Forward warning, but this is a censored chapter. The full chapter will have sexual content, but you can read the uncensored version at Archive of Our Own.

Chapter Eighteen

Kazahaya slowly woke up, and his brow furrowed in confusion. What's pressing against my stomach?

He blinked several times, realizing that the hotel room was still dark. He was laying on his side in the large bed, and Rikuou was spooning with him. He knew this because Rikuou's body was curled into his from behind, and his breath was stirring the air by his eyes. Kazahaya's heart began pounding, but then he noticed that both of his hands were tucked in front of him underneath his pillow. But he could still feel pressure on his stomach.

And his side. He felt an arm draped over his side. Heat flooded his face, and he slowly and carefully drew the covers back and looked down. His nightshirt was was riding up slightly, and he could see Rikuou's hand resting against his bare flat stomach.

Kazahaya stared down at that hand for a long moment, his breathing becoming unsteady. Unlike their first night last night he ha elected to sleep in pajamas, while Rikuou slept again in a sleeping yukata. Though he was used to cuddling with Rikuou while they slept, this was the first time that any of their hands had…wandered while they were asleep. It didn't bother him, really. Feeling Rikuou's hand resting on his stomach felt…nice. But he wasn't familiar with something touching him so—intimately like this. He didn't know if he should try to wake Rikuou up or not before the other boy was aware that his hand was touching his…bare skin.

While Kazahaya contemplated what to do, Rikuou made a rumbling noise, and clung to him tighter. In doing so, his hand slid higher up Kazahaya's nightshirt. The unfamiliar sending of being caressed in such a way caused involuntary tremors to fill Kazahaya's body and he let out a strangled noise. The noise mortified him though and he yelled and slapped a hand over his mouth.

At Kazahaya's shout Rikuou immediately woke up and sat up. "Are we under attack?!"

"Y-You put your hand up my shirt!" Kazahaya sputtered, leaning up on his elbows.

"I what?" Rikuou looked at him, and saw Kazahaya's heavily wrinkled nightshirt. His gaze shifted down and Kazahaya realized that his stomach was exposed and he pulled his shirt down. Rikuou rubbed at his nape and looked away. "Sorry," he said sheepishly.

"I-It's fine," Kazahaya said shakily, sitting up fully.

"No offense, but if it's fine then why did you shout?" Rikuou asked him.

"B-Because you were rubbing my abdomen!" Kazahaya sputtered, feeling heat flood his face.

Rikuou smirked at him. "Did it feel good?"

Kazahaya hollered and buried his head underneath the covers. "Why would you ask that?!"

Rikuou chuckled softly. "If you get this wound up over a simple caress, I wonder how you would respond to sex?"

"LA LA LA, I CAN'T HEAR YOU, LA LA LA!" Kazahaya shouted.

"In any case I'm surprised to see you awake before me," Rikuou said, shifting to get out of bed. "It's usually the other way around. But since we're both awake we should get ready. It's Sunday now, and according to our itinerary we're supposed to spend a great deal of the day at the Fuji Shibazakura Festival."

Kazahaya groaned and pushed the covers back as he sat back up. "We did so much yesterday and spent so much money on souvenirs! Are we really on vacation?! Because it feels like a shopping trip just for Kakei-san and Saiga-san!"

"You have a good point," Rikuou said. "But they gave us these "tasks" and paid for our vacation, so we may as well follow this "job" and get paid for it when we get back. I'm going to take a shower first. Can you order breakfast?"

"Sure," Kazahaya said, climbing out of bed. "Mind if we do a western breakfast this morning?"

"Go ahead." Rikuou disppeared into the bathroom. Kazahaya found the room phone and the menu binder for room service. He flipped it open to the breakfast section, but he felt a familiar…peculiar sensation rise inside of him. Starting from his stomach and traveling up his mouth until he could feel it in his mouth. He traced his lips with the tips of his fingers, and his lips felt numb. He groaned loudly and hid his face in both hands. "Nooooo…!"

Not again! Rikuou has a food craving…and I think I absorbed it through his touch!

