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It was a quiet, easy morning. Ahurai had parted the window curtains just enough so that Madarao could feel the sun's pleasant heat on his neck and upper chest, without its glare burning his eyes. It was fast getting to the time of year, though, when grey clouds would block that sun for the duration of the whole day, and wouldn't recede for as as long as a week; he could already smell the bittersweet rainfall on the air.

Just like every other morning, it took him some time to rouse himself out of the comfortable arms of sleep. He noticed that the sheet of the bed had been pulled up to his chin and tucked underneath his back - Ahurai must have done that when he got up earlier, before Madarao had even stirred. Also just like every other morning. Ahurai was different from his other masters, cringe as he did to use that word so freely... passed down along Hazama's heirs like a treasured family heirloom, Madarao usually felt owned. With Ahurai, however, he felt free, and in more ways than one.

The demon dog gave voice to a deep yawn and stretched his legs - all four of them - out in front of himself. His claws gently tugged along the fabric of the bedsheet, as white as his fur; though he was fully capable of maintaining his claws himself, Ahurai every now and then sat him down under the boughs of the large fig tree in the gardens behind the house and filed them down. Madarao thought it felt nice enough, so he 'tolerated' it - and, besides, while he was no Tokimori, Ahurai's touch still sent sweet electric shivers through his body. In fact, Ahurai was about as far from Tokimori as possible, not accounting for one shared trait.

Ahurai was an Ayakashi, something Madarao had known before even laying eyes on him. Because of this, the demon dog hadn't at first considered that he might end up as Ahurai's companion. The thing was, though: at first, he didn't know what to think of the Ayakashi's aura. He could now properly identify it as Ayakashi through and through, but it lacked most of the... the smog of anger, of hatred, of negativity that most other Ayakashi so strongly bore. These things were not outright absent - no; they were still present, still palpable, but dormant, almost.

Ahurai's aura actually felt like the polar opposite of almost all of the other Ayakashi that Madarao had encountered in his service to the Sumimura line, back when he was still bound to Karasumori. Where those Ayakashi seethed hatred, discontent, and malice, and bore only the faintest glimmer - if even that - of what might have once been the want to do the right thing, Ahurai seemed to pulse with the same sweet sunlight that now warmed Madarao's side, as he stood up, shook the bedsheet off his body, and stretched again. The occasional cloud might pass in front of the sun and cast its translucent shadow upon the ground, but just as it had arrived would it always dissipate soon after.

The mattress creaked gently underneath his feet as he made his way to the edge and hopped down. It had taken a bit of getting used to, this whole having-legs thing, after he had spent so long in his sealed form with the Sumimura family - but he had quickly found that the benefits generally outweighed the problems. It had been partially due to Ahurai that Madarao had come to terms with this, but some parts of it were self-evident... such as how he could now sit down on the ground and scratch at his neck. It was just a matter of perspective; all the other upsides showed themselves in time and became again a part of his identity and existence.

He started out of the room, nosed the door the rest of the way open so that he could squeeze through, and briefly glanced up and down the hallway. Light filtered in through the opened windows and doors, and the familiar aroma of nature and something else tickled gently at his nose, something that made his tail stir and heartbeat pick up, just a little. It was the same something that always lingered on the air around here, the same something that hung around strongest on the bedsheets, on Ahurai's favorite chair - in the main room of the house, near the window that provided a good view of the fig tree - and especially on the little stuffed wolf that now sat atop the bedside table, in the room that Madarao had just left.

"Ahurai..." he called, his low voice echoing faintly off the wooden ceiling and floor. Sometimes the demon dog awoke to hear the sizzling of eggs in a pan; sometimes he stirred just as Ahurai stepped out of the room - and their gazes would meet for a half-second, he'd see him give him a soft smile, and that very same electric shiver that he got at every touch to his flesh would ripple through him; sometimes, if he fell asleep on the couch in the other room, it would be the feeling of soft fingers stroking through the fur of his side that awoke him. "Are you there?"

The gentle tack, tack, tack of his claws on the wood floor, the whistling of today's soft breeze through the trees outside, that scent on the air and the warmth in his fur... it wasn't hard at all for him to see why the other Ayakashi had chosen this particular place in which to spend his time. Though Madarao had been released from the service of the Sumimuras, he had not been unsealed - sometimes he dreamt that he could still feel the weight of the collar around his neck and the slight burning of the Nenshi, or that he could hear the clacking of the beads - and as such, lacked any way to defend himself from hostile Ayakashi, human, beast, or otherwise that he encountered in the wild. Ahurai's aura had thoroughly confused him, though; at first, he couldn't tell if it was Kekkaishi or Ayakashi, and as a result spent two and a half days repeatedly resolving to approach the strange entity, only to change his mind and float away to safety.

In fact, their first meeting had been by chance, and had also not been by Madarao's choice. On a rainy night, he had squirmed his way beneath a gnarled tree root and curled up to sleep, the steady drumming of the rain helping to lull him off; when he woke up, he found himself looking straight into the glimmering blue slit-pupil eyes of a rather large and terrifying Ayakashi whose form fell somewhere between a massive wolf and a tall human. It wasn't a form altogether unknown to Madarao, especially after all his years of life - one of his previous masters had become good friends with a half-Ayakashi whose released form looked much like this, like a sort of humanoid wolf - but, it still startled him, and his first instinct was to back away and flee.

That was when he'd first heard Ahurai's voice, and just like it did now, back then it sent a sweet shiver down his back. His fur, originally bristling with fear, instead rippled like when someone scratched that one spot right behind his ear. That voice provided the first reason for him to slow, stop, and turn around; it was the Ayakashi's aura, that strange, almost unbelievably calm warmth, that gave him another.

