Jessica Stiener
chichiri_no_da@chichiri.com
March 8th, 2000
----- 


"Anou, Sano..." Kenshin stumbled and nearly fell under the weight of 
his best friend. 


"Oi," Sano chuckled, "you made a rhyme." 


Kenshin sighed and tried again. "You're very heavy de gozaru yo. Do 
you think you could help me a little?" 


"Of course, buddy." Sano said graciously, and removed his arms from 
around Kenshin's neck. He promptly tilted away from Kenshin and nearly 
fell. Only Kenshin's speed, honed by his training in Hiten Mitsurugi 
Ryu, got him under Sano again to hold him up. Only the determination 
of the Battousai kept him from collapsing under the almost boneless 
weight of the other man, who was half-again as massive as Kenshin 
himself. 


"Mou, you shouldn't have drunk so much, Sano." Kenshin sighed, resuming
his forward struggle. 


"I'm fine, Kenshin. You don't have to bother taking me home. I just 
feel a little dizzy right now." Sano protested. 


"Daijoubu, daijoubu Sano. I don't mind." Kenshin felt Sano's chin come 
to rest on the top of his head. 


"Arigatou, Kenshin." 


"Dou itashimashite, Sano." 


Luckily, Kenshin's strength and determination lasted longer than the 
trip to Sano's home. It lasted long enough to manhandle the taller man 
to his futon (closing the door behind him, no less). Unfortunately, it 
was not equal to laying Sanosuke gently on the mattress. In a rare 
moment of uncoordination, Kenshin nearly dropped his friend, then 
somehow got tangled in his arms and legs and went down with the 
inebriated man. When the dust settled, Kenshin found himself pinned 
under Sano, his face only inches from his. Kenshin could feel his 
breath on his face and he shrank away from the stench of sake. One of 
the tails of Sano's Sekihou Tai bandana was tickling the underside of 
his chin. 


"S-S-Sano." 


"Mmmmm, hai Kenshin?" 


"Could you let me up, kudasai?" 


Sano smiled. "Iie, I don't think so." 


"N-nani?" Kenshin stuttered. 


"Why don't you stay here instead?" 


Kenshin fell silent, his chest tightening with dread whose source he 
could not name. He could feel his cheeks burning with a blush. 


"I-I don't-" Kenshin's next words were engulfed by Sano's firm, hot 
lips. Kenshin's violet eyes widened in shock as Sano's kiss deepened, 
his tongue questing entrance. Kenshin pushed against Sano's shoulders 
and tried to struggle free. It was to no avail; though Kenshin was a 
better fighter, and more agile than Sano, he had no hope in winning in 
a brute force contest. Fortunately, Sano broke away himself before 
Kenshin drowned. 


"Ne, Kenshin, is that good enough? Will you stay?" 


Sano's eyes locked with the Rurouni's. The red-haired swordsman felt 
his hands trembling where they were braced against Sano's shoulders. 
He stared up, wide-eyed, at his friend and tried to regain his 
self-control. 


"Sano..." He didn't know what to do. He'd rarely felt so helpless in 
his life. "I-I want to stay, Sano, b-but I think you need to sleep 
now. You're drunk, and I think it would be better if you slept." The 
pain in Sano's eyes was palpable. "Onegai de gozaru," Kenshin whispered. 


Sano blinked, the pain receding from his eyes slightly. "Soka. H-hai 
Kenshin." He pushed off of Kenshin, who rolled quickly to his feet. 
Kenshin smiled down at his friend, trying to hide how shaken he was. 


"Oyasumi de gozaru, Sano." 


"Oyasumi, Kenshin." Sano replied, closing his chocolate eyes. Kenshin 
turned and left the one-room dwelling. He walked in the direction of 
the Kamiya dojo, lost in thought. 


