Jade

Jajan awoke before his Master, opening his eyes cautiously. The room was flooded with a thick amethyst light. The moon was up and the sun was down. The season was changing and the solstice was upon them.
He sat up; opening a curtain with one silk covered hand, and saw his precious purple moon. With the permission give, most Elementals would be making the world seem as if it had been turned into another all day long and into the night. If he had his, the waters of the seven levels of heaven would be dancing - just for Ris, whom\'s bed he was still sleeping on.
He stretched out slowly. Ever since the previous night, when he\'d told his tale of pain, he had felt as if the world was his. Perhaps it was, and it had only been hidden from him before.
He laughed.
Ris turned over in his sleep, loudly enough to hear in the other room. Jajan got up, casually and slowly, and then walked around the house, opening all of the curtains.
Ris woke and the entire vicinity was tinted with mauve\'s and purple\'s. Jajan handed him a drink before he could even sit up. It was a flavor he had never savored before.
\"What is this?\"
\"It is wine.\"
\"From where?\"
\"Your own stock.\" Ris looked puzzled. Jajan only smile.\" It is the solstice. The Elementals, those of which have been permitted, have some out to play. I bet the atomic structure, taste, and color of that, all have been altered.\" Ris stared perplexed at his wine.
\"And you, you say you are Water?\"
\"I am.\"
\"You may do whatever you wish.\"
\"Oh! Thank you!\"
\"Today, or any other day.\"
\"Ris!\" Jajan embraced him so suddenly that Ris dropped the glass he had held. Jajan pulled back and Ris thought that his slave would be shaken and fearful, but he was mistaken.
For a moment, Jajan seemed to be talking to someone, and then, someone else. Then, another - as if he were in touch with an entire society of invisible people. Finally, he smiled, went quiet, and the wine left the carpet almost as quickly as it had fell. It was returned to the glass, and Jajan handed it to Ris.
\"I assure you, Ris, It has nothing but what it had before.\" He stared at the glass for a moment, but afterwards, took it, and sipped it.
\"It is the same strange wine.\"
\"But is good?\"
\"It is.\" Jajan took the glass away and Ris stared still at it with the same dazed look. His slave laughed.
\"Have you never seen an Elemental work?\"
\"Only parlor-type tricks with color...\"
\"Do you object to more?\" Ris turned his eyes up to his slave. Jajan was shaken by the look in them. It was as if he thought of him as more, instead of equal.
\"Absolutely not.\" Jajan licked his lips.
\"I will make the waters of this world sing today, just for you, Ris.\"
\"That is too sweet a phrase for me.\"
\"No words are wasted.\" The conversation stilled for a moment and Jajan leaned forward and kissed Ris lips lightly. \"Not a word.\"
\"W-what you saw in the depths of my eyes...are you sure the words are not wasted?\"
\"What I saw makes me think the more of you. It is...shocking. But, I only saw a little. It is more what I felt. As I said before, I have not been given the gift the read minds.\"
\"But...did you feel the pain?\"
\"Much of it. Enough to say that possibly there is more hidden away.\" He paused and stroked his Master\'s hair. \"It is as if you have been through war. You would have to be very old. There has not been a war for many, many years. You do not show any signs of age. Your hair is still as red as rose...silky as such.\" Ris stopped Jajan\'s hand with his own.
\"If I am not careful, you may discover all there is to know about me without ever hearing a word of it.\"
\"Be it so, if you never tell it to me.\"
\"I suppose your curiosity is strengthening.\"
\"Ever much so. But as I have said before, I will not anger you by asking or prying in any way or sort.\" Ris set back into the couch a little and sighed deeply. A strangely nostalgic look came over his face.
\"When you are alone and you have the will to ponder, think back on the father of your first Master. Though he is dead, he would tell you much.\"
\"I can hardly remember him.\"
\"Yalad is not easy to forget.\" Jajan stared at him for sometime, dropping his hand to the side. The room was irrevocably silent an glowing red, purple, cerulean blue, and shades of burgundy, as if a chime had started twisting madly about the house.
He heard first, single drop of water behind him. He stood up and turned. Another drop hit the boucheau, curving off, and lifting back up to the ceiling, reflecting a single dot of amethyst. It fell again, and was joined by others until the entire room was lit by the curving raindrops.
