Of Fire and Water

Disclaimer: All the characters in this fanfic do not belong to me, they belong to Matsushita-sensei, who I am utterly jealous of. >.< I wish Touda was mine.

Note: This fic is done as a request for my Tsuzuki. =3 He wanted me to write a fic about Touda and SohRyu’s relationship before Touda ended up imprisoned. This is –strictly- non-canon as I have NO idea of what really happened before that point. I’m just winging it here folks, with my instincts, so go with it!


Many have questioned me as to what I think about you being allowed free. Or at least…as free as the sense of the word could bring. They all know, just as well as you and I do, what you did back then. They know of your crimes, always, as long as we see you, we will always remember what happened that day.

I always avoid the question though, when it is asked. And though most would assume it is simply because the memories are far too painful to remember, and that much is true, though painful as they may be, that alone is not the reason I choose not to answer. It is because of the *kind* of pain that the question brings up that I avoid such a personal subject.

There is no doubt in my mind that the thought of what you did that day brings such an amount of unsurpassable rage within my soul. I hate you for what you did. All those lives, gone in an instant… Consumed in your flames as you burned hotter and hotter in the sky…

All that you took from us, both sides, not just our allies, but our enemies as well, you killed without bias. Each soul…torn apart and swept into ash within a matter of seconds as your black flames neared. I shudder each time I remember. I could feel the heat of your flames that day, you burned me…burned me in such a way that I had never truly understood the depth of it.

I lost so much because of you…I look at you now, walking amongst us, you have *no* remorse for anything that you did! No apologies for what you’ve done to everyone…to me… You shrug the idea off as if it was simply just any other day of your life! How much your apathy frustrates me!! How much that the simple idea that you are allowed to wander free amongst us, even if your powers have been restricted, angers me beyond simple words. I hate you; hate you so completely that I could never forgive you.

Never will I forgive you for the lives you snuffed out, for the friends and loved ones I will never see again… but most of all, I will never forgive you for the pain you brought to my heart when I could no longer recognize you for the person I had once known.

Never can I forgive your selfish flames for consuming that which we once shared…

----

“How odd it is to see you out here…”

“Hm…?”

“You aren’t even dressed in your formal clothing; did ‘daddy’ give you a day off?”

A long sigh, rustling of clothing, and SohRyu now sat up from his lying position on the grass. The normally imposing figure of the dragon god, SohRyu, was not wearing his regal clothes and armor, things with which he would normally seen in by many of the other shikigami in GenSouKai. But today, the young dragon god wore a simple loose shirt and pants, both, though very plain, still seemed to flatter the gods handsome figure.

He turned his head to regard the other before him, his deep blue eyes sparkling with an obvious light of irritation. He lifted a hand to brush away several locks of blue hair before lowering his lids into an even glare.

The other figure, easily identified as Touda by the skin-tight black leather that he wore, folded his well muscled arms over his chest. His own eyes were ablaze, but more with amusement than anything, as he returned SohRyu’s glare with his own nonchalant smirk.
Silence passed between the two gods for some time, the only real sound that could be heard along those hills was the sound of metal rings clinking together softly. Those rings belonged to Touda, for they were used to tie locks of his long onyx colored hair up, lest his hair drag along the floor.

SphRyu reached a hand out and took grasp of a single ring, running his index finger along one side slowly, seeming to be mesmerized by the object, but soon he had deftly hooked three fingers around the ring and suddenly yanked down on the object with much force.

Touda’s eyes grew wide as he felt his hair being tugged at first, then found his head jerk backward violently before finally losing his balance and falling hard onto his back. The snake god gave a sudden hiss, but was cut off as the air was knocked out of him from making contact with the ground so suddenly. The huge figure that was Touda lay motionless and silent, his crimson eyes wide with shock at that unaccustomed display by the dragon god.

It was SohRyu’s turn to smile now, he quickly let go of the ring and slipped his hand out from underneath Touda’s back, then taking that same hand, he slowly traced it across the expanse of the other’s chest, palm down, nails softly raking the tight leather. At the same time that his hand made its way across Touda’s chest, one of SohRyu’s legs quickly locked around both of Touda’s thighs and SohRyu was slowly pulling himself onto the other. He stopped when he was about half-way over the snake god, and leaned his head down to lock eyes with the other, their faces so close together that their noses touched, and his smile widened as he found the expression on his friends face quite pleasing.

