READ THIS!
Ok before you all can sit back and enjoy the story, let me tell you some important things:
*I would like to apologize for a single but major flaw of the story, where in this fic despite Akihiko was english while Misaki was japanese yet both of them can understand each other when talking as if the same language was spoken. You probably could see this coming.
*This fic will be swapping POVs between first person and third person at various points. To avoid confusion, the first person POV is Misaki's POV.
*The timeline of this story is in the Victorean Era/Edo Period. Edo was a place that now known as Tokyo in the modern times. (Please forgive me if I made a mistake here)
That's all. Enjoy :D
Noli Me Tangere – Don't Touch Me
Slowly sipping a glass of red wine at the balcony, alone by himself Akihiko stared at the crowding people below him. They were having a feast, dining on the well-prepared buffet out of luxury and being all happy and cheery. A normal atmosphere for a ceremony, which was now the wedding ceremony of Takahiro – the one whom Akihiko secretly in love with. Akihiko knew that Takahiro would never able to return his feelings, that explained much on why Akihiko decided to lock away his feelings. Today was the day where Akihiko wore a mask of a smile which hid a deep sorrow beneath, to think that everyone was in high spirits while Akihiko being melancholic behind closed doors.
"Here you are, Akihiko! I've been searching for you everywhere," Hiroki popped out of nowhere, approached Akihiko who turned his head towards him.
Hiroki slouched his back on the rails of the balcony beside Akihiko, watching his childhood friend's profile. "Still thinking about Takahiro, eh?"
A sudden prick invoked on Akihiko's forehead where Hiroki had flicked it with his forefinger in a flash. As Akihiko rubbed his forehead, Hiroki spouted, "If you're really in love with him then why don't you just spit it out? You idiot."
"Well," Akihiko let out a sad smile. "I only wanted the best for him. He will be the happiest if he was able to be with the love of his life."
He clutched his glass of wine tight in his hand, green with jealousy at the time he recalled where Takahiro and his bride had exchanged their vows and kiss of oath. To think that Takahiro was his first love, he had dreamed of having an intimate relationship with Takahiro and be by his side for the rest of his life. But Akihiko would never blame Takahiro for it since he knew the fact that men does not usually fancy other men, so he knew that this day would finally came – the day where he would be left completely heartbroken due to a one-sided love. The deeper Akihiko had dived in his thoughts, Hiroki put his hand on his shoulder probably wanted to console him.
"You know, Akihiko… This is not the end yet. I know that you still love him so much, but soon you will forget about him."
"What do you mean?" Akihiko exchanged gazes with Hiroki, putting the glass of wine on the rails. "I don't think I could forget the one that I loved the most so easily."
"Yes, Akihiko. You can forget about him. Because someday, it's not impossible that you would fall in love again – but this time with somebody else. You will find someone that will serve as a better love interest for you than Takahiro, the one that can make you happier than Takahiro could."
"I wonder about that…" Akihiko hung his head low in grief. At some point he questioned Hiroki's advice in confusion.
Unbeknownst to Akihiko, Hiroki used to be in love with him. But Hiroki didn't get to confess to him because he knew that Akihiko was in love with Takahiro, so he will never return his love. To think that the three of them was very close since little, yet an intense love triangle happened among them out of their awareness as the time went by. Hiroki loved Akihiko, Akihiko loved Takahiro and Takahiro loved a girl like how usually men would. But unlike Akihiko, Hiroki had already got over his feelings for the former as he had now had fallen for somebody else and now they were in a happy relationship. Hiroki still loved Akihiko, but not the same way he used to. Now Hiroki loved Akihiko no more than a friend compared to his special someone who had completely dominated his heart.
"Akihiko! Hiroki!" called Takahiro, appearing at the balcony.
"What the hell, you guys? Today was the happiest day of my life yet both of you had abruptly gone out of my sight! Aren't we friends for crying out loud?" Takahiro said happily, wrapping his arms around his best friends' shoulders.
"Huh, you're the one who had abandoned us! To think that we're not that special compared to your bride," replied Hiroki, giving a noogie to Takahiro.
"Hahaha! Hey knock it out, Hiroki! That hurts!"
Takahiro struggled to break himself free from Hiroki's grasp, the latter being a big bad bully while Akihiko smiled at the scene unfolding before him. It was incredible to think that all three of them could remain as close friends despite the conflicts that occurred indirectly within them. Until this day, they still could smile and laugh as usual as if nothing bad happened. Takahiro held Akihiko's and Hiroki's hands in his in gratitude, "Thank you so much, both of you. For being the best friends in the world. Whenever I'm happy, mad or sad – both of you are always by my side."
Akihiko couldn't hold it anymore as he was going to be overwhelmed by feels, he pulled Takahiro's hand squeezed him in a bone-crushing hug. "Whoa, Akihiko! Please… Not too tight, I can't breathe!"
"Takahiro…"
"Hmm?"
"I love you, Takahiro. I love you so much."
Takahiro returned the hug and patted Akihiko's back in a friendly manner. "I love you too."
Hiroki couldn't help but frowned out of sympathy – both of them but mainly towards Akihiko. How he wished that he could tell Takahiro about Akihiko's true feelings for him, that the "love" Akihiko had meant for him was different of what he had thought of. He couldn't say anything, instead he came nearer to Akihiko and gave him a comforting rub at the back. All three of them fell into an awkward, unbreakable silence for the following day, each other bearing different thoughts and emotions in private.
Later that night, after the wedding ceremony had ended…
"Akihiko?! What's with all the bags? Where are you going now?!" Hiroki was shocked with Akihiko, who carried some bags at his back and in one of his hands as if he was going for a long-time voyage.
"I'm leaving London for a while," Akihiko maintained his steps to the front and didn't even pause for a second. He was not going to look back, starting from this night he wanted to forget everything. Takahiro, and his piling works. He was walking to his ship which was kept at a harbor, not really far from his mansion.
