Only The Ring Finger Knows Fan Fiction ❯ Naked ❯ 3: The Cure for the Affliction ( Chapter 3 )

Naked Sequel to:  “Affliction” Written by:chochowilliams Disclaimer:I do not own Only the Ring Finger Knowsor the characters from it.  I do not make any money from the writing of this story. Summary:  Once again, a growing conspiracy surrounds Wataru and Yuichi’s relationship.  Can they make it through this latest scheme unscathed? Chapter Summary:  Yuichi has a plan that will put the halt on any more plans his brother or anyone else may have to come between the newly reunited lovers. Warning:M/M, OOC, hentai, implied self-mutilation Inserts:  A/N:  Thank you to Nanaya, takara94, Acherona for your reviews.   +---+---+---+   (Last Time)   Tears prickled Wataru’s eyes.  He could only shake his head.  If he had an answer he would, but he did not.  The fact of the matter was he had been so overwhelmed.  A thousand different emotions had been born at once within him.  His whole world had come crashing down around him.  Everything he used to believe in had been taken from him.  At the time, he believed that he had been dumped, exchanged for some woman halfway around the world.  Was he not good enough?  Was he too fat?  Too ugly?  Too short?  Was he not worthy enough of Yuichi’s affection?  Was he good enough for nothing more than a brief fling before his lover returned home to his lovely wife and beautiful children?   “Why the hell would you do something so stupid?” Yuichi exploded.   Wataru winced as Yuichi grip on him tightened.   “…Why?”  Yuichi’s tight, angry voice descended into sobs.   A tear slipped down Wataru’s cheek as he pried open an eye cautiously.  His dark eyes went wide.  “Wha…?  Ka-Kazuki?!”  Yuichi was crying!  He never saw him cry before.  Never.  Wataru was unsure what to do.  He had never been in this position.  Usually it was the other way around.  Wataru did not like to admit it, but he shed many a tear in front of Yuichi in the past, but Yuichi had always been there to comfort him.  This was new ground.   A startled gasp escaped into the confines of the bathroom.  Neither was sure from whom it came.   Wataru lifted a hand slowly to his face.  He touched his cheek tentatively and winced.  A renewal of tears prickled his eyes.   Yuichi lifted his hand up and stared at it in a horrified stupor.  It was red and throbbing.  He could not belief he just did that!   Tears flowed freely down Wataru’s face.  Yuichi…just hit him!  Stunned, Wataru turned to stare wide-eyed at Yuichi.   “Wataru…I-”   With a sob, Wataru threw himself at Yuichi, who staggered backwards beneath the impact.  Wataru hugged his arms tightly around Yuichi and burying his face in Yuichi’s shirt, sobbed quietly.  “I’m sorry!  I’m sorry,” he cried over and over again.  “I’m sorry.”   Yuichi could feel Wataru’s tears soaking through his shirt, but didn’t much care.  Nor did he care that the hem of his pants were damp from the remnants of Wataru’s shower.  He just buried his face in Wataru’s hair and held the boy as he cried.  The only thing that mattered was having Wataru in his arms again.   +---+---+   Chapter 3: The Cure for the Affliction   Squirming, Wataru once again protested as the older boy carried him wet and naked out of the bathroom, through the dressing room and out into the apartment.  “Kazuki!”   “Hush, Wataru,” was the only thing Yuichi said.   Wataru fumed at being treated like he was some sort of helpless heroine, a princess locked away by her evil stepmother awaiting her prince to rescue her.  Yuichi knew it too, but of course, he never did listen.  He loved taking care of Wataru, even more so because it seemed to irritate his younger partner so much.  Damn him!  “Kazuki, put me down!  C’mon!  It’s embarrassing,” Wataru pleaded.  He flinched as he heard the whiny sound of his voice.   “What’s to be embarrassed about?” Yuichi asked as he took the dozen steps to the large twin bed in his studio apartment.   Uncomfortable to the nth degree, Wataru squirmed hoping Yuichi would get fed up and drop him.   “Stop that,” Yuichi ordered as he stopped by the foot of the bed.   Wataru gave a startled yelp as Yuichi slapped his bare bottom.  He flung a glare at his boyfriend.   Yuichi pretended innocence.   A gasp echoed through the still apartment as Wataru suddenly found himself airborne.  With his heart beating rapidly from within the confines of his throat, Wataru bounced lightly on the mattress before tumbling backwards.  