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Yuuki took a deep breath and pushed himself up from the waters of the cold spring, reaching for a towel as he did so. The cold water hadn't done a damn thing for the feeling of emptiness that cut to his very soul, but at least the meditation had subdued all of his other pre-heat symptoms. Mostly. The finely woven cotton of his garments felt rough against his skin and for a moment Yuuki was tempted to discard them and return to the cold spring for additional meditation. But even he couldn't meditate his way out of an impending heat.
Another calming breath – at least the cold spring was nearly always empty this time of year, the only scents those of the spring, the shrine incense, and himself – and he made his way back to his apartment. Evening had fallen and he needed to be properly secluded away from the handful of other residents. Not that a beta could really satisfy an omega in heat, but if his medicines failed, only a sturdy shield spell would keep him from trying.
Stepping into his apartment, he stopped short and frowned. This close to his heat, his senses were even more heightened than usual, he could smell an intrusion on his privacy even though there was no one in the outer room. Taking a deeper breath, he hissed at the realization of not only who it was, but where.
“Intetsu,” he snapped, barely controlled rage flashing through him as the beta stepped out of Yuuki's bedroom, his most private, personal sanctum. “What do you think you're doing?? I am not –.”
“Securing your apartment,” the beta interrupted, holding up a slip of fuda. He then moved to Yuuki's private dining space, lifting the dome from a dinner tray. “Your dinner and medicines. I will activate the shield spell on your chambers myself, just to be sure.”
“Yes, yes, fine, just go,” Yuuki muttered, trying to shoo the beta away from him. He didn't understand this play at being courteous, concerned. As if he didn't know exactly how the beta felt about him.
“If you –.”
“Go!”
As much as a part of him was pleased to see the beta flinch and hurry out of the apartment, the shield flaring to life behind him, it was a fleeting victory. Seven days. He now had seven days of complete solitude ahead of him. Not for the first time, Yuuki wondered how different his life would be now if his first heat had come on time. If he had lived a normal life instead of being forced into becoming a priest.
The again, if he had blossomed back then, gone into his first heat on schedule like a good little omega, he would likely have three or four children by now, all hope of bettering himself lost in the needs of his offspring. He certainly wouldn't have been allowed to continue his studies, to nurture and cultivate the golden core now nested in his chest.
A moment to change from cotton to silk and then Yuuki sat down to his dinner, another cultivation text open beside him. Maybe he wasn't particularly strong yet, but time was on his side.
Yuuki woke up abruptly, clawing free of clinging bedding. He felt smothered, soaked in sweat. He was burning up all over and his joints ached terribly. If not for the painful emptiness, he might have thought it was just a fever, but no. His medicines were failing against his heat, he could almost feel the hormones flooding his body.
Whining, he crawled to the cabinet in the next room, taking the next suppressant dose early and praying for a miracle. Ten years now he had served this shrine, the dutiful and obedient mediator between the living and the dead. Surely the gods and ancestors would not be so cruel as to torment him with a full heat now, so far removed from any possible use. Not here, not now, surely not.
Drenched in sweat, Yuuki fumbled his way out to the engawa, shedding layers of cotton until he could feel the cool breeze on his skin. Stretching out against the night-cooled wood, he closed his eyes as he prayed for relief. Ten years of obedient, penitent service, surely the ancestors would grand him this one wish....
Yo-ka took a deep breath and smiled to himself. Was there any scent in all the world as enticing as that of an unmated omega in heat? Unexpected this far from the centers of civilization, and for a moment Yo-ka was grateful he was out hunting with only two beta juniors. Whoever this unclaimed omega, the less competition, the better his alpha nature liked it.
“Akane, Saku, head back to the inn.”
“Sir?” Akane asked, dropping his veil to give him a confused frown.
“Go on, back to the inn with both of you,” Yo-ka insisted. “You two don't have the necessary spiritual power to handle this ghoul on your own yet.”
“Isn't that why you're here?” Saku asked with a dark scowl, and Yo-ka had to laugh at the arrogance in the beta's scent, the way Akane swatted his fellow junior.
“You're juniors and betas; you probably can't even see the spell array, never mind the panicking omega trapped beyond it. Go back to the inn, tell my elder brother he needs to take over this hunt. If I'm not back in five days, he'll know what to do. Now go.”