Hiroki was concerned at his friend's sudden departure, but he wasn't in the heart to stop him. He didn't do anything but just stood there and watched him leaving quietly. He knew that Akihiko had been through harder times compared to him and anyone, so he couldn't get over it as easy as Hiroki could. Hiroki also knew that London was a place that had caused nothing but misery to Akihiko, the only happiness that he ever had was the time he had spent altogether with his two childhood friends. Deep in his heart, Hiroki hoped that Akihiko will have a safe journey and someday returned back to London in one piece.
"Please take care of yourself, Akihiko… And good luck."
It was late at night, everyone had gone to bed. The Village Chief, his wife and his servants must had soundly enjoying their sleeps while lying on their comfy bed and bundling in their fluffy futons. I felt sleepy, but I held myself from falling asleep as I waited in front of a room which was belonged to one of my masters. As a servant, I've been serving the Village Chief in his house for a long time. Everyday I did chores like tidying the house, cooking meals, taking care of the flowers in the garden and the list went on. Since that I came from a poor family I had to work as a servant in the Village Chief's house to earn money for taking care of my father.
After my father, the only family that I had died due to a sickness, the kind-hearted Village Chief had allowed me to live altogether with him and his family in his house. I was deeply indebted to him that I would obediently do whatever he told me to, even as far as putting my life at stake for the sake of him. But it all does not remained long, now I was not able to work happily as I would before. Instead, I felt guilty – I had done a terrible sin towards the Village Chief out of anyone's awareness. A secret that I had been keeping for long, unable to tell the Village Chief. I was too scared to tell him because it was a purely solemn problem.
"Takahashi-kun?"
I was snapped back to reality as somebody called my family name out of nowhere. "Ijuuin-sama,"
I stood up and bowed my head down in respect to the Village Chief's only son. He was a stunningly good-lucking man that all women would instantly turned head over heels for him, having a sparkling smile that even the manliest man could drool over. But he was the ultimate trouble for me – I had to offer him special service every night in return for extra payment for my job. "Ijuuin-sama, I'm ready to serve you for this night…"
"You're a really good boy, Takahashi-kun… Oh, what a cute blushing face," Ijuuin-sama caressed my cheek as I blushed in embarrassment. "You're really looking so good when you're wearing the clothes that I picked for you."
I was wearing a bright red silk kimono with white flowers patterns scattered all over, which actually a kimono that was supposed to be worn by women. As a servant I only wore plain yukata, but at night I had to wear women's kimono – dressing like a prostitute in Ijuuin-sama's request. "Ijuuin-sama, I'm glad that you liked it."
"Call me Kyou when it's just two of us, Misaki-kun." Ijuuin-sama leaned himself forward, tilted his head to the side and placed his lips on top of mine.
He kissed me, like how a man would to a woman. Not to mention that Ijuuin-sama always behaved romantically over me as if I was a woman to him. Out of many people in this world, I was the one who had won his feelings over and I didn't even know why. He was in love with me but I didn't have the same feelings for him, the kiss felt so empty and nothing to me. Yet I didn't have the right to stop him since he was one of my masters. He took the advantage as my master – he secretly made me as his personal concubine and had to sleep with him every night. This was the big secret that I had been keeping from the Village Chief, the fact that I had been sleeping with his beloved son for such a long time.
"Let's do it, Misaki-kun." Ijuuin-sama stood up with me being bundled up in his muscular arms. He briefly gazed at me as I was being in midair while leaning myself on his broad chest. He carried me to his room and gently laid me on his bed.
Whilst kissing me, Ijuuin-sama pulled my sash off and slid the kimono down my shoulders. He pushed my underwear down, letting free of my erected member. After I was finally wearing nothing, it didn't take that long for Ijuuin-sama to take off his yukata, stripping himself down. He sucked and nibbled at almost everywhere and left numerous love bites on me. He put his fingers inside me and started making scissoring movements to make an opening for him later. I tried to be very careful, controlling my voice so that it would sound like a whisper instead of a scream. Once he was done with all the foreplay he pushed himself inside me.
"Aah…! Iju-… Kyou-sama…! Aaah…!" I panted, bearing with the intense pain and pressure. I didn't feel any pleasure at all, the only thing that I could feel was utter disgust.
Ijuuin-sama pumped in me hard, moving himself back and forth at the same time letting out several grunts and puffing out his warm breath on my neck. "Aah… Misaki-kun… So tight… Yet, so hot… Aaah… Aaaahhh…"
Parallel to his movements, my body kept jolting upwards and downwards on the bed. Ijuuin-sama thrusted inside me and kissed me a lot wilder than he was earlier, going as far as forcing his tongue into my mouth and entangled it around mine. My saliva dripped down from my mouth to my chin as he licked the cavern in my mouth. Thankfully the gagging sound that I've made was not loud, otherwise somebody would hear it and we both were busted at last. Through his kisses he muttered, "I love you, Misaki-kun… I… mmh, love you…!"
"K-, Kyou-sama… I'm-I'm going to cum…!" I squirmed, clinging unwillingly around his neck.
"Me too… Me too, Misaki-kun…!" Ijuuin-sama had his hands clutched on the bed, being all fours on me.
"Aaaaaaaaaannnnnhhhh…!" I wailed rather loudly at the time we both came simultaneously.
"Aarrrggghhh… Misaki… -kun…!" Ijuuin-sama came, spilled his seeds inside me.
He pulled himself out from me, then dropped his weight on top of me out of exhaustion. Sweat dribbled down his face and slowly joined with mine. Both of us gasped for air as we had lost a lot of energy for spending the whole night altogether. Ijuuin-sama moved away from me and lied down beside me, pulling a large futon and covered both of us with it. Our clothes were draped on the floor, yet Ijuuin-sama didn't allow me to put them back on – saying that it was better for both of us to sleep together while being nude as it would be a very cold and freezing night later. He pulled me closer to him and kissed me once again, probably the final one for today.
"I love you, Misaki-kun…" he said, afterwards falling asleep while his arms wrapping around my waist and my shoulders. My face was ended up being buried in his neck. From that point I could clearly sniff the scent of sweat, apart of being warmed by his body temperature and his breaths.
