01; comfort
It shouldn't
have been comforting to know that Kyo was always willing to fight
with him, even though fighting wasn't technically what Iori wanted
to be doing.
02; kiss
The first time they kissed, it
was an accident; one had consumed copious amounts of alcohol and the
other wasn't honorable enough to push him away.
03;
soft
The result of Kyo's constant teasing that Iori wouldn't
know gentle if it smacked him in the face was that when Iori finally
got tired of it, Kyo got the softest kiss Iori was capable of
giving.
04; pain
There was a thin line between hate
and love, pleasure and pain, and no matter how how close they came,
they couldn't cross those lines.
05; potatoes
"But
I don't know anything personal about you at all," Kyo insisted,
and Iori finally shut him up with "I hate potatoes."
06;
rain
The rain wasn't a favorite with either man, given the
circumstances, until the day Kyo slipped on a wet storm drain and
dragged the hapless Iori down with him; as the older man's lips
pressed against his own, he couldn't find it within himself to hate
the rain anymore.
07; chocolate
Kissing Kyo always
reminded Iori of eating warm chocolate: sickly sweet and smooth, but
addictive and ultimately satisfying.
08; happiness
Both
men learned quickly that happiness could be expressed in different
ways, and that just because the sentiment wasn't spoken didn't
mean that it wasn't there.
09; telephone
Kyo was
surprised to find that after sex with Iori became a regular thing, he
had more influence than he gave himself credit for-- this became
obvious when the telephone quietly appeared on the kitchen wall after
Kyo pointed out that he couldn't give Iori any warning that he was
coming over.
10; ears
Kyo's legs were locked
around Iori's waist and Iori's hands were braced on the stall by
Kyo's head, and maybe the nightclub bathroom wasn't the best
place to do this but Kyo's whispered warning of someone could be
listening fell on deaf ears.
11; name
Iori never
said as much, but the first thing he thought when he saw Kyo was
remember my name because you'll be screaming it later.
12;
sensual
Kyo thought that Iori was born knowing how to be
sensual; everything from his voice to his posture bled sensuality
without the other man even realizing what he was doing.
13;
death
Kyo blurted, "I thought you were dead," and Iori
responded with, "calm down, Kusanagi; I won't die until I kill
you."
14; sex
The sex was good in the beginning
because it was forbidden; in the end, it was acceptance that made it
great.
15; touch
Iori hated to admit it but
sometimes it was Kyo's touch-- gentle or harsh, it didn't
matter-- that brought him back to sanity.
16; weakness
As
fighters, they were required to recognize the other's weakness and
use it; as rivals, they exploited it; as lovers, they protected
it.
17; tears
It wasn't until Kyo was very old and
on the brink of death that he realized the only thing he and Iori
hadn't exchanged at one point or another was their tears.
18;
speed
Kyo preferred to get it done quickly and go at it again,
no matter what he was doing; it wasn't until he got to know Iori
better that he learned to slow down and savor what he was given.
19;
wind
Kyo's house wouldn't have burned if the wind hadn't
caught at exactly the right time and fed the fire, spreading it from
the neighboring house; oddly enough, it was his worst enemy that came
to his aid… then laughed because Kyo hadn't found a way to
control the blaze.
20; freedom
Freedom was an
illusion for both of them; they pretended to do what they pleased,
but in the end, what they'd been told their whole lives made the
decision for them.
21; life
Life wasn't worth
living without a deep, dark secret, and the secret infatuation with
his rival was Iori's.
22; jealousy
Their
arrangement wasn't exclusive by any means, and they both agreed and
accepted it, but it didn't stop Kyo from occasionally waiting at
Iori's house until he came home, reeking of a woman or sometimes
another man, then shoving him into the shower and forcing him to
remember just which relationship had the highest priority.
23;
hands
Iori was secretly obsessed with Kyo's hands, baby soft
from wearing gloves and not doing much physical labor, and cool to
the touch regardless of what he'd been doing.
24;
taste
Iori tasted faintly of the cigarettes he'd smoke on
occasion-- and Kyo bitched about the taste-- but every time he kissed
someone else, Kyo found he missed the flavor.
25;
devotion
Kyo thought it was funny that Iori was devoted to
telling himself that he'd kill Kyo one day, when he'd had dozens
of opportunities that he never took and had even gotten Kyo out of
trouble sometimes, just so he'd be saved for a later that looked
like it'd never come.
