Page 20

Chapter 20

Kaneko

N ature was a fickle lover. One minute, she shone brightly, her smiles bathing us in warmth. Then next, she shed uncontrolled tears, her wails and screams tearing through the night with the wrath of a goddess.

Yoshi would laugh and say my description was an overly dramatic way to say the heavens opened up as we reached Ashina Shrine, but the pelting rain and constant cracks of lightning felt like we’d landed on a deity’s bad side.

A priest took our horses while another hustled us into the safety of their enclave, barred the door behind us, then demanded we strip off our clothes before we dripped all over their floors. As the last of my sodden clothing hit the ground, the priest shoved bowls of hot sake into our hands to knock off the chill.

I tried not to stare at Yoshi standing there in nothing but his small clothes. He wasn’t nearly as muscled as I was, a fisherman’s work demanding far more physicality than that of a ruler. Still, he was lean and well defined, a combination that sent fire to the bits between my legs each time I saw him.

Yoshi kept his eyes averted, though I did catch him sneaking a peek—twice. The second time, a mischievous wink caused him to blush and turn away so quickly he slammed into a priest who’d just arrived with fresh kimonos , bowling the poor man over and sending the clothing across the floor.

“Forgive me,” Yoshi said, helping the priest to his feet. “My manservant has no manners.”

“Manservant?”

Yoshi looked up and winked.

Gods, I hated—and loved—him.

Yoshi flinched as a flash of lighting lit the entrance hall.

“Relax, Yoshi- san ,” the priest said. “Our mahou can withstand any storm.”

I wasn’t sure I believed the man. Shinto magic was one thing, but the god of the sea appeared angry enough to drown our entire island. We hadn’t planned on enjoying the hospitality of the shrine’s priests, but the storm had come on so quickly and with such fierceness we’d had little choice but to stop for the night.

Shinto magic or no, we might not rest peacefully until the squall petered out.

Finally, dry and filled with sake’s warmth, we were led through the shrine, out the back door, and down a covered path that led to a small, one-room outbuilding. Yoshi and I stepped inside to find two bedrolls, a small table littered with scrolls, and several lanterns casting dim light.

Our guide bowed from the doorway. “Yoshi- san , Kaneko- san , stay as long as you like. You honor us with your presence. Should you need anything, one of my brothers will be awake through the night, maintaining vigil in the central shrine.”

The priest bowed again, then pulled the door closed. I couldn’t hear much over the howl of the storm but was fairly certain the man had scurried back up the path toward the safety of the main building.

“Not exactly the camping trip I had planned,” I said, dropping to the bedroll in a huff.

Yoshi set his pack down and peered out one of the unshuttered windows.

“The rain is coming down sideways,” he said, thoughtful. “Yet none comes through this window.”

“Maybe their mahou is more useful than I thought,” I admitted. “All I’d ever seen it do was grow flowers and charm animals.”

“Charming beasts isn’t useful to you? Or encouraging crops to grow more plentifully?” Yoshi turned, a glimmer in his eyes. “How do you think we feed so many people with so few farms? Without the priests and their magic, many would starve.”

I cocked my head. “Are you telling me the priests bless our farmers? They’re part of the Daimyo ’s rule over this land?”

Yoshi chuckled. “No one rules the land. Father rules the people who live on the land. The priests work with the land to feed us. The land honors us by allowing our presence.”

I let out an exhausted laugh and flopped back on the pallet. “Great. I came here for a fun retreat, and there you go, shifting into Daimyo -in-the-making mode.”

Yoshi landed atop me a second later, his weight driving the air from my lungs.

“You are such an oaf, you know that?” he said, though his words were filled with mirth.

“Oafs . . . need . . . air,” I managed.

He rolled slightly, allowing air to flow, but didn’t roll completely off. I’d barely sucked in two breaths before his lips crashed into mine, stealing a third gasp.

“You are my oaf, Kaneko, mine,” he said between kisses, his hands gripping my chonmage , allowing my hair to fall to my shoulders. Once freed, he tangled his fingers and pulled my head back, cocking my neck at an odd angle before diving to lick my throat.

“By the gods, what’s gotten into you?” I asked, barely able to maintain focus or thought as foreign sensations sent the temperature in the room through the roof.

“Nothing yet, but I had plans for that.”

His teeth sank into the meat of my neck, and a jolt of pain warred with pleasure in my chest.

“Yosh—”

“Shut up and kiss your future Daimyo , manservant .”

Oh, that did it.

I reached up, gripped him by the shoulders, and flipped his scrawny body onto his back, straddling atop him with an evil sneer. “You belong to me, little Nagao . Do you hear me? You are mine .”

His smile nearly reached his ears as he said words I’d longed to hear. “I am yours, Kaneko, heart, body, and soul.”

My breath caught.

Here I was, trying to be so tough and playful, preparing to wrestle and dominate him, and he says something like that? What was a man supposed to do with those words? How should I respond? I felt the same things. I wanted him more than life itself. Still, despite knowing each other for most of our lives, we had only acknowledged our feelings a few months ago. Everything felt like it was moving so quickly, like the storm battering the shores had suddenly moved inside our tiny shelter and threatened to wash us away.

