#dirty does good

Author:@janumun​​
Fandom:Mr Love: Queen’s Choice
Characters:Gavin/Female Reader 
Rating:Explicit

Warnings:NSFW/18+ content, re-telling of canon events, chapter 23 spoilers, angst, semi-public sex/oral sex, vaginal fingering, hand job

Prompt:Watches as the other traces one of their scars
Summary:  [Based around the events of Chapter 23 and the obscure connection in between Gavin and a certain silver haired character (introduced in Chapter 17 of the game).]
An infiltration attempt into the STF base goes direly wrong before a certain officer sweeps in, helping you evade capture… at the cost of his own safety.

The scent of copper and dust intensifies within your nostrils. The temporary smokescreen provided amidst the fight earlier in between Helios and the pursuing STF agents dissipating fast along with the precious time that trickles out for the both of you. 

Beside you, Helios’ breathing’s turning labored by the second; the effects of the anti-Evol device lingering within his system still as he presses a trembling fist to his chest. Soft groans of pain spilling from pale lips, the sweat beading across his forehead; it’s an alarming situation, one you’re not sure you have the means to get through. 

Desperate, you try and call for Shaw once more into your concealed transceiver but to no avail. 

Is this the end?

Grimacing at the thought, you steel your nerves, moving to shield Helios from his pursuers. Only wisps of smoke remain; any moment now they’re going to charge forward and try to capture the two of you. Or worse, open fire. 

You direly wish to avoid that. You cannot lose another person you care for; not even in this foreign world.

“What do you think you’re doing?” He spits.

“I need you to get out of here as soon as I give the signal, Helios. Walk or crawl if you have to, I don’t care. Just please—” 

Even in his poor state, Helios has the energy to snort in derision at your whispered plea, “How delusional are you? Think you can fight them off on your own?”

“I can’t…” You curse the way your voice fractures, bravery the farthest thing from you. “But you’re worse off than me and if they get you… it’s all over for us anyway.”

Silence is all the answer afforded to you for a while. No clap-backs, no jeering responses.

You turn around to check if he finally understands the situation you’re in before a firm hand curls around your wrist, gripping so tight it hurts. Helios is on his feet, cursing under his breath as he throws a glance up at the fractured roof of the building. “…Sure took his sweet fucking time.” 

“Helios—”

“Shut up and start running.” With that, he wrenches you forward. Breaking into a run and you’re forced to try and keep up, stumbling just as a great blast of wind disrupts the destruction behind you. 

Whipping your head just in time to catch a tall, dark figure rising through the fumes of smoke and ruination — your breath catches in your throat as recognition dawns: Gavin— you try and rebel with all your might against the secure grip Helios has around your wrist. “Let go! It’s Gavin! There are too many! We have to save—” 

Helios’ rage is all you witness as the man wheels on you, merciless fingers digging harsh crescents into your shoulders. “Follow your own advice, will you? You go back there now and you get him killed faster than he would without you hindering him.”

You flinch at the awful, glaring truth in those words. Powerless, all you can do is let your leaden feet trail as fast as they can after Helios. Stealing glances back every now and then, nerves fraught with worry for the man you love — one who no longer remembers you within this world. Helpless, your eyes catch the gingko bracelet tucked just beneath your jacket sleeve, wishing with all your might for Gavin’s safety. 

Please, be alright. Come back alive. Please Gavin. 

Weaving through several passages, the alarms blaring through every corridor; you do not cross paths with any more STF officers. 

Tumbling out through the exit at last, Helios sprints towards the black SUV parked along the curb. Revving up the engine as soon as he’s inside, he shouts for you to get in—

A deafening explosion rocks the very ground you stand on, rocks and debris flying every which way as you duck to take cover. Heavy smoke rises from a familiar part of the building and you watch in dawning horror, thoughts scattering at the notion of Gavin having been caught up in the blast. 

You can’t abandon him. 

You take off, back into the building, not heeding Helios’ shouts of your name. Your mind focused solely upon finding Gavin, whatever it takes. 

Fear constricts bitter tendrils across your throat as you cut through the thick cloud of smoke, crimson lights still blaring within the cramped space. You try to reach Shaw once more through the transceiver, static crackling at the other end of the line is all you hear in response to your desperate cries. “Shaw, can you hear me? Do you see anything through the surveillance cameras? Shaw!”  

Frustration and distress fueling hasty steps, you dash through smoky corridors, the static across the transceiver turning worse with each passing second. You reach to yank the device away before it blares to life with a tinny sound. “—hear me? Get out of there…. Don’t go any further!” 

You position the device closer to your ear, straining to hear him. “Shaw?!” 

