Standard disclaimer applies.
That Which Feeds the Inner Flames
Chapter Two
By: Luna
...
Sunlight filtered through the rice paper doors with shocking intensity, and Yuya squeezed her eyes shut in order to make the light go away, if only momentarily. She lay there for a moment, feeling lazy as she stewed over the shocking memory of her fainting, unable to quite believe it. She had never fainted before in her life. But why had she fainted? She couldn't quite remember...
"How long are you going to pretend that you're asleep?"
Scratch that.
She sat up so quickly that stars danced in front of her eyes. Her eyes flew to the darkest corner of the room instantly, knowing without looking that it was where he was sitting. She stared, unbelieving, as the man who had left her for two years stared back at her with cool, unemotional ruby eyes.
He was wearing a black and dark gray Kinagashi with yin yang symbols etched in the collar and in the hems of his sleeves. His magnificent raven hair was unbound and falling around his broad shoulders, and even in the shadows she could see the faint reddish hint apparent in the gleam if his hair. He was beautiful, and the one sight she had been yearning to see for the longest of times.
Why had he come back, now of all times? Would he tell her his reason for staying away for so long? She knew that if he had wanted to see her throughout the time they had been separated, he could have easily. His skills of tracking were much more experienced and capable than hers, after all. She wanted to go to him; wanted to wrap her arms around his muscled waist and bury her head in his chest, breath in his unique scent of man, sweat, and the outdoors, and revel in the feel of his thick arms closing around her. But as she sat there, her sleeping yukata parted slightly, showing just a hint of cleavage, her blankets pooled at her waist, she heard the sound of Yukimura's free and unrestrained laughter, and she hesitated.
Her eyes never left Kyo's. "Why are you here?" She had meant for her voice to be strong, but it was soft and breathy.
He shrugged nonchalantly, and it was then that she noticed her old white ribbon – the one that he had used to wear, was wrapped crisscrossed around the wrist whose hand was holding the muramasa to his shoulder. Why had he kept it...? "Because I wanted to." Hm. Because he wanted to. Maybe that was why he kept it for so long.
She was disappointed in his answer, and tried to keep it out of her voice when she spoke to him. "Oh. Why did you leave?"
Again, he shrugged, his eyes cold and as emotional as ice. "Because I had to."
She was whispering now. "Why?"
When he opened his mouth to answer, the shoji doors of her room were slammed unceremoniously open, and Yuya felt only slight irritation at the rude, unannounced intrusion. She looked away from her husband and up at Yukimura, her face solemn. "Hello, Yukimura."
The man blinked, as if surprised, but she felt she knew better, and then wondered why he would plan the interruption. "Why, hello Yuya-san. Kyo-san, I didn't expect to see you still in here."
Yuya gaped. What on earth had made the man so rude? He spoke those nonchalant words to Kyo as if he had expected Kyo to depart without another word. Keeping her own thoughts about that idea to herself, Yuya looked to Kyo to judge his reaction. His face was expressionless as always, but she knew he was angry. His fist that had been loosely wrapped around the hilt of his muramasa had tightened, and his once relaxed shoulders were stiffly set.
"I think," He spoke slowly. "that I have a right to be in the same room alone with my wife. You, however, do not."
Yukimura smiled easily, dismissing Kyo with a glance as he looked to Yuya. "You passed out so suddenly and I didn't know what room was yours, so I put you in mine. I booked a room for Kyo, too, but he obviously didn't stay in it."
Yuya was surprised. He had stayed with her all night? Smiling as best as she could to distill the sudden tension, she looked at Yukimura apologetically. "I'm sorry to inconvenience you so, but right now, I'd like some time alone to talk with my husband." She felt and saw his eyes slide briefly to her chest, but acted as if she didn't notice and wondered why she didn't immediately close her robe.
The smile dimmed a bit, but he nodded and closed the doors behind him. She waited until his footsteps could no longer be heard before she raised her eyes to her husbands. When she spoke, she was once again breathless with no idea why. "Hello, husband."
