Weiss Kreuz Fan Fiction ❯ The Hope Diamond ❯ Hidaka - 18 ( Chapter 18 )

Chapter Eighteen

"That's a good boy," Takatori murmured as he took the cell phone from Ran's unresisting hand. "It wasn't so difficult to see how hopeless your situation is, isn't it? For all his strength and your power, both of you can't go against me and hope to win."

Ran remained where he was, slumped on his knees on the floor, head bowed and silent. Pained amethyst eyes fixed on his hands in his lap. He couldn't help remembering how his pale hands had held Yohji's last night, how much of his love he had told his lover through his touches and caresses, how much Yohji had cherished those gestures of his.

By tomorrow's dawn, he would never feel that comforting warmth again.

A hand gripped Ran by his chin and lower jaw, forcing him to lift his head. He went rigid when lips pressed against his, hard and bruising, teeth and tongue forcing his mouth to open.

The forceful invasion broke his paralysis. "Don't touch me!"

Something broke within Ran, a dam he never even knew that was there, changing the despair he felt into hatred and desperate defiance.

Ran fought back, arms reaching up to push Takatori away as he tore his mouth away. In a fit of frenzied fury, he struggled to break free, kicking and hitting any part of the man he loathed with every fiber of his being. After Yohji's tenderness, he didn't want this slime of a man to touch him. He would stay with Takatori because of Aya-chan but he would not let this man touch him again! He was stronger than Takatori. He could enforce this point with his power but in his hysterics, Ran forgot one very important detail.

"Desist!"

Ran gasped as the full force of Takatori's will came crashing upon him and crushed the resistance from his body. His struggles ceased abruptly, body and limbs going slack as Takatori pushed him down against the floor. Despite his best efforts, his body remained limp and unresisting. Ran could not even make a finger twitch. He glared up at Takatori, trying to cover his revulsion with anger. "Isn't it enough that you want me to kill him with my own hands?"

"Rebellious slut. Your punishment isn't over yet," Takatori snarled.

With both hands, he tore open Ran's T-shirt.

Ran gritted his teeth as those disgusting hands roamed freely over his naked torso, making his skin crawl with revulsion. He couldn't even avert his head or close his eyes. Takatori's will pressing down upon his ensured he would see every bit of his rape.

"You are mine." Takatori roughly jerked Ran's jeans and underwear down to his ankles.

Ran cried out in pain as a finger shoved into his tight unprepared channel. It hurt, oh god, it hurt so much, like a hot spoke splitting him open, making his insides burn. The finger twisted cruelly, milking pain from every move, forcing its way deeper inside. Tears fell as he raged helplessly against the violation; he couldn't fight back, couldn't even do anything to impend Takatori's way.

All he could do was to lie there and seethe.

"Every part of this body belongs to me. All your power belongs to me. You are mine to do as I please until I say otherwise." Takatori growled. He roughly removed his finger, pulling another cry of pain from his Gem, and moved to lie over and between the pale legs. "I will not let another man lay his claim on you."

Amethyst eyes, glittering with tears and hatred, glared up at him.

"I hate you," Ran hissed. "I look forward to your downfall, Takatori. When that day comes, I will be the one to plunge my katana deep into your black heart!"

"That day will never come."

Ran barely held back the scream when Takatori thrust into him in a painful searing move. He bit his lower lip so hard that he drew blood as Takatori pounded into him at a cruel pace. He fixed his eyes to the ceiling, trying his best to block out the agony, the sounds of Takatori using him, trying to ignore the hot fetid breaths burning his skin. He needed his icy shields, the ability to blank out his mind every time Takatori had taken him in the past. But it was not there. Where were his defenses when he needed it the most? Under this brutal onslaught, his newly discovered spark of defiance and fury wavered and died out; extinguished by the black sea of hopeless despair that pulled him under again.

Finally, Ran felt the release of liquid heat that signaled the end of his ordeal. The twinge of pain when Takatori pulled out from him was barely registered. Amethyst eyes turned unwillingly to Takatori as the man gripped his chin again.

"I know how much your sister mean to you, Ran. Believe me when I say there are many ways of torturing her without causing her death. You wouldn't want that to happen now, would you?"

Takatori licked Ran's bloody lips.

"Kill that man and submit to me. And she would never have to feel pain." He rose to his feet, adjusting his clothes. With a quick gesture, he activated the wards about the room. "You will be kept in your room until tonight. Don't try to escape. The wards will prevent it."

Ran lay motionless as Takatori finally left his room, sealing him within the four walls. It was a long while before the influence of Takatori's will dissipated enough for him to try to move, even longer before he could move.

