Waaah I'm like, back here again fr fr
Pillbox
"Oryouuu! I'm so sad, why don'tcha come and comfort me?" Sakamoto Tatsuma sobbed as he poured himself another cup of sake. He had been crying at the bar of the Snack Smile for the whole evening, slowly but surely trying everyone in the place's patience. And that whole time the young cabaret girl had to keep him company.
"Mr. Customer," the young girl replied. "I'm already here, so could you please stop making a ruckus in the shop?"
Her tone was sweet and polite, but it was obvious at the way she was smiling at Mr. Customer that she was two cups away from throwing the man a punch in the face. It wouldn't have been one very professional act, though. So she put up with her regular.
"What happened again today anyway?" Oryou sighed. "I know I won't be of much help to you, but if you confided in me (instead of crying here like a giant alcoholic toddler) it might be a slight relief for your sorrowed heart (and our ears)."
Sakamoto turned to look at her. "Thank you!" He sobbed in drunken incoherency. "You know, Oryou, you know, it's about, you know, that thing… It's that thing again… You know?"
Oryou could feel the punch coming. Her knuckles were already terribly itching. Wasn't that man the silver tongued Sakamoto Tatsuma? That mumbling, sniveling, bibulous human wreck? Somehow, Oryou guessed what Sakamoto was trying to convey so hard with his slurred tongue.
"Oh, it's about that again?" Oryou smiled as kindly as she could at the sad but somewhat sympathetic drunkard.
Sakamoto's tears started flooding even more than what's expected in public from a man in his thirties. The young girl could already see the same as always tattletale's jeremiads coming.
And, of course, Oryou knew they had to be about that person.
…
He and that person had had an awful start. While it is true Tatsuma hadn't known Takasugi for that long, he was pretty sure no one before had ever vomited on his face as a way to say 'nice to meet you'.
But before we talk about the 'vomit incident', this narrator has to take you back few days earlier, back in Sakamoto's hometown in the Tosa province.
Sakamoto Tatsuma was the only male heir of a lower ranked, despite well-off, samurai family that had made a fortune in sake brewery for generations. The Sakamoto family never had any interest in politics, nor any form of social ambition that had made so many young heirs kill each other in obscure and intricate schemes to reach the top. Tatsuma was spared the effort. All his family was asking from him was, first, to master the sword as any decent samurai would, and second, to inherit the family's business. No resource was spared to educate the young heir. He thus grew up to be a man well versed in both mercantile sciences and swordsmanship.
Everything seemed fine and swell in the Sakamoto household, until the day the Sakamoto son decided that things were, indeed, too fine and swell for him, to a nauseating degree. The young man was yearning for adventure, for new challenges.
He had heard some times ago people talking about the rebellions approaching the capital.
"Oh, so what you're trying to say is that you're aiming for a political office in the government's army?" Sakamoto the father asked the son with his eyes glittering for the first time in his life with hope and ambition.
"Well, no… or maybe yes. Ha! ha!" Sakamoto the son replied with his signature laugh. "I've heard there are bunch of youngsters just like me fighting against the bakufu there. They're the ones want I want to go lend a hand to."
I will save you the screaming and hours long arguments about that new whim of the young man. However, at some point, Sakamoto the father concluded that it wasn't the cleverest thing to do to antagonize his only son, and that one day he would surely come back to his senses and when that time comes, he wanted the son to come back to where he belongs, as his family's head. After all, boys will be boys, right?
Fast forward to few days later, on that fateful beach where Tatsuma was to meet with the leaders of the rebel faction whom were told they were giving the hardest time to the bakufu. And let's just say that Tatsuma… definitely wasn't the seafaring type.
Anyway, the 'vomit incident' made Takasugi fume. Oh, it also made Gintoki fume, since Tatsuma puked on him too. But unlike the smaller man, Gintoki was an easy going guy, much similar to him on many aspects; so everything was already forgotten the moment Tatsuma gifted the silver haired man with his most expensive wine.
With Takasugi, on the other hand… it was a little bit harder. For many days after the incident the younger man didn't want to come less than two meters radius from him, and while Shinsuke did speak to him like the other ones, a dark and deep scowl would never leave his features as he did. They were living at the same camp, and even though the place wasn't cramped, it wasn't as if one could forever avoid someone, even for only one day. Yet Takasugi accomplished that feat, and it took almost four months for Sakamoto to get that scowl to go, or at least to look less threatening, and for the two meters to lower to few centimeters.
At some point Tatsuma eventually became an integrant part of their small rebel faction's leading group, that is, Zura, Gintoki and Shinsuke. As I said earlier, it had been easy for Tatsuma and Gintoki to become friends. Zura, being mostly a man lead by logic and reason, seeing the huge resources Sakamoto was providing him with without asking anything in exchange, also accepted the man quite easily. Everyone at the camp was fond of his good-natured personality. Money had that faculty to smooth out all these creases in human relationships.
Finally, Takasugi was the only one who still kept that distance between them.
Some people would say, and very rightly, 'Well, you can't get everyone to like you. That's life.' Sakamoto Tatsuma was aware of that. However, Tatsuma was also a man who could get easily bored, and he soon found himself quite amused, spending his free time, whether they were or not on the battlefield, between strategy meetings and new recruits training, teasing that grumpy, glaring Shinsuke.
It also was at that time that he learned that teasing Takasugi was an activity literally reserved for Gintoki: would Tatsuma call the younger male to mess with him a bit, Gintoki was already there, pushing every one of the dark haired man's buttons. Even before breakfast they were already at it. During sparing, they were at it. Even the last thing they would do before going to sleep was to get on each other's nerves. Well, in general that was Gintoki getting on Shinsuke's ones but the result would always be the same anyway. That was literally like watching a brat picking up on the girl he likes at school. And, yes, it was fun to see them keep that cheerful ambiance around them, mostly in that kind of situation they were in, with the war etc.
