Chapter Text
The melodic singing of birds.
The soft rustling of leaves.
The cold breeze whispering against his skin.
The fingers gently carding through his hair.
The soft lap where his head lays upon.
Were he not given a second chance at life hundreds of years ago, young Nagi wouldn't have any of this. The days may be simple and uneventful, but he couldn't ask for more. All these are enough, as long as he's together with the light of his life, the older kitsune who pulled him out of death’s embrace.
Reo, the older kitsune who, Nagi swears, will be his bride one day.
The drag of Reo’s fingers on his scalp as they work through the knots on his hair and the angelic hum coming from the beautiful Kitsune’s curled lips are lulling him to sleep. Nagi, however, wills himself to stay awake. Not yet. He doesn't want to be tucked into his bed yet. Nagi wants to stare at Reo's face more, to watch the way his lashes flutter like the wings of a butterfly when he blinks, to get a comforting whiff of the mild floral scent he carries, to breathe in even a trace of the air that Reo exhales.
His heart feels like it's exploding with how full it is of Reo, but at the same time, it feels like it's never enough. Nagi wants them to be even closer. Closer.
“Reo.” Nagi calls him with a slight tremble to his voice. Reo turns to him with curiosity and being looked down upon by a divine beauty like this, Nagi's heart beats faster. “When I present one day, will Reo become my mate?”
A particularly freezing wind blows over them. Silence, until Reo lets out a chuckle. “There you go again, saying such ridiculous things.”
“It's not. I'm serious.” Nagi’s cheeks puff up as he pouts. Reo pinches them, eliciting a long whine from him. “owww…”
“And I'll always give you the same answer.” The fingers on his cheeks loosen and instead, cups his face as if he's a fragile thing. “Nagi, you're my treasure. I can't be your mate.”
He's heard that line a couple of times now, but it hurts Nagi just the same everytime. So much his throat tightens, unable to utter a single word lest he burst into sobs.
“You're still young and you have thousands of years ahead of you.” Reo’s voice softens, albeit not enough to soothe the ache in his chest. “You'll find someone more fitting. Someone who'll be with you until the end of time. Your own treasure.”
“But… Reo is my treasure...” Nagi tries to argue between sniffles, sitting up to be face to face with the older kitsune thinking maybe he'll be taken seriously if he shows his resolution through his eyes.
But Reo, despite his kind voice and serene beauty, can be so cruel sometimes.
“It can't be that way, my dear child. I found you, not the other way around. I can't be yours, silly...” Reo giggles, lifting a hand to rub the base of Nagi's ear. “Besides, I only have one tail left now. I only have a few hundred years left before I pass on. And then I'll…” He stares at the horizon with a wistful smile on his face.
For some reason, Nagi can feel longing underneath that smile. A longing for something he could never give Reo no matter how hard he tried. Whenever Reo is like this, he always feels so far away even when he's just there. A strange feeling bubbles in Nagi's chest. He doesn't like this feeling at all.
“Reo, are you going somewhere far away? Without me?” Nagi clutches at his hakama to stop his hands from shaking. He's not prepared to hear the answers to his questions but he can't hold himself back from asking. “You promised to stay with me forever…”
Reo only turns to him and wraps him in a tight embrace.
“I'll stay with you until the end of my life.”
××
Nagi wades into the river, wincing as the freezing waters envelop him waist down.
Red tendrils leech from his robes, dyeing his surroundings with the blood of his kills. Something splattered on his cheek too. Gross. He wipes it with the back of his hand and dips it back into the water to rinse the filth off him. His soaked clothes are subsequently removed, revealing a pale, surprisingly well-sculpted figure — cords of muscles glistening with oils and sweat from the labor he did a while ago.
Reo won't like it if I come home smelling like blood, Nagi reminds himself as he washes his robes well, careful not to get the fabric snagged and torn by his claws. He never learned how to sew, Reo never taught him to. Reo always hated seeing him hold something he might hurt himself with, even at his age. Then, he lays his wrung out clothes a short distance away from the spoils of his hunt and fruits that he foraged before letting himself float along the surface of the river.
