This may or may not be the last chapter. It depends on how lazy I am.
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Suichi did not allow himself to think about Karasu at all on Friday. He spent the day alternating between Kuronue and Yoko, making good on his promise to not take the raven's wants into consideration. The last few hours of that day he dedicated to sitting holed up in his room, frantically trying to decide. Suichi's head and chest burned with a startling intensity by the time he had made his decision as the sun was setting.
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"Well, Suichi? Wait, let me guess, you want Daddy to choose, right?"
Suichi laughed mirthlessly. "Don't be ridiculous. I spent all day deciding; I'm going to make this decision on my own!" He turned to face Kuronue and Yoko, meeting each of their eyes in turn, careful not to give himself away. Fate was not kind to Karasu that evening. Suichi looked at Kuronue.
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Kuronue felt his heart leap into his throat as Suichi spoke his name. All of the dread and terror of the last week disappeared. Until the prince's eyes turned apologetic.
"I-I'm sorry, Kuronue…"
Dumbly, Kuronue nodded, ears buzzing with sudden terror once more.
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Fate was not kind to Karasu that day, and it gave Yoko a bittersweet victory. The fox smiled at Suichi, but the momentary euphoria faded once he realized he'd done well to say his goodbyes to Karasu the night before.
Yoko forgot his own problem as the king spoke. "Well, Kuronue, you'd better get packing." The fox watched Kuronue's eyes flash, and the bat turned slowly on his heel and slunk out.
"Father!" Suichi cried, turning to glare at the king. "Why can't you be nice for once!?" He turned and raced after Kuronue. Only Yoko noticed the tears.
Kuronue was a statue with an empty trunk at its feet when Suichi walked through the door. "Let me explain, Kuronue?" The prince pleaded. He flinched as guarded, hurt amethysts turned his way, but Kuronue jerked his head once. Suichi bit his lip. "You've been so sullen these past few days, Kuronue," he whispered. "And you wouldn't say why! I've been so worried about you, but you wouldn't trust me. And, Kuronue, I'm not emotionally stable enough myself right now to deal with someone who has such violent mood swings and won't attempt to explain or even acknowledge them!"
"That'swhat decided it!?" Kuronue snorted.
Suichi sighed. "It was the hardest choice I'd ever had to make, Kuronue. Had you not gotten so depressed I probably would have just flipped a coin, that's how certain I am that I could survive quite happily with either of you. But…would you tell me now why you've been so…gloomy? Otherwise, I'll spend the rest of my life wondering." The boy smiled.
Kuronue didn't say anything for a while, but not because he didn't trust Suichi. He was afraid of the prince's reaction. Finally, he spoke, knowing it didn't matter anymore, anyway. "I didn't want to tell you this before you decided," he whispered. "I didn't want you to choose me out of…pity, or because you felt obligated to." He sat down on the bed besides Suichi, but didn't look at him. "But now that your final decision has been made I guess I can say it." Never did Kuronue let his eyes stray to Suichi's face. "My father…will undoubtedly find some way to blame your choosing Yoko on me. But he doesn't take out anger or disappointment the way normal people do. He gets violent. Really violent." He paused again. It was a much longer pause.
"For a while, when I was younger, Father…I was his—slave. Actually, I think 'his bitch' is a better term." Kuronue didn't need to look at Suichi to feel the prince suddenly begin to smolder. "I…stayed like that…until he acknowledged that it would be suspicious if I wasn't out seeking marriage. But he still…"
"He'll still rape you if you go home empty-handed, correct?' There was a low hiss in Suichi's voice, like a kettle on the verge of boiling. "Then you won't go home. You'll stay here. If you're not protected enough in the king's own palace then you're not protected anywhere."
Momentarily caught off guard by the harshness in Suichi's voice, Kuronue could only stare. He blinked, shook his head, and regained his tremors of fear. "He'll just come here. How could you stop him from bringing his own son home?"
He didn't scowl, but the scowl was there, hanging around his angel's face like a cloud of wasps. "Father will protect you, Kuronue." There was such a force on that "will" that Kuronue knew that Suichi would have an aneurism if the king tried to kick Kuronue out.
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"Aneurism" turned out to be a rather weak word to describe the mood the king's refusal put Suichi in. Thunder crashed in the prince's eyes as he glared into his father's face.
"…what." It was a not-question, spoken in disbelief, disgust, a response to the spark that had ignited the wick on the end of a stick of dynamite. "Did you hear me. Were you even listening. I'm not here wasting my time." It was a growl.
"Don't question me, Suichi." Mild surprise.
Technically, he wasn't, Kuronue mused. None of those statements were meant as a question…
"For once in your life, your miserable life, listen to me. Until then I'll question you all I want!" Both demons blinked. It had to be the first time in Suichi's life that he had snapped at anyone.
Kuronue bowed awkwardly to the king and trudged after Suichi out of the room. Once they were clear he shot a sideways glance at the boy's face. It was clear now, calm and emotionless once more.
