A/N: Hey guys! All of you, my lovely readers, truly blew me away last week in showing the power of a little KuroFai action. The last chapter wins the award for receiving the most views at the fastest rate of this story, so I hope you all are enjoying the anticipated fruition of the feelings these two have for each other. That being said, I'm sure you've guessed that with this next chapter THE M RATING IS IN EFFECT. Please keep in mind age appropriateness, and enjoy responsibly!

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Ten: Fusion

It was dark by time he made it back home. After giving him Fai's kimono, Yuuko had kept him for homemade lunch cooked by Watanuki, complete with bottles of sake Doumeki and his political guest had brought from the city. Since it had been her decision to detain him, he had thought she would give him extra time off the work day, but she'd reminded him that if he was taking the next two days off to be with Fai, he had no right to ask anything more from her.

Fai was seated by the family shrine when Kurogane walked in, arranging fresh picked flowers for Yui and Kurogane's parents. A plate of rice and fish was waiting for him on the table, but Fai's own dishes appeared to be emptied and cleaned earlier.

"I'm back," Kurogane said, kicking off his sandals. "Didn't mean to be so late. The witch made her kitchen slave cook us something, and then she got drunk..." He rubbed his forehead. "And I thought you were annoying when you drank too much."

"What? I thought Kuro-tan liked it when I tried to play kitty and doggie with him." Fai smiled, lifting his head. "Welcome back. If you're not too full, please accept the meal I made. It probably won't be as good as Watanuki-kun's, but I did my best."

"It will be just fine." Kurogane sat down and clapped his hands together. "Itadakimasu."

Kurogane dug into his food and Fai watched him, remaining strangely silent. There was expectant look on his face, as if there was something he was waiting to say, but as the minutes passed he remained motionless, holding Kurogane's eyes in a heavy gaze but saying nothing.

"What did you do today?" Kurogane asked at length, dispelling the quiet tension between them. He knew they were going to have to talk about what had happened yesterday since there was no way back from that moment any longer, and it seemed better to get the dialogue flowing now, before Fai could reconsider whatever he had on his mind and build up another wall between them.

Fai turned back to his flower arrangement. "I decided not to go out today. Kuro-tan told me to sit still and think, and there were so many things to think about."

Kurogane watched him out of the corner of his eye as he ate, trying to get a grasp on how Fai was feeling in the moment. The true melancholy he had felt when Yui had died wasn't present, and neither was the full extent of his fear from the day before. But still, Kurogane did not feel as if Fai was all the way there in front of him, completely open and honest. There was something he was still holding back and keeping close to his heart, something he was not yet willing to allow Kurogane to see.

"Well, then," Kurogane said. "What did you think of?"

"My mother. It's been so long since I've thought about her that it just seemed right. Yui and I were young when she died, and we shifted right from losing her to moving in with Ashura and Shashi. It doesn't feel as if we had any time at all to realize what happened." He lifted one of the flowers and twirled it in his fingers. "But it's not as if there's very much to remember anymore. She wore lace dresses and had blonde hair like mine, and when she spoke, she had an accent different from the one here. But there was this one time I can still remember, just days before she died, that I sat on her lap and asked her what love was." He laughed to himself. "It was because of you, you know. I'd heard you were supposed to marry someone you loved, and I wanted to make sure I loved you so we would be able to get married."

"What did she say?"

Fai closed his eyes and folded his hands over his heart. "'Love is a happiness and hurt so strong it can cause you to break.'" His hands trembled as the words left his lips. "I didn't know what she meant by breaking until she died, and I never fully understood it until..."

"Until your brother died?"

Fai shook his head. "Before that. I think it was when I confessed to you. I was so happy to share my feelings with Kuro-sama, and so terrified that I would one day be hurt by those feelings. It really felt, in that moment, like I might break." He opened his eyes again and placed the flower in his hands in front of Yui's portrait. "I've always tried to put the blame on Kurorin and everyone else I possibly could for feeling unhappy. But this feeling always began and ended with me, didn't it? I was so terrified of that hurt that I forgot about the happiness. And when Kurorin started to care for me, it was easier for me to pretend I didn't notice so I didn't have to risk anything else."

