Kyou Kara Maou Fan Fiction ❯ Fires Within ❯ Fires Within 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Fires Within 5

By: sage_libra

Pairing: Yuuram

Genre: Romance/Angst

Rating: PG-13 (may change)

 

Response to Reviewers: Thanks for the wonderful reviews I'm glad you're enjoying this fic. It's my first for this fandom, but it may not be my last, judging from my affection for this pairing. Sorry for the delay in updating.

 

Disclaimer: Don't own them. Wish I did. Hehe.

 

 

“We need to talk.”

 

Wolfram eyed his fiancé with trepidation. Yuuri had been acting strangely since he'd woken. Quiet and somber, even grim. And now, after making sure that Wolfram was comfortably propped against the pillows, he seated himself, cross-legged, exactly one foot away.

 

Yuuri took a deep breath. There were so many things he wanted to say to the green-eyed boy. So many things he needed Wolfram to understand. Things he needed to get out of the way before they could move on. Together.

 

But -

 

First things first. He needed to know if what Gisela had said was true. Was he - unwittingly - causing Wolfram's debilitating headaches? And if that was the case, what was he going to have to do? How was he going to help Wolfram? He needed to know the answer to that. Desperately. Because there was no way in hell he was going to stand by and watch Wolfram hurt.

 

No way.

 

“It wasn't your fault.” He blinked. Wolfram was already one step ahead. The prince didn't have to be a mindreader to understand what lay beneath the grim, guilty look on the Maou's face. Yuuri had kissed him and his migraine had attacked. Ditto - Yuuri had somehow caused Wolfram's migraine. It was a simple equation, really.

 

Except that it wasn't.

 

“I've been having these - headaches - for weeks.” Wolfram went on honestly. “It wasn't anything you did.” His cheeks pinked.

 

Yuuri stared at him. “So - your headaches aren't because of me?”

 

Wolfram shook his head. It was the truth, he reasoned. His headaches were because of his reaction to Yuuri, not Yuuri himself. Therefore, there was something wrong with him, not the Maou. It made perfect sense to him.

 

Yuuri frowned. It didn't make any sense to him. He gazed at the green-eyed boy opposite him, strongly tempted to tell him that he knew about the `cure'. But he didn't. There were lots of things he didn't understand about this strange new world he had inadvertently become ruler of, but he did understand one thing after talking to Gisela - no matter how adept he was becoming at being king, as a fiancé he was an abject failure.

 

A failure because even after all this time and everything they had been through he had failed to earn Wolfram's trust.

 

Oh, the blond trusted him with his life and the lives of everyone in Shin Makoku. No argument there.

 

But not with his heart.

 

That, in a nutshell, was why the swordsman was so insanely jealous all the time. He didn't trust Yuuri not to hurt him. Nor did he trust Yuuri to love him as he was, or he wouldn't have taken the `cure'.

 

The knowledge hurt. Hurt because Wolfram had been right not to trust him. Looking back, Yuuri was forced to acknowledge that he had never given the blond reason to trust him. From the very beginning of their relationship he had been resistant to the idea of their engagement. He had never hidden his dismay at the very idea! Nor had he ever attempted to get to know the blond beyond the boundaries of friendship. He hadn't even tried to allay Wolfram's fears and insecurities. Instead he had labeled the blond's rantings as simple histrionics.

 

Was it any wonder that Wolfram had resorted to something as drastic as Gisela's `cure'?

 

Yuuri took a deep breath. He was a straightforward person by nature, so his first instinct was to simply tell Wolfram about his feelings and persuade the other to discard the `cure'. But Gisela had strongly cautioned against it.

 

“He wouldn't believe you, Heika,” the healer had stated bluntly. “He would think that what you really feel is pity. And that,” Gisela had emphasized, “will be the end of whatever relationship you may have had with Lord Wolfram.”

 

That was one risk Yuuri was not willing to take. He was not going to lose Wolfram to his own stupidity.

 

“Alright.” He said, changing tactics in the face of Wolfram's obduracy. There was more than one way to skin a cat, or to get a certain stubborn fiery demon back into his life. “So it doesn't affect you if we're,” he gestured at the distance between them, “say, this far away?”

 

Wolfram hesitated, uncertain as to what the other boy was leading up to. But at a lifted eyebrow he shook his head. “No, I'm fine.”

 

A bright grin crossed Yuuri's face. That solved the problem of keeping Wolfram in his bed. Next…

 

“What if I move closer?” He shifted slowly until they were sitting beside each other, watching Wolfram's face intently, alert for the slightest hint that his proximity was causing the other pain.

 

Wolfram had yet to figure out what Yuuri was trying to achieve. However, he had never known the gray-eyed boy to be devious, so he took the question at face value and shook his head again.

 

Yes! Yuuri wanted to crow. He'd at least be able to sleep at Wolfram's side!

 

“Great!” His smile turned wolfish. “And if I do this?”

