Terran Times 18 - Emerald Envisage (13 page)

“Okay? I’d say you’re better than okay, much better. You’re stunning.” Kira lifted a beer bottle to his lips and licked the glass tip, swirling his tongue before putting it to his mouth and taking a long swig.

Heat rushed his groin, making his cock pulse and swell.
This guy is too much and I’m not gay, damnit.
The stuff he did with that guy in high school didn’t mean anything. He was young. He didn’t know any better.

He forced his gaze away from the captivating young man in front of him to roam the bar for any sign of the opposite sex. His eyes stopped.

Two blonde women huddled together across from him at the bar, looking down at a cell phone.

One glanced up at him and winked.
Hell yes.
He smiled.

“So, what are you into, Jordan?”

“What?” He brought his gaze back to study Kira, whose demeanor changed to something bordering on sadness.

Kira’s brows furrowed and he bit his lower lip. “I asked you what you were into.”

“I’m not sure what you—”

“Hey,” a woman’s voice called out.

He twisted to face one of the blonde’s from the other side of the bar, now standing next to him.

Her hair fell in waves over an obviously fake pair of breasts, shoved up high under a low cut, red dress. Smoky eye makeup and deep-red lipstick made her face look too made up.

“Hey.” He smiled at her. This was more like it. This was what Margie talked about.

“So are you gay or straight?” Reaching her hand out, she ran a long fingernail down his chest. “Because my friend and I think gay guys are really hot.”

“Uh, I’m, I’m gay.” He threw an arm around Kira and drew him near. “This is my, um, my lover, Kira.”

Kira glanced up at him and back to the woman. “Really…” A smirk curled his lips. “Let’s dance, lover.”

The woman giggled. “Yeah, go dance for us and do something really hot.” She brought a short glass to her lips and took a sip from a skinny straw.

“Um, sure.” A tug pulled his arm away from his body and led him toward the dance floor. He turned as the beautiful Asian man towed him into a crowd of churning people and flashing lights. Kira’s body pressed flush against his and his arms wrapped around his waist, swaying in a languid dance to the beat.

Tingling and humming raced along his skin in every place Kira touched him. An ache started deep in his heart and spread down to pool in his groin. He let his hands run a timid trail up Kira’s back to rest on his shoulders. How he yearned to draw him near, to taste him. He licked his lips. What was happening to him? Why did he feel like this? He glanced at the blonde woman at the bar.

With a dumb smile, the woman held up her glass in solute.

He forced a grin and nodded. The ache in his groin deepened. He willed his body to move against Kira’s without giving into the strange urges invading his body.

Still swaying, Kira parted his legs with his knee, bringing their hips together.

Oh God, Kira’s hard.
His eyes closed as his swelling cock brushed and ground on Kira’s erection through their jeans. Pleasure seared into his groin and raced through his body. If he looked down, he’d be lost.

A soft moan escaped Kira as he placed his head on Jordan’s chest and drew him nearer.

He fought to keep control, to not let the delicious sensations flooding his body overrun his reason. Light flicked over his vision. Bodies danced in a serpentine rhythm around him, brushing and bumping against him, forcing his aching cock to grind over Kira’s.
Oh God, I can’t help it, I can’t stop, I can’t…

Kira’s lips claimed him, hard and insistent.

Need flooded out of his mouth as his tongue parted Kira’s lips and entered, probing and penetrating with all the frustrated desire in his soul. His arms seized him as if he’d never let him go.

Moaning, Kira lifted his arms to hold tight to his head. He thrust his hips harder, faster, into his, as if taking all he could from him.

The dance floor vanished. Fluffy snowflakes floated down from a gray sky. The scent of pine wafted in the air. Trees stood like sentries all around them. Silken cloth slid across his skin and a chill shivered down his spine. He opened his eyes.

Kira broke the kiss.

Lights flashed in his face. Thrumming streamed in through his ears and played inside his chest. People danced all around him. He shoved his dance partner away. “What did you do to me?”

