Based on the world of Shoujo Kakumei Utena and the online RPG Duelists of the Silver Rose (SKU-AU).

This has been rated TWT (timeline? what timeline?) but lies somewhere slightly after post number 940 for those of you who are following the Yahoo! RPG. It's a private club, but if anyone's interested, \ email me and, we'll work something out.

I hope you like citrus because this is a lime

DoSR and Akira belong to me, but Neige belongs to someone else who sweetly loaned him to me for this bit of fun. (Here's a bit about the characters in this story Akira Serra and Neige Korisan.) Shoujo Kakumei Utena belongs to other people, but I'm not trying to steal their work or anything like that. SKU really has little to do with this particular piece of fiction. Besides, it's all in fun, ne? Ne? NE?

"Cold and Blue"
written by: Fantom Fox

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Akira was laying on his bed, bandaged and resting. "Stupid practical joke...." It was a lot of trouble to clean up the bucket's worth of water. After hours of work, the floor was finally water free again, and Akira was exhausted. Trying to clear his thoughts, he was laying in his back staring at the ceiling. His arms rested behind his head, and a loose, idle finger twirled a stray tendril of hair. He was perfectly still, contemplating the ceiling, and thinking about the events of the past few days.

After a while, Akira began to drift off. He began dreaming. At first, it was a dream about his early childhood. Happier days gone by. Sunny days with his twin sister and parents when they'd lived together in a small Japanese town. The twins as very young children ran to the temple every day to sit underneath the threes there and take naps. As it got colder, the leaves would fall around them, and they'd wake up covered. Suddenly interrupting their remembered naps and the peacefulness, loud bells began to ring.

The dream shifted. Red rose petals blew across the dueling arena by the millions. Over and over, a red rose was shattered by the opponent's sword. Diana screamed in the background. Akira's dreamself crossed the Arena to find her. The petals were so thick he wasn't sure if he ever would. After what seemed like forever, he found his sister crying over the body of a young boy. She turned, and Akira saw the face of the child. The boy looked like he was sleeping, much like Akira did all those many years ago under the trees of the temple. The smell of blood was suddenly all around him. Akira turned to run, but he didn't get very far. It was then he noticed the petals were those from a white rose, slick and red from fresh blood. He tried to run away from the bloody petals, but the more he tried, the less it was working... until....

The dream of blood roses gave away to a field of snow. New powder was falling all around as far as the eye could see. There was no color at all in this field, only white. Akira wrapped his arms around himself and realized he was naked. He fell to his knees in the foot of snow and waited, willing the snow to cover him and hide him. He began to shiver. "Too... cold..." Out of nowhere, a hand reached out and touched his shoulder. It was as cold as the snow around him, but for some reason, it was warm and caring against Akira's freezing dream skin.

There was an intense pain, disapproval, disappointment. This caring person learned what kind of man Akira really was. The hand vanished. "No!" Akira's dream screamed, "Don't leave me! Please!" There was the screech of tires, the crunch of glass. "Don't leave me alone!" There was blood all over the snow, an accident. Not his parents. Not... his voice? "I'm alone if you leave me. What reason is there to go on?"

*******
Akira's eyes shot open. He was breathing heavily, and a tear ran down his face. Sitting up, he put a hand to his head, trying to shake the feel of the dream. A knock at the door brought Akira back to reality. Akira stood and straightened is casual clothes. "Just a second!" ha called to the person at the door. Checking his reflection in a computer monitor, he straightened his hair as well as he could with his fingers. Akira went to the door and half-expected it to be vacant when he got there. Who he saw when he opened the door surprised him even more. "Neige? What a pleasant surprise! Come in."

Akira went through the formalities, "have a seat?", "can I get you anything?", and Neige responded as expected, he sat on the offered chair, didn't want anything. He looked really nervous. Akira sat on the edge of his bed. "What can I do for you?" Neige sat in silence, his face looking like he was searching for the right words to say. Akira figured that it would be best to leave him alone to his thoughts. Whatever it was, it was very important to Neige and also very hard to say, and Akira didn't want to rush him. Akira watched Neige's face carefully as words tried to form. He smiled at the younger boy who then blushed faintly. Still trying to decide his words, Neige stood and began pacing in a small circle. Finally. he stopped and stood facing Akira. His face was turning red as if he was embarrassed. Akira stood and took a few steps toward him. He opened his arms a little and reached out to Neige.

Before either boy could think, Neige rushed into Akira's arms grabbing him tightly around the waist. There was just as second of pause. Akira close his arms around Neige and hugged him close. The younger boy released the breath he'd been holding. The motion pressed their bodies closer together. Neige tensed up, expecting to be reprimanded for his actions. Instead, Akira leaned his head in close to Neige's neck. His lips brushed ever so softly against the white skin of Neige's throat. "So you've finally decided to be brave, Neige-kun?" Akira's hand slid down to the small of Neige's back. He laid a kiss just a touch above the skin of his neck. Akira smiled as a shiver ran though Neige. Deeply, Akira whispered, "So, is that all you wanted to talk about?"