The two teens shared an uncertain look, but they were hardly in a position to argue with him. Saluting and bowing politely, the two mounted their swords and flew back towards the last town. He trusted Jui to know what to do, both with the juniors and the ghoul they had been hunting.
Yo-ka stopped at the edge of the spell array, surprised to find himself at the rear of some sort of temple or monastery. The array was strong enough to keep most people out, but Yo-ka was not most people. With light steps, he threaded his way through the shield spell, then up and over the wall, landing in a secluded meditation garden. On this side of the shield, the omega's scent was nearly overwhelming, his instincts immediately kicking into high gear as another wave of pheromones hit him with the shift of the wind.
He caught sight of the beauty at the same time his own alpha scent reached ... her? Him? Him. He was truly beautiful, and yet Yo-ka must have stumbled into some private residence as the omega was practically naked, clad only in a couple disordered layers of cotton juban. Yo-ka could scent the sweat, the lust of the omega's heat, yet none of the perfumes or cosmetics he would have expected from such a beautiful, cosseted omega. What was such an omega doing here of all places?
A low whine snapped Yo-ka back to the present condition. The omega had cast aside the last of his clothing, hunkered down in an obvious offering of his body. Yo-ka could not have resisted that if he had tried, even with his superior training. Rushing across the yard, he dropped his sword and garments to the engawa all at once. The omega's scent was incredible, the needy mewls further fueling Yo-ka's growing lust. Almost from the moment he thrust into the omega's dripping hole, there was no further room for though, only instinct. Again and again he thrust hard into the delicate omega beneath him, nipping at tantalizingly pale skin, until his knot swelled to full size, locking them together. He pushed his nose into the nape of his omega's neck, drinking in deep of his scent. Perfect.
Yo-ka's knot had only just shrunk enough for them to separate when the omega roused, whining pathetically.
“I know, beautiful,” he soothed, nuzzling the pulse point in his throat. “I know you want more.”
His omega whimpered again, rubbing against him in obvious need. The heat pheromones were impossible to ignore, and Yo-ka was soon hard enough again to give the little omega exactly what he wanted. And he did, repeatedly, until the little omega passed out.
Now that the initial rush had passed and Yo-ka's head was finally clearing a bit, he had to admit he felt a little ... not ashamed, exactly, but not proud of himself, either. He was supposed to be a cultivator of superior ability, the pride of his generation, and yet he had let his hormones and those of an unmated omega completely overwhelm him. Silently scolding himself, he gently scooped up the little omega. He was still in heat, but the edge had gone off – it wasn't just exhaustion, he was genuinely asleep. Almost as if the heat was somehow able to recognize that Yo-ka was committed to staying with the little omega until the heat ran its course. No matter how he looked at it, Yo-ka couldn't help but think that wasn't a good sign. Still, his own tiredness dragged at his limbs until he had them both settled in the little omega's futon, pressed close together by necessity. Just a short nap, and then he would see what solutions he could find to their problems.
Yo-ka wasn't sure how long he napped before his omega whined and pressed close against him, wriggling and rubbing against him with the full urgency of his heat. Yo-ka's control failed him again, he lost himself in the pleasure of the moment, the satisfaction of rutting his little omega until his little flower collapsed to the bedding with another satiated hum.
At least this time when his knot released, his omega only whimpered and burrowed deeper into the soiled bedding. Wrinkling his nose a little in distaste, Yo-ka retreated to the omega's bathing facility before helping himself to fresh juban and yukata. Surely his little omega wouldn't mind. Not like he could take proper stock of their situation while walking around naked, after all.
As best he could tell, they were in a secluded apartment, the shield array further separating them from the rest of the shrine complex. Someone had pushed two meal trays through the shield in the time since Yo-ka's arrival, familiar bottles of medicine on each. So the shield had been an extra precaution, no one outside was even aware his omega's medicines had failed him. The first tray was largely unsalvageable, but the second still held some promise. Though he was a bit concerned how he was going to get enough food to keep them both fed at this rate. To say nothing of fresh bedding and other supplies.