:What was that all about?: he wondered. He refused to entertain the 
idea that Sano's behaviour reflected his true feelings - which was the 
main reason why Kenshin had refused to stay. Any transient pleasure he 
might have received would have been erased by the look of disgust and 
revulsion that would have greeted him in the morning. :He must have 
been hallucinating and thought I was someone else: he told himself 
sharply, ignoring the fact that Sano had seemed quite aware that 
Kenshin was present. Rationalizations aside, he knew he could never 
reveal to Sano what the other man meant to him, he couldn't deal with 
losing his best friend over something so trivial. Some part of him 
protested feebly that these feelings were far from trivial, but he 
quashed it viciously. 


He crept into the Kamiya dojo, as silent as the Hitokiri he used to be. 
It was well past midnight and he was certain Kaoru and Yahiko were 
asleep. 


He met up with no one on the way to his room and lay down on his futon,
fully expecting the roil of emotion to keep him awake. However, as he 
laid his head down, his exhaustion and the sake he'd imbibed finally 
caught up to him and he fell asleep. 


----- 


The first thing Sano was aware of when he awoke was that Kenshin had 
beaten him up again. The strange thing was, the red-haired Rurouni was 
still jumping up and down on his head, even though he had clearly 
beaten the gangster into unconsciousness a long time ago. 


That wasn't like him at all. 


"Oi, Kenshin," Sano started to complain, then the sound of his own 
sake-roughened voice brought reality to the surface, and with it, a 
memory. It was an image of himself, bent over his best friend, their 
faces nearly touching. It was the sound of his own voice, rough with 
passion and longing, as well as too much alcohol, speaking the other 
man's name. The vocal complaint turned into a heartfelt groan. :Oh God, 
what have I done?: he thought as a surge of panic and pain brought a 
hand to cover his face. :Kenshin's going to kill me:. More than being 
afraid the Rurouni would kill him, he was afraid of something else - 
that he wouldn't. That the cheery exterior would be punctured whenever 
Sano was around, that the friendship would be replaced by uncomfortable
silence. Sano vowed never to drink around Kenshin ever, EVER again, 
even as he wondered whether he could repair the damage THIS drinking 
bout had caused. 


The worst part about this was, Sano wished with every fibre of his 
being that he didn't need to be drunk to kiss Kenshin. :But he has 
Jo-chan, and it's not like he's interested in men - particularly men 
like me - anyways:. He wanted to pull the covers over his head and 
disappear, but he knew the only certain way to salvage the situation 
was to pretend last night never happened, and that meant showing up at 
the Kamiya dojo for lunch, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, so to speak. 


"Kuso!" he swore as he rolled out of bed and a shaft of sunlight hit 
him like a lance between the eyes. He began the trek to Jo-chan's, 
hoping Megumi would be there and have some headache medication with 
her, just this once. 


----- 


"Oi! Sanosuke!" Yahiko hailed him as he reached the gate. "You look 
like shit again!" The boy was promptly smacked in the head by the girl
at his side. 


"Yahiko! Watch your language!" Kaoru scolded him. Yahiko's only response 
was a pained yelp. 


"Oi, Jo-chan," Sano said. "What's for lunch, I'm starved. And is 
Fox-lady here? My head's killing me." 


Kaoru sniffed. "Headache medicine is more than YOU deserve, Sanosuke. 
Kenshin came home so late I didn't even hear him come in." 


Sano felt a cold stone settle in his belly. :What if Kenshin didn't 
come home last night?: Could Kenshin's disgust with Sano have been 
enough for him to leave Tokyo altogether? :Masaka!: "I-is he up yet?" 


"Of course, he's been up since dawn as usual." Kaoru shrugged and shook
her head. He's out back, doing laundry." Sano nearly sat down with 
relief, but opted instead to force himself to meet Jo-chan's confused 
look with a grin. 


