Sex.

They needed to have sex.

Haru sat there, frozen, jaw slacked, with Momo staring up at him and wagging his tail.

When he spent too long frozen in his spot, Momo actually had to bark to pull him out of his reverie.

Effective as it was for pulling Haru back to the situation at hand, he also couldn’t help the heat rising to his cheeks at the mere mention of it. Sure, kissing was fine, after all, wasn’t that to be expected for a relationship? But to talk about doing something so intimate so candidly, and considering how fast everything had been going, Haru was definitely unprepared for that.

 It felt so soon. But maybe it wasn’t? Haru could feel that intangible bond like some kind of ethereal line entangled around the both of them. The red string of fate, like Lady Himiko said, entwined around them.

One thing was for sure, and that was that Haru had never had a brazen, candid conversation about sex…with anyone. Not with his grandfather—perish the thought—nor his sister, and not even Kaguya!

Haru felt his cheeks heat up. He probably looked like a tomato.

Canute took one look at him before a little grin started to quirk the corners of his lips upward.

Haru’s cheeks felt even hotter.

“If you don’t want to, Haru, I can wait,” Canute said. The way the vampire said his name—Haru—it sounded like the barest, softest whisper, tickling this little part of the kami that made him shiver with bated breath. “We can take things as slow as you need to.”

“Um, well, it’s not that I don’t want to,” Haru said softly in reply, his voice shaky. “I just don’t have any idea how to do any of that. I know two people in love do it together.”

“Would you like me to teach you?” Canute asked.

Well, that was certainly blunt. But Haru didn’t find himself disliking the idea at all! He’d seen what Canute had underneath the clothes he wore, and Haru would have been lying if he said that he wasn’t intrigued at the prospect of…all of that, being pressed up against him. In fact, the moment he’d thought about the body that lay underneath Canute’s meager, borrowed apparel, Haru couldn’t help the very visceral reaction his body was having.

Haru felt his cock stir against his pants, and the soft, baggy clothing he wore couldn’t hide his clear erection.

“I don’t think I’m ready for that just yet,” Haru said honestly, his face still bright red. The ground should have swallowed him up by now. He felt so embarrassed that he had to say this, but Haru knew he wouldn’t have been able to perform as well as his Kindred would have wanted. “I’m sorry.”

“Why are you sorry?” Canute asked, extending a hand to gently cup Haru’s cheek. “I don’t own your body, Haru. I’m glad you’re honest with me.”

Slowly, Haru found himself moving forward more and more until he was partway to settling himself onto Canute’s lap. “But I do want to get to know you better. In other ways.”

“Like?” Canute said. “If you’d like to talk, you’re my Kindred. There’s nothing I won’t tell you, as I hope you will be as open with me, too.”

“I mean, physically. I don’t mind if we kiss,” Haru answered, saying that last word a little more softly. Gods, could somebody put me out of my misery? “Or… you know. Hug, that sort of thing.”

There was something that flared in Canute’s eyes, something that made Haru feel a shiver of need crawl up his body.

“I see,” Canute said, his voice suddenly a little thicker than before. The vampire cleared his throat and leaned back, putting just a bit of distance between himself and Haru. “I don’t want to do anything you’re not comfortable with, and if you want to get to know one another better, I think we should talk more. You know, to try to make you more comfortable in each other’s presence.”

 “I don’t feel uncomfortable with you,” Haru said. “Maybe part of it is just the lack of time we’ve spent together. It feels odd to be this entwined with you but not really know you at all.”

Canute nodded. “I understand. I will try my hardest to be a patient teacher, but I’m not the most patient of men when it comes to these matters.”

Haru tilted his head, raising an eyebrow. “But aren’t you a soldier? Aren’t patience and discipline two of the most important traits a soldier should have?”

“Disciplined, yes, but I’m not the person to ask when you require training and teaching. But for you, I will do my best,” Canute admitted. “I don’t suffer fools lightly, and I suppose my discipline extends only in so much as I have to follow orders or else I might jeopardize whatever mission I might be on. I get angry rather quickly, actually.”

Haru nodded. He hadn’t even realized that he was finally settled into Canute’s lap, with the vampire’s hands clasped behind him, right against the small of his back.

Something solid, strong, and rigid pressed up against Haru’s stomach. When he looked down, there was a very clear, and very real tent on Canute’s pelvis, pointing up at him, even twitching ever so slightly. It was as if Canute’s body was accusing him, wagging a finger—well, it was much more substantial than a finger—at him and admonishing him.

Without thinking about the consequences, Haru grasped at his Kindred’s erection.

Canute gasped. “Haru,” he moaned. His voice became thick and low, his cock suddenly springing to full mast, Canute’s eyes went wide and intense emotion seemed to brim inside them.

There was this small, soft voice inside of Haru’s head that relished in the reaction that Canute had shown. The hitch in the vampire’s breath was like an alarm to Haru’s systems, telling him that he was rapidly approaching dangerous, undiscovered territory, and to be careful. But the thundering of his heartbeat and the burgeoning desire inside him told him to let loose and let go, and that meant doing this.

