Fanfiction: Mo Yuan and Shao Wan - Chapter 23 (Ten Miles of Peach Blossoms 三生三世十里桃花)
Chapter 23
written by kakashiedited by JoAnne
Mo Yuan was relieved to have reached the last day of the festival with his wits intact. The festivities had been torturous, the mass of immortals staring at him like he was some golden statue tiring, and the constant teasing about the slow progress from his friends, who took nothing seriously anymore at their age, annoying.
At least, he could be quite certain the Demons would keep away from Cheng Yin out of fear of a Celestial military intervention. It had taken some resolve, but he had decided he would trust Shao Wan to handle the Cheng Yin problem alone. She was certainly capable enough when it came to fighting … if only she were less rash. Still, he would trust her not to fall into Cheng Yin’s hands. He was quite certain she would not go willingly: She hated the Yellow Demon King and whatever had been between them was in the past. That’s what he told himself, at least.
He could not look at Cheng Yin without his blood beginning to boil, as much as he tried to keep his calm. For that reason, he had felt pleased when the Yellow King threw a fit and left the negotiations. Time had been opportune and of the essence afterwards and he had tirelessly met with all the Demons individually, until he had nudged every one of them into a corner. He had started to feel more respect for the Blue King and the Purple Queen the more he got to know them and he now knew to be very careful of the Black King, whose character was not noble at all.
He had met with all of them over the last two days but had not spoken to Shao Wan alone again. Even if she was the only one he wanted to spend time with.
He wasn’t quite sure when things had changed. Maybe when he took her to his tent and had another civil conversation with her. Maybe when she put her hands around his waist during the cloud jump. Maybe when she almost created a scene in front of his bride, but managed to somehow keep her jealousy in check. Maybe when his body told him to stop pretending he didn’t want her.
Or maybe he had just been too slow once again to realize that he had always been more than ready to get to know the Demon goddess better, even back at school. He had thought she was a threat, but truth was he had simply been afraid of losing control when control was what defined him.
Being scattered for 70’000 years had changed his outlook on immortal life. He had many duties, but nobody in all the realms could tell him what to do with his life until he had to meet his final calamity. Thus, from the moment he had acknowledged Shao Wan meant something to him, he had stopped thinking about how it wasn’t possible to be with her and had begun to think about how he could make it happen.
It might be true that it was time for him to get married like everybody said, but marriage was no longer an option under the current circumstances. He would have to talk to Jie Jing’s father as soon as possible and cancel the engagement. It most certainly meant losing his honor and smearing his name, but he would gladly live with the consequences of shame rather than make a lovely woman and himself eternally unhappy. Ye Hua had taken care of continuing Father Immortal’s family line already; the realms would certainly survive even without Mo Yuan’s offspring.
What would happen between him and the Demon goddess could not be fathomed. She was as unpredictable as the wind, but he knew he could not go on living without stepping into her path and holding on to her for however long she would tolerate him. He needed to talk to her again, alone. Tonight, since tomorrow she returned to the Demon realm and he to Kunlun; it was uncertain when they could meet again.
At sundown, the official festivities had ended. He had wanted to have a word with her then to tell her to meet him at the coral wall, but there had been so many people queuing up to pay their respect to him that he had lost his chance. When he had finally been able to leave the palace Shao Wan was nowhere to be seen. He even went near the Demon encampment to see whether he could sense her aura, but she wasn’t there either.
Mo Yuan had walked quickly back to his tent, feeling quite frustrated and quite a bit anxious. His friends might annoy him with their teasing but they were right: he was too slow and that had already caused him enough of a headache. Once inside he quickly peeled himself out of his robes, throwing them into a corner. They were stifling and restricting; he hated them. He donned a much lighter robe with only two layers made for exercising and then went to check on his two disciples. They, too, were not in. He grabbed a wooden exercise sword that one of them had put on the bed - they wouldn’t mind him borrowing it - and headed out towards the secluded coves of the Western Sea. Not that he truly hoped she would be there - but at least, the place reminded him of Shao Wan.
***
Shao Wan came across Mo Yuan some distance from the palace, near the coves. He was practicing the 32 Taijiquan Sword Forms with a wooden stick. Immediately full of joy to see him, she wanted to jump forward but remembered in time that they were not in a relationship where she could simply join him for peaceful sword practice. In fact, she had never officially practiced with him - they had always aggressively fought each other. She frankly didn’t remember why. Had she truly believed she hated him? She never had. Confused, she held back and just watched him, dimming her own aura so as not to disturb him.
He was in deep concentration and every stance was perfection. As soon as he reached the end of the routine, he would start from the beginning, falling even deeper into his trance with every sequence. He was the same pretty boy he’d always been and decidedly not her normal type, but tonight, she could have lost herself in the study of his posture and his face. He was heavenly beautiful.
It was then she realized that her heart ached. She thought about this unfamiliar feeling and realized it was because she couldn’t be with him. What was she to do? She had never felt this way about anyone before.
She fell into a trance of her own, watching him, until he stopped and stood still, the tip of his practice sword pointed upwards, eyes closed, breathing deeply. When he turned to leave, he noticed her standing there - and took a step towards her. Just one.
“God of War," she greeted cautiously, quickly undimming her aura. She hoped he didn’t mind being ogled in secret too much.
“Demon High Goddess,” he replied, not betraying any anger. In fact, he looked thrilled to see her.
They looked at each other in silence and Shao Wan felt her breathing quicken. He took another step in her direction, and then another. Her heart started to race. In her fantasies, she had always been in full control. Now, the opposite was true. Her pitiful insides were in a painful knot. Her throat was dry.
“Are you leaving tomorrow?” he asked her, slightly raising his voice against the noise of the waves.
She nodded.
“We won’t be seeing each other again for a while,” he added. It wasn’t a question, she noticed.
