Disclaimer: Don't own.

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Path Less Taken

-Rugged Path-

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I came to you one railess August night.

You taught me how to live without the rain.

You are thirst and thirst is all I know.

You are sand, wind, sun, and burning sky,

The hottest blue. You blow a breeze and brand

Your breath into my mouth. You reach - then bend

Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.

You wrap your name tight around my ribs

And keep me warm. I was born for you.

Above, below, by you, by you surrounded.

I wake to you at dawn. Never break your

Knot. Reach, rise, blow, Salvame, mi dios,

Tragame, mi tierra. Salva, traga, Break me,

I am bread. I will be the water for your thirst.

- "To the Desert" by Benjamin Alire Saenz

= Salvame, mi dios, / Tragame, mi tierra. Salva, traga =

Spanish for "Save me, my god, / Take me, my land. Save me, take me.

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It was winter once again, just like it had always been. Winter had been there since the lands had taken place. Winter would always come and go, taking and giving every year. The previous winter had given and taken just as it always had.

It had taken the sense of security, one always seeming to having to look over the shoulder in case someone was there to cause harm. Winter had also given the gift of passion, trust, and love.

Kai Hiwatari never knew why he loved the winter until after what happened a year before. Yes, he had been kidnaped and beaten almost to the point of death, but he had also gained a boyfriend.

A very loving, sweet, annoying, perverted boyfriend.

Kai sighed as he thought about his lover, Hiro Granger. He never really understood why he even liked the male to begin with. Hiro loved to tease him, make fun of the small things he did out of character. He loved to annoy him to no end, enjoying the way Kai would backfire at him. He was also so much of a pervert that the phoenix wielder didn't know what to do with him. They would just be out walking around the city, sometimes grocery shopping, and Hiro would say something to make the teen blush or grab his ass or something else. The older male even tried so hard as to almost have sex with the younger in a dressing room!

Kai shuddered at the memory. If that sales clerk had unintentionally opened the dressing room door just a moment sooner, he would have witnessed something very inappropriate and "down right hot" in Bryan's opinion.

No, the older Granger could not keep his hands of the phoenix wielder.

The slate haired teen lifted his coffee mug to his lips, blowing off the steam for a moment before taking a small sip. He was at home, well, his and Hiro's home, and was just relaxing. It wasn't often the teen did such. What he had neglected to mention to his lover a year before was that he was no longer beyblading, but running his grandfather's business.

It had been decided in Voltaire Hiwatari's will that if anything should happen to him, say he had gotten arrested and thrown in the tightest security prison on the planet, that Kai would get everything in his name. All the documents, mansions, businesses, vehicles, bank accounts, the works. So, when Voltaire was arrested, Kai gained everything the old man left behind. The phoenix wielder spent most of his year after the Justice-Five Tournament picking up and fixing the broken pieces of his grandfather's companies. A month before he returned to Japan from Russia, he had collapsed in his office, Tala finding him rather quickly when he hadn't been able to answer his cell phone. The doctor had diagnosed him with a beginning form of chronic fatigue and had ordered him a few months' rest. That was the reasoning behind his sudden journey to Japan. He knew he would have been distracted in Russia, knowing that all his paperwork and information for each company would be there in his office and home. He needed to get away, and he had.

Then, he had run into Hiro.

Needless to say, everything was history. History he didn't want to relive, well, mostly. Getting together with the elder Granger son was a huge plus compared to the many minuses.

The phoenix wielder took another sip of his hot coffee, picking up the paper and seeing the dreaded article on the front page. He had received the news earlier that week before the press had gotten a hold of the information. When Hiro had Boris arrested the year before, he hadn't counted on the fact that the older male had a lot of still loyal adversaries. Several of them being judges and police officers. So, he had gotten a few months jail time for battery - if you could have called it that. He had been released a few days prior, sending both Hiro and Kai on the edge. The dual haired teen was even willing to move countries and live incognito for a while, but Tala and Bryan had both put a stop to it.

Tala had adorned that ice cold smile and Bryan his sadistic smirk.

Kai didn't even ask the two what they were up to. It was sometimes best to keep to one's self when the dynamic duo were out and about. Even Hiro had shuddered and quickly excused himself from the room.

This coming from the same male that had beaten Boris almost to death with his own baseball bat.