He ignored the light chuckling from above him.  Pushing himself up on his elbows, Wataru gave a started when he found Yuichi’s face suddenly mere inches from his own.  Wataru felt his face go up in flames.  His heart, which had been starting to slow down, sped back up, but this time for a completely different reason.  It was not fair.  The reprimand he was about to force upon his boyfriend of one and a half years died an instantaneous death on his lips, the thoughts not even half-formed.  Damn Yuichi and that pretty face of his.  It always amazed and baffled Wataru at how much the older boy seemed to affect him, even now nearly two years into their relationship.  “What?  Kazuki?  What are you doing all of a sudden?”   “What do you mean ‘what’?” Yuichi shot back lightly, cocking his head to the side and grinning that heart-stopping smile of his.   Wataru fumbled with vocalizing the words that suddenly felt like jumbo sized boulders in his mouth.  “I, I, uhm, I mean, that is…”  He felt like an idiot and was sure Yuichi would say as much.   Yuichi pulled back and sat down on the bed besides Wataru who pushed himself up into a sitting position with a grateful sigh.   Yuichi’s affect on him was so great; it was as if Wataru was in a perpetual state of drowning.  Now that he could form a coherent thought again, Wataru wished he could not.  There was a sudden tightness in his chest that lodged a sob in his throat.  He loved Yuichi and would always love him, but Wataru did not want to be here right now.  He wished oblivion would open up and swallow him whole.  Bringing his knees to his chest, Wataru wrapped his arms tightly around his legs and rested his chin on his knees, feeling strangely self-conscious in his birthday suit in front of Yuichi.  It was stupid.  He knew it.  Yuichi had seen him naked countless times before.  His discomfort stemmed not from the problem that he was as naked as the day he was born, but from the problems that were attributed with that nakedness.  His sins were on display.  They were bared for Yuichi to see.  He did not want Yuichi to see him.  Not like this.  Guilt formed the hot sting of tears in his eyes.  The studio apartment blurred and doubled behind the thick veil.   Yuichi stared at Wataru’s hunched form out of the corner of his eye and sighed heavily.  Drawing a leg up, he propped his head in his hand and rested his elbow on his knee.  Folding his other leg under his raised one, Yuichi rubbed slow, lazy circles on Wataru’s damp back with his free hand.  He was not sure if he was trying to soothe himself or his boyfriend.  “Wataru,” he began.   “I’m sorry,” Wataru whispered.  His voice was thick with tears.  He sniffled.   Typical Wataru, Yuichi thought with a scoff.  “What are you apologizing for?”   Wataru shook his head.  He wasn’t even sure why himself.  For making Yuichi worry unnecessarily about him?  For being a lousy partner?  For being such a disappointment?  It always seemed he was messing things up somehow.  How Yuichi could possibly love someone like him was beyond him.  He was a pathetic, sorry excuse of a man.   Yuichi reached out and ruffled Wataru’s hair.   Wataru scowled over his shoulder.  He fingered his damp chestnut locks back into place.   Yuichi chuckled.  Then sighed.  He picked at a loose thread on the bedspread.  A frown marred his features as he slipped deep into thought.  “I love you, you know.”   Startled, Wataru blinked.   Raising his head, Yuichi snorted as he studied Wataru.  He thought Wataru looked ridiculous with his hands on his head and with that idiotic expression on his face.  He chuckled lightly.   A rosy tiny frosted Wataru’s cheeks.  He could not seem to help it.  Yuichi had that affect on him.  He always had.   “It shouldn’t come as such a surprise.”   “I know,” Wataru mumbled.   Unfolding himself, Yuichi slid closer to Wataru until their body heat mingled.  He tucked a lock of hair behind Wataru’s ear.  “Then…?”   Wataru shook his head.  A tear slipped free of its confines and slid slowly down his cheek before he was able to scrub it away.   Wataru did not have to say anything for Yuichi to understand what was going through that empty head of his.  “You’re an idiot,” he announced matter-of-factly.   The heaviness of Wataru’s depression intensified.  He moved his arms from their death grip around his legs and folded them across his middle and curled into a tight ball of misery.   