As I saw that he was now in a deep sleep, I crawled out from his embrace and quietly crept to my clothes. I put them on and and escaped from the room quickly, if somebody found out me sleeping together with Ijuuin-sama in the next morning then it would be a serious business. Like a little mouse I sneaked back to my room, thank goodness I succeeded. I got myself on my bed and futon but ended up not able to sleep at all, even a wink. Once I blinked, salty liquids fell from my eyes down my cheeks – I cried for the following night. I was on my limits. I don't think I could hold it anymore.
The next morning, I met the Village Chief in his office.
"Are you serious, Takahashi-kun…?" the Village Chief widened his eyes in disbelief.
I was sitting on the tatami floor, hanging my head low as I stared on my hands placed on my lap. "I'm serious, Master. I do want to resign."
"Why, Takahashi-kun? Why do you want to quit? You're not happy working with me and the others?" the Village Chief petted his graying hair due to aging. "Had either one of us had caused something wrong to you?"
"No, Master…" I smiled. "I enjoyed a lot. It's just now I want try living independently by myself, I don't want to be a burden to you and your family, master."
The Village Chief let out a sigh. "I think it would be hard for me to let you go, to think that I've thought of you like my own son. But well, if that's what you've wished then I had no other choice. You're free now, Takahashi-kun."
"Thank you, Master. Thank you for everything," I stood up, bowed towards the Village Chief and turned away to the door – leaving the house for eternity. The fact that I was having an affair with the Village Chief's son always had made me felt guilty over the one I had loved as if my own father. Now, I was free from any worries.
It was time for me to start a brand new life.
"Damn it… Why all of this had to happen?!" cursed Akihiko, being alone by himself on the deck.
At first the journey was not a problem, but later as time passed by it was getting worse. Akihiko currently had to brave through hazardous storms, as if fate hated him with an intense fury. With all of his strength he had to propel the ship from colliding into sharp rocks and any other dangerous obstacles in sight. His ship was made by the best shipwright and the best materials, but it was not impossible that it would someday become a pile of junk defeated by the unmatched power of God. Akihiko at some point regretted that he had chose to run away from his problems instead of facing them, but now it was too late.
"Shit…!" he banged his hands on the propeller angrily.
The deck was getting slippery due to the heavy rain, Akihiko had to firmly hold on the propeller to prevent himself from being blown away by the strong wind. To think that the sounds of thunder blared loudly in his ears he hoped that he wouldn't get struck by lightning in any chance. Since he was little Akihiko had always dreamed to travel to a new place that he had never been to, as he had been curious of what kind of people and culture existed outside of London. He highly doubted on whether he would made it safely to somewhere, or maybe not. Raging storm, violent rain and ferocious thunder – all enough to for a man to lose his life in a flash.
"Maybe… It was impossible after all?"
Akihiko finally gave up. What else he could do in this situation? The only other choice he had now was freaking out other than doing nothing. He had been out at the sea for days and now everything had seemed hopeless to him. He planned to just give in, relied everything to the destiny. He took a deep breath, calmed himself down and closed his eyes. As if the whole motive of going out for a journey was to commit suicide. He was prepared for everything, let it be life or death for him. Now he was betting on his luck to determine the future for him. Everything went around him faster than he expected, he fell into a deep sleep.
Moments after, everything felt calm all sudden. Akihiko slowly opened his eyes and found that he was sprawled on the deck of his ship. Speaking of his ship, it had been safely disembarked on the soft sand. Thank goodness that he survived intead of becoming one with the sea, being fed to the fishes. The brightness of the morning sunlight reflected by the crystal-clear sea blinded his eyes. He forced his limp body to stand up and descended down the ship, though experiencing light-headedness had limited his movements. His wobbly legs drove him further from his ship, he wondered if this mysterious island was inhabited by humans or not.
From the beach he walked through the forest which was seemingly harmless, wild animals were rarely spotted. Akihiko was lucky enough that the forest ended up into being not a thick one that would take days to explore, he was now arrived at a town. At first the town was strange-looking to him, he had never seen anything by the likes of the town, the whole thing was new to him. But to the townspeople who had seen Akihiko, whom currently in his worst state of appearance – they all were shocked. Some of the women screamed in agony, they all had seen Akihiko as some kind of a monster.
The reason why everyone would freak out at the sight of Akihiko was because they saw weird things on him – the unusual colour of his hair and his eyes, the extreme fairness of his skin, his messy hair, his face covered in dirt, the strange clothing that he wore and his clothes were completely filthy. It was the first time they had seen a foreigner, which explained much of their reaction. Their fear of Akihiko grew the closer he approached, several of them began to draw their weapon out for defence in case the "monster" had some kind of trickery up to his sleeves. Some of the mothers took their kids closer to them in a protective manner.
"Why is everyone looking at me like that?" he questioned out of puzzlement. He came near to an old lady, "Madam, excuse me but may I have some water –"
"Eeek! Stay away from me, you monster!" the old lady took a fist-sized stone and threw it towards Akihiko, fortunately he managed to block it with his arm.
"Leave that old lady alone, monster!"
Akihiko began to recognize that situation had became ugly all sudden. He was stoned by the people around him unexpectedly, that he had to crouch on the ground and used his arms to protect himself as more people came to stone him to death. His energy was draining rapidly after being through the storm and survived, in addition at the cost of protecting himself. What should he do? He could die if this shenanigan went over and over. He begged them to stop, yet they didn't stop. He tried to flee but he couldn't see an opening for him to do so since hundreds of stones kept flying towards him out of nowhere.
"Goodbye, Takahiro… Hiroki…" Akihiko muttered silently and sadly, getting ready to draw his final breath.
"Stop it, all of you! Stop all of this madness!"
Someone yelled, which made all of them stopped at once as if obeying his order. Before Akihiko knew it, the one who told all of them to stop was very close to him – holding the weakened silver-waned man in his thin arms. His saviour was a boy appearing to be around 18 years old, young and innocent-looking. The boy was not pleased with the way the people had greeted Akihiko, he had a very furious expression at his face where Akihiko had saw in front of his eyes. The boy blurted out again, "Ganging up on a single person is dirty!"
"Get off from him, Misaki! Or else he would put a curse on you!" screeched a middle-aged man to the boy.