"Er…Suichi?" He was only too aware of the ticking time bomb that was his prince.
His head didn't turn, but his eyes shot sideways way too fast for him to have really regained his cool. "Yes?"
"I-thank you," Kuronue growled awkwardly. He knew something was still wrong when Suichi only nodded and changed the subject abruptly.
"I don't need Father…the Guard Captain will listen to me."
Yoko almost crashed into them as he rounded the corner at a furious pace. "Oh. There you are, Suichi. I was looking everywhe—what's wrong?" His eyes flickered from Suichi's hard eyes to Kuronue's anxious face. "What happened?"
"Father's being a jackass about letting Kuronue stay," Suichi hissed. "But I've got influence, too. We'll see if Kuronue's returning to his father's wrath…"
"What's going on?" Yoko asked once more. "Why's he in such a foul mood?"
Kuronue wasn't sure if he wanted to trust the fox with his story. "He's gotten all self-righteous on my part. It's nothing, really." He knew Yoko didn't believe that; he wasn't even convincing himself.
----
The beast was succeeding. Dynamite fizzled from nestled deep in Suichi's chest, needing only one more spark to blast his ribcage apart and unleash the monster lurking within.
The prince's mind was a blank buzz of anger and the crackling of the explosives. He couldn't even hear the conversation going on behind him. But the noise cut off sharply, and was replaced with a blaring alarm at the same second that Kuronue froze. He whirled around.
"What?"
Kuronue's whisper was barely audible. "Here." It was all he needed to say.
Fear lent Suichi a sudden burst of violence. He grabbed Kuronue's shoulders so hard the bat flinched. "Where? Where is he?"
"The king."
He felt Yoko's dumbfounded stare following him as he raced back the way he had just come. "Come on!" he bellowed back.
Their footsteps echoed after him. Suichi ran into the double doors of the throne room, hearing them crash against the marble walls with a satisfyingly loud noise. The visitor turned, his eyes going straight through Suichi's body to find those of his son.
"What perfect timing," the king said. "We were just talking about you."
Suichi ignored him and locked eyes with the father who looked remarkably like Kuronue. "I will not hand Kuronue over to you." His voice, even to him, was too quiet.
The demon raised an eyebrow. "Beg pardon, Your Highness?" His fake innocence gave the nearing explosion a nudge.
Without looking, Suichi reached back and dragged Kuronue forward. "You heard me. Kuronue's told me all about you and I will notlet him return to such treatment."
The demon's eyes hardened. "Has he now?" His voice was a growl. "And you plan on stopping me from retrieving my own son, do you?" He laughed. Suichi was able to deduct, from Kuronue's sudden trembling, that his father's laugh was never followed by anything good. "Kuronue will come home, won't you?" Kuronue whimpered. "Now come here."
Suichi felt Kuronue start forward. His nails dug into his friend's arm. "You're not going anywhere, Kuronue."
Kuronue's father had no patience. His purple eyes narrowed. "You dare and try and stop me, boy?"
"Yes."
The demon snarled at his son. "Kuronue! Come here!"
Yoko grabbed Kuronue's shoulder, getting very irritated very quickly. He snarled at the bat's mirror image that glared at him from across the room. "He's not your dog, jackass."
Suichi huffed his agreement. "Kuronue's not going anywhere. You're wasting my time; go away."
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Yoko had been enjoying the mystified expression on the king's face, but when it suddenly changed to anger it just fueled his own rage. Suichi's eyes flashed to his father's face and a low growl rumbled from the redhead's chest.
"This has nothing to do with you, Father. For once, do yourself a favor and keep your fat mouth shut."
The king sputtered indignantly as Kuronue's father moved towards the trio in the doorway. Suichi refocused on him and stubbornly stared him down, his nails digging deeper into Kuronue's shoulder, the wolfish snarl growing louder and louder in Yoko's ears.
Suddenly Yoko found himself knocked backwards and falling on his tail. Even Yoko's eyes were almost inadequate tools for deciphering the next couple of seconds. Before the pain signals had even reached Yoko's brain Kuronue's father had grabbed his son and attempted to pull him away, and Suichi moved faster than any of them had ever seen to grab the demon by the throat and slam him against the far wall. Yoko got up and was about to go try and help Suichi when he was forced to stop short.
Suichi's aura had gone from its normal placid red to a thick, smoky gray. His hair lifted and blew of its own accord, in a violent wind that the fox couldn't feel. What had stopped Yoko's advance was anger, rage of the purest kind, fury unadulterated. It blasted away from Suichi in all directions; Yoko and the guards that were trying to stop the prince could only prowl around the edges.