His ears suddenly perked, pulling him out of his memories - "Madarao? Is that you?"

Upon hearing that voice again, his tail started wagging. "Yes, Ahurai! Where are you?"

The rustling of leaves... "Garden."

He really should have known. Ahurai spent most of his time outdoors, either maintaining the gardens all around the house or wandering the nearby wilderness - which had been the reason for his stumbling upon Madarao, all that time ago.

"I could sense you," the Ayakashi had explained that morning, intentionally keeping his voice gentle. He could tell that Madarao still felt a little uncomfortable in the confrontation, and was trying to calm him down - which only confused the poor demon dog further. In all his years, he had never encountered an Ayakashi who treated him better than some humans. "From up in my house. I've noticed you coming up and down, up and down this hill for the past couple of days - I just thought you were some... I don't know. A child gifted with the abilities to interact with something like me. I can see now, though, that you are as Ayakashi as I, and you are sealed - which is why I could not identify you as that. I am sorry if I startled you. What is your name?"

It had taken a bit of mental refocusing to say it - Madarao hadn't seemed to be able to take his eyes off the shape of the muzzle in front of him, the sky-blue eyes that watched him with genuine concern, the line of the mouth that lacked any sign of distaste or malice. And, then, after giving his name:

"Madarao, hmm? That is a good name. Madarao..."

Another shiver.

"I am Ahurai. Would you like to come up and stay for a while? It has been too terribly long since I've had company."

The sun shone today just like it had back then, warm and pleasant, in the windows of open space throughout a field of clouds. Madarao lifted his nose to the air to taste the myriad scents all around: there was the sweet scent of flowers, the grassiness of bushes and tree leaves, the bitter tang of moist soil and tree bark, the faint cool chill of the river down the hill... and then, mixed with everything else, that warm spice that always hovered around Ahurai's body. This last scent grew gradually stronger as Madarao made his way around the house, his paws pressing down into the short grass.

His first time walking - rather, floating - through this garden had been on that morning, too. He could remembered staying close behind Ahurai as the other Ayakashi led him around, pointing out the different types of flowers and the various herbs and vegetables he had planted and cultivated.

All of that had only sharpened Madarao's curiosity, and before he could stop himself, he'd asked "Ahurai - that's your name, yes? - you don't... seem like most other Ayakashi."

"You mean I don't want to kill and destroy."

"Frankly, yes."

"Well, I could say the same about you, Madarao. You are different."

With a forepaw, Madarao shook his collar. He had never liked doing that - any sort of touch to it from his paws just made it hurt, another reason he was glad to be rid of the thing. "I have my reason. What's yours?"

Ahurai's answer had stuck with him since that morning. He'd had a few more questions lined up in advance, but all of those left his head when that simple sentence reached his ears, and the dark-furred wolf Ayakashi glanced back to look at him: "I didn't want to hurt anymore."

"Good morning, Madarao." Ahurai gave the demon dog a warm smile, in between twisting blackberries off their bushes. It looked like he had been working for a while: soil clung to his paws, arms, and front, and a few stray blades of long grass had gotten caught in his fur. Being an Ayakashi, he generally didn't concern himself with daily dress - but today, just like all the other times he needed to get up close while gardening, he had gotten on his "work apron". Madarao couldn't stifle a giggle the first time he'd seen it. It was white all over, or at least sort of off-white, and in front in bubbly pink text read "HOT POTATO". Given the shamelessness with which Ahurai wore it, at first Madarao wasn't sure he could read. "Did you sleep alright?"

The demon dog came closer to nose against Ahurai's arm, in a joint show of affection and affirmation. Now that he'd been released from his duties as the eternal companion of a Kekkaishi, he felt no inhibition of binding, no requirement to act a certain way past his own preferences. Besides, he honestly couldn't remember the last time someone other than Ahurai had patted his head, or stroked his back, or scratched him right above the base of his tail... and it didn't feel weird to receive such contact from him. That was the most important part. It felt natural.

"Well enough, at least." Honestly, after reclaiming this full-bodied form of his, it had taken him quite a while to grow accustomed to the feeling of grass beneath his rear whenever he sat down again. "It's so calm up here. No Ayakashi attacks, no... human children running around and screaming... no human adults screaming, either. Let me tell_you, Ahurai - you do not _know what discord is until you've lost track of the years spent guiding poor humans out of their own hopelessness..."

After rolling one last handful of berries into the cloth sack resting beside him, Ahurai wiped his paws off on that silly apron of his and stood up. "I think I know, then," he began, "what 'discord' is, better than you do. You forget, little puppy; I am older than you."

The demon dog's ears shot back, just as a hot blush warmed his cheeks. There were only two men that he'd let call him puppy, and the first of those two never once did. Ahurai started in the other direction, towards the back of the house... and it took Madarao another moment to gather his mind and follow. "Well - I mean..." One of the small downsides to having a body was that he had to walk to get around instead of float, and as an extension of this, that meant he got winded more easily. It didn't help that he'd just woken up. "...Oh, you know. I just mean there's nothing to do here."

With both of them standing upright, Madarao's ears came about level with the middle of Ahurai's back. He could remember, just_vaguely_, foggily, how he used to tower above everything when unsealed. Ahurai's tail gave a little flick, and brushed against his nose - which startled him a bit and interrupted his step. "Are you complaining, Madarao?"

"Well..." Off to the side stood the large old fig tree beneath which both of them had spent quite a bit of time in the years Madarao had been here. An odd feeling passed through the middle of his chest and made him pause to look, a feeling somewhere between cold dread and sweet relief. It was there that he had been broken of his inherent desire as an Ayakashi to destroy and kill when unsealed... and it was due to Ahurai's help that he had been able to achieve this. Before he knew it, a gentle smile lifted the corners of his lips. "You know I enjoy spending time with you."

