A little background on Jihl Nabaat and Yaag Rosch pre-game. It's hard to write because so little is known about them, but I tried my best =]

None of the characters used belong to me, all rights belong to respective owners.

That woman could bite with her eyes. If looks could kill, she'd do some serious time.

I knew when I saw her that she meant trouble. I had been at the peak of academic success until she appeared, freshly eighteen, with a face like a summer's day and an aura of contempt. Transferred from Palumpolum to Eden, she took everything from me. Eating up my entire life before spitting it out anew, contorting everything I'd ever been sure of.

She changed everything; whether it was for better or worse, I still do not know.

I worshipped her.

I hated her.

She sat across from me in the Academy, a place full of long white halls, no windows and indoor halls. We had soft white chairs the likes of which no other student received, but she sat as though they were solid steel, moving as little as possible. She picked me out immediately. I cursed the day that Professor Quis said the killer words.

"I hear you're Palumpolum's finest Ms Nabaat. Perhaps you should speak to our star player Mr Rosch. I'm sure you'll be able to help each other out..."

The professor gestured her long white hand towards me, and Jihl's gaze followed it. The most devastating smirk appeared across her features.

I had hoped she would think of me as competition, but when those eagle eyes met mine I heard one word echo through my synapses.

Prey.

Our hands were never more than three inches away from each other. Mine were often scribbling furiously, whereas hers roamed languorously over the parchment.

At the time, I was poised for the job as the PSICOM leader, and I wanted it more than I'd ever wanted anything. I had a thirty page dissertation with me at all times. When the time was right, I would hand it to Quis, and the decision would finally be passed that I would take the top job. For months the top dogs had been watching me, observing me. I had waited patiently for the day that they chose me. After a few agonising months, I decided to put things into motion myself. The dissertation was the finest thing I'd ever written. It was my key to the future

Nabaat took some twisted pleasure out of watching me continuously correct and redraft it. I was haunted by her beautiful composure, and incongruous lack of muliebrity. She would occasionally let her hand brush across mine. When I looked up, she would smile, and I would reciprocate out of politeness. It was a deliberate ploy on her part. Looking back, it was all a cunning plan to infatuate me. Unfortunately, she was far too good at it. I imagined she'd done it to many a man before me.

I didn't care.

One day, after leaving a round of physical combat training, I showered and dressed as usual, only to find her waiting for me out in the plaza. She grabbed my wrist with unprecedented strength, and asked in a pleasant melody if I would accompany her to Edenhall.

"Of course, Miss Nabaat. Anything..."

I followed her, book bag over my shoulder, cursing my good upbringing. I wish I'd told her I had somewhere to go, something to do. That my father needed me. I could have told her to leave me alone, sharply and succinctly. I could easily have shown her that I wasn't a pushover, that she couldn't just do with me as she pleased.

But I was pliable.

She moved her hand from my wrist, and we walked, cloaked in silence and small talk, to the plateau outside Edenhall. We were about to walk in through the grand entrance when she grasped my hand, and pulled me forcefully away to the right. She gathered a handful of my clothing in her fists, and pushed me into an alcove at the side of the building.

"Yaag..." she whispered, pulling me up from my feet and slamming me against the white wall.

I was paralysed by shock. I felt the full force of her body against mine. The meeting of our lips was a compound of kissing and biting.

If you asked me now why I went along with it, I couldn't tell you.

I wanted her the way any man wants any woman, I was certain of that. The poison in the mixture was that of dominion. She held complete power over me for that second. All my training, the effort by my tutors to turn me into a vicious warrior was immediately rendered useless.

She clasped one hand in my hair, keeping my head in place.

Jihl leaned forward, as though about to whisper. I inclined towards her out of curiosity, She opened her mouth and inhaled.

Slash.

A fingernail sliced the skin of my neck.

"There," she remarked, stepping back to admire her handiwork, "I've left my mark on you now..."

I felt her hand slide behind my back, the other brushed my chest.

"You're all I've thought about...since I got here..."

She let me go.

"Think of me, won't you?"

I had every intention of thinking of her. Over and over again.

I heard her heels click away, and watched the sway of her hips until she was fully out of sight.

She's had her fun with you. She'll leave you alone now. Girls like that...fickle in their desires.

"Jihl!"

I caught her in the corridors next day. She regarded me the way a cat regards a dog. Disdain, tinted with amusement.

"Yes, Master Rosch?"

She feigned innocence so well.

"It is important for me..." I began, words catching in my throat, "It is important for my career that we do not continue with...well, that we do not begin any kind of affair. Being colleagues is... Our relationship should be strictly professional..."

I was trying desperately to be clear, to be authoritative, but she smiled on through my languid speech.

"Of course, I completely understand."

She turned on her heels and entered the classroom, and I followed, feeling a short burst of relief.

I went to take my seat, expecting her to do the same. She didn't appear.

Standing at the front of the class, she seemed to be waiting to speak to the Professor. What was that in her hand?

Oh, Orphan...

I recognised the binders, the tinted edges.

I remembered her hands roaming over my body. Behind my back...

"Professor Quis," I heard her say, blithely ignoring my fervent gaze.

She pressed the wad of paper on the desk.

"This is something I've been working on, since I got here. It's a short piece on measures to organise Eden as a defensive fortress, as well as essential mechanism to prevent and quell any disturbance from Pulse. I would appreciate it if you could give a critique for me..."

Quis smiled, completely taken in. The Professor gazed up at her student as though she was some celestial goddess.

"Yes of course, my dear. I would be delighted to..."

"Thank you, Professor."

With that, the acclaimed Ms Nabaat turned and walked over to me, lowering herself into the chair opposite.

My fingers were clenched into the table, my nails making small dents in the wood.

She lifted her eyes to mine, and I saw that same smirk that I had received when she first saw me.

"You can't win if you're afraid to fight dirty, Yaag."

Searing pain flooded from the mark on my neck.

"And thanks for the present."

And with that, she turned her eyes down the book in front of her, and continued to read, ignoring me completely.

Thanks for reading.