“We won’t,” she agreed. All things had been sorted, it was unlikely they would meet again soon. She felt a lump in her throat that threatened to choke her.
They stood there, a distance between them, each holding the other’s gaze.
We only have a short amount of time left, Shao Wan thought. If I walk right up to him, will he think I am attacking? Will he back away? How many steps are there to take? Five, six?
They both started walking at the exact same time; one, two, three steps and he was right in front of her.
“Shao Wan,” he breathed, and her insides turned to liquid. Damn Celestial.
Their lips met and she let him take the lead, craving that slow, gentle, maddening kiss of his that she had experienced only once but couldn’t forget - but he wasn’t slow tonight, nor particularly gentle. He was hungry, she realized, and she responded with her own hunger which had grown steadily ever since their first encounter in Zhe Yan’s orchard. She sucked on his lips and on his tongue, finally tasting him again. His juices were intoxicating, she wanted to drink from him, all parts of him, until her cravings subsided.
He folded her into his strong arms, pressing her body against his. She felt through his thin robe that he was as ready as she was. His tongue took control again and she let him, because his kisses were unlike any other man’s kisses. She craved his mouth on every part of her body and she craved to lick every part of his.
She slid her hands into his robe, finding his skin easily, his waist, his hips, his firm buttocks. The familiar sensation of opposing energies started to crawl up her arms as she pressed him closer to her, but it wasn’t unpleasant at all; it was energizing and extremely exciting. She could not wait to find out what it would feel like to have him inside of her.
His hands travelled from the small of her back down the side of her legs, skillfully sneaking under her gown at her thighs and then moving back up, tracing her naked skin to her waist. They did not pause there for long but moved further to gently cup her breasts and lightly tweak her nipples.
When she sucked in air, she felt his touch through her entire body. His mouth left hers to nibble on her ear, her neck, her shoulder … and then he bit her at a sensitive spot near her jugular. Not hard enough to hurt the skin, but sufficient to make her want him with a dizzying intensity.
“You stop this now, God of War,” she gasped, “or never again, you hear me?”
“I cannot stop,” he breathed, “I am so tired of waiting. I want you.”
Hearing him say this felt unreal. She had always imagined it would feel like triumph, but it did not, because she wanted him too, more than anything. It was unsettling and glorious at the same time to feel such an overpowering need.
“Will you beg?” she managed to press out.
He smiled at her silly attempt to feign control, so handsome, and whispered into her ear, tickling her with his breath: "Shao Wan, I beg you, let me be with you tonight. Let us have one cherished memory before we part."
She was suddenly very tired of standing, and feeling decidedly weak-kneed. She would take him to her tent and she would not let him go until the sun was up, or maybe not until the servants came to take down the tents, or maybe never.
“So you can now give me what I want?” she attempted to tease him, but her panting betrayed her urgency.
“I trust you are perfectly capable of taking back your palace and possessions all by yourself, so I’m assuming you’re talking about something else this time?” Why was he still capable of grinning like this?
“Damn Celestial. I liked you better when you didn’t speak so much.”
“You can call me by my name, Shao Wan,” he whispered. “I won’t run again."
Maybe the tent was too far away, she thought as he kissed her again. They should do it here, under the stars, right away. She wanted to see him naked. She wanted to touch that wonderful skin of his, trace the scars, feel his Celestial energy grate against hers. She wanted to shout his name into the night.
She forgot all about her plans when his hands started to roam over her body again, finally travelling down to her dripping wetness. She moaned against his mouth, so ready that he only had to stroke her a few times with his thumb before she climaxed, her energy surging. Her knees buckled as waves of pleasure washed over her, but he held her until she found her footing again.
“Is that you, Uncle?” said a clear high voice, “what are you doing?”
Shao Wan and Mo Yuan sprang apart, hastily putting their clothes in order.
There stood little A-Li and Gun Gun, looking curious and a little outraged, their small hands in Dijun’s large ones.
“This,” said Dijun, “is the reverse harem in action, children. You better get used to having your Uncle as a rival. It means you have to study hard and train even harder.”
Mo Yuan, Master of Kunlun Mountains, was not known to curse - but curse he did, and very violently at that, truly shocking the little princes. They stood there with their mouths open, eyes growing bigger with every foul expression coming from their venerated Uncle’s mouth. He then shouted at Dijun to stop bringing grief to people out of boredom and told him to go back into the rock he came from. Mo Yuan looked so furious that the little princes started to cry and hid behind Dijun. It was pretty clear that they would never again consider a reverse harem after this.
Shao Wan, still feeling lightheaded and weak-kneed from Mo Yuan’s attentions, couldn't help but laugh at this scene, even if she felt like cursing as well. However, she stopped laughing immediately when Dijun, who seemed to feel something like remorse for interrupting them at least, said why he had come looking for the God of War: Cheng Yin hadn’t left the Western Seas after all, or maybe he had, but now he was back. And that wasn’t all - he had been caught with Jie Jing, doing what Shao Wan wished she were doing with Mo Yuan right now, all night and all day.
The irony of fate - of course it had to be Cheng Yin who prevented the union between her and Mo Yuan tonight. The God of War was required immediately at the Grand Hall to sort out this mess and it was likely that this would take all night.
The ache in her heart was back when he turned to her to say goodbye, briefly taking her hand and kissing it. He looked serene until he smiled at her, maybe a promise, maybe a farewell, she did not know. She watched him retreat with his relatives. The little princes had calmed down in the meantime, and the ache was joined by the lump in her throat again.
That ache was nothing against the dread she felt when she came back to her tent and found Fong Hung’s clothes hung up on a yellow string, with a note. Her mount had been kidnapped. By Cheng Yin.
Chapter 24 - and start of "The Kunlun Arc"