However, how was he supposed to make up with Takasugi if he physically couldn't even approach him any time of the day? That was Sakamoto's biggest dilemma at the moment.
Many weeks went by like this, with Tatsuma unable to do a single step toward a more than improbable friendship with the smaller man.
Eventually, the incident was forgotten. They had more serious things to worry about: the enemy was getting closer, their ranks were swelling more and more every passing day, unlike the rebel groups', and during the last skirmish with a faction of Amantos, a huge portion of their men got pretty severely injured. The troops' morale was at its lowest, so much that Katsura had to decree few days of respite for his men. The dark and worn-out faces that welcomed the news were saying that this was indeed a much needed decision.
So five days of respite that was.
For the average soldier, those five days were a gift from the heavens. But for Gintoki and Shinsuke, those battlefields craving monsters whose blood was still tingling from the adrenaline of their previous battles, five days spent doing virtually nothing was simply a waste of time. Even for Gintoki, who could be seen as someone quite prone to lazing around, it was obvious that he was quietly losing his patience, and that was making him more insufferable than usual toward Takasugi. But that time people weren't that patient to put up with their kids quarrel anymore. The men were tired. Katsura was tired. After two days no one could stand them anymore, so it was decided that since they were the only one who still seemed so energetic, they would be sent to town to go get fresh supplies and medicines for the injured ones.
"Look," Gintoki said with his usual blank looking face when Katsura assigned him his new mission, "I'm perfectly fine doing the errand boy for you guys. But are you sure you want me to go with that bite-size right here…"
"Hey, I can hear you." Shinsuke interjected from behind him. Funnily enough, Tatsuma, who had been following the whole exchange, actually didn't see the smaller man as he was hidden behind Gintoki.
"As I said," the silver haired male just ignored him, "This itty bitty here might just fall in a hole and like this disappear from the surface of the Earth…"
"I said, hey, you natural permanent."
"…And I don't want to be held responsible when that happens to that walking Tic tac rich boy."
With an inhuman speed, Gintoki dodged Shinsuke's sword. "Oh, Takasugi, I didn't see you there. What an idea to hide behind people's back like that. At that rate someone's gonna sit on you by accident."
Takasugi sneered threateningly. "Yeah, I'll make sure to cut off that someone's ass before that happens."
"Will you two stop that already?" Katsura yelled. "I don't care whose ass got cut and who gets lost in whatever holes you've freaking dug in the woods, you two get lost, now!"
That is when Sakamoto stepped in:
"Sirs, may I suggest something?"
…
"Come on, Mr. Takasugi, why do you look so gloomy? You look like you're about to rip my head off my shoulders, ha! Ha! Ha ha ha ha!" Sakamoto laughed jokingly at the smaller man as they were walking down the high road to the town. The young man had all the rights to feel delighted. It was the first time since he joined the rebels forces that he had days off, and could actually leave the camp.
It hadn't been hard to convince Gintoki to let him go in his place: with the summer swelling anon, the weather was hot and humid to perfection, temperature was almost 40°C in the shade, and because of restriction put by the bakufu on roads and travelling due to the civil war, any car or truck had to pass through many checking points before entering bigger agglomerations. It was easier to go by foot… but well, it was summer. So when Tatsuma proposed Gintoki he would make the provisions on his behalf, the latter didn't make a fuss about it.
Takasugi frowned. "I might do that. If I have to put up with that idiotic laughter of yours until we get back to the camp."
"Oh, scary." Sakamoto smiled and ogled down at the man walking next to him. At that moment, they weren't that close in terms of physical distance, and still Tatsuma could see why Shinsuke would get teased so often by their common friend.
Shinsuke didn't exactly have what we'd call a very manly frame. Quite the opposite, he seemed rather lightly built: he had the pale, translucent skin of a sheltered child, so pale and eerie you would think that the wind blowing on its surface could hurt it. A thin waist was barely hidden behind his uniform (though at that moment the younger man was wearing a rather casual yukata). Higher: a slender and seemingly fragile neck that would get swiped now and then by dark, fine locks that were also outlining the noble, refined and perfectly balanced features of his face – a slim face adorned with a small, turned-up nose, emerald almond-shaped eyes framed by unusually long eyelashes, and thin, light sherbet-toned lip; and even though the palm of his hands got rougher from using his sword for all these years, their whiteness, the slenderness of his fingers were betraying the origins of their owner. Well, Sakamoto himself came from a pretty well-off family, however the Takasugi was the perfect portrayal of…
"A little rich boy."
"What?" The younger male paused and glared at him.
"Oh, nothing, I was talking to myself." Tatsuma laughed. "Thinking how pretty you look."
Shinsuke grimaced. "Fucking stop that. It creeps the fuck out of me."
"Buut it's true though."
"I didn't ask for your damn opinion."
"I can see why you're so popular with ladies now. Daaaamn, guys like ya have it easy, don'tcha? I'm so jealous! There was a time, you know, there was that one girl I really liked. I was twelve or something. I confessed to her and she told me she really liked me too, I was the first son of my family after all, you see. She really liked me, but she wouldn't date me, she told me, because she had a crush on that older guy, the son of a samurai who was living in our neighborhood. Now that I think about it, you really remind me of him. You both have the same aura around you, you know, that my mysterious emo edgelord aura…"
"Man, can't you shut up."
