FicWad

Magic could take care of a lot of ills, but one thing that it couldn't cure was the common cold. For one of them, they would have pressed on. For two, they would have pressed on and felt a bit bad about it. For three, though -- and one of them an old man who sounded like he was coughing up at least one lung despite his annoyed assurances that he was "FINEhackcough/wheeeze/" -- they decided to stop.

The inn was small and homey, on the outskirts of a middling-size city halfway between Yokohama and the capitol. It was small enough that the sight of so many flamboyant foreigners made the innkeeper's eyes go wide, but she softened when she saw the state that several of them were in, Anastasia in particular, and they soon had several rooms to themselves, the futons piled high with blankets.

Joachim showed himself to be a quite capable nursemaid, though said nursemaiding mostly took the form of bringing Gepetto an endless supply of pillows and tea and amusing Anastasia with stories and shadow puppets. Karin dealt with being sick by sleeping almost constantly, something that Kurando could certainly appreciate. He'd slept most of their first day in the inn himself, yet after that he couldn't help quite contain his restlessness as one day turned into the next. He could see the same sentiment in his cousin's pacing and fidgeting and his eventual disappearance after the evening meal. Yuri came back in the small hours of the morning to the room he shared with Kurando, humming under his breath. Kurando, awakened by his entrance, must have shown some of his curiousity at the odd hour, since Yuri shrugged and whispered, "Took a walk and found some trouble. Or rather, THEY did." He grinned in the light slanting in from the window, slapping fist into palm with a slap of leather. "Funny, they thought that a lone guy with no weapons was an easy mark...."

Kurando yawned. "You were out picking fights with street thugs?"

"No better way to pass the time." Yuri sat down on the edge of the futon mattress, shrugging off his jacket. "Everyone still alive here?"

"Mmmhmm," Kurando said, already half-asleep again. When he realized that he was watching Yuri take his pants off in the moonlight, he closed his eyes.

There was a low rumble in the back of his mind as he drifted off to sleep, which he tried his best to ignore.

He dreamt of fighting and the wind over his skin and an iron club in his hands.

When Yuri disappeared after the evening meal the next night, Kurando followed him. It was more out of boredom than any concern. He had seen his cousin fight, seen him grinning as he beat his opponents senseless with his bare hands or flowed from one fusion to another to another in a way that Kurando had never been taught was possible. Kurando was beginning to think that there was nothing in this world that could kill Yuri Hyuga, let alone a few muggers. Still, he had spent the day doing little. Even meditation had not quieted the restless urge to do something, and so when he looked up from the his third round of cleaning his katana and found his cousin gone, Kurando had slipped out of the building as well.

The air was cool and wet with early spring, and a nearly-full moon shone down on all. Kurando headed towards the more populated city center. If Yuri had been looking for trouble, certainly he would find it there more easily. Soon, Kurando found himself wandering more than searching, as he had no real way to find Yuri in the tangle of shacks and houses, dirt and stone streets. The walk cleared his head, though, and ground some of his restless energy beneath his feet.

He was just about to turn around and head back to the inn when he felt Yuri fuse.

Kurando had never been all that proficient at sensing ki, but the swirling, dark-tinged ripple off to the west was hard to miss or mistake for anything else.

Jutendouji shifted in Kurando's mind, and he found his feet taking him west. He stopped, just to prove that he could, and then continued, following the scent of the dark typhoon that was his cousin.

He found Yuri in a blind alley by the warehouses, dodging a knife while slamming a man's head against a brick wall. There was one man lying on the ground already, with four others jostling in the tight space to try to get a hit in. Kurando felt Jutendouji surge forward, and Kurando held him back firmly. They were in the city after all, and the alley was too narrow. As it was, Kurando had to force his hand to open where it had instinctively gone to the hilt of his weapon.

And really, wasn't as if Yuri needed any help. He was a spinning whirlwind of darkness in the shadows, releasing the limp body that he'd just slammed into the wall to catch the lunging knife-fighter's wrist, turn it with a sickening crunch, and then slam the heel of his hand into the man's breastbone. A stray bit of light shined off pale skin and pale hair, and Kurando realized that Yuri had called forth one of his fusions, the Dark one, Nox. A good choice, Kurando supposed, since Nox was the most human-looking of Yuri's fusions and the least likely to draw special attention. Not the most powerful, but then not much was needed to deal with rabble such as this.