"Well, I'd better go say 'hi' to him then. It's thanks to him that I 
made it home last night." Kaoru gave a derisive snort that seemed to 
say 'and if you'd slipped and drowned in a gutter, it would have been 
your own damn fault'. Sano mentally squared his shoulders and headed 
for the place where Kenshin usually did his laundry. :Time to face the 
music.: 


When Sano rounded the corner, Kenshin's back was turned towards him. 
Suddenly, Sano had no idea what to say, so he paused for a moment and, 
as he often did at such times, he allowed himself to admire the only 
man besides his Taichou that he had ever loved more than his own life. 
For only a moment, he lost himself in the lithe body, the narrow 
shoulders, the great sweep of red hair, the battle-trained grace with 
which he performed even the simplest of movements. For an instant, the 
desire to bury his face in that mass of hair, to drown in the scent of 
him, was too painful to bear but, as always, he forced it back with 
vicious determination. Then, the moment had passed and Sano had found 
his tongue again. 


"Ohayou, Kenshin." Kenshin's head came up slightly, almost as if he had
been unaware of the other's presence - but that wasn't possible. He 
dropped the blanket he'd been washing back into the tub of water and 
turned to shine a smile on Sano. 


"Ohayou de gozaru, Sano. How are you feeling this morning?" Sano 
breathed a sigh of relief. Either Kenshin didn't remember, or was 
preferring to forget the events of the night before. He plunked himself
 down beside - but not too near - the Rurouni and grinned. 


"I feel like I got run over by a carriage, then got beat on by both you
AND Saitou, but otherwise I'm fine." 


Kenshin laughed. "That's what you get for drinking so much, Sano." 


Sano's laughter died in his throat. "H-hai Kenshin." A chiding, derisive
voice bubbled up within him, :yeah, and a few other things, too:. 


Suddenly he knew he'd been a fool for coming here. The pain was too 
fresh, the wound still bleeding, and he couldn't hope to hide such a 
devastating injury from the Hitokiri Battousai. He jumped to his feet 
and started heading away from the Rurouni. 


"I, uh, wonder what Jo-chan's making for lunch. I'm really hungry, 
maybe I can hurry her along. And I really shouldn't keep you from your 
chores..." Sano knew he was babbling, but he couldn't stop, he just 
had to get away. Away from the pain of being rejected before he could 
even try. Away from the violet eyes who trusted without judgment. Away.


He didn't stop to talk to Jo-chan, he just stumbled blindly for the 
gate, a haze obscuring his vision. Dimly, he heard voices calling his 
name, but he couldn't tell whose they were. 


----- 


Kenshin was so lost in his own dark thoughts that he didn't sense the 
object of them approach him until he heard the gravelly tones of his 
voice greet him good morning. He managed a smile and responded with 
the sort of automatic things one usually said, all the while shrinking 
under the shame he could see in Sano's eyes. 


So it was that he was totally unprepared for the violent reaction his 
words produced. As Sano fled the dojo, Kenshin could only sit and watch, 
pain lancing deep into his core. :He's so ashamed of what he did that 
he cannot even stand to be near me. He felt my body respond and is now 
disgusted by me: he thought with the conviction a man standing bound 
and blindfolded has that the bullets about to tear into his flesh will 
hurt. The rejection hurt more then any physical wound he had ever taken
 - and more than some non-physical ones had. Only Kaoru's urgent hand 
on his shoulder roused him from shock. 


"Kenshin, what happened?" she demanded, her eyes bright with worry. 
"You have to go after him!" 


"Uh, hai, Kaoru-dono," he replied automatically, and obeyed before 
cowardice could freeze him again. :Sano's well-being is more important 
than your foolish pride: Kenshin told himself cruelly. :You have no 
right to fear his disgust and censure when his well-being is at stake:


He flew off after Sano. 


----- 


Sano wandered, but everywhere he went seemed full of memories. Finally,
he surrendered to them, rather than running from them, and his feet 
took him to the little bridge by the stream. Sano lay in the grass and 
closed his eyes, still trying to fight the misery that overwhelmed him.


Suddenly, a shadow blocked out the sun, turning his world from a field 
of red to grey. He opened his brown eyes to meet large violet ones, 
with an identical expression of misery within them. He closed his eyes 
again before he could become lost in their depths. As such, he didn't 
see the pain that welled up in them. He heard the rustle of grass as 
the other man sat down beside him and the faint chink of metal-on-metal
as the Sakabatou was laid down beside him. Silence reigned as each hoped
the other would speak first. Finally Sano heard Kenshin take a breath. 