A gloved hand clamps against your mouth, pressing you back firm against a body. Your captor — a man — moves to crowd you against the nearby wall. Before panic can truly kick in, his voice; a low rasp, washes over the back of your neck, “Don’t scream.”

Gavin. 

As if you’d been cut loose of strings, you collapse back against that familiar warmth, hands curling around the arm he’d slung across your chest — the gesture unconscious in nature. Before Gavin pulls away from you, gloved fingers finding your hand as he clasps it firm within his grasp, frowning. “I told you to stay out of danger.” 

A mute shake of the head is all you can offer, too overwhelmed to try and refute him. He’s alright and that’s all that matters in this moment. 

The dim lights overhead prevent proper assessment of his condition; you catch the vicious gashes carved across his uniform but before you can ask of his injuries, Gavin’s tugging you along as the two of you break into a run for the exit. 

Another explosion — smaller than the one earlier — sounds some ways behind you and Gavin urges you on faster. The grip he has on you hurts but you force your legs to keep moving, the breath in your lungs starting to burn from exertion and the polluted air around. 

An ominous crack rips through from somewhere overhead and you glance up in horror just in time to see the ceiling giving way, slow but sure; large chunks of brick coming loose to fall around the two of you. 

“Watch out!” You hear Gavin yell for you; the harsh tug of your wrist propelling you sideways. The next few instants, a dreadful tumult; cracks spidering across adjacent walls. The flutter of Gavin’s uniform is all you see across your field of vision as he reaches for you.

A sudden, terrifying feeling of weightlessness compels you to reach out a blind hand, scrabbling for support — you’re petrified at the thought of the floor giving way to darkness beneath your feet — before you feel the curl of familiar fingers against yours, entwining. Gavin’s breath; the sound of his voice soothing against your ear. “Hey. You’re alright. I’ve got you.” A hand he curves against the back of your head, pressing you against him as he rises into the air, maneuvering around the falling debris.

Damp warmth. You raise your head to catch sight of the profuse moisture clinging to pale skin. Watching how he grimaces as if in pain, the sweat that lines his forehead; you realize his Evol’s taking everything he has to keep you both steady in the air. 

This close, you catch sight of dark splotches against his uniform; his blood, most probably from his fight against the STF agents earlier. The use of his Evol draining him faster. 

“Gavin, you’re hurting yourself!”

Amber eyes capture yours; Gavin’s breath quickening rapid enough he doesn’t answer. Faltering within the air; a sudden drop he catches himself from with a pained grunt, propelling the two of you towards where you catch sight of Helios’ SUV, the man in question watching your descent, resting against the vehicle. 

A few feet above the ground, the air currents give way completely and the two of you go down hard, collapsing onto the asphalt as you struggle to soften Gavin’s fall with your own body. Helios moves forward then, easily reaching to haul Gavin onto his shoulder. Throwing a frosty glance your way, he deposits him into the backseat of his car. “Get in now.” 

The jump of a tendon within Gavin’s jaw as he grits his teeth. Droplets of cold sweat trailing down the sides of his face as he watches you tend to the injury on his arm — he’s in pain. You try and ease your touch further on his wound as he tries and twists away from your touch once more. “I said it’s fine.” 

And just like his last few protests, you ignore him, choosing to keep your silence. Now that fear and worry have ebbed away, all you feel is anger and vexation at Gavin’s rash actions. 

His body’s scored with injuries — so many you notice even above his uniform — it frustrates you to know how he holds no regard for his own self. 

Gavin strains to move forward, fixing a white knuckled grip against the back of the passenger seat. “Did you— manage to find it?”

Helios extracts a black chip in response to the query, tossing it into the backseat. Gavin catches it with a visible wince. 

Helios swerves around a sharp turn causing you and Gavin to go crashing back into the seats. He inhales sharply, pressing a hand against his injured side. 

“Can you please drive slower?!”

Helios’ glacial gaze meets yours through the rearview mirror. “And let them catch us? You’re just bursting with bright ideas.”

You flush at that, throwing a glance back to check for pursuers. “I don’t see anyone.”

“A couple miles more before we can… consider ourselves safe.” Gavin answers, moving to discard his ruined jacket to the side before peeling off his bloodied shirt. He reaches for the first aid kit; you move forward to help. He glances at you askance. “I can take care of it myself.” 

“You’d only make a sloppy job of it.”  The two of you remain locked in a silent glare, neither truly willing to back down. Gavin watches you with that same, careful gaze — furrowed brows and clear, sharp eyes — appraising you as he might a suspicious stranger. The thought stings. He doesn’t recognize you in this world but it doesn’t make the strange unfamiliarity between the two of you any less painful. 

