Disclaimer : If we own the SD characters, we would be filthy rich and famous. bwahahahaha...
Warning : This chapter is quite long.
Legend: Words between * are thoughts. Flashbacks and voices from the past are italized.
Authors' Notes: Although both of them were gods, we referred Rukawa as 'kami' and Sakuragi as 'gensui'.
Across Time
by: Asashouryuu
- Chapter 3 -
Instead of joining the line, Sakuragi surprised everybody when he stood in front of the generals and all noble gods with every intention of paying respect. To the generals, Sakuragi with a sarcastic smile slightly bowed. Then he faced the noble gods and with an expressionless face he bowed politely and formally which surprised the people who knew him. As Sakuragi straightened Rukawa noticed that his brown eyes were silently moving with mirth. Rukawa looked at the noble gods but they didn't notice it because they were too immensely please with Sakuragi's bowing performance. Rukawa looked at Sakuragi again wondering who he was laughing at and why. He got his answer when he saw the mocking smile that spread in Sakuragi's face as he turned around.
Damn! That guy was laughing at the noble gods because he knew that he had fooled them again with just a show of respect. He fooled them easily and naturally. Rukawa smiled inwardly.
~~~
3 days has passed since Rukawa had seen Sakuragi. After that activity... their paths have never crossed even once.
Rukawa was walking on one of the many gardens in heaven. He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't realize he was out from the garden and was walking to the mini-forest that was near the military building.
The sound of splashing water broke his thoughts and it was only that time that he knew where he was. Curiously he walked towards the river and as he reached the clearing his eyes bulged. In front of him was no other than Sakuragi gensui. He was obviously taking a bath in the water. His back was towards Rukawa and the water covered his naked waist and below. His long pigtail floating gently on the water. Rukawa observed Sakuragi's back. Although the man emanated masculinity, his body bordered on femininity. As if his back was created for a man's touch than for a woman's. And for a man who was been subduing and fighting demons, Rukawa couldn't find any scars. In fact his skin was smooth and looked luminescent as a beam of light bathe on him. God! How much he wanted his hand to run over the red-haired's body. Rukawa wondered how delicious Sakuragi is. His thoughts trailed off when he noticed that Sakuragi's head is turning towards his direction. He stealthily left the river with one thought: He wanted Sakuragi desperately. And he always get what he wanted.
~~~
"What?" Rukawa's mother exclaimed loudly as she heard what his son said.
Does he have to repeat what he said a second ago? he wondered. "I said I wanted to go down..." then with a shrug of shoulders "To observed mankind"
"Why do you want it now?" his father asked "You never cared about them"
"They somehow interest me" he said flatly.
"If you really want it badly, okay. I'll ask for 20 soldiers to accompany your trip"
"20?" Rukawa's mother exclaimed. "I should say 30"
Rukawa almost sweatdropped. He thought his mother would lessen the number.
"Really... it's unnecessary to have those soldiers"
And just as Rukawa planned and expected his parents opened their mouths to argue.
"But if you want to have your way... then fine... I'll bring Sakuragi-gensui with me"
"That gensui" his mother exclaimed "But everybody knows how rude he is... It's like you have a demon for a companion"
Rukawa rolled his eyes "Regardless of what his character is, he has excellent fighting skills and we witnessed it days ago"
"Good point son" his father said "I'll ask his superiors"
And it was all Rukawa needed to hear to happily grin inwardly.
~~~
"So why would a aristocrat god want to mingle with humans?" red-haired gensui asked in a tone dripping with sarcasm as they reached ningenkai
"If I didn't know better I'd think you're holding contempt to me only" Rukawa replied coolly.
"That's not the answer I wanted, kami"
The raven-haired kami raised his fine left eyebrow.
"I wanted to observe humans"
Sakuragi chortled "gods and humans are really similar... they hurt... they love... they weep... they suffer... they discriminate... they abuse. The only thing that separates gods and humans is immortality"
"..."
"Even tenkai and ningenkai are quite similar except that in ningenkai natural resources are abused, poverty is existing and also..." he looked at Rukawa as he waved his pointer finger as if he was a teacher and his companion was a student "there's unpredictability whereas in tenkai there's boredom".
Suddenly they heard a girl calling someone and running towards their direction.
"Oniichan~" Rukawa heard. Rukawa looked behind him to check if there was a human behind them but he found none. He was surprised when he saw Sakuragi lifted the girl up as soon as she was within arms' reach and then placed her on his shoulders. Soon kids ranging from age 5 to 11 were running towards Sakuragi all vying for his attention.
"Dare?" a boy asked as he noticed that there was another man.
Sakuragi looked at his side and remembered that he had a companion.
Rukawa, knowing that he had forgotten him, wanted to hit Sakuragi's head.
"Rukawa" Sakuragi told the kids.
"A friend?" another girl asked.
Rukawa looked at Sakuragi questioningly and Sakuragi looked at him, assessing him.
"Maa... let's put it that way" was the gensui's reply much to the kids' confusion.
