Gamble
Part Five.
By Gillian
Sano finished his dish of sake and tossed it carelessly onto the low table, burping richly.
"You're quite a drinker, Sanosuke san," Hado said admiringly.
"When someone else's buying," Sano boasted, then broke into raucous laughter. He knew the sake was having an effect on him but he deliberately exaggerated it, playing his role to the hilt. "Anyway, as I was saying, I think we should do something about those damn foreigners in town. Who the hell do they think they are, swanning around looking down their noses at us?"
"Sano san, calm down," Hado said nervously, looking over his shoulder at the crowded tavern. He lowered his voice. "You never know who's listening."
"Hell with that!" Sano roared. "If I can't talk freely in my own country, I might as well be living in one of those barbarian hell holes! This is Japan! Even if we do live under the stinkin' Meiji Government."
"Sst!" Hado hissed, eyes widening in panic. In the doorway two uniformed police officers stood, glancing into the dim smoky drinking house.
Sano shook his head at his new friend's state. Hado had been trying to pick him up all night and he'd obviously gotten a lot more than he bargained for.
'Sorry, Hado san,' Sano thought apologetically. 'Just following orders.'
"Damn police too," Sano growled. "I'll take em all on." He staggered to his feet but restraining hands held him back.
"Please," a hard voice beseeched. "Get him out the back way, I don't need any more trouble from the authorities in my bar."
Hands manhandled Sano through a screen and out into a muddy alley. The cool night air hit him like a fist and he reeled for a moment. Obviously the sake had effected him a little more than he'd thought.
"Stay out, troublemaker," someone spat, pushing Sanosuke forward and turning away. Sano allowed himself to stumble but caught his footing neatly before he could fall to the muddy ground. He wasn't that drunk.
"Damn," he muttered under his breath. This was the third bar he'd been thrown out of this week. People were starting to think the ex-gangster Zanza had turned into a loud mouthed drunk.
Not much of a step down, Sano admitted to himself, straightening his jacket and brushing off the grubby fingerprints. Another wasted night.
"Friend," a voice whispered from the shadows.
Maybe not, Sano thought.
"Who's there?" he said belligerently, clenching his fists.
"A friend who believes what you believe," the voice said. A man stepped from the shadows and Sano studied him quickly. Ordinary looking was his first thought, dark clothes, not too expensive, not too cheap.
"A friend?" Sano questioned. This didn't sound like a pick-up line, or a challenge. His heart quickened. "I don't think I need any more friends."
"A possible employer then," the man broached.
"Ptui," Sano spat. "A man who works for a living is a damn fool."
"I think this kind of work is right up your alley," the man smiled, revealing one crooked front tooth. "My people are always looking for right-thinking men, men who aren't afraid to use their fists and their beliefs to earn a little spare cash."
Sano knuckled his eyes, feigning the after effects of drunkenness. "The cash part sounds good," he slurred.
"I can see you need to think it over," the man said smoothly. "Perhaps we can meet tomorrow evening? Do you know the Golden Carp?"
Sano nodded. "I'll think about it," he yawned. Through slitted eyes he watched as Crook-tooth melted back into the shadows. Not such an ordinary man after all, he mused to himself, noting the silent cat-like moves.
Later that night he lay in his narrow bed, one hand under his head, contemplating the shadows on his ceiling. The mission meant little to him really. What was one more bunch of troublemakers in town? This era seemed to have them spilling out of every crack.
And it wasn't even the pay, in fact it seemed the more money he had in his pocket the more he went through.
Fulfilling his mission meant he got to see Saitou again. It was as simple as that.
Sano pulled back and took a breath, feeling the soft pulse of his throbbing lips beating in time with his heart beat. "You have a tooth missing," he observed, tongue still tingling from the leisurely kissing session.
Saitou toyed with a strand of Sano's hair idly, eyes slitted with languid pleasure. "You can thank your friend the Battousai for that. He knocked it out."
Sano raised a surprised brow. "Damn, I must have missed that."
"I was rather pissed about it at the time, if I remember correctly. I'd rather break a limb than lose a tooth."
