I'm back! Hahaha, yes, I've been a lazy piece of shit these last few days. But before I present to you the fourth part of Stillness and Silence, I'd like to say something to the following people.
Thankees to:
ManicReversed : I love you for sticking with this fic and reviewing every chapter. You are one of the people who inspired me the most to continue with this. If it wasn't for you, maybe this thing would never have become what it is right now. Oh, and don't bite me. ;)
Zeto : Because you wanted another update. : DDD
hisachan27 : I converted you too! Write an AkabanexBan? Please? :)
MurakiSlavegirl : You're up there with the most loved people along with Manic. Thanks for telling me that I was rushing the fic a little too much.
Tala1 : Now you, girl, I also love to pieces. I totally agree with you about Ginji. ( I actually laughed when I read your review). I'll be waiting for your fic. Hahahahaha.
RubyMoon17 : Thank you for adding me to your favorite author's list and for reviewing Talk of the Town. I guess my true calling is yaoi fangirl, huh? :)
laguna_moomba : *glomps* Your reviews always manage to lift me up from the stumps that hinder this fic. You make my world... happier. Is that possible when I haven't even met you? Heeeheee.
blackrose : Thanks for telling me that I overwrote the first chapter, and for telling me that I was turning Akabane into a softie. Tell me if he's OOC in this part too, I'd really welcome whatever you have to say.
obssdgb: I live to serve you and to spread the AkabanexBan love. ;D
And to all the people who reviewed but were not mentioned : I sincerely appreciate all that you have told me about this fic, and that you took the time to read this and comment even though there are a lot of other stories out there that you could have read. Words cannot express how grateful I am to you guys.
And now... to get on with this.
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So he dies and I'm the joke
A playdoh mask a million miles to go
A suped up cock tease with a little twist
When sex got ugly I'd insist
Hear you'll empty all I've got
Fucking's over but I can't stop cumming
Still born dead or never born at all
jesus was my girl – david usher
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Part 4
My head bangs painfully against the wooden wall of the practice room as the steel arm of my opponent slams into me remorselessly, causing a few internal injuries that a weaker person might have died from. It feels like I'm being pummeled with an iron crowbar, and no matter how much I try to break away from his grip, it only seems to worsen the pain I am feeling.
Mido-kun's been practicing lately.
Ignoring the darkness eating away at the edge of my vision, I bring my hands up to his sides, letting my fingers travel over rigid muscles and the glistening expanse of skin that is his torso, and attack. My knives obey without hesitation, and I fancy that I actually hear the slick, wet sound of his blood dripping over them before he stumbles away, clutching both his injured sides to stop the unexpected bleeding.
But I've been practicing too.
I'm gone the next instant, circling around him so fast that the air seems to rip apart because of my passage. My throat feels like it's half-crushed, covered with a necklace of bruises that aren't going to go away anytime soon, a few of my ribs are broken, and I feel a burning pain in my lungs every time I try to take in air, but I cannot for the life of me make myself panic and stop the exhilaration coursing through my body because of this.
This is what I live for, this exotic dance with death.
His labored breathing resounds through the dojo, echoing the rushed beating of my heart as he stands up and gives chase. His wounds are not shallow, I know that for a fact, but they don't seem to hinder him as he flies across the room towards me, blood spattering in small, graceful arcs along the walls he comes closest to and the floor he doesn't even seem to touch.
Even when he's making a mess of himself he seems poetic.
I turn slightly to the left as his fist flashes by my side and obliterates the table it unfortunately collides with. He is so close that I feel the heat radiating from him, fiery hot flames licking beneath the surface of such a pale body. Marble like in it's appearance, it gives off the impression of perfect solidity and control, but I know from experience every spot that will make that stone pillar melt like hot butter. All that passion coiled up like a spring waiting to be released, twisted so tautly that it's on the verge of breaking this very second.
I resist the urge to run my hands through his hair and to pull his head back with a snap. What is it that makes me want to fuck you over even though I've had you so many times already? Your cynical beauty is an invitation I can't ignore.
Hurt me to stop me from hurting myself. That's your message isn't it?
"How long can you stay in control of yourself, lover?" I whisper it into his ear, so softly that it barely brushes aside strands of his mahogany hair, but he pauses for a second in mid-turn. He doesn't understand, can't comprehend the total understanding I have of him, but I don't really want him to anyway. It would take the fun out of all this.