He didn't blink, and he still didn't smile, but he stood and walked to her side before sitting in the same position he was at on the other side of the room, only this time he was close to her side. She had to blink away the sudden moisture she felt in her eyes when memories of the past came flooding back to her in brief flashes. This was how they used to sit at night. She would read a book on medicine or something, and he would merely sit by her side as if being close to her was all that made him comfortable.
She watched as he set his muramasa beside him, just like he did so long ago, and held her breath when his head turned, his face mere inches from her own. "Yuya." It sounded like an endearment.
His body was still tense, and she wondered briefly what it was he was waiting for. "You've been gone a long time, Kyo."
He nodded curtly, and she resisted the urge to brush back the hair that had fallen into his eyes with the movement. "I know." Turning suddenly to face her, his legs folded in front of him and his elbows resting on his knees, he acted like he was waiting for something. But what?
She wanted him to touch her. She shouldn't be surprised to want that, but she was. She leaned forward slightly, their faces getting inches closer with each movement. He watched her, silent. "What are you waiting for?" Her voice was a whisper.
"You." Kyo's voice was solemn, asking yet demanding, and Yuya softened instantly. How could one single word hold so much meaning? It was soft, yet hard. Unyielding, yet yielding all at once. He was asking for her back, yet demanding that she come. He wanted to make sure she would welcome him back, instead of taking her when he wasn't wanted.
She stared into his bottomless eyes as if in a trance, then slowly lifted her hand and brought it to the side of his face, her fingertips a breath away from his skin. Her breath hitched in her throat, and a smile so lovely spread across her face when she slid the smooth tips of her fingers across the soft skin of his cheek. As she watched, she saw a brief smile – just the barest hints of the lifting of the corners of his mouth, before he started to lean into her.
The doors slammed open again suddenly, only this time it was Sasuke. "Yuya! There's a woman giving birth downstairs, and she needs your help!" He shot an apologetic look to Kyo, having already taken in the scene, and then ran out the door.
Yuya, her hand still on his cheek, felt her smile fade away, and with a sigh her hand fell away and she leaned back. She then tightened the robe of her yukata and reached for her medicine box that had been resting beside her.
She headed towards the doors without once looking back, and felt the hot red of his eyes burn the back of her head long after she was out of his sight.
When he entered the room, Yuya didn't look back at him, so focused on her task. She smiled down at the panting woman lying on a futon in front of her. She smoothed back the woman's black hair, and then placed a solid stick in her mouth as she moved to her legs.
Kyo watched her, his ruby eyes taking in every inch of her beloved face; her soothing voice as she crooned to the woman giving birth; her gentle hands under the raised blanket covering the woman's legs. He had missed her. He remembered the words so cruelly spoken before they had separated. He remembered the burning feel of mad anger as he forced his hand to lower his weapon.
That, in the end, is what had made him leave.
How could he have done that? How could he have even thought of dealing physical pain to her perfect body? If his rage, his madness that he had managed to keep repressed for so long was awakened by mere words, how would he be able to protect his dear woman from himself?
He knew she didn't mean the words she spoke. He recognized the defeated look in her eyes that had appeared so often when she looked at him, as if he were something that her gentle hands and soothing love couldn't reach. They had been together for five years, and he had long ago gotten over the surprise of the fact that he had been happy. He had laughed with her and smiled with her, even though those moments were few and far between, and in those darkest hours of night he held the only piece of heaven he'll ever be able to hold in his arms. And he... walked away.
Standing there, watching her work with the woman and her child, heedless of the hours that passed, had him remembering, and he settled down to get more comfortable. Always, she had been there. Always, the moment he felt that he needed something to hold on to, she would appear at his side as his anchor. She was his weakness, he knew, and didn't care. He would make sure that no harm would come to her, and he had made sure no future harm would come to her when he walked away from her all those years ago.