Confusion and something resembling hope washed over Kira’s face. “What do you mean?”

“Did you give me some fucking date rape drug or something?” His lips still tingled and his groin begged for more.

“No, of course not. I would never do something like that to you.” He grasped Jordan’s arm. “Tell me what happened. Did you see anything?”

He yanked his arm away, glaring. “You drugged me.”

Lunging forward, Kira placed a rough kiss on his mouth while clutching his shoulders and tugging him down.

The snow, the cold, the trees, it all came back.
The sorrow, oh God, the sorrow.
Stinging filled his eyes as tears blurred his vision. The ache in his heart swallowed him, fed on him, ravaged him. “No!”

Kira held tight to his arm and hauled him across the dance floor, through a hallway and out the door.

He struggled to maintain his emotions as he trudged behind him. He had to get out of here. Something was not right. Something was very, very wrong. “Wh-where are we going?”

“To the loft.” Kira’s red braids swung across his back as he led him up the sidewalk, passed tall palm trees and squat cactus.

“What loft? You mean
my
loft?” Confusion muddled his mind. How would Kira know where he lived?

“No, mine.”

“Huh?” He lifted his eyes and looked up at the glass walls and clean cement lines of his building. “Y-you live here, too?”

“Shut up. I have something to show you.” Kira stopped at the entrance of the building and punched in a number to a keypad. A click and a tone sounded. He opened the door and led him inside.

After a quick ride in an elevator and a walk down his hallway, they stopped at a door down the hall and opposite to his own.

He looked at the door. The familiar jade, tiger knocker hung at eye level, snarled at him, as if daring him to enter. “Hey, you live here?” He pointed at the knocker. “I’ve walked by this thing a million times.”

Kira shoved a key into the lock. “I know.” He opened the door, stepped inside and waited for him to enter before shutting it.

“Who are you?” His eyes tried to focus in the darkness. City lights twinkled through the windows, casting a faint glow inside the loft.

The beautiful Asian man flicked a wall switch, turning on dimmed recessed lighting in the high ceiling. “I’m Kira, remember?”

He startled, stepping back. “Holy shit.” The configuration of Kira’s loft was the same as his, in reverse, but all the same furniture, just arranged in opposite positions. He faced him. “Who are you?”

Kira’s brows furrowed and he lowered his head. “I hoped you’d remember by now.”

Fear threaded through his body and settled in his bones. He let his gaze wander back over the contents of the loft. A red kimono with a gold design rested in a glass case hung on the wall. A blue kimono with the same gold design hung in another glass case next to it. A wave of sorrow washed over him. The tears returned.

“What do you see?” Kira stepped closer.

“Nothing.” His voice wavered. He walked passed him to the living area and looked around. “Japanese artifacts…” Long swords in sheaths, porcelain dolls and ivory carvings littered the tables and walls around him. They taunted him, toyed with something inside him, pleading to be released.
Oh, how I hate them.
But why? He never knew, never could quite put his finger on it.

“What do you feel?” Kira walked out to the living area to stand beside him.

Rage came out of nowhere to lodge in his gut. His fists and teeth clenched. “I hate you.” He glared at him.

Frowning, Kira’s brows tensed and tears shimmered in his eyes. “Do you?” He wrangled his fingers in front of him. “Please, I only did it for you.”

The anger vanished. Heartache and longing flooded his heart, taking his breath away, making his lips purse. His eyes focused on the red kimono. A chill ran down his spine. The scent of pine floated into his nose.

Kira pulled him close and placed an anxious kiss over his lips.

He ran through deep snow. His heart raced. His blue kimono billowed out behind him. Where was Kira?

Steady footsteps raced up behind him.

“Hurry, Kira.” Reaching out, he grasped Kira’s hand. They ran together.

Shouts echoed off the trees. Thrashing and movement filled the air. Kira fell.

Red, blood red, even under Kira’s red kimono.

