Disclaimer: Original Story by Akimeine Kamijyo.
Thanks for all the reviews and follows over the years!
Corrections/updates made to this chapter 7/11/2014
Chapter One
Kyo's going to kill me this time. Yuya attempted to loosen the bonds on her wrist but to no avail. She glared at her would be captors across the fire pit from her, the orange flames dancing across her bare skin. Stupid good for nothing scum bags. She sighed in frustration. How do I get into situations like this?!
Earlier that Evening...
It had seemed like a good idea at the time. Kyo had disappeared into the forest not long after they broke camp for the night leaving her all alone in the woods. His steely, "Stay here Woman" and cold stare made her eyebrow twitch just thinking about it. Arrogant Prick. He'd been gone for an hour already when Yuya gave up on waiting and decided to double back to the hot spring they'd passed only a little ways back.
Kyo could go screw himself she'd decided. He could glare and threaten all he wanted but there was no way she was going to go another day with the layer of dirt and grime she'd acquired over the past two days. Stupid Demon. She snarled to herself all but gnashing her teeth as she stomped through their camp, He's probably avoiding all of the villages on purpose!
Of course, avoiding the villages was saving Yuya's pocket book which the sneaky bastard and the rest of her comrade's seemed to always get their hands on. But still, she was a girl, and Damnit all, sometimes a girl just needed things-like a hot meal, and a roof over her head and a bath for Kami-sake! At least one of those things she could remedy right now, Yuya mused gathering up her things.
Picking up her towel from her pack, some bath necessity's and a clean kimono she headed towards the spring intent on getting clean and telling that good for nothing Kyo exactly where he could shove it. Pointy sword be damned!
She found the spring with no problem at all. The slight sulfur smell hit her from about a hundred feet away and the full moon shining on its surface made it easy to navigate towards. She absentmindedly hoped Kyo would just stay lost as she stripped her kimono off and slipped into the burning hot water. She squeezed her eyes shut as she slowly lowered her travel abused limbs into the pool.
Ouch Ouch, Hot Hot Hot! She felt her muscles slowly relax and sighed. That was so much better! She'd just finished scrubbing her skin and hair clean and was about to exit the bath to return to camp when she heard the twig snap. On instant alert she'd reached for her gun but too late as strong arms grabbed her and hauled her backwards from the pool still naked. NO!
"Hee Hee Hee, well what do we have here? A bathing beauty! And all alone too!" The Big Ugly and his comrades laughed. "The boss has been in a foul mood lately, this should pick him right up!"
In less then ten seconds she'd been thrown to the ground wrists and ankles bound by several men. So much for the bath! Yuya grumbled to herself glaring at her 'd gotten in one or two good kicks before they'd gotten the bonds tight enough to hold her, but unfortunately only one good scream before they'd gagged her.
"KYO!"
So now here she was, bound, naked, and most definitely pissed.
She glared at her captors across the fire pit, THEIR fire pit in fact. By shear dumb luck they'd dragged her back towards the direction of her empty campsite. She'd hoped as they carted her along thrown unceremoniously over someone bony shoulder, an irritating hand on her ass pissing her off all the more, that when they stumbled into the clearing Kyo would be there waiting for them. His wicked grin and menacing eyes announcing her salvation.
But alas.
Where was that Stupid Jerk when she needed him? Probably off mediating death and destruction in the moonlight-or whatever the hell he did when he wandered off leaving her alone. Kami-knows there weren't any brothels out here for him to empty her pocket book on!
She continued her work on the knot that held her wrists captive; she just hoped she could rescue herself before whoever their 'boss' was ambled into camp and decided to claim his 'prize'. Of all the times for that ass to make himself scarce, now really wasn't the opportune time! Yuya turned her head along with the rest of the encampment at the snapping of twigs to the left.
Kyo?! Unfortunately it was not Kyo who emerged from the trees but a large, burly and dangerous though slightly dull-witted looking man she could only assume was the 'boss' they were waiting for. Stupid, of course it wouldn't be Kyo! Kyo would never be stupid enough to give away his position with the snap of a twig. Kusu!
"Well Well Well, What have we here?" The boss man drawled eyeing Yuya's body making her skin itch and her insides crawl. The rest of the men snickered and watched her across the flames, their eyes gleaming in-humanly in the light.
"Something that's Mine,"
Yuya's head snapped to the right where Kyo's frame leaned casually against a tree just inside the fire light, she hadn't even heard him approach and judging by the way the men were leaping to their feet and moving towards him, neither had they.