Touda had regained his breath about the time that SohRyu leaned forward to press their faces so close together, his face slightly flushed by the way the normally reserved dragon was now acting. It was unusual to see SohRyu in such a playful mood, least of all with him. After clearing his throat, the snake managed a raspy inquiry;

“What’s this all about…?”

SohRyu simply shrugged and gave a soft chuckle, “I don’t like the way you talk to me snake, so I figured I would….show you your place…” there was something in SohRyu’s eyes that made Touda think there was an obvious second meaning behind those words, and though he was tempted to let it go, his curiosity was getting the better of him.

“How long have I known you SohRyu?” he asked suddenly, his eyes never leaving the other’s.

The light in the dragon’s eyes suddenly grew dimmer, Touda thought he might have heard a disappointed whimper coming from SohRyu’s lips, but then the light returned to his eyes and SohRyu replied quietly;

“Since we were but children in our…big…big world.” The dragon’s lips curled into a wry smile as he leaned forward to nuzzle his nose along Touda’s cheek, but then lifted his head and gave the snake a serious look, “Why? What relevance does this have to the current situation?”

Touda sighed softly, “Because I wonder throughout all that time, even as we neared adolescence, you never seemed to take any notice in me outside of a distant friendship. And now suddenly you make yourself so comfortable with me…”

SohRyu’s eyes widened and he remained quiet for some time, his lips pursed together in thought. When he didn’t reply to Touda, the snake god continued.

“What has happened to you in these last few days? I have noticed that you are visiting me more and more often…where as normally, you would only come to talk to me on the rarest occasions.”

“When time permitted me.” The dragon interjected, sounding rather defensive, and a little more like himself to Touda’s relief.

“Indeed, as soon as you reached the right age your father swept you up into the realm of politics and was prepping you for his shoes when you finally take over. And so, your visits got fewer and far between, especially after you married.” The snakes tone was neutral, but there was hint of something more lying in his tone. Jealousy…curiosity…? Knowing Touda’s nature, probably the latter of the two in this case.

SohRyu eyed the other thoughtfully for a moment, wondering where the snake was taking this train of conversation. He said nothing though, wanting to see if Touda would continue.

Touda sighed softly and leaned his head back, soft lids closing over his eyes, and then he let out a long stretching groan, arching his back, and lifting SohRyu, who was still partially on him in one movement before finally settling back down into the soft grass. He finally looked at the other again and spoke evenly,

“Does she not offer you as much happiness as you had hoped, so much so that you would find comfort with another?”

Those words stung, and it showed on the dragon’s face as he winced, but then he turned a sharp glare on the other, “My relationship with my wife is none of your concern Touda..I would not so readily toss her aside if she unpleased me in one insignificant little matter…”

“But you *are* having problems…” Touda observed almost too well, to which SohRyu simply snarled and barked back.

“That’s none of your damn business!! You have *no* idea of the things that are stewing within our world. You sit here in the wilds complacent with the fact that you don’t have to worry about running things here! GenSouKai is simply your home, but it is *my* responsibility! There’s a damn rumor running about that we could be forced into war soon, and things have been in an uproar…my life has been quite stressful as of recently.”

SohRyu clamped his teeth together hard on that last sentence, his teeth gritting together as he glared angrily at the snake below him, almost challenging the other to continue to press the dangerous topic.

Touda saw the dragon’s expression, but he was un-phased by the threat behind it, there wasn’t much in GenSouKai that scared the Hellfire Shikigami and a water god certainly wasn’t going to be one of them. He lifted a hand and ran it slowly across Soh’s cheek, brushing stray locks of hair away and tucking them behind his ear. SohRyu seemed to relax immediately by the touch, his eyes even closing slowly as he dipped his cheek into Touda’s palm. Soh’s words might have stung another, but Touda was a creature undaunted by words as much as he seemed impregnable to most physical attacks. Even still, SohRyu managed to whisper an apology before finally slipping off of the other and falling onto his own back to stare up into the clear blue sky.

