"I love you." Shun whispered again, almost to low to be heard. "Please…"

"I cannot stay, pretty one."

"You can't leave, Iryu. The nightmares…"

"No, Shun," Iryu interrupted him. "No. I must go. I have no choice in this. They will be here for me soon. I must be ready."

"Take me." Shun leaned against Iryu once more. "Take me."

"I cannot take you, Shun. You belong here. I do not."

"That's… that's not… what I meant." Shun took a half-step backwards. "Take me… for yourself."

Iryu stood stunned, then closed the difference between them. He kissed Shun, tasting the same desperation he felt. His fingers moved swiftly over the tiny buttons on Shun's shirt, pushing it over his shoulders and down his arms to pool on the floor at their feet. The tight leather pants were slightly more of a problem, but gave way. Shun was barefoot already, and had worn nothing under the tight pants.

Iryu kissed him again, guiding the green-haired man to the bed and tumbling him onto it. There was nothing of grace between them, just an overwhelming desperation, an urgency that had to be met. Shun wrapped his legs around Iryu's waist as he thrust, both freezing momentarily before Iryu began moving once more.

Fast, sloppy, hurried. Iryu kept his mouth fastened to Shun's, one hand around the other's cock, one hand bracing himself. Shun's hands fisted in his hair, hips rising to meet his thrusts, gasping for air when Iryu broke the kiss. A momentary frenzy, a shuddering cry. Shun's body convulsing around him as he thrust the last time.

They lay together for only a moment before Iryu pulled away. He walked into the bathroom, coming out a few minutes later cleaned and dressed. Shun had struggled back into his pants and was fastening his shirt. Iryu batted his hands from the buttons and did them up himself, then gave the young knight a lingering kiss broken by a sharp knock at the door.

Shiryu's voice. "Iryu. Time to go."

Shun blanched, clinging momentarily to Iryu's shoulders. Iryu held him, brushed a tear from the white face. "It is no more than I truly expected Shun. Your gift… I will not forget." He guided the shaken man to the chair out of the line-of-sight of the door, then grabbed the waiting bag. He opened the door. "I am ready, Shiryu."

"Good. Manx will take you to your new home. This card is for your bank account, the information you'll need is in here."

"Tell me one thing before I go."

"What?"

"What do you plan to tell Shun of my leaving? He has been caring for me, I doubt not that he will notice I have gone."

A gentle laugh. "Iryu, your wounds have healed, you've been given a new home and money enough to cover expenses until you can find a way to earn your own. Princess Sienna has been very generous to you, Black Dragon."

"Will you tell him that you told me it best I left?" Iryu asked softly. "Will you tell me why I need to leave?"

"Shun does not need to know. Now, come on. You've been here too long already."

The door shut. Shun huddled into the chair, silent tears pouring down his cheeks. Iryu had been right. Shiryu had told Iryu to get out, and had arranged it with the princess. Shiryu didn't plan on telling him that he had suggested Iryu leave, had arranged it! Why? He moved stiffly from the chair to the door, looking down the hall. The others were gone.

He walked to the rooms he shared with Shiryu. Looked around. "Shiryu?" Shun called, barely loud enough to hear himself. He forced himself further into that first room, looking around as if seeing the room for the first time. Elegant. Clean. Not just tidy, but clean. No dust anywhere, nothing even slightly out of place. Nothing of himself in it.

The next room was fairly similar, only not so squeaky perfect. The book he'd been reading was pages-down over the arm of the chair he'd been curled in. The book was the only thing out of position. The bathroom was spotless, the few things he'd left out this morning tucked away into the cabinets where they belonged.

Shun was panting when he pushed open the door to the bedroom. He stared at the carpet below his feet for a long time before allowing his gaze to slowly creep around the room. The scent of jasmine tickled his nose, but that he expected. The room always smelled like the jasmine incense Shiryu preferred. The bed, which he had left a mess of tangled blankets, was perfectly made, with fresh sheets.

His clothes had hung a little out of the hamper, but none showed now, and the drawer he hadn't quite shut because the clothes inside poked out was shut now. He crossed, opened the drawer. The clothes had been refolded. He shut it, allowing his eyes to drift without really noticing anything specifically.

