Fine Wine And Golden Cigarettes. [Uzu]

[Kokomo]

The air in the maiden's corridor was thick and hot. A certain heat wave had ducked down into the cave and caused quite a ruckus down below to the steaming vegetables we know as humans. The Uzumoreru Clan Castle was no exception, and, if anything it was hundreds of degrees hotter, save for a room that the young mistress Ijimeru Kitanai would take full advantage of. It was down, closer to the ground, and had no windows. It was completely covered in thick curtain-like walls and ceilings, leaving the heat almost incapable of penetrating through. Not to mention, the secluded room was full of ice for various alcohols.

The woman, gowned in white as per usual, was laying upside-down on the red velvet couch, her feet up, bare, and kicking in the air as she laid with her head dangling off, her cropped black hair dangling as a tall wine glass sat by her head on the floor, bubbling with one of the various champagnes she had tried. So many taste testing done of such rich and fancy bottles had gotten her well... we'll let you find that out.

The white queen's right hand was just outside the room, doing her lovely job as usual, and Kitanai called to her, "Oya~!" The lower-registered tone of her sexy voice called as she reached forward and pulled herself to sit up and turn her head backwards to look towards Oya who entered the room, "Are you feeling any better, Lady Kita?"

"Oh yes yes--Oh!~ Oya!~" She called, turning to sit properly on the couch as she looked to the maiden, "Will you.... will you fetch me Uzumoreru?" She stared at the woman, who scowled a bit in confusion before Kitanai laughed, quite loud, "Ha! Wait!" She laughed shaking her head, "Duh! Uzumoreru--Hahahaha, Toushin! I mean Toushin!" The maid gave a worried look for a moment as Kita leaned forward as though to ask 'why the fuck are you still here?' as she took in a deep huff, Oya heading out and down to who knows where to go after the drunken lady's wishes.

 

[Toraono Michino]

Entered as iNPC Uzumoreru Toushin​

Bloody Paperwork. Oh ye gods why did there have to be so much paperwork!?

This is what he had been dreading in his triumphant return to the clan after his nearly four year hiatus from the Council, and that was the freaking paperwork. There was a lot of appeals that were made over the last three years that couldn’t be decided on without full council, and without Toushin they decided to apparently laze around for three and a half years while the paperwork piled up. It was no wonder they had been so unprepared to kill him when he inducted Kitanai into the nobles; they weren’t expecting it. They had honestly thought they with their two most powerful assassins gone that they could simply let the clan stagnate, and in a lot of ways it had.
The lesser assassins had degenerated into warring gangs that owned two halves of the lower castle and were constantly fighting. Without missions and jobs to keep everyone active the assassins just below noble rank had grown soft and as lazy as their council. A great deal of this pissed Toushin off to see his beloved clan fall deeper into the dregs of uselessness than before they were forced underground.
His hand furiously flew across paper after paper writing his signature with a quill pen as he speed read most of the material, only slowing down on matters of actual importance like clearance to use funds for building repairs, equipment restocking, and client lists.

Working like a machine the assassin had deaden his mind to everything but his work and to listen for the sound of stuff moving in the room. Even as the sweat dripped down his forehead from the insane heat wave he worked non-stop. Instead of the normal blood armor he was so keen to using for his clothing he was actually dressed in cloth. It seemed like a terrible idea given the heat wave but walking around in blood armor as clothing was kind of frowned upon in the clan due to the rash strings of pranks done with the lesser assassins. Yet he was not fool enough to wear anything excessively hot for the temperatures kept that from happening anyways. He was dressed in a long-sleeve button down shirt that had the sleeves rolled up to his elbows and the top three buttons undone. Tucked into the shirt was a pair of thin cloth slacks. Nothing adorned his feet save a wrap that was only there to guard against the sharper parts of the old walkways between buildings.
It was the catching of the sound of his door being slid open that finally forced him to break eye contact with the papers and look up. Before him stood Oya, the High Hand, head of the Maiden Quarters and Keeper of the Brood. She used to have the extremely important job of being the midwife to the assassins’ mothers, but having seen too many sons being taken away after her own turned her heart hard towards most of the men. She stopped being the midwife and simply took over the over-all care and organization of the women, and most of them saw her as a leader. Now she was playing servant to the first female important enough to be revered by the entire clan and there was a look of grief on her face. Toushin wasn’t sure what that look was for before she gave him the message from the Queen.

Uzu wasn’t sure how to take it.