"I know very well, yes." The larger Ayakashi reached his paws behind himself to undo his apron. "Trust me, you have made that clear. You also enjoy spending time here while I'm not around..."

The hottest of blushes - and again Madarao felt his ears flatten down. "Hey! That happened once!" ...that Ahurai knew about, at least. Every now and then he would disappear into the forest surrounding the hill to do who knows what, but always declared that he had to be alone for it. During one of these times, Madarao had gotten a little lonely and made his way into Ahurai's bedroom for a nap - and of course he made sure to get all the dirt off his paws before hopping up into the bed. The larger Ayakashi had left that apron of his lying face-down atop the bed and, being a dog (or a wolf, technically), Madarao sniffed at it.

It bore his scent quite strongly. Nose following along the slightly-tattered hem, then the sewing of the text through the back, and then down along the center... the demon dog quickly forgot about his loneliness, and instead remembered something that he hadn't felt that deeply in a long time. Something deep within him suddenly ignited, and he found himself more firmly burying his nose against the rough cloth, breathing that warm, spiced scent, while his lower body - thrust forward, again and again.

That was desire, he quickly realized. Again, something he hadn't felt like that in a long time - spending a few hundred years as a literal ghost of his former self left him without the ability to do anything that he originally could with a lower body, with hind legs, with a tail and everything in that general area. Besides, it's not like he could help it... after spending all that time around Ahurai already - about two and a half years had passed by this point; he just never found it in himself to want to leave after first being invited up here, and besides, the larger Ayakashi genuinely enjoyed his company and presence - and after doing so many things with him, having so many conversations with him, _really_getting to know him, Madarao's feelings for him changed, grew, and deepened.

He'd dreamt about Ahurai before, in a few different instances. His mind wandered back to another of those scenarios, just as he balled up that apron with his forelegs and pushed it down underneath himself, for him to thrust against. Sure, it wasn't the best of things to hump, but - God, Ahurai's scent drove him wild, to the point where it made his heart jump a little every time he picked it up on the air; Madarao squeezed his eyes shut and let his tongue hang out between his parted lips. Tokimori would never have let him do this...

...and, the rest, he tried not to remember, on account of how the thought of it still flooded him with embarrassment. He had misjudged how long Ahurai was going to be out, and as such, the other Ayakashi ended up walking in on him just as Madarao squeezed his paws down around the apron, so it pulled his white-furred sheath all the way back past his knot as it swelled up... at that time, he had been unsealed for about half of a year, and never until then had he wished that he could fly off and disappear quite as much. Part of the shame was how his - endowment, red-fleshed and glistening with the moisture of his arousal, did not recede into his sheath until a few minutes after Ahurai, smiling, patted first his head and then his rear to get him off the bed.

Were he not burning with embarrassment all over, Madarao might have enjoyed the touch of that paw. He could have sworn that a finger or two pressed up under his tail or against the back of his sack as he quickly made his way out of the room - but at that particular moment, he just wanted to crawl somewhere he couldn't be seen and hide.

Ahead of him, Ahurai coughed - or, maybe, it was a short suppressed laugh - into his fist. "Or," he went on, "at least - it happened once that I know about. Right?"

Madarao gave him a surprised bark of disdain. "I wouldn't - I mean, Ahurai, you - you know that I-"

"Yes, yes, Madarao. I know. Come on; let's go inside."

In the past he had asked what sort of house this was, and its history, as it just seemed odd to him that someone would elect to build a place like this atop a forested hill so far from the nearest settlement; the whole reason that Madarao had been attracted to it, other than the strange aura emanating from the place that he could sense from miles away, was simply that it could be seen from anywhere in the woods. As it turned out, though, Ahurai himself did not know. He had stumbled upon it in his travels and taken up residence, taking it upon himself to maintain the grounds and gardens, and ensure that it would still stand for decades to come.

It must have been empty for a while, too. The first time he stepped - or floated, rather - indoors, all that Madarao could taste on the air was the same spice of a scent that had soaked into the fabric of that apron.

"I was thinking," Ahurai went on; now, he rolled his shoulders forward to slide that very apron off, "that I might lie down for a bit, take a nap..."

Madarao quickened his pace so he could face the large Ayakashi. "Take a nap?" One other person in his past had the same shade of light-blue eyes, ringed with double concentric circles like his own - but, when he looked up into these blue eyes, he felt no wave of quiet distaste wash over him, but instead one of familiarity and recognition. Something else he hadn't felt quite as strongly since Tokimori stood at his side: affection and attraction... "But, Ahurai, it's morning - you _can't_be tired already."

"Morning, yes. About twenty minutes to noon?" Here, the large wolf Ayakashi turned to the side and removed his apron, tossing it over the edge of the nearby table. Madarao's whiskers twitched forward: dark brownish-grey fur, like dry bark, rippled all across Ahurai's body, from his muzzle to his shoulder, his back, his rear... in front that dark brown melded to a softer, flatter graphite-grey, though the fur itself receded where his legs met his body, leaving him with a smooth and dark-skinned sheath and hanging sack, swaying a little with each movement of his. "Also yes. You slept in today, puppy; I have been awake since before the sun had risen above the horizon."

Sometimes when he passed by, Madarao could catch a faint whiff of him on the air - and in those moments he would wish that he could just float off like he always did in the past. Besides, back then, he didn't have to worry about his excitement being full on display for anyone to see, if they just peered underneath him... "What? Really? I didn't hear you get up..."

The floorboards creaked underneath Ahurai's feet - legs like a wolf, bent backwards at the ankle and then curved a bit - as he came over, and then knelt down in front of Madarao... which put the demon dog's eyes and nose directly level with that plump sheath and heavy sack. He couldn't help his nose twitching or his eyes refocusing - especially since, with his sudden change in posture, it was now Ahurai that showed a little bit of reddish-pink.

