With silvery patters against the window, rain curtained the view of Yamanote Avenue from inside the large, stately Ryudo house, seeming to cut the building off from the rest of Tokyo, so that it resided in its own fantasy realm.

Ryudo Tsuzuku touched slender fingers to the chill surface of the glass, slanted amber eyes thoughtful, sharp, delicate features serene. "Do you really think it's all right for Owaru-kun and Amaru-kun to be out in this weather? Niisan?"

"Aa. Daijoubu." Ryudo Hajime did not glance up from his papers. "A little rain won't harm them if they practice common sense."

"Owaru-kun and common sense?" Tsuzuku laughed lightly, though his eyes remained fixed on the misty world outside, something wistful in their crystalline depths.

At this, Hajime lifted his head, smiling slightly. "Well, we did send an umbrella with Amaru." He rose silently. "Besides. We'll know if they need us. Ne?"

Tsuzuku did not reply to this statement, as no reply was either desired or needed.

On soundless feet, Hajime crossed to stand behind his younger brother. "What are you watching?"

"Just the rain." Tsuzuku tilted his head, fingertips sliding smoothly down the pane, leaving trails of darkness in the condensation that had gathered from his warmth. "It's peaceful. Cleansing."

"Sou?" Hajime peered outside, twilight and mist swirling about shadowy leaves, leaving their surroundings to memory... or imagination. "Perhaps you are right." He lifted a hand to rest lightly on his brother's shoulder. "Doshita no? Tsuzuku?"

"Mm?" Tsuzuku turned, brushing back sandy bangs. "Nan demo nai. Niisan."

Hajime lifted one brow, quiet gaze not leaving Tsuzuku's.

"Hn." A rueful smile crossed Tsuzuku's full lips. "Niisan is not convinced."

"No, he is not." Hajime remained solemn. "What is it?"

"Really, nothing. Just...." Tsuzuku ran a hand uncomfortably over the back of his neck. "Boku...." He shook his head, thick gold-dark bangs falling to shield his eyes. "Iie...."

Hajime blinked rapidly at seeing his usually so collected brother at such a loss for words. "Are?"

"It's...." Tsuzuku turned his face to the side, gaze sliding into the dusk-filled corner of the study. "It's just that.... You've...." He folded his arms. "Lately you've become very close to Matsuri-chan...."

Hajime's sapphire eyes were flat with blank confusion. "Our cousin?"

"Aa."

"Mm." Hajime leaned against the window, hands in his pockets, as Tsuzuku paced over to the desk his older brother had recently quitted, fingertips now tracking over scattered, red-penciled tests. "She *has* been coming over more lately." Hajime smiled. "I think she feels sorry for us; four helpless bachelors living alone."

"Niisan." Tsuzuku slanted an oblique glance over his shoulder, warm eyes flashing. "I said 'you', not 'we'."

"B-boku...." Hajime looked stunned a moment. "Nanda?"

"E~eh." Tsuzuku exhaled an exasperated breath. "I told you it was nothing. Niisan." He shook his head then turned away, walking to the door. "I'll go make us some coffee."

"Matte."

Tsuzuku stopped, hand on the knob.

Hajime pushed off from the window and crossed the room, moving to stand just behind his younger brother. "Even saying you are right..." he spoke softly, dark brows knitting in a slight frown. "Not that I'm saying you're right...."

"Iie." Tsuzuku shook his head again, not turning. "Just forget I said anything. Niisan."

"Do you find it improper?" Hajime asked quietly.

"Not at all." Tsuzuku's fingers twined around the knob and twisted.

Hajime's hand descended over his brother's before Tsuzuku could pull the door open, and he leaned closer, breath gusting warm against Tsuzuku's ear as he spoke almost too low to hear. "Are you jealous?"

There was no reply.

"We need to talk," Hajime said, speaking once more at normal levels, as he stood back, allowing Tsuzuku to open the door. "Upstairs. Away from... eavesdroppers."