There was a charter bus waiting in front of the hotel to take guests to the Fuji Shibazakura Festival, and Rikuou and Kazahaya boarded it. Rikuou noticed that Kazahaya was acting…weird, but not towards him particularly. He had a far away look on his face and he kept tracing his bottom lip with his index finger. When his lips parted and the tip of his finger dipped inside his own mouth unconsciously, Rikuou had to look away from him. "You okay?" he asked. "This morning didn't bother you, did it?" He hadn't known that he was groping Kazahaya in his sleep, but Kazahaya had seemed more flustered about himself regarding that and not about what Rikuou was unconsciously doing.

"Hmm?" Kazahaya glanced at him. "Oh…yes. I'm fine. I wasn't bothered about this morning."

Rikuou didn't quite believe him but he decided to take his word for it and leaned back in the bus seat. "Okay."

I hope there's dango at the festival. I haven't had dango in years.

The bus dropped them off to a sea of shibazakura. Hundreds of thousands of moss flowers in various different colors, seeming to stretch on forever towards Mt. Fuji. It was breathtaking, and…oddly relaxing. Since their list of tasks did not specify what exactly they needed to do at the Festival (besides purchasing pots of pink moss as souvenirs), Rikuou and Kazahaya spent the morning wandering and admiring the scenery. The fresh air, clear weather, and excited chatter of other festival goers around them allowed his mind to drift away from the unpleasant things he had experience. He was able to create the necessary distance, even for a short while, so that the pain inside of him was not so intense. It would come back; he knew that. But he didn't need to worry about it now.

After a few hours Rikuou checked his watch and he saw that it was almost noon. "I'm getting hungry," he announced. "Why don't we visit the stalls and get some food? Maybe look for those moss jars Kakei and Saiga want?"

"…I'm hungry, too," Kazahaya murmured, his tone almost breathless. Rikuou's stomach did flipflops but Kazahaya seemed to come back into himself and shook his head. "We have 70,000 yen—"

Rikuou quickly covered his mouth. "I told you not to announce how much money we have!" he hissed.

Kazahaya spoke against his palm, and Rikuou was very acutely aware of the sensation of Kazahaya's lips brushing against his palm. He swiftly lowered his hand. "Sorry," Kazahaya said.

"It's fine," Rikuou said. "Let's just go and grab something to eat."

They made their way towards the food and souvenir stalls, and Rikuou quickly saw a booth for pink moss jars. "We'll grab those after eating," he said. Kazahaya nodded silently. Kazahaya suddenly perked up. "Oh, is that takoyaki?" he hurried off.

Kazahaya got his takoyaki and quickly scarfed it down. "Want some?" He asked, holding out his box. Rikuou saw that he had stuck a pick he'd been using into one of the balls, and there was an unused pick sitting idle inside the box. After contemplating, Rikuou grabbed the pick Kazahaya had been eating from, and ate that takoyaki. "Good," he said with a smirk.

Kazahaya blushed and stared at him with wide eyes, but Rikuou stuck the pick back into another takoyaki ball and kept walking. Kazahaya didn't voice any protests and finished eating as Rikuou kept searching the stalls. Dango, dango…do they have dango here today?

Kazahaya had finished his takoyaki when they found a dango stand, but he was back to tracing his mouth with his finger. Rikuou tried not to stare as he approached the stall and saw that they were making mitarashi dango. "Two, please," he said, holding up two fingers.

He got his mitarashi dango and happily ate the sweet treat as they walked along. The last time I ate this was when Tsukiko—

Rikuou stopped dead in his tracks and swallowed the dango he'd been chewing. The euphoria of the day was fading as the familiar pain resurface. He shook his head and tried to squash the pain. Enough. Stop it. Don't think about it right now. Kakei and Saiga sent us on this "job" for a reason. Well, so we could spend tens of thousands of yen on souvenirs for them. But I know that it was to help us. I'll think about it when we get home.