"I think," he cooed, "that spending so much time lazing around here with nothing to do has dulled your senses, Madarao. No Ayakashi to hunt and chase, right? Well, except for me, of course. How about that, hmm?" Here, he patted the demon dog's head, and then scratched behind his ear. "I'll put on a show of being on a rampage, and you can run around with those four legs of yours, and chase me, and pin me down. Would you like that? I bet I can outrun you, though."

And with that, Ahurai smiled again, stood back up, and started across the room towards the low futon against the wall. Its cushions used to be white, just as Ahurai used to put quite a bit more effort into keeping them clean... but, now, they looked a dusty and fuzzy brownish-grey with the amount of long fur that clung to the threads.

The futon creaked under the added weight of his body when he lowered himself into it, and then even more as he wriggled into a comfortable position. Back facing out, bushy tail hanging over the edge - it flicked every now and then, brushing across the floor - and one arm beneath his head... sometimes Madarao would catch him snoozing underneath the fig tree, or lounged out near the river, or somewhere else... and he always liked to let him get his sleep.

Besides, sometimes the big Ayakashi would drift off into a blissful dream, and then - oh, then, the spice on the air around his body would strengthen, and more than half an inch of reddish-pink flesh would poke out of that sheath...

"Hey, Madarao?"

"Ah-!" The dog shook his head and perked his ears. "Yes?"

Ahurai turned his head and showed just a sliver of the blue of an iris. "Wake me up when you get hungry, okay? I'll cook something for both of us."

And, then, he settled back down and turned away again. Madarao watched him for another moment, before coming forward himself and sprawling out near one of the feet of the futon. It had been a long, long_time since he had been able to be a _dog; in life he was a wolf, through death of starvation he became an Ayakashi, and from there, became first Tokimori's hunting companion, and then the same for every legitimate heir of the Sumimura line. Sure, there came the occasional day when he could lie around, and sniff things, and get petted, but those had been few and far between - while here with Ahurai...

~ ~ ~

...some things had changed. Madarao lifted his head from the cool earth in the shadow of the fig tree; today was quite a pleasant spring day, and yet he could still feel the chill of dread crawl through his body. It seemed to all radiate out from the collar around his neck, the same array of lavender-purple beads that always bore down on him.

It had been a year and a half since he had first arrived at this odd hilltop house, with this odd benevolent Ayakashi. Madarao had gotten curious about how Ahurai could be, simply, himself, without all the chaos and everything else that came with being unsealed - and of course he picked up on the faint note of jealousy in his voice.

"It's not as much a matter of self-control as you would think," the large Ayakashi had told him once, right beneath this tree. "The self-control is the easy part. It's accepting that those thoughts and feelings are part of who you are - part of being an Ayakashi - that's hard. Once you do that, once you truly realize what that means... well, that's when you're one step closer."

"One step closer?"

And, then, Ahurai smiled at him. "Come here, Madarao. Sit with me. You have to set aside time for yourself, just to breathe, just to feel the sensation of living, just to watch the thoughts as they pass by, and... remember your place in the world. You are an Ayakashi. You are expected to destroy, and hurt, and kill, but you don't have to."

The demon dog squeezed his eyes shut, forcing himself back to the present. Words like that were easy to say, but hard to feel. In fact, nothing felt more distant today, when he had been told that he was going to be unsealed to see if he truly understood. Whether time felt like it slowed down in his waiting or sped up, he honestly couldn't tell: he was alone beneath the tree at first, and then there was the dark form of Ahurai coming through the gardens. He felt a warm paw on his head, on his back, stroking his white fur... he closed his eyes, heard that same gentle voice -

"Are you ready?"

- and then a wave of - of something, something hot and powerful and irresistible, coursing through his body. With the Sumimura kid, Madarao had something for his mind to focus on in order to hold off the inevitable encroaching of his true nature, but here... everything sort of went foggy. Try as he might to remember, he could recall little more than what he saw right then, and that was everything getting smaller as he grew to his full size.

There was Ahurai's voice, distant but urgent, lacking that familiar note of calm and relaxation. Madarao's heart beat, and his lips instinctively curled up in a snarl - but he didn't know why. He couldn't figure it out, couldn't think straight. That happened on its own without him thinking. Bristling all over, feeling the rush of blood through his veins, the pleasure of being alive and unsealed...

And that's where everything went blank The next time he awoke, he was lying on his side on one of the beds in the house, feeling thoroughly exhausted and faintly panicked. Again and again he called for Ahurai, but, receiving no response, decided he'd go looking himself - and to his surprise, found that when he leaped out of the bed, he floated a distance above the floor, with the clacking of a sealing collar around his neck ringing out to his movements. That didn't make sense, though. Not at the time.

For the entirety of the following week, Madarao spent his time with an unshakeable cloud of guilt and horror hanging over his head, though why, he couldn't recall. It wasn't until Ahurai, after making dinner one night, called him out to the fig tree behind the house that he remembered.

"I hurt you."

"I've had worse," the big Ayakashi said, with a shrug. Still he wore that soft smile. "You couldn't stop yourself. Were I wanting to be nice, I'd tell you - it's not your fault. But I want to be truthful."

Madarao's ears lowered.

"So I'll tell you, it both was and was not your fault. Like I said, Madarao - the self-control is the easy part, and it's the awareness that's tough. You had trouble because you weren't yourself. But, that guilt you're feeling? That sort of repulsion and horror for your own actions? That's good. While unsealed, would you prefer to be who you are now, or would you prefer to be the Madarao who growled at me?"

