Way of the Sword

CHAPTER 18

Entering their room, Yuki gently laid down Shuichi on the cold, hard ground. The boy did not even stir, not waking up from his sleep. Moving quietly, Yuki prepared for bed. Barely making any noise above a whisper, Yuki arranged the futons and the blankets. Carefully, Yuki rid Shuichi of his tattered and soiled clothing. With each piece of fabric moved, Yuki could not help but grimace at the blood stains that marred the once rich silk clothing. Oddly enough, Yuki could still remember when bloodstained gi tops were once the norm in his life. But now, the dark, crimson stains seemed so out of place on Shuichi’s clothing. Yuki pulled out a clean, white yuukata, noting that Shuichi’s skin was as pale as the white fabric.

Shuichi was picked up once more, almost weightless in Yuki’s arms, and placed on top of a neatly arranged futon. Yuki slid in next to Shuichi, while pulling the blanket over both of them.

Outside, the sun was shining brightly, its rays threatening to make their way through the sliding doors. Yuki remained still, with his eyes wide open. He stared at the ceiling, listening to Shuichi’s deep breathing. Yuki could get used to this, this peacefulness. Turning his head, Yuki stared at Shuichi. Despite the cuts, wounds, and bruises on the face, the boy still looked beautiful. Yuki wondered how much longer he would be able to hold on to Shuichi. Slowly, Yuki moved his hand to touch Shuichi. But the hand never quite reached its destination, falling back on Yuki’s own chest instead.

***

The ex-gangster was clearly more hurt than he showed. Despite protesting that he could walk fine, Sano was now supported by Hiro. Their walk to the room was a silent one, Sano too tired to move any part of his body that was unnecessary and Hiro remaining uncharacteristically silent to be bothered with any type of conversation. But Sano was too close to the brink of sleep to notice that Hiro was quiet. It was taking all of Sano’s energy just to drag his feet towards the room, let alone notice any behavior changes in his lover.

The two men managed to reach their room in one piece, Sano stumbling in and Hiro pulling Sano along. Sano just dropped to the floor, not caring that he was lying on the bare floor. Hiro had more sense and started pulling out a futon and a blanket. Noiselessly, Hiro made the bed and once done, proceeded to shove Sano onto to the waiting futon.

“Hey, careful with the merchandise, ojiisan (1),” protested Sano lightly, his eyes already closed in anticipation of the long awaited sleep. Sano stretched his arms over his head and immediately pulled them back down. “Ouch! Remind me not to do that again.”

Hiro rolled his eyes as he proceeded to pull out a second futon. “Maybe if you haven’t gone fighting like I told you not to do, you wouldn’t be in so much pain right now.”

“Whatever,” mumbled Sano, his eyes still closed. “You guys needed me there.”

“No we didn’t,” pointed Hiro. “You should have listened to Megumi and me and just stayed here, resting.”

“I wasn’t about to just lie around while you guys were in danger,” said Sano, his voice muffling as he buried his face into the pillow.

“I don’t know why you just couldn’t listen. You were in no condition to fight in the first place.” Hiro pulled out another blanket and carried it over to the futon.

“I had to be there to protect you,” said Sano sleepily.

“Excuse me?” Hiro stopped in the middle of tucking himself in. “Repeat that once more?”

“I have to be there in case you are in trouble,” said Sano, his face still in the pillow.

Hiro reached over and yanked the pillow from underneath Sano, causing the brown head to hit his head on the floor. “Let’s make one point clear. I don’t need you to protect me. I can take care of myself.”

“Geez!” Sano finally opened his eyes with a look of annoyance. “Now, why did you go and do that for? And dude, you can’t blame me if I need to watch your back. After all, some of those guys were tough.”

“Do you think that I’m not skilled enough to take care of myself?” asked Hiro angrily. He sat on his futon crossed legged, the blanket forgotten. He crossed his arms and stared at Sano with burning green eyes.

Sano sat up and also crossed his legs. Sleepiness was now replaced by annoyance in the brown eyes. “I’ve been in many fights to know that our opponents were very experienced. In fact, I might have even had a little trouble defeating them. So of course I was worried that you would be running into trouble.”

“Oh, and am I just some fresh new fighter that have no experience in real battles?” spat out Hiro. He glared at Sano. “What? Do you think that you are a better fighter than me?”

“That’s not what I said!” Sano slammed his hands down flat in front of him and winced in pain. “I don’t know why you are getting angry at me for.”