"And she dumped me! (Well, we weren't even together in the first place) I was heart-broken! It took me years before I could love someone again. Then there was that girl from back where we were in Nagaoka. Ah, that girl reminds me of you too. She would always glare in my direction and call me a dumbass, but phew! What a hottie. She had piercings all over her body, you know, like in that kind of place, or in that kind of place. And also…"
The day went by like this. They arrived in town, bought the supplies – which mainly consisted in the most trivial things ranging from candies to figurines and magazines (people really just wanted to get them out of the camp – well, more like, they wanted Gintoki and Shinsuke out, but this is how things turned out) – and the medicines, and all that time Sakamoto would tell the fabulous tales of his numerous amours – or more like his numerous breakups. By the end of the afternoon they were on their way back to the camp. Also, by the end of the afternoon, Shinsuke had given up on the idea of having the older man quiet down. Rather than even trying, the dark haired man would simply sigh patiently, frown and try his best to ignore the utter annoyance that was Sakamoto Tatsuma.
Sometimes, he would smile, too, and those moments Sakamoto considered them like a personal victory.
But it was getting late, the sky was getting darker, cloudier, and a threatening rumbling soon disturbed the two travelers' pace. It didn't take long before the first raindrops of the season started falling on their forehead.
"It's no use," Sakamoto said, "We should find a place to shelter from the rain and wait, I guess."
But there wasn't a single house miles around. They had gone too far from the town and there was still one hour walk till the camp. All they could find was a rundown temple not far from the highroad. It wasn't uncommon for travelers who were caught in the sudden rain to seek a shelter in that kind of place, and the two young men were expecting other people to already have occupied the place. However, it wasn't the case that time. Luggages were tossed in a dry place, a fire was lit, and there went the two of them sitting around it, waiting for the storm to calm down. When Tatsuma brought out a bottle of sake, Shinsuke wasn't even surprised anymore. On the contrary, he welcomed the intention as his friend invited him to drink right from the bottle.
It was a bottle of Hiroki sake.
Drinks are best when mixed with friends, Tatsuma always believed.
Unlike Gintoki, Shinsuke wasn't a loud drinker. One could find it quite difficult to guess whether that kind of people are truly drunk or not, still Tatsuma could tell from the shimmering light in the smaller male's eyes that he wasn't so far from that state. Was it even alright to let him drink that much? Just like so many things he didn't know about the other man, Tatsuma didn't know how much alcohol the latter could handle. Wait. Wasn't he maybe 17 or 18? But oh, well, there were only the two of them there, it wasn't as if anything bad could happen anyway.
And unlike the dark haired male, when Tatsuma gets drunk, he gets extremely loud.
"I'm tellin' ya," the taller man has been pathetically rambling in a drunken slur for hours, from time to time grabbing at the other man's shoulder to stress his words. "My old man, he totally doesn't get me! Like, ya naww, he doesn't know my real potential at all! And everyone else in my hometown? They're all the same! But now I showed him, I showed them all in the house that I can change things, too, 'm an important man now. I'm not just the little kid they used to raise, you see, hey, Takasugi, you know what I mean, right?"
He couldn't stand on his feet anymore and at some point fell at Shinsuke's feet. His head was spinning, his face was drenched in tears and snot and sake. With a superhuman effort, he rose his head to look at Shinsuke, who was sitting in front of him right on the floor, his back resting on the wall. Even in his sorry state, Tatsuma's eyes widened when they caught the oh so unusual sight of the younger male carelessly giggling at his companion's silliness…
No, that wasn't just a giggle, he was shrieking with laughter, laughing his ass off, splitting his sides as he rolled aside to avoid eye contact with the other man. In spite of that, Tatsuma saw it, he saw the youthful and graceful features of the habitually distant and taciturn Shinsuke torn with a genuine, incontrollable smile, his lips stretched by an unstoppable laughter, tears cracking at the brink of his eyes as he was literally shaking from the hilarity, his voice half muffled by the infernal rattling of the rain outside.
This was a sight Sakamoto Tatsuma never thought he'd ever see in his life, he pondered stupidly. Also:
'Isn't he incredibly cute?' the flickering thought popped in his mind, out of nowhere.
And before he knew it, Tatsuma was on all fours, trapping the younger male between his limbs, and with his lips on the latter's mouth.
That was about three seconds before he emptied his stomach on Takasugi's lap.
…
Against all odds, Shinsuke didn't hold the whole mess of that night against Tatsuma. It was obvious for the former that the latter was already on a high way to a life of alcoholism and endless setbacks of a barfly. He didn't get angry at him. On the contrary, the two of them grew even closer after that. It wasn't that unusual to see them hanging around more often, whether when they were with the two other captains, or on their own.
Although Shinsuke's attitude toward him hadn't changed that much, Tatsuma, on the other hand, was growing quite fond of hanging around with him. Somehow, he wanted to please Takasugi as much as possible; he would try to initiate conversation as always, to entertain him with dozens of ridiculous anecdotes. To make it short, Tatsuma wanted to see that childlike smile on him again, to hear that crystalline laughter chanting in his ears again. Of course he tried to make Takasugi drink, but the latter never came to that point of inebriety anymore.
What could he do then? Sakamoto was running out of ideas. He was running out of anecdotes. And with the battles against the Amantos getting more and more intense every passing month, he was also running out of time.
"Hey, we should go visit the red light districts once in a while." Sakamoto proposed one day the men felt particularly beaten. After all, it was after almost two weeks of non-stop clash between their side and the enemies'. As you would have thought, no one argued. "Hahaha! So we're going now?"
"You're the one who suggest it, so I guess you're paying." Gintoki replied.
"Wait, what-…"
"Come to think of it, I've never seen him with a woman before. Is he going to be alright?" Sakamoto wondered out loud as he entered the room his chosen green house's courtesan was showing him.
