The roses lining the mansion driveway shivered as if a sharp breeze had cut through them, but there was very little wind stirring the air. The few sunflowers ceased seeking the sun with their large abundant blooms, but instead began to face south. Other parts of the garden seemed strangely still.

Nathan took a deep breath as he stepped outside of the front gate with Chang Min; he still did not feel that beyond the boundary of his home was comfortable, especially when he had no Ren Zexian beside him. He glanced at his calloused fingers before rubbing them together, trying to recall what it felt like to have Ren Zexian's long, slender fingers entwined with them. Chang Min patiently waited for him to settle his nerves, needing no apology and Nathan did not provide him with one. They eyes simply met, however briefly, once Nathan was ready to cross the used road to the third mansion.

The newly established vines upon the wall moved in excitement as he passed, catching his vision and causing him to relax a little. And though there was no flowers in the large spacious front gardens before the empty third property, the grass, that had been sagging in the heat of the sun suddenly stretched tall as if to look more impressive. Even the deadly mutated patch, with its thin, green blades, reacted to him passing, seeming so much more benign.

Nathan sensed the garden reacting to him, but did not acknowledge the strange feeling for his mind was filled with not flora, but a tall, oriental man that resembled bamboo; strong, willowy, flexible yet quietly elegant. His heart beat rapidly in his chest and he glanced at Chang Min, who seemed not to want to hurry forward. Nathan was tempted to push him, even acknowledging that such an act would be rude, even though he did not want to touch the other, but he couldn't stop the longing in his heart to reach Ren Zexian sooner.

He'd never really thought of concepts such as time before, simply using the measure of it to plan his days and his gardening tasks, but now he believed he finally understood some of the odd phrases his nanny had used;

"A watched pot never boils..."

"Yes it does," the nine year old him had argued. "It took eight minutes and thirty seconds to boil when the chef heated water to cook pasta."

"It's a saying, my sweet. It simply means that when you wait for something that you want badly, that time seems to take a long time to pass. A second may seem like a minute, a minute like an hour..."

"It definitely did not take longer than eight minutes and thirty seconds," he had stubbornly insisted. Nanny had not argued with him.

Now he was walking to the third property and it had taken twenty minutes last time he had visited here to walk from his gates to the back of the garden where they had planted the small fields of wheat and corn. Yet at this moment, if someone had told him that hours had past just to reach the mansion's front door, he would have believed it.

The mansion had been in midst of renovation before the end; the carpets had been taken up and most of the downstairs floor was bare floorboards that creaked underfoot or cold, grey concrete. The rooms themselves were empty, without any furnishings. There was no kitchen cupboards, a toilet in just one bathroom and some pipes. But this desolate place was where his Ren Zexian had been cultivating for the past few days.

Nathan frowned; at home they cultivated on the bed... would the floor boards not be uncomfortable? Actually, the man was in a large sunroom, surrounded by the glass of its walls and upon a rug covered concrete floor. His eyes were closed and his skin as translucent as tracing paper. Nathan's heart felt sore. He rushed forward despite Chang Min's attempts to stop him.

"Nathan...!" Chang Min faltered. "There... please come back, there is something you need to know."

Nathan ignored him, kneeling before the man he longed for, ignoring the discomfort in his knees. His fingers reached forward, trembling slightly as he touched the worn face, tracing the thin black lines beneath the skin. His eyes were drawn to the strangely purple lips.

"Nathan," Chang Min urged, his hand upon the sword at his hip, reading himself if necessary. His Master had been trying to keep the poison at bay for these past ten days, but as Chang Min had seen with his eyes, the man he'd looked up to for so long was struggling to suppress the spread of it. He feared the day he would have to return here, sword unsheathed. "It's of no use, Nathan, I don't think... Master is dying."

Nathan frowned and shook his head before cupping his hands. "Xian promised he would not leave me," he told Chang Min, who looked on in pained exasperation. Crystal clear water suddenly formed in the younger man's cupped hands.

"What are you doing?" Chang Min asked him.

"His lips are cracked and dry," Nathan informed him. "That is a sign that Xian is dehydrated, needs a drink." That is something he'd learned from his nanny. Just that it was his first time caring for someone who was sick; before when he'd given water to Aslan and Lucy, they'd been conscious enough to drink by themselves. The water spilled down Ren Zexian's robes a little.