Shun pushed open the connecting door to the room they'd had Iryu in so long. The room that technically was his. Looked from it to the room he shared with Shiryu, and back. Went back into the shared room, and carefully divested it of his clothes. Took them back to his own room. Put them away, without being overly persnickety about it. Hung the pictures that had been in the bottom drawer before he'd put his clothes back in it, and wondered how come he hadn't noticed they weren't on the walls anymore. Put his assortment of mismatched, ill-shaped and somewhat battered treasures back into their proper positions when he found them boxed in the bottom of the closet. Crawled back up on his bed and surveyed the room.

A year and a half. He'd been Shiryu's lover a year and a half. Had he lost himself so completely? Been so blindly dependent and loving that he hadn't seen anything except what he wanted to see? No! No. Shiryu isn't like that! He isn't! There… there must be a reason. A good one. There has to be. Has to be.

He barely noticed when the door opened, but buried his face in his brother's chest when he threw an arm around him.

"What's the matter?"

"Iryu's gone."

"Oh, has he left then? I was beginning to wonder if he was just going to leave his house empty."

"His… house?"

"Sienna bought a house for him. Set him up with a staff and a bank account and everything."

"Staff?"

"Yes, little brother. A staff to take your place." Ikki ruffled his hair. "We haven't seen much of you lately; you're always running errands for Iryu because he wouldn't leave his rooms."

Hadn't seen… but I… He looked up into his brother's worried face. "What do you mean by that? I made all the practices and all the picnics and helped Seiya with those stupid books he's working on and…"

"And I know. But you've been distant the entire time, and talked of nothing except Iryu! I think you made Shiryu jealous."

"Shiryu? Jealous? Why?"

"You spent more time with his double than with him."

"I did not!" Incensed, Shun pulled back.

"Didn't you?"

Shun shook his head, denying he had. He knew he hadn't! "I know I didn't."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Ikki. I'm sure. I spent more time with him before, when he was healing, than after he didn't need the bandages changed so often. At most, I might have been in to visit him for an hour or so, total, after that. And sometimes when he had a nightmare, I'd stay until he calmed down. But no longer than that!"

"When were you visiting him, then, for that hour or so?"

"After meals, usually," Shun answered. "But what difference does that make? I've always used the time after meals for visiting or letters or whatever. How many times did I bother you after lunch when I was trying to get ideas on how to get Shiryu to notice me?"

A smile. "True. Perhaps Shiryu thought you would spend that time with him?"

"No." Shun turned in his brother's loose embrace. "That was time for his sister, and when he did his meditation. I learned not to intrude on those times before we ever got together." And had the lesson quite thoroughly reinforced after. He scrubbed at his face, wiping away the tears he had no reason to shed. "He would not have thought I'd spend that time with him."

Apparently, that was a signal of sorts for his brother, who stood, looking around thoughtfully. "I thought you'd thrown all this old junk out?"

"I've been in here so rarely that I didn't even realize it was gone until I was putting some of my clothes away, and found the pictures stuffed in the bottom drawer. The rest was in a box in the closet."

"Maybe Shiryu put them away because this was a guest room?"

"Is Hyoga's room a guest room?" He knew his brother and the blond were a happy item now.

"Of course not. We fight so often he still uses it. Besides, he has too much stuff for it to all fit in my room."

"I had nothing in Shiryu's room except a drawer of clothes. All of my things were in here. I wonder how Seiya feels about being odd knight out?"

"What?"

"He's the only knight not having sex."

"He's banging the princess, and that girl from the orphanage. I doubt he feels left out. What brought that on?"

"Nothing. I'm gonna take a nap."

"Picnic."

"Oh, is it time already?" Shun dragged himself from the bed to look critically into his mirror. One hand reached absently for a brush, ordered the green locks. He regarded himself for a moment, then tied his hair back. Another examination lead to him undoing the first few buttons of his shirt. "There, that's better."

"My brother, the slut," Ikki said with a sigh. "Come on."