Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Mine. ❯ Examined. ( Chapter 13 )

Warnings: Yaoi. Language. Zell. The usual. All the really great stuff. XD

 

Pairings: You would have to be brain-dead if you don't know by now.

 

Disclaimer: Don't own them. Ain't making any money.

 

Author's Notes: Yay! Kitty is now twenty-two! Kinda scary, really…

 

Mine - KittyMeowMaxwell.

 

Chapter Thirteen - Examined.

 

Zell woke the next morning to the poke of a toe at his shoulder and he bared his teeth at whomever dared to enter his dwelling place without his permission. He slitted open his eyes to glare when the presence didn't remove itself. The glare turned to a grin, however, when he saw the brave standing there, arms crossed and brow arched. His dark hair reached his shoulder-blades and his eyes were liquid brown. The tattoo around his thigh matched Zell's, as did the one across his shoulder blade, the sinuous snake. He grinned, teeth bright white.

 

“/So, you're back, and with a pretty prize no less, my brother,/” the brave said with a laugh in his words as Zell sat up. He tucked the furs around a weakly protesting Irvine and stood up.

 

“/And you, also, are back I see, Ahshey./”

 

“/Yes! And with a pretty prize of my own!/” came the delighted reply as they stepped out of the teepi, Zell tying on his loincloth on as they went.

 

“/To rival mine?/” the blonde asked, doubting it and letting his tone show that. None could be so perfect as his taken.

 

Ahshey chuckled at him as he put an earthenware jug into dying coals and added kindling to bring the fire awake again. Zell reached back into the teepi and felt around to one side until he came out with a little pouch of tea leaves. Some of these, he dropped into the jug and they perched on a thick log to wait.

 

“/Well, of course, I think so but you'd rightly disagree,” Ahshey replied, patting Zell's knee, then he leaned closer and Zell cocked a brow in question. “/I hear tell you plan on Marking this one. You! Surely I hear wrong?/”

 

Zell made a thoughtful noise, thinking of his taken wrapped in furs and, of course, dreaming of his taker. He gave a slight shrug and a rueful grin.

 

“/You hear right. Today, I take him to the HeartSeer./”

 

“/If he Denies you?/” Ahshey ventured, sniffing at the tea, then pouring them each a mug. He added milk from a certain plant and the crushed, dried powder of a sweet berry. He handed one to Zell, who shook his head.

 

“/He will not. And if he does, there's no reasoning against me for the HeartSeer to agree with him. He will be mine… He is mine./”

 

“/Maybe you'll think differently when you see my new taken. Perhaps you'll wish to Feather his hair./”

 

Zell looked shrewdly at the other brave, arching a brow.

 

“/You visit another camp for six months, then bring back a taken with you and expect me to believe you don't plan on Marking him as yours? I knew you'd fall in love one day, despite your protests to the contrary./”

 

“/Ai, and I have, Zell, I have,/” Ahshey sighed dreamily.

 

“/And you have left him unguarded?/” The other brow lifted to join its twin.

 

Ahshey made a noise in the back of his throat and the smirk that crossed his features made Zell chuckle.

 

“/I've chased off five would-be takers already. No one dares try anymore, and today, as you, I'll Mark Krerah./”

 

“/Ah, this is a name made to be whispered to the night. Krerah. I like it./”

 

“/Yours, I hear, is not so. Maybe you should give him one of our names./”

 

Zell opened his mouth to refute that, but another voice cut over him.

 

“/His name is just fine./”

 

The native choked on his tea at the look in Ahshey's eyes and he turned his gaze back to look at Irvine, who was stretching in front of the teepi. He couldn't help but lick his lips, then he came back to himself.

 

“Irvine,” he said firmly. “/Go back to sleep. It's early yet./”

 

“/I'm, like, used to being up before the sun./” He stepped delicately over the log and indicated the tea. “/Can I have one?/”

 

“/You can share mine…/” Ahshey said with an air of unmistakable suggestiveness.

 

Zell glared briefly at Ahshey, then turned his attention to Irvine.

 

“/Sit,/” he growled and parted his legs, tugging the fur from around his taken's shoulders and laying it on the ground. He was relieved when Irvine took the hint and sat between his knees, resting back against the log and Zell's stomach.

 

“/He needs some manners…/” Ahshey observed as Zell handed his tea to Irvine.

 

The blonde cringed, knowing it to be true. Irvine had contradicted another taker, ignored a directive from his own taker and certainly not made his request with anything even resembling humility, all in the space of about ten seconds. Mercifully, he remained silent at Ahshey's comment.

 

Despite his words, however, Ahshey was clearly impressed. Zell smiled proudly and stroked his fingers through Irvine's hair as the cowboy drank. He tilted his head back into the caress and his eyes flickered shut as he put the tea aside, face slipping into the special look of ecstasy he only wore when Zell stroked his hair. Ahshey was clearly more impressed.