"Who is, Sir?" The beautiful woman asked.
Sakamoto didn't answer. That night, the company was the sweetest and most delightful, and Tatsuma had to admit it had been a long time since he had the company of such a gorgeous creature. Yet, all that time he had spent with her, the young man somehow couldn't think about anything else but that bright laugh he heard on that rainy night.
It made him smile. It made him wonder if Takasugi would act like this with someone else. Had Gintoki or Zura already seen him like that? Of course, they must have, they had known him longer.
Sakamoto sighed. When all was done, he was standing idly on the house's porch, lost in his thoughts. It seemed like everyone was still enjoying their night, because so far he was the only one who had left their room.
"They're some lucky bastards, aren't they…"
The night was still young. If he wanted to, Tatsuma could go and look for more easy entertainments in one of the numerous tea houses of the town, but he didn't feel like it anymore.
It was also very warm and noisy outside. The streets were full of both townspeople and visitors like him, whether painfully making their way through the crowd in the hot and humid air, or up on their horses or carriage, though the latter were rarer. It wasn't only in the streets: on almost every brothel's balcony you could see a group of stunning courtesans or geishas enjoying the wind from their higher position.
O ladies, pleasant or demure, hollow-cheeked or full.
It was getting boring. Tatsuma was starting to regret his idea, since he was the only one left with nothing to do until the other ones came back. He kept on inspecting the street, finding nothing more interesting than the first time, until his eyes fell on a small craftsman shop across the street he hadn't seen before. It wasn't precisely the type of shop he expected to see in this kind of place, but oh well, he had a lot time on his hands.
Tatsuma crossed the street but was back on the porch barely ten minutes later: a small ruckus had burst there by that time. Unable to see what the cause could be, the young man tapped on a bystander's shoulder: "Excuse me, my good sir, just what in the hell is happening here?"
"Seems like some up-to-no-good hoodlums messed with the wrong person." The man, a travelling merchant as Tatsuma could guess from his clothes. "They stopped that one o-nii-chan and proposed to pay him for a shagging. They must have thought he's a wakushu from this house here. My, my. It turns out the young fellow is one of these jouis everyone's talking about now."
"He's a... wha-"
A cry filled with pain interrupted them. Sakamoto had to elbow the crowd to finally see who in the world – which one of his friends – was in the middle of that fight.
It was Takasugi. The latter was literally stabbing another youngster in his arse with his sword, hence the painful cry the poor man had emitted.
"Okaaay, this is an unfortunate misunderstanding!" Sakamoto exclaimed as he pulled his irate friend to him, freeing the other guy who cowered away like a shaved slime worm. "Come on, there's nothing to see anymore, people! It must have been because of the heat, you see, hahahaha! This is just a misunderstanding, a very sad, very unfortunate one… There, Takasugi," he whispered, "we're leaving. Don't make a scene, ya never know who's watching the people of this town, we should just leave quietly now…"
Sakamoto literally had to drag him to the outskirts of the red light district – a quieter place, with only fields, a river and dusty roads miles around. At least, by then the younger man didn't look as upset as earlier. The cool wind coming from the river helped a lot, too. Sakamoto sighed for the second time that night, then few seconds of silence later, burst in laugh.
"I can't… Hahahaha! I still can't believe it! Hahahahaha!"
"Hey, shut up." Takasugi warned.
"Buuuuut that's funny! You hafta admit that's funny as heck! Hahahaha!"
"I told you to shut up."
But just like any time anyone told him to shut his mouth, Sakamoto just revved up. "Come on, that is funny, Takasugi! That guy really thought you were a male prostitute, that's one hell of a funny shit! Hahahahaha!"
He couldn't dodge the punch Shinsuke had thrown at his nose. It hurt. It really hurt. However, in the same time, Tatsuma could smell a soft, faint fragrance coming from the younger man. Only then did he notice Takasugi's hair was damp and was emitting that slight floral and musky scent.
"You took a shower?" He asked.
"Yeah, so what?"
Sakamoto reached at the smaller man's head and grabbed a thin lock of his dark hair. "Nothing. I like that smell."
"Get lost."
"I mean it!" Tatsuma wailed and laughed altogether. He hugged the younger male and buried his nose in the dampened locks. "I do like it, I swear. And your hair too… maaaaan, I really like it. I really like you."
And just like this he kissed Shinsuke again.
…
The war was over. Or at least, it was over for him. Now with that injured arm, Sakamoto Tatsuma couldn't pretend the title of the best swordsman of his family anymore. As a matter of fact, he barely could wield his sword anymore. He felt… bitter, to say the least. He had to say farewell to his comrades, to their common cause, he had to leave everything behind; and for a man who had already abandoned his previous, obviously more comfortable life as a prosperous samurai family's heir, it was leaving him with very few options for his future.
He had lost everything…
"Oh crap." Sakamoto muttered with a whimper before rolling on his bed, which was a simple futon spread on the floor of a room separate from everyone else's at the camp. "Man, this seriously isn't how I wanted things to end."
It was already dark outside. Sakamoto had been bedridden for four or five days, and while the impact of the injury was irreversible, the injury itself (which was now wrapped tightly in a white bandage) closed quite rapidly, leaving only a faint lingering pain in his arm. Sakamoto wasn't a very pessimist man by nature, but that time, for him, unquestionably made him feel pretty miserable about himself. Out there his friends were fighting, they were dying without him being able to do anything about it. Some would come back in way worse states than him, they would have one limb or two chopped off, some would lose their damn mind… Meanwhile, he was just staying there, in his bed, with his useless arm as a constant reminder that he wasn't part of anything anymore.
That's when he heard the door to his room slide open.
It was Takasugi.
Tatsuma was about to cry. He quickly sat up on the mattress.
