Mirage Of Blaze Fan Fiction ❯ Bound ❯ Bound ( Chapter 1 )

Warnings and Disclaimer: I don't own Mirage of Blaze. What? Neither do you!!! I'm just borrowing the characters…

 

Shounen ai (Naoe x Kagetora/Takaya), some OOCness and AUness, language…

 

Summary - At the lake, Naoe is given a choice. He can be stuck in the mirror with Kagetora, or he can borrow the other Tsutsuga mirror and let Kagetora out. What if his choices were different?

 

I don't use much of the plot of the actual end of the story. I'm sorry if I don't describe in detail what actually happens and stuff like that. I don't even use a lot of the bad guy's names. This is just my sick little imagination working overtime. I feel bad for doing this to Naoe. Now…how to get him out of this…

 

Bound

 

We'll let him out of the mirror if you submit to a Greater Binding…

 

Kagetora woke up on a boat. Alone. He didn't know how he had gotten there, he just knew that he finally remembered. He remembered his life from four hundred years ago as Lord Kagetora. He also remembered all of his lives after that…

 

“Naoe, you bastard! How could you do that to me?” He screamed, knowing no one was there to hear him. His “loyal” bodyguard, Naoe had forced Kagetora's soul into the body of the woman he loved thirty years ago. His body had died, and Naoe had used his love as a vessel so that he wouldn't have to deal with the loss. That betrayal was more than Kagetora was willing to forgive.

 

Then the knowledge from his current life as Takaya Ougi kicked in. He looked around in the boat and realized the key was still in the ignition. He started thinking about how he needed to get to shore so he could deal with all the problems Kagetora's blood relatives were causing. The Feudal Underworld… He started the boat's engine and took off for shore. Naoe's punishment could come later…

 

In the forest near the lake…

 

The heated coins that were pressed into his wrists caused the clearing to reek with the odor of burnt flesh. Naoe shook with the effort it took not to scream. He purposely avoided thinking about Lord Kagetora and why this was happening to him. He knew that Kagetora would sense his pain if he allowed it. But he didn't want his master to know. He didn't want his master to know until… until it was too late. It wouldn't change Kagetora's mind about him anyway.

 

The Fuuma ninja held his arm to keep him still. It was unnecessary. Naoe refused to move. He had to do this. It was punishment at least, maybe even atonement.

 

The priests around them chanted, their voices rising and falling like wind in a storm. Naoe could feel what they were doing to him. To his soul. A Greater Binding. He couldn't stop shaking.

 

Later, in the same clearing…

 

Kagetora ran swiftly through the forest, stopping when a horrible smell assaulted his senses. It smelled like burnt flesh. He felt a flash of panic for a second, and thought of Naoe, but shrugged it off and resumed his dash toward the shrine.

 

“What am I thinking? If Naoe were hurt, I would feel it. And why would I care if he were hurt? Hasn't he hurt me enough over the years? Why should it bother me?” He talked aloud to himself, chastising himself, but somehow he wasn't completely convinced. He just kept running…

 

Further into the forest…

 

Naoe had been running for what seemed like hours. Finally, he gave up. He couldn't make it without help. He felt so weak, so tired. He stopped in a clearing, shaking violently, and cautiously called out to Haruie and Chiaki in his mind, making sure that Kagetora wouldn't hear him too.

 

“Kagetora-sama is out of the mirror. I'm in the forest outside of the shrine. I…could use some help.”

 

He felt little tendrils of thoughts from them: concern from Haruie and a tinge of curiosity from Chiaki. He didn't attempt to respond. He let himself fall to the ground, hoping to conserve his energy for the fight that was sure to come.

 

An hour later…

 

“What the Hell happened to you, Naoe?” Chiaki asked the quivering heap on the grass in front of him.

 

Naoe raised his head slightly and managed to whisper the word “bound” before losing consciousness.

 

“What does he mean?” Haruie asked.

 

Chiaki shrugged as he reached down to pick the larger man up. “How would I…”

 

“Chiaki?”

 

“A…a Greater Binding?! What the Hell?” Chiaki yelled.

 

“What? How…” Haruie started to ask.

 

“Look at his wrists. And the way he's shaking. And… gods! Can you feel that?”

 

Haruie cocked her head to the side. “Feel what?”

 

“Exactly. He doesn't even feel like himself anymore. Why…what…how… no. Who did this?”

