Nuriko nervously fingered his braid, wondering why he had knocked on the door to the emperor’s bed chamber.  The last thing he wanted to do was disturb Hotohori . . . no, he definitely didn’t want to make a bad impression.  And what was he going to say to the beautiful young man?  Hotohori loved Miaka, the Maiden of Suzaku; he thought about her daily, pining over his unrequited affections, ignoring the sensible advice of the other seishi.  And even if Hotohori weren’t so single-minded, he would never be interested in another man!

        Realizing the futility of his situation, Nuriko sighed and started to turn away, but it was too late, the door opened inward and Hotohori’s high-cheekboned face appeared.

        “What is it, Nuri?  Is everything all right?”

        The youth gulped, twisting his braid around his hand as he felt his face flush.  More than anything else, he wanted the emperor to love him . . . but even when he had disguised himself as a woman, fooling all of the seishi and even Miaka with the aid of his soft, effeminate features, slender build, and ambiguous voice, Hotohori had shown little interest in him beyond the comment that Nuriko was actually as beautiful as he was himself.

        “It’s n-nothing,” Nuriko stammered, averting his gaze from the emperor’s piercing amber eyes, from the face that tore his heart out with useless longing.  He could never tell him . . . .  “I’m . . . sorry for disturbing you, Hotohori-sama.”

        A hand on his shoulder halted his humiliated retreat.

        “Nuriko,” Hotohori murmured in a soft voice that sent an involuntary shudder through the youth.  “Something’s wrong.  Don’t try to hide it from me.  You’re not at all your usual cheerful self!”

        “No, I--”  Nuriko shook his head vigorously, pushing his thick, tousled bangs out of his eyes with fingers that trembled slightly.  He couldn’t reveal his feelings to the emperor . . . what would Hotohori and the other seishi think?  He would lose all the respect that he had worked so hard to earn . . . .

        “Come on in and we’ll talk about it.”  Before Nuriko could protest, the hand on his shoulder guided him gently yet firmly into the emperor’s luxurious, richly-furnished chamber.  The youth had been in the spacious room on only a few rare occasions, and had never ceased to marvel over the way his small feet sank into the plush rug hiding the wooden planks of the floor, over the soft, ethereal appearance of the embroidered pillows and silken sheets piled on the expansive, canopied bed.

        After returning a gilded hand-mirror to its rightful place on the dresser, Hotohori lowered himself on the edge of the bed.

        “You can tell me anything, Nuri.  You know that.  Is something the matter with Miaka?  It’s important that I know what’s going on in my palace.”

        “I already told you, nothing’s going on!” Nuriko insisted more loudly than he meant to, and he quickly clapped a hand over his mouth in embarrassment.  Rather than admonishing the youth for being disrespectful, Hotohori continued to gaze at him with a mixture of curiosity and concern.  Nuriko spun away with a sniffle.  He couldn’t contain the tears of desperation that suddenly welled up in his wide brown eyes.

        “Nuriko!” Hotohori exclaimed, leaping from the bed and snatching the youth’s arm as he attempted to escape the chamber.  “You’re crying!”

        “It’s nothing . . . I’m fine!  Nothing!”  Nuriko choked on his tears as he felt Hotohori’s arms surround him in a consoling embrace.  His knees weakened and the emperor guided him to the bed, sitting down and holding him cradled against his chest as a father would comfort a distraught child.

        “It’s all right,” Hotohori soothed, rubbing the youth’s shoulders until the weeping diminished into mere sniffles.  “Now tell me what’s the matter.”

        Nuriko could no longer contain his feelings.  He couldn’t stop himself.  “I--I love you!” he blurted out, dissolving into a fresh bout of sobs.

        Hotohori froze, his hand on Nuriko’s shaking shoulder.  He had always suspected something out-of-the-ordinary about the androgynously beautiful youth, but had never thought . . . .

        “I’m sorry!” Nuriko gasped, his eyes squeezed shut and his face buried in the folds of the emperor’s robe, soaking the fine material with his tears.  “P-please forgive me!”

        Hotohori didn’t answer.  Lost in deep thought, he gazed at himself holding Nuriko in the mirror covering the wall across from the bed, absently stroking the youth’s long, soft hair.  The slight, trembling form cradled in his arms felt so warm, so . . . .