"Howdare you assault Yoko…" Every hair on the fox's body stood on end. Suichi's voice had an unearthly rasp to it, audible over the boiling-kettle-hiss that his voice had been reduced to. "Not only do you mock and taunt me, not only do you demand I return Kuronue to you, you take the liberty to assault Yoko!" Suichi's fingers tightened around the demon's throat. "Let me make this perfectly clear: There is no way in hell I will let you get your slimy hands on Kuronue. You are an abusive, cold-hearted, cowardly rapist who doesn't deserve the air he breaths!"
"He-He's my son…." the demon choked…"You can't stop…me…" He swiped at Suichi's face with his long claws in an attempt to make him let go.
Suichi's other hand came up and caught the demon's wrist. Whatever restraint the prince had been exercising was let go. Yoko had moved to where he could see the left half of Suichi's face. Pink had been creeping through the boy's eyes for a few moments; now they glowed an angry, pulsing red. Suichi said nothing; his teeth remained clenched and his jaw shut, but a metallic shriek ripped through Yoko's eardrums, rebounding off the marble walls. The fox winced and clamped a hand over his ears as the sound repeated, the idiot guards milling around like panicked cattle, unable to tell where the noise was coming from.
Yoko looked back at Suichi and yelped. He heard Kuronue sink to his knees as they gave way. Insubstantial, ethereal, giant black wings had sprouted from the prince's back and a long, semi-transparent reptilian neck curved away from Suichi's and curved up past the prince's whipping hair. The fox felt the powerful gusts of wind as the dragon beat its smoky wings and screeched again, rising slowly from Suichi's body. Kuronue's father had gone beyond trembling in terror and had frozen solid, apparently trying to melt into the marble behind him. The beast wrenched itself free and soared in a circle above Suichi's head. It exhaled a stream of the same turbulent, swirling black substance from which it was made at Kuronue's father. The demon shrieked as if actually burned, the sound cut short by Suichi's grasp on his throat.
Suddenly the fox understood. Yoko's terror evaporated. If his theory was correct then the dragon could not hurt him. He closed his eyes and stepped forward into the angry storm that cut him off from Suichi. It was like wading through shoulder-deep molasses in iron boots against the wind, but stubbornly he pressed on, trying to reach Suichi before the prince committed homicide, for whatever just reason Suichi may have had. Above him, the dragon bellowed a warning that Yoko ignored. The fox opened an eye and saw the swirling black flame hurling towards him, but felt nothing but a warm breeze as it rushed past him. The dragon roared in frustration but abandoned its efforts to drive Yoko away.
It took ages to reach Suichi and the relative calm around him. Yoko staggered up to him with leaden limbs and burning lungs. Gasping, unable to speak, he tried to tug Suichi's arm away from the demon's throat. Kuronue's father was starting to turn blue. One opaque red eye glared up at Yoko, and an irritated growl pierced the fox's ears.
"He deserves more than death, Yoko," Suichi hissed.
"That's not…for you…to decide, Suichi…" Yoko panted, tugging fruitlessly at the prince's arm. "Leave him for…the courts…please…"
"Never."
Try as he could Yoko could not overpower the redhead. Despite the difference in size, weight, and strength, Suichi moved no more than a deeply rooted tree would. The more he tried, the angrier Suichi became, and the more substantial the anger-dragon became. The fox switched tactics and tried cajoling, he tried reassuring, he even tried petting and cooing but the prince didn't budge.
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Kuronue looked at the monster spouting gouts of flame at his father. It was no longer transparent and seemed much bigger than before. Somehow he knew that the dragon must not be allowed to fully materialize. If it did, Suichi would live the rest of his life in misery and rage. Something told the bat that if Suichi fully strangled his father like the prince obviously planned, the beast would solidify for sure. He couldn't let life treat Suichi so badly.
"S-Suichi…"
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For a moment Yoko saw a flicker of green in the prince's eyes. He glanced at Kuronue and mouthed at him to keep trying.
"Suichi, stop…it's not worth it. Let him go…" Kuronue sounded afraid and tired.
The prince blinked, his fingers loosening on the demon's throat.
"Please, Suichi, don't do this!! Let him go!!" Kuronue had obviously seen the change in the prince because he sounded more confident, more sure of himself.
The readhead swayed on his feet, confusion resting on his brow. "But…but…Kuronue…" A hoarse whisper replaced the eerie hiss of just a few seconds before. "I thought…"
Kuronue got to his feet. "You thought wrong, Suichi. I don't want you to murder anyone, even him. Please, it's not worth it…"
Yoko chanced a glance at the dragon. It was fading again, but not without a fight. It shrieked and sent a stream of flame through Suichi's body. The prince's body tensed once more in anger and his fingers closed tighter around Kuronue's father's trachea.
"Suichi! Don't let it get to you! Don't take justice into your own hands like it wants you to, please!!" Kuronue's pleading brought the green back completely. When the beast shot its poison fire through the prince again, this time Suichi fought back. He wrenched his hand away from the demon's throat with a cry of pain. As Kuronue's father slumped to the ground, coughing and gasping for air, the dragon's dying shriek echoed repeatedly around the cold marble reception hall.