Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ Forbidden Empire ❯ Chapter 4

Forbidden Empire
Chapter Four

The crackling of flames, in front of them. But this- this was all right, this was fine. This was a controlled flame. Fire held in virtually unbreakable confines.

Vaguely disturbing nonetheless, Ken decided, not glancing over at either of his companions. Fire was fire, whether controlled or otherwise.

No, that was wrong, somehow. Nothing this wild could be totally controlled, caged in. It was only waiting, biding its time, like everything else in this damned place.

His finger throbbed, more painful each and every consecutive moment, it seemed. It wasn't healing. Nothing was. Everything was broken, forgotten, abused.

Used.

A shuddering breath, and he stood on slightly shaky legs. He had to get away from that light. It was burning him, from the inside. He couldn't stand it any longer. His nerves fairly twitched with the need to move, to pace; he was never comfortable staying still when he was worked up.

"Ken?"

He winced slightly at the summons from Yohji, turning quickly so his back was to them and the campfire. "I... need some air." What was wrong with him?

He could feel the grin on Yohji's face, even if he couldn't actually see it. "Well, don't take too long. Wouldn't want you to be kidnapped by the bogeyman, hm?" A light, teasing tone, but it shook him nonetheless. Everything seemed wrong somehow, contorted; twisted until nothing and yet everything made sense.

He found a trail that wound a meandering way through the forest, passing the crumbling base of the temple before twisting away again. The way was ill-kept, yet less so since they had come these past days- it was their common way to a little pond area that they used to wash themselves in, one small strip of water that held no ill-mannered surprises beneath it's mirrored depths.

A hiss and a splash; a pair of slit amber eyes gazed at him coolly from across the pond. The jaguar kept on calmly drinking, pink tongue lapping at the water's surface methodically even as those eyes did not stray from Ken's face. The athlete swallowed roughly and stood stock-still, trying not to draw any more attention unto himself than he already had.

Stupid. Ken cursed himself, albeit silently. He should have been on the lookout for this; it wasn't anything new to him, after all, not after days spent in this dangerously beautiful, exotic place.

Those cool, calculating eyes blinked once, slowly- and he jerked upright. A sense of urgency- of things yet to come yet fated to be- gripped him, and he turned, suddenly unheeding of the danger this great cat could cause to his person. A stunning red-and-blue bird landed on a branch overhanging the jaguar and let out a condescending screech of protest, but he ignored it. The sound was too much like a jealous scorn to scare him.

He snorted, barely resisting the urge to visibly sneer at his antics of the past few hours, and something inside of him loosened just the tiniest bit at the feel of the golden eyes on his retreating form. What the hell had gotten into him, anyway? Scared of fire, of all things. Never mind the strangely alluring voice in the back of his mind that told him nothing was wrong, nothing was amiss- throbbing in time to the pulse in his injured finger.

Feh. Injured finger, indeed. If it was broken, maybe; but not just the scratch that it was.

Still, something felt vaguely wrong about all of this, and it was very unsettling- like he was being pulled in two directions at one time, all of a sudden. And then there was the whole situation in general; it was unusual for Yohji to ask Ken to get involved in the blonde's work in the first place, and, the one time Ken actually decided to comply, something weird began to happen. As it is said, once is chance, twice is coincidence. So what would thrice be?

He had a feeling he was going to find out.

And there it was again- the stupid, twice be-damned feeling that always got him into so much trouble.

Crap.

-----

Something light and sort of ticklish was running across his face, making him scrunch up his nose just the tiniest bit as he drifted into wakefulness from a dream that did not want to relinquish it's overly-secure hold on him. Ken's breath caught and the movement instantly stilled, as if acutely aware that he had awakened, even as blue-green eyes blinked open hesitantly, nervous at what he might find in the darkness.

A pair of deep, blue eyes stared curiously back at him, set in a face almost too small for those eyes.

"What the hell?!" With a startled yelp of surprise he jerked bolt upright, heart racing and sweat-soaked bangs hanging stubbornly into his eyes. The brown-haired youth's breath came in sharp gasps, and a warm but firm hand clapped swiftly over his slightly open mouth, tight but not uncomfortable. Something of shock, a tingling feeling, passed from that hand into Ken, disorienting him for the slightest moment.

In the darkness of night, Ken's adjusting eyes located the form that the hand belonged to, sitting silently and almost invisibly at the foot of his sleeping bag. Slight body, evenly muscled form, planed chest; yep, it was definitely that boy from before, the one that seemed so much like a dream all of a sudden. But how had he-?

The hand loosened its grip, and Ken's mouth immediately opened to mutter a half-strangled exclamation.

"Wha-?"