        Nuriko’s eyes opened in horrified shock as he felt a hand lift his chin, and he found himself staring into that intense amber gaze.  Cringing as he realized what he had just done, just revealed, he waited for Hotohori to reprimand him for his forwardness.  He wanted to disappear.  To hide somewhere where the emperor would never have to look at him again.  A finger traced the wet paths of his tears and he knitted his eyebrows together in a confused frown; why was Hotohori toying with him?  He had just opened his mouth to excuse himself when something gently brushed against his lips and he gasped.  “Hoto--”

        “Shh,” the emperor whispered, kissing again, harder this time.  Nuriko’s lips felt surprisingly soft and moist, and Hotohori pushed into them, wanting more, more of that warmth, and he ran his tongue over them, probing deeper when the youth opened his mouth in astonishment.  “Mmm,” he murmured, moving his lips to Nuriko’s chin, his jaw, the tender, pale skin of his neck.  He paused to undo the collar of the youth’s tunic, concentrating small kisses on Nuriko’s collarbone.  The youth sat as still as a statue, his eyes still huge with disbelief.

        “Your skin’s so soft,” Hotohori breathed, cupping Nuriko’s heart-shaped face in his hands and tracing the delicate features.  The youth shyly met the emperor’s affectionate gaze, unable to believe that this was happening.  Gasping again as Hotohori poked a finger into his mouth, he at last closed his eyes with pleasure, wondering sorrowfully when he would wake from this wonderful dream.

        The emperor continued unbuttoning Nuriko’s outfit and slipped the top from shoulders as creamy as though the sun’s rays had never touched them.  The warm, slightly damp flesh was surprisingly soft and smooth as he stroked it.  A low moan escaped from the youth as Hotohori’s hot fingertips found a tiny nipple, then moved to the other.

        “Never thought I’d ever see anyone more beautiful than myself,” the emperor confessed softly, halting the kisses to undo Nuriko’s braid.  The youth’s hair fell past his waist in thick, sumptuous waves and Hotohori entwined his fingers in the locks, a slight smile curving his lips.

        “Is everything all right now?” he asked.  His smile and gentle voice gave Nuriko courage and he lifted trembling hands to Hotohori’s finely-sculpted face, still unable to accept that he was actually realizing his wildest fantasies.  His heart pounded so rapidly, his breath came so quickly, he thought he would pass out.

        The emperor nodded encouragingly at Nuriko’s tentative touch and traced burning fingertips down the warm flesh of the youth’s back, stopping just above the waistband of Nuriko’s pants and then moving around to the front.  Nuriko arched his spine and whimpered in response, a stream of sweat trickling down the side of his face near the dried trail of his tears.  Before the surely ephemeral ecstasy could shatter, shoving him back into hopeless reality, he pulled Hotohori’s face to his and summoned the nerve to push his mouth against the emperor’s in a long, desperate kiss, delighted by Hotohori’s grunts of pleasure. 

        Then the emperor backed away and slowly peeled off his layers of royal robes, so that he, too, was bare from the waist up; suddenly Nuriko found his chest pressed against Hotohori’s, felt the emperor’s life-warmth spreading through his body to join with his own and concentrate into a burning, urgent need.  He trembled with barely-contained excitement.

        Hotohori held Nuriko’s slender form tightly, relishing the delicious sensation of the youth’s heart pounding wildly against his.  He really wanted Nuriko, he realized with amazement--wanted to devour him . . . .  Unable to wait much longer as an undeniable arousal flushed through his veins, the emperor slid his hands down to Nuriko’s hips and slipped his fingers under the waistband.

        “Hotohori-sama!” Nuriko exclaimed with a choked gasp, squeezing his watering eyes shut as new sensations that were almost unbearable in their thrill and intensity surged through him, reducing his breath to ragged pants, and he couldn’t keep himself from squirming violently in Hotohori’s lap.

        The emperor held Nuriko tightly and purposefully lowered the youth’s pants and pulled them from his legs to throw them on the floor, then did the same with his own.  Nuriko instinctively covered himself with his hands, blushing furiously and trying unsuccessfully to look away.  Hotohori giggled and released his clutch to hungrily stroke the soft, downy insides of Nuriko’s slender thighs, eliciting a strangled sound of delight from the writhing youth, and then gently pushed Nuriko from his lap and onto his back among the silky white sheets.  The youth twisted and moaned when Hotohori straddled him, his knees pressed tightly against his partner’s narrow hips.

        “By the four gods, how long have you been waiting for this?” the emperor wondered breathlessly, his dark hair, almost as long as Nuriko’s, hanging down around his face to tickle his partner’s chest.  He bent down and covered the wet, reddened, parted lips with another ravenous kiss, drinking in the warmth and slightly salty taste of Nuriko’s mouth, at the same time squeezing his thighs even more tightly around the youth’s hips and then tracing a finger from Nuriko’s navel down to a much more sensitive spot.  The youth let out a shriek, aroused painfully, and frantically thrust his hips against Hotohori’s hand.

