Ticking Timebomb
Chapter 60 – Love and War
A/N: Full disclosure, a good portion of this chapter is mostly smut xD So if that makes you uncomfortable please don't read it, I promise no plotty bits will be at the end, just the beginning of this chapter. Thanks and enjoy!
Edit: I reuploaded this chapter because I noticed so many mistakes. Sorry guys xD
. . .
You've got to be kidding me.
That phrase must have ran through my head at least a hundred times in the past fifteen minutes. The manner of beast I was up against eluded me, but its claws were big and sharp, it stood on two legs, and it had fangs large enough to tear me to shreds. To say I was ready to piss myself was an understatement. I guess I should be thankful I wasn't wearing any underwear.
But then again – as Yusuke's shirt flew up around my thighs giving the people above a nice view of my bare ass – perhaps I shouldn't be so thankful.
I dodged again, avoiding a harrowing swipe of the monster's massive hand. I was wasting too much time sizing up my opponent...but I didn't have a clue how I was going to go about fighting it.
I had seen instantly what Mukuro's end game was.
Either I would fight this thing and win. Or I would die trying. I was hoping she believed I could win and hadn't just set me up to fail. Because it sure looked that way from where I was standing.
"Shit!" I swore as the thing came for me again. It was fast. Too fast for it's large body.
Unnatural. That was the only word I could use to describe it.
A man made beast. One built of metal and flesh and pieced together like a cyborg. It was both horrifying and intriguing...but mostly horrifying.
It took out a column of jagged stone beside me and I took the chance to use the broken pieces as cover. I dodged between the flying rock until I was close enough and then pulled my bow. I didn't put my all behind the arrow I shot at it, hoping that a low level one would be enough to at least cause it some pain.
I heard Yusuke holler something about using one of his moves. In which I rolled my eyes because I didn't have the first clue what he was talking about.
And then I watched as the creature swatted the arrow away like it was a fly.
Well then. Guess it would take a little more oomph.
While it was distracted I put some distance between us, hiding behind one of the remaining rock formations. I took the chance to catch my breath, feeling the sting of tiny scrapes and cuts I hadn't noticed before.
Above me, my friends, along with Mukuro and Sayuri, stood. Watching. Waiting.
Both Yusuke and Kazuma were at the railing, cheering me on. I smiled and waved. Might as well make the best of it.
The next second Kazu was gesturing wildly, pointing at something I couldn't see. I jumped out of the way just in time, shooting him a thumbs up as I ran off, away from the monster. There went another hiding spot. Soon enough it would just be me, the cyborg, and empty space.
Hand to hand combat was out of the question. I wouldn't even put a dent in him, no pun intended. So that left the use of my bow...or Chronos' powers.
It had been awhile since I used this, but it was my best shot.
I called forth that ancient energy, it gave me a completely different rush compared to my own. The energy of a god – fearsome and absolute. It was so intense the feeling left me reeling, but I loved every second of it.
I felt when my eyes flooded back, the feeling like a creeping sickness. But it no longer frightened me.
The clock I had used on Hiei all those months ago appeared. It clanged like a grandfather clock, the sound amplified in this massive space. And then the hands moved, first turning round and round faster than the eye could follow. And then it stopped, clanging once...twice...three times.
Time slowed to a crawl.
I had maybe sixty seconds.
I rushed forward, my speed not at all encumbered like the rest of the world. I slid to my knees, sliding beneath the giant's legs and forming my bow. I shot an arrow up towards its chin and then again at both its knees. I came out of the slide behind it and shot a forth arrow at the back of its head for good measure.
The clock disappeared with a loud bong and time sped up again.
The giant howled in pain, clutching its head in the palms of its hands and falling over on its ass. But my arrows hadn't done nearly enough damage. Its knees looked pretty well ruined...but the ones that had struck him in the head had only revealed the metal underneath. It was dented...but not pierced.
Shit.
I was about to send out a second round of arrows when a shout from above averted my attention. "Kas, behind you!"
I didn't turn quick enough.
And whatever it was that came flying towards me was almost too fast to see.
It struck me head on, sending me careening into the farthest wall. I slammed into it, coughing up blood.
