Author's Note: Small Lemon/ Lime in this chapter.
Thank you to those who have stopped by and read and either reviewed (Lookin at you Lin, you the real MVP) and followed. Two more chapters to go, enjoy.

Kai stood in the shadows cast by the trees that outlined the graveyard, his heart heavy as he watched Ray sob and cry as the casket was lowered into the ground. He already knew how fragile the life of mortals were but seeing Ray in this state caused more pain in him than he had ever experienced. Once more he had dyed his hair black, this time cutting it back to its older length when he was a teenager. Even though he wasn't physically aging anymore, he and Ray were now in their forties.

It had been ten years they had been married, Kai knew, because it was the most painful ten years of his life. He had given him up, and even though he had seen Ray five years ago; in an attempt to get him back, he still hadn't stayed away like he should have.
This time though, it was Ray who had called him, crying in the middle of the night saying he needed him. It took less than ten minutes for Kai to arrive at Ray's home, looking for someone to kill for making Ray cry, but found out it had already been done for him. Ray's husband had been involved in a car accident and he didn't make it home.

That night Kai held Ray for the first time in almost twenty years and just let him cry himself to sleep in his arms, and even though Kai was there holding him, his own heart was breaking for Ray.

Once the casket had been lowered the other friends and family members all dispersed, leaving Ray alone on his chair before the gaping hole in the ground where his husband lay. Kai took his time to reach him, coming out from the tree line and beside him he placed a hand on his trembling shoulders. He was taken back when Ray placed his hand over his, holding onto his pale fingers tightly as he continued to sob, his head down as tears fell to the grassy ground.

"Thank you... For... For coming..." Ray sobbed out, patting the top of Kai's hand before sitting himself up, his back rigid and his eyes red and swollen from crying. "Should probably leave..." He told himself, though made no move to actually get up and leave.

"Take your time." Kai instructed gently, his hand not leaving Ray's shoulder.

The two stayed there in silence for an hour more, Kai wasn't going to push Ray to leave before he was ready, and Ray was silently thankful for that. He didn't, couldn't, leave just yet. It felt like there was so much more he should have, could have said, to his husband. Done so much more than what they had during their ten years of marriage, and what a wonderful marriage it had been. If it hadn't been for Kai leaving, he wouldn't have had the life he did.

"Thank you." Ray whispered before standing, getting a questioning look from Kai. "For giving me the life I had with him. Thank you."
Kai was a bit speechless to those words, it wasn't like he had wanted to see Ray with someone else, but at the time he knew it would have been best and it just so happened that it was. Ray had been happy, even if it was without him and that in the end was all that mattered.

"You're welcome." Kai said, taking his hand back to his side.

"Let's go home." Ray took the initiative finally and headed towards his car, Kai following behind him silently thanking the other man in the ground for providing a good life for Ray.

The drive to Ray's wasn't uncomfortable, but Kai wondered what he was doing and why he was going with him. It wasn't until they stepped through the front doors did he realize why Ray had wanted him to come. He had collapsed in the doorway, breaking down in another fit of tears. Kai held him, just inside the doorway, running his fingers through his hair until Ray calmed down enough before he picked him up and placed him on the couch.

"I... I'm s... Sorry..." Ray barely managed to get out, wiping at his tear stained cheeks.

"You have nothing to apologize for." Kai simply replied, staying beside him and letting Ray decide if he wanted to be touched or held. He didn't think it right, to touch him in the old familiar ways just so soon. Ray nodded and dabbed at his eyes with a tissue, looking around his home that felt so much bigger now that it was just him.

"Stay." It wasn't a request, it was a demand. Kai arched a brow at him, his heart fluttering in his chest as Ray leaned closer to him.

"Stay with me..."

"For tonight.- "No, not just for tonight." Ray cut in, practically sitting on Kai's lap now as their eyes locked with each other's.

Hesitantly Kai reached out, touching the side of Ray's cheek gently and brushing back the few stray strands of hair; there were more gray hairs this time, before he gently cupped the back of Ray's head and pulled him the rest of the way before their lips met in a gentle and tender kiss.

