin barely quelled the full-body shudder that fought to roll through him. Winds could be so capricious at times. Littlest things got them all riled up.
The familiar scent of Touya's skin and the slow, steady rush of his breath in and out of his body soon lulled Jin into a state that damn near bordered on sleep. He'd had enough rest to last him a lifetime, but hell, he wasn't going to miss an opportunity to fall asleep curled against Touya.
"It was all I had," the smaller demon said, voice so soft that for a second, Jin thought he'd already fallen asleep and Touya was whispering to him from within a dream.
"Hm?" he responded wisely, trying to shake the heavy press of sleep's seductive fingers from his eyelids.
"The dream. Of the light," Touya clarified, his words quiet and lonely in the silence.
Jin stirred restlessly, a bit unnerved by Touya's sadness. "That's not true. You had yourself a good fight with that Kurama and-"
"Stop. You know I am not like you. I enjoyed fighting with Kurama, but the pleasure of battle is a poor replacement for what might have been ours had I beaten him."
"You almost beat him."
"Almost did not win us this island," Touya responded, leaving no room for argument.
And for the life in him, Jin could not think of anything else to say. He lay there so close to his friend, and yet he'd never felt further away. Alienation did not bode well with Jin, and unfortunately, whether he realized it or not Touya often isolated himself from his companions. Jin, on the other hand, was constantly in motion like the winds he had gained dominion over, and he liked being around people, even ones he wasn't particularly fond of. Being alone was so boring.
After a minute of silence, Jin hoisted himself onto one elbow and looked down at his friend, contemplating the finely-chiseled features of Touya's face, like a creature sculpted of only the softest, most icy colors known to demons. But as soft as Touya's pale skin or light blue hair might have seemed, the overall effect was rather forbidding. Pale coral lips looked kissable but cold to the touch. And his eyes: almond-shaped and pale blue with no pupil to speak of, only hints of green, white, and darker blue that sometimes writhed and contorted underneath the frigid iris. Touya's eyes used to unnerve him, now they captivated him.
Smiling to himself, Jin lightly brushed his knuckles against Touya's cheek, the skin like cool silk underneath his touch.
"I liked listening to you tell Kurama about the dream," Jin said. "You always made it sound like such a grand thing."
Touya did not respond, did not look at him. But that was okay. Jin hadn't really expected much of a reaction. Touya spoke from his heart without any care as to how the words sounded or how others reacted to them. But Jin still liked to think such pretty words were a reflection of the fount from which they had originated.
Jin glanced down at where one of Touya's hands rested on his stomach, fingers curled slightly on the dark blue cloth. Reaching down, he covered Touya's hand with his own. The Ice Master's fingers jerked slightly, but did not pull away. Jin took that as encouragement and softly stroked the back of Touya's hand with the pads of his fingers, slowly trailing over to the rise of the smaller man's knuckles. Jin explored the calluses on Touya's fingers and palm, mute testimonies to the years he had spent learning the art of ice from a relentless Master. Their lives as Shinobi had also left rough rewards on Touya's hand; Jin could feel the softening calluses Touya's katana had inflicted before he had switched to ice-dominated tactics.
"You're too noble, Touya," Jin mused.
That earned him a mirthless laugh. "Gama died for nobility. Bakken and Reisho have forgotten the meaning of the word. And you and I lost our matches."
Jin made a noncommittal noise and carefully lifted Touya's hand to his mouth, running his lips over the lax fingers before kissing them gently. Touya shifted awkwardly, and Jin resisted the urge to smile. No more alienation. Touya's thoughts and attention were most definitely hear and now, on what he was feeling and what Jin was doing to him. //Enough to inflate anyone's ego// Jin thought to himself, and flecked the tips of Touya's fingers with his tongue.
Touya jumped at the sensation, his leg brushing Jin's. His voice emerged a bit strained as he said, "Now is not the time...for your...overtures."
The Wind Master sighed against Touya's palm, nuzzling the tempting skin. "It was my dream, too, you know. I cope with our loss, and I keep on going."
"You are stronger than I am," Touya said candidly.
"No," came the equally simple negation, spoken into the tender flesh of Touya's wrist.
Jin pillowed his cheek against the slowly-warming skin and looked down at his friend. "I heard you ask Kurama to kill you. Is that why you're still here with a set of broken ribs you could have healed within a couple of hours? Because you wanna die?"