He looked down at his dango. One was left at the bottom of the stick he was eating from, and he still had one untouched. He knew that Kazahaya didn't like sweets, but he was rapidly losing his appetite. He turned around. "Want some?"

Kazahaya moved quickly, his eyes glossy. He seized the hand that held the mostly eaten dango stick and pulled it towards him. Rikuou's eyes widened as he watched Kazahaya opened his mouth. The stick rested against his tongue and started sliding into his mouth until his lips closed around the dango. His cheeks hollowed as his mouth squeezed around the pastry, and he slowly slid the stick out of his mouth. When the stick fully left his mouth he began chewing and he moaned quickly, reaching up with his fingers to rub at the sticky syrup that coated his lips.

Rikuou dropped the untouched stick of mitarashi dango on the ground. He grabbed Kazahaya by the arm and dragged him between two stalls until they were right behind them. Kazahaya seemed to snap back into himself and he looked outraged and confused. "W-What?! What is it?"

Rikuou pressed him against the back of the stall. "I really need to kiss you right now," he rasped. Then he covered Kazahaya's mouth with a searing kiss.

It was abrupt. There was no room for breath. They clung to each other and tasted each other. Rikuou cupped his face and kissed him hard, licking his lips and stabbing his tongue deep. He'd never kissed anyone like this before, and he knew from the movements of Kazahaya's lips that he had less experience than him, but somehow…somehow they both just knew the right way to kiss each other. After a few moments the kiss broke and they sagged against each other gasping for breath. His body felt warm and tight; clenching like a fist. He looked at Kazahaya and saw that his face was flushed, his lips were swollen and his eyes were glazed. But when he stared at Rikuou…there was no rage and no fear. But he could see a definitive emotion in his gaze.

Longing.

Rikuou wanted to kiss him again, but he wasn't sure of his own self-control if he did it again. He slowly pulled away from him. "…Let's go get those moss pots," he said quietly.

"R…Right," Kazahaya said. He rubbed at his chin; the lips of his fingers brushing his bottom lip, but he didn't wipe his mouth. Didn't wipe Rikuou's kiss away.

As they headed back towards the moss stall, Rikuou realized that Kazahaya had probably…borrowed his food craving for dango again. He probably received the craving when Rikuou had pressed his hand to Kazahaya's stomach. He rubbed at his own chin but also didn't wipe away Kazahaya's kiss.

I'll have to be careful touching his stomach from now on. Rikuou smirked to himself but quickly sobered up. I should probably talk to him about…that, tonight.

Nightfall.

Kazahaya looked out their room window before closing the curtain. His hair was still damp from his shower and he was dressed in a sleeping yukata again. They had eaten dinner at a local restaurant but things had been…awkward between them for the rest of the afternoon. Kazahaya reached up and rubbed his fingers over his lips, and a familiar warmth swept over his body once more.

He kissed me.

He wasn't surprised Rikuou had kissed him. He had kissed Rikuou before. But the kiss Rikuou had given him was one he had seen in movies and it seemed…surreal that he experienced such a kiss. He didn't know kisses could turn your knees into jelly or make you feel faint. He didn't know kisses could…taste good, or that he could crave them so much.

Is it too much? Kazahaya hugged his arms and looked towards the bathroom. Rikuou had just shut off the shower. We—We're not dating. We're soulmates but we're not…really in a relationship, are we? I-I guess what we've been doing can count as "dates". And I…I love him, and he loves me, right? But I feel…I want to kiss him again, but is that too fast? I don't know what I'm doing!

"Kazahaya?" Rikuou called from inside the bathroom.

"Yes?" Kazahaya called back. His tone was shaky.

"Can you come in here? I need to discuss something with you."

Kazahaya flushed and his breathing quickened. He swallowed hard before calling back, "C-Can't we discuss it out here?"

"No," Rikuou replied bluntly. The door opened and Rikuou partially stepped back out into the room, revealing that he was also dressed in his sleeping yukata and he waved towards Kazahaya. "Come on. I need to show you something."