A soft smile spread across Touda’s features and he replied just as quietly, “But you *are* having problems…”

SohRyu simply nodded, lifting his arms to fold underneath his head, he gave a long and weary sigh, “It seems…I can’t balance time with my loved ones and time for our people…”

Touda snorted softly, both men knew well his opinion on anything that had to do with politics. The snake god was content to be alone, and preferred being left alone, but that didn’t stop SohRyu from occasionally talking to him over current events, and Touda didn’t seem to really mind listening, though he wasn’t much for advice on any of the topics. Touda was indeed a free spirit, one that was unchain able and incapable of being trapped by the daily events of their world. SohRyu envied the snake god in some ways, wishing that he could spend most of his time in solitude to enjoy the sun and all the other wonderful things in nature around them.

SohRyu turned onto his side to face Touda, now resting his head in one palm and lifted by an elbow. He regarded the snake calmly, “Our relationship is very strained right now…and the stress is almost unbearable at this point, but I know things are only going to get much worse, especially if those rumors prove to be true…”

“There are many ways to relieve ones stress…” Touda returned neutrally, his eyes focused on the clouds above him, “Do you feel that simply because you have problems talking over these issues with your wife, you feel it necessary to find pleasure with someone else?”

SohRyu sucked in his breath sharply and his brows knitted together, anger slowly rising in the dragon once again, Touda had a habit of pushing the wrong buttons whenever he spoke.

“Or rather…not just *someone* as I know that if you were to try and find comfort from the things that cause you stress in anyone that knows you within your ‘other world’, it would not go unnoticed and your wife would find out very quickly. And you probably still love her despite the fact that she may be part of the reason why you have so much stress, and so you come to the only person you know has no real contact with anyone else. I am as convenient a love affair as you could possibly find. And of course there is no doubt about attraction, that much you’ve made obvious, so all the right keys seem to be in place. You have everything don’t you SohRyu, well not yet…but almost.”

Blue orbs sharpened quickly and SohRyu growled loudly, his hand reaching out to grab Touda by the collar and pull him up forcefully and hissed, “*You* would judge me? You of all people dare to judge me so harshly?!”

Touda blinked calmly, tilting his head to the side, he regarded the enraged dragon coolly then finally answered, “Do I ever judge you? Do I ever really judge anyone?”

SohRyu regarded the snake hostilely again, thinking that Touda was being facetious, his eyes lowering into a deeper glare, it seemed that he might even strike the snake, a thought that seemed to cross Touda’s mind, and he raised an eyebrow questioningly. After a moment, Soh simply pursed his lips together and let out a noisy exhale.

“No…I don’t suppose you would.”

Touda grunted and reached out to pull Soh’s hand away from his collar, the dragon let go easily enough, slumping down a bit and leaning into Touda’s figure. Touda didn’t move and caught SohRyu, letting him lean against him and rest his head in the crook of his neck. SohRyu closed his eyes and sighed softly feeling the anger slowly ebb its way out once again, and also taking quite a bit of his energy with it. It was obvious the dragon god was stressed more than he had ever been used to in the past few days, even weeks possibly, but that never stopped Touda from being himself. Touda would always be one to point out the obvious to anyone that wanted to talk to him, and do so without much tact in mind.

SohRyu’s mind was all but mush at that point, and he no longer had the energy to continue arguing with the thorny snake, even though part of him knew that there was never anything real to argue about between them. He knew he was the one at fault for letting Touda’s words get to him, but, despite knowing that, he still bit down on everything Touda had to say, and almost always ended up feeling offended by it. However…

SohRyu opened and eye to look up at Touda’s profile, his hard jaw line, those lips that seem to usher forth many things that irritated the dragon god, but at the same time, he found so attractive and suddenly felt the urge to kiss. A rare playful smile etched its way across the generally stoic and regal dragon god, a hand sneaking up to caress along Touda’s neck, who in turn waggled an eyebrow curiously, but didn’t seem to make any move to stop Soh.

In that moment SohRyu began to wonder just how far he could possibly go with his friend in this moment. There wasn’t really much more to say, and he wasn’t exactly in the mood to try and coax another rough conversation out of the unruly snake. In fact, he had only one thing in mind in particular when Touda first arrived to bother him in his moment of tranquility. Stress has very many ways to be released, Touda said it himself, and Soh wanted to try one way that he’d been wanting to try for awhile since he and Touda both hit puberty.

Touda’s nostril’s flared as he picked up the new scent the dragon was giving off, it puzzled him, as he’d never really smelled anything like it beforehand. He blinked slowly as Soh rose slowly to lock eyes with him; they stared at each other for a long time before SohRyu finally edged forward enough to plant his lips firmly on Touda’s. The kiss came half-expected by Touda, he may not be able to identify the unfamiliar scent SohRyu was giving off at that moment, but he had a good enough idea about the ways of nature to gauge what Soh intended to do.

