Title: Second chances for an Angel of Death

Rating: R for language, and naughty sexy man loving.

Disclaimer: I do not own FF9 or any of it's characters. Yes there will be JUICY yaoiness later. I might have a bit of a teaser in this chapter- Opps I said too much . Anyways thanks for all the reviews!

Chapter 7.

The sound of rain hitting the roof and the windows, made a soft pattering noise. One window in the bedroom had been left open a little, letting the soft sound of rain echo through, as well as the cool breeze that it brought. A soft thunder echoed in the distance, and the rain began to fall a little harder. The relaxation of it all drifted through the bedroom, relaxing the two genomes that were laid out on the one bed, cuddling together.

Zidane was deep asleep, his head tucked in a little, one arm tucked against his chest, the other draping over his waist, his hand resting on his stomach. The blonde genome's soft golden blond hair had come loose of it's pony tail, and the thief's shoulder length hair fanned out beneath his head, his bangs falling into his eyes, casting a sweet and almost innocent appearance on the boy. It suit him very well.

Kuja on the other hand, was slowly waking up from a very arousing dream it seemed. His soft ice blue gaze was slightly hazy, and so everything was blurry for the moment. Sometime during the night his robe had slipped down his shoulders, leaving them bare. Perhaps because the humidity in the village. That wasn't the case anymore however, as the mage cooed softly, closing his eyes a bit as he took in the sensation of the cool breeze from the window, blowing across what skin was exposed.

He sat up a little and stretched his arms, mewing a little as his tail uncurled to stretch as well. Once his vision came to him, he looked down at his current bed partner and tilted his head to the side. Feather soft locks of hair fell into his view, but that didn't stop him from studying the younger genome's features.

He found himself entranced as he stared at Zidane. They way Zidane's lashes fluttered slightly when he was dreaming, and how soft sighs would escape his soft, perfectly shaped lips as he breathed when he slept. Kuja's eyes grew hazy again as he just watched the blonde… In his mind, Zidane was more than just kind to him… Zidane himself was a gift…

Not being able to control himself, and becoming lost in the moment, slowly… Kuja leaned down, hesitant for a moment, before claiming the younger man's lips in a soft, affectionate and gentle kiss. Slowly, his eyes slid closed and he found himself drowning in the moment. Granted it was he who was stealing the kiss, it had been such a long time since he had touched anyone, or in return had anyone touch him for that matter. Kuja craved the touch, and moved to a more comfortable position, throwing one leg over Zidane's lap, and straddled the younger man, parting his lips slowly.

Zidane moaned, his brows furrowing a bit as his lashes fluttered lightly. His dreams had changed drastically at that point. From a dream of a battle shifting into an erotic dream, the blonde found himself indulging in it. Parting his lips to speak, he found his invisible partner take advantage of the situation, exploring the warm cavern of his mouth, tasting him, savoring him, and teasing his soft lips.

Not being able to hold back, Zidane responded to the kiss, fighting back playfully for dominance over the kiss, nipping at the other's bottom lip. In response, Kuja moaned, reaching out with one hand to roam his fingers slowly through the thief's golden blonde locks of hair, sensually stroking the other's hair affectionately. For Zidane this was turning into a good, good dream.

Kuja mewed softly, rocking his hips down against Zidane's lap, his robe sliding further off the shoulders, revealing his soft pale flesh. The mage was becoming more stimulated by the moment, as one hand moved to slide down Zidane's bare chest, roaming his fingertips over the younger man's body, memorizing every inch of skin he could. Zidane's skin was soft to the touch, and it seemed the mage couldn't get enough, and deepened the kiss, moaning a little as he pressed his own body closer.

Zidane gasped a little, biting the other man's lip softly, his eyes beginning to flutter open. It was too sensual, too erotic, and way too real to be just a dream at this point. He couldn't make out who was on top of him at first. But the silhouette of a willowy figure and beautiful hair was all he needed. His memory wasn't working for him of what happened the day before, so He figured some beautiful woman had decided to come wake him up in a pleasant manor. It certainly was working.

Breaking the kiss, the older genome trailed his lips down along the blonde's neck, seductively nibbling up to his earlobe, biting playfully, which caused Zidane to groan, rocking his hips upwards into the body above him in reaction. This sent an electrifying chill through the mage as he moaned, rocking his hips harder down against Zidane's now. It was apparent they were both aroused, and Kuja wanted more. He had no control over what he was doing; it was all pure, raw, sexual instinct. And believe me, the mage knew he was deprived.

