breathed so deep i thought i'd drown; it feels better biting down

[justsookie]

She should have known that it would only be a matter of time until someone noticed. It was easier to watch out for herself shortly after first arriving, a pocketknife buried deep in her purse and nightly practice sessions for holding that light between her hands, the fae's warmth thrumming against her fingertips. But day after day, nothing happened. The daytime is all hers to play with, roaming the city, searching for clothing outlets, boutiques, bakeries and coffee shops. And in the evening, she's free to smile more while under the protection of women and men who know what they're doing, strength and cunning plentiful among all of them. She sleeps soundly, knowing that Lafayette's only some flights of stairs away.

Complacency becomes the theme long before she realizes it.

So when she heads home one evening and notices a series of steps clipping fast behind her, she assumes that it's just another drunken asshole, someone who probably thinks that leaving a generous tip entitles him to a little extra something later. Sookie picks up her pace, not yet casting a look over her shoulder as she holds her purse closer to her chest. Her apartment is only a couple of blocks away, it won't be hard to make it back.

Until she suddenly feels a rush of air all around her, shoes slipping off and heels dragging against concrete, the wind knocked out of her as a pair of darkly blown eyes rake over her body and press her up against a wall.

"You make one more move and I'll scream," she warns, a soft thrumming energy building by her fingertips, but it doesn't linger long before Sookie feels her arm wrenched up high above her head. Letting out a cry of pain, she struggles against the hold, but the man is much larger, much taller, and she can't get the leverage she needs when all her limbs are stretched.

"I think I'd like that," the man breathes, grinning before his fangs suddenly slot into place, long and sharp. "No one's going to hear you in this part of town, sweetheart."

Comments

[justsookie]

"I don't know if I'd call it my soul, but... somethin' like that," Sookie says, feeling strange now that the reaper's described it in that way. It makes it all sound a lot more insidious than it'd felt at the time — though given everything that's happened with Warlow and even Bill, Sookie wonders if it might be kind of an accurate statement after all.

They really do seem to suck the life out of her, sometimes.

Rushing to catch up with him and suppressing a snort at the clomping that echoes down the multiple flights of stairs, Sookie tucks some errant curls behind her ear as she squints through the rather unfortunately dilapidated surroundings. But he doesn't give her much time to linger on the thought.

"I — yes, I guess I do... and I appreciate your offer to let me clean myself up, I." Pressing her lips closed, Sookie gives a slight shake of her head, hands moving to her hips with a soft, disbelieving laugh. "Mister Reaper, you know, I don't think I even know your name."

[vivememorleti]

"Well, it's not Nobody," he answers, a bright light of humor in his eyes as he finally makes it to the door that belongs to him. He juggles the things in his deep pockets around for a second before securing his room keys, and slipping them into the lock. "And it isn't Mr. Reaper. Urahara Kisuke," he says.

"And what's the name of the young lady with the hair like sunshine who isn't afraid of a vampire? Or following home a god of death?"

Pressing the door open, he quickly sheds his heavy shoes on the boot tray siting near the door before moving toward the bathroom. The nice thing about his apartment in comparison to Rukia's, he thinks, is that his comes with an old-fashioned, quite large, claw-foot bath and shower.

[justsookie]

It should have become trite by now, Sookie thinks to herself, but she can't help the smile that spreads across her face at the mention of her hair. "I'm guessin' my hair doesn't look quite like sunshine right now, but that's sweet of you." She pauses, pretty sure that she remembers something about a family name coming first with a lot of Asian languages. "And it's very nice to meet you, Kisuke. My name is Sookie Stackhouse. I guess it's easier to follow a god of death home when they're as friendly as you are."

Her cheeks flood over, pink and rosy, as she mimics Kisuke's actions, toeing off her tennis shoes and following Kisuke further into the apartment. She contemplates reading his mind, just to check and see if his type of death is different than hers back home, but the idea of a god feeling someone prying around his brain is a little too intimidating for her to try just yet.