Eyes narrowing slightly, the boy brought one slender digit to his own lips in the universal gesture for 'quiet', before muttering something almost inaudible in that strange, ancient-sounding dialect he used, as that blue gaze raked over Ken's face and exposed upper body lightning-fast, seeming to consider something. A quick, pink tongue darted out to wet dry lips and, in a sudden decisive movement, the boy placed one hand firmly over Ken's breastbone and applied a gentle pressure, silently urging the athlete to lie back down. Ken wasn't sure he was ready to comply with this kid's silent demand, though.

"Wait, what are you-"

A gentle but unyielding finger was placed against the soccer player's lips, silencing him again, as that same force was used to lower his body back to the ground. This time he complied, figuring the kid could have already hurt him if that was what he had indeed intended to do, blue-green eyes sliding shut as if by their own will as the finger was removed from his lips. He felt suddenly so lethargic...

Ken's vaguely protesting groan was met only by a short, sweet-sounding laugh from the strangely light-skinned boy, before nimble fingers deftly slid the shirt he used for sleeping in down his shoulders. [1] This was… vaguely disturbing, but he couldn't seem to figure out why…

His finger throbbed painfully, almost-- but not quite-- wrenching him from his pleasant almost-dream, before dying down to almost nothing-- the least amount of pain from it he'd had for awhile.

The first brushing contact of skin against skin caused his muscles to bunch and jump involuntarily, but soon enough he relaxed to the tentative touches, breathing evening out almost into the category of sleep. There was something vaguely odd about all of this, but he supposed he could figure it out once this kid was done playing his games; after all, the boy obviously wanted something from him, otherwise he wouldn't have come to him in the middle of the night. Although he couldn't understand what exactly the kid thought he was doing...

Soon enough those touches were gone, jumping to his forehead for a few light, brushing moments, before even that was finished. At that, Ken's eyelids tentatively inched open, but they hadn't gotten far when a pair of warm, soft lips brushed against his own in a foreign, tentative-- ...strangely compelling? -- caress, and his eyes snapped open fully in shock and surprise. The gasp torn from his throat was muffled as a slick tongue ran along his bottom lip for an instant, just breaching the warm cavern of his mouth before jumping back just as quickly, the weight on Ken's body disappearing as well. The brown-haired youth's body was instantly and painfully aware of the loss of the other boy's warmth, and he instinctively pressed upwards, grasping for that lost presence, before he realized just what he was doing, and he cursed.

Ken scrubbed furiously at his watering eyes with the back of his hand, neck muscles twitching uncontrollably. "What the hell?!" What the hell was wrong with him? But this kid was strangely alluring all of a sudden... And he wasn't so much of a kid as he looked on first glance, after all...

Damn it.

"I'm sorry." A muted apology. Ken's blue-green darted instantly to the foot of his sleeping bag, where the light-haired boy perched rather awkwardly, a tint of blush dusting across his pale features. "I shouldn't have done that. It would have been easier just to have sealed a rune or two more, but it also wouldn't have been as effective nor as fast, and..." the boy trailed off at Ken's intense, penetrating stare, which was bordering on being rude. He shifted nervously, slim fingers worrying at the fringe of his strangely rustic clothing.

"What wouldn't have been as strong?" the brown-haired athlete asked at last, when it became obvious that his visitor wasn't going to continue anytime soon with a bit of goading. This is awkward...

That wide, ocean-deep gaze turned to look curiously at his shadowed form. "Why, the translation spell, of course. Didn't you notice that we can speak and understand each other now?"

Oh. So that was what had felt somehow wrong with this situation just now. He should have known, but meetings with mysteriously pale jungle-boys weren't exactly in his job description, let alone his capacity to act and react very well at the moment.

"Yeah, that. Of course," his sheepish grin was lost in the dark, or so he thought.

"You are very strange, for a human," the boy stared curiously at him a bit longer. "You can't even recognize one of the most basic of magic, yet you've obviously discovered some spell for lasting life."

And that floored Ken.

"Lasting life?!" he choked, sputtered, and practically squeaked-- then thanked whatever gods were watching over him that he hadn't done that last bit, for it would have made him look most undignified.

Golden-blonde brows furrowed at his incredulous look. "But... I thought... You are the one from before, aren't you? You have to be, you're even wearing the same clothing as when you... saved me..." he trailed off, looking confused and- cutely, Ken noted to himself- nonplussed.

"Um..."

"And humans don't live that long. You don't look any different from then, and I would be able to tell if you were one of Us," there was an inherent emphasis in that last phrase that set Ken's mind in motion, but he did not comment. "So you couldn't possibly live as long as you seemingly have unless you are one of those rare humans who have discovered the inherent secrets of magic."

