Notes: See disclaimers in chapter 1.

NOTE! This chapter is _YAOI_ and _LEMON_. This means that not only does it have sexual content, it's male/male homosexual content, and some may consider this somewhat less then consentual. You have been WARNED. In big letters, even.

Love Lies Bleeding


Memories are just where you laid them,
dragging waters 'til the depths give up their dead.
What did you expect to find?
Was it something you left behind?
Don't you remember everything I said when I said:

Don't fall away, and leave me to myself.
Don't fall away, and leave love bleeding in my hands,
in my hands again;
leave love bleeding in my hands.
In my hands,
love lies bleeding.


'Hemorrhage (Love Lies Bleeding)',  Fuel


This chapter is a lemon! Not a very graphic lemon, but a lemon all the same. You have been warned.


The demon was quiet as he returned to the caves. He reformed himself, building a body from the water that made the rock dangerously slippery, and kept any warmth from lingering in this cold, dank place. He reformed with his eyes closed, amber points shut against the sight he knew was awaiting him.

He had stayed away for some time. As he had said, time had little meaning here. Still, it was time he needed, however long it had truly been. But he couldn't hide from it anymore, now. He had to come back, to whatever the end might be. Houjun was just beyond the shadows, on that bed Hikou  had dragged down here, and he was waiting for Hikou. Waiting for the end.

Hikou might as well give it to him.

His eyes opened, and he found himself looking at the monk. He had managed to get himself upright, sitting on the bed, his legs folded carefully under him. The sheet had been arranged to hide any evidence of his nakedness below the waist. It was creatively tucked about his legs and backside till it looked like he was wearing a rather dingy skirt. His hands were curled up in meditative mudras on his knees, and his single eye was closed. With the cave so quiet but for the dripping, Hikou could hear his rhythmic, practiced breathing. With his other senses, he could detect the rise in the other man's ki. Had he been meditating and restoring himself all this time?

But then that burgundy eye opened, and Chichiri's gaze found him, even in the darkness. "You can come out now. We both know you are there, and we cannot finish this game till you make the next move."

Hikou rankled under the flat order from his captive, his eyes narrowing to slivers. Houjun was in no position to order the Shittenou about yet he found himself stepping from the shadow. "Is that all this is to you?" he asked, "Or is it what you think it is to me? Just a game?" His voice was soft, but querulous.

"Every cat must toy with it's mouse," Houjun answered simply. Gone was the sorrow and the grief and the fear. In it's place was placid calm, the reflection of meditations on peace and the God of Love--who was also the god of harmony. "I doubt you have the honor to take a clean kill, if that's what you wish."

Hikou's face remained neutral, carefully set into a dispassionate blankness. "Is that it? Or, perhaps, I'm playing with you even now," he stepped forward, waving a hand in an idle gesture, his long sleeves trailing with the motions. "And perhaps I was before. Could I have been? Could I have told you that to throw you off guard? Or maybe I should have told you that Kouran and I had been fucking for months. Would you have been shocked? Would you have wept? Or would you have gotten angry again, like you did then?"

The monk's serenity began to falter. "I'm sure you've played out every strategy, Hikou. Every possible move, every possible dialogue has been played out behind your eyes. You know how to put me into check with skill."

"You could be playing the game too, Houjun. Are you so certain you're not?" Hikou suggested, his lips curling in a sneer. "Or have you found your moral high ground now? Safe above the flood water of hypocrisy."

Houjun's single eye began to burn darkly, ire rising with him. He didn't want to give into anger, but slowly, it began to fuel the words that fell from his lips. "Saa... I at least was honest in my hate and blunt in my rage. This game of yours is hardly that. You've figured out how to hurt me. But it's what I deserve, isn't it? For my sin against you," despite the acceptance of the words, his tone was anything but. There was anger. Bitterness. Hurt.

"Saa. Gotten over yourself, have you? Your words are resigned, but your tone is not," Hikou came closer as he spoke, his neutrality broken by a twist of his lips. And another, and another, until a full fledged smirk found itself on his face. Amusement was writ across his face; in the glimmer of his eyes, the cruel twist of his lips. "And there you sit. A monk of his Feathered Holiness. And here I am, a demon damned to hell--which I blame you for, I might add, in case you haven't noticed."

He leaned down, now, closing the space between himself and his victim. "How does it feel now, Houjun? How does it feel to know that you were lied to? Betrayed by someone you trusted?" His hand lifted, and he traced a line across the monk's jaw. Houjun jerked back, but Hikou continued to reach for him, to touch invasively. "Funny how hormones ruin everything. Attached at the hip one moment, sucking face with the other's girlfriend and then tossing each other into rivers the next." His eyes narrowed and his lips curled into a crescent of cruelty, even as Houjun's good hand began to tremble. "Welcome to reality, Houjun. There isn't much to it, is there?"

