AN: Oh well it's not all yet, are you happy? Or will you call me a tease again? The thing ıs I'm ın a foreign country and experiencing all kinds of littie bugging Internet problems - like keys being in all the wrong places (the real bitch is an "i" without a dot they have the same place where the capital "I" and that comes out as a weird "y" when uploaded) and such, and I'm actually writing it with pen and paper first (and it suxxxx) - so I am feeling fairly proud and accomplished at turning out at least as much...
Warning: It gets lemonier... or maybe not...
Dısclaimer: Don't own either of them, though I wouldn't say no if they offered, lol...
Many thanks to wonderful YenGırl who found time to proof-read it even midst publishing her own story.
He almost expected Kaien to hesitate or to turn away again, but the other's face looked serious, brows pulling together in this endearingly concentrated expression, and he leaned forward, almost eagerly, his lips landing on Touga's own - tender and tremulous and asking to be explored...
Yes, Kaien, yes...
Their current uncomfortable position prevented their bodies from coming flush against each other's, as the hunter would dearly wish them to, but maybe it was better this way - taking things slowly, a step at a time...
... definitely better, and faintly novel too, his distracted mind acknowledged distantly, even as his lips gently licked and nibbled on Kaien's mouth, the tongue probing cautiously for the entrance - not pushing, not insisting on anything, but rather - enticing the other to take the initiative, tingling delight coursing along his veins at the hot strawberry-flavored sigh against his cheek and the growing push of the other's tongue into his own lips...
Yes, Kaien, you set the pace - it's all for you...
Yet he wouldn't be himself if he could resist the opportunity to prod Kaien along - just a little... So his hand lifted to cup the back of the blonde's head, tangling in the pale silken hair - not so much pressing forward as holding it in place, while Touga's mouth temporarily abandoned the lips, tracing a line of short tender kisses along a flushed cheekbone, tugging on the top of the earlobe - cool and a bit salty initially, but soon growing hot with both his affections and the ex-hunter's involuntary blush... before he half-whispered, half-growled, so low that his breath barely teased the light-brown tresses around the ear, "Kaien... I lo-oove strawberries...", and felt imminently satisfied by the audible gasp and a soft tremble passing over the other's body...
"T-touga..."
Huh, if the aim was to prod, the mission was surely accomplished successfully, since two hands gripped almost viciously onto his shoulders, pushing him backwards, ripping his mouth from its little pastime of nibbling on Kaien's ear, only for it to be claimed within a moment by a hard, demanding, absolutely wondrous kiss. No foreplay this time, this kiss aimed straight for the kill, the tongue pushing its way inside to clash with Touga's own in a war for dominance that Touga was in fact all too eager to surrender to, making him groan this time as the awareness of the other's awakened desire flowed like molten lava through him to settle as a hot heaviness inside his groin.
Ah, Kaien... way to go, man... don't you stop at that...
Stopping certainly seemed to be the last thing on Kaien's mind... that is if Touga was wrong and Kaien indeed could think right now and wasn't so altogether caught by more primal needs, firmly blocking even a possibility of thought...
And all for the best too...
No, he didn't seem like he'd stop until they both suffocated from the sheer lack of oxygen in their lungs, and he was bending over Touga too, bending Touga more and more backwards, so that now their chests were pressing together as well, the plushy robe sliding against his nipple both arousing and irritating to Touga's senses - he would've certainly preferred for it to be skin on skin....
But it can wait until later...
Even with all the hormones flooding his system though, there was something nagging on him, like a tiny alarm going off inside his brain, something was not right - but his mind seemed all too eager to ascribe any discomfort he felt in the... eh... nether regions... to... well... feeling aroused while crouching in tight jeans being not the most comfortable thing to begin with... so it wasn't until the muscles around that old scar tightened in earnest that he knew that his body was set on giving him one nasty surprise.
Loath to give up the kiss or alarm Kaien unnecessarily, he tried to ease the leg a bit by carefully lowering the knee to the floor, but just as he suspected - it was no good. The only thing that could help him right now was if he stretched the leg completely or...
"Aaargh!"
The pain that shot outwards from the cramped thigh passed through his body as an ice-cold lightning, making him fall clumsily sideways, only barely landing on his elbow instead of head-first into the wooden bedside, his other hand clamped tight over the offending thigh...
"Ow... holy crap... ow fuck!.."
"Touga! What's wrong? What can I do? Touga!"
Words didn't penetrate the pain-induced haze immediately, but the arm that embraced him without hesitation, hefting him upward and into a more comfortable position, leaning him onto a warm and surprisingly stolid shoulder, most certainly did...
Isn't it telling, how Kaien didn't hesitate in the least before embracing me right now - when just a moment ago his hands dared not wander lower than my shoulders despite the passionate kiss?.. Doesn't it mean...
But frankly he was not sure himself whatever it meant...
"Touga!"
Right... shouldn't scare Kaien...
It took an effort to pry his hand from where it hurt, yet he knew it was a damn right decision, when Kaien trembled softly, leaning into his touch, even though the blind desire in the ex-hunter's eyes was fading quickly, giving way to genuine concern.
"It's nothing, Kaien... truly, nothing," Touga hoped that his voice sounded reassuringly enough. "Just an old wound acting up... let's say, crouching is not my forte now... but I was going to suggest that we move it to somewhere more comfortable anyway..."
