Title: Insatiable Memories
Author:
Sifirela
Genre:
Drama/Romance
Rating:
T

Disclaimer: I own nothing. I own Noriko and the plot, but that is all.

Author's Note: Okay okay, I know. I have other stories to either revise or finish, but this story just came to me after weeks and weeks of nothing coming to mind on how to start the revision of True Love. This is a bit different than what I normally work with and it is sort of trivial on how I started it. I really don't understand it myself, but don't worry. I will finish this! I have all the plot in my head! So don't worry about that! And this is a Sage-centered fic if anybody was wondering. It's going to have loads of surprises if you are interested---I'm just using the Japanese names for them. See? It's different than what I normally work with! ENJOY!

Full Summary: Sage had it all. He was a well-respected Sensei at the Date Dojo, had a dashing fiancée', and had a satisfied grandfather under his belt. He was happy, on the outside that is. On the inside he was torn---torn between wanting something of his own and torn between a feuding battle with his heart. And it all started with a damnable, alluring and tantalizing kiss from someone who he never thought about in five years...

-------

Prologue

Frustration threw his mind into a whirlwind. He could not think for the life of him why this was so frustrating. He could have just given it up. He could have just gotten it through his thick skull that he was not right; that he was more or less a person who was under the influence of something dangerous. Temptation was a rather cool drug that coiled through the course of his veins. Facing this was harder than anything he had ever faced in his life. Perhaps this was the end. Perhaps this was the suggested sentence set for him because he did not tell the people he loved the full-fledged truth. All the people began to wonder why he had been so perturbed over the past few weeks. He couldn't help it. It was something waiting to burst inside of him, burning within him like an enigma; it was like a fireball ready to shoot out, and flames sparking from his heart to the inner core of his body.

He slammed down the telephone after a heated conversation involving one of his best friends. His best friend didn't understand either. Damn it. Why couldn't people just leave him alone? Why couldn't people just see how he wanted to dwell on the matter alone? People were so misleading when it came to the word alone anyway. His friends did care, yes, but that was because they knew only half the truth and they knew that it was only the 'half-truth.' (Nosey jerks.) The other half-side of the truth was still hanging on like a twisted piece of arrogant flesh not wanting to be pulled off of his body.

He ran a hand through his blonde locks, rubbing his head; a dull ache swaggering back and forth from one end to the other. It was like a sword fight was going on in his skull. He closed his ice-blue eyes and sighed as he heard the telephone ring again. Damn that phone. That was the fourth time that piece of crap rang in just under two hours! Why couldn't he get just one solitary moment to think! Hell, he didn't even get one minute of peace when they found out the half-truth...

He tried to lie; he tried to wriggle his way out of it. But no; the bond from the kanji yoroi bounded him forever with the gift of giving off his feelings to them. They knew when he started getting frustrated that there was something really wrong with him. It was no doubt he tried to stray away from telling them, but the damn feeling they got from him the moment he snapped at them was beyond comparable to the aftershocks of when they did find out...It wasn't his fault that he was what he was or that he couldn't help to think about her...

It all started with one simple kiss. One simple, misleading, and sensual kiss that led to one thing then another and another; so on, so forth. The biggest part about it was that she was perhaps two- and-a-half years older than him. He didn't want someone who was that old. Besides, she was more of a sister than a lover….or so he assumed she was ten years ago. But the way her eyes...her beautiful blue eyes seemed to light up...the way------He shook his head out of the alluring thought. He smacked himself on the forehead and let out a ragged sigh. The phone kept buzzing. Buzzing. Ringing. Buzzing. Ringing. Oh, the tantalizing sound of the ringing. Just as it had that night…just like that night where everything ended and started at the same time…and where everything seemed to go downhill, yet stay the same path that came off as beautiful. It all started a few weeks ago…on a morning just like this….

&&&

Four Weeks Ago.

It always started out as a strenuous morning; everything seemed to go alright and for the long run, he was happy with his status in life. It wasn't enjoyable sometimes, but was bearable some days. He picked up where his grandfather left off in the Date Dojo; the younger Date was highly respected for his teachings and always found it extremely satisfying as to how people patted him on the back for a job well-done. He earned several titles with championships of kendo over the last five years from his students accomplishments to his own that he showed off on a wall in his office in the dojo. And he didn't need to forget the beautiful fiancée' he had earned along with the title as Sensei of Date Dojo.

