Adult-FanFiction.org : Anime

Crimson Hearts	By : roryheadmav Category: +S to Z > Samurai 7 Views: 3229 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Samurai 7, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 10
- 11
DISCLAIMER: This story is a non-commercial
work of fiction based on the anime/manga Samurai 7. Original copyright
of Samurai 7 belongs to Akira Kurosawa, Shinobu Hashimoto, Hideo
Oguni, MICO, GDH, GONZO. Absolutely no monetary gain has been made with
this work.
CRIMSON HEARTS

© December 28, 2005 By Rory
V. Pascual

CHAPTER TEN: Watch!
"I feel really uncomfortable about
doing this."
Rikichi was with Shichiroji. The
two men were sitting on opposite sides of a thin screen that led into the
private bath.
"This is nothing, Rikichi-san," Shichiroji
reassured the fidgety farmer. "We samurai often guard our lords while they're
bathing. Next to the bedroom, the baths are vulnerable to any assassination
attempts."
"But I feel like I'm peeping," Rikichi
argued. "When Kanbei-sama ordered us to watch and listen�"
"He probably just meant to guard
him. Simple as that. He would not give us that order if he didn't have
a good reason."
The farmer breathed in deeply. "I
think he had a different motive for making us stand guard here. I wish
I hadn't reacted as badly as Mikumari-sama had earlier."
Shichiroji reached out and patted
the distressed man on the back. "It's very difficult for Kirara-dono to
accept what she had witnessed these past days. At least, she is very honest
with her feelings." He glanced sideways at the screen. "But I'm afraid
that she had hurt Kanbei-sama this time with what she had said."
Katsushiro was having a similar conversation
with Kikuchiyo. They were perched comfortably on the ledge of a small window
outside the bath. Both were bundled up in cloaks as protection against
the cold night air.
Kikuchiyo shivered as a breeze blew,
that he hugged his axe close to his body. "I don't know about this, Katsu-sama.
Whatever it is that Kanbei-sama told us to watch, I don't think I want
to find out."
"I believe that command is intended
more for Kirara-dono, and perhaps for Shichiroji-dono as well," the young
warrior replied. "If you recall, Shichiroji-dono was speaking to him when
we rushed to the bow."
"Are you saying you're just going
to turn blind eyes and deaf ears towards what's about to happen inside?"
"No. Of course I will watch and listen."
Katsushiro then admitted, "I owe Sensei that much."
Kikuchiyo's head tilted inquiringly
to the side at that statement. "What do you mean?"
"Three years ago, I made the mistake
of judging him prematurely. I was disillusioned when he was captured so
easily after he tried to rescue Sanae-dono at the original Capital. I was
very angry that he went off on his own and did not take us with him. It's
an understatement to say that I berated him for his foolishness. I should've
realized then that Sensei was protecting us, that he did not want another
one of us to die after we had just lost Gorobei-dono."
"But what if�the bath�it's not something
that you want to see?"
"Even if I don't want to, I must.
And Kirara-dono must do the same. It is very clear to me that Kanbei-sama
is doing this so that we would understand his situation." Katsushiro said
in determination, "Even if it is something that I could not take, I will
do as he had commanded. It's the least I could do for him."
Against the young woman's wishes,
Kyuzo had taken Kirara to the place where they would have the best view
� a large air duct overlooking the entire bath.
Kirara's cheeks were burning hotly,
her eyes squeezed tight. "We shouldn't be here, Kyuzo-sama!" she hissed
at the crimson warrior. "I can't stay a minute a longer!"
"Why?" Kyuzo asked snidely. "Don't
you find the view to your liking?"
"Show some prudence and close your
eyes, damn it!"
Kanbei was standing under a stream
of water falling from the mouth of a carved tiger. Three male attendants
were tending to the samurai's scarred, yet still magnificent body. It did
not escape Kyuzo's eye the way those attendants lingered over the delectable
portions of his anatomy � fingers combing through his long hair, fingertips
tracing the firm mounds of his chest, hands cupping his taut bottom.
It irritated the crimson warrior
that they could touch the elder samurai so freely.
After they had finished washing him,
they led Kanbei into the steaming bath, stepping into the water and sitting
down on an unseen seat beneath the lapping waves.