 

“/I heard rumours,/” the brave said softly, eyes tracing the lines of Irvine's body. “/he was less than pleasing to the eye, but they do lie, Zell. He's beautiful./”

 

“/These rumours are spread by the likes of Ti and Celia, one of whom can't keep his hands to himself, and the other of whom will say malicious things about me merely because she can never be taken by me./” A grin spread across Zell's features and he pressed his fingers deep through the auburn hair, making elegant lips part and a soft sigh pass them. “/But he is beautiful, isn't he?/”

 

- - - - - - -

 

“/I imagine legs this long have a great many uses, yes?/”

 

The sly grin in Ahshey's voice was evident and Irvine didn't need to be looking to know it. He felt like a chocobo at auction - good gait, but his crest looks a bit sickly. Make an excellent breeding bird… - but he knew, without Zell having to say so, that he'd already broken some unwritten rule and he didn't want to do so again. He remained silent, and listened.

 

“/A great many,/” Zell affirmed. “/And he's remarkably good with his tongue./”

 

Irvine arched a brow, then made a low sound from the back of his throat when Zell's fingers shifted just right against his skull.

 

“/Vocal?/” Ahshey guessed, chuckling.

 

“/Exceedingly. And the sounds are greatly varied./”

 

The cowboy went slightly pink and Ahshey couldn't miss it, so close a study was he making.

 

“/He blushes!/” the brave cried as though it were an amazing novelty. Then again, Irvine reflected, in a society so open as theirs seemed to be, it probably was…

 

“/Less and less frequently, actually. He's growing nicely used to my touch, and better and better at delivering his own./”

 

Irvine was pleased at the compliment and thought he should respond. Surely stroking Zell's already healthy ego couldn't be considered a breech of any rules. Certainly not the way all these people - the taker's anyway - postured and preened.

 

“/I have a good teacher and one whose own touch never fails to please./”

 

“/Yes!/” Zell said instantly. “/I am a good lover./”

 

“/A very good lover,/” Irvine agreed and Ahshey snorted.

 

“/You can keep him, taken. He isn't what I need./”

 

“/Is Krerah?/” Zell wondered teasingly.

 

Ahshey smiled secretively, then nodded their attention in another direction.

 

“/Judge for yourself./”

 

Even Irvine could appreciate the appeal this native must have for takers. He was shorter than Irvine by a head, with dark, silken hair to his waist and unfathomable eyes of the darkest blue, framed by thick lashes. He moved with sinuous grace and possessed long limbs and a fine-boned, pretty face set off by the whipcord strength evident in the flex of muscle beneath chocolate skin.

 

Irvine felt Zell's thighs tense beside his arms. The fingers stilled in his hair and he didn't need to look to know the hunger in his taker's gaze. He grew instantly jealous and pressed back against the native's stomach to remind him of his presence. He was gratified when Zell let out a breath, relaxed and slid a hand over his shoulder and down to his chest, palm settling over a nipple and pulling him closer. The cowboy scowled at Krerah, but the friendly grin and wink the other taken gave made the gesture seem childish.

 

“/Ahshey…/” Krerah said with a practiced pout, breathing out the `Ah' from the back of his throat. His voice was soft and lilting, made to stroke a taker's senses. “/You leave me to awaken alone in a strange teepi and a new camp so you can have tea…?/”

 

“/Oh, no!/” was the swift reply over Zell's soft laughter. “/Only to tell of your many virtues./”

 

“/Wouldn't that be easier if I were here, my taker?/”

 

“/Mmm… you may be right/,” Ahshey purred and beckoned Krerah into his lap, where the taken gladly went.

 

“/You spoke truly - he's beautiful,/” Zell acknowledged, and Irvine made an agreeable sound from the back of his throat. “/But still not so beautiful as my taken./”

 

Irvine smiled, pleased, and bent to press a damp kiss to Zell's thigh, at which the native growled approvingly. A hand curled under his chin and tilted his head so that Zell could lean down and press a kiss to his mouth, tongue dipping between willingly parted lips. He melted under the kiss, and the reassurance that he was Zell's taken, beauty in any other taken was not going to change that. Some tiny part of him that clung to what he had been was appalled at his female behaviour, but it was barely a breath of an echo in the back of his mind. His skin tingled where Zell's fingertips stroked his chest and his body stirred readily to the native's touch, and it was all just too good to be ignored.

 

“Irvine,” Zell admonished teasingly against his ear, only for him to hear. “/So eager already when we have only just woken? Are you this insatiable?/”

 

“/Me? You can, like, talk,/” he laughed back and Zell flashed his teeth in a grin then straightened, turning back to the other pair, who were similarly engaged. The native cocked his head and arched a brow, waiting patiently for roughly three seconds before he cleared his throat. Well, that was patient for Zell, Irvine thought with a smirk.

 

Ahshey broke the kiss with a rather glazed look and the cowboy wondered absently to himself how anything got done in the camp if Zell and his brother were indicative of the rest of the natives. They seemed likely to want to spend all their time in bed…

 

“/He's right,/” Krerah's voice broke through Irvine's reverie and he realised he must have missed something. The other taken stood, briefly stroking a hand up Ahshey's front. “/There are things we have to do, and I don't think your taken will be able to do them alone…/”

 

“/Be careful of your tone, taken…/” Zell warned.