Tsuzuku glanced over his shoulder, smiling in amusement though there was something dark lingering still in his clear eyes. "Are you certain? Niisan? They've bugged the second floor too, you know."

Hajime ran a hand through his short black hair, ruffling thick bangs. "My bedroom is 'safe'."

Gleaming amber locked and held on calm sapphire for long moments. "Hai," Tsuzuku acquiesced, nodding as he and Hajime left the study.

Rain danced over the rooftop and against walls and windows alike in a muted whisper of a roar, the only sound in the old, sprawling house as the two elder Ryudo brothers ascended the staircase.

"It really is inconvenient," Tsuzuku commented quietly as they paced down the second story hallway. "We don't know yet who's doing this?"

"Iie." They paused before one of the doors and Hajime opened it, motioning for his brother to precede him. "But they'll move against us eventually. Until then, it would be a waste of effort to try discovering their motives."

"Hai." Tsuzuku turned as Hajime closed the door behind them. "It's an annoyance, however."

Instead of replying, Hajime stepped closer, arms sliding about Tsuzuku's slender waist as he fitted their lean bodies together easily.

"Niisan. I thought you wanted to talk," Tsuzuku breathed, amused, hands rising to press against his brother's shoulders, in the moment before Hajime's mouth closed upon his own.

They stood long, hushed moments, the rain against the window a soft underscoring to the brush of flesh against flesh; warm lips meshing, eager tongues twining. Hajime's arms tightened about his brother, drawing their bodies closer together, as one of Tsuzuku's hands left his older brother's broad shoulder, raising to thread elegant fingers through dark tangles of rich silk, his thumb rubbing soft patterns against the nape of Hajime's neck.

"Niisan," Tsuzuku uttered breathlessly as their mouths finally parted with a gentle sound and a lingering of tongues.

"You have nothing to be jealous of," Hajime whispered, nuzzling Tsuzuku's ear, one hand sliding up to brace his brother's upper back, the other clasping easily over his loose slacks. "We're brothers. Always and forever, and nothing will ever come between us."

"I'm not jealous," Tsuzuku spoke against Hajime's neck, closing his eyes and resting his head against one broad shoulder. "I'm just.... Just...."

"I know," Hajime said softly. "I understand. But we're brothers, through time and space, through death.... The ties of blood are stronger than anything else that might come into our lives. Ne?"

"Hai." Tsuzuku sighed softly, then gasped, arms tightening, as Hajime's tongue probed wetly in the whorls of his ear, hand stroking along the curve of one taut buttock. "Niisan!"

"Aa." Hajime moved his mouth back to Tsuzuku's, capturing his lips for a long, deep kiss that left them both gasping, clinging to one another. "We have another hour before Owaru and Amaru return. Shall we make the most of it?"

Tsuzuku pulled away, letting hooded amber-dark eyes speak for him as he crossed to the bed, leaving a trail of carelessly dropped clothing behind him. He paused at the edge of the mattress, tossing Hajime a steamy look, standing proud and golden in his unashamed nudity, almost resembling a sculpted statue of a young god in the shivery-silver lighting sinking through the window and filtering into the dim room.

Hajime cast his brother an appreciative look, but before joining him, he moved to the window, drawing the thick curtains, plunging the room into near total darkness.

"You ought to be more careful," he admonished, unbuttoning his shirt as he walked toward the bed.

Tsuzuku smirked as he folded himself gracefully onto the worn coverlet. "No one can see anything through the rain and dark. Niisan," he asserted, husky voice filled with certainty. "Daijoubu."

"Still, it's best not to take chances," Hajime said, climbing shirtless onto the mattress and pressing Tsuzuku back into the pillows.

Tsuzuku chuckled warmly. "You're so conservative. Niisan."