The older kitsune used to do all of these for him, including bathing and drying him afterwards. Now, Nagi has to do it all by himself, at his own insistence. The once mighty and powerful kitsune is now just a mere shell of his former self, his lone, worn-out tail a gauge of the few years he has remaining. Unlike Nagi, who he had spoiled rotten growing up, still having his full, robust nine tails. Almost an eternity left in his lifespan.
That he doesn't know how he'll spend without Reo by his side.
Nagi suddenly feels a wave of dread crash over him. What is he doing wasting all the precious time Reo has left by not staying by his side? He wades out of the water, haphazardly putting his robes back on and grabbing his harvest before running swiftly to their home.
×××
He promptly reaches the entrance and hears Reo’s voice and someone else's. Must be another pest who's there to take Reo’s attention away from him. The red-headed ryujin, Hyoma.
Nagi goes to where the voices are coming from to swat away the fly bothering Reo, but stops in his tracks, only a wall separating them, when he hears what they're talking about.
“That pup’s grown up quite a lot, hasn't he? Isn't he at that age yet? He should be having one or two litters by now.” Hyoma probed, to which Reo responds with a dry laugh.
“Well, he keeps saying that looking for a mate is such a pain and just endures his ruts. Quite an amazing feat, really. You know how our race gets when it's the mating season...” Reo speaks fondly, looking at a distant memory.
“Yeah, you almost destroyed the entire forest back then.” Hyoma looks at him with slight worry. “But won't the boy go down the same path? With no mate to pour his excess spiritual energy into, he's just a ticking time bomb.”
“It must be my fault for spoiling him a bit too much. He insists on staying with me.” Reo clasps his hands. “Even though I'm just a burden to him now. With my end approaching.”
I've never seen you as a burden, Nagi so badly wanted to interrupt now and tell Reo the truth, but he waits for a better timing to interject.
Hyoma’s cheerful demeanor suddenly dies down, turning anxious and wary. “It doesn't have to be this way, Reo. You know how the boy feels about you. Why not just take him as your mate and–”
“Hyoma.” Reo cuts him off, his beautiful face soiled by a grave expression. “Enough.”
Hyoma groans in exasperation. “It’s been thousands of years, Reo. You're ruining yourself to chase after a phantom.” The ryujin tips his head low, a cascade of crimson hair obscuring his eyes. “It’s disheartening, as your friend, to see you like this…
Nagi can sense the heavy atmosphere from where he's standing. He can feel Reo being in distress and now really would be a great time to send the guest home (and threaten him to never come back once they're no longer within Reo’s sight) but for some reason, he's compelled to listen further. A phantom? That Reo is willing to go so far as to waste away his life to chase?
After a few beats, Reo finally breaks his silence.
“I just want to… No, I must see Nagi again. I have to fulfill my promise.”
Nagi? But he's been here, together with him this whole entire time? And making his feelings clear at every chance he gets? A morbid curiosity tugs at the young kitsune even harder. Everything he's hearing as the two speak is new to him and is difficult to understand. All he can get from this is that Reo kept secrets from him. Huge secrets that might shed light to the confounding way Reo is acting.
“Seventy years is nothing for immortals like us, but that's an entire lifetime for a human like him. He chose to spend it with me. He's the very first treasure that I found for myself.” Reo gazes somewhere far away, tears pooling on the corner of his eyes. “He finally told me the words I’ve been wanting to hear. Nagi told me he loved me.”
Hyoma turns to him, sadness and confusion playing on his face. “Reo…”
“I couldn't say it back. He didn't want me to follow after him.” Reo’s voice finally cracks. “I tried my best to forget him, but I can't. Nagi… He haunts me up to this day.”
“Hold on, now that I remember him more clearly…” Hyoma perks up in realization, piecing together something vital. “That’s right! The kid, what if he indeed is his–”
“He's my child.” Reo puts a stop to what he has to say next, already figuring out what it is. “He can't be anything but my child.”
Hyoma stares at him as if he just said something so ludicrous, then he lets out a wry laugh.