Fuck it.

“I love you, Yoshi. I love only you. I want only you. I may not have known it before, but I have always wanted only you.”

His eyes began to water.

He opened his mouth, then closed it.

He blinked through tears.

“Make me yours, Kaneko,” echoed off the plain walls of our cabin and filled my heart with unspeakable joy.

I reached down and untied his kimono , opening the robe so his chest and torso were free, then stared down at the beautiful man who’d just offered himself. Unruly black hair turned and twisted in every direction above bushy brows, reminding me of caterpillars who’d missed their chance to transform. He’d never been able to grow a full beard, but a thin goatee set off a pair of perfect, puffy lips that begged to be kissed and nibbled and licked.

My eyes dropped from his face to his bare skin, to the chest and stomach I’d longed all day to see. He was paler than me, his flesh unmarred by time or the sun or scars. His muscles were slender, the lines between them distinct and sharp. I traced a finger from his neck, down the center of his chest, to land in his belly button.

Where I dug in and wiggled it back and forth like I was trying to fish out a worm.

Yoshi startled and shoved me off, laughing.

“Fucking oaf! What was that?”

I grinned. “Just checking your temperature. You seemed a little warm.”

“I told you to take me, not poke me.”

“Aren’t they the same thing?” I winked.

He shook his head.

Before he could move, I stood, pulled him to his feet, and yanked his kimono over his shoulders, watching as it dropped to the floor. Naked, Yoshi’s lifetime of insecurities seemed to rear themselves, and he covered his privates with both hands and shied away. I reached up and turned his face toward me, forcing his body to follow.

“Yoshi, you are everything I could ever want. Please, never shy from me.”

He looked up, a glimmer of awe in his gaze. “Really? My scrawny body?”

I scowled. “If you insult yourself, you insult the man I love. I will defend his honor.”

He finally cracked a tiny smile. “Defend my honor against myself?”

“If need be, I would defend you against the gods themselves.”

I couldn’t believe the words I’d just said.

Never in my life had I said anything like that to anyone. I barely told my parents I loved them, much less declared my will to fight the heavens for another. What in the ever-loving seas was I thinking? What had seized hold of my heart to drive me to such madness?

Yoshi blinked again, his eyes wide and brimming once more. “I . . . I believe you would.”

Those were the last words, the only words I needed to hear. I grabbed him again and pulled our bodies together, kissing him with eighteen years of pent-up passion and lust . . . and love. My hands gripped his arms, then back, then found a home on each of his cheeks, squeezing and kneading.

He groaned into our kiss.

I kneaded harder.

His erection stiffened and pulsed against me, despite the kimono I still wore.

My own hardness throbbed as the last of me awakened to how much I needed this man in my life, how much I wanted him every moment of every day.

Slender fingers found their way to the cord at my waist.

The knot fell away.

Then my kimono fell free.

And for the first time in our short lives, our bodies, untethered by fabric or leather—or anything—pressed together in a fusion of fire and ice.

My hands left his buttocks to bury themselves deep within his thick hair, guiding his head and lips as they devoured my own.

I hadn’t known a heart could race so quickly, but mine felt like a stallion foaming to escape its paddock.

My cock felt it even more so.

Yoshi, never one to relinquish leadership for long, stunned me by dropping to his knees and taking my tip between his lips.

“Oh, gods, Yosh.”

His hand reached up and gripped my chest, as his mouth and throat took the last of my length.

My back bowed as my knees buckled.

Yoshi wrapped an arm around me and held me upright, his head bobbing, his tongue lapping, sending storms stronger than any outside through every muscle in my body.

How long he sucked and licked, I could not say, but when I whispered, “Yoshi, shit, I’m getting—” he pulled back, letting me fly free to slap against my stomach.

“You are so fucking hot, Kaneko. I could eat you for days.”

I dropped to my knees to stare into his eyes, pressing gentle kisses to his lips. “Deal.”

He grinned, then gripped my cock, squeezing shock through my system.

“Not fair!” I said.

“I never said I played fair.” He grinned. “Now, last I recall, you threatened to poke me.”

Oh, gods. The world spun so quickly.

“Uh, yeah, I recall something like that.”

Yoshi’s grin turned shy. “Well, I’ve never done . . . that . . . you know . . . with anyone. Hells, I’ve never even, um, used my finger up there . . . or anything.”

He was so fucking adorable, stuttering and stammering, trying to describe acts he clearly wanted but was embarrassed to even discuss. I wanted to eat him alive, to drink him in, to let him live within me and never release him.

“For the record, neither have I.” His eyes widened at that. “Sounds like we need a lot of practice, you know, to get this right. It would be very un-Mugenese of us to not be diligent in all things.”

Yoshi chuckled. “A nagao must be very Mugenese in all things, should he not?”

“Oh, yes, my prince, he must,” I said, ending the banter by gently pressing him down onto his back on the bedroll, spreading his legs, and snuggling my way between them. A drip from my cock fell onto his, bringing an excited twist to our lips.