Houjun glared. Finally giving into anger, his single eye burned with it as he stared at his tormentor. "Your lies will get you nowhere. I know the truth of things! You instrumented your own death with your dishonesty... If you really loved me, like you said you did, you wouldn't have ruined my wedding! You would have let me be happy! Love means sacrifice!"

Hikou met the accusation with laughter.

The demon straightened, and he tossed his head back and cackled at the monk.  He ignored Houjun, no matter that the monk was trying to rise, his hand was trembling as he pushed himself up from the bed.

"Do you honestly believe that? Even after everything, do you still cling to the illusion that love exists?" Hikou retorted. "Are you still that eighteen year old boy that had eyes for no one but his 'true love'?" He turned his head, and spat to the side, as if he were defiling the very idea. "Grow up, Houjun. Love is a sugarcoating for lust. And lust asks for everything, and gives nothing in return. With lust--there's no sacrifice."

Houjun stood there, legs trembling and ribs aching. "I think you're wrong," he said. "Though, by your own words, you invalidate all your own piteous cries for love. You never loved me at all, and all of this is simply because I didn't look on you as a lover."

"You didn't even realized I existed, Houjun, once you turned your eyes to Kouran," was the return scoff. "You forgot me. Your family. You built your world around her, and as far as the rest of us didn't exist." The demon's eyes narrowed. "Do you know Kouran's sister was trying to court me? Did you know that your brother was considering leaving the farm to you and going to Eiyou, to make his fortune there? Did you see beyond her? Or were you simply being selfish and pretending there was nothing beyond your precious romance?"

Houjun blinked once, twice, the anger in his dark eye abruptly turning to shock. "Umiko? And you?" His brows knitted. No. He hadn't known. Any of it. It showed plain on his face as it twisted up in a grimace. This disturbed him; had he really been so blind?

"No one could get your attention, Houjun," Hikou whispered now, sliding closer over the water as he saw his opening. "You didn't care about anything except your happiness. And how could you expect me to get your attention any other way... than with her?" He didn't want her, but he would use her. If he couldn't have Houjun, then he would have Houjun's wife-to-be.

"No-no, it wasn't like that," the monk denied lamely, even as he began to doubt. "You could have said something!"

"Said what? 'Hey, Houjun, would you like to try the other side of the fence and fuck?'" As Houjun's jaw dropped at the blunt statement, Hikou made his move. Hands lashed out with the quickness of serpents and took a hold of the man's shoulders, drawing him in for a fast, hard kiss.

Houjun gasped sharply as cool lips claimed his own and Hikou took full advantage. His tongue swept out, tasting the inside of Houjun's lips, and eliciting a strangled gasp from the other man. Houjun's good hand made contact with Hikou's chest, pushing hard against him. The demon let him go--and Houjun fell back onto the bed with the force of his own shove.

Even as Houjun's head smacked against the cavern wall that the bed was pressed against, Hikou smirked, looking down at his startled and dazed prey. "So, do you? Want to fuck, that is."

"H-Hikou!" Despite Houjun's gasped protest, Hikou was down upon the bed within moments, the straw was crunching beneath their shared weight. The demon's mouth was now wandering across his neck, even as Houjun pushed ineffectually against his shoulder, shuddering as cool lips tracked over his skin, chilling him slightly. Hikou didn't notice the pushing fall away, nor the quiet that came over his companion.

He did notice the trembling.

Hikou did not stop for a time, laying cool kisses in a line to the first bandage that curled around the monk's chest. And there he paused, pressing his brow to the living man's chest, the cool stone of the jade circle he wore at his brow colder then his lips had been. "You're trembling. But you're not fighting."

Houjun did not answer.

"What is it? Scared? Like it? Don't like it? Worried? Hurting?" he lifted his head, quietly asking. The rage and anger was gone from both, and for the demon the feelings that had damned him renewed themselves, deep within. He gazed down at his captive, his eyes bright with his ardor. He saw that Houjun's eyes were closed, his face drawn with tension. Hikou reached up and caressed his cheek, watching the eye flutter open, confusion in the burgundy orb.

"I'll give you this one chance," Hikou said softly. "To escape. I won't stop you. Go if you want." But then his eyes glittered with a dark sort of mirth. "But if you don't, in the next few moments, I'm taking the sheet away."

A long moment passed between the pair, as they gazed at one another, Hikou's eyes reflecting the distraught monk's face. But then, oddly, a strange sort of calm passed over the monk's visage, and he raised his hands to the heavy weight of his prayerbeads; their holy nature meant that no demon could remove them.