Asa Noriko was a girl he was fond of. A beautiful petite thing with raven curls and big batty eyes only came once in a millennia when he thought of it. She was kind and courteous, always patient, and never demanding. She was demure and did exactly what she was told. She was the perfection behind the traditional, well-respected Asa family lineage in which she was raised in the traditional arts of arranged-marriages.

Seiji couldn't have been happier-------and he wasn't. Just something that seemed to want to bubble out of him. But he had a duty to his family and cultural society. He wanted to pay his debt to the people who raised him and who protected him. And he was going to be damn happy too. Even if he had to swallow his pride whole.

He really liked Noriko though. She was an endearing little thing; and on occasion she did have a cute smile on her face when he looked or spoke to her. He was really fond of her…really fond of her.

He slouched more into the chair he occupied in front of the glowering embers that was once a fire in the hearth. Seiji had just finished his morning rumination and wanted to at least get a few minutes more of a solitary moment. He began to slowly drift to a peaceful meditation again when the phone began to ring. He opened one eye and looked at the phone, hoping it would stop ringing. He didn't feel like answering it or talking to anybody.

Ring..

Ring….

Just tune it out.

Ring.

Just close your mind to it.

Ring.

Come on, tune it out

Ring.

He sighed and turned the other way. Maybe if he would just…

Ring…

Maybe if he just put a pillow over his head…

Ring.

No that didn't work. Maybe if he plugged his ears.

Ring.

Oh for the love of….

Ring.

He slowly sat up, glaring at the damn, annoying piece of technology produced only to give a person a reason to be bothered even more.

'Alright, alright, I'm coming you piece of…'

Ring.

"Moshi-Moshi," he answered with a polite tone, even though he was grinding his teeth to the point it was hurting his jaw.

"Ah, Seiji-san, good to hear you answering the phone." came a slight chuckle on the other side of the ear-piece. Seiji's face darkened with slight annoyance.

"Yes, and why are you calling, if I may ask, Yayoi-san?" Seiji tried his hardest to be civil with his amused-sounding older sister. She just got on his nerves because of the gratification that came from her deep voice. She was always a pain in the stump even when they were children.

She would constantly tease him because he was dressed as a girl when he was a little child. It really wasn't his fault his parents found it amusing to dress him as a girl. He was sick, and they had a reason for it in the first place. It was his grandfather who pushed it in the first place or so he was told by his mother.

At least Satsuki didn't give him pain in the backside with her annoyance. And another thing----
His thoughts were interrupted by a slightly raised voice from the hearing piece of the phone.

"Seiji! Are you there? If you hung up on me--so help---"

"I'm here, Yayoi-san. What is it?" Seiji growled, shaking his head from the thoughts transpiring in his head.

"I am just calling you, Seiji-kun," she replied his name with a spit of exasperation, "to remind you that you have a date with Grandfather. And that you are to be at the Dojo to meet with him for a session of some sort at five this afternoon."

Seiji frowned, "A session? What for? I thought we were through with the sessions now that I took over the Dojo?"

"Don't ask me. I'm just the messenger, even though I don't even know why I bothered in offering to relay the message to you." Yayoi countered with a slight gleeful titter.

"You do know more than what you are leading on, Yayoi. Tell me, please." Seiji said in a small hopeful voice, hoping that she would actually give in with the charades of enjoyment of her knowing what he didn't.

"Is that pleading I hear from big, strong Seiji?" Yayoi retorted again, amusement draining heavily from her lilt.

Seiji rolled his eyes and was very tempted to hang up the phone, "Do you love torturing me?"

"Yes, and I love you too."

"Love-hate relationship. Got it. Now, is there anything else you wanted to relay to me?"

"Mm, that is all. Oh, but one more thing. Noriko is coming tonight for the banquet of your honor, so wear something very outstanding!" Yayoi jeered through the phone with a wicked laugh.

"Sayanora, Seiji-kun."

"Sayanora," He replied in return and slammed the phone down. How he hated his sister sometimes. Seiji felt like dialing the number back and screaming at her, demanding that she tell him everything she knew about this session. What in Kami's name was this session going to be about?