“What do you want?” I asked, knowing what I wanted but trying to be supportive.

“I want you to fill me with your life.”

I nearly fell over, but damn if I didn’t want that, too.

“Why don’t I start with my tongue?”

His nod was frantic, as if nerves threatened to overtake desire.

Lowering myself so my head dropped beneath his legs, I lifted him up and spread him wide. Musk, thick as night, drifted into my nose. On any other day, in any other time, I would’ve made a joke about him needing to bathe. In that moment, his manliness drove me to madness.

I leaned in and pressed my tongue to his hole.

“Oh, damnation!” he said.

“I haven’t done anything yet.”

He grunted. “That was your tongue, and fuck, it felt good. Do more of that!”

“Yes, Yoshi Daimyo -son.” My play on his father’s title and honorific worked beautifully, as a laugh flew from Yoshi’s mouth. His butthole relaxed enough for me to dive in again, this time poking through to slide inside him.

“Oh, shit!” he called.

I pulled his cheeks apart and dove deeper, spearing him, lapping up his cheeks, filling my mouth with his scent and taste.

He squirmed but didn’t retreat.

His hands found my head, pushed me into him, drove me deeper.

My man wanted me inside him. The thought struck like a thunderbolt.

Of course, he’d just said as much, but there was no confirmation like having someone’s body react when your tongue slid inside him. And damn, if his body didn’t react in all the best ways.

I spat on my palm and gripped myself, slickening my cock. My fingers rubbed against veins now pulsing with desire, so I spat again and let a wet finger circle his hole.

He moaned.

My finger slipped in, only a bit at first.

His back arched, and he pressed his ass against my finger, forcing it to slide in to the knuckle.

“Easy,” I warned. “Go slow or it will hurt.”

“Fucking hurt me, Kaneko. I need you inside me.”

Well, holy mother of stars alight. I didn’t have to be told twice.

I raised onto my knees and rested his legs on my shoulders, then added another bit of spit for good measure. Yoshi looked up at me with fire in his eyes—and fear. He hid that well, but it was there. As tough as he talked, I saw his need for me to guide this, to ease us into things, to not split him in two.

So I let the tip of my cock slip in, just enough, and sat there.

“Oh, fuck, Kaneko!”

Slowly, I guided myself deeper.

Yoshi’s eyes squeezed tight as his hole gripped me like a vice.

“Relax,” I soothed. “Breathe.”

He sucked in a deep breath, his eyes still closed.

I pressed forward another inch.

He clenched, then gradually released. “Fuck, you’re so big.”

I chuckled. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

Without opening his eyes, one hand reached up and slapped my chest.

“Fine, no more nice Samurai,” I said, a second before shoving myself all the way in.

“Oh, fuck the wind and sky!” Yoshi shouted.

“Good thing there’s a storm. Every priest in the province would’ve heard that.”

His eyes popped wide, and he tried to sit up. I pressed a hand to his chest to hold him down.

“Oh, no,” he whispered, his voice a mix of pleasure, pain, and alarm.

I laughed, holding my cock so deep I thought the tip might’ve hit his back.

“They can’t hear anything, Yosh, not over this storm. Just relax and let me please you.”

His smile lit the room brighter than any of Susanoo’s lightning.

I slid out, watching his face screw up, then slowly pressed back in.

His grip relaxed, and he sank back into the comfort of the pallet.

Out and in.

And again.

“Kaneko, gods. Don’t ever stop.”

I sped up.

His breathing quickened.

“Oh, holy fuck!” he shouted.

Then, without either of us touching him, he erupted all over his stomach, striking as far as his chest just below his chin. Rope after rope of white flowed from him as I shoved myself deeper, striking a spot that caused the muscles of his stomach to clench and stars to flood my own eyes.

“Oh, gods. That hurts now,” he said, a hand pressing against me, pushing me back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know . . . I didn’t mean to . . . it happened so fast. I couldn’t stop—”

I slipped out and leaned over, smothering his body with mine.

“It was the first time for both of us. I am surprised I lasted as long as I did. You had my heart ready to tear out of my chest.”

“Just your heart?”

“There isn’t anything else in my chest to tear out.” I kissed his neck. “If it makes you feel any better, my cock wanted to explode the minute your kimono fell.”

Insecurity returned to his gaze as he chewed his lower lip. “So . . . it was okay? I mean, you liked it?”

I kissed his lips again. “You were perfect . . . and now you are mine.”

He blinked through our kiss. When I raised up, confusion filled his eyes.

“But you didn’t—”

I smiled. “No, and I am okay with that. This was about pleasing you—or punishing you—I can’t remember which.”

He chuckled and covered his face with a hand. “We’re all messy now.”

I wriggled my body across his, smearing his cum all over us both. He feigned disgust but kissed me anyway.

“You are all over me now,” I said. “You are my skin. You are my armor. Next time, we live inside each other.”

He smiled, that brilliant, toothy grin that warmed my soul, and I knew Yoshi and I had only begun walking a path that would define the rest of our lives.