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mindlessadriWarnings: Angsy Fai? That counts, right?
Rating: pg-13
Notes: Guess who got a job, and is trying to write college essays, and maintain her grades? This girl. I'm terribly sorry I haven't been updating but I do have what I consider legit excuses. However, things are finally going to get better
Kurogane found himself in the port city not far from where Suwa use to be. It was always harder to be in the areas surrounding his homeland because unlike other Demons he hadn't been around long enough to forget his pain. After a while it seemed that most Demons forgot the very reason they had sacrificed their humanity. For him it had been hardly more than six months since his mother's death and almost a year since he had seen Fai. Not that he was keeping track. No he wasn't. He had more important things to worry about being a Demon now. Like stopping rogue Wrath Demons. He simply didn't have time to look for Fai. Which he had done but would never admit to doing.
Surprisingly Demons from different houses scarcely interacted and it was near impossible to get information about active Demons from other houses, once again, not that he had tried. Waking up in some of the deepest chambers in the House of Body he had realized why Fai had been so cautious in their relationship and he could hardly blame him for how he had acted though thinking of what had been said still hurt. He missed him.
As of now he was hunting a Demon and he was running low on Essence. He would finish this poor Soul Prowler off and then hit the streets to deliver some well deserved justice. Kurogane had a rule when he killed: if he had to kill to live he should kill those deserving of death. Rapists and murders were his usual targets. Not to mention they carried with them the most Wrath. Most of the Demons possessed by Wrath were hardly inclined to search for those deserving of Death. Wrath was a force derived from dark, evil passions that took root in a person and those with that particular Demon generally took on this 'evil passion' mask. They enjoyed the kill, the blood, the pure satisfaction of slaughtering and so under normal circumstances they didn't think about their victim just zeroed in on the amount of sin that person possessed. However Kurogane was not a normal circumstance as Tomoyo, the training Demon Keeper at the House of Body. He was more than a human and a Demon. He was part Angel because he was a Demon link.
Tomoyo had explained to him that it was a miracle the part of his Soul that made him a Demon Link hadn't been obliterated when Wrath possessed him. Instead his Soul had made a barrier of sorts in his Essence. Part of his Essence remained inactive meaning it didn't affect his Soul and it's only purpose anymore, as far as he knew, was to protect the small bit on Angel in him from the Demon occupying his body. The other part of his Essence was used to feed the Demon, and it was this part he had to replenish or he would die.
This was another reason why Kurogane was selective in his kill. The more powerful Wrath was in a person the less he had to kill. Unlike other sins, Wrath was one that took root in a person and permanently tainted their Essence so once consumed it lasted longer than say other sins like Lust which were generally passing sins and so they were consumed more quickly.
His plan at this point was to finish off this Demon and find a target to consume. It took a few hours to locate the Demon and it was already late afternoon by the time he did. And an hour later, after a battle on a fishing boat, the sun had set and the Demon was dead. Now he need only do one thing: find a suitable victim.
He found them all to soon. When hunting it seemed that people full of Wrath emanated a scent so vile and disgusting that he would go insane had he not destroyed it. Kurogane followed the most pungent of the scents in the air to find a child murderer in the middle of further defiling the dead corpse of a young girl. The man was dead before he spoke.
Kurogane, in need of a drink after what he had just witnessed, went to a bar towards the outskirts of the city. He had every intention of returning to the Demon Realm that evening and would need the cover of the forest to create his blood portal home. He walked in and took a seat at the crowded bar and ordered a shot of their strongest. He winced as it burned down his throat and he brought the shot glass down onto the counter pointing at it for another.
Once he had taken his second shot and shook off the burn he felt something he hadn't felt in a long time. It was a familiar tugging in his chest that had only ever been proceeded by, well, him. Why was his body doing this to him, Fai was not coming back. He had stated so clearly but the anxious, on-edge feeling that he usually got when Fai was coming had onset so suddenly that it had surprised him. He was not going to stick around for this bullshit, he could go home and fantasize about old ghosts rather than panic about them in public. Kurogane threw his cloak over his shoulder because he couldn't find the time to put it on; the crowd was getting to him and making him hot anyway.