Agonizingly slow, he sat up, shifting his weight to his side to avoid putting pressure on his abused bottom. The corners of his lips curled in revulsion when he spied the mess of white fluid and blood trickling down his thighs. He had never enjoyed sex with Takatori but this - it had been some years since the last time he was treated so badly.

With trembling hands, he pulled up his jeans, hiding the incriminating sight from view. Then he curled up into a fetal position on the floor, hugging himself tightly. He craved a bath. There was nothing more he wanted now than to wash the filth off him, but first he had to wait for his wounds to heal first. Already he could feel the tingling in his flesh that signaled the onset of his healing ability.

Soon, he would be as good as new - if he could just stop shaking.

* * *

"Takatori-sama," the butler bowed. "There are two men who are here to see you." He held out the name card.

Takatori raised a brow when he saw the name card. Without a further word, he changed direction and walked swiftly to the hall of his mansion.

"Good morning, Herr Takatori." Schuldich bowed in greeting. "I hope we did not wake you too early."

"No, not at all. What brings Schwartz to my home without prior notice?"

"Oracle sent us here, Herr Takatori, to offer what services we can. He is most concerned about the blood pact."

"Did he have a vision that say otherwise?"

Schuldich shrugged. "Who knows? Even I don't know what goes through his mind."

"Sou ka. Very well, I could use your kind of services, starting right now." Takatori turned to leave. "Stay for breakfast and we will talk more about your assignment."

"Ja."

Takatori paused, doing a double take at the scene outside the window. "What's this?"

Schuldich cocked his head in bemusement. "It's snow."

"Yes, I know that. But in June?" Takatori frowned at the aberrant weather phenomenon, a tendril of unease stirring within him.

Farfarello regarded the snow coolly. "Snow in June hurts God."

* * *

"Ken-kun! Yohji-kun!"

Within minutes, both men burst into the shop through the back door, Ken with his claws unsheathed and Yohji primed to cast an attack spell. They stumbled to a stop, looking confusedly around at the empty and closed shop, only to find Omi staring out of the windows. There was a frightened expression on the young blond's face, a look they found just as alien as the angry scowl directed their way earlier.

"Wha-?" Ken looked around confusedly. "Omi, what's going on?"

"Look!" Omi pointed a trembling finger at the window outside.

For a moment, neither man could comprehend what they were seeing. Then it hit them.

"Snow?" Ken said incredulously. He walked closer to the window, staring up at the gray overcast sky. "We're having snow in June?"

"Talk about freak weather," Yohji remarked.

"It's a bad omen," Omi said, his face pale and frightened. "A sign of disaster to come."

"I don't get it," Ken confessed. "It's just the weather."

"It's a omen in the Chinese Discipline," Yohji explained. "A belief, a superstition. They say snow in June is a harbinger for disaster and doom."

"You don't really believe that, do you?" Ken asked Omi.

"I don't! But to see it happen, it just freak me out."

"Pay it no attention," Yohji said crisply. "It's just a freak phenomenon, that's all."

"But Yohji-kun -"

"Listen to me, Omittchi. We have enough to worry about without adding this to it. Now go back to your job. We're running out of time."

His face still showing his doubts, Omi headed back to the mission room, with Ken following behind.

Alone, it was Yohji's turn to look up at the sky with a troubled expression. Snow in June…does it have anything to do with Ran?

* * *

For the entire day, snow fell heavily over the city of Magnopolis, throwing the orderly routines of people living there into chaos. Public transports were disrupted, accidents occurred, hospitals saw an increase of people suffering from frostbites and other forms of ailments normally associated with winter. The number of homeless people freezing to death in the cold was undetermined.

Techno-Mages all over Magnopolis regarded the phenomenon with unease and trepidation. Snow in June was not natural and they were unable to determine why and how it was happening. Speculations ran rife, ranging from hysterical doomsday predictions to claims of a well-played prank. Weather experts were consulted, but no one could explain the phenomenon.

Among the rumors, not a few pointed to Takatori's Gem as the source.

If Ran knew he was being fingered for the abnormal weather, he was at a loss to explain. Neither did he care. He stood under the shower, letting the scalding hot water poured over his body, oblivious to the world outside as he tried to steel himself for a sin he never wanted to commit.

At Kritiker & Co's headquarters, Persia stared expressionlessly at the falling snow, neither surprised nor shocked at the phenomenon. He had been expecting the sign.

In his office, Crawford smiled. Another event that came true, bringing the future he worked so hard for closer to realization.

Soon…very soon now…