I had many of the images from this chapter in mind, but found they wouldn't cooperate with me the way I wanted them to. It worked out in the end. I think. In any case, it finally started to come together and flow better, which is always a good thing.
This chapter definitely rated M for language (Yohji is NOT in a good mood) and a touch of sexual content. I'm not debating consensual vs. non-consensual; Aya's being obnoxious, but Yohji doesn't seem to mind too much, so as far as I'm concerned, it's all good. Hopefully I managed to get that across.
Thanks much for all the reviews. I'm loving them! Enjoy.
Fire Mystic
Offerings
Bodies moved around him, writhing, wriggling, hands reaching for him, and he slid against them, touched them, laughed with them, tried to lose himself in their heat, their texture. He tried to find what he searched for every time he came out like this; something to remind him he was alive, something warm and pulsing with life. Something that would push the darkness of what he had become away.
Of course it didn't work. It hadn't been working for a long time. He retreated to his second line of defense. The bar. Maybe if he drank enough, it would numb him enough that the pain wouldn't matter anymore. Maybe if he drank enough, he could achieve the illusion that one of those bodies out there could offer him a reprieve, however brief it was.
Fifteen minutes and one pathetically nursed drink later, he gave up on that idea as well.
Hoping it was just the wrong place for that night, he walked, wandering aimlessly. He was usually more focused about where he spent his time, usually more careful about his surroundings, but tonight he simply couldn't bring himself to care much.
It was for that reason that he missed the fact that he was being observed.
He found a small hole in the wall that was quiet and dark, and took a seat at the bar, ordering a beer from the female bartender without as much as a casual flirtation. He was staring into the bottle when he became aware of the presence on the stool next to his.
"You surprise me, Yohji Kudou. I expected more care, even from you."
Yohji didn't have to look up; hearing that taunting voice was bad enough. He didn't want to look at the face that it belonged to. Mentally he berated himself. The man was right, he had been careless.
"Fuck, Schuldig. What the fuck do you want?"
"Would it be so simple for me to make a request? Would you be so accommodating?"
The bartender appeared, placing a second beer in front of Yohji. He noticed she placed one in front of Schuldig as well. The man was buying him drinks now? Fuck again.
"If you're here to kill me, just do it and get it over with. I'm not in the mood for your head games."
"What is this, then? So eager to die tonight, Yohji?
"Or is it perhaps something else you need tonight, Yohji?"
There was a smug lilt in his voice, a tone that was all knowing, as if Schuldig were the one suppressing something instead of Yohji. The expression on his face when Yohji glanced at him confirmed that tone. Schuldig was reading into him, he just didn't know what, exactly, he was picking up on. There was also something else there, in his eyes, and Schuldig was doing nothing to hide it. Yohji recognized it for what it was; the seductive recognition of prey by a predator. He recognized it because he used it himself on more than one occasion in his encounters with women.
"If you want something, Schuldig, you'll have to be more specific." Yohji shrugged indifferently.
"Actually, I believe it is you who wants something; a glance into the mind of a certain red-head, perhaps?"
Yohji couldn't help the breath that slammed out of his lungs. Whatever he had expected Schuldig to be picking up on, this wasn't it.
"Tell me, Yohji, what would you do for a glimpse into that ever closed-off mind? What would you give to know what he is thinking, what he thinks about you? How he feels about you?"
Yohji had clenched his eyes shut when Schuldig started talking again, and now he opened them to stare at his hands, which he realized with a start, would be trembling violently if not for the near crushing grip he had on the beer bottle.
Schuldig waited him out, using the mirror behind the bar to casually observe those around him.
Was it worth it? Yohji would give almost anything to find out what was behind the frozen façade that was Aya Fujimiya. But at what cost? And what if Aya felt nothing? What if Schuldig was offering simply to get something he wanted, and in the end it was an empty offer?
"What would you want in return?" He couldn't help but think that making this kind of arrangement with Schuldig was kin to making a deal with the devil.
"Now, now, let's not be unfair about this Yohji." Schuldig answered his unvoiced concern. "It is a small recompense I ask, something you would hardly notice, I think."
Yohji snorted. He didn't believe that. Not for a second. "What would that be?"
"You."
Yohji's turned confused eyes on the Schwarz member. What was he talk…? And he found the answer in the depths of Schuldig's eyes, the small smirk that graced his lips, the primal hunger painted across his face. The reality of the past ten minutes came to Yohji in a flash: Schuldig tracking him down, offering him no violence. Schuldig buying him a drink. Schuldig offering to help him understand Aya.
Schuldig wanting to fuck him. Literally.
And Yohji, grasping for control over his overheated feelings. Yohji, who couldn't find peace in anything lately except the thought of Aya.
Yohji, who was feeling just desperate enough to seriously consider Schuldig's offer.
With a few more drinks in him, he might have accepted that offer without even the consideration that he had already given it. As it was, he was relieved he had maintained his control that night, that his urge for alcohol had temporarily abandoned him. Still…
"I'll think about it."
Victory lit Schuldig's eyes. "Yes, I think you will."
