Nothing in this chapter that went beyond the rating.
T: Suitable for teens, 13 years and older, with some violence, minor coarse language, and minor suggestive adult themes.
Yusuke did the unforgivable. Instead of remaining still as he was trained to do and hope Kurama would miss Yusuke's figure on top of the rock within the mist, Yusuke confirmed Kurama's suspicion that there was something out of the ordinary by dropping into the water as an automatic instinct to hide and gave away his position.
Yusuke cursed himself out as he landed in the water with a loud splash, little needles immediately poking at him where his wounds were. On a side note, his bruises all but faded. Seemed like the water did help his injuries, after all.
Damnit, Yusuke. What kind of soldier are you?
An half-assed one, a grating voice came into mind.
Shut up, old hag, Yusuke took precious seconds to reply, even though he knew no one was really talking to him. He surfaced.
"Who is there?" a sharp voice called out, tone carrying some dark promise. Yusuke unwittingly shivered, having never heard that tone from Kurama.
Time to own up, Yusuke thought forebodingly.
Against his own self-preserving instinct, Yusuke stepped out from behind the rock and into Kurama's line of sight, hands held up in surrender. He glanced up at his raised arms for a moment and recalled doing the same during a certain someone's late night visit.
Not when you're naked, a stupid voice that obviously didn't want to live reminded Yusuke, and suddenly he was aware of everything all over again. Yusuke was half erected already when he had seen Kurama's back, only for it to have been mostly deflated when that annoying old hag's voice berated him. Now it might as well stand upright, at seeing Kurama's front and thereby completing Yusuke's view.
You didn't see his lower half, the same lewd voice said and Yusuke would have attempted to punch it in the face, intangible and probably his own inner voice notwithstanding, if he wasn't so busy staring at the skin that he could see.
Kurama's front was as flawless as his back, smooth and pale in the way that made Yusuke want to lay his tongue on the skin and lap it up, tasting to see if it was as sweet as it looked. His body didn't look as soft as an average women's, but not as hard as the guys he saw in the army either. It was somewhere in between and looked enitrely delectable. There were lean muscles that made Yusuke think he could run his hands over them repeatedly and never be tired of it. Then there were the nipples, slightly perked and pink, a droplet of water staying teasingly above one, about to slide down at any moment...
Yusuke forced himself to look away, swallowing deeply through his suddenly dry throat, and thought about 'lips wrapped around' and 'swallowing' in a sexual moment.
Yusuke was ready to bash his own head open to stop the thoughts when Kurama spoke up.
"Yusuke?" Kurama said, sounding truly shocked by Yusuke's presence, and before any more dirty thoughts could come into mind, -that's someone else's lover you're thinking about!- Yusuke hurried past Kurama and to the cataract.
You made me do this, Yusuke thought to his body, looking pointedly down, and was grateful that the water level was high enough to hide some things. Now if only the purifying thingy would get to work and get rid of other evidences.
Yusuke swam directly beneath the waterfall determinedly, then slammed his head against the wall. Repeatedly. You do not go after someone else's lover. You do not go after someone else's lover. You do not go after someone else's lover, even if they are having problems with their relationship. You do not go after someone else's lover, even if said lover is as hot as hell. You do not go after someone else's lover, even if said lover's body-
"SHUT UP!" Yusuke shouted aloud to the sky, effectively drowning out his thoughts and getting a mouthful of icy water. He spat it out with a choke, and it was then he realized he was shivering, his teeth chattering and his dick felt as though it would fall off. Yusuke ducked beneath the water surface, and began to swim away from the waterfall. He didn't want any hard-on about someone else's lover, not to not have any more hard-ons in the future!
"Fuck, I'm freezing!" Yusuke exclaimed as he surfaced in a warmer area. "Whoah!" Yusuke backed away, having found himself too close to Kurama without his body reacting.
"Yusuke, are you alright?" Kurama asked. "You are acting strangely."
"Erm," Yusuke said. "Um, nothing is wrong. Just thought some of the waterfall's water would do me good."
Kurama's face was completely blank for a moment, before he cracked a smile. "I see," he said, and Yusuke resisted the urge to bend his knees to hide more of his naked body beneath the water surface, having this strange feeling Kurama's eyes were a little too intimate, aimed a little too low. Kurama caught Yusuke's eyes then, and his smile widened.
xxx
"How did you get here?" Kurama asked, trying to change the subject once he realized he was sending mixed signals. Hadn't they agreed to not act on this mutual attraction to one other, due to Hiei? Kurama consciously tuned down his unbidden predatory smile, concentrating on transforming it into a friendly one instead. Purely friendly, with no other meaning behind it.
"Yukina told me about it," Yusuke answered, shoulders relaxing once Kurama got his eyes and smile under control.