"You can open your eyes now," Kyuzo
told the young woman beside him.
Kirara's eyelids fluttered open.
"I can't take much more of this. We shouldn't be here in the first place."
"Kanbei-san gave us an order and
we are duty bound to obey it. Why should you find this distasteful anyway?
Don't you like to see your beloved in his most unguarded moment like this?"
"I am not a pervert like you! You're
the one who seems to be delighted to see Kanbei-sama's bare flesh."
"And you aren't? Doesn't it stir
your loins to see him naked, his body being touched and�"
"ENOUGH!" Kirara clapped her hands
over her ears. "I don't want to hear anymore!"
She was surprised, however, when
the glint of mischief disappeared from his ruby eyes to be replaced by
great sorrow.
"But you have to, Kirara-dono," Kyuzo
whispered, his voice strained. "Watch and listen. You owe it to that man."
"WELL, WELL!"
The attendants started shrieking
at the sound of the Amanushi's voice, and they fled from the bath, leaving
a visibly exasperated Kanbei behind them. Then, the evil lord himself appeared,
dressed in a long robe with the samurai's katana hanging at his hip.
Kirara was immediately seized by
fear. Clutching Kyuzo's sleeve, she said, "We must do something, Kyuzo-sama.
I think he intends to kill Kanbei-sama."
To this, the crimson samurai only
shook his head. "No, he will not kill Kanbei-san. He has something else
on his mind. Something sickening."
Fear was reflected in the young woman's
eyes. "Kyuzo-sama�"
"It seems your attendants have abandoned
you, my dear warrior," Amanushi declared. "It is only you and I. You cannot
escape me this time. I swear that I will make you mine."
"Stop this foolishness, Tetsuo,"
Kanbei told the lascivious lord. "I am not amused by your role play. Just
do what you want with me."
That reply annoyed the Amanushi.
"Come now. As you said, this is just a little drama to spice things up
between us. Maybe if you showed even a little resistance, it might heat
up your blood a bit."
"It is only your blood that will
be heated up, not mine. Why even bother with all this playacting? You know
damned well that I will always resist you."
"Yes, that is indeed true. It remains
my biggest frustration that you never come to me willingly. But still�"
Kyuzo clapped his hand over Kirara's
mouth to stifle her shocked cry, as the Amanushi suddenly reached down.
Grabbing a fistful of Kanbei's hair, he dragged the older man out of the
bath and threw him face down on the tiled floor. The evil lord opened his
robe to reveal his stiff erection. Kirara's eyes filled with tears as the
Amanushi straddled the samurai she loved.
"There is a certain appeal to having
one's consort resisting your advances and then surrendering in the end,"
the ruler muttered, spreading Kanbei's thighs with his hands and knees.
"You have no choice but to surrender. Because if you don't, you know what
will happen to your beloved Kanna Village."
"NO!" was Kirara's muffled cry, shaking
her head, hearing that painful truth coming from the Amanushi's lips.
"Never mistake my passiveness for
surrender," Kanbei declared strongly, even though he knew what was about
to happen next. "Inside my heart, I will always detest you. You will never
claim me willing!"
"Then so be it!"
"Oh, Sensei!" Katsushiro's hand tightened
around his katana, squeezing his eyes shut to stop himself from weeping
at the sound of his beloved master's tortured cry. Kikuchiyo could only
look at the samurai beside him helplessly, at a loss on how to ease his
pain.
Tears trickled on Rikichi's trousers,
his hands gripping his knees tightly to fight the urge to run inside the
bath and murder the Amanushi right on the spot. Shichiroji took one of
Rikichi's hands in his trembling grasp. Those slapping wet sounds seemed
deafening to the blond samurai's ears.
Kanbei-dono� Shichiroji bit
down on his lower lip, causing blood to trickle from the cut.
Kyuzo knew how agonizing it must
be for Kirara to witness Kanbei being violated before her eyes. Having
experienced it in the past, he knew her pain. But she had to be witness
to the samurai's sacrifice, just as he himself had once been. And Kanbei
kept his word. He never surrendered his will to the evil ruler, serving
as nothing more than a receptacle for his lust. All for the sake of a tiny
farming village in the mist-covered mountains.