Without hesitation- "I want to be myself." Then, his ears flicked again. "I mean - I want to be how I am now."

"Then accept those feelings. Don't focus on them, don't fixate on them; accept them. That's part of who you are. You worked with multiple Kekkaishi; I'm sure you've inspected my scent and aura through and through, yes?" Ahurai's blue eyes, half-lidded, caught some of the sunlight filtering through the tree branches above and glittered. "Then you should know that, even with how I am now, how much time I've spent working at it, I haven't been able to completely eliminate those feelings and instincts natural to an Ayakashi."

Madarao lowered his head and rested it on his front paws. He had his wispy tail curled around himself. "At first, I wasn't sure at all what to think of you. You remember - I spent a few days trying to decide whether I should come up and investigate, or stay away."

"Yes. But, Madarao - no matter what the type of person, what kind of soul they harbor within them, there will always be at least a seed of good and a seed of evil. That is who you are. You must accept that. You may listen to whichever you choose, but always remember you don't have to." The big wolf appeared to think for a moment, and then flicked his pink tongue over his lips, shrugged, and leaned back against the tree. He reached a paw out and started dragging his claws gently through Madarao's fur. "Have I told you how I became an Ayakashi?"

'Ayakashi usually come to be through death while bearing feelings of extreme anger or regret', Madarao knew perfectly well... "No."

Ahurai remained silent for a moment. "As a child, I was not very well-liked. I spent most of my time on my own, or with my brother, who was my mentor - as my parents died when I was young. We were hired as the... guards, I would say, of a fair-sized rural village. The only two people in quite a distance capable of such a job. And, then, my brother was killed on a mission, and left it all up to me.

"The people didn't trust me. I couldn't understand - I just wanted to help, just wanted to protect them. It was hard, especially as I grew older and more adept, but I kept on telling myself it was the right thing to do."

Madarao frowned. Guardian of a city, mentored by his brother who then died while undertaking that job... his ears perked. "You were a Kekkaishi."

With a flick of his wrist, Ahurai opened his palm to the sky - and a small triple-layer Kekkai floated there above his fingers, soft lavender in color and spinning slowly. Unlike all of the other Kekkai that Madarao had seen, its edges did not bear a clear outline, and seemed to disappear if turned towards him.

"I have heard that the... the..." The purple Kekkai remained in place as he waved that paw. "...Sumimura, yes? I have heard that their Kekkai bear immense power. Strength."

Madarao nodded. "And the Yukimura family prides themselves on technique and skill."

"Yukimura. That was the other one, yes. My bloodline, however, utilizes versatility. We can change the shape..." With a handsign, the innermost layer of his Kekkai morphed into an oblong sphere; with another sign, the second layer shifted into a pyramid; and then with a third, the outer layer compressed down and squeezed on the two underneath. "...and size at will, to a certain degree. However, I am no longer alive. I am an Ayakashi. My skill is no longer what it used to be, nowhere near..."

That made sense. The demon dog tilted his head a little; seeing a Kekkai again after so long had stirred up something in his heart, something akin to anxious excitement. "So you did re-seal me after... after what happened."

"Yes. That is my Nenshi inside your collar. But I digress - this village it was my purpose to defend... one night, an Ayakashi attacked. I didn't think I'd be able to handle it, but after a long battle, it was destroyed - and I got no thanks. That Ayakashi had set fires all around the village, and by the time I had eradicated it, buildings had already fallen, people had already died... I tried my best to save everyone who was left, for a time. But nobody thanked me."

He shifted his position a little, and then folded his paws in his lap. Still that odd Kekkai floated in the air in front of him; his sky-blue eyes remained fixed on the upper point of the pyramid.

"Anger and I had never been strangers, Madarao, but up until then, I had always been the one in control. That night, though, after so many struggles of such variety... I simply stopped. I let them burn, and more than once, the thought crossed my mind to use my Kekkai to ensure that they did. More than a thought - remember what I told you before, about how bad thoughts should hold no bearing over your actions?"

Madarao had to struggle to keep his ears upright. Honestly, he felt mostly disbelief, in hearing of such a thing. "Self-control is the easy part."

"It is. And I failed there. These were... actual considerations, real temptations. Near the end of the night, I even did bring up a Kekkai around a house on the outskirts of town, but - there was nobody inside, I would later realize. It all came at once: that realization, as well as the one that I actually harbored such hate in my heart for the very people I was supposed to protect and defend, that I had been willing to go out of my way to hurt them."

One by one, the individual layers of his lavender Kekkai started to dissipate. Ahurai watched the glimmering particles as they spread out, ascended, disappeared.

"It was like I woke up from a nightmare, except it had been real. I felt such - such powerful anger, revulsion, and horror not at them for treating me like that, but at myself. I couldn't believe what I'd done, what I felt. Because of my actions, and my lack of action, the only people to make it out of the village alive were the ones who had originally come to warn me, and a handful of others... I left my Tenketsu there on the ground near the house I had enclosed in a Kekkai, and went back to my own home, outside the village. Just as those villagers did not leave their homes alive again, I did not leave my own again while living. And it had been - it still is - myself who holds the blame for the deaths, both... both theirs and my own." He swallowed. "I was nineteen."

Silence, other than a slight picking up of the breeze. Suddenly it no longer seemed like a pleasant day. Madarao opened his mouth to speak, though to say what, he did not know - but Ahurai continued:

"I had reformed as an Ayakashi almost before the knife had hit the floor. I thought of it as punishment for what I'd done, for what I'd felt - what greater hell could there be than to feel such intense and crushing regret, distress, and anger indefinitely? Madarao... everything I've told you about handling your innate desires and true nature as an Ayakashi, everything about controlling it and changing yourself... I had to brute-force that. I slowly, slowly figured it all out, through countless decades. Perhaps it's due to luck and chance that I never killed a human as an Ayakashi, but... I like to imagine that if just the thought of doing that to someone was enough to keep me from passing on, then the actual act would certainly be no better. Even as a full-formed and dangerous Ayakashi, I still remembered enough of myself that I knew I did not want to hurt anyone. I knew that I wanted to be at peace with myself... and it's because of that - because I was able to - that I believe you can overcome that, too, Madarao. So I want to try again."