"Am I?" Hajime cocked a brow. "We'll have to see about that." He lowered his head, mouth dipping once more to taste the parted lips raised to meet his, as his hips slid smoothly between Tsuzuku's bared thighs, powerful arms wrapping around his brother's slimmer form.

"Mmm...." Slanted eyes slid shut behind silken bangs as Tsuzuku tilted his chin up, lovely face an offering for his older brother, slim, muscular arms slipping up to twine about the body resting over his. "I'm willing to be proved wrong," he breathed softly as Hajime released his kiss-bruised mouth once more, tongue flickering over moist lips.

Instead of replying verbally, Hajime moved his hungry kisses to the delicate flesh stretched over the sharp angle of Tsuzuku's jaw, tracking from here to the hollow behind his ear, and then trailing down the golden arch of his throat.

Tsuzuku sighed deeply, fingers relearning the smooth muscles of his brother's back, thick lashes fluttering against faintly flushed cheeks. "Niisan...." It was an affirmation more than an entreaty, though holding shades of both.

"Aa." Hajime's tongue traced over delicately curved collarbones, dipping to taste the quickening pulse flickering in the hollow between these arches. Tsuzuku caught his breath, face lowering to press into the thick silk of Hajime's hair, inhaling his brother's scent.

"Niisan."

Strong, graceful fingers sought out and discovered one small, puckered nipple on the softly sloping plane of Tsuzuku's chest, pausing to toy with the upright bit of flesh, drawing a hissing gasp from the younger man. Tsuzuku's hands clenched on his brother's back, eyes tightly closed as he worked the smoothly gliding muscles beneath his fingers.

"Hai...." The softly voiced utterance hovered in the darkened air between them, and then Hajime's powerful hands were tracing up the lean length of his brother's arms, moving them to press against the pillow on either side of his head, fingers closing around slender wrists.

Confused, passion-hazed amber eyes slitted open as Hajime shifted over Tsuzuku. "Niisan?" he queried, then the double jolt of metal clicking against metal shattered through the rain-wrapped stillness of the shadowy bedroom.

"Are?" Tsuzuku lifted his head and stared incredulously at the pair of gleaming silver handcuffs now tethering him to the bedpost. "N-niisan!" he gasped, slanted eyes rounding in shock.

"Heh." Hajime sat up, towering over his brother's supine form. He folded strong arms before his bared chest, tilting his dark head. "Conservative, am I?"

Tsuzuku blinked at the eldest of the Ryudo household. Hajime couldn't help grinning at the stunned look on Tsuzuku's face. There was no true danger in this play. Tsuzuku could snap the handcuffs without even trying. But would he? That was the only question.

"Niisan." A thin line furrowed between sharp brows as Tsuzuku frowned up at his brother reproachfully. Hajime caught his breath, wondering if he had pushed too far. "Now I can't touch you," Tsuzuku protested, voice mild but the intent serious.

"Then this will teach you to appreciate the times that you can," Hajime replied, relief and sudden hunger thickening his rich voice. Seeing Tsuzuku pinioned beneath him had awakened something deep inside, something previously unsuspected. The work of art, of perfection, painted in flesh and iron, stretched upon the framing bedclothing.... Hajime wondered why it had taken him so long to shackle his brother thus. To remain willingly bound and at the mercy of Hajime's desires... it was as much the act of this submission as it was the false air of helplessness that sent sudden fire racing through Hajime's veins.

Tsuzuku gazed up at his brother through shuttering lashes, full mouth drawn down in a disapproving frown. But there was a warmer flush to his delicate face, and he made no move to free himself, though it would have been as easy as snapping a thread to break the cuffs. Instead, he remained as Hajime wished him, wrists bound above his head, lean body stretched naked and open before his brother.

With slow, deliberate motions, Hajime bent once more and captured Tsuzuku's pouting lower lip between his own, sucking it into his mouth, teasing at it with his tongue, nipping with careful teeth. Tsuzuku let out a small huffing moan, then kissed Hajime back eagerly, letting his mouth speak for his molten desire as his hands no longer could.