Oh fuck did that hurt.
I fell to the ground below hard, rolling to my feet as quick as I could. It seemed Mukuro's tank had done its job. Besides just being thrown into a stone wall, my back still felt amazing.
I cast a disdainful glance at the new creature in the room – a giant overgrown bat by the looks.
I took the time to give Mukuro the finger, in which I heard her laughter afterwards, before summoning my bow.
Five arrows appeared. I shot them all at once.
It dodged three of them, but the fourth and fifth hit the bastard in the wings. It dropped to the ground, its landing kicking up a cloud of dust.
Momentarily blinded I never saw when my original opponent snuck up beside me. Who knew something so big could move so quietly?
I was snatched up in a giant palm, trapped. It held me aloft, near its face and a weird little grin spread its mouth just before it squeezed.
I think I screamed.
No. That was definitely me.
"Let me go you asshole!" I screeched, trying to wriggle my way out of its hold.
It only squeezed harder. Worried it would soon snap something, or worse, kill me. I drew from Chronos' supply of energy once again, the golden lights appearing on command now.
I teleported away from the giant, appearing across the arena, on top of one of the last remaining boulders.
"Use Oblivion..." Chronos whispered. "Use it now."
It was hard to remember the steps to call forth that monstrous power. It was even harder when I did manage it.
The sphere of black, at first small, soon grew so large it encompassed the entire arena. The bat creature, not quite dead, as well as the giant were swallowed up. Together, we stood in that black, the darkness so deep you wondered if you'd gone blind.
Nothing like going out with a bang.
The sphere sucked itself inwards and then imploded. It blew everything away with it—other than me. I stood on top of that boulder, watching as the world changed around me, my hair whipping around my face. The colors became so much brighter, time slowed, the energies filtering through the building stunning in their clarity. I could smell, taste, hear—everything.
The monsters that had been caught up in the blast were vaporized. Nothing remained.
And this time I didn't touch my life energy. I would say it was a win, win.
I jumped down from the boulder, still riding the high of victory. It had helped...that his eyes had never left me. And now, when I looked up at that balcony, I could see the pride shining there. Oh, wasn't that just the loveliest sight?
No one. And I mean no one, had ever looked at me with a gaze so prideful.
I was so caught up in that look that I never noticed that I was glowing—that my entire body was lit up like a firework. And the glow lingered, like Chronos' finisher had cracked me open like one of those emergency light sticks.
Everything was slowed down and disorienting, but I could hear the cheers from Yusuke and Kazuma, the shouts coming to me as if from a great distance. So I lifted my arm, throwing a fist into the air—an acknowledgment of my victory. It happened in slow motion too, just like everything else.
But nothing would ruin this for me. Even if the sky came crashing down around me.
Which of course it did.
The spell cast by Chronos' Oblivion ended and time sped up again, leaving me reeling. I was on my knees and sobbing, covering my ears as the sound and the odd lighting in the room bombarded me. I was suddenly so sensitive to everything. So when Mukuro came jumping down from her perch and lifted me from the ground I wanted to punch her in the face.
"Don't touch me!" I shouted, hurting my own ears.
"Stop struggling or you'll only make it worse," she replied.
She carried me up a flight of stairs and through the doorway that led to the balcony. Here she set me down, the glow radiating from my skin already fading. She retrieved a pair of trousers from Kurama and handed them to me. I pulled them on, grateful to finally be covered up.
She turned to Hiei then. "We have much to discuss."
He nodded once, curt and cold. But the hand he brushed down my side as he passed me was anything but. He left with Mukuro, leaving me battered, bruised and tired as well as confused. What a shitty combination.
Before I could find an avenue for escape I was stuck in a headlock, Yusuke's fist digging into the top of my skull. "That was awesome!"
Kazuma took up my other side, slapping me on my back (ouch), "You kicked ass out there, Kas," he said.
I tore away from Yusuke, shoving him for good measure. "I can't believe you assholes just sat up here and watched!"
"Come now," said Kurama, "if we truly thought your life was in danger one of us would have put a stop to it."
"It was in danger!"
"Not anymore than usual."
