So, this is an intro for my OC Rayn. He get's paired with Altair v: so nyeh.
Rayn rubbed his hands together. He hated the desert. All the equipment he had to carry during the day along with a heavy, wool uniform, then, not have nearly as much stuff to keep him warm at night. He missed Europe, but with the Crusades going on, there was nothing but trouble and poverty around every corner.
He moved to the desert to stay with his uncle, but got caught up in a string of events that ended in his uncle's death and his induction into being an assassin. He'd already possessed many of the skills and traits of the assassins, he was even very disciplined. The only thing needed was to sharpen and hone those skills. Altair and Malik saw to that.
"Let me remove my hidden blade first, Rayn." Altair was undoing the clasps to his bracer. Rayn was about to ask why, but he immediately knew. Altair was a hardened, trained assassin. He'd been so since he was very young. His instincts could kick in at any moment during even a play fight and he'd go for the killing blow. Rayn smiled, silent as ever, kicking at the dirt in the training ring.
Altair took his stance. Rayn followed. He knew he could never overpower Altair. He was a lot smaller than him. Which also meant he wasn't nearly as strong. But his quick whits and cleverness could get over him, and, if anything, at least make it so he could escape with his life. Altair waited for Rayn to strike. Rayn waited for Altair. The moved silently, barely disturbing the dirt, both preparing for an attack. Altair struck first.
Rayn shot his head up and twisted his body at an inhuman angle to escape the sudden attack. "Be prepared for anything, Rayn!" Altair kept on the assault. Rayn continued the twisting and turning, not even allowing his robes to be touched. He suddenly dropped to the ground, however, catching Altair by surprise when he knocked his feet from under him. I couldn't go for a killing blow against someone like him this early in a fight. If this were real, then he'd be able to kill me. Rayn moved away from the grounded Altair. "Very good. You realized that you haven't weakened me enough to go for a killing blow." Rayn nodded and flicked his fingers at Altair. "Oh? So you want me to fight for real?" Rayn nodded again, smirking slightly, but still not speaking.
Altair came at him full force. Rayn had underestimated his strength. This entire time he'd been taking it easy...? Rayn was visibly surprised, unwittingly giving Altair the chance he'd wanted. He moved quickly, grabbing Rayn's shoulders and shoving him to the ground, not once releasing his grip. Altair could go for the killing blow at any time against someone Rayn's size. He needed to act quickly.
Before Altair could put his full weight on top of him, he managed to get one leg between the two. Altair was heavier than he'd expected, but then again, he had his full uniform on, minus his weapons. Rayn put his mind in a life or death situation mode, kicking up as hard as he could, using the momentum to his advantage, and sent the master assassin flying over top of him and putting himself in a better situation. Rayn moved away once more, taking up a defensive position once again. "Very good. Using the element of surprise. Did you allow me to take you down on purpose?" Rayn shook his head. "Ah, then it was an 'off the top of your head' move." Rayn smiled and nodded, resuming his defensive position.
The two had caught Malik's attention. He walked down the stairs and moved up to the fence encircling the fighting ring. "My, you two certainly are amusing," he said with a soft smile. "You actually made me want to put my book down and come outside into the heat." Altair had an idea all of a sudden.
"Malik, it seems his quick whits and my brute force match each other perfectly. I doubt there will be a winner for quite some time. Would you like to show Rayn a thing or two?" Malik smiled, removing his Dai jacket and unlatching the gate to the ring. "I don't see why not. Let the cripple fight the one whose abilities match that of the Grand Master." Altair shrugged and walked out of the ring smiling.
Rayn blinked a couple of times. He knew to never underestimate Malik. But in a fight? He only had one arm. His balance was sure to be horribly off. But, nonetheless, he took up his defensive stance. "Ah, Rayn," Altair said, "defense won't help you against Malik." That was the best thing Rayn knew how to do. Take up defense and wear out your opponent. He still had his eyes on Altair when it felt like a rock had nailed him in the cheek. "Ah!" He went reeling to the ground, landing hard onto the ground. Before he could react, Malik was on him again. He skittered across the ground, trying to get away just enough so that he could stand. Altair was standing by the fence laughing.
Malik didn't speak once. Rayn knew that this was a real fight and would only halt when one or the other couldn't fight anymore. He managed to get far enough away, shooting his legs up just in time to smack Malik in the jaw, but it didn't take him down as Rayn had planned. "Always have a plan B, brother..." Malik said with a sinister smirk. Rayn was thoroughly scared at this point. Malik was much stronger than him, so his offensive hand to hand combat was almost useless. Malik had only one arm, but he favored neither side of his body. Rayn couldn't find a weak spot.
