(yawn)~ Goodness I'm sleepy.. I got so many things going on right now that I just don't know what's what anymore. Anyways, I've come to a conclusion to update this once a week now, given the fact that my schedule is all over the place and that my laptop does not, I repeat, DOES NOT have Microsoft word, I'm at war with this blasted piece of machinery. But I'm glad you guys enjoyed the previous chapter, and that it managed to pique your interests (bows). So now I present to you chapter 2~
This will feature Saruhiko and Misaki only, so prepare your squeals and such, just not too loud though (laughs).
For the remaining of the day, Misaki is at war with himself as he tries to wrap the simple fact that Megumi managed to find Ryuu's soul around his mind. He thought that fishing a wandering soul is impossible as there are thousands, if not millions of wandering souls in the world both from the past and present. "To have Ryuu's soul in her grasp, that's crazy talk," he mumbles out from her perch on the couch. Saruhiko is yet to come home, and now he needs to find a way to tell him without sounding like he's crazy.
"How am I going to convince him when I don't believe this myself," he hisses and throws a nearby pillow to the wall. Ryuu, sweet, baby Ryuu who never even got the chance to meet the world. Misaki could still remember his giggles, the feeling of their skins touching, the smile that was once enveloped in warm, gentle light. Without even realizing, his cheeks are wet from his slowly dripping tears.
The couple actually never healed completely from loosing the very person whom they've come to treasure. Every time they went out and saw children running around calling for their parents, they're reminded of Ryuu and the wish to be called 'mama' and 'papa' surges through their hearts. What hurts most for Misaki is when they would pass nurseries, daycares, baby stores or even a group of expecting mothers. It only enhances the desire to hold his own baby in his arms. Saruhiko did as best as he could at consoling him, but even such isn't enough.
And now, hearing the very same person who gave them the life actually managed to save it, it was too much for Misaki. Maybe what Ayame said was right? Maybe Megumi's powers really did grow and went beyond the point of just blessing? And she was so serious earlier, so the news must be true or else she won't even go through all the trouble to find me and sneak in! He thought in rapid fire. Slowly but surely, he's starting to believe what Ayame said was right and that the soul is with Megumi.
Getting up from the couch and drying his tears, he starts to pace around the living room, mind everywhere and nowhere at once. He'd have to wait until Saruhiko gets back to tell him the news, and he's not sure if the younger man would believe him or not given the fact he was never fond of Ayame and Yua in the first place. Misaki is rather impressed when he found out from Saruhiko that the girls are one of the most famous Strains in all of Shizume, mainly because of their tricky and sly nature and also because they managed to evade Scepter 4 for so many years now, another reason why Saruhiko is annoyed at them.
Looking at the clock, Misaki sighs lightly when he found out that there are still some time left before Saruhiko would return home, that, and also he needs to cook dinner for them both as the blue clansman can be quite irritating when he's hungry and tired. Misaki learnt that the hard way when he forgot to cook dinner once, it was like taking care of a bratty toddler in a form of an adult man. It was crazy!
Just the thought alone makes the male twitch in irritation so he heads to the kitchen to prepare something. At least by cooking he can take his mind off of Ayame's news and the irritation that is Saruhiko. He loves the other man, honestly, but his attitude doesn't change much as he still loves to rile the crow, clicking his tongue at his superiors, sleeping on the job and even not handing his paperwork on time. Reisi doesn't even seem to care but Misaki could sense that Seri is at her bursting point after having to deal with Saruhiko all these years.
Fushimi is highly capable, it's just that he gets on my nerves by not doing things I told him to do, she once had said with a defeated huff while at bar Homra. Izumo only laughed at her while Misaki listened quietly from his perch on the stairs. He doesn't blame her for wanting to kill Saruhiko with her bare hands; actually, he'd love to help hide the body if possible. But life just seems more interesting and colourful when Saruhiko entered, so he might not do the deed after all.
Picking up pans, bowls and other materials, he starts to cook whatever he could find from the refrigerator, hoping there are enough for the both of them since Saruhiko needed all the food he can get what with the intense training going on at Scepter 4. The blue clansman had gained some muscle and his posture had grown wider and more toned whereas Misaki stays slim and petite, hence why people don't question about their relationship. One glance and everybody would think that they're a pair of man and woman instead of two men living together. Two married men living together.
