PART 2

Hakuei was bent over the letter with his feather pen, he had just filled it with ink when he heard his dog barking in the room below him. He knew that dog better than himself, he had him since he was a tiny puppy. The only time he barked was when someone came around, but no one should be around at… what time was it? He looked at the clock beside him. It was after 2:00 am.

"Shut up, Winter!" Hakuei called to his dog, a bit annoyed.

The dog ignored him and continued with it’s whining barks into the night.

Sighing, Hakuei set the pen down onto the letter, the ink leaked out, ruining the page he had been working on for nearly two hours.

He picked up the metal candle holder and carried it downstairs to the mud porch and peered in at the sheepdog. It’s big paws were up against the glass, smearing tiny bits of dirt onto the glass. As Hakuei came into the room Winter jumped down and circled his legs once before running back to the window.

"What is it, Winter?" Hakuei placed his hand on the dogs head and looked out towards the woods. "I don’t see anything." He said to the dog.

Jumping down from the window he ran to the door and scratched near the door handle, begging to be let out. Hakuei sighed and opened the door. He shut his eyes as a gust of snow hit him square in the face.

Winter ran outside in a flash. "Winter, wait!" He jerked on his coat, a winter coat with bear-fur lining. A bear he had shot himself! He also threw on a pair of boots made from leather of that very bear and ran out to follow the dog.

Outside he could barely see as snow flurrys beat at his face and chapped his lips. He squinted hard and pulled his hand up to block himself from the snow. The gray and white mass of fur ran ahead, still barking, not affected at all about the cold.

They soon reached the trees. Winter stood barking and jumping against something just at the edge of the trees. He had something in his mouth and tugged at it, shaking it like he caught a snake.

Gasping, Hakuei dropped to his knees and pushed Winter away. Winter growled as if he caught something special for himself. Hakuei shoved the big sheep dog and he reluctantly let go, but took a piece of the coat with him. Backing off he dropped it to the ground and sniffed at it.

The man was curled into the crook of the tree with his hands clasped together and his legs brought up against his chest. He looked as if he had simply laid down to sleep but shivered so badly he practically moved himself away from the tree.

The man was freezing! Hakuei’s hand shifted from his forehead to his cheeks which were also so cold. How did this man get here? Hakuei stood and looked around, looking for anyone else he could have been with. There was no one else around, only one pair of footsteps coming from the forest.

"Hey, are you okay?" Hakuei slapped the cheeks gently but he didn’t wake up. Hakuei himself was now starting to get very cold. His white nightclothes were pushed against his chest as a wind blew over them. He wasn’t wearing socks and the leather boots weren’t helping much to keep his feet warm.

Well, he couldn’t leave the man there!

It wasn’t even dawn yet but Kozi was off again. The hooves of the white stallion clomped quietly over the dirt path lined with crisp, fresh snow as his eyes scanned the forest around him. He had only slept four hours but was perfectly rested. He wondered why. It was just one of those strange things.

He tore off a chunk of home made beef jerkie that he held in his hand and chewed it slowly. If he started out early each day and went late into the night he could be there in about a week. He hadn’t understood why Yuki had moved so far away if he were so in love with the man. Of course he didn’t didn’t understand love at all. It wasn’t his place to ask anyway, and he didn’t really care.

He had never felt love, and didn’t want to. Love was a waste of time… and money. Yuki was shelling out quite a bit to have Kozi do his job. Yuki wasn’t about to complain however. With the money he was going to make with this he wouldn’t have to do another job for a while. He let out a sigh of relief and rode on.

Hakuei’s eyes started to close again, slowing he moved forward unconsciously about to fall against the bed at about 5:00 am when he caught himself and sat back up slowly. He didn’t know how much longer he could stay awake.

He had been tending to the boy since he had found him. When he got him back to the estate he took him to his own room instead of one of the spares since his had a fire blazing. The other rooms were probably as cold, or colder than the outside. He only lit fires in the rooms he used, also fires were lit in the servants quarters.

Touching the man’s forehead again, he checked to see of the fever had broke yet. He wasn’t as hot, didn’t feel as if he would burn Hakuei’s palm. The fever had broke.

"Thank God." Hakuei curved his arm onto the bed and rested his face against it. He thought maybe he should get the man something to eat but realized the maids would be bringing something soon for breakfast. He could feed that to him when he woke up and just have them bring him something else. He didn’t even get a chance to yawn before he breath started to run evenly and he fell asleep in the uncomfortable position at the side of the bed.

