Nagare

A/N - Here's the next part!! Sorry it took so long! Thank you for everyone who's reviewed!! All....four of you... >.<
Feel FREE to leave another review!! I hope everyone's enjoying this!

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Full of fish and rice, Jakotsu leaned back against the tree, wincing slightly as he felt the familiar shooting pain.

“Jakotsu?” His reprieve was up, apparently, and Bankotsu was going to start asking questions again. Lunch had done much to patch things up between the two boys, and Jakotsu was loathe to go back to the tension that had marred the air between them.

“I… hurt my back,” he breathed. It was best to just force it. “Walking so much with Jakotsutou on my back, that and sleeping on the ground every night. I guess it doesn’t mix well.” He looked down at his hands, folded in his lap.


Bankotsu didn’t know whether to be relieved, or beat his head against the tree. He’d had hurt his back. That was all. Nothing embarrassing, like a pulled groin muscle, or anything….yet he’d been this pigheaded about speaking up about it? Jakotsu was looking at him, bemused most likely, by the mix of emotions on his face.

“Jakotsu….that’s…that’s all?” He watched as the older boy nodded, then made as if to turn his head, but winced. Bankotsu scowled fiercely. If the pain was that bad, it would have to be dealt with. “Lay down.” Despite the obvious pain it caused him, Jakotsu’s head jerked towards him, and his eyes locked with Bankotsu’s. There was fear in them. Not immediate or sharp, but guarded. Jakotsu was attempting to hide it, but not doing a very good job. Bankotsu placed a hand on Jakotsu’s shoulder carefully, noting happily that he didn’t flinch. When they had first met, Bankotsu hadn’t been able to touch the taller boy without Jakotsu flinching away, and depending on how sudden it was, even drawing Jakotsutou on him.

“Lay down on your stomach, okay?” There came the flinch. Jakotsu’s whole body stiffened, and Bankotsu was confused. “A massage will help your hurt muscles loosen up, Jakotsu…” He met the other boy’s eyes again.


The older boy blushed in embarrassment. Bankotsu was looking at him as if he were stupid. For a second, anger flared. He might not ever have been given a chance to go to a real school…but he wasn’t stupid! He opened his mouth to give back an acidic reply, but his mind fled when he felt hands on his shoulders. Bankotsu had moved slightly and was partly behind him now. He almost seized up, so strong was his old instinct, but the hands on him were gentle. They were Bankotsu’s hands. Bankotsu was allowed to touch him, the only one allowed to. The touch was soft and soothing, not forcing him to the ground, just suggesting. He followed the suggestion, lying on the soft grass, head pillowed on his arms. Surprisingly, the pain wasn’t nearly as bad like this!
He felt someone hovering over him, felt breath on the back of his neck, and heard Bankotsu plant his knees on either side of him. A blush painted itself across his cheeks, and he forced his mind away from the fact that Bankotsu was, essentially, straddling his thighs. He watched two dragonflies chasing each other along the stream, and made himself proud by jerking only slightly when he felt Bankotsu’s hands return to his back.

“Relax.” He heard the baritone rumble behind him, almost in his ear, and his muscles, for some reason, automatically turned to mush. Bankotsu made a pleased noise behind him, and began to move his hands. At first his touch was tentative and seeking, but then suddenly he touched something that made Jakotsu tense up again, a bitten off cry leaving his lips. The hands immediately ceased putting pressure on the spot, stroking it softly.


“Is that where it is, then?” Bankotsu’s eyes narrowed. If that simple push had caused pain, he was going to have to go slow. Ghosts of remembered muscles pulled and nerves pinched ran through his mind. Good thing he remembered his mother doing this to him. Learning to wield Banryuu had been rough, but his mother’s massages had always helped to at least ease the pain, if not cure the cause. The dark head below him nodded, followed by a soft affirmative noise that sent a shiver through Bankotsu’s body. He certainly wasn’t as young now as he had been when his mother rubbed the stress out of his back. His concern for his friend had served to distract him from the position he was in, but that one breathy noise had caused it to all come rushing back.

Taking a deep breath as quietly as he could, Bankotsu lowered his hands to Jakotsu’s back again. He began to gently knead, starting at his friend’s shoulders, and avoiding anywhere that elicited a painful reaction. The material under his hands bunched and twisted, and he could feel it sliding across Jakotsu’s sweaty skin beneath. He wasn’t going to get anything done this way. He took his hands away and sat back on his heels.

“Oi, Jakotsu. Let’s go for a swim. It’s hot enough, and maybe when you’re clean and dry, then I can do better work on your back.” He waited, Jakotsu didn’t move, nor did he look inclined to.

“I don’t feel like swimming, aniki.” Bankotsu sighed.

“It might help your back, too, to just float and let the water support you.” He tugged on the sweatsoaked yukata. “Then you can be all clean, and you can change clothes and be happy?” The wistful tone in his own voice surprised him. He wasn’t used to seeing Jakotsu like this…not anymore anyway. When the two had first joined together, maybe, but not lately. Jakotsu, back then, had been quiet a lot. He flinched from every touch, and although he said he trusted Bankotsu, he hadn’t acted like it. In the past six months he had opened up like a flower, only shutting down again in times of extreme distress. This seemed to be one of those times. Sighing, Bankotsu tugged on the yukata again.

“Please? I promise you it will feel good. Don’t you feel all nasty and sweaty? I know I do.” He idly stroked his fingertips down Jakotsu’s spine. “Come get in the water, okay?”


A soft giggle answered his plea. “Aniki, you are making me sleepy, petting me like some cat.” Jakotsu’s eyes slid shut as he laughed again, letting out a passable meow. Bankotsu laughed above him, and his warm breath washed across Jakotsu’s neck.

“It’s late enough, Ja…why don’t we just set up camp and stay here? It’s liable to stay hot tonight as well, so we’ll use most of the blankets to pad your back, huh?” Bankotsu hadn’t moved, and Jakotsu noticed this at the same time he noticed the abbreviated version of his name. Bankotsu was still stroking his back, too. Jakotsu flushed with pleasure as another cold, empty space in him filled with warmth. Something about Bankotsu just flooded him with the desire to be happy…and as normal as he could be. He wondered if his friend knew just how much that meant to him.

“Bankotsu…” he murmured sleepily, “I don’t want to swim.”

“Why not?” came the curious reply. “It’s hot…and you’ll feel better.” Jakotsu felt it as his companion moved and stood up. “I’ll swim with you. Come on, please??”

Jakotsu was very glad his head was buried in his arms at the moment. It’d never do for Bankotsu to see the blush that had spread over his cheeks. The merest thought of Bankotsu naked and in the water had caused a heat that was not entirely welcome or pleasurable to rampage through his body. Biting his lip again, Jakotsu willed himself back under control.


Bankotsu’s heart was beating fast. Thinking through what he had just suggested, he was internally cursing himself for a masochist. If he saw Jakotsu…naked…he didn’t know what would happen. It wasn’t something he’d seen before. The older boy avoided any situation that might lead to that sight on Bankotsu’s part, and Bankotsu honestly had no idea why. From what he’d seen at times when they’d been caught in the rain….or sweating like today…Jakotsu’s body certainly wasn’t scary. He shut his eyes tight and cursed himself again as memories sprang up unbidden, and turned away from Jakotsu.

“Come on, Ja…then I can get your back tended to properly. I want to make sure you’re going to be okay to continue tomorrow, you know? I promise,” he covered his eyes with his hands, “I won’t look.”


TBC.............

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~Tareacel