Finding Each Other
Yumichika
I figured my best bet was the weekend. He had been there on a Saturday night; maybe it was a regular thing for him. Even if I did find him in the barn again, I wondered how I would indicate that I wanted to see him again; someplace else.
I went around the same time as last time. When I entered though, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I didn't want to actually be anywhere where someone would think I wanted to have sex with them. I was only after one person.
My heart started to race a little. He was coming. I could feel him outside. I went to the small circle in the center of the room and knelt down. Looking back, it didn't even occur to me that he wouldn't come to me after entering the barn, and I'm not sure what I would have done if he had gone to someone else. Punched someone I guess. It wasn't an issue though. I felt his warm hand on mine and felt like I had won a victory. There was something else too. Around his wrist was a bright orange…I'm not sure what you would call it. It looked as though he had grabbed some fabric and ripped a long shred of it, wrapped it around his wrist and tied it in a rough knot. He definitely didn't have it last time. I smiled. Even in the dark I had managed to charm him. He did this because he wants me to find him, I thought. Honestly, there could have been other reasons, but that was the one that made the most sense to me, the one that made me the happiest.
I really did try to not be too noisy, but I'm just naturally noisy during sex, especially when someone was making me feel the way this person did. I wanted more of him than I could have in this place and when I felt his hands begin to move across my body I cried out again. Yes, I thought to him, please touch me more. Don't stop. I imagine we were probably drawing attention to ourselves but there was absolutely no way I was going to hamper anything that was happening between us.
Finally we had reached the end, and I only wished for more, not that I had the energy. We collapsed on that filthy ground, gasping. My back was to him and I wanted to turn and speak to him.
"I…" I said, stopping suddenly as when I heard noise outside.
The room began dead silent as we all listened.
"In here, this is where it's supposed to be," someone yelled.
"Let's check it out," another said.
"Fucking queers."
Damn it, not right now you bastards. It was better to just run though.
I was so close to finding out who he was too. At least I could look for him though.
Ikkaku
First thing I needed to do was to figure out a way for him to find me, or for me to find him. I was thinking about the problem when a pair of hands came into view.
"I can tell that you're thinking too hard," she said, laughing in her raspy voice.
I could never mistake those hands for anyone else. She was one of my favorite customers, not because she bought that much, but because the old broad was a battle axe with a wicked sense of humor who would tell the dirtiest jokes without batting an eye. She always had bright red fingernails and wore heavy costume jewelry on her fingers and wrists.
"Well, I was Ms. Nakajiima, but you've just solved it for me," I said. I just needed to find something suitably noticeable to wear on my wrist or hand.
I went back to that barn the next night and camped out on the roof. I figured that if he came I could feel him, and this way I didn't have to keep explaining to anyone that I didn't want to have sex with them or make them think I was there to spy on them or anything. He wasn't there that night, or the second night.
On Saturday night though, I didn't even need to go on the roof, I could feel him as soon as I started walking up the hill.
Once I was contracted to come and do a bunch of home repairs and general jobs for a fairly wealthy estate. One of my jobs was to fix a couple of flowers stands in their hot house. I remember it being so odd. It was cold and raining outside, but so warm inside. There were out of season fruits and vegetables, and exotic tropical flowers. That's what his spiritual pressure feels like to me; one of those exotic flowers that I never found the name of.
He was in the center again. As much as I wanted to talk to him and maybe pull him outside, I really couldn't pass up the opportunity when he was just asking for it. I placed my hand on his, hoping that he'd notice and remember my wristband and what I meant by wearing it.
I was trying my damnedest to hold back, but when he started moaning and making noise, that was just it. I moved my right hand across his arm, my left went down his side and along the inside of his thigh. He felt so soft and his bones felt so delicate under my fingers. Still, there was something in him that made it impossible for me to think of him as weak. That spiritual pressure probably had something to do with that.
I was cursing the confines and rules of this damn place. I wanted to see him, and take him in a way that completely claimed him. I wouldn't have found him any other way though, so I guess I can't complain.
As I felt him moving with me, felt myself inside of him, I could tell I was just losing it. We fell to the ground, having spent ourselves, tremors still going through our bodies. I reached for his shoulder to pull him towards me. "I…" he began to say…and then I heard chatter outside. Fuckers. Of course they have to come now. Why they have to care it beyond me. Damn it, I thought, as everyone in the barn quickly got dressed and dispersed.
I know it's stupid, but when I was trying to sleep that night, I imagined that I had reached his shoulder. I imagined him turning and facing me and finishing his sentence. In my mind he's starting to say my name.
Yumichika
I was pretty upset after having to leave without getting to know who my lover was, but I was fairly confident that he wanted me in the same way that I wanted him. I went to a store and found a cheap leather wristband and painted it orange, and wore it on my right wrist. The paint wouldn't last too long, but I was hoping that it wouldn't take that long to find him. I doubted that anyone would be going back to that barn anytime soon so it seemed like my only shot for now.
It was my luck that it was only a week later that I found him. I was walking along the market when I felt his spiritual pressure. Where? Where? I whipped my head around the crowded walkway. My heartbeat was beating in my ears. There! Orange! He had his hand up in a gesture to the vendor he was talking to. I didn't move. He turned, maybe sensing me. He also just stared at me.
"Cousin!" he said finally. "I didn't know you were going to be in the part of the world."
"Yes," I said, walking towards him. "I'm sorry for not letting you know."
"I guess you missed me at the shop, I came into town to get some supplies," he mentioned.
"Don't worry, I'll get it delivered," the merchant said.
"Thanks," he said.
We began to walk. I felt a little giddy, and rather than feeling silly about it, I kind of enjoyed it.
"Ikkaku Madarame," he said, introducing himself.
"Yumichika Ayasegawa," I replied.
"I'm a carpenter," he explained. "I have a shop a couple miles out where I live and work."
"I live in town," I said. "I work at Hitomi's Place."
"What, you're a dancer?" he said with a smile.
"Actually, yes," I laughed. "The background dancers are completely clothed and wearing lots of make up so the audience can't tell that I'm not female."
"That's nice that the owner let you do that," he replied.
"I don't really think that the owner knows I'm male, and I haven't really corrected him or anything."
"This is it," he said, as we got to his shop.
It was nice. I would say "quaint" but that sounds like I'm putting it down. I loved that place and was sorry when we had to leave it. Ikkaku had built it of course; it and everything in it. Even now, the smell of fresh sawdust reminds me of Ikkaku and that first place we ever spent time together.
We got inside and just looked at each other. I really couldn't take it anymore and reached for him. He sighed as I ran my hand over his face. He wrapped his arms around me, bringing me into a kiss. It's funny that although we had slept together twice, we had never kissed, so it was the first time I got to taste him.
