It's too Frightening to Ask, "Why only me?" by SeelieSpright

Word Count: 1,324

Pairing: Shiki and Ichijo, Kain and Aido

Content: Contains mature smut, but no spoilers.

Caveat: The characters are not my own, and belong solely to Hino Matsuri.

Shiki slept slumped against Ichijo on the sofa, his head resting on Ichijo's shoulder.

"Shiki is attached to me, so he belongs in my faction. He's an 'Ichijo'," Ichijo said to Aido, Rima, and the others nearby. Aido looked shocked and mortified and Shiki nestled closer to Ichijo in his sleep.

"Well then I'm a 'Kuran'," Aido said.

"If that's true, then I'm much more of a 'Kuran' than you."

"A- alright, you're my ally for now," Aido said, the air between them crackling with tension.

"Akatsuki, what about you?" Aido demanded.

"I respect both of them," Kain said, a little puff of a sigh escaping his mouth.

"Both?! I'll show you whose side you should be on! I'll convince you and Shiki!"

Aido stormed off down the hallway and a shock mark appeared by Ruuka's head.

"No, I'll make sure Kanamesama wins!" Ruuka said, and she strode over to Rima, still seated and bemused at the latest development. Ruuka seized her hand and pulled her off of the sofa.

"We're going to make fliers," Ruuka said, ignoring Rima's protestations and dragging her away. The other students continued on their way and soon Ichijo and Shiki were alone together. Ichijo had returned to his reading with Shiki tucked into his shoulder.

The room was silent and Ichijo turned a page. He shifted slightly to look down at Shiki's sleeping face. It was completely relaxed, making Shiki appear even younger. Some of Shiki's hair had fallen into his face and Ichijo reached out to brush it away, the tips of his fingers touching the smooth skin of Shiki's forehead. Shiki's long eyelashes fluttered and his eyes opened to Ichijo's gaze.

"Hey," Shiki said lazily, his voice somewhat husky with sleep. His eyes were half-lidded with the sexy expression that always made Ichijo uncomfortably hot until Shiki stripped and took him.

"I – I told Aido and the others that you were in my faction," Ichijo said, "because you were slumped against me in your sleep."

"Oh?" Shiki said, sitting up from his position on Ichijo's shoulder.

"Aido has run off to start his campaign for Kaname," Ichijo said, his voice a little shaky under Shiki's sleepy lust.

"Should we begin some fund-raising for your campaign?" Shiki said, running his fingers up Ichijo's arms as he spoke, pushing the sleeves of his shirt up. The sensation of Shiki's fingertips on his skin sent a pleasant shiver up Ichijo's spine and he swallowed down the lump in his throat.

"I was reading," Ichijo said, grasping for something to distract Shiki. Shiki's deep, slightly dilated eyes turned from Ichijo's face to his lap where the book lay open and unattended.

"Not a manga this time," Shiki said, lifting the book away with one hand. He looked at the corner of one page, "Austin," Shiki said, "Pride and Prejudice," and then closed the book with a snap.

Ichijo opened his mouth.

"Page 237, I'll remember," Shiki said, putting the book down with one hand as he turned his attention back to Ichijo. Shiki unbuttoned the top few buttons of Ichijo's shirt, exposing the skin at his neck and his upper chest, and slid a hand under Ichijo's shirt, his rough, dry palm on Ichijo's skin making him shiver. Ichijo wanted more, although a thrill of nervousness ran through him at the thought that anyone could come into the common room and see them. They would find him in a very compromising state of half-undress.

"Senri, someone might see," Ichijo said, placing a hand on Shiki's chest.

"Doesn't that make it more exciting?" Shiki said.

"…"

Shiki's head was lowered so that he looked up through his eyelids at Ichijo, and he knew that Ichijo couldn't refuse those eyes. Even though Ichijo knew Shiki was using his craft Ichijo couldn't stop himself from falling. Shiki licked his lips as he unbuttoned the rest of Ichijo's shirt, and his hand grazed Ichijo's trousers on the way down, causing Ichijo to squirm.

"You did that on purpose," Ichijo said, colouring as he looked up at Shiki.

"So?" Shiki said, pushing Ichijo's shirt aside. Shiki bent down and started kissing Ichijo's chest, running his nose across the skin to excite Ichijo's nerves.