\"What is this?\"
\"My water. I made it rain. Your house will not get wet. It will smell of rain. It will look like a spring shower and be colored by the Elementals play and the moons light, but it will not soil your carpet.\"
\"It does not even touch me.\"
\"Unless I will it to. I tell it not.\"
\"Let it. I have never seen anything such as it.\"
\"As you wish.\" The rain was fresh-clean...pure. He\'d purified it. \"If you should like it to be warmer or colder, I can accomplish either task with simplicity.\" Jajan. His beautiful slave was making this happen. The rain fell off his body and robes, and fell off, curving back up to the ceiling. The slave smiled, showing his perfect white teeth, watching his handiwork. Ris stepped closer to Jajan, emphasizing his point with a breath on his ear.
\"Can you make it hot?\" The younger man near to him opened his mouth a little, letting his lips fall on Ris\' neck.
\"Precisely how hot?\"
\"As hot as we can stand it.\"
\"That will be some damned hot water.\" As it were, the sentence was quite shocking to hear from Jajan\'s mouth. At the moment, he did not care. Before the end of that very sentence, the water became so hot, his skin burned and his mouth was ravishing Jajan\'s as viciously as he dared. His dark cherry hair had soon gotten tangled in the slave\'s strong fingers, and they curved, pulling him closer. \"How do we want the rain?\" Jajan whispered between feverish kisses.
\"Let it fall. I want to feel your rain.\" Ris started a path down Jajan\'s neck with his tongue, when he suddenly decided that the hot rain had made it impossible to carry on. His robes were soaked. He shed them quickly. \"Would you like to soak my bed with this rain?\"
\"I am thinking this is a wise decision.\" The rain heeded its Master, and followed them into Ris\' room. The air was chilled, and Rai stepped toward him again. Jajan traced a path of scars across his chest. \"And all this time. I thought you wore robes still to signify your class.\"
\"No. There is a story behind them. At the moment, I have other things on my mind.\"
\"Perchance, they would be the same as mine-these thoughts?\"
\"Well...\" He stayed close to Jajan\'s lips for a moment, breathing until his slave was gasping and leaning forward to kiss him again, and he pulled back. \"I was thinking,\" He motioned for him to get on the bed. He followed, and placed an open mouthed kiss on the underneath on Jajan\'s chin. \"That I could want to slow down my pace, and make this feel so good for you, my neighbors, as far away as they are, would come with scarlet faces, asking what the noise was.\" At this, the slave shivered and the rain became hotter. \"What do you think? Were you thinking the same thing?\" Ris\' fingers were playing with the loose tendrils of his hair.
\"S-something like that, yes...\"
\"I thought you might be.\" The boy gulped, and then let out a long sigh, when Ris\' cut body settled on top of him. His lips molded to his throat, feeling every inch of the skin there. Jajan\'s flesh was wet and warm with rainwater. \"Hotter,\" Ris whispered in his ear. He opened the top of Jajan\'s soaked robes, revealing the golden skin underneath, and immediately began nipping the skin there lightly. His fingers played with one of the slave\'s nipples in the meantime.
\"Mendo-san...\" Ris froze.
\"You don\'t have to do this.\" Jajan jerked himself upward and kissed Ris, not too hurriedly, but decidedly rough. The other man decided he had not then, forced himself on him. If anything, it was Jajan that was driving him mad. Ris forced himself to calm, and pulled away for a moment. \"Jajan, slow down. It has to be slower.\" The slave gazed up at him, nodding after a while, and leaned back up into a more sensuous kiss. It involved more breath, and for some reason, Jajan felt his heart speed up. \"Slowly,\" Ris whispered, between their mouths. \"You see?\"
\"Rai...\"
The couple fell onto the bed again, molding their bodies together, under the slow fall of rain.
\"How could I attempt to keep this slow?\" Jajan sighed out, shedding the last of his robes at Ris\' will.
\"Perhaps it would only be somewhat so, but I must make the attempt at least. My mind would scold me otherwise.\"
\"How so?\" There was a healing patch of scar work on Jajan\'s side. Ris carefully ran his fingers across it, noting to himself that the scars were still very soft. He looked up at Jajan curiously.
\"If these are from who I think they are, my statement should not be so silly to you.\" The slave turned his face.
\"They are from Virdan. Also his paid servant.\"
\"Is it such a silly thing then, that I say, I do not want to hurt you?\"
He turned his face back again, cupping Ris\' face with one hand, and tangling the other in the Master\'s dark cherry hair. Jajan\'s eyes were soft, but a brilliantly glowing Jade green, and glazed with emotion and wanton need. They looked at him, almost smiling-gem eyes.