A small vein popped out on Rukawa's forehead. No wait! Why would he care anyway? He didn't want gensui to be his friend... he wanted him to be his bed partner.
"Did Namie gave birth already?" he heard Sakuragi asked.
*Namie... Who's Namie?* he wondered.
There was a chorus of positive reply from all the kids. Soon Rukawa followed Sakuragi as the latter was led by the kids towards a farm stock house. Sakuragi immediately crouched in front of the basket.
"She gave birth to 3 kittens but the other one died" a boy told Sakuragi in a sad tone. Sakuragi smiled at him and tousle his hair.
"So what's their name?" he asked as he carried the kitten with a white spot behind his ear.
"We name after you" another kid said "But Hanamichi is too long so we decided to call him Hana"
*Hana? Hanamichi? That's his name?* Rukawa thought. A quiet purring on his ankle made him looked down. It was a black kitten. Without any second thought he crouched down and started playing with the kitten.
Gensui remembered that there was another kitten. He looked around and then saw the black kitten trying to reach Rukawa's pointer finger playfully.
*They almost looked identical* he observed and he then chuckled softly
"Ne... what's the name of the other kitten?"
"We called him Tama"
"But it's only temporary"
"We wanted you to name him"
Sakuragi smiled at them "Ja... let's call him Kaede"
Hearing his name, Rukawa stopped moving his pointer finger in a sign of surprise, letting the kitten toy with it. His cool blue eyes met smiling brown eyes.
"Why Kaede, niichan?"
"Because Tama looks similar to the one he's playing with, ne?"
Rukawa became the receiving end of the assessing gazes and after few seconds all the kids agreed with 'aaahhhs'.
During the time the kids were assessing him, kami looked at gensui and then said quietly but loud enough to be heard by Sakuragi "It's not good to insult noble gods"
"I've been told but they have not succeeded"
"Sakuragi-kun" a feminine voice called out from the door.
"Mirai-san" Sakuragi said.
"I knew you'd be here that's why I made lunch for you"
"Arigatou"
And Mirai blushed.
As they walked to Mirai's house Rukawa kept on staring at Mirai's back wondering whether he should consider her a rival or not. He felt a tug of his hand and looked down.
"You're handsome niichan and my sister is also beautiful but she's already taken with Hana-niichan" a 10-year old boy told him.
Talk about perceptive kids, the noble god though wryly. "I already have someone else in mind" he replied coolly willing to drop the case.
"My sister had a crush on niichan for almost two years now but she's too shy to tell him. She ignores suitors and even turned down offers of marriage because she wanted to spend her life with him"
Rukawa just nodded his head not because he didn't know how to reply but because his reply was not good to be heard by a kid whose eyes are showing how protective he is with his sister.
~~~
It was already near evening just before dinner and the two gods were staying in the village. The moon was bright and kami sat under the tree with his back leaning on its trunk.
"For someone who planned to observe humans you are doing a poor job" the gensui said sarcastically.
Kami opened his left eye and saw Sakuragi leaning lazily on the big boulder with his hands on his leather coat pockets.
"Do you mind? I'm taking a break" kami replied in exasperation.
Rukawa silently watch as Sakuragi looked at the moon and raised his hand as if grabbing it. The noble god smiled inwardly. In ningenkai... in this particular place... He was Sakuragi the brother of all kids, Sakuragi the perfect gentleman, Sakuragi the ideal son of many villagers.... That's what he had observed ever since the time they arrived in this village.
"You're really a walking contradiction aren't you?" Rukawa finally said nonchalantly
"..."
"In tenkai you are infamous but in here..."
"If I have my way I would like to live here"
"Together with Mirai?" kami asked in an indifferent tone and he hope it was really indifferent with no tinge of jealousy or whatsoever.
Gensui laughed "She's not my type" then he frowned "Why the hell am I talking to you about this matter?" then he straightened himself "Mirai asked me to tell you that dinner is ready" with this said he immediately left.
~~~
2 days later, the two left.
"What?"
"Do I have to repeat what I said?" Rukawa asked as they were walking on almost dried path
"Why do you want to go to another town?"
"I told you I wanted to observe humans"
"Observe humans my ass!" Sakuragi grumbled "you barely did that when we were in that town!"
"..."
"Are you sure that's your real purpose?"
Kami looked away from the searching brown eyes.
"Liar" he heard Sakuragi mumbled.
Rukawa immediately took hold of the other's wrist and whirled him around.
"My real purpose is to spend some time with you ALONE"
"Why would you want that?" gensui asked coolly although inwardly he was shivering. He knew he asked the wrong question the moment kami's eyes turned mischievous and sultry.
The raven-haired god brought gensui against his body and then whispered "because I want you".
If the military man doubt the purpose of his action... the words whispered to him made him believe and he was rendered speechless.
Suddenly they saw red eyes glowing around them...
Damn these demons, kami thought.
