b The Space Between /b
When Gonou first met Kanan, he did not know that she was his sister. Nor did he know that she would become pregnant by a centipede demon and kill herself, or that this would lead to him turning into a youkai and ripping out his own eye. He just wondered who the pretty young girl with the long chestnut hair was, and why she seemed so strangely familiar.
Likewise, when Gonou and Kanan first met Chin Yisou, they did not know that he was a youkai. Nor did they know the part he would play in Kanan's demise and Gonou's spiral into insanity and transformation into a youkai. They just saw a pleasant young man, always smiling, who told fortunes with mahjong bones and often came round to their house, due to Kanan's desire to learn how he did it. Gonou didn't mind: the fortune teller, going by the name of Shifu, was never rude or brash, and it was a common occurrence to see him and Kanan sat at the kitchen table when he got home from the school, talking about anything, enjoying each other's company.
With the conceit of youth, he didn't think to be jealous, even as it grew to be that they kissed one another on the cheek as they said their goodbyes. He supposed that his mind simply didn't believe that a gentle, well-mannered fortune teller could pose a threat to their stability.
It all started when Shifu, coming to the door and finding Kanan not in, was instead incited in by Gonou. They talked in much the same manner as Kanan and Shifu, and Gonou realised exactly why his sister found this man to be such a good friend, with his charmingly easy manner and way of making you feel as if you were the most important person to him at that moment.
The next thing he knew, he was slumped in an armchair, hands resting on Shifu's shoulders, the person in question straddling his thighs with his hands halfway up Gonou's shirt, their mouths crushed together for several minutes, before Gonou's mind caught up with his body and he pushed the fortune-teller away, panting.
"What did you mean by that?" he asked, too shocked to be upset.
"Nothing," said Shifu, sprawled on the floor. Gonou decided to dismiss it as just One of Those Things, gave him a hand up, and they started talking again, incident supposedly forgotten.
The next time it happened, it was Gonou who initiated it: this time it was Shifu being manhandled, bent backwards over the kitchen table, shoulder-blade-length feathery black hair fanning out around his head like a halo, making a sharp contrast with his pale face ( i so like Kanan, Gonou thought, and quickly pushed that thought out of his mind, because Kanan and Shifu were nothing alike, even thought they really, really were /i ) as Gonou pressed against him, eager for something, though he didn't know what.
Afterwards, they dismissed it as Just Another One of Those Things.
The last time it happened, the pair were on a bed, and Kanan was there too, though Gonou didn't know how or why, and suddenly he was in the middle of one of the most daring sexual situations of his life, and with Kanan beneath him and Shifu on top of him, it was probably also the most pleasurable.
The next day, they were told that Shifu had left the town for newer pastures.
Neither cried; indeed, they barely even acknowledged it. But the memory was still there, lying dormant, ready to reawaken.
i FINIS /i