Kazahaya swallowed hard again, feeling his heartbeat in his ears. But he knew that he could trust Rikuou more than anyone and so he headed towards the bathroom. Rikuou had disappeared back inside, and when Kazahaya entered the bathroom he saw Rikuou sitting on the side of the bathtub. "Sit here," Rikuou said, patting the spot on the side of the bathtub."

Kazahaya walked over, but he noticed a knife sitting on the sink counter. He kept walking and sat down beside Rikuou. "What did you want to talk about? And where did you get that knife?"

Rikuou reached out and took Kazahaya's right hand. He held the hand in both of his hands and turned the palm upwards. Rikuou traced a diagonal line across his palm. "Tomorrow," he said quietly. "Tomorrow…I want to make a blood oath."

Kazahaya's heart leapt into his throat. "B…Blood oath?"

"We're soulmates," Rikuou said, and Kazahaya looked back up at his face. Rikuou however was looking at their hands. "Our souls are bound together. We're supposed to be together, right? But…But we can't be together, can we?" Rikuou met his gaze then. "My soul can go to Heaven, but yours currently can't. You're bound to the cycle of reincarnation for something that isn't your fault. So in death, we will be separated. We'll be apart until your cycle is broke. Or unless we go to Hell, but neither of us want that."

"No," Kazahaya whispered, shaking his head.

"So," Rikuou said, tracing his palm again. "Tomorrow, we're going to mingle blood."

"M-Mingle blood?" Kazahaya gasped.

"I'm going to take your Karasu Tengu blood into my body," Rikuou said. "And I will make an oath binding myself to you and following you wherever you go in death."

"R-Rikuou—"

"I'll become too "tainted" to enter Heaven, but not too "tainted" for Hell. I will be bound to the cycle of reincarnation…until the "taint" is gone and I can enter Heaven. Like you."

Tears quickly filled Kazahaya's eyes and spilled down his cheeks. "R…Rikuou! You can't do that!"

"Why not?" Rikuou asked.

"Y-Your family is in Heaven! Tsukiko-san is in Heaven! I-If you do this, then you won't see them again when you die! I-I mean…" Kazahaya shook his head. "D-Do you even know if this would work?!"

"It will," Rikuou said casually. "Kakei and Saiga said it would, and I believe them."

"But you can't!"

"Why not?!" Rikuou said sharply.

"Because I can't ask you to do that for me! T-To bind you to this cycle…to separate you from your family! I-I…" Kazahaya grabbed his arm with his free hand. "Tsukiko-san…Rikuou, you went through hell to find her! A-And you—" he pressed a hand to his mouth. "Y-You…It was my fault that any of this happened to you!"

Rikuou cupped his face and kissed him hard. Kazahaya made a noise of shock but Rikuou quickly broke the kiss. "What did I tell you about blaming yourself, Kazahaya?"

Kazahaya sniffled and tried to scrub at his eyes. "Rikuou…Tsukiko-san—"

"I love my sister," Rikuou said. "I love her and I miss her. That will never change. But when I die, I have my parents and Tsukiko waiting for me. Kazahaya…you don't have anyone."

Kazahaya choked on a sob. "One hundred years," Rikuou whispered. "Kakei or Saiga. They said the Karasu Tengu taint will leave the Kudo bloodline in 100 years. Right in time for your cousin's reincarnation. But they don't know, Kazahaya. They don't know how many times you may come back before that happens. If you do come back before that happens, you'll be alone. I won't be there. I'll have to wait 100 years for you to see to you agin."

He scoffed sharply, and looked away briefly before looking back at him again. "Do you expect me to think that's okay? Leaving you here by yourself? Being without the man I love for 100 years? I can't bear the thought of that, Kazahaya. So yes—Yes, I am okay with taking the Karasu Tengu taint. Yes, I am okay with being denied access to Heaven. If it means being with you, and making sure that you're not alone again, it will be worth it to me."

Kazahaya couldn't stop crying. He uncovered his mouth and stroked his cheek. "Y…You said you loved me." He couldn't speak above a whisper. "You would…sacrifice that much for me?"

