Title:
Seventeen Syllables
Author: Kirathaune
LJ: http://kirathaune.livejournal.com/
Character(s)/Pairing(s): Koumyou/Ukoku
Rating/Warning: R
Summary: In a haiku, beauty can be found in everything. Everything?
Disclaimers: I wish I owned them. It might be fun to own Ukoku...
Notes: The first haiku is by Matsuo Basho, the
rest are mine. (yeah, making up erotic haiku in the
car on the way to work was ...interesting. O.o)
A full moon hung low in the sky, and the air was filled with the chirping of
crickets and cicadas. The autumn evening was unseasonably warm, and both Koumyou and Ukoku had let their robes
pool about their waists as they enjoyed a jar of sake on the porch of the guest
house where they were staying.
"Ah, what a concert we are enjoying tonight," Koumyou
commented as he sipped his sake. Pine boards creaked as he leaned back against
a support post. "This insect serenade reminds me of a haiku by the poet Basho:
"Calm and serene
the sound of a cicada
penetrates the rock.
"Isn't it amazing how so few words can evoke such beauty?" Stubbing
his spent cigarette, Koumyou reached for his pack and
tapped out a replacement. There was the snick of a lighter, and Ukoku's hand reached up to first light Koumyou's
cigarette, then his own. Twin breaths drew in, then a
haze of exhaled smoke settled over the two men. Koumyou
refilled his sake cup.
Ukoku took another drag off his cigarette, this time
blowing the smoke at his companion. He sniffed derisively. "I never
understood what's so special about haiku. I mean, I appreciate the mental
challenge of the syllables and all that, but otherwise it's a waste of time.
All that thought for just three lines."
Hooded eyes slid his way. "It would seem that all you care about is the
challenge. The syllables and structure merely provide a frame for the picture
the words create. Can you not enjoy a thing for its own sake? In a haiku, the
smallest things can be extraordinary, and beauty can be found in everything."
Ukoku snorted. "Everything?"
He stubbed out his cigarette and offered it to Koumyou.
"Here – find beauty in this." This is going to be fun.
Koumyou took the cigarette butt from him and made a
show of examining it closely, bringing it to his nose and inhaling deeply. He
then gazed at the moon for a few moments, brows drawn together in
concentration.
Ukoku rolled his eyes. "Get on with it, old man."
Koumyou's attention returned to the smirking monk. "Tch. Always so impatient." He held his hand out
between them, the cigarette stub laying in his palm.
He leaned forward and kept his eyes on Ukoku's as he
recited:
"Smoke traces linger
like the memory of lips
gently caressing."
Koumyou waved the cigarette at Ukoku,
then settled back against the post and retrieved his sake cup. His face was
impassive but his eyes were sparkling as he flicked the stub into the bowl they'd
been using as an ashtray. "Well?"
Ukoku opened his mouth, then
shut it again. He should have known better than to challenge Koumyou. He grudgingly conceded that the small poem did
make him see the cigarette stub in a different light… a rather sexy
light at that. His gaze settled steadily on the older man. "I guess maybe
you can make a haiku about anything." He reclined back on his
elbows on the floorboards of the porch, the smirk still on his lips. "Make
one about me." Yes. Try and find beauty in me. Because
there is none.
The corner of Koumyou's mouth twitched. "Only one? My dear boy, don't limit me so."
A gloved had reached out and slender fingers tangled in Ukoku's
hair, stroking unkempt brunette locks. Ukoku's breath
caught. He had not expected Koumyou to touch him, to…
caress him like that. Yet another way this unpredictable man could surprise
him. Koumyou's voice was low and musical as he
murmured:
"Dark as raven's wing
silky strands through my fingers
shimmer in moonlight."
Fingers drifted away from Ukoku's hair to trace a path
down his stubbled jaw, and he gasped as rough
fingertips ghosted over his lips. A stray thumb stayed behind and lingered on
his lower lip, and Koumyou's eyes focused on Ukoku's mouth as he spoke again:
"Soft pink sentinels
guarding a secret treasure
entreat questing lips."