It had been nearly a month since he was forced from her presence by her harsh words and the confusing emotions that had been bottled up and shoved down sprung up once more like a geyser that had been forced closed.
“You will only approach me if directed to from the council themselves, and only if they have no other worthless member to send to me.” The words still burned in Toushin’s heart as he felt his heart steeling itself to tell Oya to tell her to fuck off. Yet, as if he had no control, his body lifted itself from the chair and pushed it under the desk. He nodded to the High Hand to dismiss her and waited for her to leave before letting out a heavy sigh and running his hand back through his hair. He could only imagine what it was she was going to ask of him now given their last meeting. No doubt something painful and angering that he would have to bite his tongue on for she was Queen in every sense of the word. Without her he had no movement to support him at all to ascend his position to the throne and rule the males of the clan.
Adjusting his clothing a little Uzu slid close the door to his office and took the longest route he could to the Maiden Quarters as he tried to prepare his mind and body for the emotional onslaught that was sure to occur. Somewhere in his walk the Uzumoreru saw his half-blood brother working with the security staff and heading down to the lower levels to quell another riot. Something was going to have to be done about the lesser assassins and soon before they burned the castle down.

About thirty minutes after sending her message Uzu finally arrived at a room deep in the lower parts of the Maiden Quarters he didn’t even know existed. With a few knocks on the door he let himself in, being that he was already expected and closed the door behind him without looking at her once. After a couple of seconds he finally steeled himself to look up and found himself blown away by that dress and the…certain, aura, that she was giving off. In her hand was a glass of one of the many reserved wines that the Uzumoreru had collected over the years. He had always wondered where they stored them.

“You wished to see me?” Uzu broke right into it, wondering what new way she was going to confuse him this time.

 

[Kokomo]

The woman, each limb of her fair skin littered with beauty marks and small scars, rolled backwards onto the ground before hopping to a standing position and wandering to the bar. She had some time before Uzu would show up, and her walking was a little off to start with. Her steps a bit crooked as she moved to the bar, cracking open another sparkling wine she hadn't tried yet, and pouring it sloppily into a tall red wine glass, throwing a few cubes of ice into the glass as she took a slow sip. The way it fizzled on her raspberry lips delighted her as she smiled blissfully, and filled it the rest of the way, wandering back to the red velvet couch, plopping down, and leaning against the far right side of it as she stared upwards at the chandelier, her hand on the glass as she waited.

It didn't take too long in drunk-time for the master to appear, her eyes turning sharply towards him as a large goofy smile spread across her face as he forced his eyes to look up at her, "Toushin~!" She exclaimed, not a hint of ill feelings in her words as she leaned towards him, her arms resting on the couch in front of her as she laid like a feline, "Oh, yes, I did want to see you!" Her voice rang out as she raised her wine with a shaky hand, "Have you...have you e-ever tried one of these?" She was scowling slightly, as though to focus on her speech before giggling, "They are," She lowered her voice to a sultry whisper, "Soooooo delicious." That grin came back as she patted the spot beside her, a hand reaching out to grab him harshly and drag him next to her, "Here, my love, you have to try some." She cooed, as she handed him her glass, leaning on him, her arms draping over his shoulders, and her legs folded under her body.

Now... what was she going to say...

 

[Toraono Michino]

What the what?

Before he could even get a real good argument as to why sitting anywhere near her was a bad idea he was being dragged down to sit next to her and that body pressed against them. A man with lesser willpower would have tried something right then and there given her dress, however, for as far as it was concerned with assassins Toushin was a gentleman.
Uzu sure as hell wasn’t expecting a drunken Kitanai to be greeting him, though in a way it made a lot of sense. Despite being a queen via status there was really nothing for her to do. He was doing most of the work for the clan as he had in the past before his short departure, which was why there was ongoing riots in the lower areas now. Yet she had somehow managed to find herself where they kept the booze and that, for the moment, was entertaining until you got drunk and realized there was no one there to drink with you. It was then that he realized that she had the choice of calling him or the other women to come join her in this and she picked him…his suspicions were raised to Tama-levels.
Yet still he took the drink offer to him and brought it up to his lips to feel the cool glass graze against the bare flesh. The cool bitter-sweet liquid rushed past them and across his parched tongue while the bubbles of the drink seemed to somehow lighten his head. Without even thinking about it the cool drink caused his body to relax a little as certain things he did as an assassin were second nature and showed themselves again; such as how his body instantly reacted to alcohol. Very rare was a day when Toushin drank but when he did he often did things he came to regret. With that in mind he decided it best to try and hand the drink back to Kitanai,
“That is actually very delicious, surprisingly. I don’t usually find myself fond of wine,” the assassins spoke to the queen in the attempt to make some sort of small talk while he puzzled out his presence here.

Uzu adjusted himself a little to get a bit more comfortable on the couch and crossed one leg over the other as he figured he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon. A part buried deep inside of him had longed for this anyways as he had come to miss their little meetings at the end of the month where they would share a few glasses of alcohol, catch up, and just be friends. It was more than obvious that every time they met that he wanted her, but she always found a way to twist the conversation back around that topic and he figured she just didn’t want anything to do with him sexually again.
Yet here she was dressed like she was, showing way more leg than Uzu was sure he could handle, and already bad-decision making drunk. Was he just lucky or was this a trap?