"Sano..." 


"Hai, Kenshin?" He said quietly, and winced. He sounded pathetic even 
to his own ears. There was a long pause, then, 


"You were very drunk last night - and so was I. It's a miracle we even 
knew each other." Sano's breath caught in his throat. Kenshin was offering
him a way out. All he had to do was lie, say that he had thought Kenshin 
was someone else, apologize, and they could pretend this had never 
happened. 


He opened his mouth to do just that, then closed it again. No, it 
wouldn't work. They would both know he had lied, and it would change 
nothing. It was better that he face the truth, get it out, and then if 
Kenshin was willing, try to rebuild their friendship. He sat up and 
turned to his friend. 


----- 


Kenshin's heart was thudding in terror as he reflected aloud on the 
situation to Sano. They both knew that Sano hadn't known what he was 
doing last night. Maybe if he thought of Kenshin as being as drunk as 
he himself had been, Sano would be able to forgive him. He was ashamed
to lie, but Sano had been so obviously traumatized by the experience 
that Kenshin felt he HAD to do something to alleviate the pain. 


Sano sat up and turned to him, determination blazing in his eyes. 
:Shimatta! He's going to hit me: Kenshin thought, and braced himself 
for the blow. No way was he going to humiliate Sano further by dodging
and denying him the right to mete out the punishment Kenshin so richly 
deserved. 


Instead of a blow, however, he was grabbed in an iron grip by the back
 of the neck and pulled forward to meet Sano's lips. 


The quick, brutal kiss was over before Kenshin even had time to respond.
His stuttered "S-S-Sano!" brought a turned back and hunched shoulders 
from the former gangster. 


"I wasn't so drunk last night as to forget who I'm in love with, 
Kenshin." 


Suddenly, Kenshin felt like the biggest heel on the face of the earth. 


"Sano..." he began softly, overwhelmed, but he was cut off by the 
gangster's harsh words. 


"I don't need your pity, Kenshin. I know I'm not Jo-chan, and a man 
besides, but if you can please forgive me so we can be friends, 
Kenshin, that's all I really need from you. Please, just forget this 
ever happened." 


"No, I won't forget it," Kenshin said bluntly. Sano turned dark eyes, 
filled with pain on him, and the Rurouni couldn't stand it anymore. He 
pushed away all doubt and self-hatred as he leaned forward and pressed 
his lips against Sano's. 


The kiss was long and sweet, and when it ended, Kenshin found himself 
pinned again, his back pressed into the soft grass. Sano looked down 
at him with a mixture of joy, confusion, and mischeiviousness. "Now 
you've done it, Kenshin." 


"Nani de gozaru ka?" 


"If you think I'm letting you out of my sight for at least the next two
hours, after that kiss, you're sadly mistaken." 


"T-two hours?" 


"Yeah, I've to got to convince you that you never want to go back to 
Jo-chan again." 


"Jo-chan?" Kenshin echoed, then suddenly found himself swept up into 
Sano's arms. Before he could protest, he was slung over Sano's shoulder,
being carried like a rice bale. Sano picked up his Sakabatou and began 
jogging easily in the direction of his house. 


"Oro! Sano, what are you doing?" Kenshin somehow managed to find enough
breath to say. 


"What does it look like I'm doing?" 


Kenshin's repeated cries of "Put me down de gozaru yo!" were ignored 
until he was flung on the futon in Sano's room. 


"There, I've put you down." Sano said, kneeling beside him and leaning 
over him with his hands placed firmly on either side of Kenshin's head.
"And now I'm going to ravish you until you don't even REMEMBER the name
'Kaoru-dono'." 


"Oro..." 


Kenshin closed his eyes, a smile drifting across his face, and gave 
himself fully to Sano's kiss. This time, when Sano's tongue demanded 
entrance, he opened his mouth and raised his arms to encircle Sano's 
neck. Sano traced a path of light kisses down Kenshin's neck that left 
him shivering with pleasure, then up his left cheek, where he paused, 
tracing the lines of the scar with light touches of his lips. Kenshin 
stiffened, and the comforting darkness of his closed eyelids was 
suddenly replaced by the red stain of spilled blood and a woman's 
voice. 