Stuck in her thoughts, she only then realizes that she's trailed right after Kisuke into a bathroom, large and ornately furnished, if a little worn from time.

"Is this the first stop of the grand tour?" she jokes, wondering if he plans on going as far as drawing the bath for her.

[vivememorleti]

"What kind of a host would I be, Ms. Stackhouse, if I didn't anticipate what you needed and take care of your needs in that order," he says from over his shoulder as he pulls a large, plush towel from a cabinet in the bathroom corner, setting it down on the chair in front of the large mirror over the counter. Holding up a finger, he disappears from the bathroom for half a minute to come back with a simple white robe and a pair of boxer shorts. She has the distinction of being the first woman in his apartment, Rukia included, and everything in it is still chiefly Kisuke's own.

"You can shower first," he says, pointing to the scented soap and shampoo by the tub. They might be more suited, honestly, to a woman than a bachelor living on his own, but he prefers a bath to be a little more than perfunctory. "And then I'll draw a bath for you. Do you want a little help?" he asks, slipping the hat finally off of his head to set it on the counter. "I really don't mind, for such a graceful young lady."

[justsookie]

With the way Kisuke runs about busying himself with every last detail, Sookie can't help but wonder if reapers have some type of fascination with the living, or if some part of his senses might be picking up on the fact that she's a little different. Something about her ray-whatever that he'd mentioned earlier. But it's only when he offers to help, a large hand easing his hat off and revealing a pale, relatively earnest face, that Sookie finds herself unable to sit idly.

"Okay, if you're going to offer to strip down and hop into the shower with me, I've gotta at least... come here," Sookie insists, not wanting to go fully into the details of what she's about to do, wincing slightly before reaching out and curling her hands around the back of his neck and meeting his gaze. It strikes her how similarly strengthening her telepathy is to glamouring a person, as her fingers subtly ease around the fine hairs at the nape of his neck as she tries to find any noticeable vein of a thought.

[vivememorleti]

He's certainly not expecting this as a reaction, though he knew that such an offer could have gone anywhere. Some women didn't like that kind of forward behavior, though the ones that Kisuke was most familiar frowned on anything less than forward. The woman he kept always at his side more than any other.

He turns pink to the face as she moves in, right upon him, as if she were going to touch their faces together. Her fingers at the soft skin at the base of his neck, carding through the thick-textured hair there, are oddly startling, though he doesn't find it at all intrusive. Whatever she is doing, he can feel a swell of the strange reiatsu that she possesses. It's warm, reminds him a little of a lazy picnic on a warm autumn day. If he had to liken it to anyone's, he would say that it reminds him a little of Inoue-san, but only very little.

He's not going to ask her what she is. It simply is out of the question. It isn't the sort of thing a man like him deserves to demand of others; quite the opposite.

"Ms. Stackhouse?" he asks, unsure if this is a yes or a no.

[justsookie]

She's surprised when she gets a vague sensation after all, like the parting of branches upon entering a maze, fleeting emotions darting by her awareness without really settling. Whatever his motivations are, she can't quite read them, nor is there any sense of strong or sudden emotions in the background. Instead, everything seems to reflect back upon her, like steady sun warm against her skin, and her eyes briefly close as she lets herself bask in it.

It's a risk, but Sookie can't imagine enjoying a life completely hidden away, afraid of every step she takes, and so she draws one hand down from his neck, her fingertips skating gingerly over the exposed skin of his chest.

"Okay," she says quietly, her stomach making a small turn and her feet aligning neatly together. "You're a naughty, naughty man, Kisuke. But I could use a little help washing all of this mess out of my hair."

[vivememorleti]

In a heartbeat, the soft flush is gone from his features, replaced with calm but heated interest. He lifts his hands to work at the ties on the inside of his short robe, dark eyes never leaving her face even as he bows his head slightly and gives a sweet-edged smile over a voice dropped deeply into his chest.