The boss smirked at Kyo from across the camp. "Seems to me she's ours now, and I don't think a scrawny thing like you can do anything about it."
A smirk lit Kyo's face, his blood red eyes previously hidden by a heavy veil of bangs flashed in the fire light as the four closest men fell in a spray of blood and cries of pain.
"What the...?!" The enraged and frightened men charged towards him as their boss moved towards Yuya's spot against the tree.
Kyo swiftly cut his way through the crowd of men, He's toying with them, she realized with an almost sick fascination. Watching unable to look away, just like always when he fought anyone no matter how unequal the display, one by one he sliced them down around him, the grin never leaving his face.
In a matter of seconds he stood before the slain men's leader a wicked grin splitting his face. "Now, Give me back my property and your death will be quick and painless."
Property?! Oh she was gonna ki... Her thoughts suddenly stopped as she felt the cold steel of a knife press against her throat. Her eyes grew wide. When did he pull a knife? Had she been so wrapped up in watching Kyo fight that she'd completely missed that? Her eyes rose to meet Kyo's his gaze fixed over her right shoulder where the boss's head appeared behind her own.
"Back Off Now or I'll kill her!" The boss man's voice wavered over her shoulder, obviously nervous.
Kyo smirked. "Go ahead; I'm just going to kill her anyways."
WHAT?! Yuya struggled against her captor's hold forgetting for a moment the knife against her skin, until she felt the prick of the blade and the trickle of warm liquid slide down her throat. She clamped her eyes shut in pain. The deep rumble that rose from Kyo's body brought them open again. Their eyes met and she watched his nostril's flare his expression shift to something she can't name...
Can he... Can he smell my blood? It wasn't illogical, she already knew he had almost super-human hearing and sight, why not a heightened sense of smell?Her head felt light suddenly, and her body tingly and warm. Snap out of it! Hell, He's a Killer! She reminded herself. He can probably pick up the scent of blood from the countless battles he's been in!
But Growling?!
If that's really what he was doing, and it sure sounded like it to her!
"Well, if it's all the same to you; I'd rather keep her and you can go about your business" the boss tried to take a step away from Kyo's haunting visage. She could tell he was scared, Hell Kyo had just single handedly slaughtered twenty men, and while they weren't the highest caliber of swordsmen she doubted that this man had ever met such an imposing force. Kyo could probably smell the fear on him, and was calculating how best to attack him without the steel of the knife in his hand cutting any deeper into her skin.
"I'll say it one last time, return what is mine, and die quietly." His eyes shimmered blood red in the moonlight.
"Not a ch...AAHHHHG!"
He never finished as Yuya felt his hands release her, a burning in her shoulder and Kyo's arms around her as the world faded to black.
Yuya awoke under a blanket...no...in a bedroll? She struggled to remember why she felt so heavy...wha...what happened?
The memories of the bandits and Kyo and the knife came back to her in a rush and she shot upright ready to defend herself. But only the darkness of night and the crack of logs in the fire greeted her.
"Lay down Woman"
Kyo.
She turned her head to look at him back against the base of a tree, Masamaru resting in his lap he was the perfect picture of calm, she would have thought him asleep if not for the voice and the scarlet eyes that stared out at her. "How did we...what ha..." she blinked. "Where did those bodies go?" She asked finally settling on a question realizing for the first time that their current campsite was clear of any sign of a struggle...namely in the form of a scatter of bodies and bloody body parts.
"I left them where they lay; the last thing I want to smell is decaying filth," Kyo sneers.
She blinks in surprise, realizing that this was not the original camp they had been in...had Kyo carried her here? She racked her brain for the memory of moving and found nothing but blankness. He must have because she didn't remember anything...except...
"Are...Are you going to kill me?" She couldn't help it the words just tumbled out.
His chin dropped to his chest so that his gaze was hidden beneath a curtain of hair. Yuya swallowed so loud she was certain the whole forest heard it as Kyo rose suddenly and strode towards her. He stood over her for a split second eyes still hidden from view before swooping down beside her, fierce red eyes mere inches from her own.
"Keep pushing me Woman, I'm this close"
Yuya blinked, he'd never been this close to her before, and their proximity seemed to be interfering with her ability to think. She watched fascinated as his nostrils flared again his eyes never leaving her own. "The bleeding has stopped at least."
Bleeding? She tore her gaze from his to look over her own body she gasped as she realized two things.