"You three are unbelievable! Some friends you are!"
"Hey Kas, by the way, didn't realize you had such a round ass! Is it as firm as it looks?"
The punch I socked Yusuke with was well deserved. And the kick in the shins Kazuma got for laughing was too. But it was Kurama's silent chuckles that really had me steaming. He was bent over and turned away, a hand over his mouth as if he could hide it.
"You're all a bunch of pricks, I hope you know!"
This started a new round of hysterics and soon enough I was joining in, tears of mirth gathering in the corners of my eyes.
A quiet 'ahem' put an end to our fun, and I realized I had forgotten all about Sayuri. Guilt quickly overrode all my previous cheer.
"Kasumi-san, may we continue our conversation from earlier? In private, perhaps?"
I cast each of my friends a glance, doing my best to ignore the curiosity I could see in their faces. "Yeah, sure," I said and then reached out for Sayuri's hand, the motion automatic, as if we had done it a million times before.
She took it with a smile and I led her into the hallway beyond the balcony and away from prying ears. I had no idea where I was going, but the hallways were empty. And that was good enough for me.
"Lets just cut to the chase, huh?" I said, staring at my feet instead of her face.
"There's no need to act so cold. I am not only here to be freed, but also to offer my strength to you. As payment for saving my life."
"That...that's not necessary, Sayuri," I replied. "I did it of my own freewill. I wanted to save you, both times," I added.
"And I too offer this of my own freewill. I have seen in your mind what weighs on you so. I want to help."
"I don't know if you can."
"Let me try."
I sighed. She wasn't going to take no for an answer. And I couldn't deny that I could use someone like her in my corner. "Okay, if that's honestly what you want."
"It is and I am glad for it. Now, as for the removal of the mark..."
I cut her off with a sharp hiss. We had traveled down several different hallways, but the one we had just come across was the first where I had heard voices. I hid my energy on instinct, feeling when Sayuri did too.
When I was certain not a drop of it could be detected, I sidled up to a door that have been left cracked open.
"...you should have told me."
"I told you enough."
"The manner of being she houses...the energy she carries..."
"Is no business of yours."
A dark laugh, one that sounded bitter but not angry. "It is when it could cost me and my people their lives."
"It won't come to that."
"Are you certain? Can you say without a shadow of a doubt that nothing will come of it?"
"Yes," a hiss, anger coating the tone.
"How?"
There was a long pause of silence. I waited outside that door with bated breath, afraid that one of them would notice I was eavesdropping. But I couldn't help it, not when Hiei found new and more interesting ways to keep things from me.
"I won't let it," was the reply, though I knew without a doubt he'd wanted to say something entirely different.
Mukuro scoffed at Hiei's answer, not at all placated. "You are still taking me for a fool."
"That's not it," he said.
"Then by all means, please explain." Sarcastic. Annoyed. I couldn't blame her.
Sayuri tugged at my hand and I turned to see her golden eyes imploring me to move on. But I shook my head sharply and listened harder.
"She..." he sighed, frustrated. "She has more control over it than you realize."
"That remains to be seen. And it isn't what I wanted to hear. I see why you have found value in her, she is not a simpering child nor is she weak. But she is not strong either."
"The rule?" he asked.
Mukuro sighed, weary. "Do as you see fit. But know that I will not save you from the backlash. Your enemies will hunt her until the day she dies. Be ready."
Sayuri tugged at my hand, the pull insistent and this time I obeyed, letting her lead me off further down the darkened hallway. Just in the nick of time too, because a moment later both Hiei and Mukuro exited the room. But before they even considered casting their gaze my way, Sayuri dragged me behind a stone pillar, engulfing us in shadow.
"That was close," I whispered.
"I think it is time," she said, by way of reply.
And then she was taking the hand still connected to her own and bringing it towards her mouth. Her teeth sank into the both of them, the fangs at the top piercing into the back of my hand. It didn't hurt as I expected it to. In fact...it felt warm, tingly almost.
"What the hell are you doing?"
She bit harder, drawing blood. Once she had a mouthful of both our blood combined she pulled away. She spat the blood into her free hand, extricating the other from my grip.