26; forever
Kyo acted like
he'd live forever, and Iori knew better than to think he'd make
it half as long, but sometimes when they were in bed he dared to hope
he would.
27; blood
The city burned around them and
they thought they'd never see each other alive again but they did,
and the resulting kiss was harsh and bruising and had the coppery
taste of blood, but the only thing that mattered was that they were
able to meet in secret again.
28; sickness
Kyo's
obsession with Iori grew, slowly taking over his life like a disease,
starting with mild annoyance and then spreading until Iori was all he
could think about.
29; melody
They kept it their
secret-- the song for the both of them, the biggest collaborative
effort between the two of them, with lyrics by Kyo and melody by
Iori.
30; star
Kyo had made an offhand comment about
the stars being constant, thinking that maybe he should write a poem
about it, and Iori ruined the moment with the comment, "The stars
you're looking at have probably burned out by now, since it takes
starlight so long to get here."
31; home
Iori had
never really grasped the meaning of 'home' before: the daily
annoyance of having someone irritate you the second you walked in the
door, and the fact that you actively did nothing to rectify the
situation.
32; confusion
Kyo knew there was a
problem when he looked at Yuki in confusion, wondering what he was
doing with her when Iori was just as available.
33;
fear
Iori talked in his sleep, and this is how Kyo discovered
that his lover wasn't afraid of dying, but dying out of his mind
and with no control was his worst fear.
34;
lightning/thunder
Iori laughed for ten solid minutes when Kyo
was caught off guard, startled by a particularly loud thunderclap--
and oh, Kyo hated him for it-- but he made up for it later.
35;
bonds
Kyo wondered once why Iori always tied him up but he
never did the same; Iori had responded by giving him a shiny pair of
handcuffs the next day, offering his wrists with a challenging smirk
on his face that just seemed to say go ahead, if you think you
can.
36; market
The day Kyo was officially 'off
the market'-- that is, his wedding day-- was the day Iori left
town, eyes straight ahead, silently vowing to never come back to that
city again.
37; technology
Even if K' was supposed
to be a clone of sorts, Iori knew the most important differences
between the original and the reproduction, and K' never forgot that
he was Iori's second choice-- technology couldn't accomplish
everything, after all.
38; gift
Someone once said
that the best gifts were the ones that came from the heart-- so why
did Iori walking away on his wedding day feel more like a curse than
a gift?
39; smile
Iori had a secret soft spot for
foreign romantic comedies, and even though Kyo teased him mercilessly
he'd always watch them, because it was the only time he'd see
Iori smile without looking slightly bloodthirsty.
40;
innocence
Neither man would have considered himself innocent
before the start of their arrangment, but at the end of it neither
could deny what he'd learned from the other and how it had forced
him to grow up a little.
41; completion
They were
two halves of a circle-- night and day, flighty and focused, light
and dark-- but they'd ignored the obvious until it was too
late.
42; clouds
Kyo was shocked to find that Iori
liked to eat outside, but he'd never laid in the grass and watched
the clouds go by; Iori retaliated by saying he was surprised Kyo
could sit still long enough to see anything in them.
43;
sky
"Admit it Kyo, you're gay," Iori said, and Kyo
replied with "yeah, and you own a great big cotton candy castle in
the sky."
44; heaven
If there was such a place as
heaven, Yuki surely deserved to go there, Kyo thought as he stared at
the grave and thought of her and Iori and how things used to be.
45;
hell
The years when Iori had left the city were Kyo's
personal hell; after Yuki died, he'd spend as much time as he could
hunting for his old lover but to no avail.
46; sun
A
brave child had once approached Iori on the street, and he was too
surprised to do anything but watch as she patted his hand and left a
sticker there-- "some sunshine, mister," she'd said, and the
sticker told Iori it was time to go home.
47; moon
It'd
been five years since he'd seen that crescent moon jacket, and Kyo
stared for a full minute before he could convince himself that the
skinny man wearing it was indeed Iori, and he was actually back in
town.
48; waves
When Iori set eyes on his rival
again for the first time in years, he was surprised to find that the
waves of hatred and then overwhelming lust hadn't lessened in the
time he'd been away.
49; hair
Kyo never thought
he'd have a hangover just for an excuse to feel a soothing hand run
through his hair.
50; supernova
It never actually
grew to be love, but the feelings they had for the other was like a
supernova-- explosive and dangerous to ignore.