 

“/Apologies, but it's still true. I'd be glad to help him./”

 

Ahshey remained silent, as did Irvine, but the cowboy's lack of response was largely due to the fact that he had completely lost track of what they were talking about. He did know he had no wish to be separated from Zell, and he made those feelings known by sliding an arm around one thigh.

 

“/…Yes,/” Zell said eventually. “/Yes, you speak truly, Krerah. He needs someone to help him./”

 

“/And I'll need someone to help me, so we'll share the burden,/” Krerah said with a smile, and beckoned to Irvine with a twitch of his head.

 

Irvine hesitated, but Zell gave him a gentle push.

 

“/Go. Krerah is right. There are preparations to be made before the sun completely departs the horizon and I can't help you with them. Ahshey and I must make our own preparations and, likewise, you can't help me with them. My brother, despite his terrible ugliness-/” Ahshey shoved him and Krerah gave a snort. Irvine found himself unable to keep from grinning. “/-is a good judge of people, especially taken, and I've little doubt Krerah will treat you well. I know you'll treat him well, yes, my taken?/”

 

It was a warning, a command and not just a question. Irvine nodded and stood, not protesting when Zell pulled him down for a gentle kiss. Krerah merely smiled at Ahshey, then took Irvine's hand and firmly hooked his arm through his own.

 

“/We'll return to Ahshey's teepi. My things are there, and I don't think this one will have much… except perhaps gel…/” Krerah said.

 

Ahshey gave a bark of laughter while Zell made a face somewhere between amusement and a scowl. Irvine, for his part, chuckled as Krerah lead him off.

 

- - - - - - -

 

They had to give up. They could both feel it. Their food was running dangerously low, and they had been following false trails around in circles for two days. But neither of them was willing to breach the subject, not relishing the task of heading back empty-handed and with Bobby's death on their consciences.

 

They ate breakfast and packed up their little camp, loading the chocobos and preparing to move without saying a word to each other about anything, let alone Irvine. But when it became apparent they could no longer stall on a destination, Seifer finished the last mouthful of the bitter tea he'd been drinking and threw the tin cup viciously at the nearest tree. It hit hard enough to expose a sliver of green flesh.

 

“Hynedammit, Squall! We can't go back like this!”

 

“We have to,” Squall replied reasonably, swinging into Dot's saddle. “We have to, Sheriff, because two dead lawmen out in the middle of the damn forest isn't going to help anyone, Irvine or otherwise. We've got to be getting on back.”

 

Seifer's gloved hands fisted against Knightly's side and he growled. The bird ignored him, his years spent with Seifer having taught him the difference between temper and temper directed at him.

 

“It eats me, you know?” Seifer admitted after a long few moments. He climbed into the saddle and let it settle, then clicked at Knightly, and turned his beak for home. “He's just a savage… a… a damn beast. How could he get the better of us?”

 

“Well, I reckon thinking like that's the first part of it,” Squall hazarded and didn't even flinch under the jade glare he received. His own glare was colder and more vicious than anything Sheriff Seifer Almasy could dish out.

 

“You think I underestimated him.”

 

“No, I don't think that.” Squall pulled Dot's head away from a broken-winged bird draped pathetically over a branch. He moved to pass by, but the bird let out a tiny sound and he sighed as though compassion hurt him. He drew his revolver, put the bird out of its misery, holstered the gun again, then returned to the conversation, kicking Dot up beside Knightly. “I know that.”

 

“Fuck you, Leonhart…” Seifer growled.

 

“Not right now. We're on chocobo back - it'd be real difficult.”

 

Seifer couldn't help but give a short laugh, shaking his head and a knowing smirk just slightly tugged the corners of Squall's mouth at the reaction. The Sheriff was a good man, but his temper was dangerous and his Deputy considered it part of his duties to keep that temper from fraying.

 

“Anyway, how do you know that?” Seifer asked.

 

“I know that because he dislocated your thumb, escaped us more than once, lead us `round in circles for I don't even know how many days, and now… well, now he's beaten us. We're going home, and he's got Irvine and there's nothing we can do about it. We don't know where he is. He could be in any one of the camps spread out through this forest, and it's not like we can just wander up to every one and ask if they've seen a tall, red-headed cowboy…”

 

“You're talking an awful lot these days, Squall. You sure you're feeling okay…?” the Sheriff asked earnestly.

 

Squall hit him.

 

“It's all true. Just the facts.”

 

Seifer grunted and moved Knightly into a trot, thinking of a hot bath and a good ale and avoiding the prospect of having to inform Eli and Leanne that their only son wouldn't be coming back.

 

- - - - - - -

 

Author's Notes: I know, it's short again, but it would have been about a million pages long if I'd carried over into the next section. Well… maybe not a million, but a lot. Eheh.