“That man must've put a curse on you. You weren't this stupid before you met him. My condolences to the boy.” He gets on his feet, swatting dust off his luxurious silk robes. “I care about you, but I can't bear to see you turn into someone so delusional. Wake up, Reo.”
The ryujin gives the withering kitsune one final look of pity before he flies off, leaving him alone in tears and covering his mouth to silence his sobs.
Nagi is frozen in place, fists balled so tightly his claws are piercing through his palm. His vision is spinning. Warped red and green all around him. Even Nagi himself doesn't understand what this feeling is. He needs to calm down, keep himself composed. Reo is crying. He should do what any good mate treasure would, to rush by his side and console him.
Reo.
Reo had been lying to him.
Maybe they can sit down together and have a nice, long talk where Reo reveals the truth to him.
All this time, Reo is in love with someone else, that's why he keeps refusing to be my mate.
The older kitsune had his reasons for keeping secrets from him. Maybe he wanted him to live a fulfilling life he can only get by living on his own.
Reo had been wanting to die so he can follow after that human he's infatuated with. Does he even care what'll happen to me once he's gone?
The human I was named after.
The dead human Reo keeps choosing over me.
“Nagi? Ah,” Reo’s voice calls to him, finally noticing his presence. He frantically wipes the tear tracks on his cheeks and forces out a smile as he approaches. “How long have you been standing there? You could've let me know you were back.”
Nagi's jaws tighten, eyes darkening behind the mess of hair hiding away his face. He can't let Reo see him like this. The anger and bitterness showing in his face; the face Reo gently caresses and kisses to sleep every night, the face he looks at with such a sweet, loving gaze that kept Nagi wishing Reo would look at him and only at him forever. He takes a deep breath, telling himself he can't stay mad at Reo like this because Reo doesn't like stubborn people who don't listen to him.
Reo puts a hand to his cheek, slim fingers reaching at the base of his ear to scratch it. “You're awfully quiet. Did something happen?”
Then, more questions suddenly came into Nagi’s unstable mind. Had Reo been seeing someone else in him? Was the affection he was spoiled with not meant for him, but for–
Nagi can no longer bear to hear the end of his thoughts. Before he knows it, his body is moving faster than the still rational part of his mind tells him to pull himself together.
“Nagi!” Reo yells in distress, grimacing at the hands wound tightly around his wrists to pin him down the floor. “T-that hurts! What's wrong?”
“Reo.” Nagi grasps even harder, as if the older kitsune’s bones are something that would save him from drowning. Reo is complaining about being hurt? But what about me?
“I won't be your toy anymore.”
Nagi fixes his sights on the column of Reo's neck. At its base, the faintest scent of wisteria flowers calls to him. Something inside him compels him to sink his fangs into it. Acting on his urges, Nagi tugs at the collar of Reo’s robes before lowering his head.
“No!”
Reo musters just enough strength to free himself and push Nagi away, amethyst-colored flames protectively surrounding him and threatening to burn whoever comes near him.
Seeing the hurt on his sweet Nagi's face morph into cold, simmering rage, at that moment, Reo thinks he finally understands what's happening.
He runs.
Gets up on his two feet and forces his frail legs to sprint as fast as he can. His heart is beating as if it wants to escape from his ribs. At his current state, there's no way he's winning against another kitsune with full nine tails teeming with energy.
It's all coming back to bite him so suddenly and without a warning. Nagi's ruts wouldn't stay manageable on his own without a mate, and being the only other kitsune around, his sights are set on Reo. Reo deems it plausible, telling himself that it must be a rut muddling his dear child’s mentation, making him chase after him so aggressively. At such a bad timing too, just right after Hyoma had left.
“Nagi, let's talk– agh!”
Reo makes the dumb mistake of looking back. He doesn't get too far away before he's slammed down and pinned on the floor again, caged underneath the younger kitsune's much broader and muscular figure.
Nagi doesn't wait any further. He rips open Reo’s robes, revealing the pale, supple skin hiding underneath. Reo tries to push him away again, but Nagi catches his hands and pins them right above his head before biting the gland at the base of his neck.