"Tomoe," Kenshin whispered against Sano's neck. Sano stopped and 
withdrew slightly to look into his beloved's face. 


"K-Kenshin? What did you say?" 


Large violet orbs shone in the darkness, bright with only a hint of 
tears. Still, this was the closest Sano had ever seen him to crying. 


"Kenshin? Wha-" 


"Gomen nasai, Sano. I didn't mean to interrupt." He closed his eyes 
again, the action squeezing a single tear from his left eye, and turned
his face up slightly, pursing his lips in a sweetly suggestive way. 
The tear tracked down his cheek until it met the hard ridge of scar 
tissue and was turned aside... 


"O-oi... Kenshin, y-you don't have to do this if you don't want to. 
W-what I said about ravishing you..." 


"Iie de gozaru, Sano." Kenshin said, placing his hand over the other 
man's mouth. "I want to do this so much, it hurts." 


"D-demo... Who's name was that?" Sano felt like a heel for asking, but 
he HAD to know if Kenshin had another lover. Perhaps THAT was why he 
had never gone after Kaoru. 


A brief spasm of pain flitted across Kenshin's angelic features. "She, 
she was my wife." 


Sano gasped, and as usual, in his shock he spoke without thinking. "Is 
she dead?" he asked. 


Kenshin closed his eyes again. "Of course." A moment passed and then 
the tortured look faded from Kenshin's face. He opened his eyes again 
and smiled as if nothing had happened. "Demo, this isn't the time to 
be talking about this. Besides, I'm going to be on my guard next time, 
so you might not get another chance to ravish me." 


Sano blinked and decided to let it go. Kenshin was right, this was NOT 
the time. He grinned. "I'll have you begging to give YOU another chance, 
don't worry." He attacked Kenshin's lips again, this time changing his 
tactics from a slow advance to an all-out frontal assault. He pushed 
his hands under Kenshin's kimono to tease his nipples. 


As his fingers encircled the tiny nibs, rock-hard with desire, Kenshin 
arched his back and gasped at the sensation. Pushing the heavy fabric 
aside, Sano's lips closed on a nipple, his tongue darting at it, his 
free hand questing deeper, to the small of Kenshin's back. One of 
Kenshin's hands was buried in his hair, the other was caressing his 
leg, getting closer, closer. 


:Oh God: Sano felt himself go hard with dizzying suddenness as Kenshin's
hand closed on his crotch. Even through the fabric, the feeling was 
unlike anything he'd felt before, even pleasuring himself. He moaned, 
deep in his throat. 


"Kenshin..." 


As if by some audible cue, they broke apart long enough to divest 
themselves of their clothing, then were locked together again, Kenshin's 
head buried against Sano's chest, their groins pressed together. This 
time, they were side-by-side, neither dominant nor submissive. Kenshin's 
teeth locked on Sano's nipple and he gasped and nearly cried out at the
incredible mix of pleasure/pain. 


Suddenly, Kenshin withdrew and Sano whimpered with the agony of stolen 
pleasure. He reached out to stop him, but his hands were efficiently 
blocked and dodged. "Kenshin, don't stop," Sano groaned, every fibre 
and sinew aching to be touched again. Never to be alone again. 


Then he heard Kenshin's soft voice, hushing him, telling him not to 
worry. Then he felt Kenshin's mouth close gently over his aching shaft,
felt him taking him inside. 


----- 


Kenshin took Sano into his mouth, as far as he could. He had never done
this before, and he could only hope he was doing it right. From Sano's 
helpless moans and cries, he was doing all right. He closed his lips 
and began a slow up-and-down motion, drawing Sano in as far as he could
take him, and then out almost as far as the head, in a rhythmic motion.
Then he increased the frequency, bringing Sano's moans and cries to 
such a fevered pitch that it was a wonder half the neighborhood wasn't 
knocking down the door to find out who was being brutally murdered. 


