Sorry I took so long to update this! I ended up doing nothing, even paper drafts, during the holiday - Hawaii and Japan was a bit lazy for me. (I ended up doing a draft of a drawing in which Yukimura was pushing Sasuke onto a bed...Ehehehe.) But I've started plenty of other stories! And will appreciate it lots if people read and REVIEW.

Do I have to go through everything again? We all know that SDK would have turned into a yaoi manga with loads of smutty action in between pathetic fights with no actual story line if I owned it. So read on!

Drip…drip…

The raindrops sparkled in the white, morning light, as they slid down the smooth surface of the lush, green leaves, gathering, and falling through the air in between the short distance towards the wet rock beneath, shattering into a thousand particles as it hit the bare surface. The area was secretly filled with the small, barely audible splashes of the teardrop water, the milieu a refreshing, cool sight for sore eyes, especially after a weeks worth of drinking out of depression.

The tinkling resonance of wet on solids was covered, however, by the gentle rushing of the nearby river. It was usually not quite a big one, large enough to be discounted as a stream, but yet still not to be outsized by those with known names. Today, on the contrary, it was a busy, hastening ribbon of blue with swirling brown and frothy white, water occasionally lapping up against the edges of the banks. The previous day's rainfall had gotten it to rise in amounts of discharge, and a few leaves and branches floated past, carried away as the river had heightened twice more than it's normal depth.

Leaves and grass dipped, an sprang up again as each weight running down it's side released it's hold, and dropped, pinging against soil, wood, stone. As mentioned, the tiny noise made hardly any difference to the atmosphere, but to those who could hear them, it was a rhythmic beat that sounded everywhere, their sources countless.

Drip…drip…

Heavy lidded eyes started to lift, vision blurred and unable to comprehend anything clearly. Dark orbs swam sleepily around their confinement, before settling and steadily adjusting, focusing. Yukimura groaned as last night's headache caught up with him, and squeezed his eyes shut again to get rid of the pounding. After waiting a while, he released his pressure on them, and tried once more to realize his surroundings.

He was looking up at a hard, grey ceiling. It's rocky surface and tough demeanor told him immediately he had been resting under a shelter of stone. Sure enough, if he took a moment to look around, he found that it was a small cave with a low slung roof; he'd have to be careful not to raise himself too high without risking a sharp crack on the temple. He also discovered one more, perplexing subject of momentary confusion. His body was, apart from the weariness of yesterday's excessive drinking, feeling very heavy, as though something had been loaded up on top of him for a long period of time.

Again, it didn't take Yukimura long to figure out why this was so. A number of ragged, graying cloths had been swept over him, burying him under their weight and essentially cuddling him with their warmth and comfort. The blankets were old and thin, yet with the amount piled on him, it was efficient in keeping him cosy throughout the chilling, stormy night. He struggled out of the bundled state he had been in, muscles aching, to find some of his clothes sticking on him still. It seemed that they had not dried off completely during the night.

Near the mouth of the cave he noticed a charcoal black heap of some undeterminable object cluttered together. Getting closer, he realized it was the after remnants of a small fire. The flame had long since gone out, and even the smoke had risen into nothingness over the hours. Taking another, careful sweep of his surroundings, Yukimura spotted his weapon, possessions and jars of sake sitting in one corner of the little cavern. He glanced down again, realizing that he was still clasping the blankets.

Touching it, with a wondering expression flitting across his face, he came to track down his rather befuddled memory lane in search of one, clear answer. It didn't come as a shock at first, but eventually he started thinking intelligibly, and a boyish, yet charming face swam into his mind over a sea of disorientation.

…Sasuke…

Of course it had been him who had covered his master with what warmth he had. It had been him who had built him a fire, using what dry wood he could scourge in the midst of a downpour. It had been him who had carried his slacking, inconceivably drunk master across the mud and trees, searching desperately for one dry spot to lay him down in. All on his orders from the previous night.

He had been too harsh. He had not even been aware of what he was doing. As an adult, this type of irresponsibility was unacceptable. He had acted, and talked rashly, and the result was that he had collapsed from the unwarranted consuming of alcohol like a fat, rich, bastard aristocrat pampered with sweets and gold.