Another fist comes tearing through space towards me, traveling straight for my gut, but I anticipate the move and hit it sideways with the palm of my hand. The force throws him off balance, sends him staggering backwards as I take the opportunity to drop down and kick his feet from beneath him.
I am on top of him in a blink of an eye.
"Check. Mate." I say it in a languid drawl, knowing that he's going to be irritated as hell at my apparent cockiness. I half-expect him to try flipping me over, but the eerie shine of my blades along his throat tells him that he can't make a false move without risking being stabbed in the windpipe.
His whole body relaxes, signaling the end of this evening's session and his defeat. It seems he's had enough for the moment.
"Get off of me you asshole, before your pants start sucking out all the blood in my torso." The winded retort escapes his lips a little painfully, and I look down to see that his wounds are indeed bleeding profusely into my black silk pants. I forgot that those were there. I try to get up as carefully as I can, but the dried blood sticks to the abrasions and my own injuries prevent me from being successful in this attempt, thus making him gasp mutedly in agony as I try to move away from him.
I don't apologize as my hand hits one of his cuts.
He insults me for a full 20 seconds before quieting down again, reaching into his pocket for a lighter and cigarette that miraculously didn't get trampled upon during our fight. A spark of orange in the semi-darkness lights his features, illuminating perfect cheekbones and downcast lashes in a split second of astounding clarity.
No wonder so many fall under this man's spell.
"How are you going to explain your condition to Ginji-kun this time?" I ask him after minute of silence. Last time he said it was a bar fight. The time before that an encounter with a neighbor's vicious dog. And the time before that he said it was a close car accident.
I doubt even a person as gullible as Ginji-kun's going to believe another excuse that comes out of his lips.
"I won't have to."
I feel my eyebrows rise in response to his answer.
Oh?
"And why is that, pray tell?"
A cloud of smoke floats unhurriedly from his lips, a perfect circle with a small hole in the center.
"Because I'm moving to your apartment."
Surprise makes the already raised eyebrow travel even higher up my forehead, but other than that, I don't move another inch.
"Interesting arrangement, Mido-kun."
He nods his head.
"Not only interesting. It's also practical."
Ahhhh. So that's what he's hiding it behind now.
"I don't sleep at my place 5 days a week because I'm always screwing you. The rent is getting higher, and frankly, I don't want to pay that much for a room I'm barely in for more than 30 hours. Your apartment is large enough for both of us, and I know that it's closer to the Honky Tonk than you care to let on. Common sense tells me that the answer to this problem is for me to move in with you."
The smug smile gracing his lips tells me he's damn proud of himself for having have had thought of this solution, but the fleeting, flickering shadows in his eyes that have nothing to do with the night tell me another story that I am more inclined to believe.
He was trying to prove to himself that he has no affection to hide from me.
"This still has nothing to do with affection or love or whatever crap seems to be floating around these days, you know. I just want that to be perfectly clear between you and I." He continues, as if trying to persuade me. I let him, play along with the story he's trying to make himself believe.
But the sarcastic part of me finds it all too amusing
The grin is on my lips before I have the chance to annihilate it. So to cover it up, I lean towards him and grab the cigarette dangling from his mouth, taking in the smoke in one inhalation with my right hand and grabbing his jaw with the left. He doesn't resist as I kiss him with a mouthful of mint flavored toxin, doesn't turn away as I press myself my bare torso against his naked chest. He responds instead by running his tongue along my teeth and pushing it into my mouth, delving like a hungry child presented with candy. Fingers curl around the column of my ill-treated neck, caressing thoughtlessly, making me shiver as the pain of my bruises collides with the pleasure of the kiss.
Sex with Mido-kun definitely comes a close second to killing.
I swallow the moan that escapes from him as I nip at his tongue non too gently.
We break away gasping for air, mint lingering still in my mouth along with his unique flavor of vanilla and fire. I smirk at him from beneath a curtain of hair as the faint stirrings of lust begin forming in his pupils, knowing that it was being mirrored in my own gaze.
"Wanna try that again?"
The End
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FINISHED!!!!! Surprising, no? I left it that way so that I had the choice of continuing it in another arc if I wanted to or leaving it like that, on the brink of this particular stage in the relationship of Ban and Akabane. I also ended this because I wanted to be inspired by other stories created by YOU GUYS! Yeah! I want to try my hand at reviewing fics. So if anybody out there is gonna create an AkabanexBan, count on me reviewing it.
Oh! REVIEW PLEASE! This is the last chapter and all comments and suggestions are appreciated!