"Just what he had done that he deserved to be treated so heartlessly like this?! Did he really had done something harmful to you all?! Wouldn't you all be sad if you all were in his shoes?! What kind of a 'curse' he had inflicted?! While you all attacked him, did he even fought back?!"
Everyone remained unspoken upon the boy's brave act. He was still very angry, he exclaimed, "Answer me!"
"Misa-… ki?" Akihiko pronounced the boy's name, the boy immediately turned his emerald eyes to Akihiko's face upon being called – seeing each other and exchanging eye contacts for the first time. The boy replied, "Yes, sir?"
"Misaki… So your name is Misaki…" said Akihiko, raised his hand and cupped the boy's cheek before gradually losing his consciousness.
"Sir?! Are you okay?! Please, get a hold of yourself!"
I shook the man cradled in my arms, trying to wake him up but it was futile. I buried my ear in his left chest to check his heartbeat, thank God it was still there. I put my finger under his nose and found that he was still breathing. I checked his body for wounds as I was worried that he could have been bleeding somewhere, opportunely the only he had was a few bruises and scratches. Probably he was only tired. Where he could possibily came from? I placed my hand on top of his forehead and I was wholly surprised. Ignoring all of the stares that both of us were receiving, I hastily mounted the man on my back and carried him all the way to my house.
The man, he had a high fever. That explained much on why he had collasped unexpectedly. I laid him on my bed, then searched everywhere in my house for medicines so that he could be cured. Once I managed to find some of them in the wooden cabinets, I was glad. I took out some old yukatas that my late father used to wear so that the man could wear it later in place of his dirty clothes. I carefully undressed the man, cleaning his body with a damp cloth before putting him on with a light-green yukata. Soon I proceeded to clean his face and got his hair combed neatly. As I was now can see his true self, I hung my mouth open in amazement.
"So… beautiful…" my heart just had skipped a beat.
I took a deep breath, feeling as if I was going to stop breathing. I spontaneously touched his hair and face, observing the beauty of the heavenly being in front of my eyes. I cannot help but ask myself, who was actually this guy? Was this gorgeous man an angel fallen from the sky? Such smooth and taintless skin, on top of it was a pair of long, dark eyelashes – this man's attractiveness was a potential rival to that of Ijuuin-sama. Though his fair skin turned red caused by the fever, that still does not stop him to be an eyecandy. To help on lowering his body temperature, I soaked a cloth deep into a wooden bucket of cold water and placed it onto his forehead.
The man was still in a deep sleep; I grew worried over him more and more as time passed. I cooked some soup for him since he must be hungry after what he had been through, and prepared some medicine for him so that I could make him take them as soon he woke up. Attempting harder to lower his temperature I wiped his face and neck with the wet cloth, soak it again and repeat. The first day I've taken care of him – he ended up sleeping for the whole day. Now it was the second day, and I could see the moon shining vividly illuminating the darkness of the night sky – marking as the end of the day. I was nervous to see that he was still not opening his eyes.
"Sir, please… Open your eyes and wake up… You need to take this medicine so that you can get well… " I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and lifted his upper body up, his head was supported by my chest. I held the cup containing the medicine near to his mouth, urging him to drink it. It was hopeless, indeed.
"I'm begging you, please… Wake up… If you don't take this medicine, you will…!"
When my eyes went blurry all sudden, I had no other choice. I put some of the medicine in my mouth, being careful not to swallow it and locked the man's lips with mine – forcing the bitter liquid down his throat. I took the medicine again and did the same thing over and over until there was not a single drop of the medicine remained in the cup. I wiped his mouth clean and gently laid his head on the pillow. I stroked his hair, brushing his bangs away from covering his eyes. Touching my own lips, I blushed – such soft lips. This was the first time I kissed with someone else other than Ijuuin-sama. Kissing this man unknowingly made me incredibly happy in an awkward way.
Later when it was finally midnight, I was still sitting on the floor whilst watching over him. I could see that his condition had gone better, he started sweating and his face bit by bit returned to its original color. His lips changed from purple to red as if pomegranates. I fondly scanned his face as it was reflected by the moonlight, certainly had a healing effect at it. When I thought there was nothing to worry anymore, my tears fell down involuntarily without me knowing it – I was reminded of the cause of my father's death which was a high fever akin to what this man was having. I got drowsy at sudden so I lied down at my side one the hard floor, beside the sleeping man.
"Sir, I am now so terrified. What if you didn't open your eyes ever again and wounded up sleeping forever, just like my father did?" I held his large hand tightly in mine, cried myself to sleep – as if unable to let him to be taken away from me.
The next morning, I was awakened by the loud sounds of little birds chirping and a rooster howling as the sun showed itself up high at the blue sky. I didn't get enough sleep last night from watching over the sickly man, so I was still too sleepy. I closed my eyes and continued to sleep in order to fulfill the debt, but moments after my sleep was interrupted when something large and warm touched my cheek and caressed it in a somewhat weakly manner. I had my eyes half-opened to see what it was that being in my way to my pleasant dreams. It was the man's hand that was touching my cheek, his head being tilted to his side facing towards me at the opposite of him.
"Misaki?"
Why the hell I became suddenly energetic when he said my name? Why when he said my name, it sounded like a harmonious music in my ears just like the melody of a bamboo flute being played. I could see his pretty eyes clearly now, my heart skipped. He was looking healthier than he was during the previous two days, which was a good news for me. I raised my body up. "Sir, you're awakened… Thank goodness."
I removed the damp cloth from his forehead and checked his temperature with my palm, feeling glad that he was no longer burning. I helped him to sit up and handed to him a cup of some water to drink so that he will be hydrated a little bit, his lips was drying before. No doubt of it, he was really thirsty as he drank the water in a single turn without pausing to catch some breath. I began asking him a question that I had been aching to ask him, "Sir, may I know your name?"
He dabbed his mouth with the back of his hand and handed the empty cup to me. "My name is Akihiko," he said.
"Akihiko-san… eh?" I tried to pronounce his name for the first time.
"Misaki, this clothes…" he discovered himself wearing something unfamiliar to him – the yukata that I had put on him.
"Your clothes were dirty so I need to take them off and get them cleaned, so now you can just wear my father's yukata for the moment."