“It’s your abdominal area. It’d be hard for you to bandage yourself well enough with your injuries.” 

He doesn’t respond, gaze trekking towards the medicine and bandages in your hand; perhaps he senses you’re not about to back down and so, he complies reluctantly. Relaxing back onto the seat, he watches you work a salve around the injury on his stomach; without sound, without complaint.

Now, upon careful inspection, you observe the cruel nature of the gash across his abdomen. The blood now dried but you know it must’ve hurt. Although not deep enough to have caused any significant damage but dressing the injury hurts you as acutely as if it were your own. 

Letting your eyes wander slow across the expanse of his torso, you catch sight of familiar scars and some new — all healed and yet still carved onto skin. Painful reminders of what life Gavin leads; always in danger. 

You resist the urge to trail your fingers across the more fresh ones, curling trembling digits into fists just as you curb your questions, pulling away from his newly bandaged abdomen.

“…Why would you risk yourself like this?”

His eyes catch yours, hard and resilient. You know, you have no right to question what he does. The question spilled: an unconscious action. 

“It’s my duty.” The answer comes surprisingly easy, without suspicion or judgement and yet, it wounds you to hear it. 

Just as you move to pull away from him, Helios jams his foot on the breaks, screeching to an abrupt halt, you almost go tumbling forward before strong arms circle your waist, pulling you close and back into a firm chest. 

You raise your head to see he’s parked the car by a gas station. Throwing open the door, he angles a glance into the backseat. “Short stop. Get your lovers quarrel sorted before we leave. It’s giving me a fucking headache.”

Stifling silence descends as Helios slams the car door shut, leaving the two of you alone before you have the chance to respond. Shifting within Gavin’s arms — the man loosens his hold as soon as you move — you mutter some nonsensical excuse about getting snacks from the station store. 

You can hardly stand being close to him right now; inexplicable emotions roiling through you — you still don’t know how to deal with this Gavin, his indifferent demeanor frustrates and worries you but when he’s kind… it hurts far more than is bearable.

A hand shoots out to curl around your wrist just as you move to open the side-door. You glance back in surprise, your eyes meeting Gavin’s. Unreadable emotions flicker within his gaze. “Why do you look at me like that?” He questions, dragging you closer. 

You’re not quite sure what he’s asking or if you even possess the answer to that. “…Like what?”

A furrow worries in between his brows as if he’s trying to focus through a mist. A hesitant hand he raises; you feel the gentle caress of his thumb against your lip — you realize you’ve been biting at it — as he frees it of your teeth.  Watching as if he’s not quite sure of his own actions. 

Slipping his thumb across the bow of parted lips, trailing upwards… slow over the concavity of your cheek, leaving heat to gather in it’s wake. Finally pressing delicate at the corner of your eye, swiping a careful path beneath it. “Like you’re trying not to cry.”

Your breath catches in your throat at the quiet observation; you have to squeeze your eyes shut against the onslaught of familiar emotions. 

Because I love you. And I lost you once.

“Because you’re constantly throwing yourself in danger. It… worries me.” 

“Why?”

You don’t reply. 

A short, ragged burst of laughter. “You’re not any less reckless. Didn’t I tell you…” A hand curves around the back of your head, pulling close as if to utter a well-guarded secret. “You don’t have to be the Queen. Live your life as a normal person.”

He exhales softly as if your adamancy exhausts him. “Yet I find you trying to infiltrate STF. Do you realize what could’ve happened if they’d managed to capture you? Do you—” His grip on you tightens. “Do you have any idea how much danger you were in?”

“Gavin, I can’t—”

“I promised you. And I’ll keep it. I’ll find the person you’re looking for.”

Your eyes burn; Gavin’s face wavering within your field of vision. 

“I don’t understand…” His face contorts, as if pained. Tender digits sweep across your cheeks; you catch the wetness grazing his fingertips. 

“Why’re you crying?”

“You’re hurting me. It’s unfair that you’re like this… why are you still so—” good to me?

Gavin doesn’t speak. Choosing to wipe the tears that trail down your face; an endless stream. “I hatehow you choose to compromise your own safety for the sake of your missions. Telling others to stay out of danger and yet you go and do just the opposite. I can’t tell if it’s cruel or kind of fate to bring you to me like this but I can’t bearthe thought of you hurt, Gavin.” He watches you, silent. 

“I know… I know you think I have no reason to worry for you but I do. I can’t explain it. I—” Your incessant garbling tapers and dies with the press of warmth against your lips. Your eyes widening at the realization: Gavin’s kissing you. 