Yuichi leaned forward and whispered in Wataru’s ear, “And I love you Wataru Fujii.”   “But-!”  Wataru started to protest, but Yuichi’s finger against his lips stopped him.   Yuichi brushed away a tear with his thumb and felt his heart ache at the melancholy clearly displayed on his beloved’s face.  “We certainly screwed things up this time, huh?”   “Kazuki…”   Yuichi shook his head.  Cupping Wataru’s cheek, he smiled.   Wataru tipped his head into the warmth of Yuichi’s touch.  It felt scorching against the clamminess of his skin.   The smile slipped and a serious mask took its place.  “I told you Wataru.  The only one who can make you smile, make you angry, make you cry, is me (1).  Right?  I love you.  Don’t you ever forget that,” Yuichi ordered.   A sob escaped through parted lips.  Wataru smiled through a torrent of tears that spilled down his face.  Sniffling, he nodded.   “Never doubt us.  Never doubt me or my feelings for you.  Never doubt my commitment to us.  Got it?”   Wataru nodded again.  “I love you, too, Kazuki.”   The soft smile returned, but with it a hint of slyness.   Wataru’s heart jolted and started racing in anticipation.  “Ka-Kazuki,” he whispered breathlessly as Yuichi lowered his head toward him.   When their lips were but a hairsbreadth away, Yuichi said softly, “I don’t care what you do, what you may say, as long as I am here.”  He laid his hand against Wataru’s chest.  He could feel Wataru’s heart beating rapidly against his hand and smiled smugly at the knowledge that he was the reason why.  Him.  Not Masanobu Asaka.  Not Miho Ookusa.  Not Wataru’s ex-girlfriend.  Him.  The son of a dentist.  “And here.”  This time he poked a finger at Wataru’s forehead.   Wataru smacked the hand aside with a mock scowl.   Yuichi chuckled lightly.  “And here.”   Large, dark eyes locked with his beloved’s smoldering twin orbs and grasping the finger that rested lightly against his lips, Wataru pressed a chaste, openmouthed kiss against the fingertip that was slightly roughened and calloused from work with the Renovation Research Society.  A haughty smile crossed his lips when he heard Yuichi catch his breath.  But before he could revel in his glory, he suddenly found himself flat on his back.  His hands were pinned together above his head and Yuichi was kneeling over him from between his splayed legs.  Wataru flushed hotly at the compromising position.  “Ka-Kazuki,” he whispered nervously over a heart that was racing.  Wataru was sure it would explode or give out from the strain and overexertion Yuichi placed it under.   Being careful to keep their bodies from touching any more than they already were, Yuichi leaned over Wataru and whispered, “I love you,” in his ear.   Wataru caught his breath as his heart leapt.   When Yuichi captured his lips, Wataru was lost.   +---+---+   It had only been a couple of weeks, but it felt like a lifetime had passed since he last tasted Yuichi on his lips, smelled the mixture of sweat, paint, sawdust and fried foods that clung to Yuichi like cologne, felt the heaviness pressed down upon him, felt the pleasurable ache between his legs and the large rough hands skimming over him, touching, seeking, finding places on his body even Wataru never knew existed, felt the hot breath caressing his skin and heard their mingled exclamations of ecstasy echoing out into the night.  He was being driven to the edge of insanity and his chauffer was Yuichi Kazuki.     “…Nn…!”   The sweet melody of Wataru’s voice called out again and again.   “Ugh…!”   He stuttered out Yuichi’s name, entangled his fingers into the blond locks tickling his abdomen.  He arched off the bed as his obsidian eyes, glazed over in a passion only two people who shared one soul, one heart, one body can know, rolled back.  His mouth hung open as soundless words filled the room.   This was it!  This was what nobody else could ever do to him.  This was what he could never give to anyone else, but Yuichi.   “Aah…!  Aah…!”   He cried out incoherently as waves of pleasure crashed over him again and again.   Was a storm brewing off into the distance or had night fallen already?  Wataru found he could not tell as the apartment was thrown deeper into twilight.  As he thrashed wildly beneath the delicious weight of his partner who continued to play and tease him, neither did he seem to care one way or another.   “Wataru.”   Wataru shuddered at the sound of his name on his lover’s lips.  “Aah…!  Ugh…!  God,” he chanted as he unconsciously pushed against the pressure that traveled up his spine.   “I love you, Wataru,” Yuichi murmured, his voice thick with need.   Wataru tightened his grip on Yuichi’s sweat slickened shoulders and rose up to meet the loving ministrations.  “Nn…!  Nn…!”   It was a dance as old as time.  A ceremonial dance.  A rite only a privileged few had the honor of being part of.  As Wataru was rocked, as the sweat pooled around their entwined bodies, as their gasps and moans and erotic cried rose and fell around them, as the heat and friction increased, as the pressure built, Wataru found himself crying.  Yuichi loved him.  Despite everything.  Here he was filling him with his essence.  No matter what Wataru’s sins were, Yuichi forgave him time and again.  How did he get to be so lucky?  “Y-yeah,” Wataru stuttered through his fever.  “I love you too…!  Ugh…!”   He tightened his hold on Yuichi and refused to let go even when they both collapsed from exhaustion into a sweaty mass and their voices had gone hoarse.   +---+---+   (The Next Morning)   When awareness finally returned, so did the reality of what the two of them did.  All night.  Neither had held back.  Never before had Yuichi and he been so…carefree.  Inhibitions were thrown to the wind.  Wataru could vaguely recollect some hammering on the wall above their heads that had nothing to do with their frenzied lovemaking as well as irritated raised voices that belonged to neither of them.  The realization that they may have been too…enthusiastic…sent Wataru’s face aflame in embarrassment.  The knowledge that everybody in the building knew what had transpired between Yuichi and him last night was almost too much to bear.  Dear God!  How could he possibly show his face again?  Wataru slapped his hands over his face and groaned.   Sighing, Wataru dropped his arms.  He stared up at the ceiling and waited for the frantic beating of his heart to return to normal and for his embarrassment to die.  It was not working.  Every time he thought it was, Yuichi’s face would pop into his mind and he would have to repeat the process all over again.  Maybe he should just resign himself?  It’s been nearly two years and the fire was only growing and burning hotter with each passing day.  If they could only manage to keep the firefighters away, who knows how long this fire could keep burning.  If Wataru had his way, possibly forever.  The thought of reaching eternity with Yuichi sent his heart into a dizzying flutter.   Wataru swept his arm out in an attempt to reach Yuichi, but his hand hit something else instead.  His brows went down in confusion.  Curious, he sat up, or started to.  He halted in mid-motions as the most intense pain he has ever experienced swept through him.  It pierced up his spine and throbbed wickedly from between his legs.  It nearly brought tears to his eyes.  He had never been in this much agony before.  Not even after the first time he was with Yuichi.  Wataru could just picture the smug smile on Yuichi’s face.  It had Wataru sneering.  Why Yuichi loved to do this to him, why it amused Yuichi to rile him up like this was beyond him.  But then again, maybe Wataru allowed him to do it?  Pursing his lips, Wataru slowly pushed himself up.  He gritted his teeth against the waves of pain that flared through him and squeezed his eyes shut.  He really was going to murder Yuichi for this.  He took slow deep breaths and waited as the pain subsided.  Once it had dulled, at least momentarily, Wataru reached out and grabbed what turned out to a black velvet jewelry box.  Once again, he drew his brows in confusion.  What was this?  And where was Yuichi?  “Kazuki?” he called.   “…Minute,” came the muffled voice from the bathroom.   Wataru turned over the small case in his hands.  It sort of reminded him of his mother’s jewelry box that she kept her old wedding ring.  He caught his breath.  Obsidian eyes grew wide and his heart skipped a beat.  But Wataru chuckled and shook the notion away before it was fully formed.  After a quick glance at the closed bathroom door, Wataru pried open the lid.  He had an eerie sense of déjà vu as his breath hitched.  His heart thudded in his chest.   “Oh, my God,” he whispered, misty eyed.  With trembling hands, Wataru pulled out a wide silver band.  It was a beautiful unisex design that had Touko’s name written all over it.  “Oh, my God.”   Wataru looked closer at the ring and noticed that the center of the ring looked oddly familiar.  And that was when he realized why.  It was his ring.  The one he exchanged with Yuichi all those many, many months ago.  The one Masanobu took in order to blackmail him with.  He recognized it immediately.  It was nestled snuggly within a ditch around the middle of the band.  But how?  What was going on?   “It may just look better one me.”   Startled, Wataru’s head snapped up and around.  He hissed through gritted teeth and moaned as spasm jolted through him at the unexpected movement.  Wataru ignored the light chuckle.  Once the pain receded, though he could feel it pacing impatiently out on the sidelines, he glanced at Yuichi who stood showered and dressed, looking refreshed in the door leading into the dressing room.  He was also holding up his left hand besides his face.   “Kazuki.”   Wataru’s mind was overwhelmed.  He had no idea what was going on.   “What d’you think?”  Yuichi pushed out of the doorway and strolled across the room towards the bed.  “Hm, Wataru?”   When Yuichi was standing at the foot of the bed, Wataru noticed that their rings matched.  “Kazuki?”  Wataru spoke up cautiously.   “Ya know, Wataru,” Yuichi said as he sat down on the edge of the bed.  He turned thoughtful.  “People in our position should act more familiarly toward each other.  Don’t you think?”   With a blank expression on his face, Wataru stared across the bed at Yuichi.  “What?” he asked in a deadpanned voice.   Yuichi stared at Wataru slyly out of the corner of his eye and tried unsuccessfully to hold back the smug expression.  “Don’t you think it’d be more appropriate if you were to call me ‘Yuichi’?”   Wataru blinked.  Why was Yuichi pushing this?  What did it matter what…he…called…him?  With a gasp, Wataru’s eyes went wide in surprise and shock and bewilderment.  He glanced from the ring and then up at Yuichi.  His one year senior boyfriend blurred behind a veil of tears.  “Ka...zuki,” he whispered.  Was he asking what Wataru thought he was asking?  Or was he just reading more into it than was actually there?  God, he hoped not.  He really really hoped not.   The bed shifted and wobbled.  “That’s ‘Yuichi’, Wataru,” Yuichi corrected.   Wataru shuddered as Yuichi’s breath caressed his cheek.   “I love you.”   Gulping, Wataru turned his head and met Yuichi’s gaze.  He ran his tongue over dry lips.   Without taking his gaze from his beloved’s face, Yuichi took the ring out of Wataru’s fingers and holding his trembling hand within his, slid the silver band onto the left ring finger.  It was a perfect fit.
Wataru caught his breath when Yuichi pressed his lips against the back of his hand.   “I love you, Wataru and don’t you ever forget that.”   With tears in his eyes, Wataru shook his head.  Never.  Never ever.   Smiling, Yuichi cupped Wataru’s face.  His thumb brushed away the droplets that slid down Wataru’s cheeks as a serious expression skated over his face.  “I’m sorry.”   The statement threw Wataru for a loop.  “What?’ he asked in confusion.   “For Mizuho.  For everything.”   “Ka-Yuichi,” Wataru corrected himself.  “You don’t-“   Yuichi laid a finger across Wataru’s lips.  “But I do.  If I would’ve just-“   Wataru gently removed Yuichi’s finger and smiled up at him.  “There’s nothing to forgive.”   Yuichi was not too sure.  “Wataru…”   Wataru shook his head.  “You remember what you told me?  You said, ‘No matter what the truth is, if your feelings are directed at me, then sit up straight and look at me’ (2).”   Chuckling, Yuichi conked their foreheads together.  Wataru was definitely too good for him.  “Then is that a yes?”   +---+---+   (The United States)   Mizuho stood in the doorway of her Brownstone with her parents besides her.  Together, they scanned the dark, silent house.  “Yuichi,” she called hopefully.   Silence.   It couldn’t be, she thought.  She clutched at her chest as her heart gave a painful jolt.  Tears prickled her eyes.  She had finally been released from the hospital and had expected to finally be able to spend some time with Yuichi and talk.  She had expected to find him here waiting for her.  She had not been expecting to return to an empty house.   “Maybe he just ran up to the store?”   Mizuho shook her head as the tears started to flow.   “Maybe he left a note?”   “Yes, something could have come up unexpectedly.”   Oh, something came up alright.  