For some reason, Yukimura lifted his right hand to stare at it. Why was it, that as he gazed at the well known palm lines, a sense of intense guilt flowed up over him? He couldn't shake the feeling that he had done something painfully wrong, and could only remember that it had hurt…

An image of a young boy, sprawled on the ground, blank, staring eyes covered by his flaying fringe as his head twisted to one side from some kind of impact, swam up to meet the surface of his mind. And another, this time of the same small figure, kneeling on the dirty ground with his feet beside him, eyes once again shadowed, light fingers stroking the blotched side of his face as the angry red gleamed up at him…

Yukimura felt the jolt as though someone had dumped a bucket of icy water over him. His brain had been muffled of it's cries, and the warning signals had not reached him fast enough. It was already too late to stop his hand from lashing out, in the spurt of unbidden rage, and the damage had already been done. His servant had already taken the hit.

He scrambled out as quickly as he could, ducking past the narrow opening of the hole in the wall made of rock, stumbling clumsily in the sudden dizziness once he had gotten himself free. He had a much better view of the scenery before him now, but while the fresh greenery and granite formation did not interest him, the fierce creek, almost overflowing it's banks, caught much of his attention.

Or rather, it was the objects he spotted down one end of it. Even from the short distance, he could see that it was a bundle of clothes.

And on further inspection, he confirmed they were Sasuke's.

They were hanging, limp, from a sturdy tree someway apart from the river. In three quick strides Yukimura was beside the low branches, yanking off the neatly draped garments off of them. They were the child's, alright. The white shirt with the khaki-like patterned strip gracing the front. The tiny black socks, tucked up neatly with the geta shoes that had been sitting atop of the tree limb, nicely balanced. Even his shorts were there, looking impossibly short that it was a wonder it still barely managed to cover the small boy's bum.

Erotic thoughts aside, Yukimura noticed something else upon closer examination. They were all, in one way or another, flecked with something green. He bit his lip, searching for an explanation to this. Was it some kind of dye from the grass? Had the boy squirted some fruit juice as he bit into something at lunch? When had he done that?

Yukimura tried to recall anything that may have caused the curious miniscule, yet worryingly noticeable specks. Had it been like this since yesterday?

It was all a deep haze, as he had drowned himself in sake only hours after Sasuke had left him to battle the threat. But there was something…a little thing that provoked him to unsettle Sasuke, and caused him to harm the young boy…

He shivered in self disgust as the images from before hit him with all the force of a hurricane. Sasuke couldn't disobey him, nor counter attack him. But he didn't ridicule his master, or say anything to help him realize his actions before it was too late. Was it because he thought it would be useless since Yukimura was so drunk at the time being, or because he considered taking the punishment as part of the job?

Whatever his reason was, the older man wouldn't accept it easily. He would always listen to Sasuke, so long as he addressed him normally again.

He had been in such a dirty state then. Well, it was only to be anticipated – the shinobi's flight across the woods had been rough and rapid, and at the speed he was going it was a wonder the boy didn't bang into a particularly thick tree trunk and pass out in thin air. As an excellent subordinate of the Sanada, it was to be foreseen that he wouldn't, but Yukimura being Yukimura, his worries never ceased when it consisted of the small ninja.

Ah, yes. The green marks had been there. Sasuke had warned against "spoiling his clothes" if he got too close in embracing. That had been the trigger to his drowsy, easily irritable mind. He also recalled, in between freshly arising, shameful memories, that the colour was most definitely from the monster's blood. Yukimura had, while chugging jar after jar of the powerful alcohol, spent his time waiting for Sasuke to come back to his welcoming arms by staring at what life he could find around the steadily darkening, drab place, as well as the trickle of fascinatingly green liquid that the beast had left in it's wake, dripping from the slash Sasuke had given at it's forehead.

So, as long as the monster's blood wasn't poisonous, acidic, or harmful in any way without direct contact, then Sasuke should be fine. If Yukimura knew where he was at that moment, that is.