It's an unequivocal yes. He appreciates her very much.

"It would be my absolute pleasure to help you with that," he says, hands moving next to slide his own haori from her shoulders. He folds it once over before setting it aside on the counter, joined by his robe.

Hands returning to her torso, he slips his fingers, slowly, inching, beneath the warm fabric of her shirt. It's sticky still in many places; if it bothers him, he makes no show of it.

[justsookie]

The way that Kisuke responds to her acquiescence is so smooth as to be almost methodical, words softly given and clothing easily removed, Sookie barely having time to enjoy the stretch of warm, pale skin before his hands are against hers, wide and rough around the finger pads, as though he must have seen some heavy work in the day. And there's just enough uncertainty left between the two of them that Sookie feels her heart race, pounding against her ears, as she's pulled slightly closer to him, her own hands smoothing over the expanse of his chest.

It's been a while since she's been intimate with another person, but the last memories etched into her mind are of a face and presence she'd love nothing more to forget. She sets aside the thought of vines and the scent of flowers to instead settle her hands on Kisuke's hips, drawing them slightly closer as she tilts her head up and kisses as far up as she can reach, somewhere close to Kisuke's pulse point. Or where she imagines it'd be.

"Something tells me you're really not a man to deny yourself any sort of pleasure," she says, voice tight as she lifts her arms above her head, letting Kisuke pull her shirt up and over.

[vivememorleti]

"On the contrary," he says, lifting her shirt up and away from her to pull it easily over her head and leave it with the rest. He'll have them all washed and ready before she leaves. He hadn't been simply paying lip-service to the responsibilities of a good host.

"I deny myself a lot of things. It makes the pleasure sweeter when it finally comes."

As if to make a point, there are no kisses yet, no strokes and wandering touches, but thorough motion toward the goal of undress. Slipping a hand around her back, his fingers find the hooks of her bra and gently slip them loose before removing it as well. It had looked nice on her, so it was almost a pity, but not as much a pity as never getting to see her without it would have been. Reaching around, leaning over her with long arms, he turns the water on to heat up before closing the shower curtain.

Finding her skirt, tucked over a pair of tights, he slithers them down to a pile on the floor, pausing where he's crouched beside her to press a kiss against the smooth skin of her thigh, smile curving his lips against her.

"So I encourage you to remember that about me. Is there anything I should remember about you?"

[justsookie]

His actions, subtle and unpronounced, feel erotic in ways that Sookie doesn't feel familiar with. She watches and offers no help as Kisuke unclasps her bra, the weight of it skating straps down her arms until she's left bare and proud, shoulders held back as her eyes follow him closely. Her toes curl slightly where they're pressed against the floor as Kisuke brushes heated lips against her thigh, and it only strikes Sookie then that she's never had someone delay the pleasure before, never had someone patient enough to tease and wander. The thought of it draws warmth lower on her body, until her hand shifts with the want of touching herself there, pressing fingers against the thrum of her skin — but she doesn't. Not yet. Not while curiosity licks at her like a flame.

She doesn't have much of an opportunity to touch him from this position, though she lets her eyes roam in the place of her hands, over the back of his neck slightly exposed, over defined muscles that billowing robes had done much too well a job of hiding. He is unusual, and Sookie finds her gaze stopping at his eyes, attentive yet distant under a hooded gaze.

"You should remember that... the line between pain and pleasure has been a real blurred area for me lately," she confesses, trembling slightly at the thought. Sometimes it's the only thing to shake her out of the faint numbness that settles over her skin. Pain has a purpose — or at least is marvelously good at feigning one. Her lips curve in a more playful grin. "And that I'm really wanting to get my hands all over you."

[vivememorleti]

"I like," he murmurs, sliding back up from the floor to tug his own pants and underwear beneath down with his thumbs, slipping the loose pants over his hips slowly. "Blurred lines."

