| [Nov. 9th, 2011|03:45 am] |
Ryouma smelled like sweet-rusted steel, fear hammered into certainty, and just a trace of something like regret. Something a little feral trying to make itself tame.
Kakashi inhaled shock and found himself saying: “Why?”
Ryouma gave a one-shouldered shrug, hesitating only briefly. “Why’s the moon orbit the earth?” he said. “You make me better. Stronger, braver, tryin' to live up to the man I want you to see. You care too much, even when you're pretendin' you don't. You don't smile much, but when you do the world lights up. You didn't laugh when I said I couldn't read, an' you left me a dog when I was alone, an' you drank my shot when you didn't even know that it was drugged or why I was scared. You're the first person who ever stayed.”
Kakashi suspected he was turning red, which was frankly mortifying, but he almost didn’t care. Of all the things Ryouma had just listed, not one of them was ‘you’re an amazing killer’, or even ‘you look really good in a uniform’ -- they were real things. Odd things. Things that only Ryouma had seen and paid attention to, and thought were important.
Though Ryouma was ridiculous if he thought Kakashi made him better. It had always been the other way around.
Ryouma was staying out of ANBU.
“You’re worth staying for,” Kakashi said finally, borrowing a piece of Ryouma’s conviction and handing it back to him, because sometimes he thought Ryouma had no idea how much he was worth, despite how much he bragged.
Ryouma grinned crookedly, scent warming to something pleased and a little relieved. “Well, I am well-known for bein’ the hottest guy in Konoha. And the most humble.”
Kakashi snorted laughing. “You’re idiotic,” he said, and rose from his lean, shoving Ryouma into a flat sprawl and pinning him there. Ryouma went willingly, even tilting his head to bare the side of his throat, and Kakashi couldn’t help thinking mine.
Freely given.
It wasn’t a completely new thought, but the shape of it was different now--frightening, but exciting too, like free-falling over uncertain ground. More permanent, though hopefully in a way that wouldn’t involve hard landings and broken bones.
Now he was being idiotic.
He kissed Ryouma’s desert-chapped mouth hard enough to hurt, and felt the rumble of laughter shake through Ryouma’s chest. Long-fingered hands steadied his jaw and tangled in his hair; despite the cool autumn morning and his recent starvation, Ryouma was hearthfire-warm and strong enough to take Kakashi’s weight. He kissed back open-mouthed and enthusiastic, tongue finding the points of Kakashi’s canine teeth with apparent fascination. Kakashi nipped his lower lip gently, then harder when Ryouma groaned.
Proceedings were just starting to get really interesting when someone knocked loudly on the door.
Startled, Kakashi’s head came up. “What?”
“Message from Arakaki,” a voice came back. “Tousaki Ryouma is due for a briefing at nine AM. Um. Arakaki said he would probably be here?”
Kakashi glanced at the clock, which was now blinking an accusatory 08:20, and let his forehead thump against Ryouma’s chest. “Damn,” he muttered.
“Um,” said the door-voice. “I can come back later?” |
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