He pushed the door open and made an abrupt left successfully knocking over whoever he had just run into. The tension he had felt in the bar ebbed away just like it always had when he had finally seen Fai after a day of that anxious feeling. His eyes widened and he could feel his heartbeat quicken. Two things were going through his mind: one; he was either about to see Fai again and he would not under any circumstances let the idiot get away from him, two; the person he had just run was probably not Fai and he was most likely never going to see the blond again. He didn't want to look up because he didn't want to know but he did anyway.
Blue eyes peered back into his own, wide and surprised. “Kurogane. What are you doing here?” Fai got himself to his feet and stared at the man something was different. The man felt different in presence; had he felt Kurogane he never would have come this way. It clicked with him when he met Kurogane's eyes. They were red as blood, fire, fury, wrath. Fai, unable to stop himself, rushed forward and took Kurogane's face between his hands and brought his face level with his, “What did you do!” He demanded angrily.
Kurogane reached up and peeled Fai's hands away from his face angrily. “I did what I had to do. Nobody does this if it's not what they have to do.” What right did the blond have to demand answers from him?
“D-do you even understand what you are now!” Fai looked horrified as he again reached for Kurogane's face, this time specifically for his eye, this time much less urgently. He set his hand on Kurogane's face gingerly, as if afraid to confirm what he knew.
The taller closed his eyes and sighed. “Yes I do,” he replied and Fai ran his thumb over Kurogane's eyelid.
“Why did you do it? I left so that you could lead a normal human life and you repay me by doing this? This is the exact opposite of what I wanted for you!” Fai took his hand away abruptly and Kurogane opened his eyes. They were beginning to draw attention from the various people filtering in and out of the bar and walking along the streets. “What could have possibly driven you to this?”
The way Fai gestured at him as he said this brought only irritation. He wasn't a child and was more than capable to accept what he had resigned himself to and what had brought him to the decision he had made. “She died. They killed her you bastard! Don't stand there and imply that her life, my mother's life, was not worth the price I payed to avenge her.”
Fai shrunk back, his once anger filled resolve dissipated. “Kuro-s-, excuse me, Kurogane, I-I didn't know.” He really didn't. It's not as if he understood in that one sentence what had happened but he didn't want to risk pressing the issue.
“That's right you didn't know. You left.” It felt good to be angry and release his frustration of nearly the last year on to it's source. But he had nothing left to say, pointing out the obvious had satisfied him.
Fai slumped against the wall of the pub they were outside of and licked his lips, his mouth was suddenly dry. “D-do you want to talk? Not here I mean.”
Kurogane relaxed his shoulders and, as a result, he became less intimidating. Common sense told him that going with Fai wasn't he best idea. All the months he had spent forgetting the idiot would be a waste – more like they were already a waste. He looked back to Fai who peered at him timidly, as if he was having the exact same thought. “Yeah. Let's go inside.”
An hour later Fai was nursing his sweet alcohol and Kurogane was on his fifth shot. Up until this point they had been making idle small talk at a table in the crowded bar. It wasn't uncomfortable just tense. Fai could have sat there forever pretending that things weren't different from before and in just a few hours they would return to Kurogane's house and spend an hour trying to say good night to each other by the stairs. But that wouldn't happen, he still had to feed and there was no house to return to.
Kurogane was smirking at something he had just said when he broke the news. “Kurogane, I have to feed still. It'll only take a little while if you want to wait for me.”
“No. I'm not going to wait for you while you have sex with somebody else.”
Fai frowned even though he hadn't been expecting much else. That, however, didn't stop the sting. “How would it be any different than me waiting for you to murder somebody?”
Kurogane didn't have an answer for that. He supposed it wasn't much different, the only difference being that thinking about Fai being touched by another person made his skin crawl with jealousy and want and he had no idea what Fai felt thinking about him killing a human. He decided to steer the conversation a slightly different direction, “Why did you push me away when we kissed?”
“You mean when you kissed me.”
He scowled, “Bullshit, when we kissed. Don't try to deny that you returned it.”
