SPARRING PARTNER
Silver Rayne
Chapter 4

“What am I going to do?”

The plush carpet beneath Ken’s feet bore a pattern of flattened areas where he visited again and again. He paced, bit his bottom lip - a new nervous habit - and uneasily took down one of his father’s pictures. It was as if Mr. Masters could see through the eyes of his portrait and scorn them for their newfound relationship. Every time Ryu touched Ken, they both looked up at the oil painting, fearful of it. Would Mr. Masters welcome Ryu into the family with open arms or execute him for taking his son’s virginity?

“It would help if you sat down and took a few deep breaths.”

“And then what? Stop and think of how many lunatics there are in this city? The trapped expression on my dog’s face? Maybe the feeling of that pervert’s hands on my skin?”

“None of those.” Ryu slipped an arm around Ken and guided him out onto the deck of the outdoor pool. The water was crisp and crystal clear in the afternoon sun which was gradually sneaking away. “How about a swim? It’ll help calm your nerves.”

Ken shook his head in an effort to get the picture of death from his mind. “I don’t want to be calm. If I’m calm, he’ll be able to get me.”

“If you aren’t calm, you’ll end up getting to yourself. Come on…I can make it worth your while.” He winked at his lover and wished that the smile he saw lingered for a bit longer. But, Ken’s mood swings were becoming more pronounced, elaborate and difficult to ease.

Even though Ken would have chosen to stake out his territory and wait for his opponent to show, he reluctantly agreed to a short swim in the pool. He didn’t want to disappoint Ryu so he changed into swimming trunks and jumped in. They played around, racing each other up and down the length of the very expansive pool. They alternated in winning since Ken kept cheating and grabbing onto the elastic of Ryu's trunks to taunt him.

“You were right, this did calm me down,” Ken gasped as he caught hold of the railing to the stairs out. “I think I need to dry off and catch my breath.”

But Ryu wouldn’t let Ken get out. He wrapped a few strands of long hair in between his fingers and gently tugged. When Ken turned to look at him, he was unprepared for the feeling of a warm, wet hand slipping into his shorts. All he could do was throw back his head and moan as Ryu stroked him and pinned him against the stairs.

“I haven’t finished making you feel better.” Ryu ran his tongue up Ken’s throat, tickling him and nearly making him laugh.

“Come on! Not here! What if my dad sees? Or one of the members of his staff?”

“No one will come out here.” His hand squeezed tightly around Ken’s shaft, his thumb rubbing insistent circles around the head. A very deep moaning could be felt underneath Ryu’s tongue as he licked Ken’s throat some more. “Unless you give them a reason to,” he added.

Ken smiled, basking in the attention Ryu was giving him. His grin shifted to a sneakier one as he took hold of Ryu’s cock, pulling it out of his lover’s shorts. “And what if they see you like this?”

“They won’t be seeing anything in a minute.” As they kissed, their caresses became deeper and their breathing harsher. It was like a contest to see who could evoke the greatest response. Soon, both of their shorts were floating several feet from them in the water and their naked bodies.

Ken’s moaning had become whimpering, his eyes shut tightly, his teeth indenting another bruise on Ryu’s shoulder. Ryu’s panting was increasing in volume to a wild groaning as his hips ground further into Ken. The stairs and railing creaked with each motion they made. One of Ryu’s hands gripped the railing for support while his other arm was wrapped around one of Ken’s thighs, spreading his legs open. Several times, they slipped in the water, inadvertently causing Ryu to thrust harder into Ken to stay with him.

“I can’t stand it anymore,” came Ken’s stricken voice. “Would you quit fooling around and just do it.” He was almost begging, desperately needing to feel the most intense sensation he had ever experienced in his entire life.

“It didn’t last long enough the first time,” Ryu complained, grinding his cock in and out of Ken. “I want to stay like this forever.” He pushed his tongue into Ken’s mouth and they kissed even more intimately, feeling the other's pleasure.