"At least it wasn't at the front, spoiling your boyish good looks," Sano said, nodding soberly. Then he cracked up, rolling over onto his back and chuckling merrily.
Saitou rolled over and pinned him, hands whipping out and holding Sano's hands down to the mat beneath them. "You don't like my looks?" he asked menacingly.
Sano's breath caught and his heart started pounding faster in excitement. This deadly teasing mood was guaranteed to lead to something he'd enjoy.
"Like?" he said breathlessly, pretending to consider. "Well, I suppose I have always had a fondness for stick insects. Is that what you mean?"
Fingers threaded with his own, clenching hard. One lean thigh insinuated itself between Sano's and Saitou opened his mouth to speak, eyes flashing wickedly. Then his face closed and he turned his head to look at the closed door.
"Sir?" Hiro's voice called through the thin screen.
Saitou was on his feet in a moment, tightening his robe around his lean waist.
"You have a visitor, sir," Hiro continued through the door.
Sano sat up and pulled his robe back up to his shoulders, stunned at the sudden change in his lover. It had been so long since he'd seen that deadly face he'd almost forgotten how truly cold those eyes could get, how like stone Saitou's face could become.
"Trouble?" Sano growled, already clenching his fists.
"Not at all," Saitou said easily. He turned a calm glance on Sano. "Just an unexpected visit from an old friend. Please stay in here out of sight."
Sano nodded, stifling a pang of resentment. It wasn't like he wanted to be introduced to any of Saitou's old friends, presuming such a thing existed. He waited until the door was closed behind his lover before padding over and bending to listen. Soft footsteps padded away down the hall and he waited a moment longer and then followed.
"Fujita-san," a voice greeted from the dark garden and Sano crouched down and slid a screen open just a little. A man stood in the front yard by the gate, bathed in the light of torches held by the men flanking him.
Guards, Sano recognized instantly, bracing himself to leap to Saitou's side if this looked like turning nasty, whatever the older man had ordered to the contrary.
"Anzai-san," Saitou greeted smoothly. "What brings you by so late?"
"I warned you, Fujita-san," Anzai said, his hard voice ringing in the quiet evening air. "I warned you not to bring him to my sister's house again. It's bad enough that you mix with such street trash every day, but to flaunt him here... I'm speechless."
"Apparently not," Saitou observed dryly. He turned his head away as if in faint distaste. "I will not speak of such a private matter to you, Anzai-san. Your sister would be horrified to know you were here making a fool of yourself."
"I'm making a fool of myself?" Anzai sputtered, flecks of spittle flying from his lips and glinting briefly in the flickering torch light. "You debauch yourself with such an unmanly liaison and have the nerve to face me so boldly?"
With a feeling of unreality Sano realized he was the subject of this tirade. "Unmanly?" he repeated under his breath.
Saitou shook his head. "For your sister's sake I face you, Anzai-san. She and I at least understand each other. For my lover's sake I don't beat you to death for your slurs. You're not worth the time it would keep me from his bed." With that Saitou turned his back and took a step toward the house.
Anzai stared for a moment as if frozen with disbelief, then he raised a clenched fist and blundered forward. Saitou didn't miss a step, he didn't have to, the man's retainers dropped their torches and caught their companion's arms, holding him back.
"Anzai-san!"
"He's not worth it, Anzai-san!"
"Think of the scandal if you kill him," the first pleaded.
Saitou reached the screen Sano was still crouching behind, and the younger man clearly heard the soft snort of laughter quickly suppressed. "Yes, Anzai-san," he taunted. "Think of the scandal if you killed me. Let your men take you home." He lowered his voice. "That's what they're here for after all."
Sano didn't bother watching the man and his companions leave, he sat back down on the mat and leaned against the screen door.
"I suppose you did obey half my order," Saitou observed from behind the screen. Sano heard him settle onto his knees with a soft sigh.
"I don't follow orders very well." Sano leaned his head back against the door, watching the evening shadows paint the white walls with moonlight patterns. "Who is he?"
There was silence for a moment. "He's my brother-in-law."
Sano closed his eyes. "Your sister's husband?"