Rikuou held his hand to his cheek. "Yeah," he said. "I love you. I've loved you for a long time, Kazahaya. And I know that you love me. As for "sacrifice", well…" he leaned in close. "It's not a sacrifice. I want to do this, because I am yours. I don't ever want you to be alone again. Don't you worry about my family in Heaven because you are my family, too."

Kazahaya threw his arms around his shoulders and squeezed him tight. "I…love you!" he said through gritted. "I-I think…I think I've always loved you! Even when I hated you I loved you!"

Rikuou barked out a loud laugh and retuned his hug. "Then…tomorrow morning. Before we check out we'll get that taken care of. Then we'll be all set."

Kazahaya leaned back to look at him. "But…why tomorrow? Why not tonight?"

Rikuou slid free from his arms and stood up, holding Kazahaya's hand. "I'll show you why."

The kisses began before they left the bathroom. The soft sounds of contact filling the room as they slowly walked towards the bed. Kazahaya felt his legs touch the side of the bed and they climbed in, sitting down in the center of the bed. Kazahaya clung to his shoulders, his body becoming hot with each passing moment. He had been so uncertain earlier, but now that they were in bed kissing and touching each other, the uncertainty faded. He felt…comfortable, and strangely full of longing.

Rikuou began kissing the side of Kazahaya's neck and Kazahaya arched into the kisses, sighing softy as he held onto Rikuou's shoulders. "Mmmph!" He let out an involuntary groan when Rikuou sucked hard at his neck. It felt unexpectedly…good. Kazahaya panted quietly and turned Rikuou's face towards him and they kissed again. It was a contact of closed mouths; neither wanted to move away. The kiss broke with a soft sound and they pressed their foreheads together. Breathing quiet and unsteady, noses and lips nuzzling each other's faces. Kazahaya didn't know what he was doing, but yet somehow he did know. When he touched Rikuou with his hands and his lips…he just knew what to do with him.

Is it because we're soulmates?

"You all right?" Rikuou asked quietly. He brushed the hair out of Kazahaya's face and cupped his flushed cheeks. His lips were swollen from kisses and his breathing was unsteady, but his expression was so…beautiful.

Kazahaya nodded stiffly and opened his eyes. His heart clenched as he stared at the other young man. "Are you?" he whispered back.

Rikuou chuckled softly. "Answering a question with a question, Kazahaya? That's awfully rude of you."

Kazahaya didn't get angry from Rikuou's retort; he almost wanted to laugh. Instead he dug his fingers into the lapels of Rikuou's yukata and pressed his face against Rikuou's. "Please...I need you to understand, Rikuou."

"I understand," Rikuou said, his tone softening and sobering. "After everything we've been through, I won't walk away."

Kazahaya exhaled; the sound almost like a sob, and Rikuou cupped his face in his hands. "Hey," he said. His tone was stern but gentle, as was his touch. "Enough of that. You're not getting rid of me. I told you I would remain by your side and I'm going to. There's nowhere else I want to be, Kazahaya."

Kazahaya gritted his teeth, his eyes were still squeezed shut as he buried both hands in Rikuou's hair. "...I need you," he hissed through clenched teeth.

"I know." Rikuou pulled him closer. "I need you, too. Because I love you."

Kazahaya swallowed thickly, the sound rumbling in his ears, and he gently nestled Rikuou's face. "...I love you, too."

They began to kiss again, and Rikuou guided him to lie on his back against the pillows. Kazahaya suddenly felt a brush over his mind and pulled away. "What's wrong?" Rikuou asked him.

Kazahaya looked towards the right side of the bed. "I…thought I heard someone," he said quietly.

Rikuou leaned back up and looked around the room. "From where?" he asked seriously.

Kazahaya leaned up and looked around the room. He listened carefully, but he heard nothing but their own breathing. The sensation he had felt in his mind was gone. "I…maybe I was mistaken," he said after a moment.

Rikuou looked at him. "You sure?"

Kazahaya nodded. "Sure."

"Good." Rikuou leaned back down and kissed him again.