His mouth is tender, just as you remember it. Soft as it moves against yours, testing. The fan of his lashes this close, he’s just as beautiful. Beneath his lids, you catch the movement of his eyes, rapid; his brow furrowed as if in concentration. 

Before he stops abruptly, withdrawing. But you’re not done yet, swallowing his apology into your mouth as you press back into him. 

Coveting him just as hungrily as the hands that slide down the expanse of your back, settling at your hips. Before he lifts you and into his lap; you follow eager and wanting. 

This kiss is devoid of tenderness; all ferocity and desire you pour into it, wanting him to know how he leaves you uncertain, despite your better judgement. Despite the voice of reason insisting this isn’t your Gavin. You can’t stop. 

And Gavin—

Releasing a soft grunt against your mouth, his tongue sweeps across the seam of your lips, parting them. Slipping inside to test against yours; rough digits fisting themselves into your hair as he crushes your mouths together. As if he too can’t bear the distance, as if he means to pilfer every single breath of yours. “I don’t understand why I…” He repeats, voice riddled with discontent.

You’re too breathless to respond but you understand. You have no easy answers.

His tongue slides hot against your lower lip. Sucking your tongue into his mouth, you moan against him. Restless hands that trail across the sides of your waist, thumbs he presses circles with against sensitive skin; you feel the heat of it even through your shirt. 

Breath catching within your throat at the hesitant brush of fingertips just beneath the curve of your breasts before Gavin seems to think the better of it, withdrawing. You capture his wrist and tug, a mute plea within your gaze. 

Gavin watches; the slow shudder that leaves you at the cup of his hands around your breasts. Observing the curve of parted lips; the bite of teeth into plush flesh when he moves to slip his thumbs over the stiffened peaks and you groan without shame, incredibly sensitive to his touch. 

You watch the bob of his Adam’s apple, slow and steady; heat and desire burn within his gaze at your arousal. 

Beneath, you feel the shape of him; hard and straining against your ass. Grinding your hips on instinct, a hitched sound scrapes free of his throat; open mouth lunging for yours in another consuming kiss. 

What are we doing? 

Warm palms map the shape of your cheeks; Gavin draws back, heat simmering within those eyes you so love. “Do you want to stop?” He whispers softly, as if he reads your mind. You don’t want to.

Hands skittering across his belt, you free him of the confines of his trousers before scrabbling off of his lap and onto your knees. 

“You don’t have to do that—”

“I want to, Gavin. And if you do too…” 

He watches you, silent for a moment. Eyes tracing your features for signs of hesitance or discomfort; your heart aches to know how his kind heart remains. Before Gavin settles a hand atop your head in affirmation and you oblige, all too eager. 

Sinking onto him, you relish the first taste; his cock sliding across your tongue; familiar. Gavin grunts, head tipping back in pleasure as you work your mouth over him. Fingers weaving tighter through your locks, he doesn’t rush you, merely holding firm. 

Slipping your fingers across his thigh to soothe and relax him further into you, you bob your mouth over him in tandem with the low thrusts of his hips into you. 

Tapered digits; hot to the touch, slip through your hair and down the side of your head as he trails them across the back of your neck and you shiver, moaning as he slips deeper down your throat. 

You’re incredibly wet; the moisture of dampened panties dragging torturous across your clit. Pressing your legs together for any degree of relief, you slide your tongue across his length, closing your mouth around as much of him as you can take. 

You’re so turned on; you feel yourself clamp down from how you suck him, his groans of pleasure serving to encourage you. 

Stealing a glance up at him to catch him watching you; a flush steals faint but sure across his cheeks. Gavin curls a fist into your hair, gently tugging. “Come up here.”

You let yourself be dragged, settling back into his lap. Gavin’s fingers trail across the front of your stomach, teasing a moment before they slip past your panties to drag circles across your clit. 

You tremble in response; pressing your face into the side of his neck, the sensation overwhelming enough you almost come. 

Wrapping trembling digits around his cock, you pump him in tandem with the fingers he slips into your pussy without warning. Insistent thumb dragging moisture across your clit. 

Gavin presses in, fingers curling into you deeper. Watching as you shiver in his grasp, mouth parted as if in wonder. The flush of his cheeks enticing, you move to drag your tongue against it.

 Breathing hard as the two of you work to bring the other to completion. 

Your cries mixing with his groans as you release yourself onto his fingers at last, dropping boneless against him. 

Reaching for him in one final kiss; pressing closer as you let thoughts of your temporary relief distract you from the glaring truth. 