"I need you to trust me," she said.
I just nodded, staring at her in bewilderment. I had no idea what was going on.
She laughed, finding my confusion funny. "Once this is complete you are a free woman. I will hold no binds to you nor will you hold any to me. This is a ritual I took centuries to perfect. So please, no interruptions."
A ritual created just for this purpose? Created by Sayuri with every intention of freeing me someday. My gaze turned sad...and thankful. She had caused me a lot of trouble, trouble that had brought on a lot of heart ache. But she had never intended it. Had never wanted it.
I leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you."
She began to hum...and soon the humming turned to beautiful words in a language I couldn't understand. She dipped her fingers in our combined blood and drew patterns with it across my forehead, my cheeks, the hollow of my throat. She dragged a line from the center of my upper lip to the bottom of my chin.
She repeated this process on her own face, before taking the remaining blood and smearing it between her palms.
A wind picked up even though there was no open window or draft. It was warm and inviting, calm and peaceful. An embodiment of Sayuri.
When her song reached its crescendo the blood on her palms turned to white flames, burning so bright it stung my eyes. She placed one flame engulfed hand against her neck, over my mark. The other, she placed on my chest, right above my heart.
"Do you feel your energy, the piece you gifted me with?"
It took me but a moment to find and I nodded.
"Good...now, call to it. Draw it out."
I did as I was told, tempting the energy to come back to me by releasing just a bit from inside myself. It sprung forward, as if it were an elastic, and reconnected with my soul. A missing piece falling back into place.
With its departure from Sayuri a burst of youki exploded from her hands. It left no visible mark on me, but felt as if she were sealing my energy back up inside where it belonged. The hand over her neck was removed...and beneath it was skin as untainted as the day she was born.
The white flames still burned. But did not sting. She dragged a hand down my face. The blood was engulfed, forcing me to shut my eyes.
When next I opened them it was to find her standing before me, a radiant smile stretching her face. "It is done."
"That's it?" I asked.
She chuckled, "Yes, you are once again whole. And I am no longer your chosen."
"Must you say it that way? It seems so sad when you do."
"No. Not sad. Just right." She turned to look down the hall, towards the way we had come. "Go now. He waits for you. And I must be on my way."
"What about your brother's heart?"
Sayuri's eyes turned somber. "That is for you to decide." She began to walk away, still facing me and walking backwards. "I will see you again soon."
And then she faded into shadow.
I thought to call to her, to see if she'd really gone, but I voice behind me sent shivers down my spine. And all thoughts of Sayuri vanished.
"I've been looking for you."
. . .
I was dragged off towards Hiei's chambers, his own private sector of Makuro's moving fortress. After asking him at least ten times if the others were fine, in which he'd repeatedly told me to shut up, I decided to listen and just walked along beside him.
I was pulled into his bedroom a moment later, the door slamming shut behind us.
I peeled off my blood encrusted shirt the second I was through the door, throwing it to the stone below. The wounds I had were superficial, but they stung. I did my best to ignore the gaze boring into my back, concentrating on inspecting my injuries. Several were still bleeding, but not enough to cause concern.
I shivered when hot hands slid along my waist, fingers dragging and smearing through my blood. He painted patterns with it across my stomach, leaning in so he could plant heated kisses down the back of my neck.
"What you did was reckless," he spoke against my skin, lips brushing across my shoulder blade.
"But I won," I replied, arching my neck so he had better access.
He dragged his teeth down my sensitive flesh, making warmth pool in my stomach. My toes curled against the floor. I needed him so bad. The adrenaline from the fight was still coursing through my veins and this would be the perfect release.
"I want you," I breathed, a soft moan falling past my lips when the fingers at my stomach dipped past the waistband of my jeans.
"How do you want me?" He asked, tone wicked and full of dark promises.
He dragged his tongue across one of the wounds that were still bleeding, swallowing my blood with a deep groan. "The way you taste..."
I turned in his arms, my hunger for him beyond measure. I was still riding a high from my previous fight. Reveling in the look of pride Hiei had watched me with the entire time. I wanted to eat him alive, to fuck him just as senseless as he always made me.
