Log; Complete

[ikigainashi.livejournal.com]

When; September 25th [Evening].
Rating; PG [UST].
Characters; Sakurazuka Seishirou [sakurazuka_san] & Sakurazuka Subaru [ikigainashi].
Summary; Subaru just can't quit Seishirou smoking.
Log;

The moon was exceptionally bright, and even the less perceptive seemed to notice this oddity. Seishirou certainly liked it, and the calmness of the evening in Xanadu seemed to reflect upon him. Everyone else crowded the streets at the mention of a matsuri - nothing quite like a festival to bring the citizens out of the wood works. Such opportunities had passed him, and a few he had taken advantage of already... Tree-san had been just as hungry as the festival-goers.

He heard content little sighs upon the air through the sakura - yes, Tree-san was satiated for now. A cigarette upon his own lips was an attempt to also be so satisfied - he smiled to himself while he watched smoke drift away from him. And Subaru also missed the taste of smoke, rich with charcoal. Or he missed something else - Seishirou knew too well that perhaps was the case. His amber eye watched over the grounds, waiting for the other man in all black to appear within his line of sight. A cigarette, indeed.

"You know as well, don't you, Tree-san?" he muttered to the branches swaying above him while he situated comfortably upon a sturdy bough. Of course the tree knew. There was little it could not perceive. Seishirou chuckled to himself, inhaling a long drag of his cigarette. He had plenty more in case, of course.



The silence was what he noticed first. Of course, not in the air... He had been away from the bustle of the streets and the vendors for awhile now while wandering the expanse of Xanadu. The true silence was in his thoughts... The Tree wasn't demanding anything anymore. It wasn't pleading or ordering or nagging. It was...content.

The smell was what he noticed second, as he stepped up to the tree to glance up. Perhaps he had washed his hands, but the smell of blood was so very hard to get out.

If humans could be capable of truly growling, then he certainly would have right then. Instead, Subaru just narrowed his eyes, his voice soft with an underlying thread of irritation.

"You are not the Sakurazukamori anymore."



When he heard that familiar voice, he knew. Oh, it was too easy to know, especially with Subaru. Seishirou smiled even broader while he looked down to Subaru, flicking off ashes to let them gracefully flutter into the other's hair. He was so cute when he had anger or irritation present in his expression, wasn't he? As though in concord, the branches about him swayed yet again.

"Subaru-kun is always so perceptive, isn't he?" he absently asked the tree with a chuckle. He hadn't needed to wash his hands. Masking the scent certainly wouldn't have helped, either. If the link between Sakurazukamori and tree were ever so efficient in such matters, this was a prime example. Either way, though, the younger man below him had always been such the clever lad. The idea seemed to amuse him, and he again released smoke into the air as he leaned into the trunk at his back.



Even more frustrated now, Subaru was quick to step back and swipe at the ashes before they caught his hair...instead forcing them onto the back of his glove. Grey smeared on black, but he paid it no heed.

The smell was almost a comfort, and it made his fingers twitch.

"Don't do it again," he hissed out, eyes glittering. "Especially not during a celebration. You probably picked someone innocent, didn't you?"



Perhaps it was the nature of the ceremony itself. Seishirou certainly felt a playfulness spring up from within him, and it was tempting to blame it on that fierce light in the mismatched eyes glaring up at him. But Subaru was always adorable when he was angry, and he was proving it again now. He still chuckled to himself, inhaling once more to let the smoke leave lazily.

"Why, I've no idea what you mean," he replied, shooting a small satisfactory look to Subaru as he tossed the butt of his finished cigarette to the ground, hoping it would land right at the other's feet. "Silly Subaru-kun." The branches around him reached down to delicately trace about his cheek - Seishirou relished in it, obvious in the satiated smirk upon his lips. And how foolish did Subaru look now, below him with a glare hot enough to wilt the very tree by which he stood.



Gritting his teeth, Subaru stamped his boot onto what remained, the glowing ashes dying as he suffocated them. "It doesn't matter. You're merely a shadow of what you once were, Seishirou-san. You can't fully sate it." Despite trying to sound venomous, there were traces of guilt laced in his words.

"It will be hungry again within a day." And that was why, no matter how much it might have preferred Seishirou, it needed Subaru, and so it was his will it submitted to right then. The branches stiffened and shied away, the one beneath Seishirou trembling in warning. Any longer and Subaru would be sure that Seishirou was shaken right out of there and onto his face.

...Or so it would have been a pleasant thought. He was like a cat with nine lives... He would have just landed on his feet, anyway.



The shake beneath him was warning enough, and even Seishirou wasn't one to incur any distress or anger upon the tree. Gently, he let his fingers tease at the sakura that had caressed him so, and in a quick leap he landed to the ground. The distance, he knew, was close enough to bring to mind less polite thoughts - Seishirou knew too well that perhaps that thought was running through the younger Sakurazukamori's head even after he stepped back to lean against the trunk once more.