"You finally came to see me!" He screeched. "Everyone came to visit me already, why did you take so long? Are you tired of seeing me already? I'm really sorry! 'm so sorry! Y'aint mad with me, aren't you? Heeeey, why aren't you saying anything? Ah. What did you bring with you? Is that sushi? Is that sushi from Haneda Ichiba Ginza Seven? You bought Haneda Ichiba Ginza Seven sushi for me, thank you! I love you so much!"
"Like hell." Shinsuke sat down next to him and tossed a plastic bag at Tatsuma. There was yakult inside. It was kind of a turnoff.
"So, no sushi-"
"Where do you dumbass want me to find sushi in the middle of the battlefield?"
"Oh, alright, thank you, I guess…"
They both sat silent, staring at each other for some time, Shinsuke literally glaring at him while Tatsuma was doing his best to bear the scrutinizing emerald orbs.
"I guess you're real mad at-"
"How's your arm? Does it hurt?"
The questions took the taller man aback. He laughed awkwardly. "I'm fine. S'not as serious as how it looks… I'll manage to survive, I guess. Haha! Hahaha!"
"Tsk."
The 'tsk' startled Tatsuma. One realization then entered his mind: that being relegated to the sidelines of the war, he could no longer be able to stand by the younger man's side. That was another kind of pain he had never felt before, one he had never expected to know before he met Shinsuke.
"Yeah… 'm really sorry…"
Takasugi was still frowning, but this time it looked like it was more from indecisiveness than anger. His fingers went to softly graze Tatsuma's forearm, where the bandage was concealing the wound.
"Forget about that." He spoke. "Just get well fast. Looking at your sorry face upsets me."
"Yeah… Thanks."
"Don't thank me. And wipe that stupid smile off of your stupid face."
Sakamoto indeed was beaming at the moment. "But you were worried for me. It makes me happy, I can't help it. Hey, Takasugi."
"What now?"
"Can I hug you again?"
Shinsuke's eyes literally had lightning bolts shooting at Tatsuma's face, but the latter, being the natural idiot he was, just laughed them off. "Pretty please?"
For one second, the younger make looked sideways, frowning, and his lips shut tight yet trembling a little. It was obvious he was on the horns of a dilemma.
"Alright." Shinsuke finally admitted defeat. "But you better keep your mouth quiet."
Tatsuma hopped on those words and, in a leap, already had his arms tightly embracing the smaller man's waist, his face resting in the latter's chest. It felt good. Shinsuke had traded his trademark uniform for a more relaxed, light cotton yukata. Tatsuma could feel his chest softly heaving under the fabric, and the regular rhythm of his heart gently soothing his ears as he worked his hands higher and higher on the smaller man's back. Tatsuma could feel the other man's slight shivering when his fingers dig their way in his spine. Yet, the older man couldn't stop. Considering the younger one's character, it was already a wonder he was allowing Sakamoto to do this things to him. Was it out of pity? He couldn't care less anymore.
With everything that had happened in between, that one and only time he had held the younger man close to him felt like it was decades ago. Tatsuma still remember the lovely scent surrounding them that night, the pain in his nose, and also the maddening softness of the other man's lips…
"Hey, can I kiss you again?" Tatsuma suddenly uttered. Shinsuke glowered at him with his eyes wide open. "Come on, you didn't hate it last time!"
"You fucking bastard took me off-guard." Shinsuke hissed.
"But now I'm properly asking! Heeeey, pretty pretty pleaaaase?"
Takasugi tsk-ed again. "Why does it have to be me anyway?" Was what he asked.
What could the Sakamoto reply? That Sakamoto just woke up one day, thinking 'I like your face', or 'I like the way I see myself reflected in your eyes?' Now, if Takasugi were a cabaret girl, those would certainly have been enough to elicit a giggle or two. There were so many things that came to Tatsuma's mind: the soft touch of his hair, the taste of his mouth, the way he breathed, his babyish face, his teeth, that row of pearls he caught a fleeting glimpse of on that rainy night, the way his hands moved, whether they were holding a sword or just rubbing his eyes… those eyes! The palest green he had ever seen, the color of his eyes; and the way he frowned, the way he'd get angry at him then forget about it a second later… There were so many things he wanted to say, but even a silver-tongued man like him knew there just weren't enough words to start to describe how he felt about the younger man
"I don't know. I think I like you?"
"I've already heard that before."
"I mean it! I really do!"
"You said that before too."
Sakamoto was about to cry, a very, very ugly cry. He could see Takasugi's face contorting into a grimace of disgust as he saw the tantrum coming. "Alright." He finally gave up. "Get over it quickly."
Sakamoto beamed. He swiftly rose up and was now at eye level with the smaller man. For few seconds he contemplated the latter like that, in silence, unable to control the smile on his face.
"I told you, do it quickly." Takasugi warned.
"Aye, aye."
Once more, he pressed his lips on Shinsuke's. They were soft, just like last time they kissed. A bittersweet flavor was lingering on the puckered mouth, an aftertaste of the sake he must had been drinking before visiting the older man, deep and syrupy to perfection. Tatsuma couldn't stop chewing the tender flesh, licking the sickly saliva drooling from the corner of Shinsuke's mouth. He could feel the smaller man's breath growing heavier and more irregular as Tatsuma asked for entrance in the warm cavern.
"Nnh… ah…" The younger male softly moaned between their colliding teeth, feeling the wet appendage stroking the inside of his cheeks. And intertwining with his own. Sakamoto's hands were growing greedier: earlier on Takasugi's back, they were now feeling his sides still clothed under thin fabric, one hand fervently stroking his chest while the other one was going lower, brushing his thigh… "Wait… Tatsuma… mmh…"
But the latter remained deaf to his plead. Quite the contrary, he had his frame leaning more and more on the younger man, bit by bit pushing his back till it hit the mattress. "I said, wait!"