Neige made a small sound of protest as Akira began to pull away. He grabbed a handful of Akira's shirt to prevent him from going any farther. Akira just smiled. Neige then realized that Akira's hand hadn't moved from his back. Guiding him with his hand, Akira led Neige to the bed and sat him down. The free hand stroked the pale blue locks from his face carefully. The hand on Neige's back slipped down to hem of his shirt as Akira leaned in close. There was a mischievous look on his face. Neige parted his lips slightly to speak, but Akira stopped him by taking advantage of the opportunity.

At first, it was merely a soft brush of lips, tentative and scared. As confidence grew, the tension between them fell away. More force, more eagerness as the lips sought each other. In silence, the boys explored the other's lips, the taste, the feel, the growing warmth. Neige's eyes flew open as the tip of Akira's tongue trailed along his lips. At the sudden movement, Akira pulled away and released his hold on Neige. *Physically, anyway,* he thought with a smirk. In a movement like a cat's, he leaned back onto the bed and propped himself upright on his elbows. A captive audience, Neige stared as Akira ran a stray hand up the curves of his own body suggestively, exposing an inch or two of bare skin on his stomach. He made a soft sound like an intake of breath, and his eyes fluttered shut.

In one sudden movement, Neige landed on top of Akira as he jumped from the other side of the bed. The impact nearly sent them both bouncing off the bed and onto the floor. Their mouths sought each other again. It started out soft and grew in intensity. Each kiss ended with just a tip of tongue, just a bit more each time. Akira coaxed Neige's timid tongue from his mouth. The boy, so cold on the outside, was warm and inviting on the inside. Akira explored the warmth with a renewed passion as his hands slid under Neige's uniform to investigate the cold. Neige inhaled sharply as the warm hands slipped under his shirt to find bare skin. Akira smiled through the kiss and pulled Neige tighter, closer, as his hands slid up his back. Cautiously, Neige's free hand moved to do he same. Finding first the exposed skin on Akira's stomach, he followed the line of his clothes to reach around Akira's back. He applied tentative pressure and pulled the older boy passionately nearer.

Neige's eyes went wide. He broke the forcefully and used Akira's chest to push himself away. A hand went to his mouth. "I'm sorry. Your back...."

Akira crawled on his hands and knees over to the cowering Neige. Softly, he placed a kiss on Neige's forehead. In a soothing voice, brushing the mussed crystal blue hair away from his face, "Don't worry. I'm perfectly fine... now."

Their kiss resumed, hot, passionate, wanting, needing. Hands found skin under clothing until both boys were shirtless. Akira pinned Neige to the bed by his shoulders. Neige struggled weakly under Akira's firm pressure. Without releasing, Akira nuzzled the curve of his face into Neige's slender chest. Neige repressed a giggle, "That tickles, Aki --oooo-- ra...." Akira's quick tongue left a wet line on Neige's skin. Neige stilled, enjoying the feeling. He began to whimper softly when he realized Akira had pulled away. Akira released one shoulder to place a finger over Neige's lips. He quieted instantly. Akira smiled gently and kissed the spot right above Neige's heart. He could feel the racing pulse under his lips pounding against the surface. He wished he could hold that heart and keep it safe from all harm. His lips barely brushed against the skin as he spoke, "Relax. No harm will come to you here. You're safe--" Akira trailed the hand hat wasn't holding his new lover ever so gently over Neige's bare skin and smiled again at Neige's quick intake of breath, "--with me."

Neige's eyes closed, but Akira didn't see. He kissed his way down from Neige's heart. Each kiss came long, slow, deep, barely a breath between them. Neige's body arched at the touch of Akira's tongue low on his stomach. Akira traced an invisible sensitive line up from the button of Neige's pants to his navel. He squirmed as Akira covered the area with soft kisses. Sliding his hands down to hold Neige's hips, Akira increased the frequency of attention all along Neige's stomach. Neige giggled quietly as Akira's hair brushed quickly over his bare skin. His hands massaged into the cold skin low on Neige's back. Akira followed the tempting curves of Neige's body and kissed him deeply, breathing in the delicate, pure scent of Neige's skin. He followed that scent back up to Neige's waiting lips.

When the kiss finally broke after what they wanted to be eternity, Akira smiled down at Neige who smiled back. Akira pushed his blond hair back behind his ears then brushed blue strands from Neige's face. "That smile. I love that smile. Don't lose that smile for me."

Neige smiled wider. "You make me happy, Akira."

They kissed.

"Good."

"Akira?"

"Hm?"

"What I came in to say..."

"Hm?"

"Daisuki."

Akira whispered into Neige's ear, "Suki da."

*******
There was a knock at the door, and Akira sat straight upright. He was covered in sweat... and alone. "It was... a dream?" His shirt lay in a small heap on the floor. Raising a hand to his forehead, Akira could still feel the sensation of Neige's skin against his, could still taste his lips. The knock at the door came again, harder this time. Akira jumped up, heedless of his aching back, ran to the door, and threw it open. "Ch." No one was there. Akira whipped around and slammed the door behind him. "....itai...."

~fin