SPOILER: Click to show

and so he does, over and over again he does. her teeth and her nails beg that he return a favor in kind; it's a rough union, a slamming of hips with increasing ardor, his laboured breaths a growl in her ear. fingers clench where they can, shoved up under her curves, tangled in her hair, dragged haphazardly across her back to arch her hips so he can burrow deeper with a groan. 

his first release is made with a shudder, a "fuck," slipped from his mouth and whatever string of profanities could follow are swallowed back down as he returns to pleasing her with his tongue. 

so close to life now, this static feeling, as their bodies contort in all manner of carnal closeness. his hunger is not sated until he hears her call his name several times over, until his limbs are shaking and he collapses onto his side, bandages soaked through with sweat, a red glow on his cheeks. 

spent, he draws her flush to him, arms draped possessively around her, afraid even that sleep might take this pleasure from him.

in the morning, she will wake to find her bed absent of that desperate man, and the sound of eggs being whisked in a ceramic bowl.

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

she demands respect by way of devotion, dry tinder blushing with flame, and though he is most always a careful, concise, methodical person, he abandons such inhibitions in lieu of pleasing her. minutes tick by, stretching into small eternities, as he swallows sweetness, trading tongue for scant brushes of his stubble, the turning of his wrist. 

until she is pliant at his touch and when she shudders, he burrows closer, beckoned from his obsession only by the sound of his name. 

his eyes are dark with promise. he rises to a stand, wipes his lips, but lingers there, holding her gaze as he licks his thumb and undoes his belt. "yes, miss hasegawa," he murmurs, sliding to meet her at hip to hip, skin to skin, in a tangle of limbs and sweat and hours of long-pent-up desire.

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

a mind is only as sharp as a body and beneath his shed clothes is taut muscle, well enough to carry her towards the bedroom. his shoulder is rough against the door, spurred by the teasing graze of her hips. he lay her down on the bed and for a breath is paralyzed, caught staring at dark hair fanning out behind her like some fallen angel, her swollen lips, the curve of her breasts.

only an instant and then he is upon her, ravishing and ravaging with needy urgency - his hands are under her collarbone, mouth replacing pinching fingers as they drift down the length of her body.

her lace is hitched carelessly, replaced by a warmth in the palm of his hand to make her want, to keep her pleased, as he trails slow kisses away from her chest, and to her midsection, and to her thighs.

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

yumi breathes hotly into his mouth and he turns his head, lashes fluttering against her cheek, and a noise of complaint escapes him when she withdraws. she makes her demands of him, grabbing his hands, but he drapes wet kisses against her jaw, tongue on the side of her neck. 

and then she's up, leaving him staring hungrily as she slips off her nightgown. no wayward glance is given and it's entirely forgotten in lieu of her exposure. her hands go to his front and he helps her with his shirt, shaking it off, batting her away from his pants. 

impatience bears down on him and he hitches an arm under her leg, fingers dimpling, demanding she wrap around his waist. 

"i want to taste you first," he murmurs in her ear. 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

it was not his life that flashed before nikkari's eyes when his blood spilled onto asphalt. it was flesh - sweat-ridden, exposed, shuddering in ecstasy. thoughts he'd brushed away as impulses (she is an attractive woman, after all) for the sake of their partnership. 

all of that is so far away. whatever sallow thoughts had remained burn like flash paper as yumi crashes against him. he responds in kind, lips wrenching open hers to slip his tongue into her mouth. he tangles his fingers in her hair, snakes an arm around her waist, and growls in the back of his throat as he drags her into his lap.

the weight he leaves on the small of her back is insistent, a rhythmic press against the already-strained fabric of his pants. 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

he follows her in. he sits when she bids him to. and when she turns her back on him, he looks down at the bandaged arm. wild eyes, impassioned fury, a monster under skin. he knew people. he knows people. he knows what makes them tick, but their psyches are collapsing. 

everything, everyone, made unpredictable.

'here,' she says and she slides a glass in his hand. estranged by variables and uncertainties, he grasps tenaciously to this familiarity. 

the bourbon is knocked back, a smooth fire going down his throat. half still remains and he cradles it in his palm, licks his lips with a grimace. his eyes betray him, darting to her shoulder and his hand next, placed over hers as she readjusts.

