Ronin Warriors Fan Fiction ❯ The Kaf ❯ Part Three ( Chapter 3 )

The Kaf - Part Three
By Djinn Hashiba-Maxwell

*~*~*

"Touma-chan?"

Touma sat at the table in his front room, his hand curled around a goblet of wine, when Kayura pushed open the curtain across his door. She wore her typical 'day after' clothing - a plain, strait violet robe and her hair twisted into a bun at the nape of her neck. She had removed her elaborate make-up, and without she looked almost innocent. Touma nodded her in politely.

"You are up rather early." He commented, tilting his head.

"Actually, you're not quite right. I have yet to sleep." She smiled in response. "But we've been chewing coca leaves,* so I am not the least bit tired." She sat across the table from him. "It was nice sport last night. You should've joined us."

"I had an enjoyable evening nonetheless." He shrugged. "Was there something in particular you wanted, Kayura?"

"Well Touma-chan I dearly wish to apologize for insulting you the other day. I was offended, though I shouldn't have been, and it made me a bit harsh." She bowed slightly. "Will you forgive me?"

Touma sighed. While Kayura was hopeless sometimes, she was one of the few interesting people around. "Yes, Kayura, of course I'll forgive you." He said.

She smiled brightly, standing to walk around to his side of the table. "Thank you so much, koi. I was so worried that I had insulted you." She held her arms out for a hug, but Touma just raised his eyebrows at her suspiciously. She giggled. "Come on, Touma-chan, it's just a hug. I promise not to take advantage of you..." she raised an eyebrow. "So?"

He sighed and wrapped one arm around her shoulder in a light embrace.

He really shouldn't have been as surprised as he was when he felt the prick of a needle in the back of his neck. Kayura pushed him away from her, back into his chair, his arms and legs already beginning to feel heavy as lead. No, not a needle, but a peculiar dagger that came to a needle-sharp point, carved with an intricate and defining design that betrayed it's owner...

"Naaza?" Touma whispered.

"I told you before, Touma-chan. Beauty is power, even over you djinnee 'friends'. And while the fact that you have a permanent solid form may be alluring... it also means that this poison will have the same effect on you as it would on any fravashi." While he lacked the power to retaliate she stroked a hand along his cheek. "I must admit that your naivete is one of the cutest things about you, Touma-chan."

"You... you..." But he couldn't finish the insult, it felt like all of his movement were taking place in molasses, every part of his body became heavy.

She shook her head. "Why did you have to reject me, Touma-chan? I would've been good to you. I would've given you anything you desired. I would've forsaken CYBELLE for you!" Kayura sounded a bit shrill, her eyes narrowing. "Did you think you were too good for me?? Why do I have to take you this way??"

She did not see lavender eyes peek out from around the curtain, did not see that the boy who used Touma's bed was awake. She did not realize that he had noted her face and heard every word that was said. And she did not even consider his presence as she lifted the azure-haired boy with superhuman strength, turning to slide out the back door.

*~*~*

"You got him!" Nasutei grinned, looking disdainfully at the immobilized boy. She raised her hand to smack the defenseless boy, but Kayura caught her hand.

"Ah-ah, Nasutei. He is MINE to play with." She reminded her. "Where is Rajura?"

"Waiting on the other side of the cliff. Kayura you are SURE that this will work?" The redhead asked. "Won't Ibilis be angry?"

"Ibilis," she made the name a curse, "won't even know he's gone. He'll be mine by the morning and back before Ibilis ever calls for him."

Nasutei seemed mildly reassured. "All right then. Rajura's waiting for you, and I am going to go find Ryo."

Kayura nodded as the other woman secured a veil over her features. Among korybantes Nasutei was considered by far one of the most innocent, though that wasn't saying much. Still, when possible, she was not seen without her veil and she always averted her eyes when she saw those with a higher rank than she. The male korybantes and djinn thought is was charming.

Kayura thought it was disgusting.

Secretly she hated the redheaded woman, for being five years older than she and having finer curves and more exotic coloring.

"Have fun, dear." Kayura said pleasantly, and Nasutei nodded with a smile.