 

`This' was a very warm hand on Wolfram's arm.

 

Wolfram swallowed. A slight throbbing was making itself felt along the side of his head. He should put a stop to whatever it was Yuuri was doing, but for the life of him, he couldn't tear his eyes off the slightly tanned hand along his arm.

 

“Wolf?” Yuuri prodded gently.

 

Mute, Wolfram shook his head yet again. The pain was bearable.

 

Yuuri took a deep breath. Slowly, carefully, he let his hand whisper up Wolfram's arm to his shoulder.

 

Wolfram shuddered, eyes flying to Yuuri's. And the expression there made his breath catch in his throat. Yuuri's touch was tentative. Gentle. But there was nothing uncertain in the glittering in his eyes. No, they were gleaming with determination.

 

He winced as the first pike hammered into his brain.

 

Yuuri caught the flash of pain and he immediately withdrew his hand. Regretfully, but deriving comfort from the knowledge that Wolfram wasn't totally immune to him. There was still hope.

 

And, he told himself with the return of his usual optimism, at least he knew just how far he could go without hurting the blond. It was enough, he decided. For now.

 

“It's okay, Wolf,” he assured his fiancé with a smile. “we're okay.”

 

Wolfram nodded in bemusement. He had absolutely no idea what the king was talking about. But he agreed anyway. Yuuri's smile was reason enough.

 

-o0o-

 

As the days went by Wolfram's bemusement increased. He couldn't remember ever being so confused. On the surface everything seemed normal enough, but it wasn't. More and more he felt as though he had woken up one day and the whole world had shifted and changed around him.

 

Or rather, Yuuri had changed.

 

Wolfram could feel his face heating, recalling their first kiss…An aberration - he told himself firmly. Or a dream. Because there was just no way Yuuri could be interested in him that way.

 

Or could he?

 

Since his injury Yuuri seemed to have transformed into another person entirely, at least where he was concerned.

 

The first inkling he'd had was when he'd attempted to move out of Yuuri's room. The Maou had ordered him to stay put. Had ordered it with a peremptoriness that was foreign to the generally amiable king. Wolfram still found it difficult to wrap his mind around that. Yuuri had been adamant about Wolfram staying in his room. Had insisted stubbornly that the bed was more than big enough for both of them, and that he had every right to look after Wolfram personally. After all, the Maou had declared with a rare flash of possessiveness, Wolfram was his fiancé. Even when Gisela had declared him fit to return to duty, Yuuri had pointblank refused to let him move back to his own room. And that was that.

 

Wolfram was willing to put down Yuuri's new attitude to concern. After all, the Maou considered him a friend, and as kind-hearted as he was, he no doubt wanted to bridge whatever gap had grown between them. Besides, he seemed genuinely worried about Wolfram, especially since the latter's magic had yet to return.

 

Put that way, it all seemed perfectly logical. Even reasonable.

 

But it hadn't stopped there. Yuuri had then made it a point for them to have their meals together. Apparently the raven-haired king had somehow gotten the notion that Wolfram hadn't been eating properly and was now determined to rectify the matter soonest. It was disconcerting, to say the least, since Yuuri seemed to spend more time watching him eat than eating himself.

 

And it wasn't only when they were eating that he'd catch Yuuri watching him. Quite often during the day, while Wolfram was busy with the trainees, he'd glance up and find Yuuri watching from one of the windows. Wolfram then reasoned that Yuuri was concerned that he was overextending himself. Fine. But that didn't explain the mornings. Sometimes he'd wake up to find the Maou up earlier, a rarity in the past since Wolfram had invariably risen earlier. But instead of being up and about the gray-eyed king would still be lounging beside him, greeting him readily with a cheerful, if slightly wistful grin. And though the gray-eyed boy refrained from any migraine-invoking gestures, on several occasions Wolfram thought he'd caught an unusual expression in the other boy's eyes. The old Wolfram would have called it lust, but the new Wolfram squashed the highly-improbable thought quite firmly. Yuuri had never shown any interest in boys. Anyway, Wolfram hadn't yet thought of a rational explanation for Yuuri's unusual behavior.

 

Nor for his sudden fits of jealousy.

 

Now that Wolfram's renowned temper had mellowed, more and more of his previously timid admirers were making their interest known. The women not only sighed from a distance, they actually crowded him whenever they caught him along the corridors. Wolfram took it all in stride, after all, he was used to being gawked at. So while it was a minor irritation, it wasn't enough to merit more than a shrug.

 

But one time Yuuri rounded a bend and caught Wolfram practically up against the wall, surrounded on all sides by simpering females. He had immediately stalked over and planted himself beside the blond soldier, his heated glare enough to send even the most ardent admirer on her way.

 

“Idiots!” He had fumed angrily as he had half-dragged Wolfram away. And when Wolfram had attempted to reason that the girls had not meant any harm, he had received such a furious scowl for his trouble that he had promptly shut up.