Malik moved again, going after Rayn's left side. He'd been hit in the face with a sword not too long ago, leaving sight in his left eye a little weak when it came to vision. Rayn tried to spin to keep Malik from blind-siding him, but lost his footing and fell to the ground. Malik took this advantage and moved to pin him down. "One arm and he's still beating you Rayn!" Altair was laughing harder now. Rayn was panting. He didn't know what else to do. He struggled against Malik's grip but was unable to get free. Then it dawned on him. Malik's only arm was holding him to the ground.
He struggled even more, feeling the grip loosen. "Come on kitten!" Altair had taken to calling him that because of the little cat that went everywhere with him. It was sitting on the fence, looking blissful as always. Rayn shot Altair a glare and went back to trying to get away, then...Yes! He managed to escape Malik's iron-grip, kicking him off like he did with Altair. Though, it was harder because there was no momentum to help him this time.
He pushed Malik to the side, used his knee to pin his lower body down with the physical threat of his jewels being injured, and used his other leg to help his arm hold Malik's own arm down. Then, raised his arm for the killing blow, stopping just before the hit made contact with Malik's neck. "Well done brother. But..." But...? Altair finished Malik's sentence. "He was no where near using his full strength and ability. Had he been enemy, you'd have been killed quickly." Rayn dropped his smirk into a scared, surprised frown before getting off of Malik. "Nonetheless, Rayn, you did do very well, considering how you can barely stand the heat of the day." Rayn shot the two of them a glare. The two of them constantly teased him and his weakness to the desert days and nights. The cat jumped off of the fence and trod quickly over to Rayn, sitting on the top of his boot to keep from touching the hot desert ground. "So spoiled. It's like he's a little child expecting to be taken care of." Rayn smiled, bent over to pick up the cat, and spoke for the first time in a while.
"He's all I've got left. The rest of my family was blinded by the Kings' Crusades and have either become a danger to me or have been killed." Malik's eyes lit up. Rayn's voice, in his opinion anyways, was like something given from the gods themselves. Altair always seemed to relax slightly when Rayn spoke. "Why do you two always look like that when I speak?" Malik smiled nervously. "No reason, Brother~ It's just nice to hear you speak~" He smiled again and walked off, grabbing his jacket before ascending the stairs. "I'm going to head inside as well, Rayn. Are you coming?" Rayn shook his head. "I need to go get something from the market. I'll be back in a little while."
Rayn ascended the steep hill that led to the fortress. "How do they do this every day...?" He pet the cat that was curled up in his downed hood, finally relieved that he'd reached the top. He was about to bend to take a drink from the small fountain in the shade of the arch, but stop when he saw something shiny glint near the fighting ring. "What is that...?" He'd forgotten what he was doing and walked to the object. It was Altair's hidden blade. "Ah...He's as forgetful as me..." He bent to pick it up, feeling how heavy it actually was. "Huh. I'd have expected this to be lightweight." He walked up the stairs in search of Altair.
"Altair?" He knocked on the door to his quarters. "I'm coming in." He opened the door slowly, looking around to find some sort of presence, but found none. "Hm." He turned to leave, but crashed suddenly into a soaking wet Altair that had just walked out of an adjoining room. "Oog...Altair...?" He looked up, but dropped his head back down onto Altair's chest. His muscles were hard as rock almost, and that didn't sit too well with his head. "You left your hidden blade out next to the fighting ring..." He held it up with a lazy hand, waiting for Altair to take it back before he got up.
But Altair never took it. Instead, he sat up, holding Rayn close. "Mmh, I never knew you felt this way about me, Habibi...~" Rayn went wide eyed and blushed heavily. He didn't know much Arabic, but he knew enough to know what Habibi meant. "Ha ha~ You're so funny~!" Rayn tried to get up to go, but was held down by Altair. "Ah ah ah. Not before I tell you you can go...~" Why must he be so much stronger than me...?
Rayn sighed and let his head drop forward onto Altair's shoulder. "So submissive," Altair said, tipping his head to rest on top of Rayn's. "I'd have expected more of fight." Rayn blew a puff of irritated air. "I'm only doing this because I know you won't hurt me." Altair picked his head back up. "Hm? And what if I was a traitor like Al Mualim was?" Rayn relaxed in Altair's arms surprisingly. "Because you're just not...~" Altair smiled. "But..." The oh so elusive "but..." Rayn hated it when Malik or Altair used that statement against him. "But...?" Altair smirked. "We don't have time for this right now...~ I need you to run an errand for me." Rayn sighed irritatedly again. "I just got back from the town though!" Altair laughed slightly. "No no, I just need you to deliver this to Malik. He's in his quarters on the other side of the fortress."