Placing a hand against the center of her chest, he gives her a gentle nudge backward toward the running shower, steam already unfurling over the curtain around it. He steps out of his pants as he moves them backward, snatching a wash-towel from their pile next to the bath. His lips quirk upward again, eyes dropping down to her body again before meeting hers. Warm and down to earth brown, a good color.

"Before you worry about what you want to do with your hands, though. I'm here to help you wash your hair."

[justsookie]

She hesitates at the touch of his hand against her chest, feeling her own pulse against the press of his palm, rapid and hard. With a soft sigh, she keeps her hands carefully at her sides, before breaking unspoken contract and taking his hand in hers, though she keeps his knuckles pressed against her sternum. Maybe it's that little display of control that she needs, the first one to step into the shower, the first one to shiver at the cascade of water against her back.

"If I knew you better, maybe I'd know whether or not you deliberately keep all that hidden under those robes," muses Sookie, not bothering to hide her interest, eyes tracing down the contour of his body, aided now by the rivulets of water trickling down. "But."

Carefully, Sookie tilts her head back, hair drenching quickly with water before she turns around, back faced to Kisuke.

"Now, about my hair," she murmurs, glancing over her shoulder.

[vivememorleti]

"Maybe a little bit of hiding," Kisuke says, the Cheshire smile returning from before, though a muted iteration. He allows himself a sigh of relief at the hot water and the humid air, blinking through the steam to take in the long curve of her spine. All of his favorite parts of a woman were on her back. The nape of her neck. The dimple of the small of her back. The place where the curve of her ass met the top of her thigh. He keeps his hands to himself for the time being, but lets his interest be known in the slow trace of his eyes.

"But my body isn't a great source of conceit. The way it looks is only a conclusion of the way that it's used. A tool is a tool. It's my face," he says, reaching for the shampoo bottle. He pours a generous amount into the cup of one palm before replacing the bottle and coating the fingers of each hand with it. "That's the handsome part."

Reaching forward, he cards fingers through her wet hair, tips to root, before working it to lather with fingers pressing with soft insistence at her scalp, intent circles above her temples and behind the delicate shell of her ears.

[justsookie]

Sookie lets out a soft hum through her exhale, lips slightly parted to allow for the trickle of water down her face, wetting lips slightly too dry from the late autumn air. Breathing in, she feels the warmth of the shower seep through her body, and upon hearing Kisuke's voice reverberating through the small room, closes her eyes to drown in the sound. He has a friendly voice, she thinks, though it's more sobered now than it had been when they met.

The fingers in her hair relax her to the point of drowsiness, and so Sookie traces her own hands along her body, tracing invisible lines and drawing against her own curves. Round one breast, then down the center, over to the cut of her hip.

"You could say the same thing about my body, or anyone's, couldn't you? You're not completely born with it, not as much as you are a face. It reflects what you do," she points out, fighting the urge to lean back against his body, skim thrumming with the unfamiliar distance. Eric and Bill, they could have been pressed flush against her back by this point. "But you weren't lookin' at mine like it's just a tool."

Down, along the cut of her hip, fingers tracing gently between her thighs.

[vivememorleti]

"Because your body is yours, and not mine. That's the only difference that is ever relevant." He gathers her long hair together, holds it under the water of the shower and threads fingers through it until it runs clear. Picking the soap up from its tray recessed into the wall, he starts with her shoulders and the back of her neck, running it across wet skin. He follows it with his tongue once, tasting sweet like the running water and the soap.

Working lower, long fingers pay careful attention to every knot of muscle in her back, smoothing her out with careful precision, her anatomy mapped out clearly in his mind. In his time, he's forgotten more about her body than she will ever know. He has no fear of demonstrating such.

Hands sweeping down, his touch grows gentler as he reaches the swell of her ass, tracing a finger along the cleft with feather-light touch before sweeping around with both hands to her hips, pulling her back against him. "Your hair's washed. Anything else I can help with?"

