Chapter Ninety One - I am rewarded?

"And the victor of this challenge is Leo!"

Surprise was followed by the warmth of happiness. Leon's personality was such that he wasn't the gloating type, didn't think he was better than others and in wake of the Teacher's wonderful declaration he'd even forget that where there was a winner, there was a loser. He was just satisfied that he hadn't let Jin Li and the others down. His eyes, which had curved into joyful crescent moons, sought for them wanting to share with them this moment.

He vaguely heard Jude arguing about something in the background, maybe a small part of him was even aware that Jude was dissatisfied with his victory, but this sour note was drowned out in the melody of happiness and couldn't touch his mood.

But before he could rush off to celebrate with his friends, the scholar Teacher stopped him with a question; "Why did you waste time cutting off the wyrm's breath flowers?"

This had been an unnecessary step. The flowers did not effect the quality or efficiency of the pill at all, nor did they have any great effect on the overall impurities that might linger in the pill at the end. So cutting them off would just waste time.

Leon knew this, he'd learned about it in a lecture before he'd attempted to make them at that time, but he and Leo shared a certain nature caused by poverty. "Well, it's j-just that wyrm's b-b-breath flowers c-can b-be d-dried and used as p-p-p... other things." The fresh flowers were used in certain advanced pills, but Leon hadn't practiced enough to attempt those pills, but Leo had found out that the dry flowers could be burned as part of an incense blend or turned into perfume, though it was not that popular amongst nobles. So he'd purposefully cut off the heads to dry and sell for a handful of coins, just that he'd not the chance to do anything about it before Caprian trashed his place. Leon had cleared them out, unknowingly. But with the regained memory, old habits resurfaced.

"It's a w-waste otherwise," he couldn't help but blushing over his useless frugality in the moment. The scholar's smile flickered a bit as if the man was caught by surprise, but it regained its ambiance in a heartbeat, letting no one notice it.

In the meantime, Leon had already hurried off in order to rejoined his friends, a tablet with the won points in hand.  As Alchemists rarely traded in points, they would keep a stock of them in this way for later use. 

On seeing Leon, this victor, Maimai threw herself into his arms to congratulate him; "Ha ha ha!  I knew you would win!" She grinned.  Leon was used to her warm affections, though he related them to a siblings care, however they were intolerable to a certain man and that man literally tugged her away by grinning the back of her clothes without care of her nobility or gender.

'Mine!' This was the tone he expressed wordlessly to those around him as he moved into the place he'd forcefully made the girl vacate and to make doubly sure everyone understood, he marked Leon's lips with his own.

"Ah, your nose is bleeding!" Sun pointed at Maimai, who was unperturbed by Jin Li's behaviour, too busy enjoying the scene before her.

Bowyer and Pike were shocked, the former grabbed a handkerchief from an inner pocket and denounced Jin Li's actions; "How can you be so rough to a girl?"

"Tch," Jin Li's arms adjusted their position around Leon's body, pressing him to his side as he glanced at Maimai with disdain.  "There must be something wrong with that girl for her to bleed so much in that manner."

Maimai laughed as she accepted amicably the handkerchief with its foreign masculine scent rather than the light perfume she was used to and wiped clean the dripping blood.  "Don't worry, I'm not as fragile as others view me.  Jin Li did not hurt me."  No, just fed her premium dog food.

"Are you sure you are fine?" Bowyer pressed, not knowing Maimai well enough to be assured of her usual health.  Alchemists were squishier than Mages after all.  He didn't know that in truth, her martial arts could be compared to some of those standing in prime positions of at least the outer school's Standings list, that and she'd had to survive numerous exploding cauldrons.  Maimai simply nodded with smiling eyes.

Sun glanced down at the stage that was being cleared away for a more traditional battle; a fight between two martial artists that he recalled could not stand the air the other breathed.  "Your battle," he said in address to Leon, "it really was boring!"  Pike burst out laughing, while others looked amused.  Sun's eyes really had remained wide and unblinking for the first five minutes of the challenge, as Leon had chosen his herbs and prepared them, but after a while, his lids had half closed as he dozed unimpressed. 