        The emperor couldn’t wait any longer.  “Turn over,” he commanded breathlessly, and Nuriko complied, stretching himself out on the bed and spreading his legs as Hotohori knelt between them.  The youth inhaled sharply when the emperor probed with a finger.  He had never been touched that way before--on the inside.

        “Is this okay?  Do you think you’re ready?” Hotohori asked, his chest heaving, a drop of sweat trickling from his forehead and splattering on the back of Nuriko’s thigh.

        “Y-yes,” the youth whispered, sounding hesitant yet at the same time urgent and desperate.  Hotohori slid his hands underneath Nuriko’s stomach and lifted him up to his hands and knees, and then, kneeling between the youth’s legs, asked,

        “Are you sure you really want this?”

        “Yes,” Nuriko breathed, sounding more certain this time, and Hotohori carefully guided himself in, moving as slowly and gently as he could in his excitement.

        “Hotohori-sama--it hurts!” Nuriko cried out as soon as the emperor had penetrated, and squirmed with the pain, but it was too late, his partner was already moving deeper.

        “You’re so tight!” Hotohori shrieked elatedly, pushing himself in further, and Nuriko yelped with the agonizing thrill of feeling the emperor deep inside him, threatening to rip him open.

        Unable to control his raging need, Hotohori thrust faster, harder, grabbing Nuriko’s hips and pulling them into his as an intense passion enveloped his senses.  Suddenly his own relief and satisfaction were all that mattered, and he pushed himself deeper, deeper, harder, slamming himself into his sobbing partner, impaling him.  Nuriko could only struggle to hold himself up, shuddering with each jolting thrust.

        And then, an unbearable heat searing through every nerve, the emperor gave one more final thrust and held his hips pressed into Nuriko’s, letting out a strangled cry as he trembled with the crackling ecstasy of the climax.  Collapsing on top of his shaking partner, he slipped out as Nuriko fell onto his side among the tangled sheets, his chest heaving with choked gasps.

        Hotohori lay on his stomach for several minutes, breathing deeply as his heartbeat slowed to normal, amazed that Nuriko had felt so . . . good.  So hot, so tight, so . . . .  The emperor sat up with a start as he remembered his rough treatment of the youth.

        “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry!” he exclaimed, gazing ruefully at his dazed partner.  “By the gods, Nuriko, I didn’t mean to hurt you like that!  I just wanted to make you happy!”

        The youth opened his eyes and gave Hotohori a pained smile.  His flushed face glistened with tears and blood smeared his mouth where he had bitten down on his own lip.

        “Oh, Nuriko!”  Feeling horrible despite the remnants of the climax that still throbbed within him, Hotohori gathered the youth into his arms with his depleted strength.  And then he noticed that Nuriko’s arousal remained unsatisfied.

        “Now I’ll fulfill your wildest dreams--I owe you that much,” the emperor sighed, gently covering his partner’s split lip with his own mouth.  He realized, bending close, that Nuriko smelled surprisingly male--something about the musky scent filled Hotohori’s imagination with thoughts that he had never dared consider before, not even in his fantasies.  But he had never before imagined having intercourse with another man, let alone enjoying himself!

        Closing his eyes, the emperor leaned closer . . . .

        Nuriko straightened, nearly slipping from Hotohori’s embrace, as he felt the warm mouth touch him in a very private spot . . . .

        “Unh,” he moaned, entangling his fingers in the emperor’s silken hair.  Hotohori slowly began to move his lips down and back up, down again, the quickening rhythm soon matched by Nuriko’s hips as he thrust into the wonderfully wet mouth.  The youth clenched his teeth and tightened his grip on Hotohori’s locks, forcing him to move faster, faster . . . .  Sweat darkened Nuriko’s hair and streamed down his face as he strained toward climax with small, choked sounds that soon intensified into a shriek; screwing his eyes shut, he released Hotohori’s head to grab handfuls of sheets and tore them into shreds with his superhuman strength as a frantic orgasm seared through his body.

        Nuriko’s seed didn’t taste at all unpleasant and Hotohori swallowed it before releasing the seal of his mouth and gazing tenderly at the youth’s flushed features as they relaxed into an exhausted, satisfied sleep.  Still weak from the frenzied lovemaking, Hotohori dressed himself and his sleeping partner and quietly carried Nuriko to his own chamber so that the youth wouldn’t feel embarrassed and ashamed when he awoke.

        “You were great,” Hotohori whispered, gently placing Nuriko in his bed and pulling the covers up to his chin.  “Sweet dreams, Nuri.”  The emperor bent over and kissed the youth’s feverishly warm cheek one last time and returned to his chamber.

--Kitsune25  2-23-98