“Nghh!”
Reo lets out a loud cry as Nagi buries his fangs deep enough to break the surface of his skin. “No, Nagi! Don't do this… please!” He begs, right as the fangs clamp shut on his scent gland — part of his body reserved to the one he acknowledged as his mate. Pain spreads across his body like wildfire, leaving burning embers in its wake. Burning embers that, within seconds, fade into a persistent warmth that makes his loins quiver and his breaths heavy, accompanied by soft whimpers. “No… no…”
Nagi pulls away from the crook of his neck and swallows the blood staining his lips. Sweet. As sweet as the sight of Reo turning pliant under him and the now potent smell of wisteria flowers that nearly makes him suffocate. “I did it… Reo…” He breathes, straightening up so he can take a look at his newly minted mate better.
For the first time in almost an eternity, Reo’s base instincts recognize the presence of a suitable mate. And against his will, his body reacts accordingly. Reo tries to summon his flames again, but all that he's able to conjure is akin to a tiny candlelight.
His physiology tells him not to resist it. Not to hurt his treasure mate.
“Stop… get away from me…” Reo backs away, gathering the torn remains of his robes to cover his exposed chest. “Nagi, do you understand what you've done…?”
To which, Nagi nods while creeping towards him until he's stuck beneath his body once more. “Now, I'm both your treasure and your mate.” He says, stars twinkling in his eyes after he sealed their fates together. Reo belongs to him now, just as much as he belongs to Reo.
Now, all that's left is to consummate their union.
Against Reo’s repeated pleas, Nagi lowers his head and gently kisses the wound he inflicted on his neck. Back when he was a pup, Reo would always kiss the scratches he obtained from tripping and falling over. Again and again, praying the pain away until he stops being upset.
Reo stops his futile attempts to push him away, hands laying limply at his sides. Maybe the pain had gone away for him too, Nagi thinks, moving upwards to kiss along his jawline, his cheek, his eyelids, each of the red markings on his forehead. Soft kisses that pass off as innocent if not for the older kitsune's weak cries for him to stop.
“Nagi… No…”
Hearing his name spill out of his sultry parted mouth like thick honey, Nagi can't help himself from wanting to have a taste. He thumbs at Reo’s lower lip, feeling it give under his finger before pressing their lips together in a searing kiss. It's soft and sweet and his body moves on his own again to slip his tongue inside Reo’s waiting mouth to stake his claim everywhere he can reach — frantically licking and making their tongues dance and drinking in Reo’s protests.
Nagi realizes how dumb he is for not staking his claim on Reo much earlier. He can't go back to how things used to be now. Every fiber of his being desires to be with Reo, to be even closer to him, uncaring if it destroys him. Nagi wants it to destroy him.
He pulls away, ragged breaths as he nuzzles onto a sobbing Reo’s injured clavicle. “Reo. Stay beside me, please. Forever.”
Reo shakes his head, but can't do anything as the younger kitsune starts to peel off every fabric covering his body, the cold breeze feeling astringent on his hot skin.
“So beautiful, Reo… My mate.” Nagi kisses his lips again, just briefly, before peppering kisses down his chin, sucking bruises on his neck, and his chest, feeling his heart drum under his lips, and moving down to plant a kiss just above his navel.
Every kiss, no matter how soft, feels like a hammer strike to Reo’s conscience. This isn't supposed to happen. He never intended to be mated to the pup he raised as a son, but his body is betraying him. Swaying against his words and craving every touch it can get. He hates it. He should hate it.
Reo's cries continue to fall on deaf ears as Nagi advances, spreading his legs and finding the sticky mess in the middle. He reaches a hand down to cover it to save his crumbling dignity but the younger kitsune takes it, leaves a kiss on his wrist and sets it aside as he closes in on his prize: Reo's dripping cunt.
The sight of it sends the blood in Nagi's veins south at a dizzying speed, letting out a pathetic whimper as he touches it tentatively with a trembling hand.
“don’t look…!” Reo chokes out, unable to do anything as the younger kitsune thumbs open the plump folds.