 

[Kokomo]

"No no!" The suductress squealed with a giddy laugh as she pushed the glass roughly back to him, "You keep it! I'm going to try the other one!" She stood quickly, grabbing the bottom of her dress to pull it back down as the more she moved the farther the short dress would raise. She tripped over her own feet for a moment, stumbling, catching herself on the bar, and laughing as she shook out her short black locks, laughing quietly to herself as she grabbed another bottle, popping the lid and pouring it into a new glass.

"Ooooo~ This one smells so fruity!" Her excitement was piercing as she hurried over to him, her feet oddly ungraceful, especially compared to her usual walk. She dropped into the couch next to him again, leaning closely, her lips so near her warm breath could tickle his neck, "I hate drinking alone," Her sultry whisper came back, her eyes half shut and fluttering as she watched him. "I don't know how I keep living in this place, you know?" Her voice had left that excited and bubbly turn, and gone down a deadpan and sexy path, "It's such.... a living hell...." Her lips would fall, leaning against his shoulder, kissing it once as her body leaned into him. Her legs draping over his, and one hand around his shoulders, and the other on his chest as she leaned her head on his shoulder. "I miss you." Kitanai said quietly, her voice almost muffled by his body as she spoke directly into it, "It's so...empty here... and I threw away..." Her head would lul in her drunken slur, "Threw away... the one companion I had..."

Saemon hadn't returned to her yet. He had met her at the gates and told her he would be back for her-- and he didn't. He was in god knows where, doing god knows what. He didn't come back. He had broken his promise, and you bet she would have known! She had people there night and day waiting for him, and he didn't show up.

So many betrayals...

 

[Toraono Michino]

The assassin’s eyes watched her warily.

The drink was forced back into his hand and with caution born of bad decision making Uzu continued to sip as his drink, slowly, as those black eyes watched where she kept trying to tug down her skirt in vain. His drink caught a little in his throat when she tripped up and showed more of what she was trying to hide but managed to recover himself by the time she was pouring up another drink. Without any disregard to the freshly poured wine or how expensive all of it actually was she wobbled back towards the couch and practically fell onto it. The she made a show of making herself comfortable, not on the couch, but the other person sitting there.
The brushes of her lips on his shoulder and the feel of her breath on his neck raised the temperature of his body rather he wanted to or not, the feel of her warmth pressing against his body only further increased the strain on his willpower. He could feel himself being drawn in by her seduction despite everything that had been said between them that should have pushed away any of these feelings. It was already bad enough that he felt terrible for having to do what he did to her in order to elevate himself, even though in the long run she would benefit from it. The draconian processes of the Uzumoreru had broken many bonds and this was one of them he had never suspected to get back.

His free hand seemed to move itself and run it slowly up the closest bare thigh and played with the edge of the dress and where it stopped at, his head turning to finish the drink and place it down safely out of the way. Confusion rattled his mind as his body seemed to react and take over for him, doing what his mind couldn’t comprehend and responding to her seduction with counter-seduction.
It was an assassination technique imbedded deep within the clan members early on that gave their body a kind of auto-pilot if their minds became too fogged to think clearly. What was happening to the body when the mind went blank was how it responded which meant that if she was to try and attack him right now would be the worst mistake she could have ever made outside of agreeing to come with him to this place to start with.
“I have lived here my entire life and have always felt lonely…is that not normal for assassins?” Uzu responded to her words in breathy voice that seemed somewhat shaken from the feel of her body pressed so close. His other free hand reached up and traced her jaw line as he felt his focus on trying to be paranoid slipping.

Seriously, he had no idea how Tama could remained so paranoid focused.

 

[Kokomo]

There was a slight amount of tension in the body of her lover, and yet, she never noticed. Her body was very limp and relaxed, so much that occasionally her hand would fall from from her muscles dropping, or her head lulling backwards. Her body leaned in closer as he spoke to her, her head tipping up lazily as glazy eyes looked to him. A hand on her thigh was like fire, and his hand ran across her jaw line as she leaned in slightly, but would not kiss him.

"I don't know what kind of people you hire here," Her sultry and serious look cracked into another grin as she leaned away from him, his comment and something 'funny' ruining the moment, "But I wasn't lonely as an assassin in the slums." She was clearly referring to male companions as she fell back, grabbing the bottom of the lace dress, and pulling it back down as her legs stayed draped over his lap, and her back leaned against the arm of the couch. Her other hand elegantly grabbing the wine glass as she sipped it slowly, her eyes never leaving his. They bore into him with fiery pupils and raging emotions.