Kai could feel Ray's body finally relax into his, a deep sigh escaping from him as his hands wound their way up Kai's sides, un-tucking his shirt before putting them against his skin. Kai jumped slightly from the gentle contact before deepening the kiss, pulling on Ray's legs till he was better situated on top of his own legs. Their lips barely parted for more than a minute before they were back against each other, in between their hands roamed and touched old and forgotten territory. Though to the other, they tasted the same as they had all those years ago.

When it had all began to get more heated, Kai wasn't sure, he just let Ray do what he wanted and set the pace he was comfortable with. It was soft at first, but now Ray was undressing him almost violently with a hasty aggression until he was laid back on the couch naked as the day he was born.

Kai couldn't even get his hands on Ray fast enough to disrobe him since Ray went to undressing himself the second the last of Kai's clothing had hit the floor. Just as fast as Kai had been stripped, Ray was now upon him and naked himself already getting himself ready for Kai to take him right then and there.

"Ray." Kai managed to stop him, just barely, with a hand to his chest and his eyes already asking his question.

It wasn't that Kai didn't want to, it was more of it being the right thing to do. Even though Ray seemed more than willing, would he really be alright with it in the morning, would he hate Kai more than he thought he did?

"I want this... Don't stop me." Ray warned in almost a growl. "I want you." Kai went to speak, though before he could Ray's mouth was upon his again in a hungry kiss and he was slipping himself over Kai's member.

Instinctively Kai pushed up, causing Ray to moan into his mouth and grip at his shoulders as he used them for support. Kai's own hands clamped around Ray's hips, just holding him in a loose hold as he let Ray do what he had wanted, like he had been before.
The want and need to drive himself further into Ray became overbearing, and he grabbed his hips more roughly and drove himself into him. Ray's head snapped back as he let out a long drawn out moan, Kai's name coming out with it as he rotated his hips into Kai's own.

It didn't take much longer before they drove each other over the edge, coming harder than either of them could have remembered ever coming before. Leaving each other in a heap against the other with a sheen of sweat over their backs and foreheads, their breath coming in sharp intakes as Kai wrapped his arms around Ray's back in a protective hold before they both fell asleep.

That morning Ray had changed into someone else, at least Kai couldn't recall ever seeing him this angry before in his life. The way he yelled and screamed at him, threw books and plates at him. He knew he shouldn't have given into Ray's demands last night and now he was paying for it, and he wasn't about to stop him because he felt he deserved it.

"Get out, get out I never want to see you again! How could you do that? My husband just died for Christ's sake!" He yelled, another plate clutched in his hands as his pupils were slit in his anger.

Kai didn't put up a fight, just held his hands up defensively and left without a word. It wasn't until two months later did Ray call him back up, apologizing for how he had acted and for what they had done that night, relieving Kai of the blame and guilt he had been harboring since that night.

Another month passed before Ray called him back, needing help in moving out of his old house and into an apartment not too far from where Kai lived. After the move they saw each other more often, Ray coming over whenever he felt like it, and Kai never had the heart to tell him to stop.

Four months passed before Kai got the nerve to ask Ray out once more, just as he was nearing his early 50's. He was afraid Ray would have scoffed, yelled at him for missing his chance when they were still in their twenties. Instead, Ray smiled and looked him in the eyes and asked him what took him so long to ask.

To make up for all the lost time, Kai dug into his hidden and almost forgotten inheritance. He wanted to take Ray out, and that's exactly what he did, all over the world, only to be called back to Japan when Tyson had passed away at 85.

For the longest time Kai hadn't thought about death, having enjoyed his time with Ray and their adventures. Now, death seemed to have smacked him in the face and like a bad dream he was saying finally saying goodbye to one of his longest and oldest friends.
Time was no longer on his side as he held Ray that night as he lie awake, listening and feeling Ray breathing; afraid that if he fell asleep he'd wake up alone.

Morning came, like it always had, and Ray was safe once more; for now.