Heavenfall

Kaze smiled brightly. "Excellent." He gave Kaze's leg a gentle squeeze. "We share so much in common, it would be a shame if we could not help each other to...well, to stretch a metaphor...to be the woodworker for each other. I know that I am far from my potential, but I believe that we could accomplish great things together, in time."

Dawei lays his hand atop Kaze's.

"I would like that, I think."

He nods.

"I think I would like that a lot."

I think I could like you a lot.

Kaze's smile increased and the beginnings of a blush began to form on his cheekbones. "I...have not yet taken the opportunity to thank you for carrying me out of danger when that bandit shot me. It was most kind." He leaned in to place a small kiss on Dawei's cheek, pulling back just as quickly. "Thank you, Seppun-sama."

Dawei's other hand rises, touches the cheek.

"It was...of course. I couldn't, wouldn't, do otherwise."

And as heat rises into his face, a goofy grin starts to stretch his mouth. Dawei seems wholly unaware of it, but nobody who looks on can be.

Kaze nods in understanding. "Then Seppun-sama is as...exceptional as I imagined."

"Kaze, please, Dawei."

He gives Kaze's hand on his knee a gentle squeeze.

It has been so long.

And it may be that a tear wells up in his eye. Just a bit.

"Dawei, then." He turned his hand to lace their fingers together as he notices the tear. He chooses not to point it out, letting the silence and his presence serve as an invitation to talk if Dawei wishes to. He gently strokes the back of Dawei's hand with his thumb.

Dawei sits quietly with Kaze's hand threaded in with his own for a while, content in the gentle touch that he had not had in years. At length and with a sigh, he says "It has been some time since anyone has touched me so. I had not thought any would again in my life."

"Oh? But you are...very kind, and mysterious, and handsome. I have no experience in this sort of thing at all, but I cannot imagine your being left alone for very long." Kaze paused a moment. "I think I am perhaps lucky to have found you before another. A skilled hunter and an artist, quite a catch."

"Flatterer," Dawei replies.

"Don't stop, though."

He grins, not quite so goofy an expression this time.

"But I'd've thought you had no small expertise here, truly, being so bold. So wonderfully bold."

Kaze blushed crimson.

"I survived by taking what I needed for all my youth alone in the forest. Why should I fear now that I live in the shadow of the gods? I know what it is I need, now, and the Lady's hints and insinuations all make sense when I consider them in light of you."

Dawei flushes in turn, more than he already had.

His mouth opens and closes a couple of times, trying to find words.

Even Hiro never said so much.

"Take your time. Give order to your thoughts. The words will come when the feeling is sorted out," Kaze murmured. "They always do."

At length, Dawei finds his voice again.

"What did Lady Doji say to you?" he asks, the words coming out huskily.

"She said that it was time to consider my future. And that it is possible to be alone, even within a clan."

He paused for a moment.

"And I am tired of being alone. I have been, I think, all my life. The Lady is kind, has done great things for me, but I love her as my goddess and my friend. I do not love her as I would love a partner, a husband. I think...well, I have considered my future, and I have some plans. If we survive this, and if we grow closer together, then I think you would...could be, if you decided that it is what you wanted...a great help to me, and to our people."

Almost as though interrupting himself, he added quickly: "Not that I am asking you to choose now. It is too soon for that; even I would not know how to answer or how we will feel in the next little while. But I...I like you, and want to learn more about you, and...would not mind if things grew from there."

Dawei nods.

"I'd like to get to know you better, too, Kaze. And I look forward to us both coming back from this, now more than earlier."

He looks the Crane in the face, smiles. "Having someone to go home with will help."

Kaze smiled broadly. "Hai, I think so, too."

"Then we'll just have to make sure we do that, then, won't we?"

Dawei sighs contentedly.

"But this is pretty nice, too."

"I can think of something that would make it nicer." Kaze said quietly, his smile widening as he met Dawei's eyes. "Kiss me, Dawei-san."

Dawei blinks again, still somehow surprised. But he does not delay long, and puts both hands on Kaze's cheeks, draws the two of them together, brings his lips to the other's, gently.