Hiro also slammed down his hands. He leaned forwards slightly so that the two men’s face were only a foot apart. “I’m mad that you were injured and you went to fight when it wasn’t necessary. I’m mad that you think I can’t take care of myself. I’m mad that you think you are a better fighter than me!”

“Look,” growled Sano. He spoke slowly and clearly, as if he was lecturing Yahiko. “I can fight when I’m injured and I wasn’t even hurt that much. And I never said that you couldn’t take care of yourself or that I was a better fight than you.”

“Yes you did!” snapped Hiro. “And you were injured! What if during the fight you passed out or something? You know how hard it would have been to defeat all those guys while trying to protect you?”

“Oh, so I guess I was burden? Never mind that I help you defeat all those guys,” Sano’s nose flared as he clenched his fists. “Do you think I’m not capable to handle those guys?”

“No, I don’t!” answered back Hiro. “Not when you were already injured. And don’t turn this around! You think I’m not good enough to even fight!”

“Hey, I call like I see it,” shot back Sano, shrugging his shoulders.

Hiro glared at Sano one last time before getting up and stomping out of the room.

“Hey, where you going?” asked Sano, loudly.

“Don’t worry. You don’t need to come rescue me, oh great one,” replied Hiro, sarcastically.

With a loud bang, Hiro slid the door closed. His stomping footsteps faded away in a fast pace.

“Fine!” Sano grabbed for his stolen pillow and laid down once more. He cursed silently in the air before falling asleep.

***

Kaoru woke up after napping for two hours from a weird feeling. It was as if her stomach hurt, as if she went to bed with after eating too much sweets. It was the same stomach ache that she got after the incident with Jin, the fight with the Oniwa Banshu, and the whole Kyoto mess (2). She got up from her futon and her feet padded their way out of the door, in search for the antidote. Her destination was not far away, just the room right next door. Trying to be quiet as a mouse, Kaoru slid the door open, just wide enough for her to peak into the room. After a minute, Kaoru slid the door close. With a smile on her face and the stomach ache gone, she made her way back to her room.

Kenshin opened his eyes once he heard his door being closed. A thoughtful smile danced across his face before he fell asleep again.

***

Shuichi woke up, head hurting and body aching. Something felt wrong, as if he should not have been sleeping just now. Violet eyes slitted, unable to fully open with the sunlight in the room. That would explain why Shuichi felt as though he should not be asleep. However, at the same time, he did not want to get up. He wondered what time it was, why he was still in bed. His hand brushed against another hand and Shuichi almost jumped out of his futon. Turning his head sideways, he saw Yuki, deep asleep. All of a sudden, Shuichi remembered what had happened only hours ago. He turned sideways to stare at Yuki. All of a sudden, it was not so important to find out the time. Grabbing hold of Yuki’s hand, which laid on his chest, Shuichi fell back asleep.

***

Hiro slipped on his shoes. In one hand, he held his bo. His sai were tucked at his waist, his clothing hiding them from view. His shoes firmly in place on his feet now, Hiro made his way towards the main gate.

“Hiro! Wait!”

At those words, Hiro stopped, only a few steps away from the gate. He turned towards his right, to see Megumi walking rapidly towards him.

“Megumi-san,” Hiro greeted politely, trying to sound calm. His face was still slightly flushed from the yelling session with Sano.

“Hiro, where are you going?” she asked, eyeing the bundle.

“I think it’s time for me to return back to my sensei’s (3) place. I think I have intruded on Kaoru long enough,” explained Hiro, his gray eyes not quite looking into Megumi’s eyes.

“Really?” Megumi stared hard at Hiro. “Why all of a sudden though?”

Hiro shrugged. “This feels as good as any time to return.”

“Yeah, I can see how this would be a good a time as any to leave,” Megumi said, sarcastically. “Perfect time to leave, without saying goodbye to anybody, worrying everyone. Perfect timing. Couldn’t be better.”

Hiro remained silent, knowing that there could not be a good response to what Megumi had just said. Instead, he opted to shift the bo in his hand and look at the ground.

Megumi sighed. “Are you leaving because of Sano?”

“No,” replied Hiro, a little too quickly.

“Hnn.” Megumi shook her head. “Tell me, why do I always seem to be surrounded by the most stubborn fools in this area?”

“I’m not stubborn, if that is what you are implying.”