Kurogane finished his last bite and pushed his dishes to the side. "I wouldn't do something that would hurt you."

"I know."

"And I don't intend to go anywhere anytime soon." He glanced at the image of Yui, and then at his parents. "Even if it feels like you will, you don't have to break. It's your choice. As I said, if I'm here to stop you, I will without hesitation. It's not the future either of us are looking for."

"I know."

"Good, then." He lifted up the parcel Yuuko had wrapped the kimono in and handed it to Fai. "What you wanted is right here."

"A gift?" Fai accepted the bundle and slowly undid the twine holding the paper together. With a choked cry, he lifted up his first kimono, displaying the beautiful silk Kurogane had purchased five years ago and burying his face in its folds. Kurogane thought it reeked of incense from its extended stay with Yuuko, but Fai apparently didn't mind, and devoted himself fully to his reunion with his lost gift.

"You should try it on and see if it fits," Kurogane advised, though he felt like he could watch Fai glorying over the kimono for days if need be.

"But this wasn't made for me, Kuro-chi. If I remember correctly, the measurements were for someone..." He trailed off, the realization slowly dawning on him.

"Someone taller than what you were five years ago," Kurogane finished for him. "Because it was made for you."

"But I thought it must be for Yuuko-san, or one of the taller women in the village. If it really was made for me, then why did she refer to a special event which would happen in the future?"

"Because you're going to wear that when we go to the shrine tomorrow."

"We're going to the shrine tomorrow? Is there something we need to pray about? Or a wedding?"

"A wedding."

"I don't remember anything about that. Whose is it?"

"Ours."

Fai stared blankly at him for a full minute. "K-kuro-sama, that's not a very nice joke," he said finally, forcing a smile.

"I don't joke."

"I know you don't. That's why I'm a little bit confused about this." Fai rose to his feet and began to pace. "I mean, this is something you said you would never do."

"Circumstances change."

"And I'm a man."

"After all those years of insisting on being my bride, you're pointing that out now?"

"But surely Kuro-sama would find it troublesome to be tied down to someone?"

"Just how long have I been living with you?"

Fai stared down at him, opening his mouth and then shutting it again.

"Any more excuses?" Kurogane asked. "You were the one who wanted forever. You were the one who said that there would come a time where I wouldn't want this treated as a joke. Now that it's happening, are you going to make it one?"

"B-but... surely Kuro-tan is not doing this because he wants to..."

Kurogane rose to his feet and slammed his hands into the wall on either side of Fai's head. "How many times do I have to tell you? This is the future I'm choosing." He leaned closer. "I don't know how many times you're going to worm this out of me in my lifetime, so you better listen to it now while I'm still exhausted enough by you to say it."

"W-what?"

"I want you." Kurogane paused and shook his head. "No, that won't be enough. I'm not going to spend my life with anyone else. Now or ever. And when I say forever, I mean it. As in, you're going to have to give up on thinking this is something that will go away at any moment, because it's not going to."

He lowered his head and kissed Fai gently on the lips, not pushing it as far as he had yesterday, but holding onto him as long as necessary to reinforce the point. Whenever he pulled away to catch his breath, he would dive right back in, allowing no time for Fai to doubt or question him further. Though the more untamed part of him wanted to push him all the way against the wall and take him right then and there, the disciplined boy his parents had raised knew that everything would be pointless if Fai would not accept the life he offered in this moment. If Fai still wasn't sure, he would press the matter until he was.

Fai at last pushed him away just slightly with a gentle tap on the chest. "Kuro-sama is so brusque," he murmured, his eyes shining and somewhat wet. "You say you want me when you really mean to say something else."

Kurogane snatched Fai's hand and placed it over his heart, and then helped it go lower to the growing signs of his desire. "Don't tell me," he said with a low snarl, "that I don't want you."

"Oh, I'm not about to mock something so... impressive." Fai swallowed, moving his other hand back to Kurogane's chest. "But what Kuro-sama means to say is... at least I hope what he means to say is that he's in love with me."

"And it took you all this time to figure that one out?" Kurogane grabbed the front of Fai's robes and pulled him forward. "So is this a 'yes'?"