Then all of a sudden without any warning whatsoever, Misaki was practically glomped from behind by an ever enthusiastic Saruhiko. The blue clansman made it a habit of his to return home without telling just so he could surprise Misaki and drop in on him when he least expects it. "Misaki," he purrs into the screeching shorter male's ears. "I'm home,"
"I can see that you crazy monkey! Let go of me! You almost made me drop the chicken and made my heart stopped!" Misaki cries out as he tries to pry Saruhiko's arms from around his waist only to no avail. Much to his horror and surprise, the arms are now trying to snake their way into his pants and under his shirt. Feeling the veins on his head throb, Misaki puts down whatever he's holding on the counter and with all the strength put behind his legs, he pushes himself and Saruhiko backwards and fell on top of the tiled floor.
Groaning, the blue clansman tries to regain his composure when he felt his wrists being pinned on either side of his head by a pair of slim hands. Looking up, he could see a displeased-looking Misaki glaring at him, his chestnut-coloured hair falling on each side of his face and curtaining them from the outside world. Saruhiko grins teasingly when he sees their position. "My, my. Is my beloved Misaki going to take the lead today? Because it'd be amazing if you'd just sit on my d-..."
"Let's not even go there, not in the mood for your hormones," Misaki replies back in a rather snappish manner. Saruhiko only pouts when the other man gets off of him, already missing the comfortable weight on his chest and stomach. "Besides, I got dinner to cook, and you reek with whatever dump you decided to roll in today," the crow continues with a grimace. Saruhiko quirks a brow at that and sniffs his upper arm causing Misaki to make a disgusted noise and shooing him away from the kitchen.
"I don't smell that bad," the taller of the two whines and clicks his tongue as Misaki pushes him away and up the stairs towards their bedroom. "And I just got back, you told me some time ago not to take a shower when my body's still sweating. Something about white blotches appearing on my skin if I do that?" he continues as they arrive at the bedroom. Wordlessly, Saruhiko tosses his saber onto the mattress and takes off his jacket, leaving only his shirt, vest and pants on. Misaki huffs as he starts to undo the vest's buttons as Saruhiko keeps his glasses away.
"Like I said, you reek, stink, and smell. Whichever word I say they all hold the same meaning and DON'T try and backtalk me," Misaki quickly interrupts when Saruhiko opens his mouth to say something. The taller of the two purses his lips and smiles a little at Misaki's growing cleverness. After years of living together, Misaki is now able to pick up a little when it comes to Saruhiko's unpredictable attitude. And to Saruhiko, that's just fine, perfect actually.
Gently, Saruhiko lifts his hand to graze the back of his fingers gently against Misaki's cheek as the crow takes off his vest. Brown eyes grew wide in surprise and his cheeks glow a slight rosy red as Saruhiko continues to caress him lovingly. The icy blue eyes hold such gentleness that's only reserved for Misaki, no one else had seen his eyes like that except when the couple are in emergency situation and needed someone's help.
Slowly, lovingly, Saruhiko continues his ministrations until he feels Misaki relaxing completely under his touch. The crow's eyes are drooped low as if in a trance and he tries to pout and being his normal, brash self but Saruhiko's gentle moves completely overpowered him. The blue clansman tries not to chuckle when Misaki nudges his cheek towards Saruhiko's like a cat begging for more attention, and attention Saruhiko gave. "Say, Misaki...why don't you come into the tub with me and give me a massage?" the blue clansman purrs languidly.
Like a magician snapping his assistant from a spell, Misaki snaps out of his content state the moment Saruhiko said that and throws the vest at him. "You'd think I'd do something as insane as that? Stupid monkey, I told you that I got dinner to cook and you've been eating like I haven't fed you in days for the past few days!" the crow screeches out as he stomps out of their bedroom in a huff. Saruhiko stood there, completely perplexed and stunned, but then he broke down laughing as Misaki shouts vehemently for him to shut up from the ground floor. The blue clansman hums lightly as he enters the bathroom, content with teasing his 'wife' for now.
Back downstairs, Misaki turns off the fire and sets the plates onto the table, though his mind still reminds him of the comfortable feeling of being in Saruhiko's arms. They're always so strong, so warm and protective, like nothing from the outside could harm him should he stay in Saruhiko's arms. But I don't want to depend myself on him too much, he'd tease the hell out of me. Besides, that sounds like too much trouble, the shorter male thought. Despite being a full grownup, he still thinks that sometimes he has thoughts of an adolescent; insane, immature and sometimes, just utterly stupid and idiotic.