And the fact I was free from my chains that bound me to Sayuri made it all the sweeter.
"Take your clothes off," I growled.
He raised an eyebrow at me, lips curling into a smirk. "Make me," he said.
He shouldn't have tested me. Perhaps he didn't realize how desperate I was to feel his skin against mine. Or perhaps he did and wanted to see how far he could push me, but I was in no mood for games.
I tore his shirt straight down the center, running my hands down his chest, leaning forward to cover him in bruising kisses that would disappear by morning.
When my hands encountered his belts I made quick work of them, shimmying his pants down his hips, exposing him to the open air. For his credit he didn't say a word. Not until I dropped to my knees anyway.
"What are you doing?" he hissed.
I didn't answer him, didn't even give him time to think about it.
I palmed his hot flesh, already hard for me. I heard him groan as I ran my hand up and down that silken length. I leaned forward, lips brushing against the head, tasting him.
He swore, a gasp getting lodged in his throat. I went to take him more fully into my mouth but a hand fisted in my hair wrenched me backwards.
Hiei was looking down on me, eyes filled with some kind of emotion I didn't understand. His gaze searched for something within my own. What he found there I didn't know, but with tentative movements he released my hair.
He cupped the back of my head, guiding me back towards him. His eyes never left me, not even when I opened wide and took in as much of him as I could.
I coated his length with saliva, bobbing my head, watching as he watched me with a gaze filled with hunger. I let him control the speed, the amount he allowed me to wrap my lips around. Because I knew now what his initial hesitation had meant.
I was the first to pleasure him in such a way. And it made him vulnerable. I could hurt him so easily this way.
The fact he trusted me enough to allow me to do it turned me on even more.
I hummed around him, loving the sounds he was making, smirking when his eyes finally dipped closed. He curled over me, hanging his head, burying both hands in my hair, losing himself in the feeling of my lips and tongue.
I used gentle suction at first, waiting for him to get used to the sensation, running my tongue around the tip of his cock. I watched his stomach muscles bunch and contract, groans getting caught in the back of his throat.
I wrapped my hand around the base, his length too large for me to swallow entirely. As it was, I could feel him at the back of my throat, practically choking me.
When I began to move in a steady rhythm his fingers alternated between pulling my hair and holding on for dear life. But his touch was beginning to burn my scalp and while I usually didn't mind when he lost a bit of his control, it was starting to make my eyes water.
It was hard to concentrate, his heady smell filling my nose, his blisteringly hot hands at my scalp. I ended up dragging my teeth down him. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, not exactly. But the reaction it invoked from him was not at all what I had been expecting.
He came with a violent snarl and it was all I could do to swallow around him, tears streaming down my face from the discomfort.
For several heartbeats he continued to grip my hair, panting. Then he let go with a swear and I pulled away from him with a wet pop.
I stared up at him with eyebrows raised to my hairline, lips quirking into an awkward smile.
Hiei averted his eyes, his entire face as red as my hair.
He left his hands floating awkwardly nearby the back of my head but he made no move to touch me again. His embarrassment was apparent and I was a little tempted to poke fun at him, because he would have done the same to me (and had on numerous occasions). But I only suppressed my twitching lips and the laughter building in my chest.
So what if he got off on that kind of thing? We'd done stranger things in the heat of the moment. And I was afraid if I tried to make light of the situation he would never let me do it again.
But that bashful face he was making...
It was just too much!
"Why, Hiei," I whispered. " Are you blushing?"
"Silence woman!" he hissed, but the words held no bite.
I couldn't stop the laugh, watching as his blush spread. "Kinda hard to take you seriously when you're as red as a tomato."
He growled and next thing I knew I was picked up and pushed face first into the bedroom wall. "You'll pay for mocking me," he snarled into my ear.
I felt the grin on my face grow, because even though he was trying to sound tough I knew better.
A muscular arm, like corded steal, wrapped around my hips. He pushed down on the middle of my back and forcibly pulled up on my waist, until my ass was sticking straight out and my hands were planted flat against the wall.
The hand wrapped around my hips shifted until his fingers could pop open the buttons and unzip the fly on my jeans. When he'd succeeded he wrenched them down my hips, leaving them tangled around my knees.
