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Part Sixteen: The morning after...




Bankotsu woke up shortly after dawn. The effects of the opium tea had worn off and he was in a lot of pain. The young leader of the Shichinintai tried shifting to a more comfortable position, but it did nothing to help ease the agony in his chest. "Sui..." he whispered, hoping to wake the claw-bearer rather than his paramour. "Sui..." he called out again, this time a little louder with the expected results.

"What's wrong, Oo-Aniki?" Suikotsu said groggily as he sat up.

"I need more of that tea..."

"Okay." Suikotsu got up from the futon and lit a candle on the far side of the room.

In the half light Bankotsu saw something that made him laugh despite the agonizing pain in his chest.

"Oo-Aniki?"

"He did again..."

"What?"

"Ren; he's there cuddled up with Jak."

"What?" Suikotsu turned and looked. Sure enough, sometime during the night, Renkotsu, worried about his would-be lover, had sleepwalked over and slipped quietly into the room. The only trouble was, instead of snuggling up with Suikotsu like he normally would have, he was spooned in behind Jakotsu, a fact his exhausted mind failed to notice. Not that Jakotsu noticed either as he had slept. How long the two were asleep like that was anyone's guess and Suikotsu was surprised their leader found it funny. But when he thought about it, the claw-bearer also saw the humor in it. He chuckled softly as he busied himself with preparing another cup of opium tea.

"I told you it was funny."

"Yes, but what'll be even funnier is when Jak wakes up and finds Ren there..."

Bankotsu tried holding back his laughter and failed miserably. "Don't make me laugh; it hurts..." he chuckled.

"I'm sorry, but I just remembered what I told him he said last night."

Bankotsu smiled. "Okay, I'll bite. What did he tell Jak?'

The claw-bearer chuckled. "I told him that, uh... Scary-Sui told me that if we ever caught him in the futon with Ren again, he'd be wearing his intestines as a necklace..."

Bankotsu looked from the claw-bearer to his sleeping comrades and back. Chuckling painfully, he said, "That's evil, Sui, but it'll do the trick, as he's going to die when he wakes up."

"I know... I didn't really mean it as I had the feeling Ren was going to show up..." Suikotsu said with a smile as he helped his leader sit up comfortably.

"But somehow you couldn't resist?"

"Yeah... you could say that," Suikotsu replied. He was glad Bankotsu was not angry over it but it did not lessen his embarrassment over what he felt to be pettiness. "Here... and thanks, Oo-Aniki, for not being angry with me."

"It's okay, Sui, after having a good night's sleep, I realized I let him off too easy." He smiled. "That was a good punishment by the way. And I hope they wake up before I fall back asleep..."

"It does take a while for it to take effect." Suikotsu finished preparing the tea and brought it over. "If you drink this all up without complaining, I'll go wake them."

"Yes, Haha-ue." Bankotsu took the proffered cup, and making a face, he quickly drank it down. "Yuck..." he said as he handed to the cup back.

"Good... now to see to my end of the bargain," Suikotsu said as Bankotsu mouthed "Don't make me laugh!"

The claw bearer took the cup and set it down on a nearby table before walking back over to the futon. "Wake up..." he said as he knelt and gave Jakotsu a gentle shake. "Wake up...Sweetness..." the claw-bearer said lovingly, using his leader's pet name for his paramour. "Wake up, Sweetness..."

Jakotsu sighed and rolled over in Renkotsu's arms. Coming nose to nose with the fire-breather, he kissed him, before saying, "I don't want to wake up, Dumpling, I want to stay here and dream some more about you..." When he didn't get the expected response from the sleeping Renkotsu, who Jakotsu thought was his beloved Bankotsu, he cracked open his eyes. "Dumpling..." Jakotsu kissed him again. "Wake up and let's have some fun. Dumpling...? He opened his eyes fully and when he saw it was Renkotsu instead of his beloved, he quickly backed away, screaming.

"What the fuck? Sui...?" Renkotsu bolted upright. "It's alright, I'm here..." He looked around for his frighten would-be lover and spotted him sitting with their leader, quietly laughing, while the source of the blood curdling screams sat a few feet in front of him. "Shut the hell up already, Jak! What the fuck is your problem. Oo-Aniki's alright, for Kami's sake, you asshole..." the fire-breather growled.

The hysterical cross-dresser looked at him wildly. "But Scary Sui said he'd gut me if he found me in bed with you again..."

Renkotsu shot his would-be lover a puzzled glance. "He did?"

"I did, but I was only having a bit of fun with you, Jak, as I knew Ren would show up sometime in the middle of night." The claw bearer got up and went over to the table where he had made the opium tea for Bankotsu and poured a cup for Jakotsu.

"I felt you still needed some punishment for what you did, Sweetness, and Sui helped me out," Bankotsu said softly, and his tone growing more serious, he said, "However, if you don't behave yourself where Ren is concerned, Sui has my permission to gut you... now calm yourself down before you get sick."

"Here," Suikotsu said, handing him the tea. "It'll steady your nerves as you had a bit of shock," he chuckled softly, "This morning."

"Thanks..." The cross-dresser gulped it down. "If you all don't mind, I think I want to lie down for a bit..."

"And Ren, this isn't free rein to harass Jak either, and if I find out you have, then when we get home and I'm feeling up to it, the first thing I'm going to do is take my Baby and have fun dismantling your workshop. I suspect we'll plenty of firewood by the time I'm done with it too. Understood?"

Renkotsu stared at Bankotsu open mouthed like a fish, before whispering in a voice lined with terror, "You wouldn't... Understood, sir."

"Good... now get the hell out of here as I'm tired and cranky and I want to sleep..." Bankotsu yawned. "And you stay put over there," he said to his paramour.

"But, Aniki-chan...."

"But nothing, last time you were sick and Sui made you some of that tea, you snored all night and kept me up."

"Did not!"

"Did so!"

"Come," Suikotsu said quietly to his would-be lover. "Let's go and leave the lovebirds alone."

"But aren't you afraid they're going to nookie if we leave? We'll only be back before we can even get halfway to our room..."

"No, because long before that happens they'll both be snoring peacefully." Suikotsu smiled.

"You sure? Oo-Aniki seems really wide awake this morning and I now know never to underestimate the lengths Jak'll go to when he wants some..." Renkotsu chuckled.

"From what I've seen, I don't doubt that. But in this instance, they should be starting feel very sleepy real soon. I'd give it a bit and then we can come back and move Jak if necessary."

"Yeah..."

They quietly slipped out of room, leaving their leader and his paramour to argue over whether or not said paramour ever snored.