Checking over the dishes, Misaki smiles in triumph and with a press of a button at the end of the rounded table, a shield encircles around the food to preserve the heat, effectively trapping them inside so that it doesn't go cold. "Good, now to make sure that the monkey doesn't accidentally drowned himself in the bathtub," he mumbles to himself with a small, irritated twitch. Making sure the doors and windows are sealed tight, the crow heads upstairs towards the bedroom but stops and stares when he arrived at one of their extra rooms.
The room is painted a beautiful sky blue to make it look spacious with birds, mostly crow, littering the upper part of the wall. Saruhiko and Misaki agreed that this room is dedicated to their lost child, hence why the room is also filled with baby things they had gotten from the baby shower such as a crib, plush toys, clothes, storybooks, and even a rocking chair. They had set up a small wardrobe to put the baby's clothes, shoes and pacifiers, even had some pictures of small, baby animals up the wall along with glow-in-the-dark stickers on the wall. Despite knowing that their little one will never be with them, they kept everything neat and tidy, cleaning and dusting the room every week to ensure that everything is in top shape.
Just then, Saruhiko pokes his head out of their bedroom door when he senses Misaki standing not a few feet away from him. "Misaki, you want to take a bath? The warm water's still there and..." the blue clansman stops talking when he finally realizes why Misaki is awfully quiet. His blue eyes widen a fraction before drooping down in a rather sad manner. The room is their life to them, as Ryuu might not live with them physically; the room is practically what's kept his soul alive all these times. "Misaki?" he calls out slowly.
The crow turns around with eyes glistening with unshed tears, Saruhiko can only watch silently, not knowing what's going on through Misaki's mind. "I'm not going to have a bath; I'm just going to change. Listen, the food's ready downstairs and that shield can only hold on for so long, so put some shirt on and let's go eat," the crow says in a nonchalant tone as if wanting to prove that he's fine, but Saruhiko knew better. The one having the most pain is Misaki; the one having the most pain is always Misaki. He had carried the child and almost reaching full term, if only he hadn't fell from that stupid accident and lost the baby.
"What's on your mind?" the blue clansman suddenly asks. Misaki froze for a minute and stares at his husband with a questioning look. He knows Saruhiko is smart, a genius actually and that he had been able to see the false façade he tried to put up. Try as he might, Misaki can never fool Saruhiko long enough to create a convincing act saying that he's fine. Those blue eyes search him, bore through his soul and stripped him raw to the very bones. Sometimes, just sometimes, Misaki just wants those blue eyes to stop searching him as it left him extremely vulnerable and helpless.
Staring at Saruhiko emptily, Misaki simply replies, "Nothing, I'm hungry," before pushing past Saruhiko to change clothes. He could still feel the other's eyes on him and he shivers slightly. A lot, there are a lot of things on my mind and I'm not even sure if you're going to accept what I say. Maybe you're just going to label me as utterly insane, Misaki thought gloomily as he changes from his usual shirts to something lighter to help him sleep later on. As if knowing that Misaki didn't want to press on the subject, Saruhiko didn't say anything more and the two head downstairs for dinner. Saruhiko wrapping his arm around Misaki's waist as they descend the flight of stairs; it's his usual way of silently telling Misaki that he misses him.
Upon reaching the kitchen, Misaki quickly disables the shield and the two sat down on opposing ends of the table. Saruhiko pouts slightly at the rather large amount of vegetables in the dishes. "Misaki, why is it that you have to make so much greens every time? You know I still hate the taste of vegetables," the blue clansman says as he dove in straight for the meat. Misaki glares at the rather petulant man and places some radishes into Saruhiko's plate before pointing his chopsticks at the man sternly.
"Will you stop whining about your food already? You're a grown man for goodness sake; stop making me having to babysit you every goddamn time," the crow scolds lightly as he continues to put small amount of vegetables in Saruhiko's plate. "It's a good thing I managed to make you eat some vegetables in the first place, at least now you don't look so pale and look like that King of yours,"
Those words hit Saruhiko right in the heart and his eyes went wide. The thought of looking near identical to his superior in any way, be in physically or mentally, scares the living Hell out of him. "Wait, are you saying that all these times, I looked almost the same as the Captain?" Saruhiko asks in disbelief. Misaki only stares at him in that questioning but curious gaze as he bit on the leek before nodding his head wordlessly. The blue clansman leans back in his seat in utter disbelief when he now realizes that little fact.