Touya turned his face away, the sudden bout of emotion wringing a mournful, heartbreaking song from the winds around him. The sound tightened Jin's throat and stirred his previously motionless heart into frenzied pounding. He suddenly dropped Touya's hand and clung desperately to his friend, tucking his head underneath the diminutive demon's chin and tangling one of his much longer legs with Touya's.
Every muscle in his friend's small body locked. "Jin?"
"Don't leave me, Touya," he entreated, words tumbling out in a rush. "Our light is still there. We'll find it if we stay together."
The words sounded sad and weepy, even to him. But he couldn't find it in himself to be embarrassed, not when the thought of Touya leaving him made him so frantic. Gama was dead, Reisho and Bakken were undesirable company, and now Touya was fading...
A graceful hand came to rest on Jin's trembling back, stroking the flesh left exposed by the straps of his shirt. Touya's caressingly soft voice reached his ears, soothing the ache created by the winds' bittersweet symphony. "I won't leave you, Jin. Not now. Not..." The words trailed off into nothing.
Jin was all over the promise hanging in the air, lifting his head so that he could see Touya's face. "Say it!"
The ice demon looked alarmed and embarrassed. "Say what?"
"What you were about to say!" Jin urged. "You were gonna say something important, right?"
"No, well..." Touya fumbled. "I just don't like the idea of being separated from you...anytime in...the near future. Or ever."
Naked and honest. Truth blazing in Touya's voice and eyes. Jin suddenly realized why the loss of the island, why the setback in their quest for light, why it all hadn't wounded him as deeply as it had Touya. He'd found his Light a long time ago.
Another delicately pink blush colored Touya's cheeks, and Jin was reminded of how remarkably adept Touya was at reading his expressions. "Jin..." he murmured, breath soft against the Wind Master's face.
Jin couldn't prevent himself from watching Touya's lips form his name any more than he could quell the powerful urge to finally lean down and claim that tempting mouth. He'd been fighting a joyless battle with his heart's desire for years, and at long last he could finally admit defeat.
Touya had the damn sweetest mouth Jin had ever kissed, with a tongue as hot as dragon's blood and lips as soft as his returned kisses. Warm lips. Not cold or even cool as Jin had expected. Touya took a second to respond to the gentle pressure of Jin's mouth, but then the redhead felt the air sigh out of Touya's body in a cleansing rush. And it was Touya underneath him, mouth open, tongue pushing carefully into Jin's mouth, mindful of the small, sharp fangs. Jin met the questing muscle with his own tongue, trying not to botch the gentle entreaty with his own eagerness, he was ecstatic that Touya had been the first to request entrance, returning Jin's want and yet offering his own in the same breath.
It was a kiss mainly woven of sweetness, with passion playing a small but ever persistent part. Hands warmed by desire stroked up and down Jin's mostly bare back, leaving trails of fire that were the delicious antithesis of the element their owner controlled so masterfully. Jin's hand roamed down Touya's ribcage to cup the curve of his small backside, and he allowed his hand to linger before urging it along its path to caress a thigh whose warmth Jin could feel even through the durable cloth of Touya's pants.
Jin savored the saccharine taste of Touya for as long as he could before the need for air finally put a damper on his desire. He drew back, panting slightly as Touya's face swam back into focus. A blush rode high in Touya's pale cheeks, and a sideways glance showed that even his arms had a faint pink tinge to them. Touya was a body-blusher, Jin realized with no small amount of delight. And damn, if he blushed *this* much from a few kisses...well, Jin couldn't wait to see him caught in the throes of orgasm.
"What is it?" Touya asked a little breathlessly, and Jin realized that a small smile must have found its way to his lips.
It took him a couple of tries to find his voice, but he finally managed, "You took the wind right outta me, you did!"
Touya smiled, an expression Jin hadn't seen in a while. "Next time, remember to breathe."
Jin laughed, and he felt his pointed ears twitch, excited at the prospect that there would be a 'next time.' But right now, he needed his wind back. Kissing Touya on the tip of his small nose, he once again tucked his head underneath the ice demon's chin. Touya hooked a leg over Jin's hips, and the Wind Master couldn't remember the last time it had felt so good to be tangled with another person.
Next time, he would *definitely* remember to breathe.
~fin
12 May 2003
I am ready for love
Would you please lend me your ear?
I promise I won't complain
I just need you to acknowledge I am here
If you give me half a chance
I'll prove this to you
I will be patience, kind, faithful and true
To a man who loves music
A man who loves art
Respect's the spirit world
And thinks with his heart
I am ready for love
If you'll take me in your hands
I will learn what you teach
And do the best that I can
"Ready for Love"
India Arie