Strong scholar's hands charted a knowledgeable course over the textured tome of his brother's torso. Hajime groaned into the inviting warmth of Tsuzuku's mouth, his hips shifting hungrily against Tsuzuku's own. It was every time the same... and yet every time different; always new. And now there was something deeper, something somehow more primal, added in the clasp of bright metal. The silver shackles bound their souls together more tightly; not physically, but in meaning rather than form.

"Always mine," the older brother breathed against warm lips, following the huskily spoken words with a flicker of tongue. "As I am always yours."

"Aa," Tsuzuku acquiesced readily. Then his rich mouth curved in amusement. "But remember. Niisan. We only have an hour. If Owaru-kun and Amaru-kun catch us at this play..." a heavy pause, then his sharp grin widened, "They might insist on joining in."

Hajime chuckled, then bent without further verbal reply to test the resilience of taut nipples with teasing teeth.

"Ah!" Tsuzuku's neck was a slim golden arch as amusement shattered into shards of pleasure, passion rousing once more in his mind and body. The muscles in his slender arms shifted beneath flawless skin as he strained at his bonds -- though carefully not pulling hard enough to break the metal clasps. Unmoving silver pressed against yielding gold in the shadowy, rain-dim room, biting but not painful. "Niisan!"

With free reign and no distractions -- beyond the way Tsuzuku's beautiful body shifted and writhed under his own -- Hajime explored his brother as he had seldom had opportunity. It was as sexually pleasing for him to touch Tsuzuku and draw quivering reactions as their usual give and take, Tsuzuku's own skilled manipulations of his older brother's body, were. He indeed kept their enforced timetable in mind, but most of his thoughts and attention where caught up in the wonder of his brother's perfect body, the soft sounds of pleasure emerging from those full lips.

It wasn't as though either of them was going to last over an hour at this rate, anyway. The handcuffs had fueled the heat burning between them until they were nearly consumed... and they had barely begun.

"Niisan!" Tsuzuku gasped, hips already moving in ready rhythm against his older brother's belly, as Hajime's lips traced the softly defined muscles of Tsuzuku's own stomach, hard beneath delicate flesh. Hajime tasted his brother, the musk and spices of that flawless golden skin engulfing his senses in an intoxicating delirium. He pressed one hand down hard against a sharp pelvic bone, holding Tsuzuku still, ceasing the rocking movements with gentle forcefulness. Tsuzuku voiced an inarticulate sound of discontent, straining against Hajime's grip.

"Matte," the older brother voiced quietly, shifting above his captive.

Tsuzuku slitted open hazed eyes beneath thick bangs, watching with deep appreciation and no further protest as Hajime moved smoothly off the mattress, standing beside the bed to remove his slacks and boxers. Hooded amber eyes tracked over shadow and highlight etched musculature in the darkness of the room. Hajime was powerful, proud, beautiful... and highly aroused.

"Niisan," Tsuzuku breathed, his cheeks heated, the soft utterance as much a plea as a seduction, the sensual twist of his body against the rumpled bedclothing an unmistakable invitation.

"Matte," Hajime instructed once more, though his voice was deeper, rougher this time, a predatory flicker flaring in heavy-lidded sapphire eyes.

Tsuzuku merely smiled, closing his eyes. Waiting as instructed.

Hajime did not waste time. He paused a moment to remove the small jar of ointment from the very back of the drawer of his bedside table, and then he returned to his position of benevolent dictator over his captive prisoner.

"Tsuzuku," he husked against his brother's lips, dropping the jar on the pillow close at hand, then sending graceful fingers tracing over that smooth chest and down softly tapered sides.

Tsuzuku sighed with pleasure and raised his chin to meet his brother's kiss, but at that moment, Hajime pulled his mouth away.