Rayn loved going to see Malik. He had to walk through the gardens to get to him, and his room was close to the ground, so it was always a decent temperature. Malik also always had incense lit, so everything smelled like herbs and spices. He knocked on the door frame and announced his presence before walking in. "Hey, Malik. Altair wanted me to deliver this to you." Malik called from another room. Rayn made his way, being hit with the smell of jasmine. "Mmm~~ It always smells delicious in here~" Malik chuckled. "Altair hates incense, that's why my room isn't that close to his despite me being lieutenant." Rayn smiled and delivered the document to Malik, not even once asking what it was. "Aw...I thought you were going to ask for another beating~" He was right. Not once did Rayn hit Malik minus the kick. "Yeah, my, jaw still hurts..." he said. Malik laughed again and went back to his work.
Rayn left to return to Altair. He didn't know why. He'd only done a document delivery. It didn't need to be reported back to him. But his legs carried him, despite his mind yelling for them not to.
Without knocking, Rayn walked into Altair's room. "Malik got the document, Altair. I'm going back to my room now." Altair appeared out of nowhere. "No you're not." Rayn looked at him, his eyes filled with surprise. "What...?" Altair smiled slightly. "You're getting a fever." Rayn looked at him with confusion written all over his face. "I am...?"
Altair walked over and pressed his hand to Rayn's forehead after pushing his long hair away. "Yeah. Just as I thought. I felt it earlier when we were fighting, but I thought it may have just been the heat of the day. But I remembered winter is coming, and you're very weak to the climate here." Rayn sighed sadly. "Just what I need..."
Altair smiled and walked over to a small table with pots of dried herbs. "I'll make you something to at least dampen the pain you're going to feel, but it's going to be a horrible couple of nights for you." Rayn flopped onto a chair that could almost be a bed for him if he slept in the right position. "What do you mean by that...?" Altair looked over his shoulder. "For foreigners, their first fever in the desert is excruciating. Deadly nine times out of ten. But Malik showed me how to prepare this..." he held out a small bowl filled with a pink substance. "And...what exactly is 'this'...?" Altair shrugged and handed him the bowl along with an eating utensil. "It does taste rather well though." Rayn looked from Altair to the bowl and back again. "If you say so..." Rayn went to eating the substance, smiling in the middle of his first bite. "I told you~" Altair smirked and sat down on his bed.
Rayn lay in the large chair shivering, sweating, moaning from the pain. Altair had given him all the blankets he could spare, but still felt bad. When Rayn had been going on for about ten minutes, Altair stood from his bed and walked over to the half asleep Rayn. "Come on. You're sharing the bed with me until this is over." Rayn protested, unfamiliar with doing things like this with another man, but allowed Altair to carry him along with all of the blankets. Altair put Rayn between himself and the wall to keep any draft from the door or window reaching him. He wrapped his arms around Rayn's small figure and held him tightly against his chest. "W-what are you d-doing Altair..." Rayn was shivering profusely now. "Keeping you warm." Altair pressed himself closer against Rayn, receiving no protest.
By the next morning, Rayn was still shivering, but not as much as before. Altair woke up, realizing how much the poor boy had sweat during the night. He gently woke Rayn from his sleep. "Come on. We need to get you a bath." Rayn moaned but didn't protest when Altair removed the blankets and carried him to Altair's private bathroom. What was he going to do about Rayn's clothes? Just strip them off like he was some prostitute? "Rayn, you need to undress yourself." Rayn moaned again, this time though, he was trying to say "No,". Altair blushed very slightly, but sat Rayn down in a chair, contemplating what to do. "If you don't, then I will." Altair said that to see if Rayn would protest and tell Altair to get out. Instead, he mumbled, "Okay...I don't care..." Altair swore he heard slight pleading and a little waver. Altair blushed further and moved closer to Rayn, testing to see how he actually felt.
Altair started by checking his fever. It had actually subsided through the night. He was just exhausted from fighting it all night instead of sleeping. Then he undid the buttons on his shirt, receiving no protest. He reached to slip off the under shirt, again, receiving no protest from Rayn.
"Altair...~ Do we have time for 'that' today...~?" Altair blinked his eyes and blushed again. "I think that's the fever talking, Rayn...~" Rayn shook his head in response. "Nope...~" He suddenly started to move toward Altair, moving closer and closer until their lips met in a soft, gentle kiss. Altair just did what Rayn normally did.
By "Altair just did what Rayn normally did," I mean he didn't protest in case you didn't understand. Anyways, this is just Rayn's intro, so if you want yaoi, you'll have to wait ^_^