"You know what's funny about you, Toushin?" She asked, her long leg lifting slowly to brush against his jaw line before dropping back into his lap, "How you....react." She giggled on a low register that was almost a sinister stifled laugh, "I told you to get out...and you did!" Her words slurred together, making a little sense with inappropriate giggles here and there, and a constant grin on her face. "I expected a... a... fight. But you didn't fight--Oh no! You... you..." Her head lulled backwards as she smiled at the ceiling and laughed deeply again, "You walked away!" She shouted gleefully at the ceiling, her feet rising in that short dress to kick for a moment (away from his face, of course) before her head rolled slowly to look back at him, her feet dropping, and curling back under her as she shifted and began to crawl like a panther towards him.

"I waited, you know," Her eyes were dead set on him, a sort of killer look in her eyes, "I was so certain you would return... and burst through those doors and take me," Yes, that was exactly what she said. A flirty and sexual giggle erupting through her lips as she bit the bottom one slowly, crawling close to him and coming up to her knees that pressed against his side. Her long and slender torso against his as her teeth moved up to pull gingerly on his ear before she whispered to him, "But you didn't..."' Her hands came around his body as her body morphed against his side so he could feel every bump and smooth line of her form against him, "Why didn't you come back for me, Toushin?" Her seductive tone whispered into his ear as she cooed and flirted with him, her teeth pulling on his lobe again as a hand ran down his neck, and the other toyed with the hair on his neck.

 

[Toraono Michino]

Was there no end to this madness?

Her body reacted almost on the exact same levels as his did and when she pulled away it honestly frustrated him a little. He came to this room expecting nothing more than to be tormented but wasn’t expecting this kind of torture. Her graceful seductiveness lured him in without her really trying, cause he knew how she could get. If she really, really wanted to break him she would have done it by now, would of have had him waiting on his hands and knees for her. It was already a crush on his willpower as it was to resist her now, and the bubbles from that expensive wine was starting to unlock certain parts of his mind he kept sealed away when performing a job; which was how he was trying to view this whole thing. Didn’t she hate him for what he had done?
Her movements didn’t do anything to help him, no matter how little or far she pulled away so long as he could feel the heat from her flesh his hormones were stirring. Uzu had just about enough of resisting the woman’s proven irresistible charms when she dropped the damn bomb on him.
She revealed her mind to him, told him those feelings and expectations she had wanted of him on that dreadful day that Toushin just wanted to forget about.
A cold shock went through the assassin as he found the dark confusing emotions dragged up suddenly. His black eyes looked into Kitanai’s and revealed an obvious pain that had wounded him so deep inside for reasons he was only now starting to understand.

“Because I care about you.”

There, it was said and his heart sank into his stomach to say it. He had might as well have sang her a love sonnet such was the strength of the emotions spoken behind that sentence. All his training was going out the window when she was in his presence. All he could think about was all the little meetings they had at the end of the month and how she actually made him feel human despite the fact that they both had a dark side. He had let himself fall for her rather he liked it or not, and knew that he needed the humanity she gave him in order to be any sort of a ruler that would lead the Uzumoreru into a new dawn. It destroyed him to bring her death over one-hundred times, no matter how much she begged him to stop.
“All I could think about was your friendly smile and the flirty way you played with me when we saw each other on better terms. To see you so angry at me, though with good reason, tore at my heart, proving to myself finally that I did have one. I…honestly didn’t know what to do. As an assassin I would of manipulated your feelings to liking me again, I should have stormed back in there and secured your position as my ally…yet you’re the only one who has ever seen me as more than an assassin. I didn’t want your feelings, be they hate or love, for me to be created by my training…I wanted them to just be real…”

Toushin had to look away a little lest the pain became too much and he shamed himself before her.

 

[Kokomo]

The assassins head turned towards the white queen, and for a moment he stared at her. Just drinking in those large cyan eyes and tender white flesh. Taking in the vanilla scent she gave off with a mix of strawberry booze. The way her lips moved when she thought hard, and how she would blink faster when she was waiting impatiently--like she was for his answer. Little quirks this minx had, that were all so different and unique from one another. Uzumoreru had gotten to know and cherish the public Kitanai like many others, but he had also met the private one. The sensitive and girly one who had a soft spot for just about anything edible, but mostly chocolate. The way her toes curled on hardwood floor when it was cold, and how even on hot days she liked to bundle up in lumpy sweaters and curl in a ball. How she was embarrassed after sex to be looked at, and when she felt threatened her chin would dip down and slightly to the left. She was a creature like no other, with traits that were so personal to her that there was no compare that could be made between her and the other coals of the city.

The first words out of his mouth surprised her enough that her suggestive aura dropped completely, and she stared at him. She was curled against him, but less aggressively. She had reached a manner of sensitivity and listening, and, for once, the drunken slut wanted to hear him speak to her. Those eyes wide with curiosity, and her head tipped to the right as short curls fell to that side. Her hand around his shoulders stayed put, but the one on his chest dropped to her own kneeling leg as she watched him speak.