"Niisan," Tsuzuku reproached, but then he gasped, arching upward against Hajime as the older youth's lips closed harshly on the taut line of his neck, ravaging the delicate flesh. Tsuzuku moaned, thrashing under his brother's powerful body as the forcefully erotic sensations overwhelmed him. "Ah! Niisan!"

Hajime worked his way down Tsuzuku's writhing body with demanding hands followed by a hungry, ungentle mouth; suckling lips, hard teeth, a twirling tongue. He was careful not to cause real damage as he fueled the pleasure with pain, leaving marks that would fade before too much time had passed, but which stood out for the moment, stark against the golden glow of his younger brother's flesh. And beneath him, Tsuzuku voiced his unequivocal approval.

Tsuzuku caught his breath, tensing beneath Hajime as the older youth's ministrations moved below the level of his navel, chin bumping the head of his throbbing member. "Niisan!" he pleaded, striving to raise his hips in offering, but prevented by heavy hands holding them in place. "Niisan! Onegai!"

Hajime smirked, bending to gust warm breath over the leaking tip in a deliberately teasing mock caress. Rewarded by a sharp, inarticulate cry, he moved to taste Tsuzuku, tongue moving in a broad sweep over the heated flesh, taking up the traces.

"N-niisan!" Tsuzuku twisted beneath him, constrained by the cuffs ringing his wrists, the grip his brother still maintained upon his hips. "Niisan!"

Taking pity on Tsuzuku, Hajime drew the head of his erection between practiced lips, mouthing it as gently as before he had been harshly punishing. Tsuzuku groaned low in his chest, back arching, unable to move, to thrust more deeply into his brother's mouth, able only to lie there and feel what Hajime wished him to feel. Helpless, but certainly not passive. He flexed as best he could, still struggling to press his pelvis upwards, but not breaking the handcuffs, even though it was certainly within his power to do so.

After a few powerful strokes, some skilled tongue-work, after tasting Tsuzuku deeply, thoroughly, Hajime lifted his head, gasping for breath as his own arousal burned into his senses, almost painful against the cold spread further down the bed. He dared not prolong this oral teasing much longer, both for his brother's sake and his own. Otherwise the evening's fun might be ended early, leaving one or both of them very dissatisfied.

"Niisan!" Tsuzuku gasped, half in disappointment, half in relief. He had been close, too close, and he appreciated Hajime's retreat on a intellectual level, even if his body was begging for his older brother to continue until climax was reached.

"Are you ready?" Hajime asked, moving back up Tsuzuku's pinioned body to merge their lips, allowing Tsuzuku to taste his own seed in his brother's mouth, pressing their hot, pulsing members together between flat abdomens.

"Silly question," Tsuzuku breathed in strained amusement as he reached after Hajime's retreating mouth with an eager tongue. "It's time and past time. Niisan."

"Hai," Hajime agreed, reaching for the small jar. It was a wrench for both brothers to lose the heat of bodies close-pressed, to separate, but Hajime sat up between Tsuzuku's open thighs, scooting backwards a little. The small chill suffered in this moment would be more than swallowed and dispelled in the inevitable heat to come.

With warm, steady hands, well lubricated in the fragrant ointment, Hajime prepared his younger brother. Anointing and stretching his tight opening with careful fingers, until Tsuzuku was writhing beneath him, throatily demanding that Hajime get on with it. Not that the older Ryudo was faring much better, a thin sheen of sweat coating his flushed face, his tense shoulders and chest, desire and anticipation joining in a raging fire that settled in his lower belly and urged him as violently as Tsuzuku to finish this task, to enter his brother's eager body and merge them as one for eternal, endless moments.

Control snapped, Hajime set aside the jar -- after tending to his own hard member with the slick stuff and making sure the lid was screwed on tightly -- and took his place between Tsuzuku's sprawled legs.