[justsookie]

Perhaps too morbid to think about for long, Sookie can't help noticing the ease with which Kisuke's able to trace able fingers along planes of muscle, relaxing her shoulders, her back, until she feels boneless and adrift. Heavily hooded eyes follow the billowing steam in the shower, lungs taking in a sharp breath when she feels Kisuke's fingers trace lower, closer to and yet too far from where she longs for them most.

Relief cascades over her when he finally pulls her back against his body, and with a slight lean, Sookie stretches an arm over her shoulder and hooks her hand around the back of his neck, keeping him close. He's a tease, and anything but a gentleman, but it gives Sookie courage enough to arch against his body, against the hardness she feels pressed near the small of her back. His skin runs hot, a rarity to her memory and cherished all the more for it.

"Well, you know, you hands are great," she murmurs, tilting her head to the side, hips rocking back once more. "But I think they've missed a spot, don't you?"

[vivememorleti]

"Do I?" he asks, amusement toying at his voice. Moving one hand from her hip, he takes one of the wash-towels to slip it between their bodies, slowly cleaning the rest of what's left stuck to his chest with the soap from her back and his hands. The water runs pink for a minute, before he discards the towel and dips his head to press a kiss against the top of her head, lips against her wet hair.

Jostling to reach around her then, he quickly turns the shower off, and flips the metal knob to stopper the tub and let it fill. Being in such a lonely building can be a blessing. There's little competition for hot water.

Folding the curtain back, he settles himself against the back of the slick tub to slide down it, legs bracketing hers, and shoots a coy look up at her. "My hands shouldn't get to have all of the fun," he says, nodding for her to join him. He has a plan that suits him better, though he's more content to keep his cards close to his chest for the moment.

[justsookie]

Blinking in surprise and quickly wrapping her arms around her chest when the shower stops, Sookie watches as Kisuke slides down to a seat, his smile satisfied, as though everything's gone perfectly according to plan. Her chest briefly tightens at a memory, one of her first from being intimate with Bill, of the two of them seated under warm, scented water, opposite one another. Communicating with nothing more than a look for some time. Blissfully silent to her after years of too much blah, blah, blah.

Taking a deep breath, she smiles, soft and on the edge of overwhelmed before she kneels down. It might be more comfortable for her to press back to his chest again, but she's too impatient now after several minutes of teasing, and in spite of the hardness against her knees, Sookie kneels and lets a hand skirt down Kisuke's chest, over his abdomen, to where she rests it by his inner thigh, fingertips brushing idly. Her real objective is a kiss, noses bumping briefly as she takes a tentative peck, then bolder, tugging on his lip between teeth and sighing in longing. She's missed this. A gentle, unrushed intimacy. Spontaneous and unexpected.

"Do you usually bring stray women home like this?" she asks, pulling back to press lips down the line of his neck, fingers brushing along his collarbone. "You seem awfully good at it."

[vivememorleti]

"If you're asking about strays," he says, words airy as he pulls for a breath in the wake of her kiss. His arms find her back, fingers trailing along the line of her spine before sweeping around to nestle between their bodies, cupping her breasts in rough fingers with a gentle touch. He searches for her face again, pressing a kiss to the space just in front of her ear before sweeping his tongue up and over the round edge. He follows it with the scrape of teeth and soft pants of breath, pleased with the treatment he's getting from her.

"I take home a lot of them. If you're talking about women, the ones that I've enjoyed the most are the kind you only get when they're prepared to have you."

[justsookie]

Letting her arms slide fully around Kisuke's shoulders, Sookie gasps, breath hot against his cheek as his fingers slide up and brush over her breasts, squeezing lightly, almost reverently. The teeth against her ear earn a rake of her fingers in response, blunt nails dragging down the front of his chest, brushing against coarse hair underneath the level of the water.

