Title: Mourning

Author: Vasiliki, 3-6 May 2003.

Beta-reader: Whizzy, May 2010.

Warnings: Violence. Graphic yaoi sex (male/male sex of the PWP variety). Issues.

If there was something you liked in the fic, please review!

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Near Kyoto. 11th Year of the Meiji era.

The pottery mugs were baking well, Seijuuro Hiko the 13th Master of Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu affirmed. Satisfied, he took his usual place in the middle of his mountain cottage, facing the door. He poured a cup of warm sake to himself and took a sip. Relishing the taste, he let his thoughts drift.

Shishio Makoto was dead. His idiot pupil had saved the government and the country. Not alone, of course, but with help from his friends (the rooster-head young man, and the bunch of people Hiko had saved in the Aoiya) and allies (the former Oniwa-banshu leader… a worthy opponent). With help even from his enemies. Hiko narrowed his eyes at the thought of the former captain of the 3rd division of the Shinsengumi, Saitou Hajime. How strange, the reality of former Battousai and Mibu's Wolf fighting on the same side. More than ten years ago, they had been out for each other's blood, and at the time that had seemed something that could never change. How ironic for Hiko, to see now both the man that his pupil had become (Himura Kenshin, the rurouni) and the man that Saitou had become (Fujita Goro, the policeman), when he had seen neither in so many years. It brought back memories.

The end of Edo era. The bloodshed of Bakumatsu. The violence. The incessant killing.

His trysts with Saitou, if he could call them that, had taken place in that other era, and although passionate, had not lasted long. The other man had been the one who disappeared all of a sudden. A sting to Hiko's conceited self, until he learned one day that Saitou had gotten married. Knowing well of arranged marriages and satisfied that it had not been another swordsman, after all, who had won the Wolf's attention, he had nevertheless felt angry with the man for not letting him know. But he had realized almost immediately that given their nonexistent relationship status that would have been out of the question, so then dismissed the issue altogether.

Hiko raised his head sharply, letting his sake cup down. The following moment, the unlocked door opened, as if by a gust of wind. Like summoned, a figure dressed in the dark blue color of the police appeared at the door, cigarette dangling from thin lips. Saitou Hajime!

For a while, the two men seized each other with leveled gazes, in silence. Then, Saitou discarded his cigarette and entered the cottage, letting the door close behind him. His Nihon-katana was nowhere in sight.

'You still wear that ridiculous cloak,' was his greeting.

'Not everyone turned sides and changed style in Meiji.'

Hiko recalled Shinsengumi's sky blue attire, which had made Saitou look so much younger. But then again, he had been younger back then. Both of them. And they were much older now.

'I always follow my code. A Wolf never changes what he is, even if his skin may change.'

'Aku. Soku. Zan.'

'Precisely.'

Hiko remained silent.

'You don't seem surprised to see me,' Saitou remarked.

'Should I be?'

'Your former student believes that I'm dead. I thought that he might have informed you.'

Hiko snorted. 'Don't underestimate him. He knows that you're not that easy to kill.'

Saitou made a noncommittal sound. His long lean face was impassive. He looked around the room. 'This place hasn't changed at all in 12 years.'

'Have you been counting them?' Hiko had not meant to sound sarcastic, but genuinely curious. He was intrigued.

The standing man turned his smoldering golden gaze to him, while snatching a cigarette and matches from his breast pocket. He put the cigarette between his lips and was ready to light a match when Hiko's voice stopped him:

'Not here. If you want to smoke, go out.'

Saitou looked at the sitting man, and very slowly, very deliberately, lighted the match and then touched it to the end of his cigarette. He took a couple of drags to start it burning, and then he inhaled deeply, keeping the smoke inside his lungs for a while, before he blew it out. His gaze never leaving the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu Master, he threw the match to the floor, where it extinguished itself rapidly.

The taller man's face had darkened. He stood up, towering in the confined space. 'What will you gain by provoking me?' he asked.

Saitou blew more smoke out, before he answered. 'Perhaps you'll be infuriated enough to take up again what was interrupted so abruptly 12 years ago.'

Hiko smirked arrogantly. 'You'll have to beg for that. You know well that I'm not interested in men. Especially married men.'

Eyelids descended so low above cold, cold eyes that only two thin slices of golden irises were visible. 'Your student should do his best to stay away from Kyoto, because the next time I meet him, I'll kill him. Truce is over.'