But that was over. He would no longer deny himself the warmth of her flesh. No longer would he stay awake at night, unwilling to admit that he depended on her. Dependence. That too, drove him away. He didn't want to depend on anybody, he hadn't wanted to depend on anybody, yet he found himself needing her.
He was back now, however, and he wasn't leaving until she made her choice. He didn't like it, but he wasn't about to grovel. He would wait until she came to him, not the other way around. But that Yukimura... he was going to be a problem.
Once considered a friend, he now was considered a potential threat. Not to Kyo's strength or skill, for Kyo new without needing a demonstration that he was still more than Yukimura would ever be. No, his threat came from his potential in changing Yuya's mind. He wasn't blind enough not to see it. She was still hurting, even though she didn't show it, and with the arrival of Yukimura, she was wavering on her devotion to her husband for the first time.
A scream ripped through the air, and Kyo glanced up to see Yuya staring down at a bloody... thing, smiling proudly with a look of stark longing in her jade eyes. Of course. Yuya had always wanted to have children, but had never once conceived throughout the entire time they had been together.
She placed the child in the mothers arms after quickly checking her over, then returned to clean up the woman's legs and other mess and then disposed of some lumpy mass of flesh that he had no idea what the hell it was. She then returned to the baby and cut the cord coming out of its stomach, quickly tying a medical tie tightly around the stub, then checking the babes mouth and slapping it hard enough on the cheeks to make it cry. It coughed up some liquid, and Yuya cleaned that up and let the mother take care of the rest.
Why would Yuya want to put herself through that? Women died of childbirth all the time – he personally considered the woman lucky that she had Yuya to nurse her. Why would Yuya want to take the chance of dying? He didn't want any chances like that to happen, and therefore hoped she never got pregnant.
She plopped down beside him with a weary sigh, smiling in thanks when one of the inn's servants placed two bowls of steaming water in front of her with pristine white towels. While she started speaking to Kyo, she began to wash her hands. "I wonder where Himeko's husband is? It angers me that no doctor here would treat her." She looked around, and then sighed. "Damn. The father really should have been here for the birth of his child. He probably didn't realize the prize he left behind."
"He was a fool." He snorted. Why bother talking to him of other people's problems? She should know he could care less.
"Oh? Do you consider yourself a fool, then?" Her voice was soft, not meaning to be insulting.
He was silent for a minute or two before he answered. "No. I had always known what I was leaving behind. Regret is the hardest thing to get over."
He heard her gasp, but didn't turn to look at her. He didn't feel like talking anymore, so he wasn't going to. It was then that the ever-present Yukimura entered again, and Kyo felt the beginning stirrings of hatred for his rival. Yuya smiled at him, cleaning off the last bit of grime from her arms and taking off the thick robe the inn had supplied her with. He felt satisfaction when she tightened her robe, unlike before. "Yukimura! We were just talking about where Himeko's husband was."
"And I was just commenting about how the bastard ditched her." He didn't bother to hide the scorn in his voice.
Yukimura tipped his head to the side and gave a guileless smile. "Ah, yes. That is a strange concept, isn't it? Husbands 'ditching' their wives?"
Kyo was on his feet in less time that it took for her to blink, and both men had their swords drawn. Kyo was positively radiating his dark aura for the world to feel and fear, but Yukimura took it all in with a hard smile.
What the hell was going on here! Yuya thought angrily. When the baby started to cry, she jumped to her feet to face the two moronic males. "Would you two stop? Yukimura, I don't know where that came from, but it was completely impolite and rude and there is no excuse for it. And Kyo, you shouldn't let mere words affect you so much."
He knew that. Kyo had that same motto etched permanently on his brain. He watched with cold eyes as Yukimura shrugged cheerfully and sheathed his sword in one fluid motion, and he tensed as he watched Yukimura walk to his wife's side and chuck her under the chin in a blatant show of affection. Kyo growled low in his throat, angry and hurt all at once when his wife blushed and didn't pull away.