"Ye-" Fai began, but he was quickly silenced by Kurogane's mouth meeting his, this time quickly pushing inside to taste him and illicit a desperate and provocative moan that echoed through both of their bodies. Fai's knees buckled enough to where Kurogane was struggling to stoop down low enough, so he grabbed him by the legs and hitched him around his waist, pressing them against the wall so there was nothing separating their two bodies.

When Kurogane moved his lips to spare some attention to Fai's throat, the blonde squirmed a little in his arms to look over his shoulder towards the bedroom. "Um," he said, his voice cracking as Kurogane's lick turned into a nibble. "We're going to do this, aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are." He paused, looking at Fai's eyes questioningly. "You don't want to?"

"Clearly I want to," Fai said, rubbing himself against Kurogane for good measure. "But how about in that nice bed Kuro-puu built us instead of the place we eat every day, nee?"

"Fine." Kurogane hauled Fai over his shoulder and marched them to the bedroom where he promptly dropped Fai unceremoniously on the bed.

"For someone who was being so sweet, you're turning into quite the rough-houser right now." Fai lifted himself up so he was kneeling on the bed, level with Kurogane. "You'll be gentle, won't you?"

"Since it's the first time, I'll do it however you want." He placed his hand at the small of Fai's back and pulled him closer. "Just as long as we do it."

"Mmm, I suppose it can't be helped." Fai reached down to pull at the waist of Kurogane's work clothes. "First this. This must be getting painful."

Kurogane yanked Fai's hands back up to his chest and lowered his mouth to the juncture of Fai's neck and shoulders. "First this," he whispered, giving it a quick kiss before running his tongue over the skin and exploring Fai's chest and waist with his fingers. "If you want this to be gentle, don't push it too soon."

Fai tilted his head back and let out a satisfied sigh as Kurogane worked his mouth across the bare skin of his chest and down to his stomach where the caresses seemed to both tickle and excite him, drawing up one of his breathless laughs. Kurogane raised his head to look Fai in the eye, and his mouth was immediately seized by his smiling lips, which seemed to have grown softer with the joy of his laughter.

Before long, Fai's hands were tangled into Kurogane's work shirt, trying to yank it upwards while still kissing him and refusing to draw away. Kurogane had to push him a little on the shoulder to get him to let go so that he could pull the shirt over his head and toss it to the floor. As soon as it was out of the way, Fai's hands began roaming his skin, tracing every muscle and every line with an almost worshipful interest considering his former refusal to even glance at a single part of Kurogane's naked body.

While Fai's interest was engaged, Kurogane returned his mouth once again to Fai's shoulder, pushing his robes the rest of the way down and then moving his hands lower to untie them at the waist. He wanted to return his attentions once again to patch of skin that had earlier drawn up Fai's beautiful laughter, but before he could, Fai yanked him up for another kiss and then, with a surprisingly strong shove from both of his hands, pulled Kurogane on top of him on the bed.

"You haven't done this before," Fai whispered, looping his arms around Kurogane's neck. "Not with anyone else, right?" Kurogane almost didn't catch what he'd said, as focused as he was on Fai's swollen lips and heavy breathing, the two more alluring aspects of his questioning mouth.

"We've been together all this time," Kurogane growled, annoyed that they were taking a break to talk about something as pointless as this. "When do you think I would have time to do this with someone other than you?"

"I was gone for awhile. Before I left Ashura-oniisan's and you rescued me."

"Right. With half the village destroyed, several people dead, a fever, and a house that was falling apart, that was the only thing on my mind. Never mind the fact that I was only fourteen years old!" He grabbed Fai's wrists and pinned them to the bed. "Why are you asking? You haven't done it, have you?"

"I always thought it would be a good way to make it impossible for us to be together so I would be able to get out without you hurting me first. But really, who else could I be like this with?" Fai laughed and tried to raise himself up a little so he was closer to Kurogane's lips. "Ever since the beginning, all I've known how to want is you."

"Impossible to be together?" Kurogane snorted, teasing his fingers along Fai's waist and dipping them lower and lower until Fai was squirming and panting beneath him. "Don't think so little of me. If you let yourself be taken away, I'd just take you back and make it so you couldn't be with anyone else but me. But since it didn't happen that way, why are wasting our time talking about it?" He leaned forward and granted Fai with a long kiss on his lips. "Let's think about now and now only before anything else."