A part of Kurando, the part that was a proper Inugami son, wanted to look away from the fight. This was no honorable combat, after all, merely a brawl that Nox was, perhaps, taking a bit too much enjoyment in, by the white flash of his teeth as he kicked the next man in the throat.

There was another part of him, though, a part that was less civilized, a part that was named now as it never had been before, that listened to the sound of leather striking flesh, of bodies hitting the ground, of curses and grunts of effort and over all the scent of blood wafting light on the breeze....

Jutendouji pushed again, wanting control, an inhuman growl ringing in Kurando's ears. Kurando closed his eyes and held fast. Now was not the time. Not here. Not with dozens of people within a block of him. Jutendouji didn't care for logic, though, and forcing the oni back took more effort than Kurando was used to. The moon goddess was never that demanding, and holding onto himself was distraction enough that Kurando didn't hear the reinforcements come up behind him.

"You got a problem, boy?" A hand fell on his shoulder, turning him roughly. Kurando's eyes blinked open, and there were suddenly men in front of him, a few shouldering past him to the alley, where they cursed and yelled something and Nox just laughed.

The man tightened his grip painfully on Kurando's shoulder. "Hey! I /said/, you got a problem here? Huh, boy?"

It was probably the pain that did it. Kurando shook his head slowly, trying to order his thoughts, turning and opening his mouth to placate the man. But somewhere between starting the turn and finishing it, the oni took control, rushing over Kurando's skin like a hot wind. The man's eyes widened, and he released Kurando, but it was too late, the turn already carrying the iron weight of Jutendouji's club into the thug's side with a satisfying crunch. The man folded to the ground with barely a sound. Boring.

Jutendouji looked up at the two others beyond him and growled a challenge. For a moment they squinted at him, as if wondering what they were seeing and whether they might want to just walk away, but then Jutendouji charged, coming in low, his club lashing for the man's knees, and his prey leapt back with a shout, drawing his own weapon, and everything became a hyper-aware blur of movement and violence in the dark. Jutendouji had no trouble following it, relishing it, even when one of the thugs' knives scored his arm almost to the muscle. He whirled, leapt, his weapon falling like the gods' own judgment, slamming the man to the ground.

The other human ran, fleeing into the darkness, and Jutendouji grinned, taking a step to follow, to hunt him down but the harmonixer inside tugged at him, holding him back, and he shook his head, distracted just long enough for the man to get out of sight.

"Not bad."

Jutendouji swung around in a crouch and saw the strange youkai at the alley-mouth, the Dark white-haired one with the blood-soaked hands. Here, at least, was an opponent perhaps worthy of him. The oni bared his teeth in a feral smile, sliding to the side, his weapon at the ready. The other merely leaned against the side of the building, though, his enemies at his feet.

"Not one for talking, hmm?" He pushed away from the stone, and though Jutendouji did not quite understand his words, he did understand the sudden flush of black-swirl-red in the strange youkai's ki, the flash of white almost-fang. "Want to fight?"

Jutendouji growled in acceptance, deep in his chest, his fingers adjusting their grip on his club, one by one.

"Let's go then. Somewhere we won't be disturbed, eh?" And he turned, laughing, and ran.

Jutendouji was so startled that he stood there for a moment in confusion, looking after him. Then he grinned. He understood now. This wasn't a fight. This was a /hunt/.

He ran after his prey, through the human streets and the human buildings until they left the human city behind and were running through good mountain dirt, dodging sturdy trees and leaping boulders of living, unformed stone.

Somewhere along the way, Jutendouji felt his harmonixer settle inside him, stop fighting quite so much, and finally get the knack of being half-there, watching-yet-not-present. Something in the pursuit pleased his human. It might have been the running, the wind over his bare skin, the cool moonlight in his eyes, the burn of the hunt in his muscles, though it wasn't really a very good hunt. The strange youkai...Nox, the harmonixer whispered...was fast but no match for Jutendouji's speed. That was all right, though, since it allowed the oni to harry and pace, get around in front of Nox and ambush him before they'd break apart and run again.

They ended up in a clearing, surrounded by tall, silent pines. Nox whirled around, almost fast enough to catch Jutendouji with his fist. The oni leapt, struck, and his club thudded into the dirt where the other youkai had stood a split second before. Nox got a foot on the club, pressing it down, leaning in close over it to smirk, "Aw, c'mon, not gonna fight fair?"

