"Daisuke… " Satoshi moaned. "Oh god… Dai!"
Fingers buried into his back, Satoshi made a strangled moaning sound and trembled in his arms, panting roughly. He pushed Daisuke's hand away, and Daisuke frowned, confused, until he understood.
Satoshi had just come.
Whoa…
Satoshi looked anywhere but at him, as he tried to free himself from his arms. Daisuke held him only tighter.
"Sato, don't. It's okay, everything's okay. Please understand, I want this, I want you. I've given it so much thought, and now I understand. I understand everything. Please, don't run. Stay here, stay with me, let's be together. I… "
Daisuke was at a loss of words at the unguarded look from those deep blue eyes he loved. Had always loved. He simply took the other man's hand and slid it down his own body, groaning a little at the contact of a hand and his own hardness, separated only by his light summer pants. Satoshi didn't move, just looked at him for a few seconds more before he took away his hand.
"That's physical attraction," he muttered hoarsely.
"Sato, if that's the only thing I wanted I could have gone to Emmett. But I don't want Emmett, or anybody else for that matter, I want you. I care for you, Hikari Satoshi, a great deal. I feel the same for you as you do for me. Give me a chance? Give us a chance?" he begged.
Satoshi inhaled.
"I need a shower," he said and finally pushed away.
Daisuke let him go, watching the slender young man walk back into the house, then he followed.
Daisuke was in Satoshi's room, waiting, when Hikari came out of the bathroom, and his eyes grew wide. Oh yes, he had seen him in several states of undress before, but this was almost like his secret fantasy – Satoshi didn't wear anything but a towel around the waist, his hair was tied, and he looked simply edible. This was it.
"Daisuke…" Satoshi began.
Daisuke interrupted him. "I wasn't sure if I should present myself in the nude or not, so I decided on a compromise, " he joked.
He had opened his shirt and exchanged his long pants with a pair of shorts – without anything underneath. Just in case – in any case.
"Daisuke, I…"
"Sato. I'd very much like to see you. May I?"
Satoshi inhaled and his features were shifting between want, need and embarrassment.
"Daisuke, wait. This is a little much, a little sudden. What had brought this on?"
"Emmett."
"How so?"
"He opened my eyes for the obvious. I hadn't wanted to see it, Sato, though on some level I knew. You weren't that subtle back then, too. Emmett just asked me how long I planned on letting you wait. You did wait for me, didn't you?"
Satoshi nodded slowly.
"I know this is sudden, but… yes, I am sure. Absolutely, finally. I want to be with you, Hikari Satoshi, from now on till… uh, I don't know, eternity?"
Satoshi came closer, allowed him to pull him down to him on the bed and slowly undo the towel.
"Let's take this slow? We don't need to rush anything." Daisuke met the blue eyes, smiling, running a gentle hand over the warm skin within his reach.
Those sky eyes lit up with emotions Daisuke had seen there before but which he had never interpreted the correct way. He saw the warmth and the need and the hunger, but also the love.
"Who wants to rush?" Satoshi murmured roughly. "I waited five years, now, that I have you, I plan on taking my time."
And then there were lips on his and hands on his body, everywhere, caressing him, teasing him, and they were Satoshi's.
Finally.--
Krad stared at him, still looking a little shell shocked. Daisuke smirked.
"I wasn't able to say the three little words for another year, can you believe that? And we didn't rush things either. We didn't sleep together the entire time. When we finally did, it was our anniversary, and… oh well, let's just say it didn't went as I had planned it. But when I saw him standing there in his wet clothes, looking so happy, I just knew. I said it that night, when he took me. It was what I felt for him, still do, and I don't see that change anytime soon. He's my life, Krad. My everything."
The demon inhaled shakily at the words, the same ones he had used to claim Satoshi as his.
"If what you feel for Dark is only a little bit like what I feel for Satoshi, tell him. Life is too short, and maybe you regret it one day."
"Our life isn't short."
"Maybe not, but… you already regret it, don't you?"
Krad kept silent for some time, then whispered, "Dark told me what he saw when he looked at Unity. He said, 'it's what we should be. The two of us. Together.' I didn't understand it, I still don't."
Daisuke sat forward in the chair, meeting the confused golden gaze. "Krad, the two of you were a unity once, and I'm sure on a deep level you craved that all those decades, missed him. He's the other half of your soul, as Satoshi is mine. You two just needed three hundred years to understand that. If circumstances had been different… "
Krad nodded. If circumstances had been different and he hadn't turned out the way he had… if he had killed Dark… or if they hadn't been separated again… there were so many 'if's'.
Daisuke yawned and got to his feet. He had talked a lot tonight, had given Krad even more to think about, and now was the moment for the tactical retreat.
"I think my other half is already waiting for me. And since it's late already and tomorrow is New Year, I call it a day. Good night, Krad."
"Good night, Daisuke."
"Don't wait too long. You're… tired already."
Krad just nodded wordlessly and turned back to watching the night through the attic window. Daisuke smiled a little and left, descending the stairs to their shared bedroom.
The following day being New Year's eve both Daisuke and Satoshi dressed up to go into town for a little celebration, a few drinks, maybe meet some friends. They invited Dark and Krad along, and the kaitou enthusiastically took the invitation.
Krad refused.
"What are you planning to do instead?" Satoshi asked, and Krad gestured at the books all around him.