He kept one hand on my back, trapping me in place, but the other...
It tracked blazing trails down my spine, teasing me before leaving my skin completely.
I waited a breath, wondering what he had planned, when with a resounding smack he slapped my ass hard.
I yelped, gasping in a shocked breath and had no time to even retaliate when he reared back and gave the other cheek the same treatment.
I could hear the shit eating grin he had on his lips when next he spoke, "There...now your ass is as red as my face."
"I hate you," I ground out.
He leaned forward to nip at the shell of my ear. "No you don't," he said.
He helped me remove my pants completely, tossing them aside to be forgotten along with his own.
And then he was moving, keeping his hands wrapped around my hips so I couldn't squirm away. He knelt behind me and I felt my blush grow, my entire face heated to the point I wouldn't be surprised if steam was coming out of my ears.
He kissed each cheek, as if to say sorry, leaving little cooling pools of saliva that made me shiver. And then he was traveling lower and it took everything I had to bite back the whimper that so desperately clawed its way up my throat.
Hiei's tongue was tentative at first, dipping in and then out of my sex as if he was taste testing. He ran the flat of it upwards, from clit to ass, and I couldn't help the moan that spilled past my lips. With that noise alone he was delving as deep inside me as he could, his tongue hot and wet and sensual. His fingers gripped my hips so hard they bruised but I didn't care.
Especially when that surprisingly skilled tongue abandoned its pantomime of things to come and began to lath my clit to the point I was a sloppy, whimpering mess. One hand fled my waist so it could join in on the fun, two fingers entering me simultaneously and pumping in and out in a steady rhythm.
But when he crooked his fingers in just the right way my back arched and I groaned long and loud. I felt the chuckle he released at the sight and then he was crooking them again and again, his tongue still sliding over my bundle of nerves in time with his fingers. I came hard, slapping my hands against the wall, his name falling from my tongue like a prayer.
When he let me go, I slid down the wall until I was on my knees, body trembling. I turned to look behind me, to see him standing over me with a face so smug that he looked like the cat that had eaten the canary. Making sure I was paying attention, he sucked the fingers he'd just used to bring me to completion into his mouth, savoring every last bit of my orgasm.
He knelt, an all too large smirk in place, eyes shining. "Want a taste?" he asked.
"You're foul," I said, though I didn't really mean it.
His lips twisted in a poor attempt to hide a smile and then he was reaching over to fist the hair at the back of my head. He pulled me into a bruising kiss, his tongue delving between my lips to do as he'd said and give me a taste. I didn't pull away, reveling in the fact that I coated his tongue and he coated mine and suddenly my arousal was almost too much to handle. A fire had settled deep in my stomach and I knew of only one way it could be purged.
I caught him off guard with the hard shove I used to knock him on his ass. I didn't waste any time after that, thankful we were both already naked.
I palmed him again, feeling as his cock swelled at the touch, his red eyes glowing with unearthly color. I straddled his waist, using my grip to guide him into me. And then I sunk down slowly, watching as his breath hitched and then sped up, making his chest heave.
When I was fully seated, Hiei filling me so completely it was as if he'd been made for me and me alone, he breathed out a single swear. And then I was moving.
His hands snapped to my hips but I was quick to pry them off and to my shock he allowed it. Even when I pinned his hands above his head, threading my fingers through his own.
I got an uninterrupted view of his face this way and it gave me a rush to see him almost vulnerable, even if my dominance over him was an illusion. He could easily turn the tables and I would be glad to let him any other time.
But I could feel this...strange tension between us. The day's past events becoming coiled like a snake waiting to strike. I didn't want him to doubt me, to doubt what we had somehow managed to build between us. To doubt that I loved him. And only him.
So with each slide of my hips, each rise and fall, I told him over and over. The words all blended together, a jumbled mess along with moans and whimpers and breathless sighs. Around the tenth time I whispered that I loved him his eyes squeezed shut because too much emotion swam there that he had never wanted to show the light of day. His fingers squeezed mine a little too tight, his knees rising up behind me to help keep me steady as I took from him exactly what I needed.