"Tree-san does so hate to beg, Subaru-kun...." He pulled out a cigarette quickly, and while tossing a sly look over to the former Sumeragi, the silver lighter he usually used was ignited. The light of the cigarette appeared a sample of the colour of that eye, the one that kept such a steady look upon Subaru. A vague smile touched his lips while more smoke billowed into Subaru's face now - a taunt, a subtle "come get me" within the silvery smoke. And the taunt was so hard to miss - at least, so Seishirou believed.



With a grimace, Subaru clenched his fist and glanced away. What did he care if the Tree begged? The Sakurazukamori might have drawn power from it, but he hardly needed to use such power recently... He preferred to wait until he absolutely had to. Then, and only then, would he pick the most unsavory character he could find.

He shuddered and turned away. Subaru didn't like to beg, either, and if Seishirou wasn't going to give him a cigarette like he had offered earlier, than the younger man was not going to continue to stay. It was humiliating enough to be in this position... To be so weak and for them both to know.



Seishirou was so close to laughing now - such a predictable silence, a turn away from his face... what next, a threat to leave? How cute. A knowing smile sufficed for the moment, and the wind tossed the smoke from his cigarette to Subaru's direction - curiously, a sakura petal traced a waltz in the air along with it. And Subaru was always the perceptive one. How embarrassing for him, then.

"There was something you wanted, yes?" he finally asked, breaking the silence. Dried leaves and twigs snapped and crackled underneath his feet, and the scent of blood about him seemed strangely magnified once he was closer to Subaru, though still behind him. "You should speak up, you know."



There was no response at first, as his mismatched gaze stayed on the ground. He shouldn't have come. It would have been better to stay at the apartment, or at least try to enjoy the festival with Ranmaru.

Ranmaru... He was the reason Subaru had been trying so hard to quit. He was the reason Subaru was struggling so hard to live. But it was an uphill battle, and he found his footing still slipping.

Wary, he turned back to appraise Seishirou with a look of apprehension. Could one really fear the dead? "...You offered a cigarette."



He was too aware of that promise... oh, he'd quit, perhaps, for someone else, but it was something far more fundamental than the taste of the tobacco upon his tongue. Why not take advantage of a weakness like that? It hadn't stopped him before, and it wouldn't do so now. He smirked a bit, again flicking the useless ashes away from the cigarette. "Why, I did, didn't I?" he smoothly echoed, eyeing Subaru challengingly.

As though the bait wasn't enough, a shiny hook would do the trick. His eyes narrowed, and the deep honey seemed to glow while he inhaled once again. The tobacco caught the flame, clung to it possessively, and he seemed to smirk with the patience of a devil laying a trap down as he expelled the smoke into Subaru's face. "Well...?"



Subaru had been raised to always use manners, and normally he was more than happy to do so. Even with Dietrich, a man who simply rubbed him the wrong way, Subaru was always as polite as necessary.

But when Seishirou got like this, it just made him want to hit things. Of course, when wasn't Seishirou like this?

Knowing it was bait, and even more annoyed by that, Subaru simply reached out to snag the taunting cigarette right from the older man's lips. "Thank you."



He almost looked stunned. Almost. No, he had expected the unexpected with Subaru, and so far such expectations had yet to be disappointed. He shot the other a patient, placid look, but soon he again smirked once he finally saw the cigarette in the younger man's hand. And that promise he had made to a dead warrior - he'd break it and keep the certainty that it would be broken.

The breeze halted, and the sakura seemed to let its scent permeate the air. Tree-san was sometimes oddly encouraging in such situations. And even though Subaru looked nearly murderous, he remained calm, collected, even mocking in his defiance to be scared. There was nothing scary about the other man when he had such a cute expression on his face. "You're welcome," he replied smoothly, keeping a watchful eye upon him.

Sometimes the boy was just too easy to manipulate.



As soon as he had taken it, Subaru gazed down at the cigarette curiously, as if fearing something worse than cyanide and carbon monoxide. But then...what did it matter? If Seishirou wanted to kill him, then that was his dream come true, wasn't it? He didn't still harbor such a Wish, did he?

But then what was a cigarette but a poison that killed slowly? And here he was accepting it from Seishirou. Practically symbolic.

Lifting it to his lips, with his eyes fluttering shut, Subaru inhaled deeply.



The expression was too hard to miss, and Seishirou had a feeling just why it appeared just then. The promise... yes, wasn't it broken now? He smirked to himself, watching as the smoke increased while Subaru inhaled. Each particle of smoke... well, it merely enhanced the possession, didn't it? It wasn't a doubt - Subaru still was his, even if others had laid claim. No, there was the principle of "dibs".

Even while he watched Subaru, his hands moved with great practise to bring out another cigarette - the one he had allowed Subaru to have had been nearly half-smoked, anyway. It was said that misery loved company - temptation loved it even more, though. And still the lighter flickered obediently and his eye never wavered.