"...No."
Glad of the thin door between them Sano tilted his head back, the darkened ceiling swimming all of a sudden.
"Your wife's brother?"
"Yes."
His lips were still throbbing, Sano realized. He'd spent half an hour after their lovemaking just kissing Saitou, exploring his mouth and his face and his neck, before returning like a magnet to his lips again.
"How did he know about me?" Sano asked, surprised at how even his voice was.
"I suppose he has some of his flunkies spying on the house. I thought I'd suitably discouraged him about that the other day. He doesn't know who you are, if that's what you're worried about."
Sano gritted his teeth and climbed to his feet, shaking his head and letting his stupid tears flick away from him into the dark room. "No, that's not what I'm worried about," he rasped out. Before he quite realized it he was striking out at the closed door that separated him, in an instant it was splintering, wood and paper flying in all directions.
Saitou avoided the shards easily, still on his knees, hands at rest on his thighs. Behind him the garden was empty, the torches gone from the ground, the gate shut firmly.
"I'm leaving," Sano said tightly. "Tell the missus I'm sorry about her fucking door."
He hadn't gone three steps before Saitou was on his feet, blocking his way.
Fists clenched Sano faced him, blood singing with the wild desire to fight his feelings out. "You want to get in my way, you bastard?" he growled.
Saitou observed him for a moment then inclined his head politely. "Yes, I think I do," he said finally.
The calm tones were the last straw and Sano swung, all the force he had behind the blow. Saitou dodged it easily, dancing effortlessly to one side, and then the other when Sano swung full circle and aimed another killing blow at his face.
"Don't just dodge me, Saitou," Sano seethed. "You owe me this, you liar, you creep."
Saitou didn't deign to answer, he dodged two more blows before moving swiftly behind Sano and pinning his arms with his own longer limb, fingers that only minutes before had been stroking his hair now gripping his skin so hard it left marks.
"You're not thinking, boy," Saitou murmured in his ear. "Or do you plan to just walk through my gates in that robe?"
"I'll go home naked if I have to!" Sano seethed, snapping his teeth at the arm pinning him. Saitou bought his other hand up and cupped Sano's pointed chin roughly, holding his head in a solid grasp. Fruitlessly Sano struggled, feeling bruises spring out on his body, biting his own lips until they bled.
Finally the older man hooked a leg beneath his and forced him to the floor, pinning him to the mat with his whole body.
"Young fool," Saitou growled, the beginning of expression in his voice at last.
Sano gloried in it, needing Saitou to feel what he was feeling, to match his rage with anger of his own.
"You're no different from all the rest," Sano flung wildly over his shoulder. "For ten years I could have traded my ass for the easy life but I didn't! I used my fists instead! Damn you for being just like all the others!"
"Stop behaving like a teenage girl," Saitou flung at him and Sano collapsed in his grasp for a moment, letting him believe his comment had hit home. With all the instincts of a blooded animal Sano waited until his captor's hold relaxed a fraction and then he was twisting in his arms, striking out and sinking his teeth into an exposed shoulder.
He bit deep, blood pooling in his mouth, savage exhalation soaring in his chest. Then he looked up, directly into calm amber eyes staring him down. Saitou no longer fought with him, he just lay there on top of him as Sano sunk his teeth deeper.
Disgust cramped in his belly and Sano released his grip, turning his head and spitting blood. "Damn you," he swore thickly.
"Shinsen Gumi are taught to ignore pain," Saitou said deeply.
"Your own or everybody else's?" Sano flung back.
Saitou stiffened on top of him, hands biting for a moment. Then he raised one hand and caught Sano's chin again, lifting it and looking him directly in the eyes.
Sano met his gaze wearily, body incredibly tired from those few minutes of frantic battle. He scanned those amber eyes, trying to read something, anything in their hard depths. He'd seen rage there before. Once or twice he'd seen a trace of satisfaction and perhaps even something that resembled a spark of humor.
Now all he saw was the familiar fire of passion. With a start of shock he realized that Saitou was hard as a rock against him, body stirred to fire by the battle.
