AUTHOR: Macx and Lara Bee
DISCLAIMER: not ours. Definitely not! We just play with them and hope we tread on no one's toes.
Author's Voice of Warning (aka Author's Note):
English is not our first language; it's German. This is the best we can do. Any mistakes you find in here, collect them and you might win a prize g> The spell-checker said everything's okay, but you know how trustworthy those thingies are...
ARCHIVE: yes
WARNINGS: dark theme, namely rape- but LOTS of sap, too
TYPE: yaoi
RATING: R. The story was re-edited to fit the R-rating of FFNet. The full version with the NC-17 parts will be up on our website after the completion of all chapters.
PAIRING (S): Tatsumi/Watari
Tsuzuki/Hisoka
FEEDBACK: empty inbox seeks emails g>
Shinigami were a source of legend and fairy tales. Human kind loved to hear about ghost stories, the myth and horror of those who became angels of death because they couldn't let go of their life, even in death. Lore told of gruesome beings, taking lives and souls, accompanying the lost and departed into the next world. They created an image of dark beings, without a sense of their former selves, serving the highest entity of the Land of the Dead, Enma-Daiou.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
Watari Yutaka was a shinigami and had been for three decades now. A young man in his mid-twenties with long, blond hair, lively golden eyes and a smile for everyone, he was the exact opposite of the mythical shinigami humankind thought existed. Tall, slender and filled with such life, he could have been anything, and to the one renting the little treasure of an apartment to him, Watari was just another tenant. A bouncy tenant, but a tenant.
Who would have believed in shinigami renting their places to stay either? The truth was that shinigami worked for a living, so to speak. They were paid like everyone else, they had pay raises, they had days off, and they were classified as civil servants. It would have been amusing if anyone had ever truly guessed what kind of network existed behind the legend.
But as it was, no one knew except for the ones involved, and they were all dead.
Watari moved between his boxes, unpacking the things he had brought along when he had been forced to look for a new place. Shinigami didn't age, so staying in one place for a prolonged time, say... two decades, was bound to arouse suspicion. He didn't add a wrinkle or even a gray hair, so now and then each shinigami moved.
It was Watari's fourth move and the first one after getting together with Tatsumi. He had loved his old, airy apartment. It had been a lucky find, in the middle of the city, affordable, quite large, and very quiet. He had been sad to let it go, but he had found a wonderful replacement.
The new place was not as central as the last, but that didn't matter for his job. It was actually a remodeled roof apartment with access to a terrace that he planned to fill with plants and stuff to give it a nicer feel, and while it was smaller than the last, the terrace added space. It was about the same size as the apartment as such, so on sunny days he could feel free to be outside.
003 hooted softly from her perch on one of the empty shelves. Watari smiled at the little owl, which had expressed her satisfaction with the apartment already.
"Well, time to get going and clean up, hm?" he called cheerfully.
Another hoot and 003 flew over to one of the many boxes, nibbling at the cardboard.
"That one first?" He peered at the label. "Oh, yeah, the books. Okay, let's get going with the shelves then."
And Watari set to work.
It was how Tatsumi found him three hours later. The Shadow Master had been occupied with a meeting back in Meifu and it had gone a lot longer than expected. Bureaucratic matters always took longer than any crisis that could arise over lost souls and demonic activity. So finally everything had been postponed till Monday and he could pay his lover a visit, see if Watari needed help.
Looking at the chaos inside the new apartment, Watari did. Need help, that was.
Tatsumi let his gaze wander around the room, noting the already emptied boxes, those still piled up against a wall that needed emptying, and then came to rest on the slender man currently engaged in getting his kitchen into order. Blond hair bound back into a tight ponytail with only a few strands escaping to tickle his skin, dressed in faded, ripped in the right places' jeans and a black t-shirt, Watari looked downright sexy.
He looked edible!
Tatsumi reigned in his desire for the man, but it took an effort, especially when he caught sight of the tight jeans stretched over a firm behind.
Hell, he wasn't a teenager anymore!
Then again, considering his lack of partners up until now, his need for his partner might be explained. But that was only part of it. The other was the simple appreciation for this man, for the chances he had brought in the other man's life, and for the happiness he radiated.
Walking over to where Watari had just finished with the pots and pans, and was turning to getting the herbs, canned foods and dried goods sorted, Tatsumi announced his presence with a little cough.
Sparkling golden eyes met bright blue ones and Watari gave him his trademark happy smile, filled with a warmth and love directed only at one person.
"Seii! Already here?"
"It's past eight, 'Taka. I'm actually late."
Watari shrugged good-naturedly. "Who's counting the hours? You're here, which is what's important."
He took hold of the dark tie the older shinigami was wearing and pulled Tatsumi close, lips meeting.