Yohji pushed back from the bar, standing abruptly. He threw money down on the bar, enough to cover both of his drinks, not allowing Schuldig to think he would take the offer of a drink after all.
"Don't get you're hopes up, Schuldig. I said I would think about it, not that I agreed to it."
Schuldig handed him a card. Yohji took it without looking at it and left, much more careful on his departure than his arrival to make sure he was not being followed. Once he was sure, he paused under a street lamp to inspect the card. An address, a time and a day. Two days from now. Cocky, smug, presumptuous bastard.
It was early, but Yohji had enough. It wasn't even midnight when he came through the back door of the house and made his way through the kitchen in the dark.
"You're home early, Kudou."
He wheeled at the voice in the darkness. Damn it. He really was slipping. He wondered if it was too late to feign drunkenness, and decided it was worth a try. Anything to get out of another nasty confrontation with Aya.
"Aya?" He slouched his posture, even allowing himself a misstep, and let his eyes drift half closed. "Early? What…?"
"Where were you, Kudou?" Yohji had a hard time covering his shock at that question. Was Aya keeping tabs on him now? Had Aya been waiting for him?
"Awwe, Mom." He smothered the burst of laughter at Aya's reaction to that one. "Mmm. Out." He made his way to the door, and started across the living room for the stairs, taking the time to be convincingly off balance, but knowing he had to get away from Aya's scrutiny before Aya caught on to his ruse. He made it to the foot of the stairs before he became aware of Aya following him. The man didn't make any noise, but now that Yohji was aware of him, it was the same senses that kicked in on missions that alerted him.
"Where do you think you're going, Kudou?"
Yohji turned, shrugging, letting his smile turn to a yawn. "Bed, Aya." He reached a hand out with a saucy wink. "Wanna come?"
That certainly stopped Aya in his tracks, and Yohji took the opportunity to retreat further up the steps. He was almost to his door when Aya's hand on his arm spun him around. He let it pull him off his balance, but missed his guess, and ended up pulling Aya with him, both men falling flat in the middle of the floor. Yohji exulted in the feel of the smaller man beneath him; no he wouldn't at all mind having Aya pinned beneath him in a different set of circumstances. As quickly as the feeling over took him, Aya rolled him, pushing off of him with a hand to his throat, the other hand bracing on the floor beside Yohji's head. No, he wouldn't mind having Aya pin him, either.
He grabbed Yohji's chin, shaking his face side to side before holding him still to glare at.
"What the hell are you thinking, Kudou?"
Aya was far rougher than Yohji would have thought. Death by Aya's hand he would have expected, as well as nothing at all, but the brute strength was a surprise. He was sure he'd be wearing proof of the strength in Aya's hands come morning.
"Aya! What?"
"Of all people, Yohji. Schuldig?"
Yohji closed his eyes, struggling against Aya as an excuse to cover his reaction to that. How did Aya know? Was Aya following him? Could Aya know what Schuldig had offered? Or had he simply assumed the worst?
"Get off, Aya." He pushed, but Aya held firm.
"Is this what you want, Yohji?" He ran the hand that had been at Yohji's throat down his body, keeping the weight behind his hand to keep him down. "Is this what you go looking for every night?" That hand found the bare skin of Yohji's belly that was exposed by his high-riding shirt and swept a firm stroke up soft, smooth skin stretched over lean muscle. The breath rushed out of Yohji's lungs as his head thumped back to the floor, the sheer bliss of Aya touching him making his eyes roll back beneath fluttering lids as the fight drained completely out of him.
"Someone to touch you?" His hand pressing back down to his exposed belly button. "Someone that makes you hard?" Past the low-riding waist of his clinging leather pants, pressing his erection hard through the material, making Yohji cry out.
Something in the back of Yohji's mind registered the anger in Aya's voice. He didn't want Yohji; Aya was teaching him a lesson, and Yohji couldn't bring himself to give a damn. He was willing to take Aya any way he could get him, even if it was in anger.
"Someone to relieve that hardness?" Aya's hands were moving, and Yohji heard the swish of the zipper, felt the constriction give, and then cooler air surround him.
Then Aya's hand closed firmly over the satin hardness, squeezing very slightly, and Yohji melted into that grasp with a harsh, guttural cry.
The world came to a standstill for a breathless moment before Yohji felt Aya moving up over his body. He opened his eyes to find Aya holding his hand out so Yohji could see the proof of his release.
"Would it keep you from going to the likes of Schuldig? If I did this for you? If I kept you distracted?" He said the last with a hard bite to it.
Yohji shifted his body as his brain shifted back into reality; and then a whole different reality struck him. He refocused his eyes from Aya's hand to catch Aya's gaze, and let a knowing smile curl on his lips. Lifting his leg just a tiny bit, he let his thigh ride up between Aya's legs.
"You're hard, Aya."
Aya flinched just enough to dislodge the pressure of Yohji's leg.
"You're drunk, Kudoh."
Yohji lifted, his thigh rubbing again, his stomach clenching tight, his mouth reaching so he could lap once at Aya's extended fingers. He let his gaze focus intentionally.
"No, Aya. I'm not."