The first was that she had a large bandage wrapped from the edge of her neck to her cover most of her left shoulder, and it was stained with blood. The second was that she was still naked.
Kusu! Her eyes jerked back up to meet Kyo's. "Where the Hell are my clothes?" She snapped with more agitation and strength then she felt at this exact moment with him staring at her so intently.
"Probably where you left them when you wondered off." His tone is impartial and almost amused, almost.
"You Left THEM?!" She shrieked in panic.
Kyo drew his head back a few inches wincing at the volume and pitch in her voice. "Keep it Down Woman, it's not like you have anything worth looking at anyway."
Don't have anyth...?...Why you little! She reached forward to pummel him, not caring in that split second who he was. The sharp stabbing pain in her shoulder made her hiss even as strong calloused hands shoved her down into the bed roll pinning her to the ground.
"Stupid Bitch," His voice was close, mere inches from her again. Only now pressed against the ground she could no longer back away from him, she was trapped and could only wait for him to release her. Screw that! Yuya decided irritation still thick in her blood. She struggled to push him off despite the searing pain that warned her against moving her left side.
She felt his hands tighten on her upper arms, his body pressed against hers anchoring her to the forest floor beneath the bedroll. "Get Off ME!" She snarled defiantly.
The low rumble cut her fight short again, Okay Seriously! What is that? And then she felt it. It WAS coming from him; from low in his chest she could feel it reverberating through his body into hers. There was no question about it, Kyo was growling at her. Her eyes met his, confusion reflected up at him in the moonlight. She watched him as his eyes slid shut, and he swallowed hard. His head dipped below her chin without warning and she felt his tongue run across her skin up the side of her neck just above the thick gauze wrap. The wet hot sensation sparking a sharp sting over her skin that made her gasp.
The cut, from the knife...Kyo was licking it? She felt him inhale deeply against her neck and she remembered his early comment: "The bleeding has stopped at least"
Wait a minute, her eyes grew wider as she felt the sticky warmth trickle down the skin of her neck again and then once more the swath of Kyo's tongue lave against her skin. OhmyGod, her brain slammed to a full stop. Kyo is... No, that couldn't be right. Except that it with a third pass of his tongue and his lips pressed possessively against the sharp sting slicing her skin it obviously was. Kyo is drinking my blood?!
She gasped again as his fingers dug more firmly into the flesh of her arms. His chest pressed flush against hers, the rumbling had slowed and quieted from its original deafening roar, or maybe it had just been replaced by the roaring of her own blood in her ears.
"Kyo..." She gasped out, her body felt heavy again...and so liquidy warm. The throbbing heat she felt low in her abdomen puzzled her the most. Why did she feel so light headed, so dizzy? She gasps out his name feeling this time not his tongue against her skin but his teeth as they slid across her neck. She felt her body shift underneath his own of it's own accord; raising up to graze against him. Her eyes slipping shut under this new sensation, blocking out the light of the moon and the stars so that all there was to focus on was the feeling of his frame pressed tight against her.
What is this? I feel like I'm drowning...
She felt him shift above her, his right hand releasing its tight hold on her upper arm and dropping to grab her hip. Through the tangle of linen between them she felt him grind down into her. Felt his hardened length press against her center. Her eyes snapped open in blind panic as she realized what was happening, OMG Kyo's touching me, and I'm Naked!
He must have felt her body tense beneath his own for his motions stilled instantly, though his breath remained hot and oh so close in the crook of her neck. She tried to slow her ragged breathing, struggling to form the words in her swimming head to ask him what was happening. "Kyo..?"
"You'll be the death of me yet Woman,"
She tried to process his words, but their meaning wouldn't come. She could only feel the pounding of her heart and the strong sure beat of his pressed against her chest. His breath tickling against her skin, his hands holding fast to her as if she were his anchor to the world.
Still he didn't move.
"Kyo..." she whispered it this time, unsure of what he would do next, unsure herself of what she should expect him to do.
"That bandage needs to be changed." He was gone from her as quickly as he'd advanced. The cool night air rushing in to erase the warmth he'd left imprinted on her skin. He retrieved a clean bandage from the bag beside the fire no longer looking at her before sitting next to her again. "Sit Up."
And as flabbergasted and boneless as she felt after their previous entanglement she found the strength to follow his command. She meet his eyes for only a split second before looking away, blushing unable to hold the intensity of his gaze. So instead she turned her attention to the bandage he was removing from her left shoulder, she didn't remember being cut but apparently she had been-and quite deeply too.