Hiko made an annoyed movement with his arm, and his cape waved. 'He's not my student anymore. He stopped being my responsibility when he left the mountain to become a pawn in the hands of men smarter than him. Men who didn't care for anything other than his ability to kill blindly.'

Saitou drew another breath from his cigarette. 'While you truly cared for him. In other ways, deeper.'

Hiko's eyes flashed dangerously, warningly. 'Leave my mountain, while you still have the time.'

'Or what?' Saitou gave him a sardonic smirk. 'Did his cries bounce off the walls of this room with the same rhythm you pounded his virgin ass into the floor? Did you rip him open, making him bleed, his childish member soft in your hand? Did he join the revolution, when he was old enough, because anything was better than what he had to take from you?'

Although Saitou knew it was coming, he barely had time to register, much less to block, the attack that landed on him with the famous god-speed. Hiko slammed him to the wall, next to the door, his arm pressing against Saitou's neck horizontally. The Wolf of Mibu counter-attacked with his left fist aiming at Hiko's stomach, but he was turned aside easily.

'You psycho!' Hiko grounded through his teeth, and tried to use one of his hands to open the door and haul Saitou through it. This gave his opponent an opening, and Saitou didn't waste a moment in using his right fist and forcing his knee towards Hiko's groin at the same time. Hiko's quick contortion of body made the low blow land between his groin and hipbone, but he didn't escape the punch that caught him across the face. With a wrathful shout, he used his entire weight to bring Saitou down and slam him face first on the rough floor. He twisted Saitou's right arm so high behind his back that the man's fingers almost touched the nape of his neck, eliciting a groan of pain.

'If you want it so much, then you can have it!' he growled.

His fingers tore the blue trousers down long strong legs, exposing fleshy buttocks. Saitou twisted his lean body underneath him, his left elbow slamming upwards, full force at Hiko's breast. Hiko's breath stumbled, but he caught the arm and held it behind Saitou's back at an even more acute angle than the other. Bones grated. The Wolf snarled to stifle his moan. The swordmaster lowered his heavy body over Saitou's, his hot breath straight in Saitou's right ear.

'What? Have you changed your mind?' He dripped sarcasm, but there was a tint of doubt in his voice.

Saitou's answer was to press his bare ass tightly against Hiko's heat.

'Just do it!' he panted, cheek against the floor.

'Start begging!'

Saitou's body became taut as a bowstring. The corner of Hiko's mouth turned upwards into his patented arrogant smile, just as another part of himself came forcefully to life. He gripped the right wrist of the man underneath him with his left hand, keeping Saitou's arm twisted securely, and propped his weight on his left elbow. Saitou having an arm free would not be of any help to him, not with Hiko's mass pinning him down. He had forgotten how savage their lovemaking could be, the struggle of two young swordsmen for power, Saitou's need to fight him in real, most often with swords drawn, before he gave in – Shinsengumi's Gatotsu against Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuu, the Wolf's fangs attacking the Dragon, and being chipped in the endeavor. Hiko still remembered the time he had been too intoxicated on sake and the smell of arousal, too indulgent towards Saitou, to care to come out the victor. He had wondered afterward if what kept Saitou coming back wasn't the wish for a repeat of that night. But now the victor he certainly was, and the memories brought with them a surge of desire.

'How many times did I take you like this? Defeated, face down…'

His right fingers groped and dug in the firm white buttocks and his palm kneaded the flesh, before he gave it a loud slap.

'On your knees!' he commanded sharply, and when Saitou did not comply, he sneaked his hand underneath the sinewy body and tugged it upwards, round ass in the air. He took out himself quickly, darkened wide girth bouncing against Saitou's skin. Big fingers drove in the cleft, and thumb and knuckles spread the firm buttocks apart. He poised himself, dripping already, against the clenched entrance. And then raised his head and hesitated, swift eyes checking the room for the oil-lamp.

'You don't need that!' hissed Saitou, breath coming fast at the feeling of the impossibly large organ throbbing hot between his ass-cheeks.

'It's been too long. You're too tensed,' Hiko dismissed him.

'Move, you asshole!' Saitou growled and started struggling in earnest.

Hiko was annoyed. Fine, then. A bit of blood wouldn't kill anyone. It never had in the past. Not even when there were swords involved, which meant a lot of blood. He released Saitou entirely, grabbing his hips instead, feeling the freed buttocks clamping firmly around the end of his hard length in an instant. And then, he pushed. He thrust his engorged muscle forcefully inside Saitou's bowels to the root, bending all resistance in the wake of its relentless movement. The heavy testicles slapped against the flushed skin that stretched to its limits, straining to accommodate the organ. The Wolf of Mibu screamed.