"There's a lot for me to do."
Satoshi smiled that little half smile Krad knew from the past. "I never picked you to be the intellectual kind, Krad."
"Apart from being a maniacal psychotic killer I liked to read every chance I could get, Satoshi. There weren't that many."
Satoshi winced a little. "Krad…" he started.
The demon shook his head, smiling, a sad inflection to the expression. "Don't, Sato. It's the past."
Their eyes met in silent understanding and Satoshi inhaled briefly.
"I understand your thirst for knowledge, Krad," he said silently, "but sometimes life happens outside as well."
"I know," was the equally silent reply. "But right now, I'd like to live in here."
"Well, we'll be back before midnight."
"Have fun, Cinderella."
Satoshi chuckled at the remark, waved, and left the library.
Krad retreated with a book and a large mug of hot chocolate to one of the large couch chairs in the living room upstairs. It was hard to believe for him, too, but he actually liked the peace and quiet, and somehow he found he was glad Satoshi had decided to move, giving everyone their own rooms. Sure, Daisuke had been right, his room didn't contain more than a bed, but usually he didn't even use that. He preferred returning to his host. And reading. He wasn't sure the others understood his motives – hell, he hadn't even tried to explain them, wasn't even sure about them. As he wasn't sure about many things. Krad craved knowledge, not material things. Possessions could be withdrawn, but nobody could take away knowledge. That he had learned early on, and since he had found he only needed to read a text once and be able to recite it word by word, he had taken every chance he could get.
Unlike Dark.
Dark…
Krad's eyes drifted away from the book and out into the night. It was cold and crisp, the stars were glittering on a velvety blue sky, almost violet.
… Like eyes…
A certain pair of violet eyes, twinkling with amusement and mischief, clouding with pain, glassy with moisture, dark with…
…Dark…
Master thief Dark Mousy…
Krad couldn't suppress the chuckle. Nobody knew where that nickname came from… except for Dark and himself. He had given it to Dark once, in a caricature of an endearment, a belittlement. Thinking of which, Dark had never commented it.
Krad closed his eyes, thinking of former encounters with Dark, when all his sense in life had been to fight the kaitou... no, not really. He had wanted him to become a part of himself once again, had wanted to live.
Now he did live. He was alive.
And Dark was still there, a part of that life, a center of warmth and reassurance. With a velvety soft voice that ran like honey over his spine sometimes, with eyes that looked at him in a way they had never before, sincere and caring, lips that simply cried to be kissed. He wondered how Dark would feel.
Oh, he knew how it felt to have the kaitou near. Dark had held him before, but… to run his fingers over that firm chest, caress skin instead of marking it with knives and swords, to hear that voice scream in ecstasy, not hatred…
Krad's eyes flew open and he tossed the book aside, staring at his groin in alarm.
What the…?
Krad let his head sink against the headrest of the chair, groaning miserably. Just thinking about Dark's skin had made him…
…twitch…
Great. Krad moaned again and spread his legs a little, trying to get more comfortable with the unknown sensation. It felt… good, though. Interesting. Krad's eyes slid shut again as he recalled the feeling of Dark's lips on his own, and his fingers involuntarily slid into his lap.
Oh god… it felt good.
And all of this by simply thinking about Dark?
Krad sighed. He had never felt anything like this before, at least not first hand. Sure, sometimes he had received some sensations through his host, but never… never…
Krad arched involuntarily into his own touch, hearing himself moan far away. He never had been aware inside his hosts long enough. There had always been things more important and he had never wasted a single thought on his own pleasure. Fingers dancing over himself in an age-old rhythm, his thoughts drifted away, headed in a certain direction, and it wasn't his own hand anymore…
There were lips on his, hands caressing him where he had never been touched before…
"… Dark…," Krad sobbed as his climax hit him out of nowhere.
It was fifteen minutes to go until the new year's arrival when the others came back home, Satoshi and Daisuke smiling at each other, Dark beaming with pure delight. Krad felt a smile tug at his lips when he watched his other half, utterly relaxed, violet eyes dancing with joy. He noticed the way Dark's features would soften when he glanced at him rather carefully and had to hide a smile himself.
He had had a nice... revealing evening himself, and he felt his body still tingle with the remembrance. He wanted the man to touch him, the fingers and lips and hands, to be Dark's. He wanted it so badly, it scared and delighted him in one.
Krad had no idea if Dark had ever experienced something like it himself, but somehow he doubted it. They had never had a physical form. All sensations had come through the host and now... now they were corporeal. They had a body, even if it was still just energy. They could feel, touch, taste... Krad had been denied these sensations because his hosts had denied him. Dark had been the luckier of the two of them. He had had a life of sorts, but not like it was now either.
Adding this to the things Daisuke had told him the other day had made him think. Krad was as scared as he had never been before; not even the moment when Dark had sealed them back into the Black Wings, not even the moment the entity from the Wheel of Dagan had tortured them, had frightened him that much.
He was free. He had the freedom of choice and life, but the choice he wanted to make was frightening. It would mean opening himself completely to Dark. No reservations, no more shields. Of course, the kaitou had seen him at his worst, knew his past, knew the pain and agony and horrors, but to trust him with his... emotions? With love...?
It was as if he was fighting those invisible burning chains again, and he was tired of it. He was tired of the fear and the past horror, the hesitation.
And he made a decision.