“Then why are you leaving? And don’t lie.”

“There are some things that I need to take care of and in order for me to do so, I need to go back to my sensei’s place.”

“Before you go Hiro, I would like to say something.” Megumi took a deep breath. “I know Sano is loud, uncouth, headstrong, stubborn, and every other unattractive adjective out there. But he also cares a lot for you, even if you don’t think he does.”

Hiro turned around and pushed open the gate. “I’ll be on my way now.” With a short bow, Hiro left.

Megumi did not bother to stop Hiro from walking through the open gates. She continued to watch the boy walk away, until Hiro’s long, deep reddish brown hair was no longer visible. Then, Megumi closed the gate.

***

It was early evening Kenshin woke up. The whole house was still and quiet, absent of the usual chattering of Yahiko, Sano’s grumbling, or the noises of wooden swords striking each other during training. Putting on his usual clothes, Kenshin walked out of his room.

He stopped briefly outside of Kaoru’s room, nodding when he heard the quiet breaths of Kaoru sleeping. He continued to make his way around the house when he ran into Megumi.

“Megumi-dono, thank you for taking care of us,” Kenshin said with a smile.

“Ah, no problem, Kenshin,” replied Megumi.

“Is everyone still asleep?”

“I sent Yahiko on some errands, but besides him, everyone is still asleep.” Megumi paused. “And Kenshin? Hiro left.”

“Oro?” Big violet eyes blinked. “Left for where?”

“Back to his home. I have a feeling it is because of Sano.”

“Ah. I see. Thanks for letting me know, Megumi-dono.”

***

It was next morning when Sano woke up with every part of his body aching. Still, he felt better than he did yesterday. After opening his eyes, he just laid there, enjoying the few extra minutes in bed. Then he remembered. Hiro left yesterday. Swearing, Sano sat up quickly. He immediately laid back down again as his body refused to cooperate in protest. He tried to sit up once more, this time slowly. As he finally reached the desired sitting position, he heard someone approaching his door.

“Hiro?” called out Sano, hopefully. His face fell as door slid open to reveal a different red head than Sano hoped for.

“Sorry, it’s just me, Sano,” greeted Kenshin, cheerfully. “How are your wounds?”

“Better,” answered Sano. He waved a hand towards the empty futon left by Hiro. “Have a seat Kenshin.”

Kenshin sat on the futon and gave Sano a warm smile. “Megumi-dono told me that she saw Hiro leave yesterday. I don’t want to pry Sano, but I want you to know that I’m here if you need to talk, that I am.”

“I know,” said Sano, glancing down at his hands which were on his lap. After a few moments of quiet, Sano stated, “I think Hiro is mad at me.”

Sano looked up at Kenshin with a pair of sad, brown eyes, the kind of eyes one sees on a poor, abused animal. “What should I do?”

“What do you want to do?” asked Kenshin, gently.

“A part of me want to just remain pissed off at him,” admitted Sano. His voice grew louder. “I mean what kind of person walks out on an injured friend? That bastard.”

Kenshin raised an eyebrow and Sano returned a sheepish grin in reply.

“But another part of me already misses him,” said Sano, his voice dropping in volumes. “I want to go apologize to him. Even if I don’t think it is my fault.”

“Then you already know what you should do,” said Kenshin. “I heard that he is going to his sensei’s place.”

“Thanks Kenshin,” said Sano, getting to his feet. “If I leave right now, I’ll make it there a little after noon.”

“Good luck, Sano.” Kenshin stood up as well. “And Sano, I think apologizing is a good idea. But I think saying it is not your fault afterward is a bad idea, that I do.”

***

The bright morning light pierced through the sliding doors and played across Shuichi’s eyelids until the boy was forced to awake. Throwing an arm across his eyes, Shuichi attempted to block the sunlight and go back to sleep. Unfortunately, the movement seemed signify all pain that Shuichi was unable to feel while sleeping to come forth and bother him. A pitiful moan escaped from Shuichi as he turned over to his side so that he had his back to the sliding doors. A gentle caress on his face caused him to open his eyes and kiss goodbye any wishful thinking of sleeping.

“Shuichi,” said Yuki, softly. His hand moved to caress Shuichi’s face and brilliant violet eyes fluttered opened. “Are you okay?”