He glanced at the trundling river, suddenly worried. Sasuke's black undershirt and Shibien were nowhere to be found, so at least that meant the child wasn't walking around stark naked and unprotected. However, leaving all his clothing just hanging here, not about to dry from the amount of rain that had thundered upon them yesterday, meant he was, in someway, near the river or other water source. Perhaps he had gone to find them some food, but they still had some of the dried fish they bought from the inn, and it would be more logical to go hunting in the forest rather than trying to catch plankton in the swiftly flowing river. It was more than likely he had gone to bathe – Yukimura seemed to have a feeling he had ordered something along those lines the other day, and his heart skipped a beat when he contemplated that the fact Sasuke was missing could be his fault – but while the water had little lag time before letting all the effects of the storm wash towards the open sea eventually, it was still in torrents, too fast for Yukimura's liking.

To just emphasise this point there was a loud, creaking sound just on the other side of the bank. The water had eroded away the soft soil near it, usually untouched due to the gentler passage of the rivulet, and a tree, much like the one Sasuke's attire had been hung on, was about to be dislodged as even more dirt gave way to the rippling brook. As Yukimura watched, the groan of the tree roots grew louder, longer, till it finally toppled, hitting the hectic surface with a gigantic splash that sent droplets spraying Yukimura's shocked face. It was swiftly carried away, soon reaching a distance of several metres from it's original point, before making sharp contact with a protruding rock half sunk in the water, smashing into splinters as it hit the hard solid, full speed, head on.

If it had been a person, short enough to be from waist to chest deep in the rapids, the broken tree could have easily carried them away down the arroyo in the desolate forest. If the person was light, was no match against the heavy trunk or branches and had no means of moving in the gush of the river, then he could be easily knocked about, felled unconscious and drown.

The fisted clothes fell from his grip, as Yukimura looked up and down the river frantically, shouting for his missing shinobi.

"Sasuke! Sasuke, where are you?"

His yells went unheard to whoever may have been near, the sounds of the river charging past as well as the noise of the wreckage it caused and carried drowning them with their own sloshes and splashes. Yukimura tried to keep the panic held down, desperately pressing against the desire to run around like a headless chicken, walking off a short way from the tree and cave in even paces, though the urgent look never left his creased, agonized face.

There were no responses to any of his calls. The fretting feeling extremely close to overtaking his milling mind, Yukimura cried out his loudest plea yet, hoping for his precious ninja to notice and come flying through whatever obstacles to get back to him.

"…Sasuke!!!"

"Yukimura-sama?"

The older man swiveled around, the sound of the high, enquiring voice clearing the clouds of his mind. There, standing puzzled and concerned, was Sasuke, dripping with water from head to toe. One hand gripped his sword tightly, cocked in preparation for any sign of a fight. The other pulled on the only garment he was wearing, the black shirt, trying to stretch it to cover the most exposed parts of his body. A blush was starting to creep on his features, but he played things at a low key for now, not quite understanding what his master wanted with him.

"Sasu…ke…?" A rush of relief caught up with him, and he started towards the confused shinobi. He, in turn, had opened his mouth to form his own question.

"Yukimura-sama, what happened? Why were you shouti –"

He was silenced by his master strolling forward, flinging arms around his exposed neck. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly, the urge to return the embrace quickly suppressed as he took in the scent of Yukimura's floating, feather light hair.

The arms around him tightened once, muscles tensing as they rested upon the thin shoulders, before relinquishing their hold abruptly and to genuine surprise. Yukimura looked down upon him, dark blue swimming as he gaze caught his full attention.

"Oh, Sasuke….please, don't go off like that again…." His tone was pleading, begging, and the helplessness of it all took Sasuke aback for a fraction of a second. His composure was hardly shaken on the outside, however, and the answer was delivered smoothly and only with the slightest of hesitations.

"…I apologize, Yukimura-sama…"

"What were you doing, Sasuke? Why are you…"

His answer was soft and coaxing. "I had to get rid of the grime from yesterday. Remember? I had to make myself as presentable as I could for you. I was a mess last night. Yukimura-sama must have been exhausted, though. You had barely eaten dinner before you rested. I was not sure how long you were going to stay like that in the morning, and last night's weather was, as you know, very bad, so I had no choice but to stay in the dirty way I was last night. The river increased in volume due to the rain, and a great deal of sediment had been carried over here, so I had made to clean myself at this waterfall upstream. It fared slightly better."

"…Is that so?..."

He made no comments on the strained politeness which he had been so tolerant of for the past couple of days. Nor did he ridicule the way Sasuke degraded himself, almost as though he had gotten used to it.

Sasuke was starting to worry for his master's health.