It was certainly a difficult task. Kurama found it hard to stop looking at Yusuke, not when his usually slicked back hair was dripping with water, loose in a way Kurama had never seen with the gel washed off. Kurama wanted to comb his fingers through Yusuke's raven hair, and run his hands across Yusuke's muscular shoulders and chest. There was an urge to mark Yusuke's skin with his bite, in the same way scars and injuries scattered across Yusuke's torso. Instead of the scars marring Yusuke's beauty, however, in Kurama's eyes, they enhanced his wildness. He wanted to trace each scars individually, like how he used to with Hiei's, and memorize the story behind each one. He wanted to learn more about Yusuke, and to catch another glimpse of what lied behind his rough exterior. He wanted so many things, among learning what trigger Yusuke to blush, what made him smile, and to mercilessly exploit each finding.
"I see," Kurama said, unknowingly repeating the words he had said previously when he stared unabashedly at Yusuke. Upon realizing when Yusuke's face flushed red, Kurama quickly gone back on topic, though he could certainly argue it never changed. "Although it's strange. The bath is... programmed, let's say, to allow one individual per bath. For there to be two..."
"Maybe because I'm a mortal?" Yusuke suggested, and while Kurama was not ignorant of how immortals were viewed to be much superior than mortals, Kurama couldn't help but detest how casually Yusuke suggested it. He is worth so much more than he thinks, Kurama thought, recalling he was first drawn to Yusuke due to his bright soul.
"Perhaps," Kurama said quietly, but I don't think so. An answer to my- our- subconscious?
A breeze rustled through the branches and leaves of the woods surrounding the bath, as though answering Kurama. It blew aside the steam for just a moment, allowing both Kurama and Yusuke to see each other face to face, without the steam obscuring their respective views. Time froze for just that second, mortal's and immortal's attention focused solely on each other, the truth and the want both undeniable and as stark as the bath. For that single moment, Kurama and Yusuke appeared reach out for each other, before, in the blink of an eye, the steam returned. And just like that, both Kurama and Yusuke shut down, hiding their want once more like the steam hid the bath.
"I-" Yusuke started, never the one to stay silent for long. "I should be going. Enjoy your bath."
"Yusuke," Kurama called, as he began to swim away. Yusuke stopped, but didn't make another move for a second. Then, he slowly turned, brown eyes automatically catching Kurama's emerald ones.
Kurama reluctantly broke off the gaze, redirecting it to Yusuke's stomach instead. Kurama glanced back up, and their gaze locked once more. Kurama moved forward, never taking his eyes off of Yusuke's, and then they were close enough to touch. Kurama reached out a hand, and Yusuke didn't move away. Trust.
Kurama's eyes darted back down and then his hand was touching what his gaze was on. Yusuke hissed lowly. Kurama carefully skimmed the tip of his fingers across it, his head leaning closer, his gaze more intense.
At last, Kurama's eyes met Yusuke's again, his head tilted up but still down near Yusuke's stomach. Kurama's fingers tapped lightly against it, accidentally, and Yusuke gave a little start.
"You have sand in your wound," Kurama finally said, straightening up after a beat. Kurama's fingertips remained against it. He wasn't sure if Yusuke was shivering because of their close proximity or because of the accidental probes against his wound.
"It's fine," Yusuke replied after a moment. He made no move to leave, though, rooted in spot as he was.
"No, it's not," Kurama said. Yusuke froze and Kurama used that chance to inch forward, regretably dropping his hand as to not accidentally prod Yusuke's wound again. "Allow me clean the wound. Yukina would be most displeased to find the wound uncleaned, when she sent you all the way here."
"But I did clean it!" Yusuke exclaimed, feeling the indescribable need to move back with a kick.
"But not thoroughly," Kurama countered calmly, deciding not to follow Yusuke lest he made him feel cornered. His tone mercilessly contained no room for argument, however.
Yusuke opened his mouth to reply, only to snap it shut after a moment at the steely look in Kurama's eyes. The look that said not to say anything unless it was what he wanted to hear. So when Yusuke parted his lips again, it was a one-worded response. "Fine."
The steel faded from Kurama, replaced by a small smile. "Do you have a cloth I could use?"
"Um. I have one back there." Yusuke pointed to the direction he was previously heading towards. "All my stuff are there."
"All right. We'll go there."
With no other words to say, Yusuke started to lead the way, only to stop after several of awkward heartbeats. He turned around to Kurama, and said, "Let's see if immortals are as good as swimming as mortals."
Quickly turning around, he speedily dived into the water. Then, he swam, blissfully blanking his mind, if only for just several of minutes.
It was only when he resurfaced again near his initial spot that he flushed red again, as Kurama soon followed behind him. Damnit, Yusuke thought, as Kurama emerged from the water near him. Close, way too close. His hair fell loose from the bun and Kurama's expression after the swim...
Yusuke turned several of shades darker, and ducked his head back down into the water. Yusuke can't see Kurama repeat what Yusuke had witnessed previously when he was at a far distant. All those skin...