"i couldn't go anywhere else," he says roughly, brows knitting.

his pulse thrums, reminding him that he is alive. bourbon sits neatly on his tongue, tracing through his veins. want pools, unhidden, and intense, as he takes her chin and thumbs her lower lip. 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

you can tell yourself you're invincible, but at the end of the day, your charisma and your charm can not uproot the anger at what you stand for. who you are at your core. he thought of darkening another doorstep, but he feels so intangible right now and he cannot keep chasing ghosts.

he looks at her in her slip of a nightgown and he is suddenly acutely aware of how disheveled he is. his hair tie has slipped, white locks errant and in disarray around her face, tucked in the upturned collar of his shirt. his left sleeve is ripped in twain, still spattered. 

looking down at himself, then back up, he blinks. 

"job went sideways," he finds himself saying, "and i thought i might die." words don't come after that. his brows furrow. he admits - "i'm not used to not...knowing what to say."

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

"the motostoke dragons are dead," he says. his aunt is gone; his already-dwindling bloodline rests on his shoulders now. there is a wistfulness to his words, but not a sadness. 

the end of an era means the beginning of another. 

"and the galarian tabloids are calling hoenn the beginning of the end of the world. who would i be, if i missed that?"

jayden cross

☉

he need not take notes. some of them have faces he can attach the names to. others, he's only heard in passing, but each are categorically filed away with careful consideration, with three standing out against the others.

peace and happiness are hard to come by in their line of work. it's possible. with enough power, enough safety, it's possible, but it's rare. he opens his mouth to comment, to ask about whoever might have finally snagged jayden's attentions, but the words die at the mention of her. 

"yes," he says, "i may have heard that too.

"perhaps it's time i acquaint myself with our colleagues, both old and new."

jayden cross

☉

he meant to bring a bottle to celebrate their closed deal.

but that's the thing about war. it doesn't wait. his jaw is discolored, swollen, and there's a bandage wrapped down the length of his arm. he would never bloody her doorstep like this, but sitting alone in the er, unflinching as he was sutured and bandaged, reminded him of how undeniably alone he is in all of this. 

being an outsider has never bothered him before. he found joy in being an observer, pulling invisible strings to shift perspectives, watching the smallest ripple change the course of a canal. so why is it now, with a job gone wrong, a brush of death at his door, that all of those years he's prided feel so egregiously wasteful?

it can't be a midlife crisis. 

he meant to bring a bottle, but his hands are empty, and when the door yawns open, he finds he does not know what to say. 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

he takes pride in his things. too much pride to sully the work he's put into this endeavor. phone calls behind the scenes, favors asked and rumours wrangled for the best options he might be able to present to her. while the rest of their organization plans for war, he's content to carry on and grease the wheels. 

violence is expensive. 

and money makes the world turn. he quirks a smile at her, waving off the gratitude. 

"we shall," he says as his glass clinks against hers. with thick conviction, he says, "surety is the language of the prosperous. now, with business out of the way, why don't you teach me the basic rules of mahjong?" 

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

"i'd be offended if you did. just promise me you won't be upset when i beat you," he teases back. he's not about to hustle her, but it's not like he hasn't looked into the basic rules after she told him of the importance they include a space for the mahjong parlor in the new building. 

"if you were set on it, i could see about some quotes on internal fixes, but it might set back your timeline quite a bit. at least with this one," he says, scanning for the documents from the place they only just viewed, "you can work on some remodels alongside a soft open."

he drums his fingers with one hand, sips from his glass using the other. floral notes twirl under his nose, reminding him vaguely of one of yumi's perfumes.

"you don't have to make a decision today, but i'd say we should plan on pulling the trigger before the end of the week. hector might be good on a favor, but even he won't want to keep the listings off the market past this weekend."

Yumi Hasegawa

☉

the bartender, anton, looks at nikkari's companion as though she's grown a second head, but he recovers just as quickly with a raised brow and a nod from nikkari. you simply don't come to casino starlight asking for cheap drink. the normal glass fetches a fair price, but it's not a supermarket bottle.

he pours her a pinot noir, tucks a napkin under nikkari's gimlet, and then excuses himself so he can glide to other patrons. 

"i'm interested to know how it's complicated," he says with a small smile, one elbow propped on the bar as he takes a sip. the lime cordial is a bright burst of citrus on his tongue.

Mitsuru Kagami

☉