Yo-ka was still sorting out the food situation when the shield spell shimmered and abruptly dropped. Immediately on his guard, he dropped everything to go to his omega's side, pushing a sleep charm on him for his own protection. His hackles went up at the scent of an intruder, even just a beta. Calling his sword to him, he stepped out of the bedroom holding the saya such that he could unlock Fukushuu in an instant if necessary.
The beta was clearly startled to see an unknown alpha cultivator when he opened the outer doors, though Yo-ka had to give him credit for his quick recovery. And the sheer balls of raising his hand to him, white fuda appearing between two raised fingers.
“Who are you? How did you get in here?!” the beta demanded.
“Over the back wall,” Yo-ka replied with a casual gesture of his empty hand. “It wasn't hard. Yo-ka of the Ainsu sect. And you?”
“Intetsu, Tokuma sect. Never heard of an Ainsu sect.”
“We're still a small sect,” Yo-ka conceded. “The omega you've been keeping poorly shielded here? His heat suppressant failed last night. I have things under control now, but I suggest you leave and put the shield array back up ... or do I need to do it for you?”
“I took the shield down to see why the last two meal trays hadn't returned yet,” Intetsu said, openly scowling at him with his hand still raised. “If he's really in heat, then –.”
The beta froze at the audible click as Fukushuu unlocked from its saya.
“Stay. Back,” Yo-ka growled, possessive anger flaring through him. “Unless you want to die.”
This Intetsu person might only have been a beta, but Yo-ka wasn't about to let anyone near his mate right now, his instincts refusing to back down from the threat this other person posed. For a second, he thought the beta might actually keep pushing, then his arm dropped. It wasn't much, but it was enough for Yo-ka to ease his thumb back, though his sword still sat loose in its saya.
“You appear out of nowhere,” Intetsu muttered, giving him a dark look, “claiming a clan I don't even know, and now I should just trust you? Do I look stupid to you?”
“Trust me, don't trust me. But do trust that if you take one more step towards my mate, I will cut you,” Yo-ka snarled, his control frayed with tiredness and the heat pheromones still saturating the air. “Other than hungry and horny, he's fine. If you want to do something useful, put the shield back up and bring us more supplies. Food, clean clothes, fresh bedding ... surely someone around here knows what an omega in heat needs....”
“... the next time the shield comes down, I better see Yuuki-kun with my own eyes, or I will find a way to kill you,” the beta growled before storming out of the apartment, the shield snapping back into place shortly thereafter.
“Yuuki, is it?” Yo-ka murmured to himself, setting aside Fukushuu in favor of what food they had. “A beautiful name for a beautiful flower.”
At least now his omega's caretakers knew there were two people in this apartment, that Yuuki was going through his heat but being cared for by an alpha. And if anyone else tried to get to his omega, he might not be as restrained next time.
Yo-ka woke to find his omega crawled on top of him, slowly riding his hard cock. At first he did nothing, just watched the movements of his mate's body. His lithe omega looked so beautiful, long black hair spilling over pale skin, eyes closed as he lost himself in bliss. Steadying himself with one hand, Yuuki stroked himself with the other. It made for a display too tempting for Yo-ka to resist, the alpha running his own hands over smooth skin. For a second, his omega froze, staring at him with unseeing eyes.
“You don't have to stop, precious,” he murmured, pushing himself up to cup his omega's cheek. “Ride me harder, Yuuki, I know you want to. Or do I need to flip you over and take you by force?”
One look at his omega's eyes was enough to tell him that his mate was too far gone to his heat to actually understand what Yo-ka was saying. Yuuki could still pick up on tone and scent, physical cues, but words were clearly beyond him. Chuckling softly, Yo-ka rolled his hips at the same time he pressed a hungry kiss to Yuuki's lips. That his little omega understood, and Yuuki started moving again, the rise and fall of his hips far more intense than they had been. And Yo-ka was happy to ride it out with him, the pheromones in the air fueling his own lust until they were once again locked together by Yo-ka's swollen knot. As best he could, Yuuki nestled against Yo-ka's chest while the alpha softly hummed and stroked his hair.
“Mine,” he murmured, though it was a bit pointless.
And yet almost as if he understood, Yuuki nuzzled in closer with a contented sigh. Three more days, by his estimation, and then he would find answers to his questions about his precious flower.