The crimson warrior felt Kirara fall
limp into his hands. Removing his tear-drenched hand over her mouth, he
released the young woman slowly. At first, Kirara just knelt there, staring
blankly, as the Amanushi thrust fiercely into the tanned flesh of the samurai
she cared for. Feeling sorry for her, Kyuzo laid a hand on her shoulder.
Kirara, however, shook her head. Then, without saying a word, she crawled
back out of the duct. He knew, that with the exception of Shichiroji and
perhaps even Katsushiro, Rikichi and Kikuchiyo had also left their posts,
unable to endure the sounds that they were hearing.
Kyuzo remained, a silent witness
to the atrocity that was being committed upon the dignity of the warrior
they all respected. For a moment, he thought he saw Kanbei tilt his head
a bit to gaze up at the duct where he was hiding. The pain was all too
apparent in those deep gray brown eyes.
The crimson samurai's hand closed
around the grill of the vent, desperately trying to reach out to the man
who was being violated below. Hold fast, Kanbei, he sent out that
thought. Don't give in to him. I'm here for you.
"Kyuzo�" That utterance of
his name was like a soft whisper inside his head.
Kyuzo pressed his brow to the vent,
willing the warmth of his mind and heart to envelop the soul of the poor
warrior. I won't leave you. No matter what happens to you, Kanbei, I
will never leave you.

~~~~~~~~~~

"I made a terrible mistake! Oh, how
could I have been so stupid? And I said all those awful things to him�"
Katsushiro was trying to console
the weeping young woman in his arms. "I think all of us suspected it. We
just didn't want to believe it."
"That must be the reason why Kyuzo-sama
kept on dropping hints all over the place," Kikuchiyo noted. "I'm pretty
sure Ayamaro-sama had said something to him about the character of the
Amanushi."
Shichiroji chose not to remark on
the scholar's comment. He could not mention to them the conversation he
had with Kanbei earlier or his suspicions on the nature of the relationship
between the two men.
"It pained me to learn that Kanbei-sama
is�" Rikichi could not finish what he was going to say. "It's so just like
Sanae. He is sacrificing himself for all of us, and for Kanna Village.
I cannot allow that he suffer anymore than this."
"And I agree with you on that." The
blond samurai said, "Kanbei-sama wanted us to see what he was going through,
probably believing that we will find his�relationship�with the Amanushi
too disturbing that we would decide to leave. Even if he had been willing,
I would never permit that he would remain a toy of that man."
Kirara's tear-filled eyes shone brightly
with hope. "Then, we're staying?"
"Of course we're staying!" Katsushiro
exclaimed. "We're not leaving this place without Sensei!"
The young samurai blushed scarlet
when a happy peck was bestowed upon his cheek. "I'm going to Kanbei-sama
right now," Kirara said excitedly. "I'm going to apologize to him and tell
him what we've decided."
"Yes, you do that," prodded Shichiroji,
smirking. "Tell him he's not going to get rid of us that easily."
As Kirara ran off, it was only then
that Kikuchiyo noticed the absence of someone in their group. "Where is
Kyuzo-sama anyway?"

~~~~~~~~~~

Kanbei drew his robe close over his
moist body, as he strode out onto the balcony of the chamber he shared
with the Amanushi. Although the depraved ruler had abruptly departed with
a squadron of Nobuseri to the east, the Amanushi had left his mark upon
him. His skin still crawled at the memory of those slobbering kisses and
heavy caresses. His lower back hurt, and he could feel the squelching of
slick fluids inside his belly.
Did they see or hear� The
samurai had no doubt that his friends had been witness to his shame.
It had been his intention to shatter
his friends' illusions of him, to show them that he was never worthy of
their respect. As for Kirara, it had served his purpose to break the girl's
heart. Perhaps now they would leave the Capital and give him some peace.
There was a soft clink. Kanbei's
brows rose, seeing the grappling hook beside his left hand. Before he could
even blink, Kyuzo had already shimmied up to the balcony, draping one long
leg over the railing.
"Kyuzo, wha�" Kyuzo's lips upon his
own mouth immediately silenced Kanbei. Even as the crimson warrior climbed
over the railing, he did not release his hold on the back of the older
man's head.