For the first time, Sakuragi was relieve with the demons' presence. He stepped away from the noble god and unsheathed his sword. Kami watched gensui's smooth fighting moves as if he was dancing. As much as he wanted to join the fight he was bound by the 'no killing' rule. He felt presence behind him and he turned around just in time to see a demon moving towards him at a very fast speed. He was a bit overwhelmed with the speed the demon was using that he didn't know what to do. Just then gensui appeared in front of him and mutilated the demon.
"You'll die painfully if you'll get near him" Sakuragi announced coldly.
"I didn't know you care about me Hana"
"Its my job and dammit don't call me Hana"
"Whatever you say... Hana"
Gensui was about to retort something but the demons were already attacking them.
Minutes later the demons retreated. Sakuragi looked at all the corpse littering on the place... remorse, sadness and guilt evident in his eyes, which were covered with his hair.
Rukawa looked at his companion who was few paces away from him... his hands covered with blood and his coat tainted with blood. The scent of blood was offensive to him but he forgot such feeling when he saw the blood dripping from gensui's shoulder. He walked towards him and wiped the blood from hiss wound with his handkerchief and then using the bandanna the kids gave to him, he wrapped it around the wound.
"Daijobou?" Sakuragi heard Rukawa.
"They were just lucky to have wounded me" was his reply.
Sakuragi looked at Rukawa when the latter fell silent. When he did that, the noble god saw a speck of blood on gensui's cheek and without any warning he lick it. Gensui went rigid as he felt the warm wet tongue of Rukawa on his cheek.
"H- HENTAI" gensui screamed in the middle of the night.
~~~
The two after the fight with the demons decided to go back to heaven.
A newly bathed Rukawa sat on his bed. Frowning slightly...
Okay so things didn't work like he expected because all of the times, the kids surrounded him. But at least he had Sakuragi alone with him. Gensui... he thought. He wondered how he is doing with his wound.
He was sooo deep in his thought that he didn't notice a young woman enter the room and hugged him from behind.
"I really miss you Kaede-sama" a woman whispered seductively. "Why don't you rest now?"
"No... I have some things in my mind" was his reply and he hope that this woman who was among his bed partners would get the drift.
"I think I am thinking what you are thinking" she said and started nibbling Rukawa's neck.
"No you don't" Rukawa stated firmly and none too gently as he peeled himself away from the woman's arms. The look Rukawa gave the woman made her shiver and she immediately left the room.
Rukawa sighed, then grab some bandages and left.
~~~
As soon as they arrived heaven, Sakuragi immediately left for his room where after he take off his coat, he crash on his bed.
The soft insistent knock on the door woke him up from his shallow sleep. He knew it wasn't gunsou Jinjin because he never knocked on his door. With a soft groan he pushed himself out from the bed and answered the door passed caring his state of decency. But he soon realized his mistake when he saw Rukawa's eyes turned lustful as his blue eyes fell on his naked chest.
He wanted to go inside and grabbed the nearest shirt but if he will do that kami would know that he was unnerved and that he would be please and Sakuragi doesn't want to give him that kind of satisfaction.
"What do you want?" gensui demanded rudely. But Rukawa wasn't deterred with his voice and tone.
"I came to take care of your wounds" Rukawa said looking meaningfully at the still-unattended wound.
"For Pete's sake this is not a fatal wound and if ever it is I won't die" he said in exasperation "I'll take care of it after I get some sleep"
"No you should let me because I was the cause why you were wounded"
Gensui looked at the grim determination etched on kami's face, he sighed and then moved aside to let the god in.
Kami's eyes accidentally fell on gensui's bed and green thoughts immediately filled his mind. As much as he wanted to screw the redhead now, he wouldn't do it at that moment because it would be a rape. He wanted him to enjoy as much as he will so that when they parted ways there won't be any grudge and their time together would be a happy memory for both of them.
After treating gensui's wound, kami was led to the door.
"I'll come back tomorrow" he said
"What?" Sakuragi exclaimed "Why?"
"To take care of your wound" he replied and then continued in a voice loud enough to be heard by the redhead "and to see you"
"How would I get rid of you?" the redhead sighed exasperated.
"When your wound is healed" The blue-eyed guy saw the relief in the brown eyes then he added "but I will find another reason to see you".
Kami chuckled as he heard Gensui groan.
Gensui stood just outside his room while watching Rukawa walking away.
"Oi... kitsune"
Rukawa stopped walking waiting to hear the remaining of the redhead's sentence but when he didn't he turned around.
"Why me?" gensui asked.
Kami smiled and retraced his steps. Sakuragi stepped in his room afraid of what Rukawa will do to him but unknowingly he gave the noble god the perfect moment.
"Because you're my type" he replied and then kissed Sakuragi. It was a simple kiss just a brushing of lips against lips. Before gensui could react, the raven-haired god was gone.
~ Tsuzuku ~
Translations
kami - god
gensui - field marshall
ningenkai - human world
tenkai - heaven
Oniichan/ niichan - older brother
Dare - who
Arigatou - thanks
hentai - pervert
Daijobou - are you okay
To Blue-Eyed Fox: *gives a very hentai smile*