Shuichi smiled at the sight that greeted his eyes. The sunlight seem to make Yuki’s hair shine and the concern in those hazel eyes did not go unnoticed by Shuichi. Reaching over to apply caress of his own on Yuki’s face, Shuichi replied, “I’m fine.” Then he winced. “A little sore.” The wince turned into a pained expression and Shuichi dropped his arm. “Okay, very sore.”

Trying to hide a chuckle, Yuki stared at Shuichi. The caresses continued and soon, Shuichi relaxed to those light touches on his face. He was almost blissfully asleep again when Yuki spoke up.

“Your birthday is coming up, isn’t it?” asked Yuki. He watched as Shuichi’s eyes opened and closed, a battle between sleeping and staying awake.

“Hmm,” replied Shuichi.

“When is it?”

“In three days.” This violet eyes stayed open as sleep lost another battle that morning. “Why?”

“What are you going to do now?” asked Yuki, straight to the point. He stopped caressing Shuichi face and stared at Shuichi.

Shuichi did not reply right away. The two of them just laid there, on their sides, facing each other. Finally, Shuichi admitted, “I’m not sure. Everything happened so quickly that I didn’t even have much time to think about anything.”

“Hmm.” Yuki decided it was time to get up but a hand on his shoulder stopped him from even sitting up. “Shuichi?”

“Ahh,” stammered Shuichi, withdrawing his hand, “never mind.”

Yuki merely nodded. After quickly dressing, Yuki left the room, remembering to slide the door quietly behind him.

Shuichi sill laid in bed, listening to Yuki’s footsteps moving further and further away until they became nonexistent. Still on his side, Shuichi stared at his hand, which looked sickly yellow against the white blanket. The last two fingers on his hand closed, the rest of the fingers creating the number three. Just three days and it would be his twentieth birthday. Never had an approaching day seemed so ominous.
Even without deliberating on the sudden flurry of events that had happened, Shuichi knew what the future held. He was going to run the family business. In fact he wanted to, in order to make his parents proud, to know that it was in the hands of a Shindou. To give up the business or to give it away seemed as if he was quitting and Shuichi refused to be weak, just to spite his uncle. But after he takes over the business, what then? What will happen to him and Yuki? Shuichi knew that he was not going to be in Kaoru’s debt forever and he knew that Yuki also would not be living with Kaoru and Kenshin permanently.

Shuichi sat up. His fists tightened in sign of his determination. He was going to ask Yuki to move in with him. All logical reasoning in Shuichi’s brain shouted that it was a stupid idea. After all, they’ve only known each other a few weeks. He knew only an idiot would ask someone “Hey, want to live with me?” after being acquaintances for that short amount of time. Luckily, he was an idiot.

“Alright!” yelled Shuichi, into the empty room. “I’ll ask him tonight!”

With a new energized feeling, he got up to dress, grimacing through his pain the whole time.

***

As Sano predicted, it was a little bit past noon when he arrived to Hiro’s sensei’s home. Sano would have arrived sooner except he had only been to the place once before and had gotten a little lost. Also, he was more tired than he had anticipated, causing him to slow his pace down.

“Great, just how I want to be seen by Hiro,” muttered Sano. “All sweaty and tired.”

He knocked on the gate and while waiting for it to open, tried to make himself look more representable. He stopped that as soon as the gate opened and a young girl came out.

“Can I help you sir?” she asked.

“I’m looking for Hiro,” explained Sano. “Is he here?”

“Are you a friend of Hiro senpai(4)?” asked the girl, opening the door even wider. “Come in! Any friend of Hiro senpai is welcomed here. He’s probably in the dojo training, even though classes over for today. You can follow me!”

“Err, thanks.” Sano warily followed the enthusiastic girl. The girl continued to talk but Sano could not pay attention to her, as his mind was occupied with the apprehension of seeing Hiro. When the girl stopped walking, Sano almost bumped into her, stopping just a fist worth of a distance.

The girl waved towards one of the buildings. “He should be over there. He usually doesn’t like to be interrupted during his training. In fact, everyone avoids the dojo for about two hours during this time of day out of respect for him. You can wait outside or try your luck by going in. But don’t say that I didn’t warn you! I have to go now. Nice talking to you!” With a wave, the girl ran off, leaving Sano alone and bewildered.

After taking a series of hesitant steps, Sano found himself outside of the dojo. The door to the room was open just a little bit, enough so that someone could peek in through the crack. Feeling like a little kid snooping, Sano got closer to look through.