Outside, Helios watches as the two kiss; visible from where he stands, even a few feet away. Tossing his empty soda can into the trash, he turns back towards the car. Eyes flashing bright blue — then gold — for a split second underneath the glaring lights overhead. He glances at the photograph of a smiling woman — her — then back at the couple.  

“The Queen and her Knight, huh?” 

A/N:Thank you for supporting Dirty Does Good!

Author: @janumun​​​
Fandom: Ikemen Sengoku
Character(s): Kenshin/Reader (Female MC)
Rating: E – Explicit

Warnings:NSFW content, jealousy, re-telling of canon events, denial of romantic feelings/conflicted emotions, oral and vaginal sex, spoilers for Kenshin’s main story (up till Chapter 10)

Prompt: “Mine”
Summary: A council is called, with the attendance of the Oda envoys, Mitsunari and Mitsuhide, to revise and recapitulate the terms of the Uesugi–Oda alliance. Kenshin soon discovers the relationship between the two men and their former ‘Chatelaine’ runs far deeper than one in between mere acquaintances. Glaring truths are about to be spoken and Kenshin learns once more: envy has always stood as his greatest weakness when it comes to her. 

The Main Hall of Kasugayama is alive once more— rowdier even, with the sounds of inebriated merry-making in the wake of a fairly tense Council earlier in the day. One with the attendance of the Oda entourage; a few among them friends she hadn’t seen in a long while. An opportunity for peaceful negotiations, one she had been happy to take advantage of.

She fidgets about in place, restless hands curled around her cup of liquor. Eyes alert and wandering, even as her mouth grazes the cusp of her drink in a show of sipping at the contents.

Kenshin’s eyes stray once more, surely by force of habit, to catch her impatience— odd eyes following her eager gaze as she sits by his side: a pretty ornament, formerly of the Oda, one he seized for himself in a battle not long ago. 

Kenshin frowns. That’s just what she was. A decorative commodity, a Princess of the Oda, Kenshin repeats the words over and over in his head, tossing and turning them about until they refuse to make sense. Unsuccessful efforts in deluding his own heart, a traitorous part of him whispers. He smothers it mercilessly.

She inclines her face towards him then, inquisitive eyes catching his gaze – the mild concern he captures in hersleaving him desiring. Her lips part on the sound of his name, surely in question before the Oda envoy named Ishida impertinently cuts into their space. Nodding amicably to Kenshin once, he turns to address her, “Here you are, princess. It is a relief to see you well.”

Unsavory. Poisonous. The sake burns tasteless down Kenshin’s throat to catch sight of the joy brimming within her gaze at the appearance of the other man who dares his hands forward to grasp hers within, smiling at her with no less amount of care and affection.

“You were just the person I was looking for, Mitsunari. Well, Mitsuhide too. But I must give you these before you depart tomorrow morning.” She hands him one of the furoshiki bundles she’d kept close by her side for the entirety of the evening.

“A gift for you.” Her smile widens at the pleased look that takes Ishida’s face when he unveils his present. “Writing implements! Thank you so very much. I can only hope the fabric we brought you earlier can offer you even a modicum of the joy I feel at your thoughtful gift.”

They speak of the affairs of Azuchi Castle and its town— two people close enough to share a laugh over a drink or two. The stark awareness of her comfort in Mitsunari’s presence scorches bitter ash across his tongue—a feeling he tries and throttles into submission. Failing efforts; until he feels the warmth of her hand across his where it rests clenched – he notices belatedly – on his knee. “Kenshin.”

Nothing sounds better than the syllables of his name on her tongue and he relishes the sound of it. “What is it?”

“I’d like to excuse myself for a while. Mitsunari tells me he hasn’t seen Mitsuhide in a while. I’d like to go search for him, give him his gift before he returns.” The effort it takes to slip his hand away from hers, to not hold on and tell her to stay, right by his side. The last of his iron-clad will hardening, crushing back base impulses before he does something he shall regret. Kenshin watches her leave in silence, the ice in his chest surfacing within odd eyes to leave them devoid of warmth as he swipes the last of his drink. Bidding Mitsunari a swift, curt farewell, Kenshin excuses himself for the night.

The air outside washes pleasant over her cheeks, flushed from sake and happiness as she finally spies the back of familiar robes; silver strands almost luminous under the moon. The man facing away from her as he speaks to one of the Oda retainers; low, indecipherable words exchanged in between the two— ones she fails to hear from where she stands. Hesitance and caution in her steps, she shuffles forward, silent so as not to disturb the men. However— 

Mitsuhide tips his head in her direction. “And what is our dear chatelaine doing out here all by herself? Tired of entertaining the Dragon, I presume?” Dismissing the man she believes is his subordinate, he turns to face her.