She slapped a hand over her mouth as she sobbed quietly.  Once again, she had driven her one true love away.   +---+---+   (Japan)   He would have loved for the two of them top be able to walk into the sunset together.  What he wanted more than anything was to have his “happily, ever after” with Wataru.  But it was far from over.  There were still their parents and the small problem of Shohei Kazuki and Masanobu Asaka that had to be dealt with.  Yuichi believed, he had to believe, that both Wataru’s and his parents would more easily accept the true nature of Wataru’s and his relationship than Shohei ever could.  His big brother only wanted hat was best for him.  Yuichi understood that.  He himself was the same way with Wataru.  The problem lay in that Shohei just could not seem to understand that what made Yuichi happy, what was ultimately best for him was to be able to spend the rest of his life with the man curled up next to him.  Shohei feared for him.   He could never introduce Wataru as his girlfriend.  They could not stroll casually through the park holding hands.  Neither could give the other a child.  A legal marriage was out of the question unless they wanted to immigrate to Canada or some other place where marriage between two people of the same sex had been legalized.  They could never have a “normal” relationship like Shohei and his wife Kirie.  Or so that was what Shohei believed.   Yes, there were some sacrifices both Wataru and he had to live with, but as long as he feel asleep at night and woke up in the morning with Wataru by his side, than he had no regrets and he knew that Wataru felt the same.   No, he could not introduce Wataru as his ‘girlfriend” for Wataru was all male.  Therefore he could introduce Wataru as his boyfriend, his lover, his partner.  Even as his fiancé.  If he cared one lick what society thought of gay couples, he would never have started dating Wataru in the first place.  He would not have chosen him over his stupid reputation, any of the thousands of girls who claimed to be in love with him, Mizuho and quite possibly even his family.  If he wanted to hold Wataru’s hand as they made their way through downtown Tokyo, then he would do so.  It was as simple as that.  As for children, just because neither of them was a woman or had the ability to bear children, that did not mean they could not have a family someday.  And marriage between individuals of the same sex did not have to be legalized for him to promise himself to Wataru till death to they part.   Yuichi felt his heart swell at the thought.   But before all that, there was something more serious that had to be dealt with.   As Yuichi and Wataru lay wrapped in each other’s arms listening to a Blues CD playing softly on the stereo, Yuichi found himself frowning as he fingered the scars crisscrossing Wataru’s wrist.  Something was going to have to be done about this.  It just could not be ignored.  Wataru might just see it as a momentary lapse in judgment but Yuichi knew they would have to it down and have a serious discussion about this.  He might even have to keep a very close eye on Wataru for the foreseeable future.  Yuichi trailed his hand up Wataru’s arm, rounded his shoulder and ticked his neck.  He swept a lock of hair off Wataru’s forehead and smiled down at his lover’s peacefully sleeping face.  But that was alright.  Time spent with Wataru was not wasted time.  Besides, this was nothing that they could not overcome.  Just a little flea bite that would soon go away.   “I’m sorry, Mizuho,” he thought, “but I have something that’s even more precious than life itself.  He is the one thing I just cannot live without.”   ---OWARI---   (1)    pg. 211, Book 3, The Ring finger Falls Silent (2)    pg. 120, Book 3, The Ring Finger Falls Silent     A/N:  Done!  How was it?  Like it?  Love it?  Hate it?  Was the lemon juicy enough for you guys?  I don’t like to get to explicit or give too many details because I think you can go overboard in my opinion and turn people off instead of on.  Scenes like that can jerk you out of the story and leave you feeling empty and I hate when that happens.  If that happens then in my opinion, then the story has not accomplished what the author set out to do.  My stories included.  I don’t know.  Maybe that’s just me?  Whatever.  Anyway, I have another idea for an OTRFK fanfics that I might put out.  We’ll see.  It’ll be AU.  So, what did you think?