 

“How am I supposed to know? We'll have to ask him. When he's conscious again…”

 

“We can't wait for him to wake up on his own. What if it's too late?” Chiaki started shaking Naoe's body frantically. “Hey! Wake up! Moron! What the Hell did you do to yourself?”

 

“Chiaki, I doubt he did it to himself…”

 

“I know that, moron! But he didn't even call for help! He just… let it happen.” Chiaki stopped shaking him. “How did he get Kagetora out of the mirror?”

 

Haruie just stared. “He didn't say, but I'd bet…”

 

“Those bastards! They love screwing with people's heads. I bet they made him do it in exchange for letting Kagetora out of the mirror!”

 

They looked down when Naoe moaned in his sleep. “…Kagetora…” A tear slipped down his cheek.

 

Haruie and Chiaki nodded to each other and started shaking Naoe in an attempt to wake him up. It worked. His shaking increased and his eyes opened. He glared at both of them weakly. They looked at each other again and Haruie nodded to Chiaki.

 

“What happened, Naoe?” He asked forcefully, in a tone that indicated his intent to learn the story one way or another.

 

Naoe opened his mouth to speak, but could only cough weakly. Haruie got a water bottle out of her purse and trickled some water into his mouth. “Is that better?” She asked gently.

 

He nodded and tried to speak again. He managed to croak, “…for…Kagetora…” before he started coughing violently.

 

*Sigh* “We're not getting anywhere.” Chiaki said. When Haruie glared at him, he just shrugged and said, “What? We're not.”

 

*Sigh* Haruie got her water bottle back out and trickled water into Naoe's mouth until he put his hand on hers and shook his head. She put the water back up. When she turned around, she saw that Naoe had rolled up his sleeves to show them the burns.

 

Haruie and Chiaki looked at the burns on his wrists, looked at each other, and nodded. Haruie said, “A Greater Binding, right?” At Naoe's nod, she continued. “Why? And who did this? Was it the Hojo?”

 

He nodded again, and then he began to speak…

 

“Something…happened between us,” Naoe began, “and he ran away. The next day, I saw his reflection in a mirror and I knew that he had been trapped in the Tsutsuga mirror. I didn't know what to do, but I knew where he was, so I decided to seek out his family. The Hojo clan.

 

“When I arrived, they immediately escorted me to a room. His body was laying there… without a soul. His soul was trapped in the mirror. I didn't know what to do. They told me that his body had three days to live. I just sat down next to him all day. Then that ninja from the Fuuma clan told me that his soul would be bound to a tree the next day and sacrificed.

 

“I…thought of a way that we could be together. I plotted and planned and decided that I would pretend to go along with their plans. And then, when the moment came, I would steal the mirror, run away, and… I'd let the mirror eat my soul too. I thought it was the only way we could be together. I didn't plan on someone giving me another option.

 

“When the time came, I followed the plan. I went along with what they wanted me to do. I made Kagetora's body go into a death-like state. I asked if I could be the one to dump his body into the lake. They said they'd let me. I went out into the lake with a boat. It was just me, Kagetora's body, and the guy they sent to drive the boat. After I asked him how to get to the shrine, I exorcized him and steered toward the shrine. At the shrine, I distracted the guards by throwing the man's crystallized soul at the Tsutsuga beasts and grabbed the mirror. I shook off everyone who was following me and ran to the boat.

 

“I drove into the center of the lake and was about to let the mirror eat my soul when Kotaro, the Fuuma ninja appeared. He gave me a choice. I could either let the mirror eat my soul and drop to the bottom of the lake with Kagetora or I could…use the other half of the mirror to free Kagetora's soul. I asked what the catch was and he told me.

 

“ `I'll let him out of the mirror if you submit to a Greater Binding.' He said. `You keep saving him. Every time I think I can destroy his soul, you find a way to save him. I want you out of the way. You want him to live. We both get what we want.' ”

 

“And you accepted. Just like that?” Chiaki asked.

 

“What was I supposed to do? Let Kagetora…let Takaya die?” Naoe asked incredulously.

 

“Your soul is bound to that body now. You are no longer a possessor. When your body dies, your soul will…”

 

“I know, Chiaki. My soul will probably be destroyed. Or it will go to straight to Hell. Or maybe it will be bound to the body permanently and I'll spend eternity staring at the dirt covering my remains. Who cares?!” Naoe had started calmly but ended with an anguished shout.

 

“Who cares about what?” Kagetora asked from the edge of the clearing…

 

TBC…