"Kai?"

'Ah, speaking of the coward,' the phoenix wielder mused in his mind as Hiro Granger strode into their kitchen, his suit jacket hanging off one shoulder while the tie was almost completely undone. The teen cocked an eyebrow at the older's apparel, setting his mug down next to the forgotten paper. "Fun day?" he asked humorously, a small smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.

The Granger blinked, brow furrowed in confusion before he looked at himself. Glaring lightly, he growled, "Don't start."

The phoenix wielder chuckled, reaching for his last piece of buttered toast. "Already started, Granger," he smirked, biting into the bread. "Not my fault you're slow." Swallowing, he did another once-over of his boyfriend. "And sloppy."

Hiro shrugged off the rest of his jacket and laid it on the back of the dining chair. Sticking out his tongue, he went over to the coffee maker and poured him a mug. "I am not sloppy. It's just been a really tiring day."

"It's only ten o'clock," Kai replied, getting up and placing his empty plate in the sink and heading out of the kitchen.

Hiro watched his boyfriend, his deep mahogany eyes taking in every twist and turn his muscles and body made. His mouth went dry as Kai headed toward the kitchen entrance, orbs devouring those slender hips and seductive walk, and his ass! Don't get him started on the teen's tight, gorgeous ass! His tongue was sandpaper. "Kai," he rasped, setting down his mug on the counter top.

Kai stopped, turning halfway to question his lover when he noticed that dark look. The teen sighed. "Seriously?" he partially groaned, turning fully to Hiro and crossing his arms. He gave him a pointed look. "You just got home."

"All the more reason to be," the older spoke deeply, loving the shivers that raked his boyfriend's form. He closed the distance between them and pressed Kai up against the door frame.

"Hiro-" whatever Kai was going to say was quickly muffled as the older crushed his lips against the teen's, slipping in his tongue almost instantly.

Hiro kissed his boyfriend deeply, tongue caressing and then retreating only to plunge back in, practically raping his mouth. All the while, he had lifted Kai to where the teen could wrap his legs around the Granger's waist as the elder ground and rolled his hips into Kai's groin. The phoenix wielder moaned as Hiro pressed against him again and again. Thick hands had snaked under his sweat shirt, lifting it and then pulling it completely off, tossing it to the floor unceremoniously. Hiro's mouth left Kai's and ventured downward, following his hands. He found that spot on his lover's neck that made him turn to mush - right under his left ear. Kai gasped and moaned, barely recognizing when the older slipped his pants off into the floor as well. The biting wood drove into the middle of his back, between his shoulder blades every time Hiro crushed him. Oh, no. He wasn't getting any more bruises!

"Hiro!" the teen gasped, tugging at the older's shirt. Hiro took it the wrong way and pulled back enough to pull his dress shirt out of his pants and over his head, forgetting about the buttons completely. He quickly went back to creating a very red hickey on his boyfriend's neck. The teen grunted and pushed at the other's shoulder. "No," he ground out, stopping everything - for once.

"What?" the Granger growled, pressing his ever growing hardness into his lover's own.

Kai swallowed the moan. "B-Bedroom. I don't want anymore bruises," he panted. The phoenix wielder's cheeks were flushed deep red, and his body shook in suppressed tremors of sexual emotion. It took all of Hiro's willpower not to throw him to the floor right then and there and screw him senseless.

Hiro sighed and, with Kai's legs still wrapped around his waist, ventured into the bedroom, flinging him on the mattress and enjoying the way Kai bounced, disoriented, in only his boxers. The elder unbuttoned his dressed pants and undid his belt. He smirked as he caught the teen staring as he unzipped himself, the bulge unable to be hidden in his suit pants. Letting them fall to the floor, the smirk grew bigger just as the phoenix wielder's blush grew. There was no denying the fact that Hiro wanted the teen. The Granger hooked his thumbs in the hem of his boxers, slowly, antagonizingly slowly bringing them down.

Kai swallowed hard, his mouth dry. Yeah, the older had a bad habit of wanting to have sex with him all the time, but the teen never complained.

Hiro was a great lover and knew which buttons to press.