Yuuki woke with a groan, sore in ways he could not have imagined. Rolling over onto his back, he was both surprised and grateful to notice his heat symptoms were all gone. So the ancestors had heard him and taken pity on him. He would keep taking his medicines, of course, but it was a relief to be free of that fear. In fact, he should probably get up and take his next dose now, just to be safe.
Somewhere in his struggling to get upright, several disjointed pieces clicked into place at once. He was in his bedroom, despite his last memory before sleeping being of him sprawled on the engawa, desperately trying to cool himself. More disturbing, the scent of an unknown and yet familiar alpha was everywhere. In the air, in his rumpled bedding, on his very skin. But though he could put neither face nor name to the icy scent, he did not feel afraid. If anything, it made him feel ... safe.
“Well, this looks promising....”
Yuuki startled and jerked around to see a gorgeous alpha standing framed in his bedroom doorway, holding a breakfast tray. Raven hair hung loose to his shoulders, framing a face that was both cold, hard, and yet soft, warm. It was the eyes, a rich brown that wanted to swallow him whole.
“I was rather hoping you might come out of it today. You've been lost to me longer than I had anticipated. Join me for breakfast?”
“Who are you? What are you doing here??” Yuuki demanded, clutching his blankets to his bare chest. That same icy scent wafted up his nose with each move, though the alpha remained where he was.
“Yo-ka, Ainsu sect, at your service,” the alpha said, offering a short bow. “It'll be nice to have an actual conversation now, ne?”
“I ... what?”
Gods, he sounded like an idiot. He felt like an idiot. Was the alpha trying to say he was wrong, that the ancestors hadn't shut his heat down and instead the two of them had spent it ... together? Impossible! And yet how else could he explain the presence of an unfamiliar alpha from a sect he didn't know? To say nothing of his own lack of reaction to said alpha's presence in his bedroom of all places. And ... was that one of his yukata?
“Your beta's shield spell was flawed; it let your scent out and couldn't actually stop me from getting in,” the alpha explained, taking the tray to a side table. “You were in full heat and deep distress when I found you; what sort of cultivator, what sort of alpha would I be if I had just ignored that?”
“One with self-discipline?” Yuuki muttered.
Fingertips unexpectedly brushed against his cheek and he flinched in spite of himself.
“Tch. I gave you my word, Yuuki: I will never hurt you.”
“Y-you ... you know my name? How?”
“Your beta let it slip when he came to check on you the first or second evening.”
“Intetsu is not –,” Yuuki snapped, stopping himself with a little huff. “The clans sent him to protect me and the ancestors, but he's nothing to me. He wouldn't ... he's Tokuma sect, he thinks I'm worthless.”
“Then he's a fool.”
This time when Yo-ka cupped his cheek, Yuuki leaned into the touch with closed eyes. And when lips brushed against his, Yuuki's own lips parted easily, fingers clutching at Yo-ka's collar. Annoyingly, when the alpha pulled back, Yuuki actually whined.
“Breakfast first, my sweet,” Yo-ka mock-scolded. “Seven days now you've barely let me out of your grasp. I may know how to practice inedia, but I don't care for it.”
Now that food had been mentioned, Yuuki could no longer ignore the gnawing hunger gurgling in his stomach. He was far from being advanced enough to practice inedia himself, though he doubted an omega in full heat even could anyway. Reaching for a cotton hadajuban as he rose, Yuuki barely had time to yelp before collapsing.
“Yuuki!”
“I'm fine,” he mumbled, though it was patently untrue, as more than just his ego was now bruised.
“You're better at hiding your condition than I would have expected,” Yo-ka scolded as he crossed the room. “Here, let me help you, precious.”
“I'm not your –,” he started to protest, but Yo-ka was already helping him into the cotton under-robe, then helping him to his feet. He wanted to be angry, irritated, but something in the alpha's touch was stopping him. Lips brushed against the nape of his neck and he shuddered, but the usual panic response was absent. The only reason he could think of for that....
Real panic surged through Yuuki's veins, he reached up with both hands to feel his neck. Nothing, his skin remained quite unbroken on all sides.
“No bite,” Yo-ka confirmed, holding him steady. “Just what sort of alpha do you take me for?”