That day was not their final attempt at unsealing the demon dog. However, that time - as he would discover in about an hour's time - he did not lose his consciousness, which seemed to inhibit his desire to go any further. While still conscious, he was aware of his actions, aware of what he was doing, but he could not stop himself. He still attacked Ahurai, still tried to take him down, still struggled as the no-longer-larger Ayakashi quickly worked at forming his Nenshi to seal him...

But, still, he felt better about it. Ahurai's story tugged at his heart, made him feel this faint disgust and disbelief, but it gave him power and confidence. On the third instance, Madarao held it off for a handful of minutes; on the fourth, he managed to walk the perimeter of the house twice; on the fifth, he lost it as soon as the collar came off. All of the failures had worn down his confidence, and again, he found himself mired in despair and hopelessness.

And that was exactly why Ahurai had him try again on the following day, amid complaint, and shouting, and crying. He tore off Madarao's collar, and the demon dog was so startled with the suddenness of it that he couldn't think - and instead of think, he acted. When he acted, his instinct was to defend himself and those he held dear. So when his eyes, blurred and foggy as they always became when he resumed his full form, focused on Ahurai... first he felt relief, and then confusion, and then the inevitable anger. And everything started to fade away. He could feel himself losing control.

But then, a voice he thought he recognized - words he thought he could understand: "Madarao! Do not think of it as 'I can't do this'. Do not think of it as 'It won't work'. Think instead - 'I am getting better'. The feelings warp your mind and your perception! You are getting better, and I know you can do it!"

Growling, snarling - fiery-hot anger, but why, he did not know. A large part of Ahurai's meditation sessions in preparation for this had been to teach him to understand that feelings defied logic. Feelings do not require a 'why'. That just made it ever more infuriating.

"Do you know why I know you can do it? Do you?"

Ahurai was shouting now - and Madarao was struggling to retain himself. Now, he couldn't tell whether his anger was directed at everything else, or solely at himself for feeling this way. He felt like a demon trapped in a box. He felt like there was nothing he could do-

"I love you, Madarao. I know you can do it because I love you. I've looked into your heart and seen your soul and your strength, and I know that you are capable of it. It's just a matter of you realizing that yourself! So do it!"

~ ~ ~

The demon dog's eyes flicked open. His heart was beating in his chest, and at some point during his nap, he'd rolled over onto his side - but still he remained at the foot of the futon, upon which Ahurai still slept. By looking around at the room and seeing the change in flavor of light from the windows, the shifting in the shadows, he could tell that time _had_passed, but just how much, he wasn't sure. Ahurai still slept soundly, though; every now and then he pulled in a deep breath and let it back out, or his tail hanging over the edge of the futon would flick and brush against Madarao's nose.

The white-furred Ayakashi stood up, stretched lavishly, yawned, stretched again, shook out his headfur... just as Ahurai had said, he couldn't completely eradicate the darkness and negativity that just came as part of being an Ayakashi. Occasionally a horrendous thought would force its way into Madarao's head, and he'd feel its weight bearing him down for the duration of the day like someone had reattached his sealing collar, except with heavy iron weights instead of the sealing beads. Still, though, he would say that he much preferred the way things were now, even though it took effort to keep himself - correct, so to say.

Other times, it wasn't so hard. He lifted his head up a little, and found that he stood directly even with the middle of Ahurai's body; at some point, the larger Ayakashi had rolled over in his sleep, so that now he faced outwards. Madarao let his eyes trace down that body again, following the lines of both sleek muscle as well as his natural fur patternings... and, just like every other time he did this, his gaze settled upon that smooth-skinned sheath, a bit of a distance beneath the divot of his belly button.

Sometimes, it was other thoughts and urges that Madarao had trouble resisting. It was his natural instinct as a wolf, as a dog, to lean in and sniff at the end of that sheath, just a short few inches away... one time he'd dreamt of something like this, except Ahurai had been sitting back in one of his chairs, and intentionally pulled Madarao's head forward to press up against him.

So the demon dog imagined that. He closed his eyes, swallowed once, licked his lips - and then leaned in, his ears perking a little when his nose first made direct contact with the warm skin there. It was like the scent he'd picked up on the back of the apron that one time, the same scent that had brought out his mating instincts - but this time, here, it was so much more, so much heavier, spicier, muskier. Soon his tongue hung out of his mouth, and Madarao couldn't help himself: he dug his nose and muzzle against Ahurai's sheath, from the end to the side and down, down towards the Ayakashi's sack against his leg.

That, too, had a different sort of scent. Madarao freely let his tongue drag across Ahurai's leg while he nuzzled against him, nose lifting up underneath the skin of his sack and inhaling that scent, feeling the way he rolled around, taking in the delicious heat of his body... then, just as quickly as he'd closed the distance between his nose and Ahurai's sheath, Madarao leaned back, and flicked his broad tongue out over his nose. Already each new inhalation brought that musk back to him, and with that lick, he could taste the larger Ayakashi, like he'd wanted to do almost since the first day of seeing him.

Madarao knew that he himself already felt the want, the desire... he cast his ringed olivine eyes a little bit to the side, to the end of the sheath that he had just had his face against. Certainly enough, all the contact and rubbing had elicited some response from the big dark wolf: the reddish-pink of his shaft stood out against the smooth grey of lower his belly, his flesh glistening slightly with the slickness of his sheath. Already Madarao could taste the change of musk on the air, and it teased at him, enticed him.