So, when the phoenix wielder found himself topped, boxers off, and a long finger slipped inside of him, he wasn't surprised. The slate haired teen gasped, arching into the touch. There was never a time without pain, but Hiro made that just part of the fun. The amount of pleasure with the pain always made the younger beg for more. Just like then. Hiro had slipped in two more fingers, stretching the teen below him, but one of those same fingers found that one deep spot. Kai gasped again, pulling the older closer to him, adding pressure to his aching groin and wanting more of that other, deeper, pleasure. Hiro chuckled and continued to stretch his boyfriend, snaking his other hand between them to lightly touch Kai's arousal. He had Kai right where he wanted him, writhing in pleasure right beneath him. It was one of the sexiest things he could ever think of, the only thing topping it being when Kai gave him a blow job while pleasing himself.

Gods above, could the teen do wonders with his mouth!

That was another subject, though, as Hiro slid his fingers from his boyfriend's entrance, enjoying the small whimper. It was weird, if one thought about it, seeing Kai in such a vulnerable, submissive state. The teen was independent, dominant, but not when it came to his lover. No, Hiro was the dominant, and it did Kai some good, letting another take over.

Hiro kissed the teen deeply as he grabbed the almost empty bottle of lube from the bedside table. Lathering himself with the rest of the gel, he quickly and efficiently entered his boyfriend's entrance, swallowing the gasp with another kiss and delve of the tongue. Hiro didn't even wait for the tightness around him to relax. He knew better. Kai was tight, very tight. There wasn't anything the older could do to make those walls stretch any farther, and it was pure bliss. Hiro drew almost all the way out and then slammed back in, relishing in the sharp cry emitting from his boyfriend's throat. Again and again he pounded into that tight heat, Kai's fingertips marring deep bruises on Hiro's shoulders as the teen pulled him closer, begging for more, for him to go faster, harder. The whimpers, screams of pleasure, and violent shudders of his lover drove Hiro further. His lips and teeth marked the teen's pale neck and shoulders as he continued pounding his boyfriend into the bed. Kai's legs were wrapped tightly around the ever-snapping hips, the teen's own trying desperately to meet his lover's to create more friction.

Hiro panted, gasped, feeling himself building up. He reached again between them, clamping his hand down on Kai's member, pumping it only a few hard times before Kai shrieked his name, body arching dangerously as he came. All the older had to do was watch his lover's face to come. He buried himself deep within Kai, spilling his seed.

He didn't move, knowing if he collapsed right then, he wouldn't have been able to get back up. Now, he knew why Kai didn't want to be taken in the kitchen doorway. He panted, watching as Kai, slowly, came off his high. Only when his body trembled to be relaxed did Hiro move, landing beside his boyfriend in a heap.

They lay there gasping for breath for the longest time before either of them spoke.

"I take it you got permission?" Kai panted, turning his flushed face to his lover's.

Hiro swallowed before nodding. "Yeah, and the position that I wanted, too."

For the past three months, Hiro had been fighting tooth and nail to get the BBA to transfer him to a different position, one that would allow him to stay in Beycity. The BBA didn't want to lose one of its best field agents, but with good words from both Stanley Dickenson and Kai, he had finally gotten transferred and into a position that he had been eyeballing for a long time. That was where he had been that morning, finding out if all that hard work and fighting had been worth it.

"Good," Kai sighed, rubbing a shaking hand across his forehead to rid himself of the sweat pouring into his eyes.

Hiro smirked. "If this is the congratulations I get for getting that job, I'll have to transfer divisions more often."

Kai snorted. "Don't even think about it."

Hiro laughed, pulling his exhausted boyfriend to him, stormy tresses falling on his chest as the teen snuggled close. Reaching for the covers, he laid them over the two of them and sighed. All was good in life. Who knew that he would be happy settling down? That was definitely not a path he had ever thought of choosing. After all, he was his father's son, free-willed, running with the wind. He was supposed to be out going to different parts of the world, learning new things.

Looking down at Kai's sleeping form, he smiled. Maybe the less-likely path was the better way to go. After all, he had Kai right there along side of him every step of the way.

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Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves in step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

-"The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost

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OWARI

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Well, that's it! Finally finished! I finally had time and enough of an inspiration to finish this sucker! (evil laugh)

Ehm...Thank you all for sticking with me! And thank you all so much for your reviews! I love you all!

Ja Ne

Miz