Hikou waited for the inevitable; the swell of ki, and the emptiness of the straw bed. Houjun's fingers tightened about his beads--and then, he lifted his head, and clumsily took them off.

Hikou's jaw sagged, his eyes widening as he watched Houjun tug at them once when they became entangled with his ponytail. With a jerk, garnering a wince from the monk, they were free of him, and he dropped them off the side of the bed. The sound they made when they struck damp stone was almost musical.

They stared at each other once more, Hikou's eyes wide, Houjun's single eye serene.

The shittenou's mouth worked mutely for a moment, but then he stopped himself. The choice was made for both of them. There was no going back now.

His hands went to the sheet and he slowly began to draw it away, and leisurely revealed the lean form beneath him. Houjun's body was pale and lean, battled scarred; bandages obscured most of his chest, and elsewhere there were little reminders that the man had lived through the war with Kutou-koku. A slash here, a gouge there. Ugly memories writ deep into his flesh.

But Hikou drew it further, ignoring the shiver the cool air inspired in the monk. Down over narrow hips, and then finally, simply away, gathered up from his legs and set aside. Hikou sat on his haunches and gazed at the sight bared to him, no matter that Houjun turned his face away, embarrassed beyond all measure.

Bloody, dirty, and feverish, his naked form had not been beautiful. Houjun had simply been meat then. Now, now Hikou remembered why he had wanted him when he was a youth. From the maimed visage, to the soft manhood nestled in sparse, azure blue curls, Hikou felt a surge of old emotion; desire mingling with something softer. Fonder then simply lust.

"Saa..." the demon uttered softly--and then began to strip hastily. Houjun blinked at the haste the demon made, watching as he kicked off his shoes, and began to tug at his robes, his wings flaring behind him as he rose from the bed to attempt to undress.

"Hikou, this is not a race," he gave as a weak rejoinder, but merely got a snort from the demon in return.

"It might be," Hikou said cryptically. Regardless, he continued with his feverish undressing until Houjun  sat up and reached out to grasp his clothes.

There was a surge of magic, before Hikou abruptly found himself very aware of a draft. Now it was his turn to flush, as Houjun kept his gaze trained strictly on the demon's face and handed him his neatly folded clothing. "Handy trick," the shittenou said ruefully.

"Never really put it to use till now, unless it was with the injured," Houjun admitted, still keeping his eyes carefully on his companion's face. The clothes were set at the end of the bed. Hikou and Houjun found themselves staring at each other once again.

Hikou paused there--flushing now. "Should have done this before I got undressed," he muttered. But even as he spoke those words, violet flame began to lick around his form, and his wings spread wide--before abruptly retracting into his back, vanishing from sight. The unnatural flame died away.

Houjun could not help but stare; Hikou blushed slightly under the intensity of his gaze. "I am dead, Houjun. But I can simulate life when I need to. Though I doubt that it was ever intended for anything like this."

Not sparing anymore words, Hikou returned to the bed, stiff length already bobbing between his legs, an acute ache that demanded satisfaction. The demon-turned-man's attempts to contain his eagerness ultimately failed, but he wasn't rough. His hands were quickly placed on his partner's shoulders, and he pushed him gently back. Now, Houjun didn't tremble, instead doing as he was directed, docile as a lamb. Hikou's head dipped downward even as he laid the shichiseishi against the straw mat and found his throat with his now-warm lips, and lapped gently at his captive's neck. He was hardly experienced, but having seven long years to get ideas, it didn't take him long to figure out what he wanted to do.

Kisses quickly turned to suckling, as he found the sensitive places on Houjun's neck; he toyed with his earlobes, traced the shell of an ear with his tongue, and gained shivers that were not of revulsion. Everything was new for both; neither had ever had a lover, and slowly Hikou began to discover what he could do. Houjun's vocal demonstrations were minimal; he was quiet. Very quiet. He gasped softly, and whimpered on occasion as Hikou's mouth worked over his skin, nibbling at his collarbone, making his way south with deliberation. But the reactions of his body were obvious. The tension, the tremble, the shudders; it didn't take demonic powers to figure out that he could in fact arouse the man, even if it did take work. But he was willing.

Oh, gods, was he willing!

Hands and mouth grew warmer as the press of bodies generated heat of their down. Hikou was careful not to lie atop Houjun, as the monk was still quite damaged. Straddling his legs, Hikou slid his fingertips over Houjun's hips as his mouth skipped over the monk's bandaged torso. They were not as warm, perhaps, as the shichiseishi, but the illusion of humanity was almost totally complete. His hands were certainly warm enough that they didn't shrink Houjun's manhood when Hikou grasped him gently.