When arousal took over, things like inhibition_and _embarrassment usually disappeared, not to be found until after things had been finished. Madarao cast a glance up at Ahurai's muzzle, saw that he still had his eyes closed and mouth half-open, and then took the chance to lean back in, sniff at the revealed flesh - God, it sent a shiver down his back and made him unintentionally hump forward into the air - and then drag his tongue across it. Slick indeed, moistened with the liquid musk that always hung around inside a canid's sheath, which only attracted Madarao even more.

Each lick strengthened the taste on his tongue and in the back of his throat. He intentionally lapped at the base of Ahurai's cock, right at the lip of his sheath; right there he could feel the warm surface of his shaft as it continued to slide out, coaxed on by the dog's attention. The other Ayakashi also seemed to gradually become aware of what was happening, or at least, whatever he dreamt about changed to fit the circumstances: at one point he rolled over onto his back, breathed out a low moan, and lifted his hips up into the air, only pressing himself more firmly against Madarao's eager muzzle.

Another glance down... already Ahurai displayed what Madarao assumed to be most of his length, fair in girth with the tapered end reaching past his belly button. It throbbed with his pulse, lifting up a little and then settling back down, again and again - and each time, his sack pulled up a little bit too, the skin stirring just slightly. Madarao moved back, swallowed down the slickness on his tongue, and then hopped up onto the futon, careful to not step on Ahurai.

Oh, this was a much better angle. Standing above the larger Ayakashi, Madarao could lean in, lift up the end of that twitching cock on his broad, flat tongue, and take it fully into his muzzle. Like this, he could taste its intense heat even better, and could feel each little twitch and throb, each spurt of tangy pre across the back of his tongue - things he had forgotten how it felt to enjoy, it had been so damn long.

Of course he was careful about his teeth. Madarao took some time to figure out the best angle, the best height - and then started bobbing up and down along Ahurai's length, squeezing his broad tongue as best he could around the thick cock and letting it run along the roof of his mouth. The demon dog had his hind legs placed near Ahurai's shoulders, one of them precariously close to the edge of the futon - which wasn't at all helped by his occasional unintentional thrust. Tasting the Ayakashi on his tongue and on every inhalation through his nose, feeling his warmth in his muzzle, rolling down his throat every time he swallowed... Madarao was surprised that he wasn't already aroused enough for his own length to have come all the way out of his sheath. The slightest touch to him, and he'd certainly start shooting out his own pre all over Ahurai's unknowing chest and belly...

The dog adjusted his stance again so that he could dive deeper down on the wolf Ayakashi's cock, the outline of his knot visible at the edge of the supple skin of his sheath but not yet totally defined, not yet swollen. So much time had passed since Madarao had felt the unforgettable biting pressure of getting tied... the base of his tail tingled just thinking about it. Certainly if he tried to do that, though - his mind presented a scenario to him: he could turn around, position himself just_right, and start sinking back onto Ahurai's cock, then ride him for a bit and squeeze down on him when he felt his knot start to bulge out - then Ahurai would wake up before he could get too far... and, really, he shouldn't even be doing _this. Distant guilt tugged at his heart and Madarao slowed in his bobbing, though still kept the Ayakashi's length between his lips.

What if Ahurai didn't - feel about him this way? Madarao felt fairly certain this worry was baseless, though, especially after all the times the big dark-furred Ayakashi had knelt down in front of him, totally naked, with his plump sheath and heavy sack hanging down right in front of him... and with how Ahurai sometimes even brought Madarao into his room to sleep at night, and would throw his arm around the demon dog and nuzzle up against his neck - as well as grind against his rump throughout the night, probably in response to the content of a few certain dreams; and because at his heart, Madarao was still a four-legged wolf, so he couldn't really _bathe_himself - and when Ahurai did it, those big brown paws of his pressed and rubbed all over his body, down his chest to his belly, between his hind legs, scrubbing at his sheath-

But, then, some feeling caused his back to arch suddenly and made the demon dog cease in his movements. There was - first there was something warm and moist pressing up underneath his tail, directly against the rim of his tailhole; and then, a paw squeezed around the base of his tail and lifted, held it up while that warm, firm moisture continued at him, digging gently in and then pulling out, again and again. God, it was enough to make Madarao shiver all over and breathe out a gentle moan, and tempted him to push his rump back against it.

It wasn't until he felt a soft exhalation of breath across his rear, followed by a nose nuzzling along his tail, that he realized just what that feeling was.

"You know," Ahurai drawled, his words washing warmly out over Madarao's sensitive skin, "when I said 'wake me up when you get hungry', this isn't exactly what I meant..."

Were Madarao's tail not actively being held up - Ahurai moved back in and continued licking at his tailhole, pressing his tongue a little further in with each lick - then it probably would have curled its way between the demon dog's hind legs. He felt a blush warm his cheeks, as well as his ears tilt backwards... and he would have moved back off of the Ayakashi's length still between his lips to give a weak apology, had Ahurai not then lifted his hips up and slid deeper into his muzzle at that moment.

"You've gotten me all worked up..." the larger Ayakashi cooed, his upper lip still pressed against the rim of Madarao's tailhole. One of his paws moved down underneath the demon dog's body and rubbed at his hanging sack, rolling his fingers and thumb around over him - and then continued on towards his sheath. The feeling of those fingers squeezing at him, sliding the lip of his sheath back over his slickened cock, tightening a little at the bulge of his knot... now Madarao really couldn't help himself, and started thrusting his hips forward again and again. "You know, Madarao, I've thought about doing this several times before... I'm sure your nose could smell the results of those thoughts on my bedsheets."