“The sort who just lets himself into an omega's apartment without so much as a by your leave,” he muttered, pressing one hand to his chest as he tried to calm his racing heart.
And yet it was hard to stay angry with his mate when the alpha was smiling at him like that, practically oozing a sort of boyish charm.
... wait, did he really just think of this alpha as his mate??
“All right, fair enough,” Yo-ka replied, helping Yuuki to the table and then setting his usual breakfast in front of him. “I have some control, but nothing compared to the strength of your heat. Still, what comes next ... that is your choice, precious. I was able to retain that much clarity.”
What comes next ... that was the question, wasn't it? What did come next? Yuuki pressed a hand over his abdomen. It was possible, if not very likely, that he wasn't pregnant. A shared heat didn't always mean pregnancy, but considering he hadn't intended to go into heat in the first place....
On the other hand, while he didn't believe a random night-hunting alpha cultivator would be carrying birth control on him, surely Intetsu would have sent the proper medicine once it was discovered what had happened ... right? It was the beta's responsibility to look after him, protect him. Okay, yes, Yuuki had been all but discarded by his sect, sent to this shrine to watch over their ancestors remains after reaching his sixteenth year without going into heat even once. He didn't know what Intetsu might have done wrong to get sent here, but letting Yuuki get pregnant was unlikely to improve his situation, so maybe....
“If it helps ... you aren't pregnant.”
“W-what?”
“I suppose it's theoretically possible it could still happen, but not likely. If it's your wish to pretend none of this ever happened ... just, uh, give me time to finish breakfast first?”
Something twinged in Yuuki's chest at that suggestion, but he shoved it aside. He may have formed some sort of hormonal attachment to the alpha who had shared his heat, but that was all. The feelings would fade once Yo-ka was gone.
“It's fine,” he mumbled, picking up his rice bowl, stirring the egg into the rice. “Leave as you like.”
Fingers unexpectedly brushed against his neck at the same time the alpha whispered against his ear: “And what if I don't want to just leave so casually, precious?”
“Y-yo-ka,” he stammered, his cheeks flushing hotly.
“Eat,” the alpha scolded, moving to sit beside him and taking up his own rice bowl. “You need to regain your strength if you intend to tell me off properly.”
“... shameless,” Yuuki huffed before turning his attention back to his breakfast. “I don't even know you, so don't go getting ideas.”
“We shared your heat, and yet you would say something like that to me?”
“That wasn't me, that was hormones and primal need; you could have been anyone,” Yuuki countered with a dismissive snort.
“Then I suppose we'll just have to chat so you can get to know my properly.”
Yuuki snorted again despite having been raised with better manners than that. And yet instead of scolding him, Yo-ka only gave him another boyish smile. Still, it meant nothing. Regardless of what the alpha said, Yuuki knew his own mind. As soon as they were finished with breakfast, Yo-ka would be leaving and that was that.
“So ... an omega priest who also cultivates on the side, all alone? Not exactly the usual way, is it?”
Yuuki grit his teeth and said nothing.
“I suppose next you'll say you're happy here.”
“A common flower may be found anywhere. But when it does not blossom, it is left alone in this world to embrace loneliness,” Yuuki quoted, but the words felt just as hollow as the first time he had heard them.
“What is that, some tenet of your sect?” Yo-ka asked, frowning.
“Our founder was a poet,” he murmured, averting his gaze to his breakfast. “The sect leaders say my place is here, and so it is.”
“You are hardly a common flower, Yuuki,” Yo-ka chided. “Even less so one that hasn't bloomed. Surely you must know this.”
“The sect says my place is here, and so it is,” Yuuki repeated, but he couldn't completely suppress his pain at being exiled, made into a punishment for low-level cultivators among the allied sects. Ten years had not made the pill any less bitter.
“Not anymore,” the alpha growled.
“Weren't you the one saying what happened next between us was my choice?” Yuuki countered without actually looking at the alpha.
“That was before you told me you would choose bitter duty over your own happiness,” Yo-ka said, forcing Yuuki to meet his gaze. “Or did you think I wouldn't notice your pain?”
“Why do you even care? ” he countered, jerking free of the alpha's touch. “I'm well aware of my own uselessness, you can stop pretending like I'm anything of value. Anyway, you got what you wanted; why don't you just leave??”
