To Bargain with Death Itself

The sun was beginning to set when Saruhiko approached the crow's apartment. However, as he was crossing the park, he noticed a petite, pale body lying on the edge of the water fountain. A devious grin was spread across his face as the Red clansman's amber-eyes gazed in the Blue's direction.

The blue-haired man stopped in his tracks—his mouth opening wide in disbelief. "Misaki!? Why!? It isn't even sundown yet!"

The chestnut-haired man giggled as he beckoned the Scepter 4 officer closer to him.

"Saruhiko…I missed you so much." Yata wrapped his arms around Fushimi's waist and held him close.

The Blue clansman—who was first in shock, quickly snapped out of his daze and pulled the smaller man off of him. "Stop it! Don't think I don't know who you really are, Hone-onna!"

A twisted smile appeared. "Ara, did I get found out? Awww, that's no fun!"

"What the hell do you think you're doing? Why the hell did you force yourself into Misaki's body?" Fushimi glared at the person in front of him with intense resentment of the being that was inside his lover. "Aren't you a succubus? You're supposed to take the form of a woman to reproduce, are you not?"

The little crow began to laugh out. "What!? You are so funny Saruhiko!"

The Red clansman began to dance around and spin in circles around the blue-eyed man. "You humans are so funny with your crazy, one-sided stories. Just because we normally take the form of a woman doesn't mean we reproduce in the same fashion as you humans do. It is usually just a more convenient way to seduce men into sleeping with us. We don't actually become impregnated in that form. It's merely a vessel to hold what you release inside us until we're ready to transfer the seed to produce our own young later—which might I add you gave me plenty of."

The crow licked his lips and pointed to himself, "As for this one, I couldn't believe how thrilled I was to encounter such a rare breed as he. It isn't often that I can find an adult soul that still remained as pure as this young man's. If one of our kind can invade and successfully take control over their bodies, our own lives can be extended by over a thousand years with their life force. The purity keeps our figures from decaying and rotting away."

Misaki's body began to glow as a single golden chain of symbols appeared to surround the small body. "The more chains that are broken, the stronger and more dominant I become over the host. As you can see, I only need to break one more chain before I can completely claim this form as my own. I require men's love, affection, and sexual energy in order to gain enough power to remove the restraints. It normally takes months or even years to manage to break the chains, but with passion and love as strong as yours, it has been a walk in the park to break the first two."

Saruhiko couldn't believe what he was hearing. His own love for Misaki was causing the smaller man to lose himself. Every time he embraced his beloved, he was aiding the demon to gain control over the crow's body.

Yata slowly wrapped his arms around Fushimi again. "So…what do you say, Saruhiko? Will you make love to me tonight? I promise that even if I become the owner of this man's figure, I will continue to love you and stay beside you."

As Saruhiko stared into those amber-eyes, he could see them begin to glow as the symbols made a ring within Yata's irises again. Before he could fall into the same trap again, Fushimi quickly shoved the smaller man off of him shouting, "No! I don't want this! Give Misaki back to me! Is it life force you need? Then I will gladly give you mine! Just let Misaki go already!"

The Red clansman gave an annoyed look at the blue-haired man in front of him. "Why do you want him over me? The man doesn't even let you touch him and hold him like you do! I can give you more physical pleasure than you can ever expect from him. Don't you really want this body?"

After hearing these words, the Scepter 4 officer knew that he would never regret or take back anything that he had and will say to this demon inside Misaki. "Of course I want his body. But I don't want it if it doesn't have his mind and soul in there as well. There is no point if it's just an empty shell. I want every part of him to be mine. I love everything about Misaki, and that will never change."

Yata scowled and shook his head, completely and utterly confused. "I don't understand you, human. I don't understand you at all. Never in all the thousands of years of existence have I ever met someone who would reject me so outright and honestly for just a simple, plain human."