Kaoru groaned for probably the fifth time that night but this time finally opened his eyes. Everything was hazy. He couldn’t quite make out where he was. When he had fallen in the forest in exhaustion he had nearly conceeded to death.

Was he in heaven? He nearly laughed outloud if he had a voice at all. He didn’t even believe in God and the first thought when he woke up was if he were in heaven.

His eyes focused and he glanced around. The room was decorated in every possible color he could think of and some he had never seen before, but surprisingly it didn’t look bad. The blankets covering him were black and very thick. He couldn’t even see his outline beneith them, it felt a little heavy on top of him.

Beside him something moved. He looked over and gasped. He was confronted with curly, dark auburn hair at the top of someone’s head as they slept. From the angle he couldn’t tell if the person was a male or a female until he looked at the strong hand. It was large with long fingers, and though the skin looked very soft it was obviously a man’s.

Kaoru’s eyes widened and he sucked in his breath as he realized he was naked beneith the blankets. He moved quickly to climb out of the high bed and fell off the other side. He winced as first his hand gave way then his shoulder slammed the floor. At least he didn’t feel any pain in a… certain area.

Hakuei woke at the sound of the thump on the floor and sat up. He saw a scared face poking up over the side of the bed. "Oh." He stood up. "You’re awake."

Kaoru stared at him for a moment, feeling very uncomfortable with being totally naked even if the man couldn’t see anything at the moment. He tried to stand while pulling the large blankets off the bed at the same time to cover himself but failed and stayed on the floor.

"Oh, your clothes," Hakuei stood and backed away so Kaoru wouldn’t be afraid. "They were wet and in pretty bad condition. I have some more you can use."

"Who are you? Where am I?" Kaoru asked, finally succeeding in jerking the cover off the bed and clutching it to himself.

Hakuei told him the whole story of who he was and how he found him. He was nearly done when the maid came in carrying a tray of food. Hakuei froze, and Kaoru’s eyes shot back behind his shoulder.

The maid sucked in her breath and froze, staring at the naked behind of a man crouched behind a bed with a blanket clutched to his front and her master on the other side of the bed looking, at the moment, very domineering. Her eyes widened to the size of saucers.

Kaoru yelped and wrapped the blanket around himself as quick as he could, pressing himself against the wall at the start of the bed.

Leaving the tray on a table beside the door the maid fled from the room, loudly closing the door behind her.

Hakuei nearly laughed out loud, but covered his mouth with the side of his hand and grinned. When Kaoru looked back at him he sobered and said, "Just a maid."

For a moment Kaoru was a little disappointed that in all the years he had worked as a butler he had never got to see anything like that. He shook it away as Hakuei started to move.

He didn’t look at Kaoru at all, simply walked slowly around the bed and moved to the tray by the door. They wouldn’t get anywhere just standing around staring at each other the whole day, besides Hakuei had chores he had to do that day.

"There are clothes behind that screen." He pointed off to the other end of the room to a paper screen blocking the corner of the walls for changing.

Kaoru watched him move. He was much taller than most men he’d seen and well shaped. He was still wearing his nightclothes; white pants and a white work shirt though this one was very clean. For a rich person he looked kind of strong. All the men he worked for were soft and pliable from never working a day in their life.

He watched as Hakuei picked up the meal and carried it across the room and set it down on the table he usually ate at alone. He never used the dining room since he didn’t have anyone else to eat in there with.

"Are you going to get dressed?" Hakuei asked him as he laid out the plate and utensils for Kaoru. "I’m sure you won’t feel to comfortable walking around all day in that blanket. It’s warm but since you’re here you’ll have to help me with some of the chores outside, if you don’t have anywhere to go. If you do you’re welcome to leave at any time." Hakuei finished setting things out and looked up at him. "Do you have anywhere to go? What were you doing out in the woods on such a night?"

Kaoru started over towards the screen slowly. "I was trying to find an estate to work at. I’m a stable worker, I worked with horses my whole life. I was taking the trail through the-" Before he could continue he was bent over with hacking coughs that nearly made him fall over.

When he had finished Hakuei looked up at him. "You can stay until you’re fever is gone, but I don’t need a stable hand. I only have one horse and I can take perfect care of it myself. I expect you to help me with some of the chores unless the fever gets very bad again."

Kaoru nodded and disappeared behind the screen.

Hakuei bit his lip as he glanced up at the screen. Behind it he could see the thin figure dropping the blanket and the paper was thin…. Sucking in his breath Hakuei looked away. It had to be at least five years since he had a lover…. Shutting his eyes he gulped and turned away. "I’ll be downstairs when you are finished eating."

END OF PART 2