BENTEN AND HEAVEN PLAY NICE

Benten sat on the waterbed while Kusanagi rushed around trying to clear up.  He
had come to talk business, but he could see it would be a while before that
happened.  Heaven was the messiest person, male, female, human, cyborg or
android, Benten had ever met, and Kusanagi's flat was always a total tip after
he left.  Heaven didn't actually live with Kusanagi, but he did seem to spend
most of his free time with her, when he wasn't filming or rehearsing or dressing
in ragged black leather on the holo-v (he called it  Art-Nouveau, Benten called
it pretentious).  And her flat showed his presence; his clothes were all over
the floor.  Heaven was beautiful but he had several thousand rather cumbersome
flaws.  Kusanagi picked up a terrifying collection of chains and manacles and
buckles, and grinned, embarrassed, at her business partner.  Benten didn't ask,
he knew better.  "He's such a fucking, pig!" Kusanagi exclaimed as she threw
Heaven's mightily expensive clothes into a pile at the corner of the bedroom.
Benten sighed.
"Why do you put up with him?!?"
     "Oh," She said, "You know.  I mean, he does my head in, and he's a bitch,
and he's a pig  - but he is divine.  And irresistible.  And addictive, I'm
afraid."
"Hmm.  So I see."  Benten eyed the various thongs and bonds that were strewn
about the bedroom.  "He's also kinky, from the looks of things.  Heh - you're
perfectly matched."  Kusanagi pulled a face at him.
    "Fuck off."
"Sorry, I couldn't help it."  
    "I know.  And you're right, I shouldn't put up with his messes.  But I
do.... fuck knows why, I'm hardly generous by nature.  I mean, I don't even love
the guy, I don't know why I - " Benten cut her off sharply.
"What do you mean, you don't love him?" his eyes narrowed.
      "Well, I don't.  I care about him intensely, and I might even kill him if
he left me.  But  I'm not in love with him."  Kusanagi continued piling clothes
up.
"But I thought...." Benten was confused now, his brow knitted.  "Why don't you?"
      "Because I'm fairly sure you can only be in love with one person at a
time."  She flung one of Heaven's leather trenchcoats away from her, having
paused to press her flat little nose against it and inhale deeply.  The coat
smelt of expensive leather, spicy and thick, and of Heaven, who permanently
exuded sex pheromones.  
    "And just who ARE you in love with, then?"  Benten didn't really want to
know who it was.  He didn't even feel comfortable about her being with Heaven.
The thought that she wasn't 'with' Benten himself pained him.  Kusanagi gathered
up all the courage she had and answered him quietly, standing quite still in the
middle of the floor, eyes to the ground.
  "You, of course."  For perhaps a minute, Merill Yanagawa sat like a rock on
the bed, eyes wide, mouth slightly open.   At last he regained the power of
speech:
 "Whuh - whuh?"  he asked.
     "I cannot believe I have hidden my feelings so well that you have not
noticed them."  She was using very formal Japanese.  Benten wished she wouldn't.

"Since when - ?"
       "Since always, Yanagawa-san.  It was always you, always."
"What about..... what about all the others?"
    "Like your 'others', they are merely concubines, Benten.  Entertainment.  It
is you I love.  There has never been another."  Benten struggled to breathe.
Was she SERIOUS?  Could he have been burying his love for her all this time,
only to find now that she had felt the same all along???   He shook his head,
hard.  Then he stretched out his arms to her.
    "Come here," he whispered.  Somehow his voice wouldn't do anything else.
Kusanagi lifted her eyes to look at him.  He was smiling but there was pain in
his eyes.  She crossed over to him and sat beside him, and he slid his arms
around her.  And squeezed her half to death.  He didn't ever want to let go of
her, ever.  Once again, she felt small in his arms, though small she was not.
"Why...why didn't you say something before?"  Benten thought of all the years of
care and comfort they had both missed, for the sake of pride.  
     "You know very well why," Kusanagi replied quietly, "Because now I've
embarrassed myself, and all for nothing."
"Why for nothing?"
        "Well come on.  You're not going to pretend to reciprocate, are you?!?"
Benten almost laughed.  But the gravity of his feelings hit him full in the face
and he had to throw off the burden.
"Oh, but I do, Motoko-ku.  I love you more than anything in this world, or any
other."  She looked up into his liar's eyes - but they weren't lying.
     "More than your precious Remi Masuda?"
"She is as good as dead."
