"Uh, Rikugo, I wouldn't..." Tsuzuki started, then stopped when the doors swung open.
The sight hadn't changed from the last time and he still felt a strange mix of embarrassment, excitement and curiosity, coupled with the sense of something forbidden, something carnal, spread through him. This was the Count's most private room, something that was home to centuries of just that carnal pleasure, coupled with the modern day technology that made such achievements possibly.
Rikugo gazed at the signs of his lover's entertainment, and his face gave nothing away.
"Rikugo...?" he tried. "Errr..."
"I knew about it, Tsuzuki."
"You did?"
"Yes."
"Okay... So, you're okay with it?"
The astrologer turned to his master and smiled gently. "Yes, I am. And before you jump to conclusions, Tsuzuki, we never did anything of the like."
He blushed. "I wouldn't..."
Rikugo chuckled. "I could almost feel your imagination running wild, Tsuzuki." He closed the doors. "Let's continue."
And they did. Tsuzuki glanced at the doors one last time, then at his shikigami, taking in the gentle waves in his aura. Yep, there was something there.
° ° °
Fiery red eyes looked at the shikigami as Rikugo stood at the foot end of the bed. The Count had healed, but he still showed signs of the abuse his body had gone through. There were healing scars, bruises, his eyes expressed his exhaustion and he had apparently lost weight despite Watson's cooking.
"The palace is almost back to new," Rikugo said, smiling a little.
"I know. I can feel its restoration." A slight shrug. "One of the perks of being bound to this building. None of the candles took harm, right?"
"No. They're all okay."
Rikugo came closer and looked down into those fascinating eyes. Almost as fascinating as Tsuzuki's in their inhuman color and origin, but where Tsuzuki was just half of a demonic origin, this man had fused with one, had become one.
He finally sat down and leaned over his lover, claiming the lips he had missed in a tender kiss. Ryu's hands caressed over his robes, tried to get deeper, and the Count kissed him back almost desperately.
"I need to go," Rikugo murmured against the pliable lips as they parted.
"Right away?" came the breathy question.
"You're still healing, Ryu."
He was pulled closer and the Count nipped at his neck and throat. "Please, Rikugo... Please..."
Rikugo gazed into the red eyes, saw the need and hunger, and he weighed it against the knowledge that Ryu wasn't in any kind of shape for more than an interlude.
He gave in. He gave in to the depth of the hunger, and his own desire to be with this man.
°
When he left a few hours later, Ryu was curled up on one side, sleeping the sleep of the exhausted, a faint smile on his lips. No injuries had been worsened and the pleasure had outweighed the discomfort.
Rikugo nodded at Watson as he passed the gnome, memories of the naked form arching in ecstasy under his touch accompanying him to GensouKai.
° ° °
Rikugo had been kept busy in GensouKai and he had truly concentrated only on his work. Sohryu was a demanding leader and with a new project running Rikugo had more than enough to do. He wanted to go to Meifu, see how Ryu was faring, but he couldn't. He just had to be patient.
So when he could finally disentangle himself from his calculations and the oracles, from developing charts and predictions, leaving the rest of the project in the capable hands of Touda whose task was to enter his equations and whatnot into the main computer, Rikugo just up and left.
He arrived in Meifu, his aura pulled tightly around himself as not to alarm anyone too greatly. He paid his master his respects -- sharing a cup of tea and a donut. Tsuzuki was as bright-eyed and cheerful as always.
"He's fine, Rikugo," he told his shikigami. "I went to see him yesterday and he's fine. The Palace looks okay, too."
Rikugo smiled a little, relieved. "Thank you, Asato."
The answer was another brilliant smile.
He left his master, who gave him an encouraging hug, and made his way to the edge of Meifu.
He was greeted by the only servant of the huge place, the gnome giving him a formal bow.
"Welcome, Rikugo," he said with his gravelly voice. "Please follow me. His lordship is in the winter garden having tea."
Watson guided the astrologer into the winter garden that was looking out into the huge stretch of landscaped garden, with the multitude of groves, fountains and hidden corner.
