I read this story a few months ago, and fell in love with it at first sight. I've asked Selene Nightshade for permission to continue her story since she's discontinued it, and she has given full consent. My hope is that what I continue will be as good as the original. So sit back and please enjoy.

Chapter 7

"What is going on here?" King Hakase demanded. Jack blinked away the shock that was currently constricting his movements, the notion that he had lost a fight still not solid in his mind and making everything feel like one huge blur. He had not missed the words of Hakase, however, and would've responded like a proper king…had he the power to rise from his knees.

The ugly expression that had twisted itself onto Jack's face, though, had not gone unmissed. Hakase recognized his error almost instantly, color draining from his usually tan complexion. Jack did not miss his gaze flicking back and forth from between him and Yusei. He bowed his head, "Forgive me, your Majesty."

Yusei's mother flew past Jack without so much as a sideways glance to get to her child, her small hands clutching his large shoulders. "Yusei, are you all right? There was so much smoke!"

"I'm fine, mother," Yusei said gently, carefully prying his mother's hands from his body so he could step in front of her and face Jack. Shielding her.

No…not shielding. Waiting.

Jack pushed the tip of his blade into the soft earth and began to push himself up, all thoughts disregarded so he could properly focus on standing. But something went wrong. Maybe the earth had been too loose and his sword lost its purchase, or maybe he wasn't as strong in the knees has he thought he was. Jack couldn't tell. All he knew is that he was falling once more, and he wasn't sure he would catch himself.

"Jack!" Warms arms surrounded him. It was like being shocked with a jolt static electricity, painful but rejuvenating. Jack suddenly grabbed the biceps of his rescuer and pulled himself up, groaning as he uncurled his legs and came to a stand. When he unscrewed his eyes, he found himself looking down at the raven haired prince, his blue eyes staring back with…

No. Not devotion. Not worry. This look was completely unidentifiable.

"Perhaps you should call it a night, your Highness," came Godwin's voice. Jack bit back a snarl as a firm hand clapped itself onto his shoulder, rousing him from the strange atmosphere that had settled between the two teens. Jack felt Yusei's arms slip away from his waist, taking the addictive warmth with them. The air suddenly felt colder.

"It has been a long day." The tone of disappointment was unmistakable to Jack, although to an outsider it could've passed as gentle chiding.

We will speak of this later, Godwin's eyes said.

Jack wanted nothing more than to throw Godwin's hand from his shoulder and strike him for daring to show such informality in front of outsiders, but he bit his cheek instead. There would be plenty of time for that later. "It has," Jack replied coolly.

Yusei stared at him, an accusatory look in his eyes. The blond king refused to feel the heat of the younger teen's stare, but he knew that Yusei was seeing right through him.

Judai had kept quiet throughout the exchange, but for once, looked content to stay silent. Jack had expected him to begin rattling off the details of the fight and the circumstances under which Jack attacked him, but the shorter brunette said nothing. For some odd reason, that made Jack all the angrier.

How dare you act as though you know something I don't…

It suddenly felt as if all eyes were on him now, waiting for him to speak. Jack wanted nothing more than to disappear into the air and vanish into the night, but such skills were not afforded to him.

Judai won the fight…he actually won the fight…

Jack looked up when he heard Yusei take a small step towards him, like the prince was sensing the sudden weight that had been dropped on the blond's shoulders.

"Please, allow me to escort you to your quarters," Godwin requested, bowing and gesturing with a hand. He had sensed it, too. This was getting to be too much. Jack grabbed Yusei's hand and pulled him away from the others, deftly spinning him with his back against Jack's chest, arms coming around his waist. He couldn't tell why he felt returning to that pose would somehow return the normalcy, and he was distressed to see it didn't work.

"I bid you all a pleasant evening." And with that, Jack led Yusei away as fast as he could without running.

.o.

"Jack!" Yusei shouted. Any other time, Jack would've be ecstatic to hear his name roll off the prince's tongue, or to be the cause of such chanting in the heated dark of their shared chambers, but right now…

"Jack!"

He wanted Yusei to be quiet. Why couldn't he be quiet?

"Stop talking, Yusei."

"No! What on earth has gotten into you?" He tried to pull against Jack's grip, but was no match for the determination of Jack's pace. "Let go of me!"

Jack felt a laugh emerge that would scare the devil itself. It certainly frightened Yusei into pausing for a moment. "I thought we already discussed this, Yusei. I'm never letting you go."

"That's not what I meant, you—" Jack gave a harsh tug on Yusei's arm, silencing the name the younger man had wished to call him. "Damn you! Where are you taking me?"

"It's late and I'm tired. We're going to bed."

The servants had long forsaken the corridor in which the king's chambers lay. The sound of him storming his way up the stairs while dragging an unwilling Yusei behind him was more than enough to convince them to leave, although a few took pity on the ire to which Yusei would likely be subjected to. Still, there was nothing more they could do, and the affairs of the king and future queen were to be handled in any manner which the monarchs saw fit.

Jack kicked open the doors to their room and pulled Yusei inside, just barely remembering to close them. Yusei took the moment to flee to the other side of the room and out of Jack's reach, hand tentatively gripping the hilt his sword as he faced the blond.