"Fine by me." Fai lifted his knee to brush against Kurogane's groin, and Kurogane instinctively let go off Fai's wrists as he sucked in his breath. Fai took advantage of his freedom to once again reach for the waist of Kurogane's work trousers, which he got part way off before Kurogane lunged at him again to pin him to the bed.

"Wrestling just like an eager puppy," Fai teased, but Kurogane was past being offended at this point. With an incoherent groan, he lowered his head to lick Fai's length and take it in his mouth, this time drawing forth a delicious yelp rather than his former laughter.

"Kuro-saaaamaaa," Fai moaned, and Kurogane could feel his fingers digging into his scalp as he worked his mouth against him. "It's too much... e-everything all at once like this!"

Kurogane pulled away slowly so he could look Fai in the eye. "Too much? You're signing up for a lifetime tomorrow, so you'd better get used to it."

"Can I really get used to it? After so long thinking Kuro-chan and I would never be together, I get a kimono, a proposal, and all of this?" He placed his hand on his sweat drenched forehead. "I feel as if I'm going crazy."

"And it's only getting started, too." Kurogane kissed him soothingly, then traveled his fingers down to massage Fai's entrance. He slid one finger inside, surprised and aroused by the heat and the tightness and the way Fai's muscles seemed to react and pull him deeper in. Fai whimpered and ground his hands into the sheets, biting his lips.

"Am I hurting you?" Kurogane asked, slowing his movements. "Do we have something?"

"U-under the bed."

Kurogane reached down and pulled up the box where Fai stored their medicine. As he rooted through the bandages and dried herbs, he at last retrieved a pot filled with some sort of salve. "Will this be safe?"

"Mmm. It's supposed to help with irritation and swelling."

"Let's hope not all kinds of swelling." Kurogane dipped his fingers in, and one by one eased them inside of Fai. The fit seemed more comfortable, and the swift increase it caused to Fai's ravenous panting was something he found himself quite enjoying.

"Oh... oh gods," Fai moaned. "K...kuro-chan, I can't hold it... anymore."

"You can't?" Kurogane took his free hand and wrapped it around Fai's throbbing skin.

"I'd like to see you try after having things like this done to you!" Fai jerked his hips to rub himself against Kurogane's hands, and Kurogane gave him a few more pumps until he let out a sharp cry and collapsed on the bed.

"Mmmm," Fai groaned, placing a hand over his mouth. "Did that embarrassing noise really come from me? And now we're all sticky."

Kurogane licked some of it off Fai's stomach and wrinkled his nose. "I thought you'd taste better than that."

"Kuro-tan's a big meanie." Fai propped himself up on his elbows. "I suppose it's your turn now."

"I'd like it to be." He pushed Fai back down and tangled their lips together, taking in the sweeter taste of his mouth to let Fai know that he wasn't opposed to every flavor of his body. "I don't want to scare you off with the first time," he said when he'd pulled away. "If it hurts, you're telling me so I can make it better for you. No exceptions."

"But if I tell you it hurts, wouldn't you stop? I mean..." Fai's eyes strayed to Kurogane's arousal. "There's no way that's not going to hurt."

"I'd try to make it easier on you. And if it still wasn't good... yeah. I would stop."

"Well, we can't have that." Fai wrapped his legs around Kurogane's waist and pulled him closer. "So let's make this something to remember."

Kurogane nodded, leaning forward to twine their hands together and position himself. He kissed Fai once more and met his eyes. "Can I?"

"You'd better."

Kurogane slowly began to push in, holding both Fai's eyes and hands to keep him steady and calm. Fai was shaking and his breathing was getting somewhat out of control, but he did not resist as Kurogane gradually went deeper and deeper inside him.

"Breathe slowly," Kurogane whispered, though his own voice was strangled with his reigned in desire. "If you need to, grab onto my back."

"Kuro...sama..."

"It's all the way in." He tilted his head back and exhaled in satisfaction. Just as he had always thought, Fai was perfect. He was hot and just tight enough so it wasn't painful, but rather intensely intimate in how well they melded together. The breathless moans coming out of him made it even better, especially since Kurogane was all the more sensitive to the reactions of Fai's body now that they were joined. "Is it painful?"