She had remembered quite vividly the deaths that she suffered. How she had screamed out in pain and torture, and the tears flew freely from her face. The way that her eyes stared at him for every death as though each one had a new words to go with it based off of how much he was hurting her:

Why, How, No, Please, Stop, Hurt, Betrayed, Hate, Loathing, Empty...

And yet, there he was, with some sort of strange vulnerability ripped out and thrown to her that she never expected to see. Her naked and bleeding body was nothing in comparison to this bare mind he had stripped for her. His empty and broken soul bared and bleeding for her, and in a way, it hurt her more than any one of the deaths that had torn through her wrecking mind.

"I know I shouldn't say this," Kitanai said quietly, her words still slightly slurred, but not as much, as though a form of shock had smacked her drunken ass around enough for her to sober enough to understand him, "But I really believe," Her hand would take his chin in hers, pulling it to her face as she searched his eyes desperately, "I can tell by your eyes, Toushin, that you're in love with me."

Her feelings for him were damasked and destroyed. She had no real understanding of her own heart yet, and wouldn't dare say something she would have to forcefully take back later. Her hand holding his chin lightly as she leaned against him, practically in his lap now, as she watched him and searched his eyes for something life changing.

"I know, it's against everything they... they teach you," Kitanai gave a slow and somewhat pitied smile, "But I think it's okay.... I think it's okay to... to... feel." She was saying things that were mostly madness. Coming from her, anyone would have called her a liar and a hypocrite. She had no right to preach about anything to do with feelings, as she blatantly ignored and destroyed her own for the sake of money and power. There was nothing that gave her to right to say that, but, yet, she felt he deserved it. Kitanai truly felt that Uzumoreru deserved to let some part of his golden heart free.

 

[Toraono Michino]

Kitanai’s word’s sent a shock through Uzu’s body.

His eyes widened a little as if a realization had been made. Love, of course, the one emotion that the Uzumoreru refused to teach them because they thought it would never come into play. There it was, the ultimate weakness to the Uzumoreru Clan because they didn’t teach how to counter these emotions. The lesser assassins who were nothing more than primal killing machines couldn’t be effected, for sure, but there was the Nobel Class who were the few of the assassins who were actually able to retain their selves. Then there were the rare cases when one of their lesser ilk regained their emotions through a traumatic change such as their partner dying or something they were used to disappearing without closure.
Now here he understood that weakness as she crept closer now just to show that her heart too beat in a rhythm that pitied him if nothing else. She never once admitted that she loved him, that she care for him, and Uzu knew that Kitanai still had every right not to. However he didn’t care this time for she revealed for him what he had been so confused about. The path was laid before him now and his instincts took over now that there was a clear goal. The only way he could ever fix these emotions and regain full control of his mind was to find out if she cared for him even a little as much as he had come to care for her.
His tilted chin looked up into her beautiful eyes and drank them in as he placed one arm around her waist to pull her in as close as he could and the other to slowly run his fingers into her hair and pull her already close head down to his lips and kiss her. That action alone broke the tension he had been feeling as it felt amazing just to have her lips pressed against his own for just a second before he, with so much more willpower, drew back so he could try to speak.
Only he found he couldn’t.
Uzumoreru Toushin, master of the art of seduction, death, and disguise could not for the life of him say anything to make up for possibly taking that action too far. The gentleman in him wanted to just apologize, make it awkward, and be done with it; however that voice was crushed, crushed over the raw energy that was flowing through him. Memories of that first and only night that he had her to himself returned with vivid picture of a photographic memory that was somewhat blurred due to all the substances that went into his body that night. The one thing that was clear though - he remembered it was so much fun, that he had about enough of her little dress as he could take, and the mix of her words and taste was just the spark needed to possibly take things too far for two people who were so burned from each other.
Having sex could be just the exact thing that would finally destroy everything once and for all for if she sobered up with a clear(er) mind and saw him lying next to her; there was no telling what terrible things could become of that.

Toushin was willing to take that risk, and he wasn’t even tipsy.

 

[Kokomo]

At first, things were a little bit scary, as he didn't say a word. The young man simply looked at her with those dark eyes. It was a gentle look though, as though something inside him and clicked and churned, and the tipsy woman tipped her head to the side to look at him curiously. She was trying to figure out what he was looking at, for, in such a state, she was a bit of loss for certain more logical things. Had she been in a sober mind it would have been clear.

It was then, that his arm looped around her tiny waist, as she pulled herself to straddle him, the distance from her thighs now pulling the dress she had so desperately tried to keep down, upwards to her hips as her hands reached for his face and his kiss touched her lips. It was a kiss different than any other she could remember them sharing. It was more subtle and secretive in a romantic and passionate way. Softer and lighter, but with the same yearning and begging.

He pulled away his lips, but not entirely. Her hips nestled and rested in his lap as she held his face with her hands as she stared into his eyes as though to ask him if it was okay for her to do whatever she wanted. Not that her drunken brain gave a shit what he really thought. Her hands grabbed his face as she kissed him again, more hungrily this time, the skirt of her dress rising as she moved against him.