"Idiot!.." Cross humphed almost perfunctorily, grunting a little as he helped Touga up and onto the edge of the bed. "Such an idiot, Touga..."
"Why?" Touga asked quietly, bending to rub the thigh and silently admonishing the darned leg for breaking such a perfect moment, he now knew not how to restore. "Why would I be an idiot, Kaien?"
The ex-hunter lowered himself on the side of the bed as well, pushing the blonde strands behind his ears so that he could watch Touga contemplatively without having to fight them every minute.
Actually, the pain had subsided considerably once the leg was stretched, and the aftermath of its passing (and the close proximity of the cramp's origin to Touga's balls) made it a strangely pleasurable sensation.
Still he remained as he was, glancing at Kaien from down there patiently and rewarded by the answer to something that sort of intrigued him all along - that is - whether Kaien wore anything under this robe of his... Well, now that it opened with the efforts, Touga could see that indeed - he was... simple grey-striped boxers, surprisingly kitten-less... 'Ah!' He chuckled to himself, 'Do they even do male underwear with kittens?'
"I must be going crazy," he informed Cross and universe in general, but mainly Cross, of course... "I was almost expecting your boxers to be adorned with kittens as well..."
"Ah," the blond pulled the panels closed, but more out of habit than because of being discomfited by Touga's prying gaze. "Yuuki used to love kittens when she was younger, and I... sort of got used to them...
"And you are an idiot, Touga," he continued getting back into more serious mode, "because you admonished me to no end about holding my feelings and urges inside... unless I'm all mistaken, of course... and look at you, putting all this brave front for my sake, when I know for sure you were in quite a great deal of pain..."
His eyes looked into Touga's remaining one with forceful sincerity, making the latter straighten and even hold his breath a little for where it all could possibly lead.
"You don't need to hide from me, Touga... I'm not a... a blushing virgin... oh hell, o'key, I am a virgin..." And you actually blushed... "but I am also a... a..."
Kaien's speech halted painfully and he almost jumped when Touga's hand curled warmly over his own unconsciously clenched fist.
"Say it, Kaien," Touga prompted gently, "What you were going to say - 'I am a hunter just like you'. Say it..."
He almost pitied Cross now, as he watched the other's Adam apple move sharply up and down again in a dry gulp. He pitied him - yet at the same time wished with all his might for Kaien to accept the undeniable truth of it, as if it was the only thing that could help salvage what remained of this night.
"I am a hunter - just like you," Cross admitted finally with a quiet sigh. You don't have to pretend before me, Touga."
"Well," Touga shrugged ruefully, "it was painful... but it is as I told you, Kaien, - just an old wound... and it only cramps once in a while, thankfully... if I stay crouched for long..." He shrugged again - a forced lightness too habitual to overcome at once. "I should've remembered it beforehand... before we started... but then - I... I forgot..."
...because you kissed me like your whole life depended on it... 't was you that made me forget all outside my own name and the strawberries on your breath... and the only thing I'm sorry about is that broken mood...
...but, ah! that would be a wrong thing to say right now...
He didn't look at Kaien... well, not on his face at least... but truly - every part of the man filled him with deep fascination... take his cris-crossed ankles... and how his feet looked so slender besides Touga's own... and the toes on them seemed to curl and uncurl in rhythm with ex-hunter's thoughts...
And since he didn't look at Cross - it was wıth total surprise that he sensed the bed shift as Kaien's weight slipped closer to himself and it must've been because of that surprise that he felt so oddly vulnerable under the gentle touch that traced the edge of his eye-patch, then moved to the one wound that Kaien remembered as intimately as the person who cleaned and bandaged it only could - the one in his shoulder - inflicted by Ichiru's sword, then - lower still - to a long puckered gash right over the nipple...
"So many scars..." Cross said in a soft and despondent voice, the blond head lowering sadly, till the forehead rested trustingly on Touga's shoulder. "So many times you were hurt... please, Touga, be more careful when you hunt... I couldn't bear if you were hurt badly again..."
Ah God... ah... fucking crap...
Seemed it was the hunter's turn - to stretch his neck ın search of a shaky gasp - the combination of words and caresses affecting him on so many levels it wasn't funny...
God, man... would I scare you if I clung to you like a child?..
...but even as he fought back the lump in his throat, his hand was moving of its own volition, trapping the other's fingers, holding them in the place where they belonged - flush over his skin... Touga's voice, when it came, sounding hoarse and strained, soothing and demanding at once...
"Ah... I'm an official now, remember?.. I do not hunt... I'm safe, Kaien, I'm safe... as for the old wounds... kiss them better for me... ah... in fact..."
His hand fumbled momentarily with his jeans zipper and then he was standing, getting his jeans down clumsily and one-handedly, his other hand still loath to let go of the fingers it painfully clutched... And he didn't, didn't let go of them... not until he scrambled back onto bed and lay himself stretched, lay himself out as a sacrifice or a feast - completely open, completely vulnerable - to make... or take... or break... hıs body tense and shivering with something more than simple desire, something much more raw and potent - coursing through his whole being in brutal waves, making him close his eye in shame over how his own whisper sounded - so childish and needy...
"Touch me, Kaien... Trace all my scars, if so you wish... or... just touch me wherever you want... wherever you want me to touch you... be with me... be with me, please..."