"N..." Chang Min was about to tell him the futility of his actions. Not only had Ren Zexian consumed a fasting pill, negating his need for food and water, his body was being transformed by the poison making his need for the latter less so. However, the words became stuck in his throat as he noticed the gem in his Master's throat move as he swallowed instinctively the precious resource from his lover's hands.

In the end, Nathan produced and helped Ren Zexian to drink three times. A hint of colour filled the otherwise pale cheeks and his lips seemed less stained with illness. Movement could be seen beneath the closed lids and slowly, the dark lashes framing them parted and two obsidian eyes met the sapphire ones and the owner of the former's lips began to curve upward.

However, they paused mid-curl.

"Nathan, how is it you are here?" The youth didn't answer him, just glanced to one side and to the feet of the culprit guilty of bringing him here. "Chang Min?"

"Master, I... I thought he needed to know," his disciple told him, honestly.

A sigh escaped Ren Zexian's parted lips and he quickly evaluated the condition of his body. He didn't know entirely what had happened to allow him this time with his beloved one, but he suspected what had occurred; there was still wetness upon his lips and moisture upon his robes after all. In truth, he was both overjoyed and deeply in remorse, able to see his lover this last time, yet regretting that he still had to leave him.

"Nathan," he murmured softly, catching his beloved's attention. "I've missed you and I'm sorry I've had to be away from your side. However, I can't return to you... yet." He almost did not add the word of hope onto his sentence, did not want Nathan to believe in something that was increasingly seeming not to be true. But he also didn't want to see the pain in Nathan's eyes. And besides, he came from a realm where miracles were rare but not unheard of... "I have to continue cultivating in order to suppress the poison yin inside me."

"I will cultivate with you," Nathan gave him a bright smile. This is what they always did together at home, before breakfast. Although he could not describe it in words, when Ren Zexian joined him within the garden inside his mind, he always felt it was wonderful and right.

Chang Min's eyes widened at the ambiguous nature of the young man's words and perhaps because in immortal terms, he was as much a youth as the other, he couldn't help but blurt out; "You dual-cultivate together?"

Ren Zexian's pale cheeks coloured with a full blush, but he couldn't quickly correct his disciple as Nathan questioned; "what is dual-cultivate?"

"Never mind," Ren Zexian said quickly, clearing his throat one realising the hoarse tone of his words. However Nathan looked at him with very inquisitive eyes; Nathan was always very interesting in things that involved gardening and now things that involved Ren Zexian. Very interested. "It is another way for two people to cultivate together, not too akin to our current practices of cultivation. Do not concern yourself with details, my love." Honestly, if he could reverse time, he would perhaps been less of the gentleman... he sighed, no that was unlikely. He would never force his adorable Nathan to do something he was not ready for. And he had not been ready for such an intimate act, not quite.

"But this... wouldn't this not help you, Master?" Chang Min pressed, then had the shame to blush. Dual-cultivation was usually beneficial to the parties involved, but also, for the most part, very intimate between the parties involved. The trust between the two people had to be perfect, there would be no barriers to protect their minds, their souls. If there was a hint of a heart demon, both could meet tragic fates. Worse, if that heart demon had grown and tempted one partner into devil cultivation.

Ren Zexian frowned; he was quickly aware of what Chang Min was implying.

Ordinarily, dual-cultivation required a body of yin and a body of yang creating a blending of two energies that balanced and complemented each other and could heighten cultivation to a new level. The more compatible, the better, otherwise it was simply another expression of love. However, it was not wholly necessary for yin and yang to come together; two bodies of yang could join physically as was required in the method, while two bodies of yin had their own methods to join more spiritually. In his and Nathan's case, as he required more yang energy in order to suppress the poison yin, their joining would be very beneficial for him, but...

He looked into Nathan's innocent eyes, torn between righteous selflessness and selfish hope. Nathan remained silent, patiently waiting for Ren Zexian's approval to cultivate together. In the end, Ren Zexian's heart won the inner battle within.

"Nathan, do you trust me?"

Author's note; does anyone NOT want me to write up the intimate - 18 plus - follow on chapter to this? ( ^ω^ )