     "More than yourself?"  Kusanagi sensed immediately that this was not a good
question to ask, but she had put her foot in it now and she was going to have to
wait until she found a boot-scraper.  Benten's reply was lightning fast.
   "There is NOTHING I wouldn't do for you.  I would give or take my life, or
any other, if it would keep you safe and happy.  I can't think that Heaven would
do the same in that situation."  Kusanagi wrapped her arms around Benten's
midriff and hugged him so hard he thought he would break in half.    
   "I love you... so.... much," Kusanagi growled, as if her need to make him
understand had angered her.  The words rang in Benten's ears.  In all his life,
no-one had ever said that to him.  People had skirted round the subject, or said
they cared, or that they were fond of him.  But never once had anybody turned to
him and said, 'I love you'.  Suddenly, all the pain and anguish he had ever
suffered was trivial, all his anxieties and neuroses mere psychological
glitches, and nothing in the world anywhere, or off it, mattered apart from
Motoko Kusanagi and Merill Yanagawa.  In that instant he would have chewed his
way through the Earth to get to her, would have jumped down a dragon's throat to
save her, would have killed the entire populace of Japan just to touch her.  As
it happened none of these things was necessary at that precise moment, but the
point was, there was nothing he would not have done for her.  His heart felt
close to exploding as she said those killer words again.  "I love you!"  Benten
felt  tears pool in his eyes, but didn't check them.  He let them fall, rolling
silvery down his pale face, running down his chin and onto the roll-neck of his
shirt.  He wondered if he would be able to say the words.  He had never had
cause to before, and of course he had never said them to her, despite his
feelings.  But they were suddenly easy, like saying you were going to make a cup
of tea.  
   "Watashi-wa aishite-mo anata-wa o-shino nukuride,"  he said, quietly.  
Kusanagi let go of him and rested her hands on his shoulders.  He ran a hand up
her right arm and pulled her hand away, and kissed the backs of her fingers.  He
turned the hand in his own and clasped his fingers around it, hard, his
fingernails digging little marks into her skin.  He felt her hand squeeze back -
it felt good.  It felt wonderful.  With his free hand he wiped his face dry, and
then went back to holding her, pressing her body as close to his as he could.
He could hear her breathing, feel her heart beating, it was like holding his own
life in his arms.  Their hands, still clenched together, were shaking with the
effort, and from beneath Kusanagi's closed fingers, a tiny trickle of orange-red
blood fell down her wrist: Benten's identically coloured fingernails were
cutting her flesh.  He saw it , so did she, but neither moved.  For a long time
they sat, two old accomplices and masters of the criminal arts, two of the most
mercenary bastards in the history of the Earth, but unable and unwilling, either
of them, to let the other go, as if doing so would be like opening the window
and letting the world in.  Only when the front door slammed did Kusanagi look up
and pull away, yanking her flesh from around Benten's bloodied fingernails.  He
stopped her, lifting her hand to his mouth, kissing the injuries and licking
away blood like a lion would for a wounded friend.  She was reaching for a pair
of gloves from the bedside table and tried to pull away from him further, but
feeling his lips brush her skin she caved in.  She leaned against him again, and
fixed her mouth on his, tackling his tongue as it snaked in.  Heaven called from
the sitting room.
     "Mo, It's me!  Where are you?"  She whipped away from Benten, pulling the
gloves on and redundantly smoothing down her clothes.  Then she ran from the
room.  Benten suspected why she was so nervous.  Heaven didn't mind her playing
around so long a he knew about it.  But if he didn't, and he found out, he would
probably leave her.  And though Kusanagi might not love him, she didn't want to
lose him.  She had, after all, gone through a lot for him.  It had been two
years since she'd come across him in Oedo, and prevented him from being torn to
shreds by an over-zealous crowd, and she lost an eye and an arm in the process,
which had cost quite a bit to have re-fitted.  Benten didn't doubt that there
was a strong bond between the love of his life and the little bishonen bitch
that was Heaven.  He heard them talking.
     "I was just clearing up.  Benten came over with some bijinesu, we were just
chatting.  How are you?"
   "I'm fine.  I missed you today, it was hard work."  Heaven's eyes suddenly
bulged.  "Oh, you're bleeding!  What happened?"  He reached out with one hand,
closeted in a fingerless black vinyl glove.  His black, square-edged fingernails
slid across her wrist and he lifted it.  "Are you all right?"