She shakes her head, venturing closer. “I was looking for you, Mitsuhide. Why’d you leave the feast midway?”

His gaze – just as discerning as she remembers it – sweeps across her and holds. “And what of you?”

“Irritatingly evasive as always, I see.” Her smiles; of amusement, she lifts the object she carries, up for inspection. “I wanted to hand over your gift.”

“A gift? For me?” Something akin to surprise flickers its way into his voice and she continues, pleased to have caught the man off-guard.

“Yes. I had gifts prepared for everyone at Azuchi once I learned you’d be visiting. I’ve left the rest in Mitsunari’s care and brought yours.”

Slender fingers reach for the offered box, a soft question spilling, as if an afterthought.  “I gather these gifts are your way of announcing your decision? You’ve decided to stick by the God of War.” A lull follows her nod, Mitsuhide choosing to work through the binds of his gift before he abruptly pauses, a smile stretching slow across his face at the revelation. “A salve for cuts,” he muses.

“I wasn’t in Azuchi for long but I did gather you dealt with… questioning our prisoners. I often noticed the nicks on your hands.” Mitsuhide continues to watch her, levity dancing across his features but she continues, unperturbed by that look. “Figured I’d take matters into my own hands and give you something for their well-being since it’s clear you care as much about your body as you do about taking proper meals.”

A soft, sudden sound slices through the quiet of the night; low and sonorous and she recognizes the quality of Mitsuhide’s laughter, broad shoulders shaking with mirth. “Seems as if a certain silly bird is far more aware of her surroundings than initially given credit for.”

She angles a critical glare at the offending man, half of a mind to smack the smile right off that irritating face of his before he stops, his ridiculing fit supposedly having subsided for the time being.

That penetrative gaze finds her once more and stays. Mitsuhide’s voice drops several octaves, softening in a manner she’s never heard from the man, as if in preparation of revealing a heavy secret. “I assume Azuchi will grieve the loss of its Chatelaine for a long time to come.”

She catches those barely tangible threads of mischief in his gaze… but his words, she accepts them for the sincerity she hears in them and smiles. “Thank you, Mitsuhide. For everything. Try not to make things hard on Hideyoshi, alright?”

“Why, you almost sound like the Mother himself, little one.” Tapered digits reach for her face then, as if he means to trace her features. She thinks she catches the streak of something within gold eyes, almost… almost— 

“Continue as you are and I shall cut you down where you stand, Kitsune.”

Concentration shattered, the scent of  cherry blossoms and sake assails her senses before she feels the drape of a familiar arm around her, possessive in its hold as Kenshin catches her back against his chest.

Angling an inquisitive glance his way, she’s rendered speechless at the barely trapped frost that seeks to skewer as if by sheer will, within eyes— sapphire and emerald, edged to a dagger’s point.

The two men continue to stare at each other and she almost holds her breath at the unusual tension that pulls taut within the air. Opening her mouth to intervene in whatever it is she finds herself caught in, before Mitsuhide’s silken tones slice through the tightening pressure. “Ah. I see how it is. How utterly lucky for you, little mouse. It seems as if your favor is returned.”

“And plenty.” He adds, a corner of his mouth pulling into an enigmatic smile to catch the crush of Kenshin’s jaw, the hand he spots trembling to pull his sword free at his hip. Mitsuhide retreats a few stops before inclining his head at Kenshin in farewell. “The hour grows late. We must depart for Azuchi at dawn’s first light, so if you shall excuse me now.”

Affording one last glance her way, Mitsuhide melds one with the shadows; footsteps fading fast into the distance before all that drapes them is heavy silence, settling pregnant with questions unspoken deep within her heart. The steady movements of his firm chest with each breath, deep and reassuring against her back, the rhythm of his heart – she notices belatedly – setting back into rest. And yet, he does not release his hold on her.

A sigh rasps past his lips, scorching hot against her ear lobe, from where his mouth rests close. Always.Close yet not quite touching.

Before she hears the low, sonorous echo of his voice forming words her befuddled mind struggles to string into coherency until it does— “What must I do to make you mine?”

—and blanks.

The tip of her tongue traces the edge of her lips, once, twice in an effort to return much needed moisture. This careful game they’d been playing for the entirety of her stay here, his eyes speaking clear and yet, his feelings still so obscure. His heart hidden from sight, tucked away close where she couldn’t reach, it hurt her every time to have the man she loved pull away from her as if her touch itself were poison or perhaps his.

Kenshin moves away, the warmth of him leaving her back to engulf her hand, far smaller in his grasp as he urges her to her feet. “Come. I shall walk you back to your chambers.”

