He looked to Kurogane like a wilted flower,
lying upon their bed, clothed in naught but his lily-white skin.
Smooth and delicate as a fallen orchid,
the magician's fair complexion was marred only by a trail of darkened marks,
where the ninja's mouth had roughly brushed upon his neck and chest.
Kurogane traced the over the fading impressions absently with his hand,
like a sleepwalker following the scattered stones of a garden path,
while Fai gazed up at him,
half-lidded eyes forget-me-not blue beneath the silken fronds of his lashes.
A soft peony blush still lingered warmly on his cheeks.
Kurogane gently stole another kiss from those petal-soft lips,
and found on them still fresh memories,
of Fai's arms wrapped about him like trailing vines, embracing,
as he had plucked the mage up from the ground,
to lay him down in the evening dusk,
of clothes stripped away to fall as scattered leaves,
lost to the night and abandoned,
of the mage's mouth opening like a crocus in quiet gasp,
as Kurogane pressed against him,
his breath hot against the warrior's skin,
mingling with spring air and the wandering scent of hyacinths and lilacs,
of the way Fai's body arched as Kurogane moved within him,
curved like a stem overburdened with blooms.
Roses were not without thorns,
and Kurogane could still feel where Fai's hands had clutched at his back,
fingers pressing into his skin, clinging like ivy.
The stars found them spent,
energies scattered like wind-blown seeds.
Kurogane dozed, half-lost in a dream,
his arms draped loosely around his lover,
feeling the gentle rise and fall of his breath,
the beat of his heart.
Fai lay sleeping, secure in his arms,
like a lily kept safe in a vase,
beautiful and cherished.
As they awoke still tangled as roots beneath soil,
Kurogane caressed Fai's sun-kissed skin,
and placed kisses on his smile, bright as a daffodil in the morning light.
No flower was ever so loved as this.