Haru’s touch became firmer, grasping at Canute’s cock from above the thin layers of cotton kimono that the vampire was wearing. Slowly, ever so slowly and delicately, he moved his hand from the seat of Canute’s erection to the top, and slid his hand downward into the fabric as he felt the only slightly prickly sensation of hair, and the firm smoothness of his Kindred. His fist finally enclosed around Canute’s shaft, and the accompanying gasp—or was it a sigh?—was like a balm to Haru’s senses.

“Does that feel good?” Haru asked.

Canute smiled. “Are you sure you’ve never done this before? You’re being very forward, mon coeur.”

 “Mon coeur?” Haru asked.

Canute’s reply was succinct, almost clipped as he bit down on his lower lip. “My heart.”

Haru felt a bubble of happiness inside, a little tickle, or a giggle, that made him want to stop when he heard those words. But he couldn’t! He knew he shouldn’t. Instead, he bit his lower lips and started to run his fingers up the sizeable tool that grew more and more firm by the moment.

Canute hurriedly pulled and tugged on his top until his kimono opened and bore his strong chest, the muscles, scars, and veritable forest on his body a perfect sign of his virility. His arms twitched and flexed, showing off the powerful muscles that stilled themselves for Haru.

There was so much power, so much strength in Canute, all of it contained but ready to be unleashed. Haru knew when he gazed into Canute’s eyes that the man before him was a predator, though the much larger man would never harm him intentionally. By some incredible twist of fate, he had eyes only for Haru.

It would have been a lie to say that Haru understood why this bond was, but he was happy, even if only for the moment, that it existed.

Canute pulled him just a little bit closer. “Go on,” he said encouragingly. “Touch more of me…like this.” The vampire wrapped his own large hand around Haru’s, allowing him to really get a feel for the manhood that throbbed and ached just for him.

Haru’s eyes widened, partly out of surprise, and mostly out of desire, but he also managed to let out just the softest, tiniest squeak of lust. Biting down on his lower lip, Haru’s hand moved from the hairy base of Canute’s cock, up the thick shaft, toward the sensitive tip.

Canute quivered. “Take off your shirt, mon coeur.” His words were halfway between a request and a demand, one hand coming up to grab Haru’s shirt. It would have been easy for Canute to rip it off of him, and Haru knew it must have taken a lot of strength not to do it.

With a few quick tugs, Haru removed the shirt off his body to bare his chest. Canute visibly shuddered, his eyes glazed over as he watched every inch of skin being exposed. Haru hadn’t ever felt as self-conscious as he did in this moment. Compared to Canute, Haru was so…different. He was lithe and slender, the definition in his form more like light caresses than the rigid, powerful strokes in each of Canute’s hard muscles. Still, when pressed together like this, Haru liked the disparity.

With a single pull, Canute pulled down Haru’s shorts to below his balls, revealing the upward jut of his cock.

Haru might as well have been naked. He was basically about seventy-five percent naked now, if he thought about it, though his mind was preoccupied with the feeling of Canute against him. Haru’s face heated up even more, especially since now there was only a single layer of cloth that separated him and Canute. Well, and his hand, which Haru slowly pulled away now that he’d gotten his fill of touching his Kindred.

Rubbing their bodies together, Haru felt Canute’s much larger frame, and much larger erection, sliding against his. The feeling of body hair was definitely ticklish, lightly abrading, but not abrasive. Canute felt hard and firm, but oddly smooth and soft, the contrasts exquisite enough to be tattooed right into Haru’s memory.

Haru even pressed his lips right against Canute’s chest, feeling the prickly hairs gently prickle against his mouth as he kissed all along the lines of Canute’s body.

“Canute,” Haru whispered his name reverently, softly. The Viking placed a hand against his cheek. There was a shuffle of movement as Canute lowered his pants.

“Shh, mon coeur. Just feel this moment. Be one with me,” Canute said, rocking his hips upward to slide his shaft up against the underside of his Kindred’s. “Embrace eternity with me, even if only for just this one moment.”

Canute rocked his hips upward, leaning over just to spit on his fist and then rub both the tip of his cock and the tip of Haru’s together. Although Canute’s erection was much more solid in a way that Haru’s wasn’t, the young kami didn’t feel at all threatened. He knew Canute was the one meant for him. Perhaps it was a feeling that he had to embrace, even if he didn’t fully understand why.

Regardless, when he slid upward and rocked the underside of his shaft right against the underside of Canute’s, the sticky slide provided by Canute’s saliva made Haru feel even warmer.

Haru rocked his body upward, sliding his hips back and forth and uttering a soft moan. It just felt so good. Canute was perfect, solid, in all the right ways that Haru liked.

 Their bodies slid together perfectly, up and down, with Haru’s cock grinding against Canute’s much larger one. The steady, but slow trickle of Canute’s precum against Haru’s shaft felt that much more pleasurable, that much more exquisite. Haru didn’t really have a point of comparison, but if all sex with Canute felt this way, then he wanted more.

He wanted all of Canute.

Haru rocked himself steadily, shivering at the sensations that overtook him. A strange sense of euphoria built up inside him, one that he’d never felt before. With every rock of his body against his Viking lover’s, Canute’s eyes seemed to darken, and his grasp on Haru’s body seemed to become ever firmer.

