Riiiiiiiiiight. Because I am so very very guilty, and because I have not written anything in it-feels-like-frever, and because my computer won't be fixed until Monday at the earliest, here is another little story/thing.
Katsu did not have much to remember his lover by. A week stolen here, a month taken there, a lingering scent that was gone in a day or two, a deliberately "forgotten" item of no consequence other than that it was his. Little more than that -- but no less.
In a perfect world, he would have moved in with his lover by now, or his lover in with him. It need not be said that this world is not a perfect one. Katsu had responsibilities in his city, his lover had his own in his. Both demanded time the men would rather spend with each other. Neither could be abandoned for more than little periods of time.
Katsu knew this, and his lover knew this, and they each knew the other knew, and they each knew that the other knew that they knew, and in the end, everyone was -- if not happy -- satisfied in their mutual knowledge.
Each would have thought less of the other (though admitting that pained them both) had he forsaken his responsibilities for his own pleasure. Another point of shared knowledge, another "I know you know, I know you know I know."
They each would rather have it another way, but, knowing that this was the only way they'd have it at all, they were willing to be content. Their moments of shared time were all the more exquisite for their rarity.
Perhaps it would not always be like this. That was a thought it pleased Katsu to entertain, and he knew his lover though similar things. Obligations sometimes lasted forever, but sometimes they did end, eventually. Perhaps things would change. It was not a practical musing, but one Katsu liked to dream of on cold nights, when dreams and memories played a poor second to a familiar body at keeping him warm.
Perhaps it would always be like this.
Perhaps it would not.
Perhaps.
Katsu thought of what articles he would put in the next issue of his newspaper, and how much it would cost to get that corner of his roof to stop leaking, and how much of that money Sano would drink and eat when they met tomorrow, and of when he would next see his lover. And he smiled.
What is the pairing, you ask? Well -- don't look at me. I don't really know. There are two people it could be, though. Aoshi is obviously one. The other ... well, he also lives in Kyoto. You can't see it, because the "new and fucking improved" ff.net won't accept asteriks (the little things you get when you press shift-8), but I am laughing evily.