Yusuke blinked once under the water and long legs. Yusuke surfaced from the water, coughing. Hands automatically reached up to cup around his mouth and nose, and Yusuke shut his eyes as he tried to expel the water from his lungs. His throat burned. Yusuke barely noticed when a hand began patting on his back, nor did he realize when an arm wrapped around his waist to keep him balanced. He only did when his coughing fit subsided somewhat.
"Thanks," Yusuke rasped, too tired to not lean back against Kurama's chest. In response, the hand on his back slipped away, moving to his chest instead and began rubbing comfortingly in circles.
"Are you alright?" Kurama asked, and immediately regretted it when Yusuke attempted to mangle out a 'yes' and entered another coughing fit. Kurama alternated between patting and rubbing Yusuke's chest and patiently waited for the coughing to abate once more.
The two remained still for several minutes after Yusuke ceased coughing, both not thinking of any relationship, love, or problem for a bit, and simply lived through those minutes; not thinking and only feeling.
It was almost perfect.
When they did move to part, it was slowly and with great reluctance. Yusuke ended up turning around, face to face with Kurama. Their eyes latched onto the other's once more.
After a few heartbeats, Yusuke said, "I'll get the cloth," and purposefully headed toward a rock. Kurama could vaguely make out the lump on top of it.
He watched the ripples spread outward from Yusuke, eyes following the ripples of Yusuke's path, and thought this all started when Yusuke was dying several of days ago. The ripples of the water in front of Kurama eventually disappeared, and when Kurama looked in the direction Yusuke had gone, he could not see him through the mist. Would Yusuke disappear from his life like that? In with a bang and out like a ghost?
Kurama's chest ached at the thought, then Yusuke's voice came reverberating to him.
"Kurama, Kurama, Kurama?" Then after a beat. "Where are you? Where are you? Where are you?"
Kurama blinked. Once, twice, and then a third time. Then, he calmly cupped his hands around his lower face, and laughed.
It was ridiculous, illogical and almost crazy. How could a mortal whom he met several of days ago affect him so much? Whenever Kurama was at his low point, usually from an encounter with Hiei, Yusuke could always lift his spirit back up, most of the time unknowingly. The pain Kurama was in after his last conversation with Hiei was indescribable. He was tired of how they invariably circle back to the same few topics and always end up leaving each other frustrated and still with no solution. Kurama knew most of the problem stemmed from himself and that just frustrated him even more.
Yusuke's presence was usually so calming though. Perhaps it was in the way he was just so non-judgmental, so open and casually caring, even when they were just strangers. It may be because they were strangers, it may be because Yusuke didn't care about his life or death that he could be so casual. For whatever reason, Kurama enjoyed being in Yusuke's presence and that was simply the truth.
In the water, coughing and spluttering inelegantly, Kurama could hear a panicky shout and his unbidden smile widened. An arm wrapped around his waist and when Yusuke tried to get Kurama to straighten his back so his head wouldn't be under the water, but Kurama couldn't because he was still somehow laughing, Yusuke let go and Kurama fell deeper into the water.
Kurama stared at the pebbles glittering at the bottom, and blink. When he opened his eyes, Yusuke's face was there. His hand pushed away the ones Kurama had covering his face and Kurama let him. He watched detachedly as Yusuke brought his thumb and forefinger up and pinched his nose close. Kurama reflexively struggled for a second, before Yusuke's lips covered his. Kurama instinctively wrapped his arms around Yusuke's waist and then they were surfacing and parting.
Kurama gasped and coughed, water sliding down his face and hair. Yusuke had already released his nose and lips. He patted Kurama on the back, simultaneously brushing back the hair in Kurama's face with the other hand. Kurama let go of Yusuke's waist, reflexively covering his mouth and nose with his hands again.
Kurama and Yusuke ended up pressing chest to chest, with Kurama's head on Yusuke's shoulder. With Kurama's hands covering his lower face and the mortal and immortal at close proximity, Kurama's arms wound up creating an odd cage around Yusuke's shoulder. Kurama felt oddly like a child, and Yusuke continued smoothing Kurama's hair back even when none of the hair were sticking on his face. Water also kept sliding down his face.
"I'm so tired," Kurama said when he felt like he could speak, dropping his hands. His voice was raspy, and yet another droplet trailed down.
"Yeah?" Yusuke replied, his voice strangely soft. Kurama felt so safe in his arms. "You're not going to help me wash my wound anymore?"
Kurama laughed a little, and tilted his head down so his eyes were leaning against Yusuke's shoulder. "I will," he said. The smile faded. "Give me a minute."
Yusuke gave him several, and kindly didn't say anything as Kurama washed Yusuke's wound red-eyed.
"Thanks," Yusuke said after he was done and when Kurama quirked a wry smile and said, "I should say that, really," he meant it.