I'm back, lovelies! I know it took me a little while. I have been in the process of moving and getting internet has been a hassle. I am happy to present the third installment of the Broken Love and Betrayal Abound series. I am planning for this installment to be a bit longer than the first two. I know the second one was surprisingly short for some, but I did that for a specific reason that was explained to the concerned party.
Enough about that though!
Enjoy the first chapter of They Shattered Only to Rise Again!
Chapter One
It was another sleepless night for Lulu as she got up for what her newborn child needed this time. Rhiannon was screeching in her crib and Lulu was starting to get a headache from the sound. The child wanted nothing more, it seemed, than to keep her beloved mother from getting any rest whatsoever. Suzaku was dead to the world it seemed since he hadn't moved from his spot on their shared bed in hours.
It had been several weeks since C.C.'s arrival and the return of most of her memories prior to her marriage to Suzaku and the birth of their child. There were parts of her memory that were still fuzzy, but in time Lulu assumed they would come back. Lulu only had to be patient, not only for her memories, but to escape from Suzaku's clutches.
He was being way to clinging in her opinion and rarely left her alone. He wouldn't leave for more than half an hour at a time or he would send Rolo to look after her if he was ordered to be gone longer. Suzaku said it was for her own safety and that he didn't want anything bad to happen to her, but she knew better. She may have convinced him that she had not been affected by C.C.'s appearance, but Suzaku wasn't taking any chances that his wife and the witch would come in contact again.
Lulu walked into the nursery and shushed her child. Rhiannon quieted almost instantly once her mother came into view. Lulu picked her up and held her close as she hummed a small tune to keep the child quiet. Rhiannon reached out a hand to her and Lulu placed a slender finger between her tiny ones.
Lulu hated to admit it, but over the last several months she had grown to adore her child. The hatred she once had for the infant who kept her tied to Suzaku now became a new reason to stay. But even with this reason, Lulu still held the belief that she would get out from underneath the direct rule of her vile father. She also knew that she would take her daughter with her when she did.
Lulu knew that taking Rhiannon away with her would probably kill Suzaku, but she had no love for him at the moment. Lulu kept putting off any intercourse with him because she couldn't even think about having any sexual contact with him. She tried to appease him with slow passionate kisses and cuddling, but Lulu knew that those would have to come to an end eventually.
Lulu walked over to the rocking chair and sat down so that she could rock her child to sleep. Rhiannon was almost already back to dreamland, but Lulu just wanted to hold her. She wanted to make sure that no one would take her child from her. Once she was comfortable and Rhiannon was situated Lulu began to rock the chair back and forth.
Her mind wandered back to Suzaku and the events that played out only hours before.
Lulu had been putting a new diaper on Rhiannon and cooing at the child when Suzaku came into the room. He came up behind her and looked over her shoulder to smile at the child. He reached around her and petted Rhiannon on the head before dropping a kiss onto Lulu's neck affectionately. Lulu repressed a shiver of revulsion as she plastered a smile on her face.
"She is absolutely beautiful, Lulu," he whispered.
"That she is," Lulu replied. "Unfortunately, this little beauty needs her sleep."
Rhiannon let out a long yawn as her mother spoke and Suzaku chuckled. He stepped away from them and Lulu picked up the child from the changing table. Lulu placed a soft kiss on her daughter's forehead before making her way to the crib where she laid Rhiannon down.
"Go to sleep, darling."
As if on her mother's command Rhiannon's eyes fell shut. Lulu smiled again and turned around to find Suzaku staring at her with concern. Lulu raised an eyebrow before waving him out of the room. Suzaku followed her silent gesture and Lulu followed quickly after him before shutting the door softly behind her. She wouldn't have to worry about hearing her child since the baby monitor was on and the matching speaker was attached to her hip by way of a clip.
Lulu focused her gaze back on her husband and waited. His face was blank as he approached her and Lulu stood her ground. This wasn't the first time Suzaku would approach her as if she was a dangerous enemy, but she did her best to not let it rattle her.
"What is wrong with you, Suzaku?"
"Nothing," he answered. Lulu rolled her eyes at him. He may have gotten better at lying to her, but she knew he was definitely worried.
"Then why are you looking at me like I've sprouted a second head or something?"
"No…" he answered with a small shake of his head. Lulu wasn't sure if it was because he didn't want to even think about answering her question or if he was trying to clear his mind of whatever he had been thinking.