"Um, am I...going to need stitches..?" Her eyes rose for a second to meet his and held for a moment momentarily forgetting her nerves.
He shook his head, "No,"
She glanced back at her shoulder frowning "Are you sure it looks prett..."
His hands freeze in their task, hovering over her. "Woman!" She stopped and turned her gaze back to his blazing stare. "Stitches will scar." He announces all but dismissing her concern before turning to his side to pick up an ointment she had not noticed before, "and besides you won't need them."
"What is that stuff?" She wrinkled her nose as its smell hit her.
"It's a special medicine."
"How did you get that out...Oh." She stopped feeling foolish suddenly as his eyes met her own. He'd made it, she forgot sometimes that Kyo and Kyoshiro shared the same body and so some of the same experiences, they were so different...like night and day it seemed sometimes...well more like night and nightmare she amended. Though she was not really sure who should be classified as what.
A light breeze picked up and carried the sent of the balm to her nose again and she nearly gagged in disgust.
"Ugh, does it have to stink like dead things?" She brought her right hand to her nose.
"It doesn't matter how it smells: You'll live, and next time you'll do as I say."
"Hmmmng" was the only response she could come up with as he re-wrapped her shoulder and sealed the ointment back up. Thank Kami-sama for small miracles I thought I was going to puke!
"Now, Sleep." He rose from his position next to her returning not to his original seat against the tree, but to a warmer one beside the fire returning his masamaru to his lap his back partially turned to her. She stared at him for a long while lost deep in thought.
"If you don't go to sleep I shall have to think of more interesting ways to occupy the night."
He hadn't turned to look at her, but she felt the heat rising in her cheeks just the same. More interesting like before? She wouldn't put it past him. She glared at him for a moment or two before deciding that goading him while injured and naked was probably not the best course of action and rolling onto her side to shut her eyes against the image of his silhouette against the fire.
It was going to be a long night.
Yuya felt the light of dawn. Even from behind her eyelids it peaked into her dreams, slowly rousing her from what had been an interesting dream. She'd been attacked by Bandits, and then attacked by Kyo in her sleeping roll and she was Naked!
Yuya's eyes shot open as she sat upright and gasping pulled the blankets up to cover herself.
Okay, Still Naked! Not a Dream!
So did that mean that everything else had happened to? A quick inventory of their surroundings confirmed that this was indeed not the clearing they had originally stopped in for the night; and that her shoulder was wrapped and tied with the thick cream bandages she usually reserved for Kyo and Benitora's wounds.
She glanced around for sign of Kyo and found none, but she did find her clothes which she'd left the previous night before. When Did He...? He must have gone back while she was sleeping, or perhaps he'd had them all along and was simply goading her over having lost them.
"Ha! If he thought I was going to travel Naked the rest of the way to Kyoto..."
"An Interesting proposal, but I doubt it would get us there any faster."
GAAH!She whirled in the blankets to look behind her.
"Kyo! You...You!"
"Me. What. Woman?" His face was a blank mask but his eyes held what? Amusement?
"What are you doing?!" She narrowed her eyes deciding that pissed off was probably the safest emotion to go with this morning.
"Waiting for your lazy ass to wake up, now be a good girl and get dressed we're leaving...unless of course you want to travel naked..." The smirk that crossed his face made her blood pressure rise and her face heat.
"Like Hell" she ground out and reached for her kimono. She turned back to face him, "Do you Mind?!"
The smirk was still there, "Nothing I haven't seen before, by all means: Shock Me."
Ohhhhh! That Bastard! She was going to Kill Him!"FINE!" She pulled the kimono under the bedroll with her and after struggling for several minutes managed to get it on. Flinging the bedroll away she stood up and turned to face him. "You're a Real Jerk Kyo!"
His eyes rose to meet hers as he stood. "This Jerk, Saved your life, perhaps next time I should let you be plundered and murdered?"
"Aa...!" Her teeth clicked shut.
Damn Him! How was she supposed to respond to that, he HAD saved her ass...Again. And retrieved her clothes.
"Now, lets go." He turned away from her to pick up the packages she usually carried, and without turning to look over his shoulder at her he began to leave.
Yuya scrambled to roll up her bedding and quickly made to follow him. Dropping in step beside him she set her spine straight, head aloof, she was just going to ignore him...all day. Yuya sighed as her stomach growled. This was going to be a long day.
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