*~*~*

Ryo paced angrily just inside the barrier of sands that separated the land of the djinn from the rest of the Kaf. He desperately wished that Shin would take his advice and leave, but he knew the other boy far better than that. Ryo in his foolishness had thought his harshness might deter him, but now that he was more clearheaded and separated from the other boy's addictive presence, he realized that saying such things would only make Shin more determined to enter. He knew almost for a fact that Shin was at this moment contemplating how to get either through or over the barrier he stood before. Likely he had that perplexed little look on his face, eyebrows furrowed and small, thoughtful frown on lips Ryo knew from experience to be oh so very soft...

"Damn! Damn!" Ryo exclaimed, kicking at the sand. Then, once again, "Damn!"

It had been nearly three years since he had left his own people to join the djinn. It had been that long since the last time he'd seen the man that had been a comrade and so much more to him.

"Well of course Shin came!" He chided himself. "You never said a word to him, did you?"

//And now you're talking to yourself. Congratulations, you've officially lost it.//

Well, he did have to admit that this was all his fault. If he had only told Shin WHY he was running off to ally himself with the djinn, maybe the angel of trust would have accepted it. Hell, maybe he would've joined him! Shin was not the type to idly suffer an injustice.

It had been purely by accident that Ryo had stumbled upon the manuscripts. Writings in a language so ancient that it took him an hour to read the first line. Thankfully, the pictures said more than the words.

The djinn. They could always be identified because they were drawn as shadows - the mala'ika artists thought it would cheapen them to design something as hideous as a djinnee. The manuscripts told the story of the djinn, of where they had come from and their purpose. It told of djinn who had served among the yazatas, djinn who had been granted positions among the amesa spenta.

It told of the djinn being banished, accused that their ugliness was a punishment from Ahura Mazda for evil ways.

It told of Azrael grasping for power, only to be banished himself, and be promptly welcomed by the djinn.

It told of... it told of the mala'ika enslaving the fravashi to serve them.

The words were unsympathetic. //These human-like beasts call themselves fravashi, and we have taken them to serve as guardians for our use.//

If only he had told Shin that they were descended from the scum of the earth, then maybe Shin would have let him leave.

But as it was, Shin was here.

Ryo kicked at the sand again, growling to himself. At least Shin was not here just for him. That would've been too much guilt for him to bear. No, Shin was here for... he thought about that for a moment before it hit him like a ton of bricks.

TOUMA. Shin was here to retrieve the half-breed djinnee for the amesa spentas. There was no way that the mala'ika would allow the most powerful child ever born in the Kaf profess loyalty to the djinn, that was for damn sure. Ryo was actually surprised they left it this late, now that he thought about it. Touma's birthday was only in a few days, and then his full power would manifest. He was already more powerful than any pure djinnee, and when he reached adulthood...

"Ryo!"

The black-winged mala'ika turned to see a red-headed woman coming up behind him. He raised an eyebrow. Oh damn, what was her name again? "Hello, Nasutei. What are you doing all the way out here are the barrier?"

"I might ask you the same question. If you are going to be this far out I'd at least expect you to be in the air." She replied.

"I just needed some time alone to think." He said, hoping she got the hint.

She didn't. "But it is so desolate out here. It's depressing. Wouldn't Touma come with you?"

Ryo raised an eyebrow. "Why would I ask Touma? He never shuts up."

She giggled at that, placing a hand modestly over her mouth as she did so. "I'm sorry, I merely thought that you and Touma were... involved."

Ryo blinked. "Even if we were, which we're not, it wouldn't be any concern of yours." The 'friends-with-benefits' relationship he had with the other boy was really none of the korybante's business.

"I apologize if I have in some way offended you, sir." She said with a deep bow. He bit back a rude comment at her courtesy. Honestly, when you were a slut and everyone knew it, why pretend?

Just then a winged shadow forced it's way through the winds above them, and Ryo pursed his lips, unsure of whether to smile or frown. Nasutei looked up at the form with raised eyebrows.

"About time." Ryo murmured.

*~*~*

Touma awoke to find himself lying in a bed. Not a futon like the one in his own home, but a real bed, with a large soft mattress and soft sheets. He blinked, perplexed, before trying to sit up. He got about a foot of the bed before something bit into his wrists.

He looked down. He was bound with hemp cords. He let out a sharp laugh. Come now, he was a djinnee! Who honestly thought that rope would hold him?