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

Across from the pool, lurking behind an oak tree, leered two evil eyes. Sharp nails smeared fresh blood into the palms of the angry man. He was very, very displeased with what he saw. His watchful stare followed every move that either of the young men made. A carving knife was drawn from his boot to be pointed in the direction of the back of Ryu’s dark head. He inhaled and exhaled, following the rhythm Ryu had chosen to take with Ken. A darkness overcame him when he focused in on Ken’s body, studying him from head to toe. He couldn’t see the lower half of Ken’s abdomen or above his knees because of the way the two lovers were entangled. What he could see was Ken’s labored breathing, his frantic cries and pleas of ecstasy.

The way that Ken’s hair remained plastered to his shoulders, skirting the water in streams of red and blonde caused the man to salivate. He wanted to do the same thing Ryu was doing to Ken, only at a faster rate and with more pressure. His methods included being insensitively rough, intentionally causing harm. He craved to take Ken and pummel him onto his knees to submit everything to him. To have Ken begging him, not Ryu, for mercy.

Then there was Ryu, the worst foe that he could have chosen to challenge. It was just his luck that some jackass punk with martial arts training would come between him and his prize. If Ryu were absent from the picture, perhaps Ken would actually begin to accept some of the gifts that he so marvelously wrapped himself. What handsome young man wouldn’t be grateful for a handmade field mouse or chopped butterflies for potpourri? Besides, butterflies were so much more beautiful without their wings.

He would win Ken over, even if it meant wrapping Ryu up in one of his boxes as a token of his love. Ryu was so like the butterflies, he would be better for Ken without his wings, or arms and legs.

The man chuckled quietly and tucked his knife back into his boot to watch.

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

“How’s this for stamina?,” Ryu joked. He rocked back and forth with Ken who was slightly dizzy.

“You are amazing!” Ken’s eyelashes fluttered as he felt Ryu probing deeper again but never touching him as far as he could have. A few moments ago, Ken had lost it and came, clawing down Ryu’s back and shoulder blades with his fingers. But, he was still waiting for the release of his lover.

“So are you.” One last plunge and Ryu’s head touched something inside of Ken which meant he could go in no further. He was curious and rubbed against Ken’s very core which shook them both up.

“Ohhhh!!!,” Ken cried out. “Ryuuuuuu!!!”

Then Ryu came, reveling in the way Ken trembled in his arms, moaning so hard that he sounded as if he were in pain. Ryu felt his knees go rubbery and had to grab onto the railing again to keep himself afloat.

“I love you,” Ryu whispered as he rested his head against Ken’s shoulder, stroking his damp hair down to his buttocks. He playfully caressed the soft skin, even as he was still inside of him, being sucked dry by Ken’s inner muscles.

“I…” The pupils in Ken’s eyes dilated when he saw an outline of a black boot blending in next to the trunk of the oak tree. “Oh no… he saw us. Ryu, he saw us!”

“What? Who?” Ryu didn’t want to end it so soon but he retreated from Ken, his cock no longer erect as he snatched his shorts and began to put them on.

“Beside the tree, behind you.” He didn’t point, in fact he couldn’t even look in that direction. Whoever it was had seen everything. That was the most terrible violation Ken could ever imagine, someone witnessing his special love with Ryu. It wouldn’t have mattered even if his father had found out. This trespasser had seen them both at their most intimate time alone. It was sickening, revolting to think of the free show the person had enjoyed.

“Stay here.” It wasn’t a suggestion or a question, Ryu was ordering and Ken gave no objections.

Ryu suddenly hopped out of the water and ran towards the tree at full speed, his grip on the pavement like glue. He was flaming pissed off, he himself felt just as violated as Ken did. How dare some depraved human being watch them make love as if they were an act to relish. *I don’t care what Ken says, when I get my hands on this bastard, he is going to die. He’s crossed my line too many times.*

*Yes,* Ryu thought as he neared the tree. *Stupid fool must be deaf.* There was the black boot, gleaming in the fading sunlight. He got closer and closer, his hands automatically beginning to form the Hadouken.