I picked up the pace, my chest heaving, sweat coating every inch of the both of us until it made our skin slick. Just as I was about to utter those trembling words of devotion once more, my equilibrium shifted, and in the blink of an eye I found myself thrown onto my back. He'd moved us so skillfully we hadn't separated for even a second. He kept the pace I'd set, hands gripping my thighs, lifting my legs to wrap around his waist.
A haze of heat had blanketed the room, making drawing even a simple breath of air hard. Though it warmed the stone beneath us.
A drop of sweat slid down the bridge of his nose, rivulets traveled in tiny streams down his chest. I leaned up to lick the sweat from his face, tasting salt.
He buried his face into my neck, dragging his teeth down my skin, making my back arch off the floor. I rolled my hips in time with his thrusts, feeling when his pace became more erratic, a little more rushed. He pushed himself deeper and deeper until all I could feel was him. All I could taste, all I could smell, all I could see.
I gripped his hair in tightly clenched fists, my panting breaths leaving moist patches on the tip of his shoulder. I trailed my lips across his skin, hearing him groan into my neck, his grip on my thighs slipping until he just gave up completely and slammed his balled up fists into the floor above my head.
His thrusts quickened then, as he neared the edge of the precipice that would bring him to his second climax. My hands found purchase wherever they could, nails leaving bloody trails down his back as they dug into his skin, holding on for dear life.
I was about to lose myself, every sense of who I was. The pleasure was intense, the building of my orgasm indescribable in its power. Because without fail, every time we did this my energy exploded outward like a canon, the purest it had ever been – untainted and magnificent. And his would rise to greet it, to meld together as if they were long lost lovers. And although it had frightened me at first, now...now I bathed in it – expected and hoped for it. Because it made me feel powerful in ways I never had before.
But the second his teeth began to sink into the side of my neck it was like having a bucket of ice water poured over me.
"Stop!" I shouted, tugging at his hair to pull his face away from me before those sharp fangs could so much as scratch me.
And he did. Even though he was just as lost in my body as I was in his. He froze solid. His breaths ragged pants that made my thighs clench.
"Why?" he rasped.
And I wasn't ready for this conversation. Would never be. "I can't..." fuck, my voice was so ravaged, "not...not when I'm..." but I couldn't finish. Couldn't say those words. Not here. Not now.
But he understood...and drew away. The look he gave me made my heart constrict in my chest. So I rolled my hips, seeing that hint of unrestrained lust reenter that red as deep as blood. And with tentative thrusts we began anew.
I shut my eyes, my shuddering breaths caused from more than just the sex. I knew what he wanted after all, what he'd been hinting at since our time in the Makai. But I couldn't allow it. Not when it would bind us together even stronger than the soulmate tether. Perhaps even permanently. And where would that leave him...?
"Look at me," he growled.
When I didn't obey he thrust into me particularly hard, causing a bit of pain that made me cringe. He reached up to grip my chin, fingers tight. "Look at me," he rumbled again, each word empathized with a hard push of his sex.
I opened my eyes as commanded, though I was certain they shined with stubborn resistance. He let go of my face then, threading his fingers through my fringe, letting them get caught in my sweat soaked hair. "You are mine whether you choose to be my mate or not," he said with conviction. "The marks just make it indisputable fact."
I didn't get the chance to tell him that if things were different that I wouldn't have stopped him. I would have claimed him in return even, if he'd let me. Because what I felt for him had dug so deep even I was not sure where it ended.
He kissed me, his lips rough, the kiss violent and wanting and filled with some kind of unspoken suffering. It left me breathless, even as he pulled away only to dip and kiss me again and again and again. Until I was panting his name in between and my legs were quaking and I could feel that heat pooling so deliciously where we were connected.
His skin began to glow. The golden light of his youki manifesting as he drew closer and closer to his climax. But it did not burst free until the tentative touch of my own reiki...and then it engulfed us both. The mix of color was blinding and magnificent. The power it emitted was sure to be felt through out the entire building. But neither of us cared.
I came with a hoarse scream, my fingers clutching at his shoulders like a drowning woman being saved at sea. My heart beat so hard and fast I thought it would race straight from my chest.