But when he sent a bolt of power at the binding he was surprised when it sizzled but held.

So. Ropes of magic then. Well, this was proving to be more interesting than he'd originally thought.

The curtain at the doorway slid open and Touma looked up, expecting to see the violet-haired korybante that had put him in this situation. He blinked in surprise when instead he saw a familiar slim, blonde-haired boy.

"Seiji?" He said.

"Oh. You're awake." Seiji said.

"What are you doing here?" Touma asked.

"Well, Kayura said she had you under control. I wanted to make sure before I left."

Touma blinked, uncomprehending. "What are you saying Seiji? Untie me!"

"Is that an order from my master?" He scoffed. "Why should I obey you? You capture me in the desert and bring me to a foreign land to be your slave? I'm glad she has you."

"Seiji I never wanted to capture you I..."

"Oh do shut up." He said, shaking his head. "You brought me here because you wanted a pet. You said so yourself."

"No! I mean, I didn't really mean..."

"Well, slavery is a crime against the gods, and the gods enact harsh sentences." The blonde bowed. "And now, I bid you adieu. Die as you lived, Toumawashi-sama."

"Seiji! Wait, Seiji, I..."

The curtain slid closed behind him and Touma blinked at him. "I brought you because you were beautiful..."

And on the other side of the curtain the attractive blonde faced smirked before melting away, the blonde hair growing longer, turning strait violet, the form becoming shorter and more curved. The smirk became downright evil as Kayura walked across the room and situated herself in the lap of the silver-haired man that said there.

"Rajura my pet, you are too good to me." She whispered.

*~*~*

Shuu felt a bit peculiar, being held aloft by the smaller mala'ika, but he had to admit that it was the only plausible way to gain entry. There was no way they could get through the sandstorm, but high enough in the air the grit was gone and they only had to deal with the winds, which Shin had seemed to have no trouble in getting them through. The redheaded boy seemed to be concentrating only on the mission at hand, and Shuu, while he was by no means learned on such subjects, suspected that it was due to something that had transpired between him and the dark-winged mala'ika.

Shin set Shuu down before landing himself, pulling his wings in behind him to take up as little space as possible. He surveyed their surroundings - they were hardly different from those on the other side of the barrier.

He almost jumped as he realized the rather notable addition of a black-winged mala'ika. But then his face quickly became impassive. Shuu moved to draw his naginata but Shin stopped his with one raised hand. Ryo may be the enemy, but Shin as the angel of Trust had to believe his instincts. Ryo would not hurt or betray him.

"So I see that you ignored my well-intended advice." Ryo said coolly, the wind catching his black hair and sending it blowing over his shoulder.

Shin shrugged. "You know me, Ryo. I take my duty seriously."

"Unlike me?" He suggested.

"Well, you're here with the djinn, aren't you?" He responded, and Ryo actually laughed at that.

"If only you knew. But I wonder if you'd be too naive to believe it." He replied. "So am I right in assuming that you're here for Touma?"

"You know Toumawashi?" Shin said, cocking his head but not sounding entirely surprised.

"Almost as well as I know you." And Ryo left the implications of that to Shin's own mind. "And I supposed you'll be wanting him back so that the mala'ika can exploit him."

"You DO know what Ibilis plans to do with him, don't you?" Shin asked him.

"No, I don't. And you, a gaijin, presume to?" He responded.

"All I know is that Ibilis has no loyalty to anyone who follows him." Shin said.

Ryo didn't reply to that, since it was true. "Who is your friend, Shin? He looks like a fravashi."

"He is." Shin responded. He turned over his shoulder and named to boy to Ryo, "Shuu," before turning back. "Are you going to let us by, or are you going to try and stop us?"

"Heaven forbid I stand in the way of the angel of Trust." Ryo scoffed, but there was the slightest tremor in his voice that Shin did not fail to notice. He knew Ryo too well, even after three years.

"Shuu. Wait for me up ahead, there is something I must do." He could feel rather than hear Shuu question and he dismissed it. "Trust me, ne? Go."

The fravashi boy bowed slightly and walked off, looking curiously at Ryo as he walked past. Ryo returned the curious glance but neither said a word. Shuu was quickly out of sight, his brown-orange tunic blending entirely too well into the sand.