Frowning a little Zidane stopped, groaning a little, to look up at the person above him. He blinked rapidly. That moan was feminine enough, but it didn't sound like a woman…. His vision eventually came to him, and when everything became clear, Aquamarine eyes went wide with shock and horror. His jaw dropped slightly as he just stared.

Kuja sat up on Zidane's lap, a sensually erotic moan/mew escaped his lips as his tail entwined with Zidane's, causing Zidane to twitch and gasp at the sensation. However Zidane's tail managed to unwind from Kuja's and the blonde looked up at the platinum haired man and whimpered. The way Kuja's robe was falling off his shoulders and exposing his chest, made the feminine mage irresistible. However Zidane could not believe this was happening in the first place.

"K-Kuja s-stop." He breathed heavily, his cheeks flushing a bright pink in color.

Kuja stopped almost instantly at hearing Zidane's voice, and his own cheeks flushed a soft pink. His eyes were closed and he kept it that way, frozen. He couldn't bring himself to look down at Zidane at the moment, but he did stop as requested.

Panting, the blonde managed to regain some composure, not sure how to deal with this situation. He could shove Kuja off of himself and run to the bathroom for a cold shower, but that would only cause tension between them for the rest of their trip. Zidane tried to think, not sure how to deal with this situation. This was awkward. He couldn't honestly say he'd ever been in a situation where he almost started to have sex with his ex-nemesis.

"My apologies…" Kuja whispered, his entire body tensing. "…I got carried away-"

"No. Uh… Don't…. Don't worry about it." Zidane cut the other off. He didn't need to hear any excuses. Half of it was his fault too. Zidane was actually enjoying it. The thought mildly disturbed him, but he blamed the fact on that Kuja looked like a woman so it was easier to cope with.

Pulling away, Kuja crawled off of Zidane and sat at the end of the bed, his hands in his lap, staring down at them, blushing. He clearly had overstepped himself somewhere. He honestly did loose a little control. Then again, Kuja was usually like this in the mornings anyways. He remembered the second day down in the Lifa Tree. He had woken up to Zidane trying to shimmy down his body to get out of the root cage. At the time, Kuja had found it extremely arousing, the way Zidane shifted his body this way and that, almost purposely grinding against Kuja.

However the mage knew better. This time… It was pure sextual need and desire. He didn't have much to use for an excuse. He could mentally picture himself now, telling Zidane: " Sorry about that. I haven't had sex in awhile. Mind if I vent my sexual frustration out on you?" He mentally groaned to himself. What the hell was wrong with him? He should have known better, Zidane had a thing for the new Queen of Alexandria anyways. Sighing he reached up, running a hand through his long platinum hair.

Zidane slowly got up from the bed, his cheeks flushed. He crossed his arms over his chest a bit as he looked at Kuja. "Hey… Uh…" Either way it got Kuja's attention and the mage looked up at Zidane. "Lets just pretend this didn't happen okay? I'm not mad… I just don't want this to happen again… Okay?" He said, trying not to hurt Kuja's feelings too badly.

Kuja nodded in agreement. He had almost the exact same thoughts. However… he didn't know if he could forget this. The way Zidane felt against his lips, under his touch, or underneath him in general… Such soft skin and silken gold hair. How could anyone forget such perfection?

Zidane smiled weakly and stretched, blushing a bit. He wouldn't be able to forget either, but he was going to try. Sighing he turned and walked to the bathroom to take that cold shower he had promised himself 5 minutes ago, and waved to Kuja.

"I'll be out in 15 minutes. I suggest you get dressed. As soon as we're ready, we're heading out." As he disappeared into the bathroom, shutting and locking the door behind him.

……….

After Zidane was successfully pleased with his cold shower, he emerged from the bathroom, walking back into the bedroom and grabbing his shirt and vest, sliding them on with ease. He combed his fingers through his damp hair and stretched, even his tail. He sighed and looked around, not seeing Kuja in the bedroom. He walked out, after collecting the bag of Gil and his dagger on the dresser, and paused in the doorway of the bedroom when he saw Kuja by the window. He stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes wandering up and down the mage, in his new outfit.

Kuja turned when he heard Zidane and smirked, posing by the window. " What do you think?"

Even if the thief didn't know the mage's size, he seemed to be a natural when it came to guessing.

Kuja's new outfit consisted of extremely form fittingly well soft black leather pants that rode a little low on the hips, matching with Kuja's thigh high leather boots, which he salvaged from his old outfit. To match, was a pale violet long sleeved under shirt, and a black leather short-sleeve tunic that laced up the back, and was left open in the front, except for one hook that kept it half closed. For the most part the whole outfit was Kuja. Form fitting, and black and violet. Colors that suited him well.