Nagi gulps down the drool that almost escapes his mouth before he bends down and presses a kiss on the mound of fat above the glazed pink slit. Looks like it's aching. Reo's cunt is flushed and twitching, getting wetter the more he touches it as if it's weeping and in pain. He showers it with reverent kisses to hoping to relieve the pain, until his lips land on his clit
“nghh! ♡”
The noise startles them both — Nagi, whose ears perk up upon hearing that luscious, sweet moan and Reo, whose hands immediately fly to his mouth as soon as he realizes it came from him.
Nagi repeats the same motion, flicking the tiny bud with his tongue and although Reo has covered his mouth, the muffled noises escaping from it and the jerking of his hips tell Nagi that what he's doing makes Reo feel good. He wants to make Reo feel even better. Perhaps, that way, he can prove that he's worthy to become Reo’s mate. Nagi closes his lips around Reo’s clit and suckles persistently, nudging it with his tongue and dragging it in circles until Reo fumbles to yank him away through his hair.
“N-no more, please please… Na– ahn…! ♡” His cries continue to get ignored as Nagi continues his worship.
Reo feels the simmering warmth in his core about to boil over. He struggles to inch away, knowing it's futile against Nagi's eagerness to devour him. Then the younger kitsune curiously drags his tongue lower, catching on his entrance and suddenly he's tipping over, thighs involuntarily squeezing Nagi's head as his orgasm hits him at full speed. “hah… ah… ♡”
Once Reo’s legs have gone limp, Nagi pulls away, breaking the thread of slick and saliva that connects the two of them. He's waited long enough. He takes off his robes and bares everything to his mate, his stiff cock leaking precum as it hangs heavily between his thighs, knot half-inflated.
Reo is woken up from a haze as the heavy weight of Nagi's fat, angry cock settles on top of his pussy. He grimaces as it rolls against him, its tapered tip prodding his abused clit persistently. “Wait, Nagi, please. Please listen to me.” He begs, still trying to resist the inevitable. Despite his body saying otherwise, hole clenching painfully around nothing and waiting to be filled.
“I'll listen to Reo later.” Nagi says, guiding his cock past the folds to the tight entrance of Reo's pussy and breaching in, both of them groaning at the same time. One from mind-numbing pleasure and the other from overwhelming pain. “S-so warm–”
“–hurts…!” Reo cries, lurched forward to claw at Nagi’s shoulders.
Seeing his beloved Reo cry in pain, Nagi immediately pulls out without hesitation. He doesn't want it to be this way. He's already taking Reo by force, he didn't want to hurt him more than necessary.
There must be something wrong he's doing— Nagi despises his own ignorance. He can't stop now, doesn't want to stop right when he's so close to making Reo belong to him forever.
“You have to stretch it… first…” Reo stutters, arm slinging over his eyes to hide his shame.
If he can't stop Nagi from taking what he wants and mating with him, the least he can do is to assume a semblance of control by guiding him. His free hand reaches down to slip a finger inside his puffy cunt slowly, whining as it goes past his sore entrance. “ungh… l-like this…”
Nagi's mouth goes agape with heated breaths as he watches. Reo inserts a second finger, cycling between thrusting them in and out and scissoring himself open until it's soft enough to add a third finger in anticipation for the thick girth of Nagi's cock.
“Reo, can I do it? I can do it for you.” The younger kitsune insists. “Let me just…’
Reo pulls out his fingers, coated with his own slick, and uses them to part his folds, presenting his leaking cunt for use.
“No, I want you now.” Reo begs, steeling himself as he lies through his teeth. His body wants it, not him. Reo himself would never want to mate with a child he raised like a son, but his body yearns for it. Not wanting to prolong his suffering further, he takes Nagi’s cock and lines it up to his entrance, but hesitates to push it in.
Nagi wastes not a single second though, impaling Reo with his cock in a way that makes him keen, shuddering at the warm insides finally welcoming him in with only a bit of resistance. “Ngh…! Reo!” He grunts, advancing in until Reo lets out another scream.