Jack felt the rush of cool air wash over him like cascading water from a waterfall. The dead silence made the chamber feel like a tomb, but he was grateful for it. Beautiful, blissful silence. He leaned against the door and turned to look at the room's other occupant, the raven haired prince unearthly in the scattered rays of the moonlight through the curtains. His eyes, finely cut sapphires polished to perfection, gazed back with the utmost resolve.

Beautiful…

Out of the blue, the king felt the urge—no, the need—to run to every window in the room and thrust them open. He wanted to bathe in the chilled air of the late summer evening, expose every inch of alabaster skin to the night. He wanted to shiver and tremble in the utter rawness of the elements, his only shield the thin covers on his bed and the naked heat of the young man across from him, their limbs so entwined to the point they would be unable to feel where one stopped and started…

And Jack conveyed this all into the gaze of Yusei's eyes, unblinking and unmoving as the primordial desire swept across the room on a gust of wind towards the prince. Yusei's fingers curled into a tight ball, almost unnoticed by the amethyst eyes of the king, and his throat pulsed with the lifeblood coursing through his veins at the speed of light. Jack wanted to kiss the one spot on his neck. He wanted to pin the prince beneath like the prey that he was—he wanted the two to ravish each other like a pair of dragons might in the chilled dark of their cave, lost in the ecstasies of being connected to another life at such an archaic level.

He wanted Yusei. Gods be damned. And he knew that Yusei could feel this, his exposure to such unbridled craving overwhelming on his innocent mind and untouched body. Yusei couldn't keep still anymore, and was quietly shifting back and forth on his feet.

You're too beautiful, Yusei…there's no way I'm letting you go…

Jack closed his regal amethyst eyes, cutting the bond between their stares and sinking into a chair as if the mere thought of such relentless pleasure was exhausting. Yes, he was sure Yusei got the picture.

You are not leaving this room…

Yusei let go of his sword, seeming to feel the change in the atmosphere of the room now that Jack sat down. He stood straight once more, hands falling to his sides and eyes locked on the still form of Jack. When the king finally opened his eyes again, Yusei had bridged the distance between them, but as if unwilling to be exposed to disease, left an arm's length gap uncrossed. To the blond king, it felt like a cataclysm.

The hard look in Yusei's eyes had not been quelled.

"What's going on, Jack?" He asked, voice soft but tone heavy, demanding of an answer. Jack stifled a tremble. He could command an army with such a voice, Jack thought. And if I look any longer, myself as well… "Why did you attack Judai?"

He felt cold. Yusei's mind had never been on Jack. He'd been thinking of the Neospacian king the entire time… "Stop talking, Yusei…" Jack whispered, desperation clinging to his breath. Don't say his name…

"Quit saying that!" Yusei scolded, like Jack was a mere child in his care. He backed up a hair when Jack made the weak attempt to touch a leather-clad thigh. "What's happened, Jack? You were yourself this morning. What's gotten into you?"

I lost a duel to Judai…

"Jack, are you listening to me? Jack!"

I lost the duel to Judai!

"Jack Atlas! Answer me!"

"Winner, Judai Yuki."

"Jack!"

Jack gave Yusei credit for not crying out when Jack threw himself at him, knocking the two to the floor with a most painful crash. Without waiting he rushed to pull Yusei closer, dragging him to his body by the back his legs. He hastily pulled Yusei's thighs to wrap around his waist before leaning over as far as he could, trying desperately to eliminate the space between their bodies. He rolled his hips into the prince's groin, moaning with the want that was driving him to make Yusei his.

Yusei, stunned only momentarily by Jack's audacity, fought to free himself from the entanglement of Jack's arms, which were everywhere they could find skin. Using his legs as leverage, Jack could feel Yusei trying to push himself across the floor and away from his touch, and halted his actions before he escaped. Grabbing Yusei by his waist, he pulled the younger man back against the stirring hardness in his pants, rocking as much as he could into the lithe body beneath him in the hopes of garnering a reaction.

"Jack, please! Stop!" Yusei demanded, shoving at Jack's shoulders when the man leaned in to kiss him. "Please! Not like this!"

"Stop talking!" Jack threw his body against Yusei's a final time, making the smaller man arc off the ground in a fit of heavenly moans behind clenched teeth, fingers digging into the blond's back. Seeing this as the opportunity he wanted, Jack dove for Yusei's mouth, which was open and panting harshly.

Only to be stopped by a pair of hands against his own mouth.

The blur suddenly faded. The king found himself grasping at straws, trying his hardest to find any beauty in the situation. Love making is supposed to be beautiful…what happened?

Jack found himself staring down a terrified Yusei, who looked as if he was trying his hardest not to cry.

.o.

Yusei pounded on the door in front of him, refusing to stop until it was opened. A worried Judai opened it carefully, only to be caught in the tight embrace of his friend, body wracked with nervous shaking.

He closed the door and led Yusei to a chair, where the raven prince continued to tremble like a frozen victim who had fallen into an iced over lake. Judai kneeled before him for a few minutes, unsure of what to do other than stroke his friend's hair until he stopped shaking. He took in his disheveled appearance with mixed reactions, unsure if Jack had only startled him or actually hurt his friend. When Yusei finally looked up, Judai saw the fresh tears of pain streaming down his face.

"Oh, Yusei…" He embraced him, arms forming a strong hold around his friend.

But Judai was taken aback by his friend's next statement, spoken in a voice not belonging to someone who had been crying. "They're not mine."