Spellbound

*Prologue

By Sakata Ri Houjun

*******************

Koi.  Let me into your dreams.  Open your heart and

hear me.  Tasuki, I need you.  Don’t turn from me now,

or all is lost.  I am lost.  Koi.

Genrou shifted restlessly in sleep, turned his face

into the pillow.  He could feel him there, somehow. 

Skin, soft and yielding.  Hands, gentle and soothing. 

Then he drifted into dreams of searing flames and vast

mountains that rose high among the clouds.  And the

scent of him.

The temple rose atop a hill, silver stone spearing

into stormy skies.  The sound of his mount’s bridle

jingled brightly as he climbed high over the rolling

grass.  Thunder sounded in the west over the mountains

in the distance.  And echoed in his heart.

Had he waited for me?

His eyes, golden as the edges of the magical flame he

wielded, shifted, scanned, searching for any holes

where a foe could hide.  His tessen lay ready.  In

such a place a man did not lower his guard.  Here

magic stung the air and could embrace or threaten. 

Here a god plotted or blessed, and a monk cast his

spells in that god’s name.

Atop the lonely hill, towering above the nearby

stream, the temple stood, holding its secrets.  No man

rode this path without hearing the whispers of old

legends and new spirits.

Had he waited for me?

The horse’s hooves rang musically over rock until at

last they traveled to level ground.  He dismounted at

the foot of the hill just as lightning cracked the

black sky.

And he was there, conjured up out of storm-whipped

air.  His hair was a waterfall of sky blue silk over a

gray cloak, his skin alabaster with the faint bloom of

rose, his  remaining eye as burgundy as wine and just

as intoxicating.

His heart leapt, and his blood churned with love,

lust, longing.  He came to him, his beauty staggering.

 Their eyes locked, he was eager for the older man who

was mage, monk, and lover.

“Tasuki, have you traveled all night, no da?  You must

want something.”

“Chichiri.”  His lips bowed in a smile.  “I want

everything.”

“Only everything, na no da?”  His laugh was low and

intimate.  “Well I guess that’s a good enough answer

I’ll ever get out of you, no da.  I’ve been waiting

for you.”

Then Chichiri’s arms were around him, mouth lifting to

his.  He pulled the smaller man closer; wild to have

whatever he was offering, and more.

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he repeated.  “I can’t

fight this alone.  Mikuni is too strong, her dark

forces too greedy.  Koi, why did you shut me out of

your heart?”

He drew the older man away.  The temple was gone-only

ruins remained, empty, battle-scarred.  They stood in

the shadow of what had been, before a small house.

“The time is short now,” he continued.  “Tasuki, you

must come to me.  Destiny can’t be denied.  Without

you with me, she’ll win.”

Chichiri lifted a hand to his face, and it passed

through him as if he were a ghost.  Or perhaps he was

the ghost.  “I have loved you throughout time.  I am

bound to you.  Come to me soon.  Find me.  Or I’m

lost.”

Then he was gone.

The redhead awoke gasping for breath.  And reaching

out.

~~~~

“Kou Genrou, you need a vacation,” his mother said.

Genrou sipped his coffee.  He wasn’t sure why he’d

come home to Brooklyn to listen to his mother

complaining about his life.

“I’m seriously considering that right now.”

“Try Montana,” his father suggested.  As usual, no one

paid him any attention.

“You need a couple of weeks away from the city life,”

his mother said.  “You’re looking tired.”

“That’s because I’m home, listening to you bitch,” he

grumbled.  “But I have been thinking of taking a

trip.”

“Good,” his mother said.  “You’ve been working too

hard.  Not that we aren’t proud of you.  After your

exhibit last month I couldn’t stop bragging to the

point that the neighbors started to hide when they saw

me coming.”

“That’s your huge-ass breasts scaring them, Ma. 

Besides, I’m fine.  Just not sleeping well.”

“Have you seen a doctor?” his mother asked,

remembering her son as a boy, who had walked in his

sleep, and had dreamed of bandits, gods, and battle.

“Ma, I’m fine.” Kou said.  “I’m planning to go to

China.”  It came out of Genrou’s mouth before he’d

realized the idea was in his head.

“China?”  His mother pursed her lips.  “Not to work?”

“No, to…to see,” he said.  “Just to see.”

She nodded, satisfied.  A vacation, after all, was a

vacation.  “Going to look up ancestors, Gen-chan?”

“I might.”  He was going to look up something, he

realized.  Or someone.