"Then what is it?"
A small smile found its way onto his face and he reached out a hand to stroke her cheek. Lulu leaned into because it was expected of her not because she wanted to…at least that was what she told herself.
"I can't just stare at my beautiful wife?" he inquired. "I can't gaze at the perfection that gave birth to my lovely child?"
"You can when the look in your eyes doesn't scream 'danger' when you look at me," she replied. She pushed his hand away from her face and made to step around him. Suzaku grabbed her hand before she could get too far away.
"I wasn't looking at you…"
"Save me the lie, Suzaku," Lulu hissed. "Ever since that woman arrived and broke into my hospital room you seem to be tiptoeing around me. Sometimes I catch you looking at me as if I really am Zero and you are just waiting for the moment when I try to kill you."
"Lulu…that isn't…"
"You told me that I wasn't Zero and yet," she interrupted yanking her hand from his grip, "you look at me like I am. What am I supposed to believe, Suzaku?"
"It was never my intention to make you feel as if I don't trust you, Lulu," Suzaku answered softly.
Lulu crossed her arms in front of her chest and glared at him. "So the constant surveillance and you never leaving for more than half an hour are supposed to be your ways of showing that you trust me?"
Suzaku ran a hand through his hair. "I've told you, Lulu. It's for your own safety. C.C. is still out there and next time she might actually succeed in taking you away. I just want you safe and as your Knight that is my duty."
"Whatever," Lulu spat. She turned on her heel to head to the dresser to grab her pajamas when she felt Suzaku's arms wrap around her waist. His head rested on her shoulder and his breath was warm against her throat.
"I don't want to go to bed with you angry at me, Lulu," he said.
"That's just too bad for you then," Lulu replied.
"Can I make it up to you?" Suzaku questioned.
Suzaku didn't give her a chance to answer. His lips were already against her throat. The kiss was soft and he continued to plant more all the way to her ear before his tongue flicked out against the her lobe. Lulu's breath hitched, but it wasn't out of pleasure like he seemed to think. Lulu was trying her hardest to keep from throwing up.
"No, I'm not in the mood, Suzaku," Lulu bit out.
"I'm sure I can get you in the mood, Lulu," he challenged.
He moved his hands so that they were on her hips and he began rubbing soothing circles there. His face was still against her neck and if Lulu was stronger she would have pulled away, but he held her still. Suzaku resumed his kissing back down her neck and too her shoulder.
Lulu's stomach rolled and one hand flew to her mouth and the other grasped at one of Suzaku's wrists in an attempt to keep herself steady. Suzaku must have taken it as a sign that she was enjoying herself, because his teeth bit into her shoulder. Pain spiked through her and Lulu did the only thing she could think of and that was dig her fingernails into her husband's skin.
"Shit, Lulu," Suzaku squealed. "What did you do that for?"
"So that you would let go," Lulu answered as she moved away from him.
Suzaku moved closer to her again so that he could again reach out and touch her. Lulu turned around and pushed him away from her. His emerald eyes widened in shock as he looked at her and saw the anger swirling in her violet orbs.
"What is going on, Lulu? You used to love it when I…"
"I said I wasn't in the mood, Suzaku. You blatantly ignored my words and now I'm even more pissed at you than I was before," Lulu cut him off.
"I just wanted to be affectionate, Lulu. I miss holding you and…"
"I'm just not...You just spent the last several minutes staring at me like I was some…monster. How do you expect me to be affectionate towards you when you act like that?"
Lulu was only being partially honest with herself and with Suzaku. Her body missed Suzaku's touch, but her mind and heart couldn't think about anything except that he had betrayed her. No matter how much her body wanted to feel Suzaku's hands on her or his skin against hers she couldn't let him. She would lose all rational thought just like that night on Kamine Island and she refused to let that happen again.
"You are not a monster, Lulu," Suzaku stated. Lulu thought it sounded more like Suzaku was reminding himself or, at the very least, trying to convince himself that she wasn't.
"Then don't look at me like I am," Lulu countered. "I don't know how I am supposed to be intimate with you when you spend most of your time seemingly waiting for me to do or say something wrong."