"I see," he checked the yukata, in my opinion he looked good in it.
"Akihiko-san, where did you come from?" I asked him another question out of curiosity.
"London. It's a place far away from here across the seas."
London? I never heard of such place, but when he mentioned a place far away across the seas it made sense since I've never been to the seas. Though I believed that there were more countries out there apart from Edo, that I was curious to see what they were like. He must had been hungry also, so I decided to leave him alone by himself and headed to the kitchen. Fortunately I still had a lot of raw materials to cook for him. I cooked some rice, fish and some vegetables then prepared some miso soup. The mouth-watering smell of homemade food was spreading to the atmosphere. After I was done cooking I put the rice, fish, vegetables and miso soup into four small bowls.
All the bowls were placed in a tray altogether, to be joined by a pair of wooden chopsticks. I carried the tray of food to Akihiko-san who was sitting on the bed. "Sorry to keep you waiting. You must have been hungry from the long journey."
He was staring at a particular direction before turned his head to me. "Say, what are the doors of this house made of?"
"Oh, the sliding doors? They are made of bamboos and covered with papers. They can absorb sounds so that the neighbors wouldn't be irritated in case we were noisy."
I sat down at the same time I placed the tray on the floor. "I hope you can help yourself with it."
Akihiko-san picked the chopsticks and the bowl of rice, was ready to eat it. But some moments passed and I saw him had not eating yet, he stared intently on the chopsticks and bowl of rice instead. I was confused. "What's the matter, Akihiko-san? Why you're not eating?"
"How do you eat with these sticks?" he asked, referring to the chopsticks.
I widened my eyes in surprise, "Ah! I forgot about that!"
"I'm sorry…" I took the bowl of rice and chopsticks from his hands. I wondered what other options should be used so that he could get fed. He couldn't eat by himself, and if I had to teach him to eat with the chopsticks then it would take a lot of time – filling his empty stomach must be in the first priority. An idea abruptly popped in my head, yet at first I hesitated to do it because the idea was an embarrassing one.
"Umm… Akihiko-san, would you mind if I… feed you?" Seriously, did I have any other choice?
"Sure," he said casually.
"Ehh? You don't mind?"
"I don't."
I swallowed some saliva down my throat, acting as calm as possible to hide the overwhelming feel of nervousness as well controlling my hands so that they would not be obviously shaking. Nevertheless, I took some of the fish and vegetables, mixing them with the rice and brought them to Akihiko-san's mouth. He obediently opened his mouth and took them in, gently chewed them with proper manners. This behavior was so similar to a married couple, which was very embarrassing. The same thing being repeated until the food was finished, Akihiko-san was eating with full appetite. Lastly he he took the bowl of miso soup and indulged himself with it.
"I'm sorry that this is not that much that I can give you…" I said, collecting the empty bowls and chopsticks back into the tray.
"No, Misaki. It was delicious. You're a great cook for your age." Akihiko-san replied, raising his hand to ruffle my hair.
"Thank you, Misaki." He smiled for the first time in front of my eyes.
What the hell did I just saw? I afraid I just saw the most beautiful thing in the world. As if he was glowing with bright light and vibrant flowers appeared all around. Without saying anything I dashed to the kitchen along with the dishes to wash them later. Temporarily I had my back leaning against the wall, at snail's pace falling into my knees. I wish I could just bang my head hard on the wall repeatedly. I was still locked in complete puzzlement, asking myself various questions that did not came with an answer – what was actually going on? What did just happen? What was with all these feelings? Why was I acting like this?
Most importantly… Why was my heart beating so fast like this right now?
A few days had passed since Akihiko had been staying in Misaki's place, he had been fully recovered from the high fever thanks to the latter's aid. Though Akihiko had a rough beginning in Japan but after he walked around the villagers could get used to him pretty fast, they started to treat him kindly. They were not a bunch of bad people after all – they were just afraid of seeing something new at first. Akihiko managed to find Japan a pretty decent place even though not that much compared to London, yet he was happier being in Japan than London. As if all the stress he had to face in London had disappeared when he set foot in Japan.
Misaki was playing with some children at an open field, chasing them whereas being blindfolded followed by the noisy cries and laughs of the children running around frantically. "Eeeekkk! Run! The monster is coming!"
Heading towards different directions at a time, Misaki had his hands soaring in the air trying to find and catch his victim. "Hey, don't hide now, that's cheating!"
Akihiko was sitting in an open hut while watching them all playing. Beside him was a middle-aged woman named Kanae, who was Misaki's employer and an owner of an orphanage. Misaki was now working as one of the caretakers of Kanae's orphanage, and the children that he was playing with were the orphans which were being sheltered and raised by Kanae and her workers in the said orphanage. Kanae was observing Misaki from afar very fondly even though he was her newest worker, regarding how good-natured the boy was in her eyes. Everyday Misaki will diligently do his job, helping Kanae a lot on managing her orphanage.
"My, Akihiko-kun. Just look at Misaki-kun, isn't he a lovely child?" said Kanae, responding at Akihiko's story of being saved by Misaki.
"He is," Akihiko replied, couldn't help but smiled as well. "I was so indebted to him."
Akihiko got the chance of knowing Misaki better as Kanae told him everything that she knew about Misaki, learning that his mother had died due to childbirth while his father died from a high fever – that explained much on why Misaki cared so much of him despite being complete strangers to each other. At first, Akihiko questioned Misaki on why he concerned on his welfare that much though they barely knew one and another – so far as losing too much sleep and working hard to the point of tiredness, Misaki felt asleep slowly afterwards. Akihiko was semi-conscious at the time Misaki fed him the medicine mouth-to-mouth so he remembered what happened. Misaki had kissed him.
"So he's now leaving alone by himself, with no family and that much of money to support himself?" Akihiko took a sip of green tea prepared by Kanae, which he found had a different taste compared to the tea from his hometown.
"Yes, he is… But he used to be working in the Village Chief's house as a servant before, now he had left the job."
"Why is that? Wouldn't he get better payment?"
Kanae began to have a gloomy expression on her face, her hands were trembling. She looked down, saying "Well, I know that I shouldn't talk about this but…"
"Hmm?" A dumbfounded Akihiko raised a brow.