Fai sat back in his chair and swirled the bottle by it's neck. “Because – because when we kissed I began to drain you. And that was just kissing. I shouldn't have been able to extract Essence from you by those means! I panicked. What if I hadn't been able to stop?”
It all made sense when explained like that, why the idiot had run from him and why he had insisted on pushing Kurogane away. However, things were different now. “That won't happen anymore.”
“How do you know?” Fai questioned bitterly.
He didn't know and he had nothing to base his notion on. “I don't know. But we can try, right?”
Fai's head snapped up, his face was set in a deep scowl. “No we can't!”
Regardless of his refusal Kurogane grabbed his face from across the table in both his hands, smooshing Fai's face in a way that would be comical in any other situation, and yanked him rather brutishly across the table so their faces met halfway. Their breath mingled momentarily before Kurogane crashed his lips into Fai's closed and unresponsive ones. Though it occurred to him to stop just in case Fai did drain he couldn't and wouldn't because at that moment he could think of no better waste of Essence than this. Slowly he felt Fai relax and taking it as a good sign he allowed himself to ghost his tongue over Fai's lips to prompt a reaction.
It wasn't happening. Kurogane's Essence wasn't flowing into him! With the realization months and months of sexual and emotional frustration were released and as Kurogane's tongue retreated from his lips he lost what little control and restraint he had around Kurogane. Fai lips pressed back feverishly and the intense urge to touch Kurogane reigned supreme. He launched himself towards the other in a blind urge, unfortunately there was still the matter of the table between them which he disregarded by crawling across the table top and pushing shot glasses out of his way as he made his way to his destination: Kurogane's lap. He hadn't known what prompted his sudden outburst be it love or lust nor did he care at that moment.
Kurogane landed with a soft thud against the back of his chair and released a small 'oompf' as Fai's weight settled on him. Fai's hands were on his face keeping their mouths locked together and seeing no alternative he placed his hands on Fai's waist so the idiot wouldn't fall.
This wasn't right. Fai pushed his tongue into Kurogane's compliant mouth. He still had to feed. Kurogane tasted horrible thanks to that gross scotch, but he could hardly bring himself to care. They were still in a bar. Kurogane pulled back slightly and bit Fai's lip causing Fai to mewl excitedly against Kurogane's upper lip. Wait, they were still in a bar.
Fai pushed Kurogane back against his chair and scrambled off of him only to meet the eyes of the crowd looking at them with varied interest, which waned as Kurogane scowled at the crowd, regardless Fai couldn't stop the blush that crept to the top of his ears. His breathing regulated as Kurogane mumbled incohesively yet irritatedly all the same. What had he just done? They couldn't do this! Since when was there a this? Fai wrapped his head around the situation for what it was. He had just kissed a man who had actual, genuine feelings for him. He had made it obvious that he returned those feelings if the very public display they hadn't put on right now hadn't been any indication. But he was still him; a Lust Demon. He had to feed and feeding meant sex for him. What kind of normal relationship could be built if one partner had to commit an infidelity daily in order to survive? Was this even progressing to a relationship? They might have been nearly immortal but forever was a long time. It was time to discover people's faults and grow tired of them and what would Kurogane do when that happened? Fai had already lost the one he cared for once but that was to death and old age but to do it a second time? Even he could see the idiocy. These were all very sobering thoughts. “Shit,” Fai let the word slip out with an upset, angry tone.
Kurogane must not have caught on. “Yeah, shit,” he laughed breathlessly, like he could hardly believe what had just happened and the happiness it brought him.
Fai scowled. “No not 'shit',” he said the word the best he could mimic Kurogane. “Shit,” he corrected by saying it darkly. “I shouldn't have done that. I-I have to go.”