"Yukimura-sama? You have not caught a cold, have you? I'm afraid that you had to sleep in wet clothes last night – excuse me for my thoughtlessness, but there was little I could do."

"…I just want to know…did you wrap yourself up in blankets like you did to me, Sasuke?" he probed, anxiety and dread increasing again. "Did you keep yourself warm?"

A short silence followed his enquiry. It seemed as though Sasuke was weighing up what would be the best answer to give.

"I have more resistance to colds than normal people, Yukimura-sama. There is no need to worry yourself over me."

"Sasuke…"

The tender look in his eye had not disappeared, or once faltered, but Sasuke kept his head held low and eyes to the ground. He refused to raise his gaze, or step closer to his master. But as Yukimura moved his hand to make to tilt his line of sight gently up, the small boy before him made a sudden, jerked movement. Yukimura's eyes widened, as he watched Sasuke try to cover his flinch with a stillness that meant his breath was being held. His authorative side took over his own initial shock.

"Sasuke, look at me."

Smoothly and without noticeable hesitance, the young shinobi obliged. His strong golden eyes met his master's piercing dark ones, not once straying away. But it was to take more than that to fool Sanada Yukimura.

They held strength, but even that was losing much of it's edge it once used to carry. Though they didn't waver, the unwillingness hidden well, but it was clear that the alarm had had it's effect on the boy's mind. Yukimura had seen this in many of his fight opponents, the thin layer of bravery coating their true emotions swimming in their mind, heightened alertness, an averse spirit, and fright.

His Sasuke was afraid of him.

Yukimura could see all of this inside the boy's staring gaze, and the confirmation of it all numbed his brain to the stun. Why would Sasuke fear him? Is it because from yesterday? He hadn't meant to…but he did. Yes, Sasuke wanted to be far apart from him now, possibly want to have nothing to do with him if he wasn't a Jyuyuushi, Ignorance, he could handle. Hate, even better. He'd been on receiving ends of both anyway. But what would his world have come to if the person he loved most in his life, the person he had entrusted so much with, grew afraid of him? He had believed Sasuke to have stood beside him strongest, always; while his trust may not shake away, what would be the point if he refused to stray any closer to him?

"Yukimura…sama…"

He blinked, to find that Sasuke had finally broken eye contact, and was now wincing, struggling a little in pain of something. Yukimura immediately realized it was the pressure of his own large hand, having unconsciously crept up to the young boy's thin, bare shoulders, was putting on the small frame, grasping him tightly. It must have been quite a toll for someone who could be suffering from muscle pain, from the fight he had yesterday. But for some reason, Yukimura didn't want to let go.

Why…I don't want this to stop…

His clench tightened suddenly, and Sasuke cried out sharply; yet even the trill of his voice couldn't reach Yukimura's ears. He could hear his own blood rushing through his body, as he watched the little shinobi squirm as slightly as he could in the gripping hurt, trying to alert his master of the discomfort he was giving. The clean nails dug into the boy's skin, creating red marks to be seen later on his back, and Sasuke bit his bottom lip to stop the whimper from escaping. The hand was grabbing harder and harder, the vice like grip giving no prospect of releasing, but Sasuke would not pull away or slap his master's hand. He stayed in pained submission, calling to Yukimura's common sense and desperately trying to get through to the stone faced man standing over him.

To Yukimura, it was only like watching a scenario unfold in front of his eyes, without sound or words. The boy in front of him was hurting, but there was nothing that he could do to stop it – nothing that he could do about the grasp on him, but whose hand is that…? He couldn't step away, or let go; it would take too much willpower to let go of the sweet being he had once embraced so softly, not now when it's trying to fly away again…

It was only when he caught sight of Sasuke's finally lifted eyes, those golden globes that saw through his own weakness. Pleading, begging to be released, the fear and hurt now agonizingly clear. If being together meant that they would both suffer, then he must choose…

And he awoke, from the strange, obsessive trance that had taken over his mind and body. His hand sprang loose, liberating Sasuke from it's grip. But Yukimura didn't miss the boy's other hand jolting upwards for a moment, only restrained by Sasuke's own wishes to soothe the aching part. Knowing his stubbornness in these shows of frailty, Yukimura knelt down himself to lay his hand on the marked spot, tenderly this time, and rubbing it slowly. Seeing Sasuke wince, and obviously resisting the urge to shy away like a poor, wounded animal still struggling to trust, Yukimura's heart gave a wrench and he bitterly regretted his callous actions.