"It's like Ayame and Yua. Your personalities aren't the same but your looks are. With the blue hair, the glasses, and your clothes looking almost similar, when you first came out to fight Homra from Scepter 4's side, I had to double-take on who's who," Misaki continues as Saruhiko continues to turn pale, but then he narrows his eyes and starts to eat the vegetables like a madman, earning a surprised look from Misaki. He's never seen Saruhiko eat vegetables to that degree before, and wonders what's with the change.
The blue clansman notices the look he receives and quickly swallows the food in his mouth. "I am NOT going to look like the Captain anymore. You have no idea how creepy it was when you told me I look like him, that's why I want to look different than him," Saruhiko replies curtly before swallowing more vegetables, as much as he could take. Misaki only watches, dumbfounded before breaking out in a laugh that surprises even Saruhiko. Misaki laughs, yes, but never to this extent. And then he realizes something a little strange about what the crow had said.
"Hey, Misaki, why did you suddenly mention the girls?" he asks, eyes narrowed and concerned. The crow's laughter gradually dies down and Saruhiko could see a distant look in those brown eyes, as if Misaki is reminiscing something that he doesn't know where to start or how to begin. "They didn't threaten you, did they? Did they call or found you here?" Saruhiko continues to question softly. Misaki silently nibbles on his food, appetite forgotten for the time being.
"It was Ayame, she came here just now," Misaki finally says and Saruhiko's eyes went wide with surprise. He would've said something, but Misaki beat him to it. "Apparently Yua can track us from some sort of signature body waves, like a beacon coming from our bonds, she told Ayame to track me here. Whole reason is because Megumi, she..." the silence makes Saruhiko all the more curious when he sees Misaki fidgeting nervously. "She managed to save Ryuu's soul that was wandering here!" he finally blurts out.
At the mention of their baby's name, Saruhiko's throat feels tight. If what Misaki said is true, then Ryuu is in Megumi's grasp and she can easily bless Misaki again. But the news is just too surreal and insane, there's no way that's even possible. To save a soul, that's a God's job and Megumi's only a pre-teen Strain girl whose power is still developing, such ability is nonsense! "And you believed what she said? I told you that those girls are a public nuisance!" Saruhiko says with a shake of his head.
"But you know Ayame; she won't waste her time coming here if the news isn't true. Besides, she even slapped me for it!" Misaki replies back with his eyebrows furrowed angrily. "People like her; they won't bother pranking others unless they have something for themselves. And her eyes told me that Megumi actually did save our kid," the crow continues as Saruhiko continues to listen with conflicted emotions. Such big news, no one could believe it instantly especially if they came from the very same nuisance who tied them together once. And Misaki would be crushed if the news isn't real.
Slowly, Saruhiko places his chopsticks down to look at Misaki in the eyes. "You know, if they lie about this, you're just going to get hurt and crushed again. How do we know this isn't a scam? We hardly know how the girls' minds work, and we've already sent Ryuu's spirit to rest in peace so how is he still wandering around?" the blue clansman asks to a quiet Misaki. He knows that Misaki had come to love Ryuu, as does he but Megumi herself had mentioned she can only bless someone one time, so that soul might not be returned to them.
"I don't care, I'm going to see Megumi tomorrow and make her explain things to me. Ryuu might or might not come back, but I have to know somehow," Misaki says and starts to eat again. Saruhiko can only sigh at the crow's one-track mind and crazy decisions, but if Misaki says he wants to see Megumi tomorrow, then he has no choice but to let the crow go. Too bad he have work and won't be able to accompany him. Smiling, Saruhiko stares at Misaki who's eating his rice quietly, until he notices the stare that Saruhiko is directing at him.
"You'd be a great mommy," the blue clansman says with a teasing smirk. Misaki simply threw a fishbone at him.
'Fushimi Misaki'... That somehow has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? (chuckles) Next up we'll have an encounter between Misaki and Megumi, wonder if he'll keep his head cool for a while, enough to hear her explanation.
Yosh, I'm now going to practice my tablet drawing until I can get the picture of Ryuu wrong no more! Now that I'm in animation and graphics, I'm going to use my skills and spam all sorts of pictures into deviantart so you guys can see the imagery of the characters I create, namely; Yua, Ayame, Megumi and Ryuu! But it'll take many more months though.. (dies)
Leave a review and tell me what you think~