[F.T.B]

 

[Toraono Michino]

Uzu’s dreams were fitful, to say the least.

He was in a dark place, somewhere deep, cold, and wet. He could feel the cold water around his ankles but his eyes saw nothing but blackness, even when he held up his hands before him. Then a blinding light exploded from the ground revealing everything around him. His eyes looked left and saw a vision of himself battling a hero of the light, being struck down, then raised again by that hero as a powerful warrior that together with the hero faced down an entity that threatens the world.
His black eyes looked left, and he saw himself standing atop the thirteenth platform staring down at the entire clan as they cheered him on, a new council of twelve, and Kitanai at his side. Yet something was missing, something crucial and important that he had forgotten. Uzu turned around and saw the flashing image of his brother stabbing a blade through his heart. His eye held a knowing look, his mouth was cruelly twisted into a smile, and blood was already all over his clothes that was not Uzu’s. It was red…with a white glow…

Toushin’s eyes shot open as he sat up suddenly with a start, keeping silent only because training kicked in and told him not to scream. His whole body was covered in a cold sweat, and he seemed paler than he normally was as a strange fear played into his eyes.
It was said that those born with the black blood as Uzu had been were sometimes gifted prophecies of their future. It had happened to the last man who was born with the same blood as Uzu at least three times before he died, claiming he knew his death was coming and who was to bring it but never stepped out of the line of fate. Toushin raised his hands up to his eyes and tried to wipe the terrible memory of his brother’s face away trying to rationalize his dreams with the craziness of the past few months.

When finally he did remove his hands from his eyes to look around he found that he could see very little. All the lanterns in the room had been dimmed down into a low light, and there was actually a fire going in the fireplace where he was sleeping on a floor next to. Well, not so much floor as a bunch of fur rugs and a large comforter that had come from Kit’s room draped over him. No wait…them.
His head turned down to look at the sleepy beauty next to him and his heart swelled a little. The nightmare had shaken him awake into a world that he wasn’t sure was real as he leaned back on one hand and reached the other up to stroke away a piece of Kitanai’s black hair from her face. As hard as it was to do he took his eyes away from her sleeping form to look around and find the room relatively clean despite their usual antics when it came to sex.
Looking closely at the bar counter he saw their clothing neatly folded up and at least seven empty bottles of that expensive wine lined up beside them. He didn’t remember drinking anything more than that glass but had apparently once again got drunk on her love. Toushin was easily convinced into doing all kinds of crazy things when influenced by her during that blood-pumping time until they just both crashed. Moving his body a little he could feel all kinds of soreness radiating up from his thighs and back and a tell-tell headache of a possible hangover.

He could care less.

For the first time in his life he had actually done something that involved actual emotion and a want to perform beyond just a lust. Slowly he laid his form back down close to his lover and pulled her in a little closer to him. If the world simply ended right now he would have been happy with that.
There were those who saw the assassin’s final attempt at happiness as a weakness to exploit though. His brother Hoiru watched once again from the wall as he saw Uzu get comfortable with the so called ‘White Queen’. The woman to threaten to destroy everything that the Uzumoreru Clan had come to accomplished and not only did Toushin support her, he actually seemed to be in love as well.
Of course he had not been around to watch the entire thing, that would have just been disgusting. As soon as things began to heat up between the two the Seikon excused himself and worked on a few other ventures he had in the works while his brother continued to ruin his chances to become king. Instead of this lovemaking with the woman he brought in he could have been actually training her in the ways of the council or catching up with all the damn paperwork the other ten council members had so conveniently ignored until now.
Yes even Hoiru was pissed about that.
Now that he returned to see if their escaped had ended in something sour he found to his glee that instead they seemed to be comfortable in each other’s company. He would use this opportunity to just out right kill both of them if it wasn’t for that damn maiden that was playing Kitanai’s bodyguard. He knew that the instant he warped in there with the intension to kill she would step up and counter him. Despite what everyone saw Oya as, Hoiru was one of the few people who knew that she was really one of the nobles who stepped down when her son was taken away. Though she would never own up to it unless directly confronted the half-blood brother knew that she was just as powerful as Toushin or himself; if not even more so. Deciding to leave them be for this time Hoiru skulked back to his active duties and all the damn paperwork.

 

[Kokomo]

The young woman had a painful dream. A dream littered with her bloody and broken body, and Koho's sneer behind each stab, rather than Uzumoreru's. Saemon watching, cloaked in the back, and Mio with her sick and triumphant smile watching. Each stab for each ounce of hate that poured from the red queen's soul, and each drop of blood drank up by Mio. That woman didn't have any issue watching her suffer. She didn't have any issue with Koho. No. Fuck. She was getting away with everything while Kitanai had her throat torn out. And Saemon watched idly by with cowardly hands. Monsters. All of them...