Tsuzuku sent a heated, sultry look up at his brother as Hajime hooked gentle hands beneath his knees, lifting his thighs to make entry easier on both of them. Tsuzuku's arms were still stretched to either side of his head, wrists still cuffed obediently to the headboard. Hajime took a long, breathless moment -- torment to them both, but such sweet torment -- to appreciate the image his brother presented beneath him.

"Tsuzuku," he breathed, before pressing forward, pressing his rigid length into the ready, welcoming heat of his brother's body.

Tsuzuku held his gaze, fire and blazing passion burning in the dark amber of his eyes like undying sparks, pure pleasure stretching his flushed features. "Niisan," he gasped, eyes sliding closed and his head tipping back to expose the slim arch of his golden throat as Hajime seated himself fully. "H-hai! Niisan!"

Hajime groaned thickly, driving his hips forward, releasing his brother legs and tucking his thighs close against his waist as he grasped the bedspread to either side of Tsuzuku's body, and settled into an involuntary, powerful series of rolling thrusts. "Hai!" he echoed, head falling to rest in the crook of Tsuzuku's neck, breathing heavily against the raised arm, the smooth cheek, as he laboured to bring as much pleasure as possible to both their straining bodies.

Tsuzuku cried out beneath him, rising to meet each thrust, lean legs wrapped tightly around his brother's narrow hips. "Niisan!"

The intensity consumed them, overwhelmed them, drove them beyond their bodies even while waves of ecstasy shivered through sweat-dewed flesh. They were joined as one, perfect in their wholeness, in the sensations they could grant each other.

The elder brother gave of himself and at the same time received more than he expended in the effort. The younger brother offered all that he was and in return he gained all that his lover had to offer. It was about give and take; but both were giving, and both taking. The balance was perfected in sleek bodies, in entwined souls, in open hearts.

For endless, breath-sucking minutes, they moved together in the most primal, most elegant of physical converging. The pressure built, concentrated in the area where they came together, but spreading throughout their entire frames.

Wild ecstasy raged through their bodies, a rising inferno of dark fire consuming them alive, devouring their sense of self, their souls seeking and twining, truly becoming as one in the final moment if completion, as orgasm grasped both and held them in a personal eternity of divine rapture.

A sharp snapping sound broke the spell, dragging them both back to reality.

Both Ryudo brothers took a minute to recover as the fire faded to a low-lying, pleasant glow. Hajime buried his face in the hollow of Tsuzuku's throat, breathing the sweet scent of his brother's perspiration, the musk of his brother's seed, which had spilled over both their bellies. He remained buried within his brother's body, unwilling to break the bond they had just reaffirmed before it became necessary.

Tsuzuku lowered one arm, passion-darkened eyes examining the broken metal ringing his wrist with distant curiosity. "I hope you didn't pay much for these. Niisan."

Hajime chuckled wearily , then brushed gentle lips over the dark marks he had left on Tsuzuku's delicate neck. "I can get more where that came from...." He left that sentence open, not certain whether Tsuzuku would wish to play this game again.

The younger Ryudo was silent a long moment, hands moving to track over Hajime's back, the ruined handcuffs cold against Hajime's warm skin, seated about Tsuzuku's wrists like ugly bracelets.

"Tsuzuku?" Hajime prompted, lifting his dark head.

A strange smile curved the golden youth's lips, a fierce gleam in his amber eyes. "And next time, do I get to chain you?" he breathed, touching elegant fingertips to his brother's strong jaw.

Hajime's eyes widened, then a sudden jolt of anticipation shot through him at the thought. "You'd have to catch me first," he said, rich voice filled with affection and muted amusement.

Tsuzuku smirked up at his older brother. "I'll remember you said that," he murmured.

"I'm sure you will." Hajime grinned in return, then his face twisted in a pained expression. "But, please, make sure Owaru doesn't get a hold of them!"

Tsuzuku's delighted laughter echoed through the dark room, mingling with the gentle patter of rain still striking the glass of the window. "Hai~. Niisan."

*owari*

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