And then came a heat that was almost painful. Hiei climaxed with a long drawn out moan that made a flush bloom across my face. Because, fuck, that was the sexiest thing I'd ever heard.
He collapsed on top of me, his arms giving out beneath him, a hand still buried in my hair so his arm now cradled my head. His weight was bearable, but it was his overall body temperature that made me squirm. During the moment I didn't notice it as much, too caught up in just pure sensation. But now, with him so fully pressed against me, it felt as if I were laying on pavement on a ninety degree summer day.
"Stop moving," he groaned, his voice muffled in my shoulder.
"You're hot," I whined. And I began to wonder, if we had fucked in a bed, would the sheets have quite literally caught on fire?
So with an irritated huff he leveraged himself off me...and then froze. His eyes widened just enough to worry me, his expression screwed up with an emotion I didn't understand.
"What's wrong?" I asked. Because that look was making me want to cover myself. To hide from him.
He said nothing. He pulled away from me, separating completely and making me shiver from the lack of heat, the air suddenly freezing. Before I could question him further he had me gathered into his arms and he was running from the room. From there everything melded into a blur and I just clung to him, confusion coating my mind.
Eventually he stopped, pulling open a sliding door and entering another room. I realized it was a small bathing chamber, complete with tub, shower, and a row of sinks.
He set me down on the counter that housed said sinks, his eyes averted, and walked to the tub. He turned the knob to start filling it with water...and just waited. No explanation. Nothing.
But now with nothing to distract me I could feel as pain began to fire across my skin. Not just soreness from our earlier actions or pain from my previous wounds. But a new type of stinging...burning. It was fierce in places but nothing so awful that it would reduce me to a crying mess.
With Hiei's back still to me I took the chance to look myself over. And what I saw both shocked me and answered why Hiei hadn't been able to look at me this entire time.
I was covered in hand shaped burns. None so bad they would scar, but bad enough that they had left painful red welts wherever Hiei's hands had lingered too long. Hiei's hands...the most dangerous part about him besides his speed.
For my credit, I kept my composure. I held back the shocked breath of air I had almost sucked into my lungs. Because in the grand scheme of things this was nothing. I hadn't felt it when it happened. And in a few days they would flake off and be as if they never were.
Being with Hiei, sexually or otherwise, came with great risk. And those risks I was willing to take over and over. Without thought, without fail.
Because I loved him. Wholly and completely. And maybe that made me a blind fool...but I didn't give a shit.
So when he once again lifted me from the counter, the tub now full, and plopped me into water so cold it made me choke – I did not complain. But when my teeth began to clack together he took pity on me and placed a hand beneath the water. He pushed out enough of his power to heat it marginally, just enough to make it bearable.
He slid in beside me a second later. And I didn't hesitate to wrap myself up into his arms, settling between his legs, my back pressed against his chest.
"The whole point of this is to soothe the burns," he pointed out. Because being pressed against him right now felt more like I was sitting in a hot spring and not the icy water of before.
"I can't even feel them," I lied. My eyes were beginning to droop, a yawn slipping out before I could smother it.
He ran a hand through my hair again. "Sleep onna. You need it."
But I was already drifting off, my head resting against one of his shoulders. I let my eyes slip closed...and I was out like a baby.
Sometime much later I awoke to a darkened room, still naked but covered by a sheet. There was a weight over me that took my sleep addled brain a moment to figure out.
I was in Hiei's bed. And Hiei was asleep on his stomach beside me, one of his arms thrown over my chest. The Jagan wasn't open for once. I don't think I had ever seen him look so peaceful. I wanted to kiss him so bad in that moment but at the same time the thought of disturbing him seemed criminal.
So I committed his face – the way his fingers curled around my side, the soft breaths he released from slightly parted lips – to memory. And I closed my eyes with a smile.
Whatever tomorrow might bring...
I was thankful to have this moment. And nothing could take that away from me.
. . .
A/N: Ahem, well then. Romance abounds xD I hope you all enjoyed that as much as my pervy ass enjoyed writing it! Back to plotty things next chapter!