“You don't know me at all and already you have such a low impression of me? Is it that you think all alphas are scum or has my face somehow offended you?”
“Just leave. Just ... leave.”
“No,” Yo-ka said firmly.
“You said –.”
“No,” the alpha interrupted. “You're wrong in your assumptions, Yuuki. I came to this forest hunting a ghoul. I didn't find the ghoul, but I did find something precious: you.”
“I'm nothing of the sort,” Yuuki huffed, shuddering and crossing his arms over his chest, his juban feeling all too little against the conflicting scents swirling through the air.
The loud thumping on the outer doors of his apartment was in all ways unusual. Whatever his faults, no one at the shrine would come pounding on his door like that. Yo-ka adjusted his yukata, then gestured for Yuuki to stay put. As if that was going to happen. Grabbing the first thing to hand, he didn't even bother with an obi as he hurried after Yo-ka.
“I thought I told you to stay put,” the alpha hissed.
“It's my apartment,” he hissed back, though he still let Yo-ka stand in front of him, giving the sheathed sword in the alpha's hand a wary look.
Whoever was at his door got two more sharp knocks in before the doors suddenly blew inwards with a frigid draft. A startled Intetsu still had his hand raised as an unfamiliar alpha cultivator glided past him, elegant in layered kimono and haori, the hilts of his swords flashing at his side. Yo-ka instantly relaxed, saluting the alpha with a deeply respectful bow.
“Sect Leader Asagi.”
“After what you told Saku and Akane, we were expecting you home two days ago, little brother,” the alpha said, his tone almost droll as his eyes drifted around the room, stopping on Yuuki.
“Yes, I ... miscalculated,” Yo-ka confessed. “He only just came out of his daze this morning. We haven't had time to talk about things.”
Yo-ka tried to tuck an arm around Yuuki and without thinking, Yuuki one-handedly pushed him away. For a fraction of a second, Yuuki could have sworn he scented amusement on the older alpha, though his expression was more disapproving. Cold and hard, older than Yo-ka by several years, this alpha was someone used to getting what he wanted without having to ask twice.
“There is nothing to discuss,” Yuuki mumbled, tightly crossing his arms over his chest again to keep his kimono closed. “I don't belong to this alpha.”
“Yuuki belongs to the Tokuma-Shimizuya alli–.”
“Silence, beta,” Asagi snapped, casting a backhanded gesture at Intetsu that somehow pushed the man back into the hall. “When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you.”
Intetsu immediately started protesting, but the apartment doors swung shut in his face. Alone with two alpha cultivators, either one of whom could likely easily overpower Intetsu with little effort ... Yuuki hugged himself even more firmly, but it didn't help his disquiet.
“Brother, you're scaring him,” Yo-ka murmured, setting down his sword the better to enfold Yuuki in his arms. Yuuki hated that this time he actually let him.
“I detest betas who think an omega is merely property,” Asagi said with a huff. “I suppose now I'll have to deal with Sect Leader Hideki. Again. Really, little brother, you could at least help him dress properly.”
“He just came out of his haze; we haven't even had time for a proper breakfast yet!” Yo-ka protested, though Yuuki could scent amusement on both alphas. Arrogant jackasses.
“I already told you, go home,” Yuuki snapped, jerking free and stomping into his bedroom, slamming the door behind him. And yet it brought him no satisfaction.
“Yuuki ... Yuuki!”
He had no way of locking the door and even if he had, he wasn't sure it would have been effective against the alphas and their magic. And yet the door stayed closed. He could hear voices in the outer room, but not what they were saying to each other. Huffing, he threw a scowl at his unfinished breakfast before retreating to his personal bath. Maybe if he stayed occupied long enough, the two alphas would take the hint and leave.
“Did our brother find the ghoul at least?” Yo-ka asked when it became obvious that Yuuki wasn't going to let him into the bedroom.
“Of course. And this shrine. Sect Leader Hideki is going to be utterly furious, I hope you realize. Deflowering his shrine maiden, how shameless of you, little brother,” Asagi said, and yet his tone was amused despite the scolding words.
