Chapter Five

The door slammed shut, the sound breaking into and silencing the small talk between the two brothers that had been chatting over breakfast and in unison, their heads turned towards the door leading into the tiny hallway.  Curses followed the sound of the door filling its frame and was followed by that of a fist hitting the wall.  Painful cries and soft crumbling plaster came next with less fervent swear words and then a huge sigh.  The boys glanced at each other, before quickly devouring the last pieces of toast upon their plates and downing glasses of juice.

Ichiro's blond head appeared in the entrance to the living area as the boys scrambled to place dishes into the sink and grab their things for school, giving Ichiro pause.  "What are you two still doing here?"

"Overslept?" Saburo claimed as Jiro shrugged and expressionlessly claimed;

"Study period."

Ichiro frowned.  "I would argue with you about this," he said with a sigh, knowing full well that Jiro had to sign in for morning registeration regardless of whether he had a free period that morning or not and Saburo was an early morning bird who still loved to awaken before the sun in the winter.  "But we'll discuss it later.  Get to school, please."

Jiro paused as he grabbed his calculator from the computer desk along with the memory chip with his assignments on it.  "Do you want to talk about it?" He asked and Ichiro knew he did not mean their truancy.

"No, not really," Ichiro said leaning against the living room wall, before his face fell and tears filled his eyes.  "She dumped me!" The words spilled from his lips before he could stop them as he looked at his younger brothers for sympathy.  Sadly, one was emotionally detached in general and the other was already running out of the door.

"See you later, Ichiro!" Saburo cried out, cheerfully.

Jiro was a little kinder, but not much; "There, there."

"Go to school," Ichiro sighed, heavily and in a more serious tone added; "Don't let me catch you skipping class again!" Jiro mumbled a type of affirmative that Ichiro really could not tell whether he meant or not, but his mind was filled with the memories of yesterday, so he let it go. The front door clicked as the lock latched and as if that small sound was occurring within Ichiro, the man's knees buckled and he slid against the wall to the ground.

Please tell me that all of that did not just happen, he pleaded to himself inwardly. Please tell me I did not meet that man that claimed to be my fated pair! He refused to accept him, refused to accept that he could possibly bend for him. He was straight! Straight, dammit!

It was just, when he closed his eyes, those intense molten chocolate ones peered back at him. When his mind wandered, shivers of delight trickled along the places that that man had touched. And in his dreams last night, the deep tones of his voice reverberated within his eardrums and his lobes seemed to burn with heat.

After that man had declared his beliefs, Ichiro had choked upon his own breath, unable to voice anymore denials, trembling as he had stood caged between that man and the door behind him. And that man hadn't made a move to hold him, yet his traitorous body had begun to lean towards him, longing to be pressed against the hard plains of his chest, to breath in the forest scents emanating from his body. His cock had hardened completely and his rear had dampened with slick and he had become torn between begging to be embraced and getting the hell out of there!

Him, embraced! Just because he was an Omega, did not mean he had to be embraced, he'd always maintained that, always lived thinking that he would be no man's bitch and yet he... his body had wanted to be held by this man.

And just as that man had reached for his waist, the door was shoved forward, smacking into Ichiro's back and snapping both men out of their pheromonal bubble. "Oi, What fucking idiot stands behind a door! Hurry up, get out of the way, I'm busting for a piss!"

The man had stepped back, Ichiro had followed him a couple of paces and the angry man had ran inside... and Ichiro had used his distraction to hightail it out of there! Believing that he had successfully escaped, he'd returned to Olivia, who had asked where the food was!

He'd apologised profusely, made some feeble excuses then humbly (and ever so cautiously) had made his way to the food stands to buy Olivia something to eat. He hadn't see that man again, thus assumed he was safe. Assumed that he had escaped the fate of potentially being tied to that man and could move on with his life as if the incident had never happened. Only...

"Olivia, I am so sorry," he had begged for forgiveness as they had lain naked in the already once tangled sheets. "This... This has never happened before!"

The woman had glanced down at his unresponsive organ and with a sigh and mixed feelings, she had shrugged. She had claimed it didn't matter, that she was content. He had, afterall, put all manner of efforts into teasing and pleasuring her body prior to this. But inwardly she had been a bit disappointed that the night was cut humiliatingly short, though it was definitely more humiliating for him than her.

Neither had slept well after that and upon their goodbyes after the long journey home, which they had begun far earlier than originally anticipated, Olivia had told him that she thought it was best if the arrangement between them was put on hold. Ichiro had not even woken with the usual morning problem of a virile man and she had not been able to aid him in anyway. "Call me if the situation changes," she had suggested as she had bid him adieu.

*****

In the following days, Ichiro made some attempt to bury the memory of the Alpha Male, whose name he did not even know, to the back of his mind. It was just a shame that he was not only haunted by him in his dreams, which resulted in messy trips to the bathroom to soak his underwear, but was reminded due to the other brand that man had left upon his body. With the exception of those dreams, his body no longer showed any signs of reacting to external stimuli. Not to the women he 'dated', not to the adult magazines stashed beneath his bed and not to a stream of porn he recklessly paid for in a desperate attempt to 'awaken' his lower half.