Fai shook his head. "It is... but... just knowing that Kurorin is inside me... it's so good."

Kurogane cursed under his breath. How on earth was he going to stay calm when Fai was like this? He took a deep breath and counted to ten. "Tell me when I can move," he grunted.

"Move."

"So soon?"

"I want to feel you more." Fai wrapped his arms around Kurogane's back. "I'll be fine, as long as it's you."

Holding back seemed nearly impossible after such a command, but Kurogane tried to start as slowly as he could, telling himself to savor each of Fai's cries and the slow undulation of his hips before he got too caught up in the moment. He was falling in love with the sound of Fai's voice, and the sound of his own as he pushed and in and out and felt the friction of their bodies. Why had it taken so long to get to this point, he asked himself, but he knew this was the way it had to be, and this very moment was the exact one they had needed to wait for from the very beginning. This was the first occasion where they were ready at the same time and desirous of the very same thing without doubt or fear.

"Kuro-chan," Fai cried into his shoulder. "Stop going so slowly."

"But it's still painful, isn't it?"

"Not half so much as it is wonderful." He pushed down on Kurogane's back and kissed him on the lips, lifting his hips higher. "The pain isn't what I'm going to remember."

"The hell are you doing to me?" Kurogane groaned, even more of his control slipping from him. He increased his pace and was rewarded by a beautiful sound from deep in Fai's throat, which he quickly tried to mask by concentrating his mouth on any available patch of skin he could reach.

Kurogane could feel the sweat accumulating on his face and the places where their bodies were joined, and he could not help but smile at the thought of the bath they had taken just yesterday, which was now being swiftly undone. It felt as if the distance built over countless years had collapsed abruptly within two days of honesty and upheaval, but he knew the change had been set in motion from the first moment their eyes had met in the memory he had lost, and in the moment Fai had said Look at me in the memory he hadn't.

He looked at Fai there in his arms, and Fai lifted his eyes as well, deep crimson meeting pale blue. As if their thoughts were one and the same, they both reached out to cup each other's faces, holding their gaze as Kurogane pushed into Fai again and again and again until they both came to life with pleasure, their bodies screaming out and then quieting slowly until the only sound was their unsteady breathing and the whisper of a gust of wind outside.

Kurogane rolled off of Fai and wrapped his arms around him, pressing Fai's face against his pounding heart. He couldn't think of anything to say but "Shit, you're wonderful," which he said out loud before he realized it might be better to keep something so blunt to himself. Fai simply laughed and kissed his chest, snuggling closer.

"Kuro-chan is very good to me," Fai said with a smile. "I never thought I would be loved this properly."

"Hmph. Next time I won't go so easy on you."

"Next time?" Fai tapped his fingers against Kurogane's cheek. "Can that happen tonight?"

"Have you forgotten what we're doing tomorrow? Bags under your eyes and not being able to stand would certainly go over well at the shrine."

"Doumeki-san won't mind. In fact, he'll probably just use it to tease Watanuki-kun some more."

"You've forgotten about the government guy. The witch says he's an old friend, but gossips too much. We're not supposed to give him anything to gossip about, by the way."

"Nothing to gossip about? Isn't the fact that you and I are doing this juicy gossip? As far as I know, two men aren't allowed to be anything more than lovers."

Kurogane sighed. "I hate to ask this of you, but you're probably going to have to pretend to be a woman. Only from the ceremony until we get back home again."

"But that sounds like fun!" Fai noted Kurogane's scowl and ran his hand against Kurogane's lips to smooth it out. "That doesn't upset you, does it?"

"You don't need to be something that you're not. This you, the one right here, is the one that is most beautiful."

"But as you said, nudity and kiss marks aren't going to work so well at the shrine." Fai returned his head to Kurogane's chest. "As long as we can be together, nothing else matters. Let's just be happy and forget about everything else."

"Mmm. Not everything."

"Kurorin?"

"Remember everything that led up to this moment, too."

Fai smiled, his eyes at last fluttering shut. "Of course. That, too."

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