Tatsumi again wondered how one person could be so completely at ease with everything around him. True, Watari was more than a happy-go-lucky person and he could be quite serious as well as dangerous if provoked or on a case, but his very nature was like that.
"I see you've been busy," Tatsumi remarked as he slipped out of his suit jacket and hung it over the back of a kitchen chair.
"Oh well, yes. Been trying as best as I could, but it's a lot. The shelves are done and I've moved the clothing boxes into the bedroom, but the kitchen is a mess."
"Want help?"
Tatsumi was already rolling up his sleeves.
Watari smiled. "Sure. But you can go and change first, you know. No need to get your suit all messed up."
"I'm not planning to wear it tomorrow or on Monday," Tatsumi only said and started with the canned and dried foods.
"Okay."
They worked easily together, chatting over this and that. Watari had gotten to know a few neighbors and Tatsumi was getting a detailed insight into each an every one of them, as well as heard the plans for tomorrow where Watari wanted to go and buy some large potted plants for the terrace with Tsuzuki.
"Tsuzuki?" Tatsumi asked as he closed the cupboard, pleased that it was now in order.
"Oh, yes. He planned the terrace, actually. You know he loves gardening. I asked him and he was really eager to help," came Watari's slightly muffled voice from within the pantry. "Want to come along?"
"No, you two go ahead. I'll just finish whatever needs finishing," he offered.
Watari grinned. "Okay."
In turn Tatsumi talked about his work day, which always helped to put things into perspective for him. Watari was a good listener and while he rarely was in the middle of the action, he had an innate understanding of office matters. Sometimes Tatsumi wondered why he still stayed in the lab and hadn't applied for an office. Then again, like Tsuzuki Watari was happy where he was. Changing his environment might not be the best of plans.
°
Tatsumi sat in one of the wicker chairs on the terrace, enjoying the fresh air which was surprisingly clear, devoid of the many pollution factors such a great city brought with it, and gazed into the darkening sky. The colors were spectacular, ranging from dark blue to violet and orange with reddish or golden yellow hues. A slight breeze was rustling through the tall plants that formed a tiny, private haven in the middle of this stone and steel city. Leaning back, closing his eyes, he simply let himself relax.
Tsuzuki really had a knack for gardening and landscaping, he mused. The garden looked wonderful and it smelled fresh and green.
Soft steps announced the arrival of his host, the creator of this incredible rooftop getaway, and he cracked one blue eye open. Watari smiled as he held out a hand, which was offering a can of beer to him. Tatsumi smiled in return and took it.
"Thanks," he said quietly.
Watari nodded and took the second chair, sighing with contentment. There was a soft hooting and 003 landed in one of the plants, looking decidedly pleased. The owl was enjoying the greenery just as much as the two shinigami.
As the sky darkened more, lights went on around them in the many houses and on the streets. Tatsumi just watched the spectacle of the hundreds of lights, signs of human life, and drank his beer. His eyes kept drifting to the blond at his side, noting the relaxed way he lounged in his chair, hair bound back and revealing the handsome face. Watari was wearing one of his favorite shirts, with a wide open neck, showing skin that tempted Tatsumi to kiss and nibble at it.
He finally rose to deposit his can in the small receptacle that had been placed next to a plant, then leaned over and gave in to his desire.
Watari gave a soft sigh as the Shadow Master placed kisses along his exposed neck, down to the shoulder, nibbling at the collar bone. One hand came up and lodged at the back of his neck.
"Hm, hungry?" he teased.
"Ravenous," Tatsumi replied.
"I've got some cold fried noodles," was the offer.
Tatsumi grunted and lightly bit at the soft skin he was caressing. Watari yelped and laughed.
"Okay, no noodles," he chuckled. "How about..."
"You," the Shadow Master rumbled.
"Then there's that..."
Another bite was delivered, this one gentle and tender, not even leaving a mark. Watari moaned a little, his fingers carding into Tatsumi's longish strands.
"We still need to give this place a proper home warming party," he told his blond lover.
"I concur," was the breathless reply.
"Alone," Tatsumi added, already reading the teasing light in the semi-open eyes correctly.
Watari pretended to pout, but he didn't protest. Their lips finally met in a slow, sensual kiss. It was a bit awkward at first, kissing his lover the other way around, but with some soft chuckling they both managed.
The blond finally rose, stepping into his taller lover's arms, the next kiss far more like they were used to kissing, and the action soon moved them inside into the bedroom where still a few boxes were waiting to be unpacked. Neither man cared, actually.
Outside, in one of the trees on the terrace, 003 hooted softly and preened her feathers. The little owl listened to the sounds of the night for a while, large yellow eyes seeing perfectly in the near-darkness, then it took flight to go and have a look around the new place. It knew that its friend and his partner would be busy for a while.
tbc...