Breathless

Breathless.
By Ran Mouri.

Chapter 01.


Weeks passed smoothly since that fateful night of Satoru’s funeral. Satoshi till spent most of his time I his office. The only real change he had in his routine was that now, instead of going back to his scarcely decorated apartment, he went to home to his huge, old fashioned room at Kohsei’s temple, had to greet Yukio good morning and bid him good night and make sure to be there for breakfast and dinner every single day.

The temple, whatsoever was no problem…

Now he could actually understand Hayato’s obsession with taking that responsibility for himself. The job was practically made without him.

Yukio got up at 6:00 a.m. every morning, cleaned the whole temple (which was no small task) then made breakfast for both of them and lunch for himself. At 8:30 a.m. the maiden that took care of the shrine until noon arrived, the boy served her breakfast too and left for school. At 4:00 p.m. he came back and did his duties on the temple, such as selling charms, offering prayers and reading fortunes until it was time to close at 9:30 p.m. After that he made dinner and waited for Satoshi with a complete financial report of the day ready for his approval. After dinner he washed the dishes, bid him good night, did his homework and spent an hour praying to his dead husband’s portrait before finally going to bed.

By then the clock had already passed midnight.

It was remarkable to say the least, maybe that was also de reason why Satoru, the lazy ass he was, had married the boy too? Most likely. The boy represented the ideal of an old fashioned little housewife: Polite, overly cheerful and always respectful and soft spoken. It had almost passed a month and Satoshi still had to see Yuki upset or angry.

It was almost as if he felt nothing, and even though he knew he had no time to bother about it, he couldn’t shake the feeling that he needed to confirm whether that kid was actually a feeling human being and not an automaton or a paid actor that his mother hired to flare his temper.

And Satoshi knew that bitch was quite capable of doing it.

Plan decided he called for Yukio on that quiet Sunday afternoon, ordering tea. Then, sat back and waited. Not ten minutes later he appeared at his door with his boyish head low, a tray of tea and some cakes in his hands.

“Your tea, Satoshi-san.” He whispered softly. Not daring to cross his eyes with the older man’s. Satoshi raised an eyebrow.

“Thank you, Yukio-san. It’s a nice afternoon, why don’t you enjoy the tea with me?” He asked, staring at the boy from the corner of his eye. For all the world to see, the Kohsei heir was staring out of the window, enjoying the scenery.

Yukio fidgeted.

“I wouldn’t dare to interrupt your spare time, Satoshi-san, I’m sure you’d enjoy the silence more than my company, considering how little time you have to lay back and submerge yourself in some solicitude… It wouldn’t be right for me to rob you of that.” Green eyes narrowed, he knew there was some sarcasm in that polite, mouse-ish answer, yet it was so veiled he had no right to get angry about it.

“I insist, Yukio-san. We’ve been living together for almost a month now and there has yet to be a normal chat between us, I’m sure you must miss my brother terribly, maybe letting it all out with someone else who knew him would do you good.” This polite exchange was driving him insane, usually he would just demand his request to be followed instantly, but Yukio was a rabbit, ready to bolt at any given change, he would have to change from the starving wolf he always was, to an enchanting snake, waiting, inviting.

Yukio frowned a little, busying his lower lip between his teeth. Satoshi-san had shown no interest in him before, and he had been nothing but perfect to the Kohsei’s standards. ¿Was he really worried about his well being? Or just pretending to, only wanting to see him crack? The oldest Kohsei was known for the sadistic side he had inherited from his father, Okumura-san made that quite clear when Satoru-sama had gone to take him away from the streets. Now he missed his mentor’s advice more than anything.

Could he trust that man so cold and merciless, but at the same time, so alike his beloved Satoru-sama?

With a deep sigh he took the risk, Satoru-sama’s eyes were staring back at him… and those eyes would never hurt him.

“If you so insist, Satoshi-san, I would be happy to share some time with you.” He smiled slowly, trying to convince himself that it was not one of the endless afternoons he spent with his husband, that the man in front of him, assessing him like a predator, was not his love.

With some reluctance, Satoshi saw the boy enter his room and sit by his side on the window, pouring some tea for the both of them and offering his first. Still so polite and damnably subdued.

“Tell me more about you, Yukio-kun. How did you and my brother meet?” He started finally. “Mother told me little about you, apart that you married Satoru in America, the rest is still a mystery to us… I always thought Satoru liked long haired girls better.” There was no humor in that sentence, both knew it, although, Yukio did smile.

“Well, I had my hair long when Satoru-sama and I met. I was 14, I believe, and lived with Okumura-san, that’s my mentor.” He began his tale. “Okumura-san picked up street children like myself and offered them some food and shelter for the night, so I had to work by myself if I wanted something else, it wasn’t a very glamorous lifestyle, I assure you, but I was happy, I had a great father and lots of brothers and sisters that took care of me.”

“Then you have no parents?” Satoshi asked finally looking straight at Yukio’s eyes. It was hard to believe that his brother, so delicate and sick, would pick a dirty street kid out of nowhere, there had to be another reason.

“I don’t know, actually.” The boy answered. “For as long as I remember I was always on the streets, looking for something to eat and running from the vendors when one of their fruits made their way to my pockets.” Then he took a pause to sip some of his tea.

“Anyway, Okumura-san picked me up and gave me a home when Satoru-sama found me, in fact I think I was cleaning the windows of an ice cream parlor store, the owner loved to cosplay her employees so I was dressed as a schoolgirl and my other workmates were all dressed as schoolboys, even though they were female. Satoru-sama asked me why I wasn’t in school and I answered I had no school to go to. He ordered some yogurt ice cream for himself and left the store.” Yukio finally cracked a real, bright smile, the first one Satoshi remembered seeing.

“Imagine my surprise when a week later he showed up at Okumura-san’s home offering me a job in his temple, with a chance to go to school and study. I was shocked, Okumura-san was livid and Satoru-sama didn’t want to believe I was a boy.”

“That sounds like him…” Satoshi mussed, imagining his bratty twin unable to believe the pretty schoolgirl he wanted to bed was in fact a boy and that he had just offered to him help he didn’t actually want to give.

“After Okumura-san threatened me I took his offer, he was so kind to me and so giving, always making sure I was comfortable and happy in his home. It was only a few weeks later that I realized I was so in love with him that I could die…” Another pause was in order, Satoshi realized, since both of their teas had disappeared. Yukio served more tea again, now, the other man noticed, his whole pose was less tense, his face more open. Was this the boy his brother saw every day?

All too different from the quiet mouse that had entered his room a few moments before.

Soon another steamy cup of tea was in his hand and a gentle smile on the boy’s face.

“How about you, Satoshi-san, any important person in your life?” That question startled him. He never thought the boy would inquire on his personal life.

“No one actually, I’ve always been more interested in my work, the company consumes most of my time so I have little time to meet other people, also most of the women who approach me are more interested in my last name than in myself, it’s a common occurrence when you are a Kohsei.” In seconds Yukio’s pose closed once again, he had felt the indirect and was offended by it.

Good…

For some unfathomable reason, he felt a need to hurt the boy, to see his smile crumble under his words.

“I… I think I must go now.” Yukio said coldly. “The shrine must open soon and I need to clean a little before I do that. I’ll come back in some hours with dinner.” No other words were exchanged, the boy left, and Satoshi felt a smirk tugging his lips.

“Little gold digger… you didn’t like that, did you?” He said to the empty room, staring from his window as the brown haired boy as he made his way to the temple, fists clenched and red faced, most probably trying to contain his anger.

The little bitch deserved it anyway.

Somehow…he had to.

To be continued.