    "Yes, of course I am!"
"Well?" 
    "Well what?"
"Don't I get a hug?"
             Benten chose this moment to emerge from the bedroom.  He looked
Heaven over, he had dyed his hair black and he was dressed like a tramp,
festooned with black rags and scraps of fabric, his eye-make-up no more than
blotches of kohl smudged around his eyes.  His pouty, black-glossed lips
sparkled with some glittery overlay.  "Oh, hello."
  "Hello, Benten," the child hissed at him.  "What the fuck are you doing here?"
"I came to see my associate, not that it's any of your business.  Anyway, I
haven't finished what I was saying, so if you could just go and watch the holo-v
for a little while?  I think 'Children's Hour' is still on."  Heaven glared at
Benten from where he stood.  Kusanagi swallowed hard - cue for another barney.  
     "I'm going to get a beer," she stated, and went quickly into the kitchen.
Heaven did what was expected of him - he pounced.  He was very, very fast - even
faster than Benten - and the latter was caught of f guard.  Heaven gripped the
older man by the collar of his jacket and pressed a nasty-looking mini-blade
into Benten's cheek.
     "I know what's been going on here," Heaven hissed.  "And I know Motoko is
in love with you.  But don't think for a minute you'll get her.  She's mine, and
I don't intend to let her go, so you can go to hell.  I'm going to make your
life hell if you even try to fuck her."  Benten laughed theatrically.  The sound
carried into the kitchen, where Kusanagi swapped the beer for half a bottle of
vodka, which she downed very  quickly indeed.  Back in the sitting room, Benten
had finished his outburst.
     "You pathetic little whore,"  he chuckled, almost in tears of mirth, "Do
you really think you're frightening me?  HA!  Child, you have a serious problem.
You should get professional help!"  Benten felt his id welling up within him
again, like an old friend long missed and he let it out.  With one hand he
reached up and twisted Heaven's wrist until the knife fell from it, and the
other hand grabbed a handful of the little aesthete's scruffy hair, and yanked
his head back.  Heaven was suddenly afraid of what Benten would do to him.  He
had heard some very nasty stories...   
Suddenly he was aware of  Benten's mouth on the flesh of his throat, hard,
pressing kisses covering his neck, reaching down to his shoulder.  The other
man's tongue wandered up Heaven's neck, under his chin, and stopped to fight
it's way into his mouth.  Heaven tried to push him away, but he was only human,
and his strength was nothing compared to Benten's.  When force failed, Heaven
reverted to the Gift of the Gab.  Turning his head sharply to free his mouth he
snarled, 
    "Cunt, let me go!"  Benten's eyes blazed down at him.
"Oh, but I haven't finished with you yet!"  He engaged the child's mouth again ,
and his hands started sneaking up Heaven's chest, fingernails tweaking his
nipples.  Heaven's free hand tried to jab Benten in the stomach, fingernails
clawing at his clothes, but to no avail, so he snapped at him, tried to bite
him, but it was no use at all.  Benten's hands had untied the youth's leathers
and one had now slipped inside, fingertips brushing the horse-like cock.  To his
horror, Heaven felt his well-trained body doing just what Benten wanted it to.
Benten grinned with malice of forethought as the over-used organ hardened in his
practised hand.  Removing said hand briefly, he slipped Heaven's trousers off
his hips, and then pushed him back onto the sofa behind him.  The child
struggled briefly, but Benten quickly restrained him, gripping both his wrists
in one hand and holding them fast, at the same time pushing him back against the
sofa cushions.  Benten's other hand closed around Heaven's right ankle as he
knelt on the floor before him.  Heaven tried to kick furiously at the offensive
face, but  before he could kick or knee anything painful, Benten's full, soft
mouth closed about his cock and he was wracked with shudders.  
"Bastard," he breathed, unable to speak with greater conviction or strength.
Benten ignored him and wound a long, expert tongue around Heaven's throbbing
hard-on.  The youth groaned and thumped his head back into the sofa cushions.
He tried to free his hands, desperately wanting to get away, but the other's
grip was too strong. 