\"You do not wish to hurt me, and you have no need to worry. The Water will keep me until I die. Until then, I stray not from you, and I trust you fully. Do not be fearful of yourself Rai. I am not fearful of you.\"
\"Perhaps...\"
\"I\'ve no need to be,\" Jajan interrupted him, instinctively reacting to the tone of his voice. The pain was in it again. Jajan laughed softly, and kissed Ris until he could push him over. \"Your mood changes like the sands.\" Ris went a little stiff under him for a moment. \"Maybe I should be letting a gentle touch on you, instead of you on me.\" Ris grinned.
\"I think better, we share the responsibility.\"
A drop of rain hit him on the forehead. The slave leaned forward and kissed it off. Ris glanced upward around him.
\"When did it all stop?\"
\"When I could hardly pay attention to it.\"
\"I did not even notice.\"
\"Ne\'er me, until just now.\"
\"And the room is soaked.\"
\"I can...\"
\"Not now. Is the washroom dry?\"
\"Yes.\" Ris stood, and the colors from the outside gleamed against his wet skin. His body was very firm, lean and tan, and...scarred.
\"What do you think of me?\" Ris turned. Jajan grew scarlet at the sight. And then...
\"Why is your lower hair white? I know that you do not dye your hair.\" Ris bit his lip.
\"It goes with the rest of the story. Besides that, it is a nice contrast, is it not?\"
\"You are a natural...\"
\"I have had purely white hair since I was born.\" Jajan looked apprehensive. Ris stepped forward. \"A story for later?\" He quipped, hopefully.
\"I think now, that I know who you are.\" Ris recoiled.
\"What are you talking about?\"
\"I think now, I know the reason you had white hair, have hidden scars, that you treat me so fairly, and I feel a hidden power emanating from you every time I look into your eyes.\"
\"No...\" Ris looked panicked.
\"Those markings that looked like scars-they had an odd shape to them. I knew it. I did.\" He paused, and then looked at Ris\' arms and chest with peeked curiosity. \"Let me see.\" Ris shook his head madly.
Jajan borrowed the minds of Pigmentations and Color Burgundy, and in less than half a minute, the scars had revealed themselves. As far as he could see, they were the slim circle patterns for sand. \"Only a Water, Color, or Pigmentation could have done this. Who has hidden your tats, Ris? Who sank them?\" Ris looked positively overwhelmed.
\"Jajan, I beg of you not to come closer.\" Ris was on the verge of tears, it seemed. Jajan only walked a little closer, and was amazed by the vast amount of tats on Ris\' body.
\"What have you hidden from me, dear Rai? How did you get him to do it? And live this long without being recognized?\"
\"They are all now dead or old.\"
\"Why did you not tell me?\"
\"It is all that has kept me safe, not to tell a soul. Another Master would be disgusted and kill or enslave me. A slave would tell, and then, the same.\" There was a pause of silence, before Jajan spoke.
\"It is nearly impossible to believe. Sand and Water, living together as Master and slave. Although, now, I see it.\"
\"What could I do? Yalad did it to save me, and I...\"
\"Yalad?\" Ris looked over at Jajan\'s wide eyes and nodded. \"But Escii was not so! How is that?\"
\"Yalad was not Escii\'s father. But Yalad\'s father disguised him, as he disguised me, and I lived thereon in this world as a Master. Escii was his adopted son. I know. Yalad was my dearest friend.\" He sighed quickly. \"He did this,\" Ris pointed to the now burgundy pigmentation, \"To save me when I ran away from a society of overbearing dumbasses. And my hair, he had two slaves dye. \'For decorational purposes.\' He walked over to where Jajan had stopped. \"This eye,\" he said, pointing to his left, \"Was injured. It truly is white. Was. But now, it is the same as the other.\"
The equal looked up at Ris, carefully examining this new man.
\"You are old then.\"
\"I am only one hundred and sixty. I know you carry at least fifty years yourself.\"
\"Being what we are-the age carries slowly then? I was fairly certain. I have not seen very many old of my own kind.\"
\"No. Most Master\'s kill their slaves once they reach three or four hundred. They start slowing down then. And aging. Yalad would have been about two hundred and forty. But...he died, I heard. I never got to see him again, after the war.\"
\"He died of disease.\" Ris and Jajan sighed together. \"Do you realize, that I must be related to him somehow, if he was Water?\"
\"You must be.\" His eyes grew darker. \"Do you think the less of me now?\"
\"Hmm. Ris, were you ever a slave?\"
\"For a bitch of a woman, who made me clean her entire tiled house, twice a day, clean or not, even if I was ill.\" Jajan smiled, and grabbed a towel from a shelf.