"Damn you," Sano swore again, struggling against the tide. His own body was so well trained to every touch and glance that it was liquefying under the hands that again grasped his arms. "Get the hell off me!"
"Nothing changes between us," Saitou jerked out, lifting Sano by the forearms and smashing a kiss onto his lips, forcing his head back brutally.
"I don't want this!" Sano moaned, twisting his mouth free and grabbing frantically at the robe on Saitou's shoulders, ripping it down and burying his mouth against the hot flesh there.
Saitou flung his head back and grasped Sano's nape, pressing his head harder in the crease of his shoulder, moaning under the onslaught of the younger man's lips and teeth.
"You want me," Saitou gasped, reaching down and grasping narrow thighs, wrenching them apart and forcing his body between Sano's legs.
"I hate you," Sano moaned, wrapping his legs around impossibly lean hips and thrusting up. "Do it to me, you bastard! Do it, do it!"
With one plunge Saitou pierced him, forcing his way into virgin flesh, and Sano flung his head back onto the hard matting, fierce pain and pleasure igniting a tumultuous orgasm. He throbbed and gasped as Saitou plundered him, his length skewering him to his belly, touching places inside him, lighting him back up like the fuse of a bomb.
Sano clenched his teeth and gripped blood and sweat bathed shoulders, hips slapping the floor as Saitou pumped into him. Eyes slitted Sano gasped and came for a second time, watching in disbelief as Saitou bit his lip and threw his head back. One by one the layers of Saitou's masks were slipping away.
In exultation Sano wrapped his legs tighter around those hips, wringing another groan of pleasure from his spasming lover as he forced him deeper into his body. There on Saitou's face was everything Sano had needed to see without even knowing it.
Lust and longing and vulnerable desire. Need and want and hunger, such wild desperate hunger that Sano was amazed and humbled.
Saitou's body bowed back as he came, emptying himself into Sano's body while the younger man gripped him tightly. Finally he collapsed, legs sprawling and arms laying slackly.
Body sated, heart singing, Sano wrapped his arms around Saitou's neck, clinging to this moment with every ounce of strength he could muster. How clear it had become all of a sudden.
He didn't know anything about Saitou's wife, or Saitou's life for that matter, but none of that was important now.
This was important, these moments, this man in his arms, the passion spilled between them. Saitou didn't do anything idly, and if he was here in Sanosuke's arms, in Sanosuke's body, then here was where he needed to be.
"Nothing changes between us," Saitou whispered.
Sano nodded, stroking wide shoulders.
"I chose you, and you chose me."
Sano nodded again. That was true enough. "Oy," he whispered back.
Saitou tilted his head and licked Sano's neck. The younger man took that as a sign he was listening.
"That git that showed up before, did he call me unmanly?"
Saitou paused and lifted his head. His masks were firmly back in place but Sano wasn't fooled. He'd seen a little of what lay under that cold face now.
"I think technically he was calling me unmanly," Saitou answered thoughtfully.
"Oh," Sano accepted. "Because I don't mind being called street trash. Rather proud of it actually. But if he was calling me unmanly I'd have to go kick his ugly butt."
Saitou tilted his head consideringly. "It really is an ugly butt too," he agreed.
"Hey," Sano protested lightly. "Don't go looking at anyone's butt except mine, okay?"
Saitou studied him with narrowed eyes. "On one condition," he said slowly.
Sano let his head thud back against the mat. "Again with the conditions," he complained. "Okay, what condition."
Saitou slipped his hands around and cupped Sano's backside, long lean fingers holding the firm globes with clear possession.
"That this butt is my property," Saitou said arrogantly. "Just like the rest of you."
Sano couldn't help the grin that lifted his lips. "Possessive bastard aren't you?"
"You only just figuring that out?" Saitou said, dropping his head and resting his forehead onto Sano's shoulder.
"Hey, old man?" Sano whispered. "Let's go to bed, huh?"
He rolled out from under the lax body and crouched naked in the moonlight, one hand extended.
Saitou studied the hand for a moment with narrowed eyes. Then he slowly lifted his own hand and laid his fingers in Sano's grasp.
End of Part Five