"Sasuke, I'm so sorry." As though apologizing will make up for his actions, which were only made to injure.

"…I'm fine, Yukimura-sama. It's nothing much."

"Nothing much? Sasuke, I could have broken your bones! You should have stopped me…" He faltered, voice fading away before he could end the sentence.

"Yukimura-sama?" The boy peered anxiously up into his master's face.

"No…I should have stopped myself. I-I don't know what came over me Sasuke, I didn't mean to hurt you."

"I'm alright, Yukimura-sama."

"It looks like it will bruise!" His voice filled with panic and culpability. "Do you want something cold over that, Sasuke?"

"No, thank you. It really is nothing, please stop worrying. Now, if you excuse me, I need to get my clothes."

His cool reply threw Yukimura off, although he knew that his request to help would have been repelled anyway. Yukimura knew what the final tone meant, and there wasn't much he could do after that.

"Sasuke…yes, I don't want you to catch your death on top of everything."

He watched as Sasuke shuffled past him, reaching for the set of clothes laid crumpled on the ground, shaking them over once to rid them of dirt. Yukimura saw his face stiffen slightly as he raised his arms to do so, obviously covering for the contortion he would have made if left alone. The young boy did not complain, or even ask how all his clothes happened to be on the ground. Tucking them under his frail arm, he made for the depth of the cave beside them to change. The other man followed, still worried for his shinobi's well being and the injury he had caused.

I have to choose…

"Sasuke?" He called softly to the little figure kneeling away from him, slipping on his shirt.

"Yes, Yukimura-sama?"

"…Don't you love me?"

The childish question brought back the shadowed paths of the brightly red coloured town, as the skies matched it's colour and reflected dark on the clouds. Sasuke took a while in answering, and the cave was filled with silence till his definite, sure answer came reverberating through the narrow cave entrance back to his waiting master.

"No."

It was short, but it was enough for Yukimura to satisfy himself with for that day. The stake driven into his heart dug even deeper, and he didn't know how to handle himself after this. Surprisingly, the knowledge of Sasuke's true feelings was not too much of a shock after mere seconds of hearing it. Instead, it tidied a lot of things on his mind. Yukimura turned away from the mouth of the rock shelter, sighing.

"…I see. Then, I'm sorry Sasuke. I don't – I don't want to hurt you any more."

There was no answer from the other side.

"You don't like it when I get close to you now, do you?"

The yawning darkness he peered into was all the response he needed.

"I won't try to touch you again. Promise."

If it had hurt him so much just to make contact with his master, then he would have to respect that. He couldn't imagine Sasuke's face right now, but it was discomfort to think of the expression on it as relief.

The voice that sounded had no change in emotions. "Are you so sure that you can keep that promise, though?"

Yukimura made no reply, and walked silently away from the boy. Sitting at the edge of the flowing river, he made to ponder, to keep his minds off things.

However, the first thought that came into mind wasn't much of an assistance to this.

……Am I losing this battle.......?

Okay. So we've got more Sasuke hurting and OOC Yukimura under my feeble control. Gee, I bet we're all just wondering when they're gonna learn.

I'm betting you people know Junjou Romantica? At the moment, I'm worshipping it for being the cutest yaoi anime/manga I have ever seen. A friend gave me some recommendations when I told her I was bored, and JR was right up there on her list. Gives me some material to work on, plus extra entertainment when I'm daydreaming in class.

I wonder what my favourite pairing is. Usagi-san/Misaki (when I first heard his voice, I'm like, OMG IT'S YUURI!!!) is obviously the main pairing in the series, and everything and everyone else revolves around them, and they're really funny. Miyagi/Shinobu I consider a minor, although the story is so brilliant I'm more than willing to cheer them on with their relationship. However, I guess it's Kamijyo/Nowaki that conquers most areas. THEY ARE SO CUTE. Nowaki is COOOLIE, and Hiro-san is the perfect type to get jealous easily! Awww, I just love watching over them as they face and overcome all sorts of weird relationship problems~

I guess that's it for now. LET'S ALL SUPPORT YAOI. As usual, R&R!