The warmth of her touch slips away from his grasp; Kenshin turning back to return to his own quarters, far colder for her loss— before those delicate fingers find their way onto his haori. Frail. Breakable.Just as the rest of her. “Kenshin. Won’t you come inside? I have… gifts for you too.”

A foolish decision, his mind derides as he finds himself seated in the comfort of her chambers. A place he too, finds relief in, despite never having stepped through her doors before.

The colorful varied fall of fabric designated to a corner of her room. Books she’d borrowed, perhaps off Sasuke, shelved neatly in place. One of such tomes placed upon her writing desk alongside her sewing implements. Threaded needles spilling from an overturned canister as if their owner had only just left and meant to return soon.

The scent of her as she bustles about the room: the cherries she so loves, and crisp fabric— commingles with an essence that’s just her.

Kenshin finds himself inhaling, slow and deep, as if to savor the scent of her within his lungs— just as she seats herself in front of him. The objects of her quest in hand, she places in between them.

Lifting each curious gift in turn, she begins to speak. “A polish for your blades. I asked Shingen for advice and purchased the most appropriate amalgam for swords in town.”

Her hands flit towards the second canister. “This one’s tea. A herbal concoction to be exact. I’m almost certain I got the proportions right. This should help you sleep easier at night.” She speaks as if she knows of the demons that plague the object of his nightmares. Except that now… instead of a young princess he’d failed to save from the dark gallows once upon a time, the burbling ghosts of his mind reach to tear into her now.

She trails off, even as her fingers reach for the last offering. “And this is—”

“Pickled plums.” Kenshin finishes. A feeling, so intense it almost knocks the breath from his lungs, takes over and sinks as he takes silent stock of her ‘gifts’. Each crafted and procured with careful thought, her desires in doing so almost impossible to ignore.

“Yes,” she nods, face blooming into a smile. “I know you don’t fancy tea much so I’d hoped to balance that bitter gift out by this one. You’ll be able to enjoy your sake with your favorite snack for the next, good while.”

She lifts her face, hope seeping into wide eyes until all Kenshin sees is how it takes her features in entirety. A wish, surely, he is the wrong person to ask for its fulfillment.

“I know these aren’t much but…”

“No.” An obscure emotion had begun to gain meaning once more, ever since her arrival. His heart a thing she seemed to hack the vines off of. A cage that had held it protected for so long. Numbed.

Yet, slow but sure, the chaffs shedding off of the past… useless to leave him unrestrained, it terrifies Kenshin to feel the burgeoning of this nameless bloom he cannot control. Almost as frenzied as the desire to spill blood in battle.

Ire and darkness manifesting in the possession he desires to have of her: mind, body and soul— the Kitsune’s face flashes through his mind then. Deliberate words, his eyes as they had settled upon her and appraised, almost fond. Hands that had reached for her. Hands he’d wanted to slice through for daring to.

A lump makes itself known heavy within his throat. “You are…” Sapphire and emerald; glittering edges as he ventures closer, as if a beast prowling toward the prey. But she does not cower, fragile digits reaching to snag against his clothes just as his catch against her cheeks, palms cupping around to feel their warmth. A deliberate, careful sweep of his thumb across her cheekbone sends the dark fan of her lashes trembling before they fall to shroud her gaze from sight.

Uncertainty knocking distant within his ears, he coaxes her eyes back to his, the frown he feels budding in between his brows, settling chaotic and needy to have her answers. “Why? What is the reason for your kindness? Why do you… ” unsettle my heart as you do?

A hand comes up to splay across his own, emotions he dare not decipher in that gaze, spilling forth on a murmured sound. “You know why… don’t you?”

Consternation deepens its hold across his features before Kenshin rasps out what he knows. What he has known for so long. His surrender leaving him on a wretched breath before he tightens his hold on her. “Push me away, struggle and run away if you must… if you do not want me, tell me now. Or else…”

I would not be able to contain myself once I have you.

I would not be able to let you turn back into the arms of a man you truly desire.

I would ruin us both before I’d ever let go.

Stop me. Despise me.

Her breaths tremble against his lips, the heat of a fire he’s ventured too close to. The slightest of brushes against his mouth as she leans in, flooding open the violent barrage of emotions he can no longer throttle, open mouth and tongue crushing against hers to swallow her staggered moans. Clawing at his shoulders in a bid to pull him closer, her desperation spurs his own vehement desires.