The white-furred demon dog shivered again, though whether it was in response to the tongue digging up under his tail or the memory of that scent combined with the feeling of this cock pulsing up into his muzzle, he couldn't tell. He did know, however, that he just wanted this to go on, wanted those paws to remain right where they were - one at the base of his tail, thumb occasionally moving down and pressing into his saliva-slicked rump, and the other working along his own hard and throbbing length. Even with the other Ayakashi's length buried past his lips and his musk weighing down his tongue, Madarao's nose still twitched at the flat heady aroma of his own precum, spurting out in regular jets across Ahurai's grey chest and belly underneath him.

That would take a while to wash out... unless Madarao was allowed to lick it all off, of course. He thought about that for a moment, resuming his rhythm in bobbing along the twitching cock on his tongue, the knot of which had started to bulge out and stretch the rim of the sheath's skin; he imagined his nose first shovelling up under Ahurai's sack near his tail, then tracing along this sheath just like he'd done before; and then Madaro would move up along his body, placing his warm tongue against the other Ayakashi's skin and fur again and again, lapping off his own pre and swallowing it down just as he did for Ahurai's until now.

It actually felt like when Ahurai had said that he was worked up, he told the truth: even when Madarao kept his head still and throat relaxed, the contoured shape of his cock repeatedly plunged deep into his muzzle and slid back out, the fast and heavy movements making the futon beneath the two creak and squeak. Madarao shifted his stance a little, spreading his hind legs and lowering his rump a little - and in response received that tongue only deeper under his tail.

Now Ahurai did not hesitate in pressing his tongue into the demon dog as if it were his own cock, sliding it slowly in past the tight pucker of his tailhole, keeping it buried within the warm flesh for a moment, and then pulling it back out... Madarao could feel the churning of his chin against the back of his sack, could feel every hot exhalation of breath wash over his rump, and most of all could feel how the paw on his cock, now tight behind his knot, tugged and pulled and just made him hump forward even faster and harder, which at the same time allowed him to work himself against Ahurai's muzzle.

It was like - like wonderful jolts of pleasure all through his body, all the time. Long, broad canid tongue, reaching just deep enough into him to magnify the tingling enjoyment from everything else... honestly, he would have been happy enough with Ahurai holding his muzzle down on his cock and thrusting into his throat, but this was certainly nothing to complain about.

At one point, though, Ahurai suddenly adjusted his position, and gripped at one of Madarao's hind legs near the ankle while the claws of his other paw dug into the fabric of the futon. He swallowed, pulled in a low breath, continued lifting his hips up into the demon dog's muzzle, again and again - and then raised up and remained up. A sudden burst of hot, fairly liquidy seed spurted out against the back of Madarao's throat, bittersweet in taste but heavily musky - and right as he swallowed that first one down, a second one painted his tongue, and a third, and a fourth, with the fifth landing across his muzzle after Ahurai lowered himself back down and out of the dog's muzzle.

Meanwhile, Madarao could have gone on himself or stopped - it didn't matter to him. He already shivered all over with the sweet blinding pleasure of sexual gratification; his knot had already fully swollen - Ahurai's fingers wrapped around the warm bulb and tugging gently reminded him of that - and his cock still lifted up and throbbed, throbbed, throbbed with each of his fast heartbeats. Ahurai had briefly pulled back from digging his tongue into his rump, probably to catch his breath through his orgasm; now, however, he kept his lips pressed against the rim of the dog's tailhole, running his tongue steadily around and over the pulsing center.

With his muzzle no longer occupied, Madarao could lean back down and lap off the last of Ahurai's cum that dripped out of the tapered end of his cock. The demon dog felt warm all over, absolutely wonderful- better than he had in a long time. But, already he could tell that he wouldn't be able to see this Ayakashi nude, which he was most of the time, without feeling the fire of his arousal stir up again... maybe Ahurai wouldn't mind too much if he had a muzzle to slide into while working in his garden, or lying down to read, or-

"Hey, pup." A pat to his flank startled Madarao. He lifted his head up and looked behind himself... admittedly, that was a _damn_good look for Ahurai, with his nose lifting up underneath his tail... "Come on. It's time for lunch. And after, I was thinking about going down to the river to meditate for a bit - would you like to come?"

Madarao thought he was going to fall over, the way his legs wobbled when he hopped down from the futon. Perhaps it was just because of how persistently his arousal lingered, but - he wouldn't mind at all if Ahurai would to ever just pull the demon dog to him and bury his muzzle into his rump again, or if he were to push him on his side and work his cock out of his sheath-

He swallowed, and tried to shake that image out of his mind. That would all come with time. If anything, his time with Ahurai had taught him that nothing ever remained the same, and there was enjoyment in everything.

"I think I'll skip on lunch, Ahurai." He wanted to preserve the sharp taste and scent of his cum and musk in his muzzle for a bit longer. "But, yes - I would love to go with you."

The larger Ayakashi pulled himself up to his feet, wiped the back of his paw across his muzzle, and then reached down and ran his paw over his shaft once. Madarao licked his lips, and then followed when he started towards the kitchen - which brought them to pass by the hallway leading towards the bedrooms.

Ahurai's scent... it always lingered most strongly on that one little stuffed wolf, sitting on the nightstand beside the bed where Madarao usually slept. After a particularly bad week while struggling with being unsealed, the white demon wolf had awoken to find it sitting there looking back at him, with a little note beneath its feet-

For you. An old thing of mine, from long ago. Because nobody should have to sleep alone.

He used to pull it close to him and nuzzle against it every night, just for the comfort that breathing that scent brought - but, now, he usually had the real source of that scent to nuzzle again. And _that_was much better.