“I refuse to take the blame for an omega going into heat without adequate protections,” Yo-ka countered, scowling anyway. “And if he puts it like that, then call him a fucking liar because Yuuki isn't some honored sacred maiden, he's a prisoner. His own sect threw him away, taught him he was useless.”
“It's not our business what other sects do.”
“I won't leave him here, Brother,” he insisted, clenching both hands into fists. “I won't. His sect convinced him he was useless, then discarded him. You heard that beta. However golden the cage, this shrine is still a prison. I won't leave him here.”
Asagi sighed, then moved to sit beside the parted shouji with his pipe.
“Then you had better convince him to accept you, little brother. I don't know how much time we have before Sect Leader Hideki arrives. When he does, we will be made to leave. I am not stealing a shrine maiden for you, no matter how beautiful he is.”
“I won't leave him here,” Yo-ka muttered.
It wasn't like he was surprised to find he could just let himself into Yuuki's bedroom. At the same time, he wasn't sure how to feel when he walked into the room to see it was empty.
“Yuuki?”
Silence. He started for the omega's private bathroom, then hesitated. They had shared Yuuki's heat, in some places it would be said that there were no more boundaries between them. Stifling a sigh, he stopped at the threshold and hoped Yuuki would still be able to hear him.
“Yuuki, please. I don't know how much time we have to talk about this. And I don't know what Sect Leader Hideki will do when he gets here.”
“He won't,” Yuuki said, surprising Yo-ka by how quickly he reappeared before him. “Tokuma rules the alliance, but this is my sect's shrine. What happens here is the business of the Shimizuya sect first, no other.”
Wrapped in only a thin cotton hadajuban under-robe, Yuuki looked terribly small, fragile. It was too easy, natural to open his arms to the omega, though Yo-ka still felt a sliver of surprise that Yuuki actually stepped into his embrace, clutching his collar in both fists as he softly wept.
“Shh, I'm here, precious,” he murmured, resting his cheek against Yuuki's sweet-smelling hair, still damp from his bathing. “Whatever it is, you can tell me.”
“You ... you were wrong,” Yuuki mumbled. “I couldn't ... I'm not pregnant now, but ... Sect Leader Izumi is going to be furious that I'm no longer pure, unspoiled.”
“Then leave with me.”
“Wh-what?”
“Then leave with me,” he repeated softly, gently stroking his hair. “I don't care what you've been taught, Yuuki. To me, you will always be a precious treasure. Leave with me, live with me, cultivate at my side. Who knows, you might even come to love me.”
“... you can just say that so casually? You don't even know me at all!” Yuuki mumbled, blinking up at him in obvious confusion.
“I know you have the most radiant golden core I have ever seen in an omega,” Yo-ka murmured, gently tucking a length of hair behind Yuuki's ear before cupping his cheek. “You're incredible, a natural, and I can't for the life of me understand how your sect could have tossed you aside when you have such promise as a cultivator.”
“Met many omega cultivators, have you?” Yuuki responded with a dismissive snort.
“Yes, including my own cousin, but that's not my point,” Yo-ka replied. “Seven days, precious. Seven days spent almost entirely in very intimate contact. Do you think that time means nothing? No, it wasn't the you that stands here now, but it was enough for me to know that getting to know this you? Will be no hardship for me, my precious flower.”
Yo-ka had intended only the briefest brush of a kiss, but then Yuuki's lips parted in a low whimper and Yo-ka couldn't resist. The urgency of his omega's heat no longer loomed over them, but the taste of him was still sweeter than any wine. Yo-ka had to force himself to physically step back before he took things even further.
“Leave with me,” he murmured. “Please, Yuuki.”
Yuuki hesitated, swallowing thickly and licking his lips, then nodding.
“Yes. Yes, I'll go with you.”
He couldn't help it, pressing another kiss to Yuuki's lips. This time it was even harder to pull away, if not for the dull knock on the outer apartment door, he might not have managed it when he did.
“Whoever it is, Brother can handle it, but perhaps we should ... get you properly dressed? I help you, you help me? Or maybe the other way around?”
Yuuki's laugh was as beautiful as the rest of him, even as it was softly mixed with despair and hope. No matter what, Yo-ka knew he was making the right choice. Yuuki was the one, he was certain of it.