"Kyuzo, stop," Kanbei whispered harshly.
"The Amanushi�"
"Is not here," Kyuzo murmured in
reply, as he kissed the samurai again. "I saw him leave. So I don't see
that there's any problem."
The suddenness of the younger warrior's
sensual onslaught proved to be too much for Kanbei. A brief parting for
air, and he sagged to his knees. Kyuzo's intense stare was like a hot beam
scorching his conscience.
"Do you know�"
Kanbei raised his head to see the
crimson samurai shaking in controlled rage.
"Do you have any idea how painful
it was to see you in that bastard's arms and�" Kyuzo revealed in a halting
voice.
An uncharacteristic leer formed on
Kanbei's face. "Yes, disgusting, wasn't it? The Amanushi and I�we always
play these�games. He loves it whenever I play the innocent victim and�"
A hard slap fell on his cheek, causing
his head to whip to the side, his long hair covering his face.
Kyuzo was livid with anger. "How
long do you intend to play the victim, eh? How long are you going to continue
to make these sacrifices for others who never understand you?"
The elder samurai's voice was close
to breaking as he exclaimed, "Better to be misunderstood than for more
innocent lives to be lost!" There was a darkening bruise on Kanbei's face
as he whirled to face the younger man. "If you don't approve of what I
do, then go! All of you�leave me be!"
The bright glow of the crystal on
Kyuzo's wrist mirrored the rebellion inside the warrior's heart. Closing
his hands into fists, he turned around and started walking back the way
he came.
Despite himself, Kanbei was disheartened
to see that stern figure walking away. His hand went up to clutch his chest
as a gnawing pain seized his heart.
Don't leave, Kanbei's soul
called out desperately, his other hand going up to beckon to the younger
man. The crystal suffused his hand with a warm glow. Please don't leave
me.
Then, a warm hand clasped his own.
Kanbei was startled to see Kyuzo kneeling before him, a rare tender look
in his crimson eyes.
Smiling, the samurai caressed the
bruise on the older man's face. "How could I even think of leaving you
when we still have unfinished business we need to settle between us?" He
eagerly took Kanbei in his arms, his hand slipping the left sleeve down
an arm and descending even lower to cup a taut mound.
Contact of that warm hand upon his
bare bottom caused a blush to go up Kanbei's cheeks. Suddenly remembering
his position, he gasped, "Kyuzo, don't." As he hastily pulled his robe
back into place, he said, "I�I'm confused. I don't understand why you're
doing this."
Kyuzo tilted his head inquiringly.
"What do you mean?"
"You always talk about settling the
score with me. And, yet, whenever you have the opportunity, such as you
do now, you do this. I want to know what I truly am to you. Am I your enemy,
your�lover, or am I just a plaything to you, just like the Amanushi�"
At that query, Kyuzo jerked the robe
down to Kanbei's waist and pushed him to the floor. Before the older man
could say more, he pressed a hushing finger to those parted lips.
"The problem with you, Kanbei, is
that you think too much and you ask too many questions," the crimson samurai
chided his elder. "Why don't you just accept things the way they are? Are
the things I do not enough for you?"
"But there are times when you need
words to be understood."
The warrior gazed into those troubled
dark gray eyes. "No wonder Kirara is so in love with you. You are just
like her. She had said the same thing to Shichiroji once."
"I want to know�Kyuzo�!"
Kyuzo pulled Kanbei into his arms,
plundering those lips once more. This time, Kanbei broached no resistance
to that heated passion as he all but melted into the younger man's arms.
The crimson samurai devoured every inch of his lover's face, lingering
to kiss an eyelid, nip at an earlobe, and then return to those full lips
again.
As he descended to the side of the
elder warrior's neck, Kyuzo murmured, "Your skin still reeks of his scent."
"Forgive me," Kanbei breathed out
in apology. "The last time I tried to�cleanse�myself after we coupled,
he�hurt and used�me again."
The sight of the healing red line
at Kanbei's nape confirmed this, and Kyuzo could only rail inwardly at
the evil ruler who dared to inflict this wound.