“Canute,” Haru gasped.

Canute moved his icy blue gaze over Haru’s body until their stares met. The man’s hips were snapping forward and back, sliding exquisitely, grinding against the sensitive crown of his erection. With a little smile, Canute started rocking their bodies more firmly against each other. He moved two of his fingers against Haru’s lips. “Suck,” he said, his voice as much a command as it was a request.

Haru did as he was told. He laced his tongue around those fingers, and for a few moments he hollowed out his cheeks and slurped on the pair of digits. It didn’t take long for Canute to pull his fingers free, and then move those saliva-laden fingers right against Haru’s hole to push into.

Haru gasped. A single finger already made his toes curl, and his cock leak.

“Mon coeur is so sensitive,” Canute said. “But I’ll take good care of you.”

Haru knew that was a promise and a statement of fact. As he felt Canute’s fingers push into him and seek out a part of him he never knew would feel this good being touched, Haru felt more of his essence begin to leak from the tip of his shaft. A second finger joined in, and Haru’s body felt like it was melting into Canute’s.

Gods, this felt amazing.

And it was only mere moments later when Haru started to buck wilder and wilder, letting himself go until rope after rope of seed spattered both their skin, as Haru’s toes curled and it felt like the entire world had begun to sing all around him.

A little prickle of pain appeared in his neck, but it melted away into something altogether different. Haru felt his essence being pulled from him through those little punctures, and something deep, something instinctive, maybe even spiritual, began to form between him and Canute.

Canute pulled his mouth and hands free from Haru’s body, and it was only then that he noticed the sheen of sweat on the vampire’s neck and chest, and the little dribble of cum that was also on the Viking’s body. The much larger man laved his tongue across Haru’s neck, cleaning up the pair of fang-holes that Canute had inflicted on his Kindred.

Still, with the exception of that sudden prickle of pain, Haru didn’t feel anything.

Had he lost himself to the moment so acutely? He’d forgotten everyone else but himself and his Kindred, and still he forgot that his Kindred was a person with his own reactions, his own body. Haru had been consumed. He didn’t know if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

“Did that feel good for you?” Canute asked.

Haru nodded. “It was unlike anything I’ve ever experienced.”

“Good.” Canute grinned. “I’m glad.”

They spent a moment of silence curled into each other’s arms. Canute felt so secure, wrapping Haru in warmth and hard, firm muscles. Haru’s stream of thoughts eventually settled into one thing that made it feel like there was a fist that wrapped itself around Haru’s stomach.

And no matter how much Haru wanted it to go away, he couldn’t shake it. Finally, he just spoke.

“It must be a problem that your Kindred is a man,” Haru said, biting the inner lining of his cheek softly and looking away. “Let alone someone with no experience, like me.”

The sudden insecurity felt odd. He’d never been prone to jealousy, or envy, or insecurity, and suddenly feeling it now when he felt Canute’s presence around him was strange, to say the least, but he couldn’t help how he felt.

Maybe, now that Haru actually had something tangible in his life that wasn’t just the comfort of his surroundings, that he could actually lose, he felt his emotions begin to spike more strongly than ever before.

Canute pressed himself even closer against Haru, wrapping his arms firmly around Haru’s slenderer frame. When Haru turned to look up at Canute, the vampire had a confused expression on his face. “Why would that be?” he asked.

“Things are much easier with women, right?” Haru asked. “People won’t ask questions. Well, they won’t ask as many.”

“I’m not going to lie, it’s certainly much easier to be with a woman, even in the supernatural world. Even though we have no choice over who holds the other half of our souls, who are we kidding? Some of us can’t help that we’re molded by human society in some way, in all its intricacies and prejudices. At its core, our cultures may be different, but some people’s thoughts will always remain the same as the people who influenced them,” Canute explained. It was obvious to Haru that his Kindred didn’t want to lie. He had to agree. If they had any chance of making this work, they needed to be completely honest with one another.

“That being said, no. It’s not a problem for me. The people I deem important to me understand that we do not choose the other half of our soul. I don’t care, as long as I have you. You are the only one who is important to me.”

“Do you regret us? Do you regret this?” Haru asked. With him, the curiosity mixed with the insecurity.

Canute wrapped his arms ever tighter around Haru’s body, holding the smaller man securely in his grasp. He looked down into Haru’s eyes, and the slight smile at the corners of the vampire’s lips was enough to assuage that small part of Haru that felt anxious.

“There’s nothing to regret. I wouldn’t give it up for the world, mon coeur. I have you, now. My life finally begins with you here,” Canute said. The resolution in his voice was a balm to Haru.

With a small smile, Haru leaned against Canute’s chest, feeling the soft thrum and beat of the Nordic vampire’s heart against his thickly muscled chest. “Please come back to me safe,” Haru said. “I can’t shake the feeling that now that we’re together, something might happen.”

Canute leaned down, his lips ghosting against the kami’s ear, and then moving closer to his cheek, until their faces were mere inches away from each other. “Always, mon coeur,” he whispered back softly, before darting his tongue out to give Haru a soft lick against the seam of his lips.

“Always.”