In a spacious wide room, a little bit bigger than Kaoru’s own dojo, was Hiro, dressed in a white gi. In his hands, he held a bo. Sano felt just a hint of nostalgia, remembering the first time he had seen Hiro practicing with the bo. It was almost a weird sense of deja vu. Only this time, Hiro was mad at Sano. With a deep breath, Sano open the door wider and entered, quickly sliding the door shut behind him. He seemed to have trouble breathing as he saw Hiro stop moving, his back towards Sano and his bo in his right hand. Neither men spoke and the tension became so thick that even Kenshin would not have been able to cut it through with his sword.

“What are you doing here?” Hiro finally spoke up, not moving.

“I came to see you,” offered Sano, in a voice which he thought was too high. Can’t seem nervous, chided Sano, inwardly. Because I’m not nervous, Sano told himself. Not nervous.

“Why? So you could protect me from my bo?” asked Hiro, sarcastically.

Sano blinked and his face took on a hurtful expression, not that Hiro could see. “Don’t be silly-”

“Oh?” Hiro turned around, his green eyes flashing with anger. Sweat damped bangs, that escaped from his ponytail, stuck to his face. “Can you blame me for thinking that way? After all, according to you, I’m weak, remember? Or have you forgotten, oh Strong One?”

Sano gritted his teeth but tried to calm himself down. “Hiro, I didn’t come here to fight with you. I came here to apologize.”

Hiro just stood there, looking at Sano. If Sano expected this to be easy, he was gravely mistaken.

Sano took a couple steps forward. “I’m sorry Hiro. I said some things that I shouldn’t have and I’m sorry.”

Again, Hiro just stood there, refusing to respond to Sano’s apology.

“I don’t think you are weak. I don’t think that I’m stronger than you. It just didn’t come out right, that’s all.” Sano took a few more steps before stopping.

“Then what did you mean to say?” asked Hiro, coldly.

Sano sighed. “Look Hiro, I’m not good at this apology stuff. I’m not good with words either. I know you were mad that I went to fight when you told me not to. But I couldn’t stay in bed knowing that you were going to face danger.

“And it is not because I think you are weak,” Sano added, quickly. “It’s because I can’t think that something will happen and I’ll lose you. Even if I can’t help you, or you wind up helping me instead, the thought of me not being there when I might lose you is what makes me do stupid things, you know?”

Hiro eyes soften and he let out a sigh of his own. “Sano, what makes you think you can go do whatever you want when you are sick? What happens when something happens to you and I lose you? I worry about the same thing, you know. I don’t want to lose you either. The thought of you fighting while you were already injured, I just couldn’t believe you would do something so stupid to put your life in danger. I don’t want to lose you, Sano.”

Sano looked down, unable to look at Hiro any longer. “I’m sorry,” he said, to the floor. Never in his whole life had he felt so vulnerable, so weak, so opened to an attack.

Unable to stand it any longer, Hiro gently placed his bo on the ground. Then, he ran all four steps towards Sano and hugged the man tightly.

Feeling Hiro’s arms around him, Sano felt as if five bags of rice was lifted from his shoulders. He returned the hug, soaking in Hiro’s scent and warmth. “I’m sorry.”

“Me too,” whispered Hiro. He placed a soft kiss on Sano’s lips. “Me too.”

“Let’s make up?” asked Sano, hopefully. He was rewarded with another kiss, this one deeper and leaving both of them breathless when Hiro pulled away. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

“I missed you,” breathed Hiro, running his hand through Sano’s brown hair. Hiro pulled down Sano’s head for another kiss. “I missed this.”

Then Hiro kissed Sano on the nose. “This.”

Hiro placed a trace of kisses down Sano’s neck that left Sano even more breathless than before. “This.”

Reaching down, Hiro cupped Sano’s groin, which was already hard. “And especially this.”

Gasping, Sano stated, “I missed all those too.” Sano bucked his hips into Hiro’s hand to gain more friction. “I missed this the most.”

Hiro chuckled in reply. His laughter was cut short as he felt his nipples being tweaked. “Oh gods. I missed that too.”