Dragging open the collar of her kimono to trace the rapid flutter of her pulse against a hot tongue, Kenshin’s teeth easily close around the tendon he finds straining against her neck and her head lolls back further in a shuddering whimper to feel the force of his manic desire. Her voice leaving her on a strangled sound of his name, eager fingers thread through his hair to tug and draw him back toward her mouth, open and wanting, unbearably hot; fleshing searing against flesh— the taste of her against his tongue inundating his senses far heavier than any liquor. “I have known what I’ve wanted and for so long. And I… I am afraid.”

Her eyes – hazed over with the burden of her want, brimming along with the love he sees set alight in them – meet his and hold. Her hands, ever so tender, his salve to wounds she uncovers afresh to let him see where he hurt…. and wanted for her— she traces his features as if she finds it a wonder to be holding him as she is now and the thought sends a fresh barrage of needles stinging through his heart. “If I have you now, I won’t ever be able to let go. I’ll restrict you; shackle you down until you’re sick and weary of me. And yet… I cannot make myself let go.” Kenshin moves forward, laying a delicate kiss against her lips.

“Then don’t, Kenshin. I don’t want you to.” His lips trace her features, committing to memory as she speaks. “The man I love cherishes me. I’ve always seen him strive for my comfort and my happiness.” A kiss he places against her brow, subdued tremors taking him at the intensity of his emotions. “You are worth far more than you give yourself credit for. You won’t hurt me, Kenshin.”

“Foolish woman… you don’t know that. You can’t.” A weary smile breaks across his face but it hurts her… he sees how it causes her expression to crumple in on itself. Taking his hand within hers, she guides his palm to rest above her left breast, her heart fluttering rapid beneath the touch of his hand.

Desire so acute, it almost hurts to hold back at the exhorting look she fixes him with, asking him to fall, let go. “This is yours. If you do not trust in my words, let me be here to show you how you honor me. Let me love you Kenshin… please. Let us be in this together. Let me be your support.”

Her arms coming around his back to hold and draw close. Undoing the barely held cascade of hunger and desire: for her heart, her body, all of her in its entirety… until Kenshin’s pressing her back onto the floor, his own form overwhelming her smaller, trembling one. Her chest heaves with her breaths, heavy and rapid as she reaches to pull back the rest of her kimono, finally bared before him.

A dark, foreign growl leaves the confines of his chest as Kenshin drives her legs apart before settling himself at her entrance. “I love you. I want you. Tell me to leave you now if you do not wish for me to go further.” A broad, quick stroke of his tongue against her swollen clit sets her quivering, her thighs tightening their hold against his head.

“I want you to go much, much further. I want you so much it hurts.”

The last of her words heard and acknowledged, Kenshin surrenders to the desire that rages and runs within his very marrow, for this woman as she twists beneath his grasp. Each shallow stroke of his tongue through her folds wrenching sounds from her he swears he shall never tire of. A kiss he places near the junction of her thighs before drawing flesh into his mouth to leave red blooming in its wake.

Her hips, as if of a mind of their own, lift and press against him, her moans and hands desperate as they work to drive him closer and Kenshin’s hands slip beneath her to anchor against his mouth, fingers pulsing into the flesh of her buttocks. Tongue slipping into her depths till she cries out with the intensity of the stimulation. 

Addiction rolls liquid heat in his veins to feel the clench of her deep within, gathering moisture onto an insatiable tongue. Drinking of her until she spills herself sweet against him.

Swiping a careful thumb against his lips before slipping the digit into his mouth, sucking, he gathers himself above her. The hard length of his cock dragging through her folds, coating himself in her essence before he presses in, groaning to feel the give of her wet flesh around him. Sinking deeper until she’s taken all of him up till the hilt. Kenshin reaches to find relief against her neck as he begins to move. Her fluttering walls; exquisite torture to leave him wanting to come undone in moments.  Just as she calls for him on withering cries he sends higher with each harsh swing of his hips against hers.

Over and over, until it feels his own body could mesh with hers, cock leaving the confines of her wet relief only to sink right back and it’s agony;Kenshin reaching to tug a pebbled nipple into his mouth, groaning as he worries gentle teeth against the puckered bed. Frenzied fingers reaching for the bead of pleasure at the apex of her thighs, pressing in to slide them down against the slick, gathering moisture, until he feels for the place he joins her in ecstacy.

Her insides clench around him to keep within her depths every time he withdraws and Kenshin moves to place his lips against her temple – a silent, whispered hope – trailing down toward her neck, lapping at the taste of the woman he knows he could never hope to have enough of.

For fear still held him captive within its jaws, his desire to protect her reigned stronger and as he feels the flood of her warmth, Kenshin, too, spills himself into her, binding her to him, repeating that thought over and over until one day he too finds it true:

She will not share the same fate as Isehime’s. I will protect her. She will not be Isehime.

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