Kazuki was humming as he climbed the apartment stairs and slipped in the front door. It had been a good day to be an information broker. He was considering getting a nice cup of tea when he spotted Saizou, sprawled on the couch as if he’d been dropped there.

“Saizou?”

Saizou opened one eye and smiled. “Kazuki.”

“How is your family?” Kazuki asked, cautious. Saizou’s visits to Toufuuin didn’t normally wear on him this much.

Saizou waved a reassuring hand. “Oh, everyone’s fine. My sister, especially.” He stretched out his legs and groaned.

Kazuki’s concern dissolved in a laugh. “Did she demand a match?” He’d heard a lot about Toufuuin Toshi over the years.

Saizou smiled up at him, ruefully, as he came to perch on the arm of the couch. “I like to think she was being charitable, actually, and helping me work off stress. Or I could be completely wrong, and she just wanted to kick my ass for being gone so much.”

“Saizou.” The worry crept back. “You know I never want to separate you from your family…”

“Of course I know that,” Saizou told him, voice gentle. “And I’m less separated from them now than I used to be.” He leaned his head back again and looked up at the ceiling. “Yohan left them pretty much alone after he’d gotten me, but I never wanted to remind him more than I could help.” His mouth quirked. “Ironic, that the last thing he ever promised me was to protect them as part of Fuuchouin. In return for services rendered, of course. At least he’s still done that.”

Kazuki could almost taste the bitterness of Saizou’s words when he spoke of his “services” to Yohan. He reached out to brush his fingers through Saizou’s hair, seeking to soothe. “That’s over now.”

Saizou closed his eyes under the touch. “I suppose so,” he said quietly.

Which told Kazuki, once again, that it wasn’t over. Of all his people, Saizou had been the most viciously wounded, even worse than Kazuki had been himself he thought, and more insidiously. He slid off the arm of the couch and down into Saizou’s lap, sliding his arms around him and pressing close; this comfort at least he could offer.

Saizou started at his weight, but it was only a breath before arms closed tight around him, half-desperate in their strength. “Kazuki,” Saizou breathed against his hair.

Every protective impulse in Kazuki urged him to gather Saizou to him, to hold and reassure him, but Kazuki knew from personal experience that protection wasn’t always what was needed. This time, instead, he made himself relax and lean into Saizou’s chest, let himself be cradled in Saizou’s arms. The catch of Saizou’s breath told him he was right. “I always trusted you,” Kazuki said softly. “And I was never wrong.”

Saizou caught him closer with a rough sound in his throat. Kazuki rested his head on Saizou’s shoulder, content to be here, to accept the shelter of Saizou’s embrace. When Saizou lifted a hand to touch his cheek, Kazuki smiled up at him and nestled closer. The tenderness of Saizou’s touch, of his mouth on Kazuki’s when he lifted Kazuki’s chin and kissed him, made Kazuki’s heart catch and his breath flutter in his chest.

And this was what Saizou needed. To know he could still offer tenderness and care, to know Kazuki accepted it and wanted it. And he did. Oh, he did.

“Kazuki,” Saizou whispered against his lips, and drew back to look at him. “May I have the honor?” he asked, formal and courtly in the way that always made Kazuki blush. It was such a contrast to Saizou’s usual jesting.

“Of course,” Kazuki murmured back, lashes lowered, and gasped softly as Saizou caught him up in his arms and stood, carrying him through to the bedroom.

It took rather a long time for Saizou to undress him, since he paused at every turn to scatter kisses down Kazuki’s shoulders, across his chest and down his stomach, to caress his hips and thighs and press a slow, open mouth to the inside of his knee. Kazuki was panting by the time Saizou finally got around to his own clothes, and felt like his whole body must be glowing with the pleasure of Saizou’s touch. Feeling the length of Saizou’s body against his, finally, as Saizou gathered him close, made Kazuki moan. Saizou caught the sound in a slow, gentle kiss, and another, and another until Kazuki was more breathless than before.

“My heart,” Saizou whispered between kisses. “My lord. My love.”

Kazuki twined his arms around Saizou and gasped as long fingers slid down his back and further down between his cheeks, caressing and stroking his entrance. “Saizou…”

“I always loved you,” Saizou said in his ear. “Always, I swear it.”

“I know. I knew.” Kazuki shivered as Saizou’s fingers eased away and returned slick and cool. “Saizou, I love—ahh…” Saizou’s fingers, opening him, were slow and sure, almost unbearably slow and sure.

“Thank you.” Saizou smiled down at him, soft and happy, and kissed him again, swallowing another low moan as his fingers pressed in again, deeper.

Kazuki let himself go, gave himself up to Saizou’s hands and the pleasure they brought, and the bright wonder in Saizou’s eyes was more reward than the pleasure itself. When Saizou finally settled against him and pressed into him, Kazuki was so warmed, so relaxed he barely felt the stretch of it; all his senses were caught up in the easy slide, the gentle care of Saizou’s hands, the tenderness of his kisses. It was almost too much for any one person, and he couldn’t do other than answer with everything that was in him, all the passion and all the pliancy. When pleasure spilled over it was just one more strand of heat and sweetness in what Saizou had woven between them.

Saizou gasped against his mouth and caught him closer, stilling, and Kazuki made a pleased sound, hands stroking down Saizou’s back. Slowly, slowly, the heat eased, and Saizou’s hands caressed him back into cool, stroking the last tremors from his body and leaving him cradled against Saizou’s chest, quite relaxed.

Eventually Kazuki regathered enough breath and thought to murmur, “You have remarkable self control.”

Saizou’s chest moved under his cheek as he chuckled. “I have remarkable inspiration.”

Kazuki colored a bit at that, and snuggled closer.

Saizou added, quieter, “And I’ve wanted for so long to use that self control to bring you pleasure and not harm.”

Kazuki looked up at him, reaching up to stroke back fair, damp hair. “You bring me pleasure just being beside me.” He had to smile as he admitted, “This pleasure was especially impressive, though.”

It was Saizou’s turn to blush, and Kazuki curled up in his arms, satisfied with a job well done.

If he had to do it again, he wouldn’t object, of course.