Disclaimer: These are not my characters.

Warning: Adult content and spoilers. When I decided to write this, I noted there were only four other fanfics for Warrior Baek Dong Soo, so you may not be familiar with it. It's one of many Korean period dramas that are worth watching for the anime/manga fan. (Watch the TV series if you're interested. The manga is a bit disjointed and confusing.) For comparison to a more popular series, the two main characters have a bit of a Naruto/Sasuke vibe.

Even if you haven't seen the series, I think this piece stands on it's own as far as angst/erotica content.

Let me know what you think.

Woon needed the documents tonight, or he wouldn't be stalking through the madame's inner chamber when she was entertaining clients. Woon had very nearly beheaded the incompetent subordinate who dared to come back empty-handed. The Cloud King of the assassin's guild had better things to be doing than slipping through the shadows around some carnal writhing in which he was not taking part. He cursed Goo Hyang silently, twitching irritably at her soft moans from the other side of the screen. If the client was really that important, she could have made arrangements to stash the scroll somewhere more accessible.

He supposed they were pretty sounds, the chirps the gisaeng used to encourage their customers, but Woon found them a little too manicured to be believed. It occurred to him he was spending too much time in the brothel if the sounds of lovemaking were just so much background noise to him. Or maybe it was because he was an assassin, and no matter what human act he witnessed, it looked only like one more attempt to distract oneself from one's ultimate mortality.

There was no more cover beyond the screen, and still several yards of room to cross before he could reach the targeted cupboard. He would wait a moment, until he was more sure her guest was too distracted to notice his intrusion. Goo Hyang was putting on a good performance tonight. He might almost believe she was genuinely aroused.

Then she gasped, hard, and the noise reached past his indifference to send a shock through him from neck to groin. Her moans became more desperate, guttural. What kind of man could get a seasoned gisaeng to lose control to such a degree? This was no longer a performance. He had to see.

Woon peered around the screen at floor level. He was at their feet. The man was leaning over Goo Hyang, one arm beneath her lower back to pull her off the floor to meet him as he thrust. His hips were doing something fluid and circular. He was muscular, moved well, a warrior. This was obviously not the usual clientele the women complained of, all awkward groping and spastic, flaccid poking. No wonder Goo Hyang was making those noises.

Woon decided it was all a bit too much for him to inflict on himself. It was effecting him rather more than he was used to. The Chinese envoy would have to wait another few hours for his damned papers. Before he could withdraw from the room, the carnal activity stopped, abruptly. Had they seen him?

Goo Hyang spoke first, "Ah. Why did you stop?"

The man replied, voice husky with restraint and concern, but not winded, "You're crying. Am I hurting you?"

Goo Hyang laughed, softly and bitterly, "Perhaps, my lord, but not in the way you think. You please me. I would very much like to continue."

She pushed him up into a kneeling position, and he drew her onto his lap. As she sat up, her gaze flickered over to where Woon was now standing next to the screen, eyes wide. He had recognized the man's voice. Now that he saw it, he recognized his muscular back and arms also. Specifically, he recognized the scars, some of which Woon himself had inflicted.

Goo Hyang recovered from her surprise well, unwilling to expose Woon, but her lover noticed the minute break in attention. She was swept behind him as he turned to face the intruder, one hand reaching for his pants even as he was crouched to attack.

Woon was already gone, having leapt directly through the sliding door to the outer courtyard. He didn't remember standing up, but he had. He had exposed himself like a beginner. What was the damage? Woon calculated the cost of the exposure as he ran. His purpose still remained unknown. However, his pursuer likely already had guessed his identity. The traditional assassin garb and mask would not fool the man with whom he had been raised and had sparred countless times. They knew each other's moves like their own. Woon whisked a throwing knife at his pursuer, and heard it thunk harmlessly into a post, effortlessly dodged. It didn't gain him the lead he was looking for.

Woon was losing ground. The tavern was, conveniently, at the edge of town, so he turned the pursuit outward, toward the woods. The chase was strangely silent. Neither of them wanted to attract attention. There was a pagoda some distance in, enough for them to have some privacy, and some cover from the freezing rain that had begun a few minutes earlier.

He reached it with only a two step lead. Woon stopped and ducked down quickly within the shadowed edge of the building, forcing the other man to either trip on him or leap over. He leapt, rolling toward the center of the building, nonetheless easily catching the two knives Woon sent after him. He hurled them back… to stick into the pagoda above Woon's head.

"Yeo Woon," said the man in greeting.

"Dong Soo," he replied. So this will be the talking kind of meeting rather than the fighting kind. Too bad. Talking with Dong Soo was predictable, and exhausting. The idiot always thought all Woon had to do was walk away from the assassin's guild and he could avoid his miserable fate. Woon couldn't explain why he really didn't leave. As the Cloud King of the guild, Woon denied several contracts on Baek Dong Soo's life, and outright foiled three or four attempts on the swordsman or his friends weekly. Without Woon standing in the way, Dong Soo's life would have descended into tragedy years ago. No matter how good a swordsman, Dong Soo couldn't be everywhere, and he had to sleep sometime.