Sano came with a prolonged groan as he spewed his seed into Kenshin's 
mouth. Kenshin tried to swallow, choked and nearly drowned. He rolled 
away, coughing and choking. 


Strong, but shaking hands gripped him from behind. "Daijoubu desu ka?" 
came the urgent question. The coughing fit ended and Kenshin wiped his 
mouth before answering. 


"Hai, of course, Sano. You just caught me by surprise. I've never exactly
done this with a man before." As a flush crept up Sano's face, Kenshin 
marveled that he himself wasn't blushing. "Anou, so how was your first 
time de gozaru ka?" 


Sano flung himself away, sputtering and stuttering his indignation. 
"N-n-n-nani?! What makes you think I've never done this before?" 


"I realized it the first time you kissed me, last night." Kenshin 
grinned, remembering the naiveté of his own first kiss with no pain. 


"That's ridiculous!" 


Kenshin smiled wistfully. "Sometimes I forget how very young you are, 
to be ashamed of something so beautiful." 


Sano ducked his head abashedly, then grinned. "Oi, sometimes I forget 
how fuckin' old you are." 


"Oro?" 


Sano moved quickly, pinning the not-really-protesting Rurouni to the 
futon. "I can tell you're just stalling until your old bones stop 
creaking from fatigue. And your two hours are hardly up." Kenshin 
smiled and closed his eyes. 


"As you say, Sano," he said quietly. 


For a long moment, Sano couldn't move. He stared down at his koibito, 
overwhelmed by this man with the face of an angel, and the body of a 
god. :A very SHORT god, anyway.: 


The thought broke the spell and he reached out to lay his hand on 
Kenshin's taut stomach. He slowly spread his fingers and smiled as a 
shiver spread through Kenshin's wiry frame. He moved northward, 
walking his fingers up his gloriously hairless chest, then headed 
right and gently clasped a nipple between his thumb and forefinger. He 
worried it between his fingers for a few seconds, listening to 
Kenshin's moans, then lowered his mouth to the reddened nub. He teased 
it with his tongue and closed his mouth over it, sucking hungrily. 


"Oh Sano... you're driving me crazy..." Kenshin sighed, squirming under
him with desire. Sano reached out with the hand that wasn't supporting 
his body and gripped Kenshin's swollen member. Kenshin gasped and 
groaned as Sano began a slow up-and-down motion. 


"Is that better?" Sano stopped attacking Kenshin's nipple long enough 
to say. 


Kenshin moaned. 


"Good." Sano traced a line of kisses up Kenshin's chest, up the line 
of his jaw and then suckled at his earlobe, his tongue darting in and 
out of the hole he found there. All this time, he steadily increased 
the rate his hand was moving. Liquid coursed over his hand, lubricating
the shaft. Freed from the limitations of friction, he varied the rhythm, 
listening closely to Kenshin until he could find the best one. Finally,
he settled into a rhythm, glorying in the noises he was eliciting from 
his koibito. 


After an endless moment, Kenshin came, spilling his seed over Sano's 
hand. His arched back settled back to the mattress, his fists unclenched. 
Sano raised his head, the tails of his Sekihoutai headband trailing 
down to brush against Kenshin's chest. Violet, shining eyes met his dark 
ones, and Sano suddenly felt the confidence he'd had draining away. 


"How was that?" 


Kenshin reached up and encircled his neck with slender, strong arms 
and drew him down into a kiss that did nothing to relief their harsh 
breathing, and which might have bruised their lips. 


"You were perfect, aisuru." 


Ja! 


Jessica Steiner aka Chichiri no da 
Confirmed Pocky Addict 
Keeper of Duo's Virginity and 
Trowa's Scars and Nightmares 
Duo no Seishi, 
Zelgadis no Seishi, 
Ryoga no Seishi 
Member of the E.V.I.L (and more!) 
Fan Club Proud Member of the 2x5/5x2 
Club that Exists in Ryu-chan's Twisted Imagination


http://members.tripod.com/~Chichiri_no_da/ 
ICQ: 6460075