Jutendouji felt his club half-embedded in the ground from Nox's weight, looked up at the Dark one so close, and reached. Nox's own hands came up, knocking Jutendouji's aside before dancing away, and Jutendouji followed. This was new, fighting without a weapon, but he was fast enough to make a good try at it, and it was exciting, striking and grabbing and every now and then getting a hand on skin or leather, only to be shook off. It made it a challenge.

Until, of course, Jutendouji tired of the game and used his full speed.

"Shit, you were holdin' out, weren't you?" Nox retreated, retreated again, dodging around a tree and then dodging again when Jutendouji got in front of him. "Fuck, you're fast."

Jutendouji just grinned and caught one, then the other of Nox's wrists. Nox twisted, failed at breaking the holds, and struck out at Jutendouji's knee with one booted foot. The oni twisted, pulling, and they tumbled to the ground, rolling through the grass and pine needles until the oni came out on top, pinning Nox's legs with his own, Nox's wrists pushed into the soft wet dirt.

They were both breathing hard, the night wind cool against sweaty skin. It was natural to lean down, to find the salty-sweat skin of the Dark one's neck and lick, then bite. Jutendouji had won, after all. It wouldn't do for this strange youkai not to ackowledge that.

Nox laughed lowly, then groaned, shifting restlessly. The oni growled and bit harder, in case Nox was trying to get away, but the Dark one just groaned again and pressed his hips up into Jutendouji's weight.

Ah. Jutendouji smiled against salt-slick skin. Yes, that was a good idea. He had won, after all.

His harmonixer stirred. Jutendouji paused, head cocked. But his human could not make up his mind. Or rather, he was saying one thing (-/no no NO/-) and wanting another (-/yes fighting blood lust excitement YES/). Impatient, Jutendouji shook his head. Nox grinned up at him. "Yeah, don't mind them. They don't know what the hell they want."

Jutendouji growled in warning as he let go of Nox's wrists. When Nox didn't show any inclination to try to flee again, Jutendouji allowed him to shuck out of the human clothes he wore, one hand under his loincloth to stroke himself idly while he watched impatiently.

The Dark one was not dark at all, but pale and glowing in the moonlight, all heavy, compact muscle, Jutendouji noticed with approval. When he pounced, Nox attempted to roll them, but Jutendouji had expected that and bore him down before he could get any leverage, teeth in Nox's throat again so he could taste the laughter in the Dark one's throat.

His harmonixer's litany of no no no ended about the time that Jutendouji allowed the Dark one to suck him wet, a reward for the entertaining hunt. Jutendouji watched his prick disappear between pale lips, grazed by the barest hint of sharp teeth, and growled, pulling back, pressing Nox down onto hands and knees so the oni could take his spoils, find the tight hole and press in and in and in, the way tight and hot and barely-slick. Nox hissed like a serpent but pressed back as Jutendouji settled over him, hands on pale hips, tongue snaking over the Dark one's spine. Jutendouji didn't understand the words Nox used, if they were words in any language at all, but he understood the tension in the youkai's muscles, the hardness of his cock, the quickening of his breath, the timbre of his cries. Just as Jutendouji didn't fully understand the cloud of distress from his harmonixer, but he did understand the arousal that twined and mixed with his own as he fucked Nox relentlessly, his nails digging into the skin of Nox's hips.

Their cries shook the birds from the trees, two roars ringing through the forest, which paused and then resumed its night ways.

Kurando found himself in control again before those cries had even faded, buried deep inside Nox as the fusion came with a long, serpentine hiss. And then, in a wash of ki that was perhaps the most interesting thing that Kurando had ever felt around his cock, Nox was gone and it was Yuri under him, panting and shaking a bit in the cool night air.

"Um," Kurando said, tentatively. He couldn't even begin to think of what to say beyond that. Mortification and satisfaction fought an ugly battle in his chest.

Yuri froze, then relaxed and looked back over his shoulder. "You too, huh? I swear. They're such guys. Half a second after getting off, and boom, they're asleep."

Kurando blinked for a second, then chuckled. As jokes went, it was rather weak, but it broke the tension, at least, and somehow that made pulling out of his cousin a bit less awkward.

A bit.

They walked back to the city in mostly-companionable silence, both well on their way to convincing themselves that this had never happened.

Jutendouji snored contentedly in the back of his mind, and Kurando decided that the next time he was bored he would just borrow a book.