"I hope that means I follow the pattern," Sookie murmurs against the shell of his ear, sliding forward until her thighs press against the cradle of his hips, the flat of her palm lightly brushing up the side of Kisuke's length. Ducking her head down, the bridge of Sookie's nose drags along the rough stubble by Kisuke's jaw, until she's able to duck and press a quick kiss to the soft skin underneath. "How do you want me?"

[vivememorleti]

Her question gets only a subtle smirk in reply, one that bites off a hiss of frustrated pleasure as her hand falls against the throb in his cock. Sliding his hands down the length of her front, sword-rough fingertips grazing along the trembling skin of her belly, he finds a grip on the underside of her thighs and gives a rough tug.

He pulls her hips up to meet him, rough hairs on his chin brushing the sensitive skin where her thigh meets the join of her body.

"You should do me a favor and turn that water off," he says, "Or we're going to end up making a mess soon enough."

He breathes her in, smelling like soap and a woman, and takes her in with low-lidded eyes, hidden beneath dark lashes. She'll get there before he does, or he hasn't been taught well enough otherwise. Tongue darting out, he traces a slow line along the folds between her legs with cat-like satisfaction, curling around the slick pink nub between them when it's found.

[justsookie]

Whatever shade of control Sookie had is completely wrested from her with a sudden slide and a pair of sure hands. Dazed, Sookie only just manages to follow Kisuke's instruction, breath light as she twists the water off, blush high on her cheeks and chest tight in anticipation. "Nothing wrong with a mess, right?" she murmurs, heels sliding against the tub and hands quickly gripping the sides, the lack of balance striking in the moment.

Even with the rush of air against her thigh driving anticipation, Sookie can't suppress the sudden jolt in her body when Kisuke's tongue makes contact, the muscles in her abdomen tightening as heat pools quickly below. He's slow, almost gentle, but the contrast is so great against her past experiences that Sookie finds herself overwhelmed, head tilting back against the tub with a gasp.

"Oh, god," she cries out, the side of her foot brushing against the sharper cut of Kisuke's hip before thudding against the end of the tub. One hand darts down to thread through damp, heavy hair, fingers gripping tight and giving him a slight tug, urging him closer. "Please."

[vivememorleti]

He laughs, slow and deep, before the laughter is swallowed by a smaller noise at the tight tug of small hands wound through his hair. It isn't the first time he's been so glad to keep it long enough for a good yank, but it's been too long. Pressing forward again, he grips her hip, touch going from gentle to strong and sure to keep her rooted as he slips between again, sighing at the throb and the heat against his tongue.

He finds her leg with his free hand, pressing a palm against it to draw it up the length, beneath her thigh, until long fingers find her just below where he works. He strokes, playing along the edges, until he's certain that she's slick enough that thin callouses won't catch when he slips one inside, and then another, groaning and shifting beneath her. The heat between his legs is too hot, and too heavy, but he'd been far from lying when he'd told her he preferred the wanting to the having.

[justsookie]

She tugs again, even though he's already impossibly close, the throb of her clit clear against the press of his tongue, and when Sookie blinks, she notices the haze of the light in the room, fuzzy and too bright as she briefly struggles against Kisuke's hold, wanting more. His hands, broad and strong, hold her down until the instinct subsides, but it doesn't stop Sookie from getting a better grip on Kisuke's hair, feeling water trickle between her fingers.

Save for the occasional splash of water, the only sounds in the room seem to be the rush of her breath and the moans falling soft from her lips, uneven and keening. Her legs shift up, unable to stay still, heels hooking around Kisuke's back but struggling not to jostle him any further than he's already been by the demanding pull of her hands. Sookie hisses, then sighs with relief at the feel of rough fingers stroking inside of her, stretching, filling her after far too long without a gentle touch and brazen intimacy.

"Fuck," Sookie gasps, a harder drag of Kisuke's tongue sending a sudden tightness winding through her body, and she tries to hold it off, doesn't want him to stop, wanting the need to last as long as possible.