The thumb left to join its fellows. The next thing Ukoku
knew, Koumyou's mouth was on his, warm and insistent.
He felt himself being gently pushed down against the wooden planks, and he
reached a hand up behind Koumyou's head to keep that
mouth against his. When Koumyou's tongue swept across
his lower lip, Ukoku opened his mouth, inviting more.
Koumyou accepted the invitation, and Ukoku groaned as the monk's tongue slid into his mouth,
dancing against his own, tasting of sake and tobacco. He savored the flavors,
sending his tongue into Koumyou's mouth to further
explore and taste.
Koumyou's hand tugged at the hem of Ukoku's undergarment, then pushed
the black silk up above his chest, briefly skimming along his ribcage before
coming to rest right above his heart. Ukoku could
feel the wild drumbeat of his heart echoing off the palm resting on his chest
as Koumyou's lips left his to whisper in his ear:
"A heart in its cage
flutters like a frightened bird
eager to escape."
His heart was trying to escape – it was trying to jump out of his damn
chest. But not from fear – shit no, but because this felt so
goddamn good.
A moan escaped Ukoku's throat as lips kissed their
way across the bunched-up silk and teased an exposed nipple to hardness.
Meanwhile, Koumyou's hand left his thudding chest to
slide lazily down his abdomen. Wandering lips came back to his for a few heated
kisses, then nipped and kissed their way along his jaw, ending at his earlobe.
Fingers worked deftly at the buttons of his jeans, eliciting more moans as Koumyou's hand slipped under the band of his boxers and
discovered a different hardness.
At that moment, Ukoku's universe shrank to three
things: Koumyou's mouth nipping and sucking on his
earlobe; Koumyou's hand on his cock, stroking him
with almost unbearable leisure; and the moon, boring down on him from above.
Moonlight filled his vision, its light blazing into every corner of his being,
as leisurely strokes quickened and brought him to a shuddering, gasping climax.
He cried out Koumyou's name as he came, his hand
blindly reaching out towards the pale sphere above him.
Lips sought his again, then Koumyou
withdrew his hand and sat back up. With a sigh of satisfaction the monk lit a
cigarette, inhaled, then blew a cloud of smoke at Ukoku. "Well? Have you achieved any enlightenment?"
A playful smile danced on Koumyou's lips, his eyes
crinkled in amusement.
Perhaps for the first time in his life Ukoku was
incapable of coherent thought. He tried to get both his breathing and his
whirling thoughts under control. All he could do was stare at the other monk
while his pulse thundered in his ears, his body still trembling from his
release. This beautiful man…this beautiful, ridiculous man… finds value in
me. Finds beauty in me. Koumyou's
hands were now folded primly in his lap but Ukoku
knew they were really inside him, enfolding his heart in an irrevocable grasp. Koumyou.
He clambered back up and moved towards Koumyou,
taking the monk's cigarette away and crushing it out. Reaching behind the monk's
head, he pulled on Koumyou's hair tie and released a
cascade of ash blonde hair. Ukoku placed his own
gloved hand on a silk-covered chest – now it was Koumyou's
turn to be pushed down against the rough pine planks. Those gentle, laughing
eyes were open now, locked with his and glittering with desire. Desire for me.
Leaning over Koumyou, his movement blocked the pale
moonlight illuminating the man below him and cast him in deep shadow. His deep shadow. Capturing Koumyou's
lips in a deep kiss, he pushed his tongue into Koumyou's
mouth, thrusting and sucking hungrily. The moans were coming from Koumyou now, and Ukoku reveled in
the knowledge that he was causing them. Ukoku
lifted his mouth from Koumyou's and pulled away
enough to stare at the man sprawled languidly beneath him. He reached out and
grasped a handful of long, pale hair, winding it through his fingers before he
brought it up to his cheek. He turned his face to kiss the silken strands, then
leaned back down, his mouth hovering above Koumyou's
as he whispered:
"Touchable moonlight
spilling blonde beams on my hand
its light beckons me."
Koumyou smiled at him. "Ah, Ukoku… such a fast learner."
|
_____________ |