“'Go' - your bed or mine?” Kurogane teased with a satisfied smirk on his face which immediately fell when Fai brushed past him while adjusting his triangular hat. “What the fuck!” Kurogane quickly gather his things and slapped some bills on the table to chase after the idiot. He emerged outside to bar to find nothing, but he could still feel Fai around. He took to the roofs to follow the quickly fading trail, “Idiot you can't run from me now!” He called out into the night as his feet silently padded over thatched roofs. He saw Fai in the distance leaping and tumbling from roof to roof, like a graceful dancer, and he broke into a run. Fai must not have considered Kurogane's speed as a Demon considering the last time he saw him he was human and less physically adept, because he looked seriously shocked when Kurogane jumped off the very edge of a building and came down landing on top of him. They skidded across the roof a few feet from sheer impact and, before the dust even had time to settle, Fai brought his leg back and pushed it into Kurogane's abdomen thereby successfully sending Kurogane flying to the other side of the roof.
Fai adjusted his body and launched himself to his feet by arching his back and pushing off with his hands. Kurogane was collecting himself on the opposite side and Fai flicked his wrist to summon his claws before taking a defensive position.
Kurogane looked at Fai, he didn't want to fight the other but at this point it seemed like the only way to communicate with him. He scowled and clapped his hands together to summon Ginryuu. He gripped the hilt and he too took a defensive position. “I don't want to fight you, idiot.”
“Are you going to keep following me?” Fai asked conversationally.
Kurogane thought a moment, “Yes.”
The blond narrowed his eyes, “Well, then this is the only way I'm going to get you to stop then, isn't it!” Fai rushed forward and raised his left hand to strike. Kurogane, however sidestepped his attack. From behind he could sense Kurogane's sward cutting through the air. He ducked and supported his upper body so it was parallel with the roof and swept a leg out behind him in hopes of tripping Kurogane.
“What's your excuse now, Fai? You aren't sucking me dry now,” Kurogane yelled angrily as he sprinted towards Fai, blunt side of his sward ready to strike.
Fai calculated Kurogane's offense and dropped to his hands using his upper body strength to spring into the air, as he approached the pinnacle of his jump he fixed his body into a ball and using his forward momentum spun over the approaching sward. He landed on his hand and feet in a crouched position.
This was getting nowhere fast. Kurogane stuck Ginryuu into the roof and drew his faithful throwing daggers from his sides. He threw them both with equal force and precision at the other and watched as they landed in Fai's cloak pinning him to the roof. Kurogane knelled in front of Fai who refused to meet his gaze momentarily and when he did he did so while also putting his claw to Kurogane's throat. Kurogane met his movement and drew another dagger and placed it against Fai's neck. “Why are you running away from me now?”
“I don't know what you want from me, Kurogane. But in case you forgot I have to feed every night. How do expect to have any kind of relationship where I have to sleep with a new person each night?”
“I can feed you,” Kurogane returned. Actually, he wasn't sure he could but he could at least try.
Fai looked at him like he was dumb. “What even makes you think I'll allow myself to have sex with you? I'll just drain you or have you already forgotten-”
“Just shut up! I can feed you the way Links feed Demons. I'm still part Link, even now.”
Fai stared at him with hardened eyes and challenged Kurogane, “Then do it already.”
Kurogane swallowed. He hadn't purposely feed anybody since he was a child and even then it would take him a while. At best, he was inexperienced. At worst, he was incapable. His mother's teachings came back to him slowly. He tilted Fai's face so their eyes met and cleared his mind. He focused solely on how energy was flowing through his body. There were two circles instead of the one that he had expected. It must have been the two hemispheres of Essence and Soul with in him operating independently of each other. Since it was the presence of a small amount of Angel Soul that gave a Demon Link their ability he went off a limb and tapped into the Essence surrounding this portion of himself. There was a push and pull of energy within him and as pressure built behind this push and pull Kurogane narrowed his eyes and the energy came out of him blinding him as it passed through his line of sight to his target. The Angel Soul within him beat rapidly and replenished what had been lost until Kurogane stopped giving. He blinked a few times and his vision came back. He stared dumbly at Fai who stared blindly back at him for a moment. “Holy shit. I did it,” he said breathing heavily and running his hand through his hair in disbelief.
A predatory smile crept across Fai's face as his own vision came back, “Yeah you did.” Once again he was unaware of what he was doing but the realization that he could be with somebody who he cared for in the most intimate way overtook him. He was consumed by lust for Kurogane, consequences be damned and forgotten.