"Magic?" Well, damn. Suddenly he couldn't do anything but repeat what was being said. It wasn't exactly a way to make himself look intelligent.

The boy nodded. "Of course. The magic of the Ancients. Like me," he shrugged. "So, human-"

"The name's Ken. Ken Hidaka," Finally! He exulted. He had said something mildly intelligent for once in this conversation, which was rather hard to do, what with his mind strangely muddled in this boy's presence.

The boy paused, giving him a strange look- almost as if he could read the athlete's thoughts- before his face broke out into a winning smile. "Ken. So, how are you using such strange magic?"

And now for the million-dollar question. How was any of this happening in the first place?

He wasn't sure; he really had no idea. Ken opened his mouth to say just that-

-and was interrupted by a nearly inaudible yelp of surprise, followed by a horrible crashing noise. He frowned and stood up, pushing past the boy and sprinting out of the tent, his visitor close on his heels.

Yohji's tent had collapsed, air billowing out from under it as the fabric fell gently to the ground. Ken could see a form- or was it two?- struggling to find a way out of the fabric entrapment, and could vaguely hear explicit curses in a half-dozen different languages, trailing off as willowy hands found the flaps and pushed them back, crawling out awkwardly on hands and knees.

"The hell?!" Yohji muttered, looking utterly confused- a look that didn't often grace the blonde's face. He groaned and shifted to sit cross-legged on the ground, glare fixed firmly at the form still moving inside his tent and fingers twitching. "... I need a cigarette."

"Yohji?" What in the world-?

The blonde man looked up at him, half-hearted smirk lighting his features as his jade eyes settled upon the boy behind Ken. "Ah, Kenken. Who's your friend? Did he molest you too?"

"Aya-kun!" The blue-eyed boy looked horrified at the implication.

"I did not," came a deep voice from- Ken supposed- inside the tent. If it had been the tent itself talking, that would have been freaky, though not any more than what seemed usual around here. Thankfully, it wasn't the tent.

Another man stepped out from the tent, blood-red hair ruffled a bit, violet eyes locked on Yohji as he spoke. Ken recognized him from before, at the temple mount.

Yohji gazed at the red-haired man dryly, looking none too put out by the purple glare directed at him. "Then what, exactly, would you call it? And what were you doing in my tent, anyway?"

The other didn't deign to reply, just gave the blonde a look that clearly stated, 'shouldn't it be obvious?'. Ken decided that maybe he didn't really want to know what this guy wanted with Yohji.

"Aya-kun! What happened?"

"I was setting the translation spell. He woke and kicked the supporting pole loose."

"It was an accident," the blonde huffed. "You make it sound like I did it on purpose."

Oh. So that's how the blonde's tent had collapsed. Then- 'translation spell'? Hadn't that kid said the same thing about- against his will, Ken's face flushed. If this 'Aya' was anything like his friend, he could understand why waking up to the end of that particular spell would put Yohji into such a mood.

His finger gave a small twinge, and Ken winced, sticking it into his mouth on impulse. Damned stupid sore finger. Hey, maybe if this kid actually did have magic, like he claimed, he could heal it or something...

"We need to go now."

Ken blinked and found himself staring straight into the sea-blue eyes of the kid, who was smiling at him again. One light-skinned arm was extended to point at the lightening horizon, indicating the sunrise.

"I told Qantaqa I'd be back by morn rise."

Not 'we', but 'I', Ken noted, feeling a twinge of something unfamiliar in his chest. And who was this 'Qantaqa', anyway? If she was who he thought she was- Ken grimaced at the memory of dark hair and silver-flecked eyes.

"We will return soon," the boy continued after a moment, turning to glance at his companion. "Aya-kun."

"Yes." The taller one nodded and turned, watching the boy as he turned and followed after. Just before they reached the edge of the clearing, the boy turned, flashing Ken a winning smile.

"When we return, I'll want to know about you," he promised, clear blue eyes shining. Ken blinked.

"... Hey! Hey, wait- what's your name?"

"Ma-" The blonde boy paused, sparing a swift glance at Aya, a thoughtful look upon his face for a moment. "Omi. You can call me Omi." He said at last, his bright smile growing wider as he swept a bow in Ken and Yohji's direction. "Until we meet again, Ken Hidaka."

And they were gone.

-----

[1] No, he's not doing what you think he is, hentai! ^.^ Well... not yet, anyway... *sweatdrop*

Threnody: Something's weird about his finger, isn't there?

Nozomi: You just NOW figured that out?

Threnody: -.- So what is it? And what's with all the animals? And, most of all, why was he acting OOC, damnit?!

Nozomi: *evil grin* *sing-song voice* You'll see…

C&C always appreciated, na no da!