"I don't think we should do this,
Kyuzo. Like you, he would know if another man had bedded me. The next whipping
might be worse."
The crimson samurai let out a rare
chuckle. "You should stop worrying about my back and be more worried about
the state of this once I'm through with you." For emphasis, he gave the
samurai's behind a sharp smack.
"Kyuzo!"
"No more talk!"
There were only two times when Kanbei
had experienced fear � the first had been five years ago, the second was
when he had been presented to the new Amanushi. When that alien emotion
had hit him hard, he had instinctively shut off his mind to what was about
to happen next. That stern command brought him back to those moments, so
that his surroundings no longer registered to him. Even Kyuzo's face ceased
to become a comforting image for him. Blind terror instantly caused his
mind to go into automatic shutdown.
Kyuzo felt the older man falling
limp into his arms, his eyes going blank. "Oh no! You're not going to do
this to me!" He started shaking the warrior hard. "Kanbei! Kanbei! Come
on, wake up! It's me! Kyuzo! Kanbei!"
At first, Kanbei did not respond,
but after two more shakes, those gray brown eyes blinked, slowly focusing
on the man above him.
"I won't hurt you, Kanbei," Kyuzo
whispered reassuringly. "You know I could never hurt you."
Kanbei let out a weary sigh. "You
should just kill me, Kyuzo. I don't want you to get entangled in my mixed
life any more than you already have."
"I think you should let me decide
that for myself. Now�" A tender smile of longing. "Please, Kanbei? Let
me hold you."
It was an entreaty that Kanbei could
not deny, even if the fear was threatening to overwhelm him. As he raised
trembling arms to the younger man, he told himself again and again, There
is nothing to fear. It's Kyuzo. It's Kyuzo.
The older warrior's apprehension
was all too apparent to Kyuzo. He took those tremulous hands and laid them
over his neck. As he leaned into Kanbei's tentative embrace, he eased the
robe gradually down, showering every inch of bared skin with butterfly
kisses.
Kyuzo felt the samurai's luscious
shudder, as his lips teased a swollen nipple. When Kanbei arched his body
upward, the crimson warrior was only too eager to pay lingual tribute to
those sensitive gems. But he wanted so much more. He dipped even lower,
licking a trail down that firm, washboard belly and poking at the hollow
of his navel. In turn, something poked at his chin, and Kyuzo was delighted
to see the samurai's member demanding his attention.
Kanbei bit down on the knuckles of
his right hand to stifle his cry when Kyuzo took his member inside his
mouth and devoured it to the root. The nest of dark curls at the older
man's crotch tickled his nostrils with its intoxicating musk. Again and
again, Kyuzo moved on that length, milking it of the succulent juices that
it contained.
A deep, rumbling moan was elicited
from Kanbei's lips as he poured his seed down his lover's throat, and Kyuzo
imbibed it all, like a man who had tasted the sake of the gods and could
not get enough of it.
Kyuzo drew away for a moment to gaze
down at his lover. While most become aroused by a man's nakedness, he was
different. Never had he seen Kanbei as alluring as he was now � in a state
of dishabille, his long graying brown hair fanning out on the floor in
silken waves, his robe still tied with a sash at the waist, but opened
above and below that thin strip of cloth, revealing his flushed, sweat-moistened
torso, long, strong legs, and the member that was again stirring to life
between them.
Kyuzo could no longer hold back at
the sight of the tempting feast before him.
"Are you going to� Do you want�"
Knowing what was expected of him, Kanbei slowly turned to go down on all
fours.
The crimson samurai stopped him and
gently laid him once more on his back. Noting the questioning look, he
said, "Not that way. I won't be like�" Kyuzo stopped himself from finishing
what he was going to say. Tracing the older man's full lips with his fingertip,
he whispered, "I want to see your face. This way, I would know if I am
hurting you. Because I don't want to see you in pain. All I want to see
is your pleasure."
Kanbei spread his legs in welcome.
"Just do what you will with me, Kyuzo."
The submissiveness of the samurai
disturbed Kyuzo, but he could no longer ignore his aching need. He yanked
his trousers down to his knees to free his erection. With no further preamble,
he drove his rod hard into his lover's body.
Kanbei hissed in pain at that initial
entry, but willed himself to relax to accommodate the younger man's girth.