It was Sano’s turn to chuckle. Sano leaned to place kisses wherever he could on Hiro’s face, on the chin, the nose, the ear, along the jaw line, while sampling the taste of Hiro’s sweet lips. One hand continue to worship the pebbled flesh, white the other hand proceeded to untie Hiro’s top. With skill, Sano soon shed his boyfriend of the troublesome top. He felt Hiro’s hands moving to rid of Sano’s own top, which he obliged. Sano’s hand moved to the other nipple, giving it the same worship as given to its twin. The other hand ghosted over Hiro’s chiseled stomach, feeling the muscles twitch underneath. The hand then untied Hiro’s pants, the knot becoming swiftly undone. Soon, Hiro stood naked, panting and aroused.

“You are wearing too much clothes,” pointed out Hiro, breathlessly, reaching for Sano. Soon, Sano’s clothing joined Hiro’s on the ground, forgotten, as the two kissed each other wildly, their groins rubbing against each other.

Hiro knew at the pace they were going, it was going to be over before either of them realized. Their movements were more desperate than the other times they had sex, more needy. He grabbed Sano’s hand to draw the fingers into his mouth. He looked at Sano in surprise when the ex-gangster pulled his hand away.

“What’s wrong?” asked Hiro, frowning.

“This time, it’s going to be different,” answered Sano, with a wink. He grasped Hiro’s hand and drew Hiro’s fingers into his mouth.

Hiro’s eyes grew wide as he understood what Sano was saying. “Are you sure?”

Sano mumbled an affirmative noise with Hiro’s fingers occupying the mouth. Reluctantly, Sano pulled Hiro’s fingers away. He lowered his head to place another kiss on Hiro, who still looked surprised at the turn of events. Lowering himself and Hiro on the ground, Sano said, “Come on. If you don’t hurry, I’m gonna beat you up or something.”

Grinning, Hiro sat on his knees. “You wish you could beat me up.” Then he let out a low moan as Sano positioned himself on all fours, his ass presented to Hiro.

Sano looked over his shoulder and smirked at Hiro’s reaction. Wiggling his ass, Sano called out, “Hurry!”

“So impatient,” teased Hiro. He slid one finger through the tight ring of muscles. The one finger massaged the walls and moved in and out, allowing Sano to become adjusted to the feeling.

“You okay?” asked Hiro.

“Never been better,” replied Sano, his forehead resting on his forearms. He felt another finger being added and Sano moaned as the two digits worked inside of him. He jumped slightly and gasped as he felt the fingers brush along his spot. “More!” Sano said, needily, pushing back against those wonderful fingers.

Hiro smiled. “I don’t know if I should,” he teased. He added a third finger and proceeded to brush against Sano’s prostrated each time the fingers plunged in, causing Sano to yell out incoherent words. Hearing Sano’s voice growing louder, Hiro stopped.

“Shh!” warned Hiro. “We don’t want people to hear outside.”

Sano growled. “I got it. Now go back to what you were doing.”

“Remember, no noise,” cautioned Hiro.

Sano could not help but yelp as he was suddenly flipped over onto his back. He felt Hiro settling between his legs. Hooking one leg around Hiro’s waist, Sano threw his other leg over Hiro’s shoulder.

“It’s almost more exciting now that we can’t make noise,” Sano said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Hiro stifled a moan and placed his hands on Sano’s hips. “Let’s see how good we are.” With that being said, Hiro’s cock slowly penetrated Sano.

Sano whimpered quietly, loving the feeling of being filled while at the same time, feeling a tiny bit of pain. He breathed in deeply as Hiro entered to his hilt and paused. When Sano felt ready, he rolled his hips to let Hiro know, causing the red head to moan.

“Hey, be quiet up there,” teased Sano.

“Trying to,” whispered Hiro. He slowly withdrew and entered again, just as slowly. He pulled in an out a couple more times in the same slow pace, squashing all reaction to just ride Sano wildly, causing Sano to growl menacingly.

“What?” asked Hiro, feigning innocence.

“Faster,” commanded Sano. He unhooked his one leg from Hiro’s shoulder to wrap it around his waist, in order to get better leverage.

“As you wish,” said Hiro.

He snapped his hips, setting a faster pace, hitting Sano’s prostate with deadly accuracy. Sano moaned quietly, his voice mixing with Hiro’s own quiet groans. Then Hiro reached down to grab hold of Sano’s cock, forming a warm tunnel around the organ. All thoughts of caution flew out of Sano’s head as a loud moan escaped.