Others were not sure what he'd been expecting (exploding cauldrons or black smoke from failure, underhanded tricks or some smack talk), but they all were aware how uninteresting Pill making was to onlookers... most onlookers.  Some alchemist students looked a bit interested in the preparation side of things, to see if they can learn from their seniors, such as Maimai, who did indeed watch from beginning to end.  There was also one Jin Li who happened to enjoy examining Leon's serious face as he pottered about a cauldron or his herbal gardens or preparing tea or dinner... so long as he, this Lord was not neglected overly long.

"I did warn you," Pike teased him.

*****

Author's note; 18+

"J-J-Jin Li...ah."

"En?"

"J-j-ju... how is th-this a rew-ah-ard ag-gain?"

"Do you not like this?"

"I d-d-didn't say that..." Leon's face was flushed crimson as if he had been standing in the glow of a warm fire.  Suppressed groans spilled from his throat as he tried in vain to hold back the cries that wantonly wished to escape.  Jin Li had earlier murmured in his ear that he would reward his small alchemist for his competency upon stage, winning the challenge that had been set him by another student.  Leon hadn't thought much about it at the time, just responded with bright cheeks that Jin Li didn't need to.  He'd even thought that Jin Li had forgotten about it as they'd celebrated with a feast in a cheap, student-favoured restaurant in old Julip Town.  There, Jin Li had even forbade him from drinking alcohol, hence his reasoning.

But on returning home, Jin Li, that ever arrogant young master that persistently ordered him about, poured him a small cup of the medicinal wine they had stored for some time.  The warmth of the alcohol in addition to the spiritual energy swirling in its depths thoroughly dazed Leon that he had to cycle his energies twice around his body dizzily before he was able to regain some clarity.  By that time, his body had been stripped clean of garments and several suspicious marks decorated his collarbone.  Apparently, this had been Jin Li's idea for his reward, though Leon felt it was more rewarding his lover than himself.

"Ah!" Leon cried out as his sensitive body responded again to the teasing pinches, his tender blush points captured between the fingers and thumbs of Jin Li's hands.  He clenched around the jade stick already deep within his body, which had yet to move further sensitising Leon's body with heightened need.  He writhed beneath the other man, losing himself to pleasure yet unable to be fulfilled by it as his body screamed out in want.

Jin Li licked his dry lips before lowering his body onto Leon's, capturing his mouth and plundering the depths of it with his tongue.  Leon responded unconsciously, tangling his about Jin Li's, tasting the heat of it as their saliva mixed only for that to spill from the corners of Leon's lips when it became too much.  Jin Li swallowed much of Leon's muffled groans in this time and it wasn't long before his hips slowly began to move, mimicking some of the movement of his oppressive kiss. 

As ever, his senses were stolen by the silken friction of Leon's hidden chrysanthemum as it contracted around his root.  The walls within him seemed to melt and conform to Jin Li's shape, the heat another sensation adding to the heightened pleasure he experienced.  He did not know how this act felt in Leon's mind, but he knew that his small alchemist derived pleasure from it as well, especially when he touched certain, specific places, without and within.

"Ha-ahh!" Leon cried out, his lips wet and a line of silver trailing down his face towards his neck, causing Jin Li's pupils to contract slightly and increase the pace of his thrusts.  Angling his body, he pressed against that place within over and over, noticing a sticky warmth increasing in volume between their abdomens as he did so with some satisfaction.  Leon's fingers gripped his shoulders, his eyes were glazed and distant, and after a few more minutes his hips stilled for a few seconds before a shudder rippled through his body and a renewed heat spilled between them. 

The contractions felt only about Jin Li's root were equally intense and he couldn't prevent himself from savouring the tightness far more intensely before fruition came and stole away his breath.  He sucked air into his chest, his breath mingling with the heavy gasps spilling from his lover as they calmed their beating hearts. 

Jin Li couldn't help wonder if he would ever tire of this indescribable feeling as his lips dotted Leon's weary face and his softened root began to revive, still captured within the depths of his lover.