"Did you see…" Baek Dong Soo began, waving his hand in the direction from which they had come. Then cleared his throat and tried again, "Of course you saw. Why were you there?"

That wasn't something Woon was willing discuss. "Why were you there?" Woon snorted. "What happened to Ji Seon, whom you risked everything for? She obviously loves you." Long ago Woon had abducted and hidden Ji Seon from her enemies for the sake of Baek Dong Soo's love for her. Woon had grown to admire her also. She was strong and beautiful and didn't deserve to be put aside. He had missed her calm when she left the halls of the guild.

"Ah. Ji Seon," Baek Dong Soo put a hand to his chest as if it pained him. He sighed and shuffled forward to sit on the bench next to where Woon was standing. Woon counted the openings Dong Soo presented in the process. He could have attacked him five times, at least. Too trusting. "She loves me, yes. I think she loves you, too." Woon had two long heartbeats to process that before Dong Soo continued, "I think she loves everyone. She loves the people and the birds and the dung beetles. It turns out that Buddhist nun thing was more than a convenient cover for her. It's bone deep."

Woon relaxed his posture also, leaning against the wall of the pagoda. If there was any place safe for him in this world, it was next to Baek Dong Soo in conversation mode. "Jun Ji also loves you," he pressed. Woon spent enough time watching them together from the shadows to know how their mutual childhood friend felt. Anyone could tell. Except maybe Dong Soo.

But Dong Soo nodded to the floor in agreement. "She does. But she's too good a friend to toy with." So he did know, but didn't return her devotion. Maybe Dong Soo wasn't as oblivious as he used to be.

Woon idly retrieved his knives from the wooden wall behind him and slipped them back up his sleeve. "Hm. Still, I didn't know the prince was paying you so well that you could afford the priciest gisaeng in the city. Good for you."

Baek Dong Soo didn't reply, looking suddenly bashful. He also looked cold. Now that they were no longer running, the late autumn was making itself felt. The sweat and rain drew the heat from his skin as tendrils of vapor lifted away from the tight, prickled flesh of his shoulders and chest. Woon suppressed the urge to give him his coat. It wouldn't have fit anyway. He admired Dong Soo's apparent ability to run and put on pants at the same time. Still Dong Soo hadn't replied or met his gaze. "Ah. Wait," Woon said. "She isn't charging you, is she?"

Dong Soo shrugged, embarrassed. "I think… even gisaeng get lonely."

Woon hoped that's what it was. That particular gisaeng was one of Woon's subordinates, a very protective one at that. It couldn't be coincidence that she had targeted Dong Soo. Then a memory of the desperate mewling noises she had been making just a few moments ago again tweaked something deep in his gut, interrupting that train of thought. Maybe gisaeng do get lonely.

"Woon," Dong Soo began, interrupting his thoughts. "This life. I want you to leave it."

And there they were, back to Dong Soo's favorite topic. This same, doomed conversation, over and over. "I won't," he replied. I can't. "If I stepped down from the guild, China would send someone else to take my place." By killing me. Then everyone else you love would be dead inside a week.

"Let them. At least it wouldn't have to be you."

"And what would I do, my brilliant strategist friend? I'm a branded traitor, responsible for the previous prince's death, not to mention countless others. Should I live in your basement perhaps?"

"It was a long time ago, when there were those stronger than you who forced those actions on you. You've helped the current prince. You may be the reason he's alive now. Let me beg for a pardon. I can explain…"

"They would have my head Dong Soo. You know that. Stop with this useless noise. It tires me."

Dong Soo was quiet. They both were, staring silently into the center of the pagoda, listening to the frozen rain pelt the leaves and the roof. The white noise shielded them from the rest of the world, creating this strange private space. There was nothing else to be said. They had arrived at the end of this conversation. Again. Woon shifted, preparing to leave.

"Leave the country, then," said Dong Soo, not willing to let it go this time. "With me. I'll go with you." Woon turned to stare at him. "Jun Ji has her family. The prince has other swordsmen. Let's leave together. We can start over, somewhere. Just the two of us."

Dong Soo. Woon knew what desperate measures he would take to save a friend from their fate. He had seen this resolve when Dong Soo burned the damning tattoo from Ji Seon's back with a torch. He was wearing the same expression now. Determined. Dedicated.

It would change nothing.

If they both left, the chaos would be even worse. It was preposterous. Woon laughed it off, "Baek Dong Soo, it sounds as if you're asking me to run away with you. Are we lovers now?"

Alarmingly, Dong Soo did not laugh. The seriousness of his expression did not change. No sense of humor. "Is that what…?" Dong Soo began, then paused for a deep breath. "Ah. Would you accept, if we were?"

"Were what?"