“Shh!” Hiro moved his other hand from Sano’s waist to his mouth. Hiro leaned over, beads of sweat trailing down his face. He started kissing Sano’s neck, causing more reason for Sano to yell into Hiro hand. Hiro licked the tiny trail of sweat running down Sano’s neck, enjoying the taste of the mixture of sweat and Sano. Hiro bit down on his own lip to remain quiet, which was getting harder as Sano’s hand resumed their torture on Hiro’s nipples.

Just looking at the intense concentration of Hiro, biting his lip, was the last straw for Sano. He came, his shout muffled by Hiro’s hand. As he rode his wave of his orgasm, Sano licked Hiro’s palm, which was still placed over Sano’s mouth. Then, with a wicked look, Sano proceed to nibble on the flesh.

Hiro gasped and jerked his hand away. He rested his chin on the crook of Sano’s shoulder as Hiro felt his own orgasm. He sobbed into Sano’s neck, muffling his own ecstatic shout of release. All energy drained now, Hiro barely managed to pull out of Sano before collapsing on top of him again. He felt Sano’s arms around him and Hiro tried to snuggle as close as possible to his lover.

“You know what?” asked Sano, stroking Hiro’s sweat stained face.

“What?” mumbled Hiro.

“We’ve got to stop having sex in the training rooms.”

***

Although Shuichi felt better today, he still spent most of the daytime resting. There was nothing to keep him occupied so he wind up taking naps most of the time. The rest of the gang were up and around as if they just did not defeat a whole gang of hired killers.

When Shuichi woke up from his second nap of the day, it was early evening. He could smell dinner and his stomach growled in response.

“Time to eat!” exclaimed Shuichi, getting up slowly. Ignoring the pain in his muscles, he walked as fast as he could to the direction from where the mouth watering aroma was coming from. Kenshin must have cooked, guessed Shuichi, walking along the hallway. He was so caught up in his quest for dinner that he ran smack into Yuki.

“Shuichi? You alright?” asked Yuki, concerned.

“Yes! I’m fine!” yelled Shuichi, a little too loudly. He blushed in embarrassment. He looked around to see that there was no one else around. Okay, do it, he told himself silently. “Yuki, I wanted to ask-”

“Yuki!” interrupted Yahiko, carrying a tray filled with rice bowls. “Kenshin needs some help in the kitchen.”

“I’ll be there,” replied Yuki. He turned towards Shuichi. “Sorry. I’ll be right back.”

“No problem.” Shuichi watched Yuki hurrying towards the kitchen. I’ll just ask him later, Shuichi told himself, determinedly.

***

Dinner turned out to be the usual loud event. Kaoru and Yahiko were arguing as usual. While Shuichi was napping, Hiro and Sano had returned, only to fight for every last piece of every dish. Everybody was so preoccupied with one another that Shuichi decided he might as well ask Yuki now.

“Yuki?” asked Shuichi, putting his rice bowl down.

“Hmm?” Yuki took a piece of tempura before Sano could notice.

“I wanted to -”

“Hey!” Kaoru shouted suddenly. “It’s going to be Shuichi’s birthday in three days. Let’s have a party!”

“Good idea, Jo-chan!” agreed Sano, enthusiastically. “I’ll provide the sake!”

“Do you even have money to do that?” joked Yahiko.

“Why you little -” Sano grabbed for Yahiko, who tried hide behind Kenshin, who tried to tear himself away from both Yahiko and Sano. Soon, a mini brawl issued, with Kaoru murmuring about immature men and Megumi murmuring about not treating anymore stubborn men.

Okay, I’ll just ask later, vowed Shuichi.

***

After dinner, Shuichi promptly fell asleep and the question never did get asked that night.

***

Shuichi woke the next morning with even more determination than the day before, to ask the all important question. Before even eating breakfast, Shuichi searched for Yuki, who was already gone when Shuichi woke up. His spirit was dampened for the rest of the day when Kaoru informed him that Yuki and Kenshin went to run an errand that day. Shuichi spent the rest of the day in his room, pondering the many ways to phrase his question, with all intent to stay up and wait for Yuki. However, after dinner, the combination of food coma from eating too much and his body still healing, Shuichi fell asleep in his sitting position. He did not even move when Yuki came in and moved Shuichi to the futon.


NOTES:
1. Ojiisan - grandpa, or old man. In this case, old man.
2. Sensei - teacher
3. For those not familiar with Kenshin, all the incidents mentioned were Kenshin’s fights or opponents in the series.
4. Senpai - how you address an upperclassmen. You refer to people older than you, outside your family, in this way.