"What did you need to do, Shin?" Ryo asked, tilting his head. Shin just approached him, casting those bottomless green-blue eyes on him in an entirely too searching gaze. Ryo felt himself frozen in place as the other boy approached until they were only inches apart. Shin's eyes looked deep into his, as if looking for something, and finally they seemed to find it. He leaned fractionally closer.

"This..." he answered Ryo's forgotten question softly as he softly met the other boy's lips. Ryo felt himself blink in surprise as Shin's hands grasped his waist, closing whatever slight space of air might have existed between them. Involuntarily he leaned closer, relearning the feeling of his love's lips on his own. Touma... Touma was a good friend, but they both knew it went no farther than that.

Shin's hands twisted into his hair and he felt the swipe of a warm tongue against his bottom lip. His lips fell open and he felt Shin's tongue slip into his mouth, exploring and relearning all the things that made Ryo melt in his arms.

It seemed like years had passed when the finally parted, Ryo gasping for breath, more from the raw and forgotten emotions running through him than from anything else. Shin still gave him that same searching look.

"You said you loved me, once." Shin echoed the words he had said upon their reunion.

Ryo swallowed, and said the words he had meant to say from the beginning.

"Once, now, and forever." He said quickly, and was surprised and delighted with the bright smile that broke Shin's face at his words.

*~*~*

Seiji, honestly, didn't know where he was going. The Kaf was strange and foreign to him, and he didn't even know what he was looking for. He nearly jumped behind a rock when he saw the black-winged mala'ika from the day before, stopping only because there was someone else with him.

A white winged mala'ika? In the land of the djinn? Somehow it seemed incongruous. Seiji gave into his earlier instinct and ducked behind a boulder.

"...but it is Touma you need deal with me, not me." The black-winged angel - Ryo, wasn't it? - smiled, and his pale companion replied with a laugh.

"You are his friend, ne? And his mother dearly wishes to have him back, surely that will count for something." He said, his voice light. "Besides, surely he realizes that Ibilis cannot want anything good with him."

"So you say you are his savior, ne?" Ryo laughed.

"Well I am." The other pouted. "You know that someone or other will come after him if he stays here."

"That's so right it's funny." Seiji said from behind them, and they both turned in surprise. There was a third with them, Seiji realized, walking behind them a pace and uninvolved in the conversation. The two newcomers blinked blankly at him, but Ryo recognized him.

"Seiji, wasn't it?" He said. "What are you doing wandering around out here?"

"The same thing you are, it seems." He said. "Looking for Touma. Some violet-haired woman named Kayura took him away."

Ryo jumped and then scowled. "Kayura? Are you sure?"

Seiji nodded. "I awoke and there was someone in the front room. I looked out and there she was. She stabbed him in the back of the neck with a little dagger. I suppose it was poison."

"Naaza!" Ryo exclaimed. "Damn stupid djinn... would sell their souls for a good f*ck..."

"Ryo?" The boy beside him questioned, laying a hand on his shoulder. "What is going on? Who is this 'Kayura'?"

Ryo shook his head. "Kayura... is bad news. She's a korybante..." the redheads eyes went wide. Korybantes were unsavory characters only referred to in passing among the mala'ika.

"What would she want with Toumawashi?" He asked.

"What any korybante wants. His body." Ryo responded. He then turned to Seiji. "Come with us. I know where she might be."

The blonde blinked in surprise at the invitation, then nodded gratefully. For some reason he was worried sick about the beautiful blue-haired boy.

*~*~*

"Touma..."

And all too familiar voice. He turned his face away as Kayura entered the room.

"I was wondering how long it would be before you showed up to gloat." He said.

She smiled slightly. "Oh Touma-chan, don't you see? I could've taken you already, but I haven't. I didn't even hurt you, as that boy... Seiji?... said I should. And you know why?" She sat on the side of the bed, stroking a hand through his hair.

"No, but you're going to tell me." He replied bitterly.

She leaned closer breathing against his ear. "Because I love you. And because you're beautiful and helpless and most of all... now..." she swiped her tongue around the shell of his ear, "...you're MINE."

Beneath her eager hands, Touma shivered.

*~*~*

* coca is the plant from which cocaine is derived. Before purified cocaine was created, coca leaves were often chewed to ward off fatigue.