\"I do not think less of you. I think that now, we have more to talk about.\" He threw the towel over his shoulder, and began to hide the tats. Ris winced. \"But you are cheating.\"
\"Can you not do it to yourself?\"
\"No. Someone else has to. My father probably would have done it, because he had the same views as I, but I was taken from them before I was developed enough. You have to grow first. Else, the rest of your tats will come later.\"
\"Yes, I know.\" Jajan finished, and the tats just looked like scars again.
\"I\'m sorry, Jajan.\"
\"Hush, Rai.\" He took the towel from his shoulder and began to dry Ris off.
\"You told me to hush.\" Ris laughed.
\"Well, you are only my Master by default now. I will tell you to hush when I please...indoors, I mean.\" Ris laughed still, until the towel started circling his nipples.
\"And you were ever so coy before.\"
\"I want you very much,\" Jajan licked his ear. \"It is not a matter of how shy I feel to be anymore.\" He let the towel drop and flicked his finger over a nipple. \"I put it aside.\" He let his lips fall on Ris\' collarbone, flattening his tongue out against it, tracing it, and then nibbling gently. One of his hands ventured lower, and wrapped around Ris\' length-his thumb playing with the tip. Ris arched into the grip, and Jajan used one strong arm to wrap around his body, and pulled him against his chest. He started a slow rhythm, while slowly backing up onto the boucheau (It\'s like a reallllly big comfy couch) in the washroom. Finally, he felt the mahogany boucheau against the entire length of his back, and Ris half on him. Jajan stopped for a moment, spotting a bottle of Poljeen, and leaned up to grab it. \"Is this what you bought it for?\" He whispered in Ris\' ear, pouring some on his hand.
\"It is.\" Ris\' voice was thick, deep, and Jajan felt himself get harder just with the two words. He pulled Ris off of him, turned, and ducked him into his chest. Ris grabbed his non-oiled hand and started pulling the fingers into his mouth. Jajan\'s breath caught, and he grabbed Ris and started the rhythm again. He felt Ris bite down on his fingers, rather hard. \"I thought,\" he choked out, \"I was supposed to be the one seducing you.\"
\"You can...later.\" Jajan ducked his head into Ris\' shoulder, and just sat it there, feeling Ris strain for completion. The man cupped in his chest threw back his head.

Jajan woke to lips on his chest, carefully touching - hardly at all. He was surprised that they had woken him. The touch was so light. The parted flesh moved higher, gracing his neck with butterfly kisses. He wondered if Ris knew he\'d woken up. Ris was still for a moment, and then the lips graced his in a very slow and sweet, but sexy kiss.
He opened his eyes to the bottle of Poljeen upside down. Ris let go of the lid, and it spread over his chest, and over his sides. He looked up at Ris, who only grinned, and leaned forward to kiss him again.
\"I knew you weren\'t still asleep.\"

The room was placid and pleasantly so, except for the slow rhythmic sounding of chimes coming from nowhere and everywhere. The sound was particularly subtle enough not to wake the lovers who had finally fallen asleep again.
Ris though, was lying awake, aware of every whim and whisper of Jajan\'s dreams. His lips were parted, only so slightly that a careful wind of breath could escape.
\"Is it a good dream?\" Ris laid his hand lightly across Jajan\'s chest.
His parted lips closed again, but his peaceful look did not dissipate. Ris smiled softly. \"A good dream then.\" He cuddled closer to his lover, nose on ear, feeling the warmth of the new skin beside him, and loving it. \"But, it must end soon. The festival is today, all day, and the early morning hours are slowly creeping by us. Do you feel them Jajan? I can feel time today. Every second of every minute and every minute of every hour is like a drop of sand in an hourglass; it is that tangible, and only today, it shall be.\" He let out a sigh, and curled a piece of jade hair through his fingers. \"And today, again, I am the poet.\" He laughed. \"Do you feel the thickness of time? It\'s hazy gasp of life?\" Jajan sighed in sleep. \"Of course you do.\" Ris leaned over the sleeping figure and kissed it until the eyes were open and the same figure elicited a sleepy, breathy moan. \"Come on,\" Ris sighed out hungrily, \"Let\'s make mud.\" Jajan grinned.