'NNGH!' Hiko's thunderous moan was still reverberating off the walls of the cottage, when Saitou's howl was interrupted abruptly by sharp teeth drawing blood from too thin lips.

Hiko's eyes were shut, his head thrown back, his breast heaving deeply with pleasure. Even the best of his memories were but a shadow compared with the reality of Saitou's hot flesh squeezing him. Everything was throbbing inside Saitou's body, his gut boiling around Hiko's length, making Hiko's head float. For some time, he was too awash in the sensations to move. Then, he drew himself out slowly, sloowwwly, savoring each and every spasm of burning muscles and steaming skin, and slammed back in, eliciting another choked yowl from the man whose ass he was fucking. It had been too long since he had felt anything remotely close to these kinds of sensations, since he had plunged in such devouring softness. His delight made him feel a hint of gratitude, and he waited a few moments for Saitou's trembling body to get used to him. He started pounding in earnest then, in and out, in and out, jolting the body under him with every powerful stab. Rougher, and harder, and deeper than he had rammed into anyone in years; rougher, and harder, and deeper than he had ever screwed Saitou before.

He was building ferociously his inexorable rhythm towards the unavoidable point. Very fast he ascended towards it, Saitou's ropy muscles squeezing the breath out of him. He started spiraling out of control, ever upwards, struggling against the vertigo that almost got hold of him. When he was high enough that his head felt too light from the lack of oxygen and his prismatic world needed but a few more thrusts to shatter, he extended his arm around Saitou's waist, snaking his fingers around his length. Which was only half-erect and didn't show any signs of reacting to Hiko's ministrations.

Hiko was surprised enough to stop moving. He forced himself to open his eyes, panting heavily and irregularly. Saitou's body was rather slack underneath him, and the realization dawned on him that the other man had hardly met any of his thrusts. He grabbed his shoulder and turned him, to see his face. The slit eyes were scrunched shut, the skin between his brows furrowed. His teeth were clenched and blood was dripping from his bitten lips.

'You don't want this,' Hiko realized.

No movement. No answer.

He felt himself dropping, like a stone towards water, senses clearing very fast. Bitterness and bile arose in his throat. With less difficulty than what he would have thought possible, given his euphoria just two moments ago, he pulled himself out abruptly. The slurping sound was joined by a few droplets of blood and Saitou's jolt and wince. The silence was heavy between them. Hiko took several deep breaths to keep his self-restraint, inhuman and legendary at that moment, the blood leaving his softening organ to gather and beat too loudly in his ears.

'What happened?'

'I buried Tokio.'

The shock cleared Hiko's head completely. 'When?'

Saitou's voice was hollow. 'Three days ago.'

'Why did you come?'

'To mourn.'

'To mourn her or our past, that you killed more surely than with a Gatotsu strike through a man's heart?' Hiko roared.

Saitou moved for the first time, sitting upright stiffly, his back to the other man. After a while, apathetic, he reached in his pocket for his cigarettes and matches. 'I need a smoke,' he said.

'Get out! And close the door behind you.'

Saitou got up, strangely dignified. He set his clothes in order quickly, but efficiently, and if his fingers trembled imperceptibly, Hiko didn't notice in his rage. He hesitated before the door, making to turn his head, when Hiko's blunt words stopped him.

'Do not set foot to my mountain ever again. Or I won't spare you.'

He was perfectly, deadly serious. Saitou's hand formed a fist, but he exited the cottage.

The sake lost its taste for Hiko that day, and his art suffered. He was in anger, both with the former Shinsengumi and himself. Bringing all the memories back, so suddenly and unexpectedly, had unsettled his mind and his life. The knowledge that Saitou's visit was not because of desire for him, but in order to serve a twisted sense for self-punishment, was bitter. He attributed his pained feelings to a superficial suffering of his ego, yet he wondered why his heart itself felt hollow.

The setting of the sun found him sitting on the trunk in front of his doorstep, looking at the horizon as always, yet this time, he thought that the twilight came faster and the darkness was thicker. When he looked at the weakly stars, he found them dim. He got up and went inside, closing the door behind him, sealing the room against the outside darkness. A futile move, for he carried the night inside with him.

.

to be continued