Ryu's red eyes lit up when he noticed the large blond figure walking in behind his butler. He wasn't wearing the mask, but he was dressed in his normal attire, the black pants, the matching coat, and the crisp, white shirt. There was no mark on his face left from the attack, and his aura felt fine to the shikigami as he approached the man.
"Rikugo! I didn't expect you. Watson, please bring another set for our guest."
Watson bowed. "Yes, my lord."
°
When Watson had provided Rikugo with a cup of steaming hot green tea and was being dismissed - "That will be all for today, Watson." - Ryu watched his lover sip at it carefully. He observed the man he hadn't expected to see again sitting comfortably in the large chair, the blond strands open, casually dressed in light pants, a shirt with rolled up sleeves and a vest. Black eyes regarded him quizzically over the rims of his glasses and Ryu just smiled. He hadn't expected to see Rikugo today, honestly he hadn't expected to see the man ever again after he had left him the day the Count had been close to fully healed -- but he had sworn to himself that, should he return, he would not regret it.
Rikugo blinked at the intense look he received from the other side of the table, but Ryu just smiled at him and shook his head ever so slightly.
Not now. Now was the time to enjoy their moment together in this quiet place, to just look at the blond shikigami and bathe in the emotions his simple sight evoked.
He wanted this man. His whole body thrummed with the need to touch him, to kiss him, to feel him -- completely.
But for now they talked. Rikugo explained about his latest work and Ryu listened, interested in every aspect of GensouKai, in his lover's life, in his work.
Only when the formal part of their meeting neared an end did Ryu act on his desire. He rose and walked over to his lover, smiling as he took in those fascinating black eyes, framed by the white blond hair that fell loosely over his shoulders where it had escaped the pony tail.
Fingertips were brushing over his neck, causing Rikugo to shiver involuntarily. A hot breath caressed his neck and the tip of his ear, followed by a pair of hot lips and he tilted his head to grant more access before he could even think about it. Ryu slowly walked around the chair and Rikugo looked up into the fiery red eyes of his lover. Had he been a human he would have frozen right now at the almost predatory expression.
Hand resting right and left of his head on the chair the Count leaned over him, forcing Rikugo to lean back. Lips descended on his in a chaste kiss, fingers caressing his face before wandering down south, working on every shirt button. Ryu licked and nipped at every inch of exposed skin, and Rikugo sighed when a warm breeze from outside cooled his skin. He reached up to bury his fingers into his lover's black hair but Ryu gently put them back onto the armrest, shaking his head slightly.
And then Rikugo received the shock of his lifetime.
Fingers had worked themselves down his body and were undoing his pants. That he had expected in a way -- but then his legs were parted.
"Ryu... "
A finger rested on his lips and his lover smiled softly before -- he got down on his knees between his legs!
"Ryu! What...?"
Rikugo clutched the armrests when he was engulfed in wet heat suddenly, head falling back onto the headrest of the large chair, and he couldn't help the moan escaping his throat.
"Ryu..."
"Shhh..."
Closing his eyes all Rikugo could do was go with the flow and surrender to the pleasure that rushed through his body, It didn't last long...
°
Cool fingers caressed his heated skin, guiding him back down from the heights his lover had sent him up to, and Rikugo blinked, looking down on the man who was still kneeling between his legs, gently stroking over his thighs.
"Ryu..." he breathed, still surprised and mildly shocked about the rather passionate seduction.
His lover had never performed something like this on him. Red eyes looked up at him, burning with a fire that wasn't of demonic origin, and the astrologer understood that Ryu had concentrated on his pleasure alone. Not that he complained, but... why? Why now? Before he could ask, the Count rose with a fluid movement, brushing his body against Rikugo's, and brought their lips together, making the astrologer moan with renewed interest as he deepened the kiss.
"Come with me?" he whispered when he broke the kiss, hands caressing his body, eyes holding an unspoken promise and obvious desire.
Rikugo could only nod.
tbc...