He was slowing down, ready to send his powers right into the man’s face when…*What the…?* There was a boot but no leg to go with it. Just a boot standing there by itself, abandoned by its owner.

“RYU!!! LOOK OUT!” Ken was climbing out of the pool, his shorts on backwards as he himself tried to summon the Hadouken.

Taking the warning literally, Ryu looked to his left and saw the shape of a gun barrel. He did the only thing he could instinctively do. Swearing a string of curses, he performed a back flip into the pool, just missing the bullet which grazed his shin.

Already, Ken was where Ryu had been, ready to pick the flesh off of the man’s bones. He was bewildered when the gun he had spotted seconds before vanished.

“My love, when will you succumb to me?” A sweaty hand fastened itself around Ken’s nose and mouth even as he was being dragged back into the bushes.

Ken kicked and thrashed about but couldn’t break free. Who was this crazy freak that could evade his own attacks as if they were that of a child’s? He heard Ryu come out of the water, splashing the deck and start towards them.

“Why do you waste your time with someone so meaningless? With me at your side, we could do anything. Anything at all.”

*I’ll do something to you, you crazy loon!* Remembering how ticked off the man had been the first time he had done it, Ken bit into the thick fingers clamped over his mouth. He would rather subconsciously taste Ryu’s flesh in his mouth than this maniac’s but he had no choice.

“That is it!”

Ryu was still coming, it was all happening so fast.

“I’ve tried to be patient.”

Still running, his feet slapping against the interlocking stones of the pavement beneath him.

“But you won’t be reasonable.”

A yell of pain. Damn! Had Ryu tripped and fallen?

“Now, you will have to be taught a lesson.”

The agony Ken felt scrambled his brain, rang out confusion as to where the pain was coming from. He couldn’t identify it for it was alien to him. Never in any of the tournaments he had participated in had anyone hurt him so badly. Then he was falling, collapsing onto the man’s bare feet, only to be sharply kicked off.

“Think about it, Ken Masters. You would be better off with me.” Then he was walking off, his face shrouded behind a mess of light, brown hair and a baseball cap.

Both of Ryu’s knees were scraped as he dropped to the grass to see to Ken. His lover was wheezing and gasping, both of his hands grasped between his legs.

“What’s wrong? What did he do to you?” There were almost tears of apprehension in Ryu’s eyes. He couldn’t bear to see Ken in any kind of pain. He wished that he could take the pain into his own body and battle it out for his lover.

“You…don’t…want…to…know,” Ken croaked. His face was turning red as his body shivered unnaturally. His tears were running freely down his face, Ryu bending down to kiss them away.

Then he was being bundled up into Ryu’s arms and lifted up to be carried to the mansion.

“Not so fast! Ahhh! Watch your hand!”

“Ken?” Ryu tried to ask what was wrong but he got the answer when Ken refused to move his hands.

“He kicked me! That son of a bitch kicked me in the crotch! I think I’m going to be sick.” Indeed, Ken’s color was rapidly draining out of him.

“I told you to stay where you were.” Ryu helped Ken into the bathroom and held onto him as he shook with dry heaves. After that, Ken was too weak to do more than lie in front of the television, his hands still guarding his groin.

*When I get this guy, I’m going to castrate him,* Ryu promised himself.

“Ryu, about the pool…”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, it was wonderful. Are we going to do it again anytime soon? I think I’m in need of more cheering up.”

Ryu’s hand snaked into Ken’s lap to gently rub his erection, pushing Ken’s hands away. “You’re so demanding,” he teased. “How can I say no?”

The door to the den was shut and they kept the noise to a minimum. However, from one distant corner of the room, a pair of despising eyes watched them. He growled low, furious that his attack on Ken hadn’t diminished his ability to have sex with Ryu. It didn’t matter how much he interfered or tried to ruin the mood, they couldn’t be torn apart. He was going to change that very soon.

End of Chapter 4