“T-too much– ahh…! ♡” Reo wails, overwhelmed by a divine ache as Nagi’s fat cock stretches him more than he had prepared for. It hurts. It's good. Reo’s thighs tense up the moment Nagi is sheathed inside him, the tip kissing a rigid fleshy wall that wouldn't give no matter his efforts to continue pushing in until he can feel the swell of a knot on his entrance. “N-nagi!! Ugh! So deep…! ♡”
Nagi starts rocking against him, chasing the pleasurable friction on his cock as he draws it out and sinks back into the tight cavern. “Reo… Reo…” He grunts, hands tightening around Reo’s hips enough to leave the imprints of his fingers.
Reo scrambles for purchase, ultimately ending up drawing crimson lines on the broad of Nagi’s back as he's fucked into oblivion, fast and unforgiving. “Ahn! No… no…! ♡” Whines are ripped out of his throat as Nagi crams his cock as far in as he can into his tiny pussy, feeling the swell of Nagi's knot pressing to his entrance and threatening to pop in anytime Nagi ruts into him too hard. “N-nagi…! haah!♡”
The home Reo built for the two of them is debased by the indecent sounds of skin clapping against wet skin and a chorus of deep grunts and high-pitched moans. It was supposed to be a peaceful home for the two of them as a family, then for Nagi to inherit once he finds his mate and to settle down.
Never once did Reo think that mate would be him. That the pup he raised would be fucking him so eagerly, thick cock still hitting his sensitive spots despite his rough and clumsy movements. Must be because it's so big, big enough it makes a slight bump appear and disappear under his navel each time Nagi bucks against him. Nagi notices it too, flattening his palm over it and Reo’s eyes roll in unwanted pleasure at the feeling of fullness inside him. “mmh! ♡”
The shadows under Nagi’s eyes turn darker as the overpowering drive to breed engulfs him, raw and primal and devoid of all the gentleness he wanted to– was supposed to take Reo with. He's so close, so damn close he bends forward and encircles his arms above Reo’s head to pin him down, making sure he can't get away anymore. “‘m sorry… I'm sorry, Reo! Feels so good– ngh! can't stop…!”
His eyes widen, tears pricking at the corners as Nagi rams his knot against his taut entrance that's already struggling to accommodate his cock’s girth. The traces of sanity in him still fighting to resist everything dreads it, making him dig his claws deeper into the musculature of Nagi's back. “‘t won't fit! No, Nagi it won't f– nghhh!! ♡♡”
“I'll give you agh– another treasure, Reo. Right here…!” The younger kitsune groans.
Nagi raises his hips and slams it back down with such force, tearing into Reo’s inflamed cunt and driving his knot inside, the tip of his cock kissing the extremely tight entrance to his cervix. Reo’s strength leaves him as intense pain ripples through his being, surrendering to his fate as the knot inflates further and locks the two of them in place. No reprieve given as heat spills inside his deepest parts, being shot deposited straight into his womb.
“I'm sorry, Reo. Thank you. Thank you.” Nagi nuzzles his cheeks, offering sweet kisses of apology for the hot cum that continues to stream inside Reo.
The pain dissipates only slightly as his cunt gets acclimated to the massive knot, but Reo’s mind is still a blurry mess. His abdomen bulges with the spray of cum that feels neverending. It fills his womb up to the rim that the excess just spills out of his plugged hole.
Then all the cells in Reo’s body suddenly feel like it's vibrating. Nagi's spiritual energy permeates through him, regenerating his weary, broken down vessel.
It's happening, and Nagi refuses to miss it for the world. He straightens up, watching as Reo blooms below him — sprouting eight new tails from behind as he regains his lost power. “You're amazing, Reo.”
Nevermind that it drained half of his own, the ghost of a smile appears on Nagi's impassive face as he goes back to warming the crook of Reo's neck. They'll be like this for a while until his knot deflates. And even after that, they'll stay together. Forever.
Afloat with bliss, Nagi doesn't notice the tears rolling down Reo's face. Nagi. It seems I won't be coming home to you anytime soon.