Takasugi finally pushed the taller man back. Even in the dim lighted room, the two young men's face were so close to each other that Sakamoto could clearly perceive the glowing blush on Shinsuke's cheeks, the hazy eyes, the short breath, and the yukata that was getting looser on his slender, flushed shoulders. "Anything wrong?"
"The fuck yeah, something's wrong." Takasugi hissed and pushed Sakamoto's head further away. "I allowed one fucking kiss. I didn't say you could do that."
"But," Sakamoto innocently retorted, "But that was a kiss."
"No, I mean one like last time."
"'Twas barely a smooch, though. That didn't count as a kiss."
"I don't care. And get the fuck off of me."
Sakamoto didn't get off of him. Instead, he put his full weight on the smaller man and locked his arms around Shinsuke's waist, grinning and humming happily. It pissed off the latter even more. "Hey-"
"You were pretty into it too. Don'tcha want to do more? For example, look down below…" And accompanying his words with actions, Tatsuma brashly reached under Takasugi's clothes and grabbed at his crotch. "See, it's hard."
That time, Tatsuma could barely dodge the punch that was aimed at his left eye. "Get our damn hand off."
"Man, that's nothing! No, that's even great news for me! It means you're not 100% against this! That makes me super happy!"
"I don't care about your happiness. I only care about you keeping your damn hands to yourself before I break each one of your fucking phalanges. Did that get through your thick skull?"
"Come on, 'm telling tell ya that's nothing! Look, ain't I the same!"
And just like a kid showing his most prized card from his Yu Gi Oh deck, Tatsuma swiftly rose up on his knees and, lowering his pants, proudly showcased to the other man his own arousal standing stiff between them with the reddened head twitching shyly toward Takasugi's direction.
Now he couldn't dodge the second punch, this time aimed at his right eye. That one did hurt him a lot.
"But 'm not joking…" Tatsuma spoke. The grotesque of the previous situation was now gone and the two young man were sitting facing each other, both with an unusual stern look in their eyes. "You've seen how I am. You've seen my injury. I won't be able to fight with you guys anymore. I probably won't be able to see you guys anymore so maybe this is my last chance… and the last time I see you…"
Shinsuke frowned. However, by that time, Tatsuma understood it wasn't a frown of neither anger nor discontent, as it was more from an internal conflict the younger man was feeling in the deepest part of his mind. "So if you could let me do you just once," he added as he made an obscene gesture with his fingers, "that would be like sooooo great, ya know? Haha! Hahahaha!"
Tatsuma kept on laughing his usual loud, exasperating laugh, unaware of the glowering stare the smaller male was giving him, so when the latter finally muttered something under his breath, Tatsuma had to ask him to repeat himself.
"I said," Shinsuke mumbled, "That's fine with me."
"Wait… I… wha-?"
"Don't make me say it again, you dumbass. Get on with it quickly."
"Ah… Yes. I'm sorry. It's just… I didn't expect you'd actually agree to-"
"Tsk. If you've changed your mind then get the fuck off of me."
"I haven't!" Tatsuma exclaimed. He pushed the smaller man down on his pillow. "I totally haven't!"
And to emphasize his stance, he once more crashed his mouth on the younger man and began kissing him even more voraciously. He could feel the younger man's hands getting more eager, the kiss getting hungrier, his body growing warmer beneath the piece of clothing. At that point, Tatsuma could barely control himself: he wanted to feel more of that sweet sensation, he was so damn close to tear the other male's clothes open; but he knew he had to endure that scorching heat in his stomach for just a little longer if he wanted to be rewarded later.
Slowly but surely, his lips trailed down Shinsuke's cheeks, then his jaws, to nestle in the soft angle of his slender neck. Greedily, his teeth started to dig in the malleable flesh, biting and chewing until they left a dark crimson spot on the ivory skin. Shinsuke's body was shuddering beneath him. The younger man's arms were locked tightly behind his neck, his back arching off the mattress as his squirming legs were shyly hitting Sakamoto's sides.
"Tatsuma… ah… Nnh!" The smaller man whimpered when he felt Sakamoto's hand slipping underneath his underwear. Callous fingers went to gently strike at the younger male's manhood, making his breath come out shorter and faster. "Tatsu-…"
Tatsuma couldn't get enough of the way the smaller man was whispering his name. One year earlier, the heir of the Sakamoto family probably would have laughed his guts off at the mere idea of him even touching another man in a romantic way, let alone make love to male friend. Yet there he was. The warm breath hitting his forehead, the shiny drops of sweat beading on Shinsuke's chest, the sweet, maddening scent of his pallid skin, and the eerie embrace of his limbs around Tatsuma's… At that moment, it was humanly impossible to resist the smaller man's charm.
His lips, now pink and wet like a rosebud covered by morning dew from the kiss, opened up wider. In his hand, Tatsuma could feel Shinsuke getting harder and harder, his precum now making every stroke even smoother than before.
"You're dripping wet. Are you close?" He asked, and in the same time started working his hand faster on Shinsuke's length, his fingers now and then insisting on the heated head and playing with his balls. "Tell me when you're coming."
Takasugi didn't reply. Instead he frowned at the taller man. However with his face as it was, all flushed and confused, it only made him look more irresistible to the latter. For the nth time that night, he devoured the smaller man's mouth, and Shinsuke let him do as he pleased.
"Tatsuma, wait… it's…" Shinsuke gasped for air.