When Yuya turned to face her husband, he was gone.
She found him in a field some ways outside of town, sitting under a thickly leaved pine. "Kyo?"
The barest flick of his eyes passing over and through her was the only indication that he had heard her at all. She bit her lip, wondering at his sudden shift in mood. "It's a nice day today, isn't it? Not too warm, but not too cold, either. What do you think?"
"What do you care?" He still hadn't even looked at her yet.
With a near soundless growl, she walked until she was just a foot away from him, glaring down at him in frustration. "What the hell is the matter with you?"
He stood, almost too abruptly, and she nearly stumbled back in surprise. "You listen here, bitch. I'm not going to go grovel at your feet while you let Yukimura play sweetheart."
She blinked, and just like that her mood changed. "Yukimura's not my sweetheart, dear husband. I wouldn't be here now if he was."
But he didn't believe her, and he wished he could. His voice was stolid when he spoke. "You've changed, haven't you?"
His tone was cold, like always. But, like always, Yuya heard what was underneath. "Yes. But not as much as I'd like to think I have. But everything changes with time. Absolutely nothing stays the same. Do you agree?"
He was silent, and when he turned to her, his gaze was intense. "No. Some things stay the same."
She wondered what he meant. Smiling, she moved closer to him. "Cherry blossom season is almost here. The flowers should bloom any day now. I wonder, will you stay until then?"
Watching her, he nodded slowly. "Not alone, though."
She held her breath, waiting. When he didn't do anything, she gave a slight smile and cocked her head to the side, a slender finger tapping her chin thoughtfully. "You look really good, Kyo." She have a little twirl. "Do I?"
Without a bat of his eyelash, he said, "Still the female bitch you were seven years ago."
"WHAT!" What the heck was that supposed to mean? "Are you saying I still look like a child! Or—or have a 'dog-face'!"
Shrugging, he pulled his arms though the sleeves of his Kinagashi to rest inside the robes like a sling. "Sure."
Her face puffed up and turned red in an old display of childhood temper that Kyo enjoyed. "Ooooooh! You haven't changed one bit!"
"Really? I rather thought I looked good. Really good. Not even a minute ago you were saying the same thing." He had the nerve to grin.
"Well, you know what? I changed my mind! You look absolutely horrible!" Just for good measure, she looked him up and down before looking away as if in disappointment. But he really didn't look horrible. She remembered the feel of his hard chest and his thickly muscled arms when he pulled her back against him the other night. She didn't doubt that his body looked just as beautiful now as it did then.
Smirking, he shifted on his feet. "You've always been a bad liar, Yuya." There it was again. The slight endearment she heard when he said her name.
"I wasn't lying! I was…" Was what?
His smirk grew. "What? Fibbing? Stretching the truth? Don't deny it, little wife, I look damn good."
Teeth gritting together in a useless attempt to keep her blush down. Little wife. "Well, you're full of yourself, as always."
A perfectly arched brow raised itself as if in surprise. "You giving up so soon?"
She sniffed and looked away haughtily. "Excuse me if I refuse to talk the daft and stupid."
"Why?" Came the dry retort. "You afraid they'd outsmart you?"
Bending down, she grabbed a handful of grass and yanked it up, dirt clogs and all. With a well aimed throw, she threw it at Kyo straight in the chest. Then ran like the dickens back to the village, laughing and grinning stupidly when she heard the laugh of her husband at her back.
When Yukimura found her, she was still grinning as she packed her meager traveling gear. "Hello, Yuya-san. I was looking for Kyo. Do you know where he is?"
She looked up at him, her eyes glittering happily. He wanted to think that it was because of him, but knew better. "Out buying some sake."
An odd look entered her eyes, and he watched with some curiosity as she reached inside her kimono where he knew she kept her money pouch. "Why, that cad!"
When he left, her laughter rang in his ears long after she settled in her room to sleep.