The intimate touch made the monk's half-lidded, hazy eye fly open as he felt Hikou explore him with curious fingertips, feeling the odd sensation of his own body harden at another's touch. His life had been one of denial of sensuality, and so to feel his body pulse with this new rhythm was alien, and not a little frightening. He whimpered, the sound fearful, as he shifted under the demon's touch. Hikou took a place at his side now, lying carefully along the edge of the bed.

"Shush," he whispered. "I'm not going to hurt you." The soft assurance did little to assuage the fear in that single eye, but the nuzzling kiss the demon dropped to his lips slowly worried away his apprehension.  Hikou's hands slid along the half-firm length, coaxing him to further fullness, even as amber eyes drank up the sight of the monk.

He was gentle, surprisingly enough; Houjun expected him to be otherwise. But still--Hikou had said he loved him at one moment, and then said love was only a coating for lust the next. But slowly those thoughts drifted away as the arousal those hands generated began to drive away all but the most persistent of worries. He couldn't deny it; it felt good!

The hand did not stop, even as Hikou began to situate himself between the other's legs. Where Houjun's erection was not quite complete, Hikou's was well past; it was a brand between his legs, leaving him on the edge of frustration. But that didn't stop him from eventually resting the living man's legs on his shoulders, and carefully dipping downward.

Hikou cast a glance at Houjun, waiting for him to look at him, as he was poised above the throbbing length captured in his hand. Houjun was sure there was amusement; almost as if asking him, 'Well, looky here! What do I do now?' in jest. His eyebrows arched upward, and only increased the impression the monk had gleaned. And then, he dropped his head quietly, mouth opening, before he extended his tongue, garnering a shocked gasp as it first.

Houjun's voice rose in abrupt shock. "Wh-what are y-you d-doing!?" He stammered, his single eye the size of a saucer.

Hikou smirked, as he tentatively licked across the tip of the living man's cock, taking pleasure in the shock on his victim's face, before Houjun collapsed back to the pillow with a groan. Hikou shook his head, chuckling at the low whine that rose from his partner's throat, before simply and carefully taking the head within his mouth. His teeth scraped slightly, until he had the good sense to wrap his lips about them, deciding that it wouldn't do well to gnaw on Houjun's organ.

He found a rhythm, slow and steady, careful of his partner. Never mind that Houjun's eye was rolling back in his head and his chest had begun to heave with deep pants, Hikou was still worried that he would not really be pleasured. Anyone could get a man up; it took skill to get a man off, right? Unable to really answer his own question or calm his own fears of inadequacy, he continued to bob up and down, slowly taking the monk within the cavern of his mouth before sliding up until he only held the head in his mouth, giving it a firm suckle before back down again.

While Hikou worried about his oral skills, Houjun's fingers found their way into the demon's dark blue hair. But annoyance took the shittenou as Houjun's hips began to work with him, and he found himself dealing with a wriggling lover who seemed to want to help him when he didn't need any assistance. He lifted his hands, and pressed them to Houjun's hips; in the monk's weakened state, it was more then enough to keep him from bucking, for the most part. While Houjun was not fantastically endowed, the first abrupt and unexpected thrust into Hikou's mouth nearly left him gagging.

All the same, he did his work well. "H-Hikou..." the monk gasped, but Hikou did not hear him. The demon slid upward, and found himself tasting... ki. At least, it was a form of it. Lifeforce, ki, and the man's seed--they all had the same essence within them. He found he didn't mind it much; it was not a really a taste he was accustomed to, but found that it was not at all unpleasant. He paused, to lap at the tip delicately, gathering it into his mouth--before the monk abruptly jerked beneath him and he found he had much more of that fluid ki than he had bargained for.

But he did not jerk away. He held to Houjun's hips, trying to keep him from bucking wildly, as that first orgasm overtook the monk's unprepared senses. But once his thrashing stilled, Hikou carefully let him slide free--never mind the mouthful of seed that he held behind his lips. His first thought was a moment of indecision and inexperience: just what the hell could he do with a mouthful of come?

Houjun turned glassy eyes to Hikou, and for a moment, they stared at each other, as Hikou debated just want to do with the fluid in his mouth. His brow quivered once--and Houjun began to snicker. And with the beginning of his laughter, Hikou turned his head and spat violently, expelling the sticky fluid with one mighty 'ptui!'

Houjun only laughed harder, voice husked from the night's activities.

"Oh, go ahead and laugh at me after I've just given my first blow job," Hikou retorted, though he realized just how comical he looked, reaching up to brush the remaining fluid from his face and flicking it away with his fingers. "Baka. Like you would do better your first time."

