Title: Flora's Secret
Author: Anchan
Pairing: Fujikake ShinoxItsuki Kagami
Fandom: Eerie Queerie/Ghost!
Theme: #8: our own world
Disclaimer: Property of Shuri Shiozu.

"This is a really bad idea," Itsuki told Shino. "A really bad idea." He flopped down onto the grass beside his boyfriend.

"You want to go back inside?" Shino laughed and his eyes crinkled up at the sides. "You'll have to work if you do that."

"It'd be better than getting found by Mitsuo. You know he'd come round the corner to call us for dinner – "

"We just had lunch – "

"Are you doubting my stamina?" Itsuki demanded. Shino was laughing again. He slid his arms around Itsuki's neck and buried his face in his shoulder to muffle the sound. "It's not funny!"

"Isn't it?" Shino pulled back and tried to school his features into the solemn mask he had worn when he first came to the shrine, but his lips kept curving into a smile. Itsuki liked it, liked to see Shino smile. It came easily, most days, but the small sense of victory that came to him at each slight quirk of the lips never diminished.

"If I wanted someone who'd laugh at me," he grumbled, turning his head to glare at an innocent tree, "I'd be sleeping with Mikuni."

There was a sudden drop in the temperature and damn, Itsuki'd forgotten the adverse effect that Shino's bad moods could have on the weather. The chilly air swirled around them as he shivered and there was an ominous roll of thunder in the distance. He whacked Shino on the shoulder, hard. "I didn't mean that I wanted to! Idiot!"

"Good." Shino's expression was still forbidding, however, and Itsuki didn't resist the temptation to roll his eyes, inwardly rather relieved. He knew how to talk to Shino when he was in a mood; it was the warm smiles, the loving embraces and the quick laughter that threw him off-balance, the worst part being that he didn't really mind, not any more.

Itsuki crawled over to Shino's side and pressed his face into his boyfriend's neck. It was warm, soft and smelt of burnt herbs and sweat. He'd reek like hell if he was anyone else, Itsuki thought and used the mental comment to distract himself from the fact that he was, essentially, nuzzling someone's throat without a view to biting and sucking. He sat up to place a light kiss on Shino's jawline and hated himself for immediately blushing when Shino smiled down at him, sweet and helplessly adoring. He really couldn't deal with this. "I've got an appointment at four," Itsuki warned him. "We'd better be done by then."

"Of course we will," Shino replied serenely, closing his eyes. "And you don't, Yopyun-san cancelled this morning."

"What?" Itsuki jerked upright, narrowly missing Shino's chin. "He can't do that!"

"Yes, yes, he can." Shino eyed him. "Why are you so upset? You don't like kissing him, do you?"

Itsuki's face contorted with disgust. "No! But he's our best customer!"

"Oh, that." Shino shrugged, indifference plain in the line of his shoulders. "We don't actually need money, you know. And it's only once."

"Considering the way he pays…and it won't be just the once, I bet you. I bet you." Itsuki scrunched his face up, thinking of ways out of the predicament.

Shino was looking quite annoyed by now. "If I were the jealous type," he began, punctuating each word with a kiss to Itsuki's skin, starting with the temple and working his way down to Itsuki's collarbone, "I – " kiss " – might – " kiss " – get very pissed off – " kiss " – about the fact – " kiss " – that you – " kiss " – are more interested – " kiss " – in a sixty year old man – " kiss " – than me."

"You are the jealous type," Itsuki would have said, but Shino was undoing his shirt buttons with fumbling, excited fingers and damn it, he used to be good at getting shirts off, why was Shino's so hard?

"He's got more cash than you," he managed instead, tilting his head back as Shino leant forward, soft lips touching his torso. He grinned as Shino looked up at him, thoroughly disgruntled.

"Yeah, but you'd always be channelling, that'd be boring. Am I boring?" He pressed down hard on Itsuki's groin. Itsuki heard himself whimper and bit down on Shino's – finally! – bare shoulder.

"No," he gasped eventually, fingers digging into Shino's arm as he tried to recover. "You're so not. But I'm kind of – ah! – used to channelling. Done it before, yeah?" He tried to ignore the flash of pain the off-hand comment brought by twisting Shino's nipple and watching Shino arch, caught between pleasure and pain for an agonising, wonderful split-second.