Soh took the kiss deeper, wrapping his arms around the lithe snake’s torso, running his nails slowly across his back. This caused Touda to arch slightly, a soft purr erupting from his lips, the sound surprised both men momentarily, and they pulled away to stare at each other in silence. When Soh made no move to relinquish his hold on Touda, it was Touda who went in for the next kiss, his own hand coming up to finger its way through the many locks of SohRyu’s blue hair and finally grasp his scalp. The kiss was a little more heated than either of them had really expected. Touda found that he was a little more than shocked at his own behavior, but at the same time, he felt the need to respond to SohRyu’s apparent need. SohRyu on the other hand openly moaned, the kiss feeling a lot better than he had ever imagined, his legs suddenly feeling twitchy, a strong tug from the pit of his stomach that stretched down between his legs, he felt the need to open them. And so he did, wrapping them around Touda’s waist while simultaneously lifting his arms to wrap around the snake god’s thick neck.

At that same moment something struck Touda, and though he had been feeling his control wane with each moment passing as he took the kiss with the dragon god deeper, when SohRyu wrapped his legs around his waist, Touda felt another unfamiliar twinge throughout his body, and this startled the poor snake god so much that he pulled away and hissed softly.

SohRyu felt Touda’s lips tear away from his own and he growled in disappointment, and even more so when Touda pulled away completely. Soh’s blue eyes sharpened as he gave an even stare at Touda, feeling outraged and somewhat vulnerable that the snake god would dare to pull away at such a critical moment. Touda just regarded him calmly after he forced himself to catch his own breath.

Licking his lips, the snake god finally spoke in a huskier voice than he intended, “You cross a dangerous line SohRyu…you know this is a risk you take, trying to complicate things between us.”

SohRyu raised his chin into the air defiantly, looking down at the snake god from the bridge of his nose, “It’s my choice in the end, as to what risks I will or will not take, and perhaps I enjoy the idea of you complicating me?”

Touda’s eyes widened in shock at the uncharacteristic boldness of his friend, perhaps all that stress really was taking a toll on the normally regal dragon. He couldn’t begin to think of a time when Soh had ever been so bold, sure he’d seen haughty, and arrogant, but bold? Well at least bold along these lines. Touda suddenly lowered his head and began to chuckle.

SohRyu glared at him and hissed, “What the hell is so funny?!”

Touda began to laugh louder, and continued to do so for a few minutes before finally calming down and regarding SohRyu with a neutral demeanor once again. “I think its best that you leave now. It’s getting very late and I am sure your father and wife are wondering where you are.”

SohRyu sucked in his breath and glared daggers at Touda, “Are *you* refusing me?”

Touda couldn’t help but laugh at SohRyu’s obvious shock, it wasn’t so much that the statement sounded like he was being arrogant, he knew the dragon could be as such, but he knew better. SohRyu’s shock was mostly rooted with the fact that they both knew that he wasn’t the only one who was taking the risk, or more importantly, thinking about taking such a risk. He shook his head slowly, “I may not involve myself with politics a whole lot, but I understand this much: You run a tight schedule, and should you make it a habit to break protocol like this, many will suspect that something is going on. And I don’t need anyone to bother me, got it?”

SohRyu blushed suddenly realizing the point that Touda was trying to make, and lowered his eyes to the ground, “Of course, that is very true…I will have to be very careful about this then…” he smiled wryly and looked back up to Touda, the thought of having a love affair with the divine snake god didn’t seem to bother him as much as he was sure it should have.

The blue dragon rose from the ground and dusted himself off, content with the newest promise at hand, he was going to be sure that Touda didn’t forget the proposal. He smiled widely and offered a hand to the snake god, who quickly took his hand and rose himself. They stood before each other in silence once again, saying nothing to each other but at the same time saying so many things.

Finally, after a sigh, SohRyu made his way down their grassy hilltop, turning his head, he eyed Touda and murmured, “The next time we see each other, you will complicate things for both of us.”

Touda arched an eyebrow, running a hand through his long onyx locks, and responded to the now distant dragon’s back with a smile,“Oh…?”


((Wee and there it is…the first chapter…no smex yet...that will come later, please read and respond! =3 ))