Kitanai as pulled from her dream as a body moved against her from behind, snuggling against her neck, and the soft fur lulling her head and naked body. She was sore, but comfortable. The fireplace crackling and warming her face as she grabbed at the fur under her body and smiled for a moment of peace, her body morphing against the one behind her--

Wait, Saemon hadn't come to see her yet.

Who the fuck was she with?

Kitanai rolled quickly coming face to face with her white knight to looked back at her. Those beautiful blue eyes widened with sudden surprise, "Oh my Raiden, Uzumoreru..." She whispered as she stared at him, sitting up quickly and jerking the comforter away from him to cover the front of her body as she clutched it to her, "What are you... did we..." She was watching him, the smell of alcohol filling her nose as her heart skipped a few beats, and his face nearly broke her heart. She didn't have much memories from last night, save the middle where she had sobered up for a minute. She didn't remember calling him in, but she remembered him telling her he cared for her, and her explaining that he was in love. Then there was kissing...groping, rolling...then...well, it was blurry again.

Uzumoreru Toushin. Heartless Assassin. Ruthless Killer.

Was In Love With

Ijimeru Kitanai. Broken Murderess. Pitiless Heart Breaker.

And then, the warmth came. It washed over her, and told her to relax. To breathe. All would come as it was supposed to, and she needed to trust a part of her she left in the dust. Flitter away the cobwebs, and suck in a deep breath, for, it was her life, and no one elses.

Kitanai leaned forward violently, almost too quickly, as her lips crushed against his and she kissed him with a sort of passion she remembered from last night. She wanted to feel his arms around her without any blurred and mistaken memories. To feel him. Touch him. Lov--no no. Not yet...

 

[Toraono Michino]

To those locked in the night, a simple warm touch was love.

All Uzu could do at Kitanai’s initial reaction was draw up a playful smirk on one side of his face. He had feared this reaction from her and knew he was but moments away from trying to explain himself and why they were like this despite everything that had gone between them. Honestly speaking they were like this because of everything had gone between them. Like it or not Toushin had a deep connection to Kitanai on multiple levels.
She was the first person who ever saw and treated him like a normal human being. She was the first person Toushin had ever inducted into the clan. She was the first person who even dared to try and explain why had always been so confused, and now he saw. The emotions that the Uzumoreru tried so hard to staple down was exactly what was holding them back. Without the emotions to add judgment to their actions everything became black and white, and the trained killers usually fell towards the black. Locked in eternity in the shadows of doubt and death until they claimed them.

Yet in his silence he didn’t get yelled at but instead watched her body relax a little, the comforter held up to cover her shame dropped and a passionate kiss press against his lips. His left arm slowly curled around her waist and pulled her closer as he leaned her body back against the furs as he slowly positioned himself back over her and trailed the kisses down her chin and neck. He understood what and why they were doing this without a single word between them spoken for the kiss said it for them.
The warmth of his body pressed back against hers as he gave her neck a little love bite and traced his hands along the places he was trained to touch, but did so out of a familiarity rather than a performance this time…

[Far more romantic FTB]​

The time spent between them just exploring each other with a newfound respect for sobriety made the lovemaking last hours. The fire had long died down and it was in late hours of the night heading towards sunrise when finally they had stopped long enough to breath. Uzu laid on his back covered in a small sheen of sweat as he turned his head to look at Kitanai with a goofy half grin. This time he remembered everything, this time they weren’t distracted by drugs and alcohol. It was just him, her, and the budding emotions raging through them both.

Reality began to sink in slowly for Toushin though as he tried to guess how long he had spent down here. Hours, he knew, but it was hard to say just how many given their wild escapades. There was no doubt to be talk within the castle on everyone’s lips about two nobles consorting with each other. It was not unheard of but still frowned upon in small ways. There wasn’t any ruling against it as the original rulers of the Uzumoreru Clan’s origins were a king and queen who ruled both sides of the segregated people equally; it was just that the nobles all hated each other. Each one of them had the shot at becoming the head honcho over everything in the clan and thus was always locked in some sort of battle between each other.
Of course now Uzu was sure that they just plain hated him collectively now, making his life and Kitanai’s a little more dangerous. It wasn’t anything they couldn’t handle as far as he was concerned. Throw things he could kill at Toushin all day and he’d walk away without a second thought, just long as they didn’t try to play at the raw frays of his newfound feelings. Yet as he looked upon his lover’s beautiful body he knew that she would be the first target they would be after; for multiple reasons.
For one so long as she was a noble she had complete and utter control over the women of the Uzumoreru clan. People jokingly called her queen, but they couldn’t be further from the truth. So long as she remained in that position of power the rest of the Council and the other males of the clan could no longer abuse the women without immediate retribution now. For too long things like rape and physical abuse had gone beyond a point that could be stomached. The assassin had many things he needed to change as soon as he rose to power, but before he could do that there was all the other work he had to complete. Work he had apparently completely blew off just to spend his day with this woman – not a bad trade in his opinion.