"You yourself said that you saw his purity and were drawn to it. You must have never experienced true love in your life if you can't comprehend what I'm saying. I don't care if you can grasp it or not—in fact, I don't want you to understand him. Misaki should be mine and mine only. The love I have for Misaki goes beyond what any being—human or not, will ever have for him…so please, give him back to me."

The woman inside the chestnut-haired man felt his chest tighten and his heart pound faster by these words.

Suddenly, a memory that she had forgotten so long ago appeared in her mind.

"O-Tsuyu…I love you. Whether you are human or skeleton or any creature not from this world, I want to be with you always. Please stay by my side forever."

"Shinnojou…I…" Hone-onna's words were cut off with a gentle kiss.

As she came back to reality, she could hear her lover's words echoing through her mind. "Please stay by my side forever."

Sighing in utter defeat, Saruhiko could see the amber-colored eyes looking into his with a gentle expression. "Alright. I give up. Though, before I depart, Saruhiko, heed my words and take my advice. If you really love this man, don't ever give him up. If I ever hear that you have lost your passion and love for him, I will personally come back and drain the both of you for every drop of life force you have left."

Fushimi clicked his tongue and replied, "You don't need to tell me this, because that would never happen."

With that, a bright golden glow surrounded the smaller man's body before it flew out. Fushimi quickly moved to catch the little vanguard before he fell to the ground.

In front of Saruhiko stood the pale, slender woman, who was holding a red peony lantern in her delicate hand. As thick, grey fog began to surround the area, hone-onna gave a little nod and smile before she disappeared into the hazy night.

As the mist began to disperse, and it became clear again, Saruhiko gazed down at the sleeping crow in his arms. Careful not to wake the man, Fushimi slowly lifted Yata as he carried his beloved back to his apartment.

When the Red clansman awoke the next morning, his body somehow felt less burdened than it did before….well, minus the fact that he physically had a man sleeping on top of him.

"S-S-S-SARU! What the hell are you doing on top of me!? Get off! Oi!" Misaki began to hit the blue-haired man's head with a pillow.

Saruhiko groaned. This was the third time that the little crow had awoken him from his slumber within the past week or so. He hated early mornings. Even if he did enjoy being woken up by the amber-eyed man, he wanted it to be done by affectionate kisses or gentle tickles…or a good morning blow job.

"Ughh…Misaki stop yelling so much. My head hurts."

"S-s-s-shut up you shitty monkey! What the hell happened last night!? Did you find out what is happening? I feel somehow better today than I did before!"

Throwing himself out of bed, the Blue clansman walked towards the kitchen to brew a cup of coffee. The two sat at the kitchen table eating breakfast as Fushimi explained what he had found out. Misaki's eyes showed nothing but skepticism.

"WHAT!? You're saying that woman is really some legendary Japanese mythical creature who is also some sort of medieval demon who somehow took over my body in order to steal my life force away from me!?"

Fushimi clicked his tongue. "Tch, if you don't want to believe me, then you don't have to."

"…No I'm not saying that I don't believe you, but…" Misaki's face became red hot in embarrassment. "B-b-b-but…doesn't that mean a woman was inside of me and using me for se…SE…SE…sexual intercourse?"

Yata could barely get out the words from his mouth.

Saruhiko began to smirk as he replied, "Even if you had a woman hold onto you and take over your body, it doesn't mean you've lost your dick virginity. You're still going to remain a virgin on that side for the rest of your life."

His expressions of embarrassment turned into rage. "SHUT UP!"

"VIRGIN! VIRGIN! Even if your ass isn't a virgin, you'll still remain one the rest of your life!" Saruhiko teased the crow.

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP! God dammit you shitty monkey! I'm going to beat the living hell out of you!"

Fushimi suddenly leaned closer to Yata, whispering sensuously into his ear, "You already did Misaki. You beat me with that round ass of yours when you tied me down and rode me hard that first night."

A crimson-red glow surrounded the crow as he began to shake. "DIE YOU BASTARD!"