"You're coming? You're coming, ain't you? Go ahead." Sakamoto grinned as he licked Shinsuke's chin. He could see the body of the other man below him getting tense. It only took a few more strokes for him to explode in the older man's hand.
This, nonetheless, wasn't enough for Tatsuma. Soon, the hand that had been caressing the smaller man's erection, still well drenched with semen, went even lower till it found its way to Shinsuke's entrance. It startled the latter who instinctively clang to the taller man's shoulders. "Alright, this is nothing." Tatsuma kissed his forehead. "I'm just loosening you up. Don't worry, I won't hurt you."
Takasugi glared at him. "Don't be fucking condescending. And it's not about…!"
One finger was inserted in him, at first slowly, but soon quickly going in and out the tight tunnel. Sakamoto noticed the grip on his shoulders was tighter than before; yet no other sound was coming from Takasugi except from the sound of his heavy breathing dying against his chest where the smaller man had his head buried.
Having the smaller male acting so submissive, for once, didn't displease Sakamoto. Quite the contrary. 'I want to hug him, to kiss him, to spoil him and hold him in my arms till he gets fed up of me.' Was what the older man was thinking, and while he was thinking this, dipped a second finger in the tight ring of muscles.
"Hey, Takasugi, did you know…" Tatsuma chimed. He sensually slid his fingers inside Shinsuke's warmth, reaching deeper than before, and massaging the tight walls as he moved them in a scissoring manner. "Right here… is so wet from your cum… and scorching hot, too. It's so hot. I want to put it in so bad."
"Ah… shut… up!"
Shinsuke suddenly clenched around his fingers. Tatsuma's eyes widened with joy. "Does it feel good here?" He pressed on that particular spot again, cleverly teasing and rubbing few inches away from it, with each one of his kneading eliciting a sharp cry from the younger man. "Takasugi… you look so cute right now, I can't take it. 'M adding another finger, okay?"
Without waiting for the younger male's answer, Sakamoto plunged a third finger in the moist hole. He was growing more and more impatient by the second; the same as a siren's call, Shinsuke's breathy voice was literally a chant in his ears, pulling him closer and closer in a maelstrom of raw desire. His own arousal was growing painful, trapped as it was in his pants. His ache finally got the best of him.
"Takasugi…" He whispered as he pulled his fingers out. Instead, he pulled his fully erected manhood out and pressed the tip on the ardent entrance. Shinsuke lifted up two lazy emerald eyes at him, his apparent innocence laid on his juvenile face. He flinched slightly when the pressure of the darkly reddened head increased on his nether regions. In one swift and powerful thrust, Tatsuma sank the tip of his raging shaft inside.
"Aa…ah!" Shinsuke whimpered, his body shaking uncontrollably as Tatsuma wiggled in him, then unexpectedly pulled out, but not long before he shove himself in again. This time, even if it was very faint, Sakamoto saw the younger man trying to meet his thrust. With a cunning smirk, he took the head out once more. Shinsuke whimpered again, but he could tell the reason was different from the first time.
"Something's wrong?"
"You bastard. Don't just…"
"Just, what?"
Takasugi glowered. "Don't make me say it. Or I swear I'll pluck your teeth out one after the other."
"But if you don't tell me properly, I won't know, will I?" He spoke and slowly, excruciatingly slowly, pushed the head in the smaller man again. "Just say how you want me to do it, what places you want me to touch, and… Ouch!"
Takasugi kicked him in the arm (the uninjured one). He was sulking. "Do it right, damn it."
How could Tatsuma resist that sweet command? Even the most charming empresses in far away countries of the continent couldn't have mouthed these words in a more adorable way. So shall their bodies be connected there that night then, these chirping nightingales to bear their witnesses?
He fully leaned on the smaller man and there, nestled between the latter's thighs, opening up his linen lap, in one single thrust Tatsuma's rod was fully engulfed inside of the welcoming heat. Shinsuke muffled a cry in the pillow.
God, the older man already had an approximate idea of how warm it was inside of the other male; but the electrifying sensation that was now running through his engorged flesh, the pulsating sweetness entrapping him, clenching so desperately to him, that could be enough to drive him to the edge.
"I'm sorry, Takasugi," he hissed, "I'm going to move now. I hafta."
"Ngh.. wait… aan…"
Vigorously grabbing both of the smaller man's legs, he starting pumping his appendage in and out, in and out of Shinsuke. The latter couldn't lie still on the bed: his back was arching painfully, his hands he had them thrown behind his head, desperately gripping at the bedsheet, while he could barely catch his breath under the other male's relentless assault. His lascivious half naked body was now spreading in its full glory to Sakamoto's satisfaction: his pallid neck now sporting a necklace of hickeys, the aureoles of his exposed nipples a vibrant shade of pink, his soft milky-white belly bouncing up and down as he was getting hammered down by Tatsuma, and his painful stiffness drenched in even more precum soaking both of their groin.
"You won't stop leaking, Takasugi… ah…You're literally overflowing here, see?" Tatsuma groaned. "Do I feel that good? Hitting your good spot, right? There…"
"Aa-ah!" Shinsuke moaned in a high-pitched voice when Sakamoto directly hit his prostate. "Stop… that… I'm going to… Nnh! Going to…"
Sakamoto quickened his pace, his eyes locked on Shinsuke's face, devouring every change of expression on his features – the desire, the embarrassment, the hunger and despair for release – his hands exploring each square centimeter of the younger man's skin. The room was now filled with the sound of their moans, the sound of their flesh colliding, gliding against each other in a mixture of sweat and love juice. As he drew closer, he felt Takasugi's erection rubbing his stomach.
"No… don't…" Shinsuke whined when Tatsuma's hand grabbed his flushed flesh and started caressing it up and down, its pace matching his hips'. "Not both… at the same time… ah!"