Despite every muscle in his body aching and begging him just to lay there Uzu knew that he needed to get back to work. He would fall behind and would be forced to ask his younger brother for assistance again despite knowing that he had so much to accomplish on his own – such as quelling the lower riots. With a strong shuffle Uzu made his way over to the bar where he had noticed his clothes before and reached for them in the dark to find a piece of paper attached. Pulling it away from the folded laundry he shuffled back over to the near dead fire and turned his back to it so he could use the light to read Oya’s handwriting,
“All the work is done. You owe me Councilman 11.” He couldn’t help but love that she still refused to call him by his actual name and insisted using titles as she did when she was a Noble.

 

[Kokomo]

The woman, as naked as the day she was brought into this world--and the day she was taken from it 100 times--laid back onto the soft fur on the floor. It was a subtle sort of lovemaking with its slow and passionate movements. It was calmer and more gentle as fingertip brushed rather than clawing nails. This, indeed, would be a night she would greatly remember.

Her chest, by no heavy force, huffed as it had with the other ones. Instead, her lover turned his head to look at her, and grinned stupidly: to which her hand raised and gently pushed his face to look away, "No! Don't look at me!" She cried in a moment of embarrassment as she turned quickly, that adorable childish manner taking over, as she hid her face into the comforter as he stood, moving away from her, to which she responded by sitting up, clutching the comforter to the front of her frame. Her hair much more up kept now that it was shorter, and her eyes watched him longingly.

"What is it?" The gentle beauty asked as he hunched over something in the dim light, her hand reaching up for his, as she gave him a bashful smile. "You don't have to leave already, do you? So soon?"

 

[Toraono Michino]

Toushin just smiled. Or at least as much his scars would let him.

“No,” the assassin said as he felt her hand gently touching his wrist. He leaned pulled it up to kiss the flesh before letting her know what the letter was about, “Oya apparently did all the paperwork that had been distracting me and this letter just informed me that I owe her one. Not something to be taken lightly among assassins.” Uzu showed Kitanai the hand writing before crumpling up the paper and tossing it into the fire as he slid his body back down to lay against the furs though they had started to smell like the two lovers there.

He didn’t want to leave, he really didn’t. As far as he was concerned he would be happy to live the rest of his life out right here doing nothing but just loving Kitanai, but there were things he had to stay on top of or else he’d lose his candidacy for king. He had to continue collecting his payments from the multiple resources he had spent years setting up all over Sunagakure so that the building could be repaired. Then he needed to confer with his cousins so that he could slowly begin to weed in some good people into the Lesser so that he could once and for all find out what the hell they were so constantly pissed off about. Not to mention whatever Oya was going to ask of him for return of that favor…

Thos was worries for another time though. The killer stretched his body out with a groan and a smirk on his face that had become less painful in Kitanai’s company, (because he was always trying to smile,) and looked up at his ‘queen’. He couldn’t help the overwhelming explosion he felt his chest when he looked into her cyan eyes and it showed on his features as he became as easy as book to read around her. Strange what love would do to a man.
“While we still got each other for this small frame of time, I think we should probably work some things out while we can. Remember when we used to meet at the end of every month? Might have to start doing that again if we have any hopes of changing the clan for the better,” funny how he said ‘we’, already including her in his grand plans, “The bastards want me to fix a lot of problems they started while I was gone before they can even begin to begrudgingly allow me to rule them.” and of course ‘them’ was the Council of 12. Ten of those bastards were trying to do everything in their power to make it impossible for him to achieve his goals, one was deviantly plotting Kami knows what while seemingly helping his brother, and the last was laying down next to him. Outside of the last two Toushin hated every last one of them and already had candidates picked out on who would replace them.

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[Kokomo]

Kitanai was, admittedly, gazing longingly at the man. He turned into a more romantic and loving approach than she was used to, but my no means put her into a stable place like Saemon did. The complications came all too soon to her brain as he tossed the wad of paper into the fire. Her facade of her face never broke, but her mind racked for answers. How was she going to deal with it? Certainly, if Saemon could have two lovers, so could she, right? It only made logical sense. It was fair.

Right?

"Yes, we'll keep meeting, of course." She agreed with a gentle smile. A small part of her deeply looked forward to the meetings, as she shoved the aside of her slight issue with the dual lovers thing.

As he moved back down, Kitanai scooted close to him, cuddling up to his side--an action she had never done before. Cuddling was a profound and mysterious thing from the movies she had never experienced. Her head lulled against his shoulder as she gave a slow and patient smile. She was totally content, laying right there, her body against his. Perhaps a bit of food and a drink here and there...

Little did she know, complications were down the road.

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