"But you wouldn't – ngh – have anyone to help you purify…"

"I don't have anyone now." Itsuki grabbed a fistful of Shino's hair and crushed their mouths together. Pulling back with a soft smacking sound, he added, "You won't let anyone wash me."

"I said I'd do it – "

"It's supposed to be a purification rite, dipshit – "

"Anyway," Shino said, pulling on the button of Itsuki's jeans, "stop talking."

"You stop talking, you don't normally do it that much – " Itsuki fervently thanked every ancestor in his family tree for the gift of easy access clothing.

"You," Shino argued, tugging on his waistband, "talk too much. Loudly. To people who aren't me."

"Possessive much?" Itsuki kissed him again, lifting his hips to help free the too cumbersome jeans. Shino didn't deign to reply, too busy pulling them over Itsuki's ankles.

"Lie back," he murmured after dragging them off and throwing them to the side,. Itsuki complied, nestling back into the grass. Shino leant over him for a moment, face to face and smiling, and then slid backwards on his knees and bent his head and oh SHIT that was Shino's tongue and wasn't this supposed to be but fuck and he knew how this went God and he liked doing it but this was ngh, Shino different –

Itsuki was lying flat on his back, breathing hard and trying to process the events of the last few seconds. Shino was groaning and Itsuki rolled over to help him, resting his sweaty forehead in the crook of Shino's neck as he squeezed and stroked his boyfriend until Shino came spurting all over the grass. He collapsed heavily onto Itsuki, panting and Itsuki rubbed soothing circles over his back, closing his eyes.

"I've got – stuff – all over the place," Shino commented idly after a few minutes. Itsuki's eyes snapped open, seeing the quickly drying semen sprayed over the ground.

"Shit," he muttered. "How the hell are we going to explain this, huh? I knew this'd be a bad idea."

"It's Mikuni's garden," Shino argued, a little malice in his tone. "Besides, we can blame it on Mitsuo and Hasunuma."

Not reassured in the slightest, Itsuki threw himself onto his side, struggling back into his jeans. "I don't even know why you wanted to come out here. Didja get bored or something?"

"No…"

"Did someone start talking about me and you got jealous? Again?"

"…No."

Itsuki refused to look at Shino, knowing he'd be sporting a particular version of the kicked puppy look that never failed to make Itsuki bite his lip hard to keep from apologising. It wasn't like it was Itsuki's fault, anyway. Not his problem if Shino randomly wanted to drag people out into the garden and give them a blow-job, even if the thought of Shino doing it to someone else made his eyes narrow and his lips tighten at nothing. "What, then?" he snapped.

There was a long pause until finally, Shino said, "A year ago today I dragged you out of the shrine after a channelling went wrong. This is the place I dragged you to, and the place you first kissed me. I'm sorry. I just wanted another memory to go with it."

Oh. Oh. Oh, shit. Itsuki felt himself go numb with shock. He pulled his shirt round his shoulders mechanically. This was important, wasn't it. At least to Shino.

Fuck.

"It's okay." Shino stood up, swaying a bit on unsteady legs. "I'll just get back to work." He bent over to fix his hakama.

Shit, he had to fix this. Fast. "I – "

"I said it was all right." Damn Shino and his way of ignoring Itsuki. It drove him mad, sometimes. "You don't have to worry."

"No – I – " Desperate, he grabbed the hakama's hem and hauled Shino back down. "That wasn't what I meant. Okay?"

Shino half-turned, staring at Itsuki. "All right."

Itsuki couldn't hold the gaze, sliding his eyes away and feeling his cheeks flush hotly. "Look, just – just stay with me for a bit, okay?"

Shino was still staring, but his lips were beginning to curve. "All right."

"And, um. Happy anniversary." That was what you were supposed to say, right? It didn't seem to matter, since Shino's face was blossoming into a wide, ecstatic smile. Itsuki suspected that he could have said "blah, blah, fishcakes" and Shino would still have smiled like that.

He leant his head on Shino's shoulder and slipped an arm round his waist. If he was going to be here for a while, he might as well get comfortable.