“No!” He shook his head. Heavy tears tumbled down both cheeks. His chest heaved as a sob escaped him. “What are you doing to me? Tell me!” Seizing him by the shoulders, He shook the lean body in his hands.

“I’m sorry!”

“Talk to me, damnit. No more games.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Talk to me!”

“I’m sorry, Riku!” Kira’s breath hitched and he cried out. “I’m so sorry.”

His motions stopped. “What did you call me?”

Kira lifted his hands and covered his face as his shoulders hunched over. “Riku. You are Riku.”

He shut his eyes tight, as if it could make it all go away. The pain returned. An exquisite feeling he knew this beautiful man and knew him well, loved him even, and lost him. The name resonated somewhere deep in his soul. “Damnit.” He wrapped his arms around Kira, drawing him into his chest. Soft droplets fell onto his shirt, wetting it.

“Don’t hate me, please. I only did it so you would live.” Kira let out a soft sob.

“Listen, talk to me. Tell me what this is all about. Because right now, I’m thoroughly confused and really feeling and seeing some weird shit.” He placed a gentle kiss on his cheek and held him tighter. It felt right, natural somehow.

Kira sniffled and lifted his head, gazing up into his eyes. “We were lovers hundreds of years ago, in Japan. There was a war and our clan lost. We became fugitives and ran. We made a promise to each other. If we died, we would search the other out in the next life so we could be together again. I’ve searched through many lives and finally, I found you here, in America.”

“I…” Visions of blood, searing heat burning into his flesh, sharp pain and cutting punctures over his skin flashed across his mind. He gasped. “Tell me more. How did it happen? How did you die?” Was this where his nightmares came from, a past life?

Kira kissed his lips.

A hiss raced passed his head.
Arrows, they’re shooting arrows.
“Kira, run faster!” He tightened his grip on Kira’s hand. A tug dragged him down, toppling into the snow.

He scampered around on hands and knees, frantic to see why Kira lay still in the snow beside him. The end of an arrow stood tall out of his black hair. It pierced his skull. Blood pooled in the snow, melting it. “Oh, God, oh God, oh, God…” Strong hands yanked him up, away from his dead lover.

Kira’s lips left his.

Hot tears trickled down his cheeks. “You were shot with an arrow.”

Kira gave an unsure nod. “I died for you. I took that arrow so you would live.”

The old nightmares rushed to the surface in his mind. A dungeon of wailing shackled men, of pain and hunger and rape. “It was because of you they took me. Because of you they tortured me. I wanted to die, you know that? I would have gladly died with you. Instead, they took me to that, that place and kept me alive, only enough so I would suffer with your memory.”

“I’m sorry. I only wanted to save you,” Kira whispered. “Don’t hate me.”

“We should have gone together. It wasn’t your decision to make. I’ll never forgive you.” Flashes of death and churning emotions swirled in his mind, mixing with the memories from too many macabre nightmares. “Why are you here?”

“Because you promised me you’d always be with me.” Kira’s lower lip trembled and he held out shaky fingers to Jordan’s cheek. Unshed tears glimmered in his eyes.

The hurt and bitterness choking his heart unwound. No matter what, he couldn’t bear to see him in such agony. He drew him close again and rested his cheek on the top of his head. Everything made sense. Everything felt right. The nightmares, the fear, the longing for something he could never quite put a name to. “How did you find me?”

Kira rested his head against his shoulder and clutched at his T-shirt behind his back, keeping a tight hold on him. “At first I saw psychics, hundreds of them. Then I learned to follow my own instincts and let everyday coincidences show me the way. Maybe it was sheer will, but whatever it was, I finally made it. Each lifetime I got closer to you.”

He was stunned. “Are you trying to tell me your memories passed from one life to the next?”

“I saw you in my dreams. You always called to me there.”

He looked off across the room in a daze. “I was lost and angry. I couldn’t find you.” It all became so clear. It was Kira who haunted him in those crazy dreams, Kira who chased him, who called out to him.