Tatsuma plunged the tip of his finger in the smaller man's slit. Almost instantaneously, the latter erupted in Tatsuma's hand, his orgasm so strong his jizz spilled all over his and Sakamoto's stomach. For few seconds, Takasugi remained shuddering from the ecstasy of his climax, his hole clasping ever more firmly around the older male.
"I told you to stop." Takasugi panted. "You damn dog in heat."
Tatsuma kissed his shoulder. "Yeah, sorry about that. But you were so beautiful, I couldn't stop myself."
"But now you're still…" Shinsuke looked down, and he felt Tatsuma still rock hard deep in him.
"Are you possibly worried about me?" Tatsuma beamed. "This makes me… ow-ow-ow-ow!"
"What…"
"It's nothing! It's just my injury. I guess I overdid things, just a little bit…"
He was forcefully pushed down on the mattress, and straddled by a fuming Shinsuke. "You fucking idiot." He looked down on the taller man and pointed at his wound which was starting to show a quite big red stain under the bandage. "Don't blame me if you get crippled for life."
Sakamoto laughed. "I told ya, it's nothing! There's nothing we've done that could be worse than what this arm has already been through. But more importantly…" He cupped the smaller man's butt in his hands. "This position is kinda hot, don'tcha think? And here feels very soft now…".
Shinsuke jerked. Sakamoto's thumb had invaded his still sensitive entrance. Again, he glared down at the older male, who answered his look with a silent pleading glance. His frown deepened, his lips protruded in a sulky pout.
Ah, Tatsuma pondered with a grin on his face, what a lucky man he was.
…
"You're already leaving?"
"Of course, I am." Shinsuke said as he fastened the belt of his robe. He was already up, ready to leave the room.
Lying lazily on the bed, Tatsuma looked at him rearranging his yukata, trying to conceal the blemishes on his neck the best he could. "I thought we'd sleep together tonight. Ya know, with my injury and all that jazz, I feel soooo lonely!"
The smaller man looked back at him. His expression was one of a deep, deep exasperation, but also of tried patience. "You can die lonely for all I care."
"That's mean!" Sakamoto whined. "That's just so mean! And here I thought you'd comfort the poor bedridden me! Why do you hafta be so mean to me?!"
Takasugi heaved a sigh. He knew this could go on for hours. Without a warning, he kneeled down and lower his face to meet Tatsuma's, and just like this, he planted his swollen lips on the latter's. "You'll have to make do with that."
Tatsuma literally had to summon all his willpower not to pull the younger man back in his bed and to pound him senseless till all his linen and limbs would fall. Especially since that truly might be the last time he could see or touch him. But he had to let go of Shinsuke.
"Wait a minute!" Tatsuma suddenly exclaimed as he pulled the hem of Shinsuke's robe. "I've just remember something!"
Then he went to rummage in the sheets and even under the mattress for that 'something'. "This!"
"What's that?" Shinsuke asked when Sakamoto handed him a small black wooden box, small enough to fit in his hand.
"Go ahead, open it!" Sakamoto cheered.
Takasugi took the cover off: it was a finely crafted inro lacquered in gold and black and scarlet, depicting two birds on a tree with mountains and clouds in the background; it was without any doubt a beautiful piece of art. "Why the hell-"
"I thought you'd like it." Sakamoto interrupted. Shinsuke stare at him in bewilderment. "Hahaha Ha! You don't hafta look at me like that! It's a gift. Just a simple gift. If you give it back, I might die. Hahahaha! Just kidding."
…
"So, he finally gave it back to you, huh…" Oryou stated in a quite monotone way. She was too busy typing on her phone to care about the crying drunkard sitting next to her anyway.
"He even sent back the box with it!" Sakamoto whined. Now he had the infamous wooden box on the bar's counter. "Isn't that too cruel? Even for a terrorist? That's too cruel! He didn't even tell me why! And he didn't bother do it himself, he literally just sent his men do the dirty job. Not a single phone call, not even a text! Oryou, comfort meeeee!"
"No, thank you." The young girl flat out rebuked him. "And I'm sure you did something to upset him, didn't you? People don't just go and give you back things you've offered them years ago. There had to be a reason to that (and knowing you, I'm pretty sure that was the case). Also, isn't that good news for you?"
"How is it?" Tatsuma yelled.
Oryou was bored of that conversation. She was starting to regret talking that much in the first place. "Well, I don't know… But he sent you the gift and its box. And they're both in perfect condition. That means he must have taken very good care of them for all these years. So maybe that says how much he cared for your present."
Tatsuma was calming down. He realized, despite being way too drunk for his own good, that everything the cabaret girl said was actually true. "Oh, that's right. I didn't see things that way."
"That is why I'm saying, you're the one who must have done something to upset him. So why don't you guys talk this out together? It would be more productive than whining in a bar for hours."
"Yes, you're right. You're completely right."
"Yes, aren't I?" Oryou grinned.
And with this, Sakamoto's spirits were once more lifted up. Now, after drinking his weight in alcohol, he bought everyone at the cabaret a round of drinks.
"What a simple minded man." Oryou chuckled when she saw her customer cheering up again, going round in the cabaret drinking champagne straight from the bottle. She was about to go back in the changing room when she saw Sakamoto take out his phone, dial a number, then scream and cry incoherently, right in the middle of the room:
"Takasugi, you know what, man, I love you so much and… I really love yo… your ass, you got the cutest ass ever… It's like so cute and… and I swear I'll fuck you so good when I see you again, I-"
'Yeah, no, that man is a lost cause.' Oryou concluded.
This fanfiction is the first part of the 7 Gintama fanfictions I'm going to publish in the next weeks.