"Lovers."

Yeo Woon had to remember to blink. Dong Soo's words at first seemed as devoid of meaning as the rain surrounding them. The words resolved slowly, but Woon found he couldn't form any in response. He stepped away from the wall, turning to face the too earnest Dong Soo. Woon's instincts clamored, reminding him of the many openings he was presenting to the enemy in this way. Exposed throat. Abdominal organs. He was standing too close, offering too many vulnerabilities. Shut up. Woon pulled Dong Soo's face toward the moonlight. He had to see his eyes. Woon's own eyes were shrouded, hidden behind a curtain of hair and shadow. The previous Cloud King had advised him that the only thing another man should see in his eyes was their own death. But Dong Soo wore his hair back, face open, intent always easy to read.

Woon searched for a long time. That face. Those eyes. This context was too new. It changed the features he had known all his life, making them unfamiliar. He smelled of gisaeng. Face powder, sweat, sex. Dong Soo closed his eyes as Woon wiped a streak of rouge from his lips. When they opened again, Woon searched there. Those eyes were set, determined. In the layers of emotion, Woon even clearly saw that Dong Soo loved him. There was pity, too. But there was no desire. The pang at this discovery brought him back to himself.

Woon let his hand drop from Dong Soo's face. "You've spent too much time with whores, Dong Soo, if you think that you can seduce me away from my wicked life. I don't want you."

Dong Soo gently lifted the hand that had fallen and said softly, "You do. You have always wanted me."

"No," Woon protested, just as softly, forgetting to pull away as Dong Soo explored his hand. Dong Soo claimed the vital point at his wrist, the one that could paralyze an enemy's limbs if pierced precisely. Dong Soo was stroking it now, in a familiar slow, fluid, circular movement. Despite the cold of Dong Soo's fingertips, a heat began to flow from Woon's wrist up through his arm.

"Do you know," mused Dong Soo, "that you used to call my name in your sleep? When we were young, I thought maybe you dreamed we were fighting. I don't know when I realized it was something else."

"You are mistaken," Woon insisted, fighting the warmth that was now flooding him, making it difficult to breathe. "Besides, you don't want me." This last was accusatory.

Baek Dong Soo stopped, brows drawn together in concentration as he looked up at Woon. "I will learn to," he promised.

Woon couldn't think. Couldn't breathe. He reached his other hand up to his wrist to loosen Dong Soo's grip, then held the freed arm to himself as if it had been injured. At last some cold air could get into his lungs. He took a deep breath and a step back. Another breath. Another step. It was good. The further away, the clearer his thoughts.

Dong Soo. You idiot. You never think. Baek Dong Soo would do anything for those precious to him. But he made promises he couldn't keep. He promised to protect people he couldn't protect. So Woon did it for him. What did he think would happen if they both fled? But these were things he couldn't explain. What would the great Baek Dong Soo do if he knew Woon lived this life for his sake?

Woon backed up even farther, crossing to the other side of the pagoda. He had to leave.

"Woon?" Baek Dong Soo said, uncertain.

"No."

Dong Soo slid from the bench to his knees, begging now. "Woon!"

"No," Woon said again, as he escaped into the shadows of trees.

Woon turned around only when he had reached sufficiently far into the woods that he would not be seen from the pagoda. He could still see Dong Soo's kneeling figure, moonlight reflected from pale skin. He watched Dong Soo rise, slowly, and depart in the direction of the tavern.

He stood there, still and silent, until the heat from his encounter with Dong Soo had subsided, and his wrist only tingled. Then he said aloud, "Come out."

A new shadow, draped in black, separated from a nearby tree and knelt before him, offering the scroll case which was Woon's original target for the evening. He must have gone to retrieve it when Woon and Dong Soo left abruptly. Woon took it, confirmed the contents, and handed it back, noting the tremor in his subordinate's hands. He thinks I'll kill him for what he's seen. But the other assassin only tucked the case back over his shoulder and asked, "Your orders, sir?"

Woon considered. It would only be a moment to slit the man's throat, but Dong Soo wouldn't approve. That mattered more tonight than usual. "Deliver it to the Chinese envoy at the inn. They are expecting you. The rest of your night is your own."

The answering, "Sir!" was a little more grateful than was called for, but then, the fool was getting away with his life.

Woon sat, tired, when the man left. Baek Dong Soo exhausted him. He thought of Dong Soo not as a man so much as a place. In this place, Woon was no traitor, he was no assassin, no Cloud King. He was just Yeo Woon, and this left him drained when he returned to the real world. He contemplated Dong Soo's ridiculous offer. The depth of devotion and acceptance were staggering.

Maybe there was a way. He would search harder to find the means to lay down this burden, and protect those who must be protected at the same time. He would do this for Dong Soo. He would try.

Woon dragged himself off the ground and headed back toward his quarters at the guild. But he was smiling faintly now, and mumbling something which sounded affectionately like, "Idiot."