One Loose Nail

Notes: ... So I have a rather notoriously short attention span! And I do a lot of driving for my sick grandmother, which leads to a lot of time spent sitting bored in waiting rooms. I have taken up the habit of carrying a notebook with me and writing tidbits and things when I go, and ... this kind of happened outside of radiology one day. I consider it a present to Jae and Yuujisou and rather enjoy their comments that "it's perfect because Ryuunosuke should always be on his knees" 3

Disclaimer: Property of Toei and Bandai and everyone in Japan who has the rights, yet continue to not be me. Alas.

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One Loose Nail

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"M-My lord! Are you... ?"

Ryuunosuke shook his hair from his eyes. The disbelief inside of him was sweltering. Not only had he been summoned to his lord's chambers, alone and in the dead of night, but to have such a blunt request made... No, there was no time for that. His lord trusted him, and him alone, for this. It could not have been easy for Takeru to even get those words out. Even still, he had to know:

"Are you certain?"

Shiba's lord was almost awkwardly quiet for a long time. At last, he turned his face away and gave a short nod, a wordless acceptance.

Ryuunosuke dropped to his hands and knees and bowed until his forehead hit the floor. His eyes shut tight and he remained in his stance even as he spoke into the floor boards.

"Lord! I will try -- No, it is my honor, and I will most definitely... !"

"Ryuunosuke."

The young man carefully drew himself upright. With his heart pounding and his hands resting on his hips, the young samurai allowed himself just one moment to calm himself. In and out he drew breath and steeled his will. This went beyond loyalty. This was something so much more.

He noticed as he raised them that his hands were shaking. Ah, nerves. He drew in a deep breath and lifted those same hands to his lord's waistband and gave a sharp tug at the belt loops.

The sudden movement surprised Takeru. He stepped backward and his shoulders bumped against the back wall of his own room. Something on a nearby shelf rattled, though in this dim lighting he could not tell which item it was that was moving.

"I'll -- sit," he began. Anything to keep someone from noticing that sound. The more he thought about it, the less at ease he grew. Ryuunosuke, it seemed, wasn't having any of that.

"Please, lord, allow me."

It was all Takeru could do just to stand still as a pair of hands roamed over his waist and hips, sliding under the denim of his jeans. He startled only a little when Ryuunosuke unfastened the button of his fly, but only that once, and not even when his zipper was pulled.

Carefully, Ryuunosuke drew the jeans down around the dark-haired samurai's knees. He kept to his seiza position and sat with the most respect he could muster loosened the red-patterned boxers. Just as slowly as he could manage he reached forward and gave a curious, short tug. Under his hand he could feel his lord inhale sharply and saw the ripple of his abdomen. It was mesmerizing to him, just a little, and so he gave another gentle pull.

Bravery increasing as the blood pounded in his temples, Ryuunosuke continued to let his hands work. Up and down, short little tugs alternating with longer, slower strokes.

He hadn't realized that he had leaned in close, or that the feeling of his breath against Takeru's skin was making the clan head's mind spin. He struggled to clutch at the wall and balled his fists fruitlessly, trying still to keep quiet.

Very suddenly the other young man let go and dropped his hands to his sides. Takeru froze a moment and tried to stop gripping at the wall to ask if he had gone too far with this, when --

"Ryu -- A-ah."

He'd meant to ask a question. Instead, his voice broke and he shuddered. The shelf was making noise again, but Takeru couldn't find it in him to care this time.

Ryuunosuke did not verbalize a thing. What he did was to make a low hum in the back of his throat and as his head bobbed just so, Takeru could feel every last reverberation rippling over him.

The vassal moved slowly, his tongue tracing shapes as he moved up and down. Takeru could feel his knees locking as he tried to brace himself, and before he knew it he was hitting against the wall too regularly, moving in sync with Ryuunosuke's mouth.

At his lord's silent urging, Ryuunosuke began to increase his momentum. Once again he raised his hands, one drawing over the darker-haired male's hip and the other ghosting over his abs.

Something in the lord's posture was changing. He continued to move with the lighter-haired samurai, bucking and breathing too hard. It was too warm too soon, and the wall wasn't holding him up so well anymore. Suddenly his hands were pulling Ryuunosuke's hair and the vassal let himself be held still.

His knees were hurting, and his head now from Takeru's grip. Ryuunosuke wanted to pull away and ask what was wrong, if he were upsetting his lord, when he choked upon the realization of what was happening. To his credit he stayed still and sat as he had been until he and his lord were released and Takeru slid gracelessly to the floor.

He struggled for something to say, but found himself unable to whisper even a syllable before Ryuunosuke threw himself back into a full bow and hit his head once more on the floor.

"Lord!" he cried, far too overenthusiastic for this time of night. Takeru sat stiffly as his vassal rose, face flushed and breathing hard. So too was his own, he thought. He shook his hair from his face and tried to calm down enough to speak.

... Which was when he remember his state of undress. He scrambled and fumbled with his pants to pull them up and fix himself. It was a hard enough thing to try while sitting, and even harder to manage while flustered as he was.

His face was far more red now. When he did at last turn to look at the other samurai -- no easy task around his embarrassment -- he was suprised to see Ryuunosuke looking ... down.

"What is it?" Takeru asked at the same instance the other male hollered out his "My apologies, lord!"

"What?"

Ryuunosuke shook his head wildly. "I apologize! I have surely failed at this! And with lord having trusted only me... ! Please allow me to make up for this."

It took a moment, but Takeru managed a small smile as his vassal continued to beg. He laid a hand on his shoulder and Ryuunosuke stopped his verbal flailings instantly to gaze up with hopeful eyes.

"My lord?"

"Sorry," was all that Takeru had to offer. "Next time, I'll be more fair."

Next time he'd have had that shelf fixed, too.