"The reason why he left his job is because every night he was forced to serve his body to the Village Chief's son in secret in change of being paid more… And he couldn't stand that anymore, so he…" gulped Kanae, unable to finish her words.
"Ehh?!" Akihiko was shocked, almost dropped the cup in his hands onto the ground. "Really? Is that true?"
"It's true. Misaki-kun needed money so badly for taking care of his father so he tried his best to hide it, but soon every servants in the house had known about it. But they also refrained themselves from letting the Village Chief know, since that it would be bad for his reputation and health –"
"But what about Misaki?! So they just let Misaki to be toyed around by the bastard son?!" Akihiko interrupted Kanae, getting unexpectedly angry.
"They also felt really bad for him, but there's nothing that they could do about it…" Kanae took out a handkerchief and dabbed her tears, in sympathy for someone she loved like a family. "So that's why I'm glad when he finally took the decision to quit for good..."
"Did Misaki told you all of this?"
"No, I heard it from my friends who happened to work there as the servants. At first I didn't believe it, so one night they brought me to the Village Chief's house and we peeped in his son's room – I saw everything that I didn't want to."
Akihiko was locked in silence, thinking deeply of his savior. Misaki was really the kind of person who put others ahead of himself, he didn't expect that type of people exist in this world – whereas he had considered as an hideous place for him to live.
"Akihiko-san?"
I took off the blindfold around my eyes and approached him whilst being followed by the children. The sun was now shining intensely on top of our heads, we were now to tired to play and it was time for me to prepare lunch for Akihiko-san. Today was my day off, yet I really had to visit the children since that I had promised them to come playing with them for every day. Akihiko-san raised his chin up upon being called. "Misaki? Done playing now?"
"Let's go home, Akihiko-san. It's time for lunch," I said as he stood up and walked to my side.
I waved Kanae-san and the children goodbye as we both left the field. Out of nowhere, Akihiko-san suddenly wrapped his fingers around my hand – tightly holding it afterwards. My blood dashed up to my face and I turned deep red as if a tomato. "A- Akihiko-san?! Wh-what are you d-doing?!"
"I am so weak and hungry right now so I need to hold on you so I wouldn't collapse," he said casually, it was hard for me tell whether he was telling the truth or it was just a bluff. So we ended up walking home while holding hands, the children was wierded out by both of us.
"Kanae-san, why they are holding hands?"
"Aren't they both guys?"
"Does this means they are secretly lovers?"
I pretended not to hear everything that they asked Kanae-san, maybe I couldn't face them normally after this. I quickly pulled Akihiko-san's hand and scurried away from the field out of embarrassment, "Let's go, Akihiko-san! We need to go to the market early as possible so that we wouldn't miss anything!"
We walked through the market, looking around the goods available for purchase as we were crowded by a lot of people passing through. I had to let go Akihiko-san's hand for a while to stop by and buy some raw meat, but when I turned my eyes back to Akihiko-san I saw that he was gone. I was panicked, looking around miserably for him as I grew more worried – then I saw him being crowded by several women who were grinning happily like idiots around him, not to mention the flushy expressions. Some of them touched him at several places that I twitched my eyes in irritation, "what the hell is going on here…"
One of the women said, "hey, you're such a handsome man!" Soon their questions to him increased.
"Are you dating somebody right now?"
"Are you married yet?"
"What kind of girl do you like?"
"Do you want to come to my house and have lunch with me? I can cook well!"
"No! Don't come to her house, come to mine instead!"
"No, me!"
I felt that my blood had boiled vigorously at the agitating sight, as if I would allow them being flirtatious around him – immediately I ran to Akihiko-san. I snatched his hand in mine and broke the crowd by pulling Akihiko-san away from them, leaving the disappointed women with sad looks on their face. I scolded him, "Akihiko-san! I said that you should not leave my side, didn't I?"
"It can't be helped. They came to me suddenly without me knowing it."
"Then you can just let them bother you? Just ignore them and be near to me! Who's going to be responsible if you're missing?!" I yelled, unknowingly that it was caused by the fact that I was jealous.
"Misaki, I'm sorry…"
"Hmph, you idiot!" I sulked.
At first it was uncomfortable, but strangely I could get used to walking with Akihiko-san while holding hands with him pretty fast. His large hand was warm and smooth, as he held my hand in his I felt secured and comfy. My temper didn't last that long, I could have a chit-chat with him regularly on the way back on. We talked about a lot of things and I got the opportunity of getting know of him better, I even got some informations on what London was like. I was adventurous in heart became interested to visit London if I ever could as Akihiko-san mentioned that it was way more advanced than Edo in comparison. At that point I didn't realize that somebody eyed on us from afar.
"Well well, isn't it Takahashi-kun?"
"Eh?!" I widened my eyes in horror, I really knew whose that voice was belonged to. "I-Ijuuin-sama…"
Ijuuin-sama approached us with his usual charming smile. "How are you doing now, Takahashi-kun?"
"I-I'm fine…" I said while nervously looking down towards my feet equipped with a pair of geta, unable to see him at the face no matter how good-looking he was.
"And who is this young man next to you?" he asked, refering to Akihiko-san being weirdly interested. Probably due to the latter's unusual color of his hair and eyes – or maybe he saw both of us were suspiciously walking together.
"Who is this, Misaki?" Akihiko-san also asked the exact same thing in opposite.
I raised my chin up and tried to calm myself, "Ijuuin-sama, this is Akihiko-san – we've just met several days ago. Akihiko-san, this is one of my former masters – the Village Chief's son." I introduced them to each other, but I had an unpleasant feeling that they were now exchanging death glares – feeling unpleasant with the other's presence.
"The Village Chief's son, huh?" Akihiko-san said sternly which I don't understand why.
"It was nice to see your cute face once again," Ijuuin-sama suddenly bent himself closer and kissed me at the cheek much to my surprise, then carressed it with his long fingers. I did nothing but blushed and squinted my eyes shut. I was fidgeting in fear from head to toe to every inch that he touched me.
"Stop that," Akihiko-san's hand was gripping Ijuuin-sama's away from my face. "He certainly doesn't want that, right?"