Heavily sighing, as he unlocked the doors to the dojo a couple of weeks later, his mind considered the one thousand reasons he'd gone to that fateful rugby game with Olivia and wondered if it had actually been worth it. Sure, his bank account looked healthy, but with no way to earn extra money, as the women he dated were definitely interested as much in the perks he offered as in his company, that money was sure to disappear far quicker than he wished for. He turned on the lights and looked at the walls that desperately needed a fresh coat of paint. He was going to have to get a part time job to supplement his earnings after all.

His women were all very understanding, but also very curious, wondering why the youthful and usually vigorous Omega was suddenly impotent. Olivia hadn't been able to tell them and despite suggestions that he ought to seek medical advice, Ichiro simply laughed off the suggestions of small pink pills and psychiatric assistance. Where the hell was he supposed to get the money to afford those? And besides, he knew exactly what the problem was; a tall, large and sun blessed man with a voice that could impregnate those women's ears should they hear it just once.

Nope, nope, he swore he wouldn't think about it!

Instead he popped the radio on; there was still more than an hour to go before next class arrived.  But staying at home with no distractions simply let his thoughts free reign and he couldn't handle what was running through his mind.  Cleaning the windows while listening to some music was a better use of his time, he felt.

"It's now 4:30pm, here is Chaney with the current headlines..."

He sprayed the 'smear free' glass cleaner over the glass and rubbed with the cloth in circles, before going over it again in an attempt to remove the obvious streaks left behind.  A few teenaged brats sauntered past, kicking a can as they did so.  Ichiro recognised one, but figured he wouldn't embarrass the boy by yelling out.

"And in celebratory news, soap drama star Elani Van Zyl has denied rumours that she has split up with rising rugby star Zandre Kotze.  In a recent message upon her blog, she states that they are simply taking a break due to their conflicting schedules.  She adds that they are still very much in love.

"And speaking of Rugby...."

Ichiro yawned as the scores were declared between two sides, before moving to the next window to clean that one.  It took most of the hour to clean the windows in the hall, as well as the small window in the lone communal toilet.  He poured some bleach down the toilet for good measure, despite having cleaned the facility thoroughly the evening before.  Then he opened the doors and waited for the kids in his class to arrive.

The older children, young teenagers that were encouraged by their parents by fair means or foul to attend his class rather than hang out on the streets, distracted him for a while. Kyle was particularly good, with a strong stance and effortless kicks, Ichiro had been teaching him things that he hadn't learned until he adorned his black belt.  The kid was only twelve years old, Ichiro was particularly proud of him, even as he felt sorry that he couldn't award him the grade for his karate that he had earned.

"I can't come to class anymore," the young boy pouted as they finished their warm ups.  "We're moving across country."

"Aw," Ichiro rubbed the loose curls upon his head.  "What am I going to do without my favourite student?"

"Hey Ichi," an older boy yelled out.  "I thought I was your favourite student!"  The other teens chuckled, Ichiro smiled joining in with their fun.

"Will you miss me?" Kyle asked him, shyly.

"Sure will," Ichiro agreed.  He didn't have a large number of students so naturally each and everyone was precious to him.  Kyle had joined him the summer before last, having seen Ichiro teach his younger students in the park; the weather had been warm and fair, it had seemed a waste to remain in doors.  Not that they'd done much, just a few punches and kicks, before he'd let them loose upon the swings.

He bid the students goodbye, waiting with Kyle until his aunt came for him and mentioned that he could always email him if he wanted to chat.  Kyle promised and waved, before leaving in his aunt's car.

The smile that had remained upon Ichiro's face for the past hour slipped away and he stretched out the muscles in his back and neck.  He went back into the building to clear up before he closed and locked the doors.  Just as he entered, he caught the ringtone from his phone midtune and ran to grab it from his coat pocket.

"Hello?"

"Ichiro, it's Olivia," the familiar female voice came through the speaker.

"Livvie!  Baby, how are you doing?" Ichiro grinned, hoping she wanted a date without the extras.  He had an electricity bill due.

"Are you at home or at the dojo?" She asked him and he replied that he was just about to close up.  "Could you wait for me, there's something I want to talk to you about."

"Okay," Ichiro replied, curious to what she wanted to say that could not be said over the phone.  "I'll pop the kettle on."  His hall tended to turn into a place where the women from his exercise class and self-defence class gathered to chat after a work out.  They supplied the coffee, tea and cold beverages, he provided the cups and kettle.

Pulling the crash mats to one corner, he watched the second hand ticking around the old clock, wondering how long Olivia would be.  It was another five minutes until he noticed the headlights of a car pull up outside the hall, so he hurried to fill the prepared coffee cups with hot water and picked them up ready, turning towards the door as it opened.  Olivia came in, wearing a blouse and pencil skirt, likely having come straight from work.

"Black, one sugar, right?" Ichiro began as he stepped forward, to notice that the scent of pine wood and teak was overpowering the smell of the beverage.  He paused and then completely froze as he saw a man following her, completely dwarfing her figure, which could not be considered petite.  His fingers became nerveless and the cups fell from his hands, smashing upon the floor, their contents spilling everywhere.

The man's brown eyes glanced upon the spilled drink before glancing up at Ichiro and capturing those ink gems as they widened like a frightened deer captured by headlights. He grinned; "Hello there, my dear Omega. Did you miss me?"