                "Get...off...me!"  The last pleading command was no more than a
strangled sob.  Heaven cursed himself in French.  If he didn't fight Benten off
soon, he was going to come, and that would not be good.  Suddenly, just as the
slender child was certain he would lose his grip, Benten stood up.  Heaven was
barely aware of it when the older man rolled him over and pulled him down so
that he was leaning face-down across the cushions.  His hair covered his bony
face, little short bits from his shaggy fringe sticking to his forehead and the
painted sideburns that ran alongside his gaunt cheekbones.  He realised what was
going to happen to him only when he heard flies unzipping behind him, and he
flailed helplessly, screaming obscenities in every tongue under the Sun, cursing
Benten and the mother who had borne him, and casting doubt on the species of his
father.  But Benten had a hand planted firmly between the pasty little
androgyne's wicked shoulder blades.  Heaven felt his legs kicked apart.  "Don't
you dare!"  Nothing he said would do him any good - he had realised that now.
But he couldn't move, he had to do something, if only shout.  "Get off me, you
cunt!  Leave me alone!"  Benten ignored him.  *All right Louis, try the cute
approach.* "Please, Benten....  don't...  Don't do it...."  Still no response.
"JUST GET OFF ME!"  That wasn't going to do any good.  Benten slipped his
forefinger into Heaven's arse.  The combination of pleasure and disgust decided
the child that either way, this was Benten, and he wasn't going to let him have
his way.  Dragging a record amount of air into his lungs, Heaven howled,
"MOTOKO!!!!!"  She wouldn't let it go on, would she?  Of course not.  Any minute
now she'd come riding in on her white charger.....
          In the kitchen, Kusanagi listened to the cursing a meowing and
spitting from the sitting room.  When Heaven screamed for her she poured more
Vodka into her throat and leaned against the sideboard.  She wasn't going to
bail him out THIS time.
         Heaven tried one last time to kick his attacker away.  Benten had
isolated a nerve in his spine, and was pressing it with one fingertip, and it
had practically paralysed the shrieking bitch beneath him.  The protests went on
as Benten withdrew his finger.  "No... don't...."  Heaven's back arched into a
ballistic curve as he felt Benten's cock penetrate him and he cried out. loud.
He managed to move just enough to push one hand between his concave belly and
the edge of the sofa, and then to slide it down his skin, closing long,
black-clawed fingers around his own erupting cock, and wanking frantically.
Benten was rough, which didn't help; Heaven liked it that way.  Finally, his
girlfriend's mad business partner had his fun, and came rather too much
considering that he had only done it to teach Heaven a lesson.  Benten slid off
and sat, panting, on the carpet for a moment or two, then he got up, snuffled
his nose with the back of a finger, zipped up his flies, and went into the
bathroom.  Heaven lay shaking and sweating, drawing in shallow, gasping breaths,
his sticky hand holding on to the edge of the settee.
       Kusanagi waited for some time after the noise of the catfight died down,
but it seemed as though the situation had been resolved.  She sighed at the
thought of the irksome duty of going in there, just to see who needed what
patched up.  Finally, she gulped down the another few inches of vodka, steeled
herself, and went out of the kitchen into the sitting room.  For a moment, she
could see no evidence of a fight.  Both her companions had disappeared.  Then
she heard shaky breathing and went over to the sofa.  Over the back of it she
could see Heaven, quaking, one hand covered in semen.  He looked up, his face
was sweaty and glowing pink.  Kusanagi was amazed.  It couldn't be.....
      "Please tell me that I'm wrong about what I think just happened here."
Heaven shook his head.  He sighed a tiny sigh and said,
"No wonder you like him so much - he's good."  
     "I give up!"  Kusanagi's face was a mask of utter shock and disbelief.
"MEN!  I will NEVER understand you!"   She huffed for a minute, then went
through the hall to the bathroom.  She tapped on the door.
  "Benten?  Did you just bugger my bloke?"  There was a pause, then, from
inside:
"He's a bitch, he needed to be told."
   "But did you have to go that far?  I think he's in love with you, now!"
"I can't help that!"
    "Well, will you please try not to do it again?"
"Oh - I can't promise anything!"  Kusanagi raised one eyebrow.
       "If it happens again, Ben-sama, you are going to have a short, sharp
meeting with Old Betsie here."  Inside the bathroom, Benten pulled a face.  He
finished cleaning himself up, fiddled with his hair a little, and opened the
door.  
  "Who the fuck is Old Beshi?"
"This."  Kusanagi held up a clenched fist.  Benten smiled comprehendingly.
      "Jealous, are we, Major?"
"Nope, I just don't want him to go off women!"  She turned on him and
disappeared into another room.  Benten's smile turned smug, then morphed into an
enormous grin, and he bounded after her.