Despite his early abhorrence, Kyuzo was a bit relieved that the Amanushi's
slick fluids still lubricated the warrior's channel.
Kyuzo's thrusts were slow at first,
trying out a steady rhythm that was not painful to his lover. But when
Kanbei encircled his legs around Kyuzo's pistoning hips, the crimson samurai
knew that it was no longer necessary to hold back. He quickened his pace,
angling his rod so that it would strike that one part that gave his lover
pleasure. To further heighten the blissful sensations, Kyuzo took Kanbei's
length in his relentless grip, pumping it in time with his thrusts.
Kanbei clung tightly to Kyuzo, his
exhalations coming out as soft cries of pleasure. He knew it was a terrible
sin to feel such ecstasy, and in the arms of the man who was sworn to kill
him. He felt like he was betraying the memory of those he had loved dearly
and lost most painfully. But he could not deny what was inside his heart.
It was only in Kyuzo's arms that he felt safe and complete.
As he came in the crimson warrior's
hand, Kanbei pulled Kyuzo close until their bodies were pressed tight.
Kyuzo's shuddering release was felt as a trembling of flesh and the spurting
of warm seed inside his body.
Hugging the younger man close, Kanbei
remembered Kyuzo's answer to his desperate question earlier.
"You should accept things the
way they are," Kyuzo had said to him.
It was not the answer he had wanted
to hear, and he doubted if he would ever get an answer. There was only
one thing he was sure of.
If the miserable existence he called
his life were to end, Kanbei would want this man, and this man alone, to
end it for him.
"No�"
That shocked whimper caught the two
men's ears, and they turned their heads in unison to see the crying figure
standing before the open door.
"Why?" That one word was too heartbreaking
for Kanbei to hear. "You told me to watch and I did. I believed that you
were doing it against your will. But now I see you doing this�and with
him�?"
"Kirara-dono�it's not what you think,"
Kanbei stammered, hissing in pain as Kyuzo's member was yanked out of his
body at his sudden movement to face the young woman. "Let me explain."
"How long has this been going on?"
Kirara demanded, fury and jealousy reflected in her anguished eyes. "How
long have you been making fools out of all of us, of me?"
It was Kyuzo who was now shaking
in anger. "Watch your mouth, girl! I will not have you speaking to him
in that manner!"
"And how, pray tell, should I speak
to him, Kyuzo-sama?" Kirara said that honorific with utter derision. Her
eyes flashed with daggers and lightning as she focused on the stricken
older warrior. "You are no samurai, Shimada Kanbei! You are nothing
but a common whore!"
"YOU BITCH!" Kyuzo made to rush at
Kirara, but as the girl fled, a cold hand around his wrist stopped him
from pursuing her.
"Let her go, Kyuzo," Kanbei said,
his voice heavy with misery.
"I cannot let this slight pass, Kanbei,"
the crimson warrior insisted. "That woman has to learn her place."
"But she's right, you know? I am
no samurai. I haven't been a samurai since that night five years ago. You
know that. All that traveling, all that�pretending� Nothing is going to
change the fact that I am a whore."
Kyuzo's teeth clenched in anger,
as he gripped the older warrior's shoulders. "Stop saying that! You were
never a whore to me!"
"Then what am I to you, Kyuzo? Tell
me!" Kanbei cried. "You play with my body and my heart, and yet I know
nothing of your true feelings for me! You say you want to save me? But
every time you take me, I feel as if I am ever sinking into the mud! That
nothing could wash away the filth that has permeated to the very marrow
of my bones! It is you, Kyuzo, more than anyone else, who has treated me
like a whore, and it shames me greatly that, despite what you're doing
to me, I could never get enough of you!"
Kyuzo was at a loss for words. Here
was the confirmation he had been searching for from this samurai he had
long pursued. And yet, cowardice prevented him from saying those words
that he knew would ease the pain and guilt inside Kanbei's heart.
Three words� So easy to say�.
In the end, all Kyuzo said was "I'm
sorry," and he ran for the balcony and climbed down the rope, before Kanbei
could berate his conscience any further.

* * * * * * * * * *
- 10
- 11
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

Crimson Hearts