"The... the look on your face..." Houjun gasped out between chuckles. "It was... so... priceless." His hands folded on his chest, his gaze disconcertingly close to acceptance; perhaps even affectionate.

"Saa... Bastard. See if I ever get you off again," the demon replied, as he crept down against the other man, his eyes half-lidded. His body was a shock for the lust-heated monk, but he adjusted easily enough; though the weight of Hikou's erection, hot against his leg, was a reminder that he was sated where the demon was not.

Wasn't it the demon that had wanted this in the first place?

"You... you're still..." The monk tried to come around and simply say it; but years of denying that his own organs existed for anything other then waste disposal was something that was deeply ingrained now.

"Hard as a rock?" Hikou suggested after he realized the man couldn't finish the sentence. At Houjun's nod, the man just smirked. "Well, if you wanna help me out with that..."

"I don't think... I can do what you just did," Houjun said quickly, his eye widening. Hikou just laughed at him; there was no mockery to his tone, only rich amusement at his companion's innocence.

"Yes you can," Hikou replied, brushing away any argument. "You've got one good hand, don't you?" The demon paused as Houjun blushed furiously. "Please, now. You can't tell me you've never," he smirked, as he gave a colorful euphemism for the activity he was about to suggest, "pumped the monk?"

Houjun turned purple. He stammered; for a moment, Hikou wondered if he might swallow his tongue in his shock. "Houjun?"

"I've never--I mean, I don't--I'm a MONK!" Houjun's face scrunched up in embarrassment which was quickly made all the worse by Hikou's riotous laughter. "Stop that! It's not--I don't--I was saving myself!"

"You're serious, aren't you?" Hikou asked as the chuckles died down, leaving him only with a tremor of laughter in his chest. "You... you didn't even before? Not even to the thought of her?"

Houjun's eye darkened. "Never. I would never debase her or myself that way. It's... It's wrong."

"So's having a man go down on you and make you cry out in ecstasy, Houjun," Hikou reminded gently, before he reached out for the monk's hand. He propped one leg up, and then guided Houjun's hand to his throbbing erection. "You just felt what it's like... Think you can figure it out from there?"

Hikou's hand disengaged from Houjun's, as the monk paused to try and figure out just what he should do. What had Hikou done? He couldn't really pay a lot of attention! Should he have? "I..." He stammered--but then slowly curled his fingers around Hikou's length, and began to explore him. He didn't stroke, per se, but merely let his hand wander, feeling his length gently, from base to tip, feeling it twitch under his touch. He explored the curvature of one vein, and heard his companion give a low sigh.

"Hikou?"

"Go on," the demon rasped softly.

Houjun nodded weakly, before remembering; Hikou had encircled him. And so, he made a small, loose fist and then drew it back and forth along the demon's shaft. Now, he got a reaction! Hikou's breathing turned erratic, and Houjun watched his face begin to contort and relax, as the monk drew along his skin. He began to move quicker, wondering if that would help, and marveled as Hikou's hips jerked against his touch.

"Houjun..." the demon moaned now, his eyelids fluttering as the other man finally gave him a release; the orgasm that Houjun brought him to was not earth shattering, ground breaking, or otherwise memorable except for the fact that it had not been Hikou's own hands, fantasizing that the monk was the one touching him.

When he came, Houjun jumped in startlement at the seed that spurted; scoring the demon's belly, splattering against Houjun's arm and hand. And while they lay in the after math, Houjun idly considering the stickiness that coated their skin, he heard the demon whimper once, before falling silent. "Hikou?" he asked in concern. "Daijoubu?"

He was greeting by silence; the demon's face was slack--peaceful for the first time since Houjun had seen him since becoming a demon. "I'm fine, I'm fine," Hikou assured. "More then fine." But the tone of his voice betrayed certain dissatisfaction--this hadn't been quite what the demon desired for his first encounter.

Hikou's hands slid down, trying to wipe away the ejaculate that coated his belly, but only succeeded in getting it on his hands. Houjun also had little luck in removing the sticky substance, and he disliked the feel of it on his skin. But after a moment, neither cared. The monk, beaten and sore, knew that the tingly afterglow of orgasm would soon leave him aching again. Hikou, for his part, was simply not as fulfilled as he had hoped he would be.

Hikou did not move from the bed, despite the lackluster finish to the evening--but he dragged the blanket up over them. Houjun stayed still through it all; but quietly realized that Hikou intended to stay the night. He swallowed softly, his voice rough. "Oyasumi."

"Oyasumi," came the unsure reply.




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