Takaba lay asleep, the sheets cover

Takaba lay asleep, the sheets covering his lower half, leaving the rest of his body exposed to the chilled night air. His pale skin was covered in a faint sheen of sweat, just barely coating his lithe, sensual body. The moonlight filtered in through the sheer curtains that danced with the wind, casting an array of faint moving shadows over the gentle figure, as if he were bathed in northern lights.

Asami leaned forward against the railing in the balcony, sixty floors above the ground, as the high wind whipped his dark hair. The air felt cold against his arms and legs, dressed only in a pair of loose boxers, as the frigid current of air coursed around him.

He stood eye to eye with some of the tallest skyscrapers in Tokyo, the majestic city beneath him, fully awake somehow, as if it were forever on espressos and cigarettes, drenched in caffeine and nicotine. The moonlight skidded across the glassy surfaces, illuminating the sides of those high rise buildings so prevalent in Tokyo.

Six months had passed since the airplane incident, and his fingers still itched for the familiar cigarette, the feel of the rough paper rolled between his digits, the way smoke burned down his throat with a rough velvety sensation, but his iron will clenched tight on straying temptations. It had been hard enough to stay off the sweet rancid habit.

The new commitment had been something of a necessity while Takaba was hospitalized for three months in first Amsterdam, where the plane had made its emergency landing, then Berlin. Smoking meant he had to go all the way outside, past the hospital garden, and to the parking lot. The nurses plucked the cigarettes from his lips even before he could light them if he was anywhere within or near the smoke-free perimeter. Hence, he took it upon himself to stamp down the life-long habit, and he discovered, it really was an addiction. Had he been any less of a self-disciplining man, he wasn't sure if he could have quit.

One month after the airplane incident, he had tried to bring Akihito home to Japan, but the doctors refused, fearing that any post-surgery complications that might arise during the trip. They did, however, allow a transfer to a larger hospital in Berlin, one where Asami had connections. The caution and reluctance was understandable, considering Takaba had almost bled to death internally into the chest cavity, the left lung filling with blood between the crevices and nearly wet-drowning him with his own blood. It had caused some major problems for the first month of recovery, especially with the ribs that had been shattered by the bullet entry.

He could still remember Akihito throwing up from the Oxycontin, barely able to sip lukewarm water. The opiate based pain killers absolutely killed what little remained of his lover's appetite. After two weeks though, Akihito's eating habits were improving although only Asami was able to coax him into swallowing even a measly bite of food; try as they might, nurses made no headway with Akihito.

Most days, Akihito and Asami talked quietly, softly in their own world, in their own words. Through these conversations, Asami saw the changes his lover had gone through during the two long years they were apart. Sometimes it frightened Asami, wondering whether the Akihito he knew had morphed into something altogether different, but that worry soon dissipated after Akihito's first outburst two months into his hospitalization. The doctor had recommended a psychiatrist for the proud lover, and he erupted, spewing a river of profanities and flooding the poor doctor with his indignation.

Apparently he went on for twenty minutes screaming things along the lines of "You fuckass! Don't you ever suggest that kind of fucked up shit to me!"

The nurses were concerned that he might hurt himself (or the doctor) and called Asami out of a conference he had on the other side of Berlin. When he arrived, Akihito was still fuming until he saw Asami walk in and his face immediately turned upside down into a divine smile. Seeing that bright smile, he just had to let the boy slide.

No doubt, though, that the two hard years had taken a toll on Akihito and his lover had matured significantly. This newfound maturity showed itself when a week or so before they left Berlin, Akihito came out about the lover he had left behind in London. The candid confession took Asami by surprise; he had never expected Akihito to go into that topic out of his own volition, and for Akihito's sake, he had purposely left the fragile topic alone.

The rest of the hospital had pretty much gone to bed. Not that it mattered, Asami had ensured a private room for the both of them. Akihito was sitting up in the white bed, a pillow behind him to cushion his back. "Asami?" he folded his book quietly.

Asami was typing away into his laptop at a small table across the room, managing Tokyo from six thousand miles away. "Hm?" he looked up from the screen, caught in the middle of the sentence.

Takaba looked at Asami with straightforward eyes, unblinking, "I had a lover in London."

Asami raised him eyebrows as he folded down the laptop and stood up. They sustained eye contact as Asami approached the bed quietly, only the gentle hum of the ventilation audible in the nearly silent room. With his hand on the edge of the mattress, he leaned forward and kissed Akihito, taking the soft, pink lips into a gentle caress, and before he could pull away, Akihito gripped his tie and pulled him in closer, encouraging Asami to delve deeper into his mouth. Tongues battled each other, stroking, sliding in fierce movements and friction.

Asami's hand slid over Takaba's, the one that was clutching his tie, and helped him drag the knot down, slowly loosening it until it slipped from Asami's neck and fell loosely on the bed. Takaba's other hand was slowly moving down Asami's shirt, unbuttoning it one by one.

"I know," Asami whispered as his hands slipped under the loose shirt and he licked the junction of Akihito's shoulder, smiling when the body beneath him shuddered at the seductive touch.

"You don't mind?" Akihito pushed the sleeves past Asami's shoulders and down his shoulders, trying to get the man to strip.

"Hm…" his large hands helped pull Akihito's shirt up and over his head, "I never said that."

"Then-" Akihito's words were muffled by a hot tongue breaking through his lips as Asami pulled on the drawstrings of Akihito's trousers and pushed them down. "Why-" he tried to ask as he kicked the trousers off.

"Because I have you now." Asami unbuckled his belt as he climbed into the bed, the mattress creaking softly under both their weight.

Akihito leaned forward to whisper back "You have me now." His hand cradled a tangle of Asami's dark locks of hair, the other reaching down to the belt, undoing the clasp and slipping beneath the boxers. His fingers brushed teasingly again the pulsing, hot erection and grinned mischievously when he heard Asami exhale softly. The cock slipped from its restraints and stood out in the open.

Akihito pushed himself off the pillow and urged Asami backwards until it was he who was sitting atop Asami on the firm, hard stomach, straddling the waist with his legs. Akihito slipped two fingers into his mouth and sucked it, licked it slowly, knowing fully well Asami was watching his every move. The unwavering intense gaze from those pair of hawk eyes aroused him even more.

Soon, the fingers disappeared behind him as he leaned back, still straddling Asami on his knees. From this angle, Asami could see Akihito slip two fingers into his own tight passage as well as the aroused expression slipping across the delicate face. The slick fingers slipped out, and he watched his small lover lower himself slowly onto his cock and throw his head back when the head slipped past the opening, a whimper slipping from those swollen lips.

He waited until Akihito was completely engulfing him, and when Akihito started moving again, rising and falling in rhythm, his moans growing in volume and length, he reached up and slipped his hand across the back of Akihito's neck and pulled Akihito down for another fierce kiss.