I was pulled closer by Akihiko-san into his arms away from Ijuuin-sama, protectively holding me in an embrace so that Ijuuin-sama wouldn't able to loom himself nearer to me. I couldn't help but blush, because HE. WAS. TOO. CLOSE. "A-Akihiko-san?! What are you doing?!"
Before I knew it, Ijuuin-sama's calm exterior was broken; his smile was replaced by a puckered brow. "Akihiko, am I right?"
"Don't you touch him," said Akihiko-san, holding me tighter in his arms whereas still had his eyes in ferocious contact of Ijuuin-sama's charcoal ones. "Can't you tell that he's actually don't want it?"
"Hmm? Don't want it?" Ijuuin-sama stroked his chin. "Don't want it despite all the fun stuffs I had done with him before this? Don't you love me, Takahashi-kun?"
"Akihiko-san, please let go of me." From his chest I look upwards to Akihiko-san's face, whilst he looked down towards me. He seemed worried, so in the end I said "Leave this all to me."
"Ijuuin-sama," I stood between Akihiko-san and Ijuuin-sama. "To tell you the truth, I'm not in love with you."
"Why, Takahashi-kun?" asked Ijuuin-sama in disbelief. "You don't love me?"
"I do love you – but just as a master. I didn't love you to that extent."
"No, Takahashi-kun! Then why you agreed on sleeping with me every night?!"
"I'm sorry… I was desperate for extra money for my sick father at that time, so…"
I bowed down to my knees; so low that my hair almost touched the ground, "I'm so sorry for playing with your feelings, Ijuuin-sama! I'm sorry that I cannot return your feelings too, Ijuuin-sama! I'm so sorry…"
Akihiko-san was wierded out with my behavior, as a foreigner this was new to him – bowing to others in respect. "What are you doing, Misaki?"
"Takahashi-kun, I…"
"Ijuuin-sama, I'm sorry. Frankly speaking, I don't like men."
When Ijuuin-sama was locked in silence, Akihiko-san held my hand. "Let's go home, Misaki." I nodded in agreement and we both walked on the way home.
I cooked him lunch as promised, then we sat down and ate our meals. I saw that he was getting better at eating with chopsticks as I had taught him, he could eat by himself. I smiled, to think that it had been a while since I had been enjoying somebody else's company in my house. Loneliness was the one thing that slowly was killing me inside, it was painfully unbearable. The following day went on until it was night, it was finally the time to sleep. I opened the drawer and took out the futon, bed mat and pillow. Next I laid them neatly on the tatami floor, preparing a bed for Akihiko-san to sleep whereas I would sleep on the floor since this was my new house and I didn't have extra bed.
"Misaki…"
"Hmm?"
"Isn't it a pain to sleep on the floor, with no blanket?"
"Don't worry, I'm tough."
"Come here and sleep with me," he moved a little to provide a space for me on the bed.
"No thanks," I turned my body to the side, leaving my back to him.
"Don't be shy, we're both guys." He said. That's not the problem here, you BIG IDIOT!
I ignored him and pretended to sleep. Out of my awareness, he stood up. He walked towards me, picked me up and threw me on his shoulder like a bag of rice. I screamed, "Akihiko-san! What are you doing?! Put me down! Put me down, now!"
"You're sleeping with me, full stop."
He put me down on the bed, followed by the iron grip of his arms around my waist so that I wouldn't escape. It didn't took long until he fell asleep, yet he still didn't let go of me. His arms were too strong for me to wrestle out of it with these tiny arms of mine. I sighed out of annoyance, had no choice but fulfill his demand and deal with it. But as I examined his beautiful face, I gulped – it was like hundreds of times I had seen his face but still I couldn't get enough of it. Not to mention that he was comfortably warm, I felt safe and protected. With my hands pressing against his chest, I buried my face into neck and slowly fell asleep.
What should I do? I found out that I was now in love with Akihiko-san. I love him. I love him so much…
Another day had went well. Misaki was walking home with his hands carrying a wooden bucket filled with water and raw tofu in it. The sky was crimson as the sun began to hid itself from plain sight, Misaki had finished his job on helping in the orphanage for the day. Now that he was quiet tired from all of the efforts of keeping the orphans well, it was time for him to cook dinner for Akihiko. He passed through the swarm of people at the market, being noisy with the chitter-chatter and other stuffs. While he was buying some vegetables his ears were able to capture the conversation of some middle-aged women in a group near to him, also buying vegetables from the same trader.
"Hey, hey, did you hear? I heard that somebody will be sacrificed this night!"
"Ehh, really?"
Sacrifice, huh? Misaki thought to himself. It had been a while since the village had practiced it. When the crops were not doing well this year due to drought, everyone will decide on sacrificing someone as a final vent. It was said that in return of doing so rain will be gifted to the villagers, and so that they could have water and plenty of harvests for food. And they will not choose random people for the sacrifice, it must be somebody very special to be offered to the Gods. Most of the sacrifices were children and women. Misaki was sure that he was one of the most unlikely one to be the sacrifice, he didn't think that he was that special to qualify as the sacrifice of this year.
Misaki paid for the vegetables, thanked and bowed to the trader then left the gossiping women. He missed their last conversation as he hurried himself home. "Then, who's the sacrifice for tonight?"
"I'm home!" Misaki took off his geta and and get himself in the house, only to find Akihiko was in process of wearing his former clothes instead of the yukata. Misaki had a horrible feeling about this, "Akihiko-san… Why are you wearing like that…?"
"Misaki? You're here now?" Akihiko turned to look at Misaki from his shoulder. "I'm going back to London today."
"Going back to London…?" regardless of that Misaki remained himself calm, "Why don't you have dinner first before that? It's no good leaving with empty stomach…"
The biggest fear of Misaki had finally came true, he could feel as if his heart was going to stop beating as if he was going to die at this moment. Heck, now he refused to be in reality – he want to be in his fantasy, staying with Akihiko till the last day of their lives. How could he let Akihiko away from him when he was used to his company? When Akihiko agreed to eat dinner with him, they barely spoke as if they were strangers to each other. Misaki cooked him dinner and served it to him, they ate quietly. At times Misaki ate whilst stealing some glances on Akihiko, he didn't notice that the older one did the same thing to him.