 

But -

 

What really confounded Wolfram was the almost overwhelming niceness Yuuri treated him with. He almost invariably smiled when their eyes met. He was gentle, thoughtful, and eager to please. And he was always touching him - his arm, his hand. And always - always - with a grin that made Wolfram's insides shiver.

 

It made no sense at all!

 

Nor did it help that everyone except him seemed to be in on whatever it was Yuuri was doing, judging from the knowing smirks he was seeing on way too many faces.

 

Wasn't anyone worried at all at the Maou's unusual behavior? Hadn't anyone noticed?

 

“You're looking rather pensive.”

 

Wolfram started guiltily. He'd well - hidden - in the gardens, needing to sort his thoughts. He sighed. Not that he was surprised. Conrad could find anything he put his mind to.

 

“I was just thinking.” He mumbled.

 

“About the Heika.” It wasn't a question. Sometimes Wolfram wondered if anything fazed Conrad at all, aside from Yozak of course.

 

He nodded.

 

Conrad nodded sagely, and he took a seat beside his younger brother.

 

“He's - different.” Wolfram began, a little uncertain as to how to begin.

 

“In what way?” Conrad asked encouragingly, suppressing a grin at the almost identical complaint to the one Yuuri had voiced several days past.

 

“He's - nice - to me.”

 

The confusion and uncertainty in his younger brother's voice wiped the humor from Conrad's heart. That Wolfram actually expected anything less than to be treated `nicely' by his own fiancé drove home just how poorly Yuuri had handled their relationship previously. It pained him, because he knew how badly Wolfram needed someone to love him. The brown-haired swordsman squelched the urge to give his brother a comforting hug. It was rare enough that Wolfram would talk to him, he didn't want to jinx it by getting mushy.

 

“He cares a great deal about you,” he said instead.

 

“He cares about everyone. He's the Maou.” Wolfram's reply was automatic.

 

“But he doesn't share his room or his bed with everyone.” Conrad pointed out, smiling when Wolfram blushed. “I think maybe he has finally realized the difference.”

 

The green eyes widened, startled by the thought.

 

Conrad gave him a moment to absorb that, then went on carefully. “So how are you?”

 

“Bored.” Wolfram replied promptly. “Gwendal still won't let me go on patrol.” And even if Gwendal had agreed, Yuuri would have almost certainly vetoed it, they both knew. The Maou's almost obsessive need to keep Wolfram safe should have told the blond just how much he cared, Conrad thought privately.

 

“Not until your magic returns.” The brown-haired captain concluded.

 

Wolfram shrugged. “If it returns.”

 

Conrad cocked his head, brow furrowing slightly. “You don't sound very worried.”

 

“I don't know why my magic's gone.” Wolfram said with unarguable reasonableness. “Since I don't know how I lost it I really don't know how I'm going to get it back again.”

 

Conrad pondered his response to that. While Yuuri had filled him in on the `cure', he had also been sworn to secrecy. Not that Yuuri had had to do that. Conrad knew only too well how humiliated Wolfram would be if it became open knowledge how far he had gone to stay in the king's good graces.

 

“I think,” Conrad replied carefully. “that sometimes we make sacrifices for something we think we want more. But there are times when we have to look back and decide if the sacrifice we made is doing more harm than good.” At the confusion on his brother's face, he tried a different perspective. “We all make mistakes, Wolf. We think we don't want something when in fact it's really all we want, and we realize that mistake only when it's almost too late.” He flashed the blond an encouraging smile. “Even kings make mistakes. But the important thing is that I think our king has realized his.”

 

The only question is, the captain asked himself as he made his way down the corridor, did Yuuri realize his mistake before it was too late?

 

-o0o-

 

It was the same question Yuuri pondered as he gazed unseeingly at the pages he was supposed to be reading. Every so often, he glanced up at the clock, counting the minutes until lunchtime. Until he could see Wolfram again.

 

He sighed. On one hand he relished the time he spent with Wolfram. Just being around the beautiful boy lifted his spirits and made him smile. And to be able to do so without fear of Wolfram's admittedly sharp tongue helped him to be bold, to reach out of his comfort zone.

 

On the other hand…he sighed again.

 

He wanted more.

 

He wanted to hear Wolfram laugh again. To see those amazing eyes flash with real emotion. To hear his voice rise in anger or hilarity.

 

He wanted to be able to touch Wolfram without fear of triggering the blond's defenses. As much as he enjoyed waking up beside his fiancé, his newly-discovered feeling for the blond demanded more than just a flying kiss.

 

He wanted Wolfram's fiery nature. His passion.

 

/…if you really want the old Wolfram back, you're going to have to prove that you do love him. The old him…/

 

But how? It was the question he asked himself every waking moment. The same question he was going to keep on asking until he found an answer.

 

Because one way or another, he was going to get his Wolfram back.

 

 

 

-o0o-