At the same moment, Aido was passing through the hallway, about to cross the common room, but he hesitated when he heard low voices. He head a whisper and could not discern the speaker, but then Shiki's voice responded a little louder and more clearly with, "So?" Aido peeked out of the hallway to see Shiki on top of Ichijo on the sofa. Aido blushed as he watched, his hand loosening on the rolled posters and they shifted lower in his grasp.

Just then, someone came up behind Aido, taking the posters in one hand as Aido's grip relaxed with surprise, and holding Aido's wrist with the other. Aido smelled Kain and felt his familiar heat as he came up close behind and breathed in Aido's ear, "What are you up to, naughty boy?"

"Whom are you spying on now?" Kain nipped Aido's ear and then he looked over Aido's shoulder into the common room.

"Oh," Kain said as his eyes took in Shiki and Ichijo on the sofa together.

"I suspected as much."

Kain's lips were tracing the upper curve of Aido's ear as he spoke and his hot breath blew over it, sending thrills of sensation through Aido's body. Kain ran his tongue along Aido's ear and Aido sucked in air with a hiss. Aido whispered,

"Akatsuki! Someone might come!"

"Doesn't that make it more exciting?"

"…"

Kain spun Aido around and pushed his back against the wall, and was immediately upon him, pressing hard against his lips and grasping his shirt at the chest. Kain continued to toy with Aido's ear, running his teeth along it gently.

Meanwhile, Shiki had moved to Ichijo's abdomen now. He stuck his tongue in Ichijo's belly button and Ichijo giggled. But then he bit lightly on Ichijo's 'v' and Ichijo stifled a cry. Shiki looked up with a wicked expression on his face.

"That's not very kind, Senri, when you're doing this in such a public place."

"Well," Shiki said, "I'd like to do that and some other things besides; so we'll have to adjourn to a more private locale to satisfy both of our needs."

Shiki bent to kiss Ichijo and lifted him against his body as Ichijo wrapped his legs around Shiki's waist. They disappeared from the common room and heavy footsteps were heard on the stairs.

Aido was no longer paying attention to the couple, as Kain proved quite diverting.

"Do you think they've had enough time to make themselves scarce?" Kain asked.

Aido turned then to look into the common room, expecting to see Ichijo in a state of further undress, but he found only an abandoned shirt on the sofa.

"I didn't know they'd gone," he said in surprise, "They were stealthy."

"I guess we'll have to be too," Kain said as he swept Aido into his arms.

"But Kanamesama," Aido said.

"Ehh?!" Kain said, his eyes widening and vertical liens of dejection appearing over his head.

"The work for his campaign"

"can wait. It's not like Ichijo will be getting to work tonight."

"Well that's true, but –"

Kain tipped Aido and thumped his head against the wall lightly to knock some sense into him. A vein pop appeared on Aido's cheek, throbbing red, as Kain righted him.

"Now you're really going to get it!" he said.

"How exciting!" Kain answered and turned and carried Aido out of the hall, through the common room, and up the stairs. On the way to their room, they passed Ichijo and Shiki's double, from which came Ichijo's moan followed by a husky chuckle by Shiki. Kain was upon Aido as soon as their door had closed and a trail of clothes led to the edge of Kain's bed.

A/N: I didn't like the first version of this story that I posted, so I've cut out significant portions and rewritten a little. I think it's much better this way, and hope you enjoy it too.

This story takes place following the omake to volume 4 (19.1) and consequently contradicts the timeline for "A Special Present for a Special Day" and "Ichijo's Very Special Birthday", both of which describe the respective couples as experiencing their first sexual experience with one another. I hope this contradiction will not prove too troubling.

We still have some time to wait before the next chapter release (at the end of September), so I will not be releasing further chapters of "Consequences and the Blood-washed Academy" until the beginning of October (so long, right?!). But I may release further one-shots in the meantime.

Thanks for reading! Please message me if you have any idea for pairings and/or situations in which characters might be paired. I'm also open to suggestions for improvement.

Please, when composing reviews: Observe basic grammar and reread what you've just typed. Also, TYPING ALL IN CAPS is shouting on the Internet, and is rarely appropriate. Emoticons are cute and I like them just fine.