Suzaku just stood there staring at her. Again, his face was blank and she couldn't even read the emotion in his eyes anymore. Lulu wasn't sure she wanted to anyway. She was afraid that every day she stayed with him and away from her cause the possibility of her leaving would diminish. Lulu already didn't want to leave Rhiannon behind and she knew that if Suzaku put enough effort into he just might convince her to stay.
"Will you come here?" Suzaku questioned. He opened his arms for her and after one step forward she stopped. "Lulu?"
Why couldn't she just turn away from him and walk into the bathroom or back into the nursery? Why couldn't she deny him everything when all she wanted was to be held in his arms? The line she had tried to draw between them after C.C.'s break-in seemed to be blurring quicker than she had anticipated. Why was there still a part of her that wanted Suzaku to wrap her up in his arms and protect her from everything? Why?
"Lulu, please? I just want to hold you. I promise I won't do anything more."
Lulu nodded slowly and watched as a small encouraging smile spread across her husband's handsome face. Lulu moved forward and rested her head against Suzaku's shoulder. He wrapped his arms around her and held her close. Lulu relaxed against him even though her mind was yelling at her not to.
"I love you, Lulu. You know that, don't you?"
"Yeah, I know," she answered.
Lulu's mind returned to the present. Rhiannon had shifted in her sleep and Lulu couldn't help but smile down at her bundle of joy. There was drool down the side of her face and Lulu had to hold back a chuckle so as not to wake the child.
Lulu grabbed a clean burp cloth from the table next to her and gently wiped the drool away before getting up again. She took the sleeping child over to the crib and laid her down again. Lulu waited a moment to make sure Rhiannon was fully asleep before she left the room to return to her own bed.
As she crawled into bed Suzaku stirred and opened his sleepy eyes to look at her. Lulu gave him a small smile as she pulled the covers over herself.
"How is she?"
"Rhiannon is fine. She just wanted someone to hold her," Lulu answered.
Suzaku shifted and wrapped an arm around Lulu in order to pull her closer. Lulu allowed him to do so with the hopes that if she did he would go right back to sleep. She was exhausted. She had to keep up the act that she was devoted to Suzaku as well as a loving mother. It was tiring. The second wasn't nearly as hard as the first seeing as how she had grown to love Rhiannon with all her heart, but the first was driving her mad.
As Suzaku pulled her in and against his chest there was a knock on their room door. Suzaku let out a frustrated sigh and Lulu raised an eyebrow. Who would be calling on them so early in the morning? Surely whatever it was could wait several more hours.
Suzaku removed his arm and threw the covers off. He picked his robe off of a chair before he made his way to the door. Lulu laid still as she waited and listened to the conversation coming from the entrance way.
She also took this moment to silently curse herself and the way her heart was beating so hard against her chest. Lulu couldn't believe the affect Suzaku had on her sometimes, but she wanted nothing more to throw herself at him and let him make her feel sane. Lulu knew she couldn't, however. If she let him she would never save Nunnally.
There was a thud from the entrance way and Lulu stiffened. She couldn't decide if she hoped it was the visitor who was incapacitated or her husband, but either way it didn't sound good. Lulu threw the blankets off and hurried as silently as she could to Rhiannon's room. She stood before the door in a vain attempt to protect her child.
Lulu could hear the door close and footsteps coming from the entrance way heading in her direction. She waited and strained to see if she could place the footfalls, but she couldn't do it. Nunnally had always been better at things like that and so Lulu was, in a sense, up a creek without a fucking paddle. She had no idea how she would fight off the intruder. If it had been Suzaku he would have already told her that everything was fine.
The footfalls got closer and Lulu grasped the handle on the nursery door tightly. It wasn't that she was truly afraid or scared. She was just worried that whomever had decided to pay her family a visit couldn't be swayed into leaving her and her child alone.
As the intruder came around the corner Lulu felt a small bubble of laughter being to rise in her throat. She couldn't believe who was standing before her with an angry scowl and a twitching eyebrow. All she could do was straighten her stance and smile at the intruder in the most relieved way possible.
Hmmm….I wonder what will happen next?
Next chapter will be from Suzaku's point of view and it will be more of a dream type chapter. Don't worry though, for those of you waiting for the M in this story part of it is coming up next.
Thanks for sticking with me through the first, second and now third installment.
For those of you who have send me requests I am still working on them and will get them up as soon as I can. I will let you know by PM when they are up specifically.
Please review!
~BlainexKurtxLovex