Fandom: Koshonin

Title: The taste of steel

Rating: PG13

Pairing: Usagi/Mariya

The kiss, when it came, was no surprise.

Mariya's lips were cold and chapped, motionless against Usagi's. She tightened her grip on his wrist, but didn't fight. Mariya's body offered no warmth, and his weight drove her deeper into the snow. The snow seeped down the collar of Usagi's coat, and clung wetly to the back of her thighs. Mariya strained against Usagi, and the knife he held.

He had called Usagi many things over the past five years: mother, sister, lover. He had mocked, and taunted, and breathed secrets at Usagi through the barrier between them. Usagi had heard: You and I are connected, and will never be parted. She had understood: You're the only thing I have left in this world.

Mariya's mouth opened--screaming, still--and his knife dropped to the ground next to Usagi.

Usagi had despised Mariya Kyosuke, and she had needed him--his insight, his knowledge, his guilt. She had been his jailer, mother, scornful lover.

This kiss was no surprise.

The handcuffs jerked at Usagi's wrist as Mariya moved to tangle his hand in Usagi's hair. He pulled too tightly; Usagi resisted the pressure to arch into the hold on her hair. He was laughing or crying (both, neither) against Usagi's mouth. His kiss was clumsy and desperate, and he had grown up inside a cell.

Usagi kissed him back, and it was both a punishment and promise.

--end