Akihiko was the first to break the silence between them. "Misaki, do you want to see my ship?"
Misaki who was collecting the dirty dishes, didn't want to let go of the opportunity. "Sure!" Akihiko was actually inviting him to walk with him altogether, so that it wouldn't be much of a sad farewell.
All the way from Misaki's house to Akihiko's ship through the forest midway they walked. It brought a lot of memories for Misaki. Recalling the past where he had found Akihiko in a mess , saved him and found that he was a beauty – falling in love with him in result. Misaki learned that love was a sudden thing and also mysterious; to think that he was supposed to be romantically interested in women. How could he even became infatuated with the latter, he doesn't know. He wondered, do we need a reason to be in love with somebody? Fate had made them met, now it was going to separate them both into their respective routes. Misaki was going to be alone once again.
"How do you think of my ship, Misaki?"
"It's pretty."
Misaki ran his hand on the body of the ship, admiring its beauty. The quick realization that this was going to be their farewell hit Misaki hard. He desperately asked, "Akihiko-san, will you come back here again someday?"
"I afraid I can't," Akihiko shook his head. "Coming here all from London was quite dangerous, I don't know what would happen."
Misaki's heart was already broken into pieces at this point. His tears was going to swell in his eyes, yet he fought them from falling. He wanted to think as rationally as he could – of course Akihiko mustn't stay in Japan forever, he had his own responsibilities and duties to fulfill. Not to mention that his hometown was a place that he truly belonged to. For the first time of his life, Misaki wanted to be selfish. He wanted Akihiko all for himself only, he was jealous of the high possibility that a lot of women would be hogging on him later. Why? Why he was born as a guy in the first place? Was there a way for him to be reborn as a woman?
"Akihiko-san, you don't like this place?" Misaki dropped his hand down from the ship.
"No," Akihiko had his hand petting the younger's hair, "I like it."
His touch on Misaki made the latter flinch in response, began to blush and looked down to his feet. Unable to make eye contact with his beautiful orbs. Akihiko pulled him into a hug, "it's all thanks to you."
"Thank you for everything, Misaki. You are such a good kid. You saved my life. Thanks to you I became a lot stronger than I used to be," he said, running his hand down the other's hair in a slow motion.
At the verge of his tears, Misaki raised up his arms. Wrapping one around the older man's waist and the other around the shoulders, he returned the hug. Feeling the large body heat slowly seeping into his body intensely, Misaki's heart had beaten even faster and resonated with Akihiko's. Warm droplets fell on top of Akihiko's shoulder. He raised his chin up and found Misaki with tears flowing down his cheeks, but tried his best not to sob. Sympathy filled inside him. The point where his body moved out of his awareness, using his fingers to wipe those tears away. Still holding Misaki in his embrace, Akihiko bent down and kissed one of the tear-soaked cheeks. As a gift for every of his deeds.
"There there, don't cry…" Akihiko cupped his cheek and ran his thumb on it, "Misaki, I'm leaving now."
He pulled away from the hug and headed to his ship, leaving the crying boy alone. Akihiko paused and turned to give one final smile to Misaki, "Take care of yourself."
"Akihiko-san, wait!" exclaimed Misaki at the top of his lungs.
"Misaki?" Akihiko turned to him again.
Misaki stood strongly on his feet, clenching his fists altogether he collected all of his courage. "I love you, Akihiko-san…!"
Did he hear it? Yes. He heard it. He definitely had heard it. Without bothering to wait for a response, turning his back to Akihiko – Misaki ran as fast as he could to his house through the forest. Putting a hand across his mouth; he cried harder, couldn't hold it anymore. There was no point of him turning back anymore, even though he briefly heard Akihiko calling his name and telling him to wait. Or maybe it was just his imagination. All he wanted was to forget everything that had happened between them, and start a new life all alone by himself once again.
How long I had been crying during that night? I don't have a clue. I could not sleep even though I felt that it was very late at night. No one but myself in my house now, it's only me using the bed instead of him. It had been a while since I felt this level of loneliness, or maybe the current situation was even worse. What should I do? I had been used to his presence and his voice. I had bawled my eyes out that they became blood-shot in process. The pillow underneath my head had been drenched with my tears, I need to wash it tomorrow. I remembered yesterday where I had shared this bed altogether with him, I had no idea how pleasant it was with his warmth and smell around me.
I closed my eyes and forced myself to sleep. Probably I had truly fell asleep, since I don't remember anything happened afterwards – until somebody grabbed my mouth in their hand to prevent me from screaming. I was trying to free myself, but then some people pinned my arms and legs on the floor – the attackers just multiplied without me knowing it. It was too dark, I couldn't see who were they. What a bad luck I was having for today. First losing Akihiko-san from my life. Then came this shenanigan were I was attacked by intruders in the middle of the night. To make it worse, they tied me up with a rope.
When my mouth was free, I screamed "Wh-who are you people?! Let me go!"
"Shut the hell up!" One of them yelled. He punched me across the face, my cheek was aching and blood began to trickle down my lips to my chin.
They all dragged me outside in a harsh manner. Then they dropped me on the dusty ground that I afraid the yukata I was wearing would get dirty. "Sir, we got the sacrifice!"
"Hmm. Good job," said the man stood up in front of me. Strangely, his voice sounded familiar.
"Sacrifice?" I looked up to see who it was, then saw somebody that I didn't expect to. "I-Ijuuin… -sama?"
"My, what have they done to your pretty face…" Ijuuin-sama observed my face, his thumb dabbed the blood away.
"Ijuuin-sama, what is going on here? Sacrifice?" No way. It cannot be.
"Yes, Takahashi-kun. Tonight, you will be the sacrifice. If you can't be mine – I would rather give you away to the Gods instead of somebody else."
Damn. This was supposed to be a one-shot, but more plot bunnies coming that this ended up being more complex than the usual version. And it would be too long for a single chapter, probably around 20k and above. I promise that the next chapter will be the last one! :) Please be easy on me if this fic wasn't good enough... Kudos!