He loved her. He'd told her that, over and over, all these long hours she's spent in his palace in the sky. It was evening now and the stars about her twinkled blithely as if mocking the loss of her friends, her lover, and all she'd ever known. Her freedom was surely gone as well: she was sure of that. The dark haired monster before her made it perfectly clear she was to stay in the shadows of the castle, with him, for as long as they both lived.

"Let me go," Mew Ichigo begged, over and over again, at the feet of Deep Blue, "Please, let me go. I don't want to be here. I- I can't be here. Please. Please."

He cast toward her a tender blue eye and rose with horrible grace to take hold of her chin.

"It's mad out there," he said softly, regretfully, as though it was not his fleet of chirema animas who burned and pillaged and murdered, as though it was not on his orders that her beloved friends lay dead on the street, that her love was gone forever, "You could be hurt. Stay here, with me, and be safe. I'll protect you always. I won't let anything hurt you."

She meant to scream that it was he who hurt her, he who had shattered her heart with the stealing of Masaya's body. She meant to tell him she hated him: she hated his tender caresses, hated how he held her to his chest and hated the fire she saw in his eyes. She meant to tell him all this, but he forced his lips down to her mouth and she could not speak for the force of his tongue and the lust of his eyes which left her frozen with dread.


"I've loved you so long," he told her that night, their first night together, as he dragged her struggling form to the bedroom he'd created just for them, "I had to watch, you know. I had to watch that other soul, your precious Aoyama, put his pathetic little hands all over you. I had to watch him kiss your palms, your cheeks, and your lips. Your pretty, pretty lips. Can you imagine how that felt? Have you any clue?"

Ichigo did not answer, but broke free and darted to the opposite corner of the chamber. The room was dark save a few candles which smoldered here and there, and not nearly big enough to keep her as far from him as she might have liked. Between them, there lay only a large, circular bed, which was topped with black silk sheets and surrounded by panels of navy gauze.

"Where's Pudding?" Ichigo asked, as she inched backwards towards the wall and tried desperately to ignore the seductive smile which spread across his handsome face. Oh, never in her life had she been so afraid, so alone. She wanted to go home, to her own house, where her mother cooked dinner and her father worried over her boyfriend. The thought of her parents brought tears to her eyes, brutal tears, and she blinked hard to keep them away, to keep herself strong. Suppressing a shuddering sigh, she met his hot gaze with a glare of her own. "Tell me now. Where's Pudding? I want to see her. I want to know she's alright. She's only a child-"

"She's fine for now," Deep Blue said with an uncaring wave of his pale hand, "She's put away in the chambers below us with that bratty Tart and awful Kish. Warriors they called themselves. Ha! Can you imagine?"

"Kish and Tart?" Ichigo asked, as a pinprick of light glittered into her heart. Enemies though they were, she was relieved to hear the alien boys had survived the terror which took their comrade. "They're here? Alive?"

Deep Blue considered her for a second, his gaze smoldering with a lust which sent her skin crawling before his lips pulled into a bitter smile.

"I suppose you're happy to hear about Kisshu," the madman said coldly, as he stalked across the room to stand before her, "I might have guessed you liked him. I watched, trapped behind the mask of that awful boy, as he touched you. As he fought for you. Wanted you for himself, I'd say. Wanted you something awful. But I won't let him take you. Only I can have you. Only me. ME."

He leaned in for a tender kiss then, and Ichigo turned her head to avoid his lips. With a ferocious growl, he placed his hands on either side of her face and forced her to meet his eyes.

"I will have you," He said lowly, and planted kisses on her cheeks, "One way or another, you'll be mine."

"I hate you," she cried weakly, and struggled against his iron grip, "I hate you, and I'll hate you until the day I die."

He snarled then and forced her tongue into her mouth. His fingers tangled in her soft pink hair and wiped gently at the tears which ran down her cheeks.

"You'll be mine," he whispered when he pulled back to allow her some air and dragged his tongue across her ear. "You'll be mine forever."


Ichigo did not sleep at all that night. The palace was utterly silent, and the only thing she could hear was the breathing of the monster who lay beside her. Still, she knew the world around her screamed in pain and fear and the tears of her grief, of her failure as a saviour of the planet, soaked the satin pillow beneath her head. Deep Blue had his arms around her, had her crushed to his chest, and this, too, made her weep. She cried and cried until she could cry no more and when morning came and she felt him move beside her, Mew Ichigo shuddered at the horror she knew would be the day.


Thanks for reading! I shall post more soon!