Zidane was speechless. "Wow. It suits you- definitely."

Kuja smiled a bit then wrinkled his nose. "…I don't like the black though. It's too... I don't know. I just don't care for it."

Zidane snorted. "Aren't you picky… Think of it this way: Your in mourning for the loss of your magic." He smirked.

Kuja glared. "That's not amusing."

Zidane chuckled and strapped the dagger and bag of Gil to his belts and then collected a backpack of potions and other items he had purchased in the village and handed it to Kuja. " Here, since your no used to me on the battle field in a fight, you can carry the potions and stuff." Zidane grinned cheekily, as Kuja just snorted at him in annoyance.

……..

Finally the two headed out, leaving the Inn. Zidane paid the innkeeper and then the two were off once again.

As they were leaving the village, Kuja couldn't help but stop the blonde and ask.

"Where exactly are we going next?" Kuja had his arms crossed over his chest, bewildered as to where they would go from Conde' Petie. They didn't have an air-ship, nor did they have a Boat. Where would they go and what would they do? It was obvious Zidane wanted to go to the Mist continent, but he wasn't sure how they were going to get there.

Zidane stopped as well, crossing his arms over his chest, one hand reaching up to rub his chin thoughtfully. He looked off just to the southeast towards the forest. He then glanced over his shoulder to the east just beyond the cliff towards the entrance of Fossil Roo. This was indeed a tough decision. Actually, it was going to be difficult not for Zidane but for Kuja. This was more or less a decision Kuja had to make.
Looking back at the mage he grimaced a little out of pity.

"Actually Kuja…. I'm going to leave this up to you. We have two choices of what we can do…" He sighed heavily, not sure if he even wanted to try and explain either option to Kuja. He knew the mage would hate them both. "We have the option of going southeast to the forest where the Black Mage village is, or…" He paused, noticing the wince Kuja made. "…We can go east just beyond the cliff to the entrance of Fossil Roo, which is an underground passage to the Mist continent." Zidane said, leaving out the part about the Gargants… for now.

Kuja blinked a bit and took this into thought. " Fossil Roo seems easy enough."

Zidane sighed and decided he would be kind and fill Kuja in on the hidden problem. "Fossil Roo would indeed be the best, and easiest rout to take. Not to mention it would be the most convenient in keeping you hidden… However there's one tiny little detail I left out…" Zidane took a step back, as so Kuja wouldn't smack him when he told him that tiny, 'little', detail.

Kuja furrowed his brows slightly, knowing full well he probably wouldn't like it. "And that is….?"

"Fossil Roo is only travelable through means of using Gargants."

Kuja's brow twitched in irritation. He did feel like smacking Zidane now. "Your kidding…"

Zidane shook his head. " No, I'm not. Y'know, they're not that bad really… And yes, I know I said you would never have to ride one again after the first time… but…" He scratched the back of his head some, watching Kuja. "That's why I'm leaving this choice up to you."

Kuja seemed to inwardly groan as his arms dropped to his sides limp, his head tilting back as he stared up at the sky, mentally sulking. Someone up there really, really hates me. Sighing he looked off towards the southeast forest then glanced to Zidane. The black mages… He wondered. "Zidane, the black mages couldn't be all that bad could they?" Then he stopped to think about what he just asked. Before Zidane could even say anything, he waved the blonde off and sighed shaking his head. "…Never mind."

"If you were to walk into that village, it would be like the devil walking into heaven. You would be better off just gritting your teeth and dealing with the Gargants. The less people that know you're alive, the better. The black mage village doesn't have just black mages anymore. Most of the population of Terra and Bran Bal is living there now." Zidane said, walking over to reassure the older man, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Kuja groaned, burying his face in his hands. "What better way to announce my presence, but to the people who's homes I've destroyed, and lives I have ended since birth…." Kuja felt like a knife had been just shoved into his stomach. He felt absolutely horrible. He definitely couldn't go there.

He didn't want to ride Gargants anymore either. He despised the damn things. They were big, ugly, creepy, and smelly. He was stuck between a rock and a hard place. He wasn't sure what he could do at this point. It was being mauled by a mob of black mages and genomes, or riding bareback on a giant bug.

He whimpered, beginning to pout.

"Death would have been so much nicer. I'm not sure if hell would have been better or worse."

End of chapter 7

…..

Author's comments:

DUN DUN DUN! And that's where I'm leaving it. Yes, I know I'm evil. But I want to leave you people hanging as to what happens next. Does he go to the black mage village? Or does he decide to ride the smelly Gargant? TUNE IN NEXT TIME! And I don't think it's gonna take so long for the next chapter either. I already have ideas for that one.