Author's
Notes: Bah, you don't understand how much effort I put into
writing this chapter. Seriously, I spent the whole fortnight
convincing myself to get over my minor case of writer's block just to
please you guys...I'm glad I got this out in time, even if it is
11:37pm...Holy crap, it's late! And to think I have a school camp
tomorrow...I expect reviews for my effort!
Oh, and on that
topic...103 reviews?! (faints) You're all so very kind!
Thank you so much!
Disclaimer: KKM is the property or Takabayashi-sama.
Incineration: to burn or reduce to ashes; cremate.
-
In the Face of Anger -
Chapter Seven: The Incineration
Lately I've been inspired to practice more and more on my water magic. I still work on my sword practice, but not nearly as much. It's really awesome with how much I've improved! I can summon water dragons, and I can create these different shapes with the water…I can use it as a weapon, so I don't feel entirely useless anymore.
Günter – being his usual, enthusiastic self – decided that he wanted to witness my developed magic skills, and therefore arranged to have me demonstrate them tomorrow morning. And when he said 'demonstrate', he really meant 'test skills in battle'. And that means I am having a duel with Wolfram tomorrow morning in front of not only Günter, but Conrad, Gwendal, Murata, and Celi – who had recently returned after having found no luck in free love.
I shifted uncomfortably on my bed, attempting to move so that there was a bit more space between Wolfram and myself. Eck, he just moved closer…I wonder if he really is asleep or just pretending...Hm…
For whatever reason, Wolfram's subconscious self seems intent on trying to cuddle me whenever we're sharing the same bed. Oof, there he goes…! His head had somehow shifted on top of my right shoulder, his right hand fisted into my pyjama shirt while the rest of his body was pressed embarrassingly close to my side. My face's burning and I feel sick from how flushed I feel…Not good…
What makes this whole situation worse is that even though he's asleep, he possesses a greater strength then my own. I honestly can't find a way to pry him off me, darn it! No matter how hard I try to move him, he shifts right back, or he just doesn't budge at all…
And to think the same guy who's snuggled up next to me is the same guy who I'm going to be facing in a duel tomorrow! Man, that brings back the memories of that day…when I defeated him by transforming into Maou…I can't really recall much that happened back then, but I hope that my other personality didn't hurt him too much…Wolfram's acted different since then, but maybe that's because the night before he was under the influence of that weird perfume of Celi's.
…Okay, Wolfram just moved even closer. Heat. Getting too hot. Must. Move. Away. Now. Alright, how do you move him away when he's got a vice-like grip on you? Inching away doesn't help, he just follows…Maybe if I tried kicking him…No, no, that probably wouldn't end well…
I turned on my side slightly to face him. Should I wake him up? He'll just get cranky at me, and he looks so sound asleep. At least his snoring isn't that loud, so I'm not going deaf with having his mouth so close to my eardrum. I moved both my hands up and slid them so my palms lay flat on his chest and then pushed against him lightly. Yes, he moved a bit!
I managed to pry him away from my side, so at least it's a bit cooler. His head had slid off my shoulder from the movement and now lay on the pillow…though he was still awfully close to me. And his hand has still got a tight grip on my shirt! Eep…
I reached up and grabbed his hand with my left one and tugged on it. Still latched on, okay…I pulled a little harder, but he just grunted in his sleep and fisted it tighter. He's still as stubborn asleep as he is awake! "Ah, c'mon…" I grumbled wearily, pulling his hand harder.
To my surprise, his hand released my shirt. Oh, thank goodn-! Wha-? I froze when the appendage that had previously been gripping my shirt reached to grab my hand instead. I just stared at his hand clasping my own, and it didn't even occur to me for a while that I had previously been attempting to move him away from me.
Ever since that time about a week ago – when I had finally accepted Wolfram's comfort – he's seemed to have taken this as an 'okay' to being able to hold my hand. Well, he wouldn't just randomly grab my hand in public (That'd be so embarrassing)…it's more that he'd, well…
For example, everyone would be gathered around at dinner, and a rather depressing subject like war or Greta will be conversed. And then, the moment I glance down miserably at the table, or if I give a dejected sigh, or say something in an almost-defeated air, I'd nearly jump out of my seat when Wolfram's hand would wrap around my own. I guess the only real reason I haven't said anything to him about it is because no one can actually notice he's done anything since it's under the table…
The good thing about it is that Wolfram doesn't make a big show about it like he normally would. In fact, he'd continue adding his opinions to the conversation and act as if he wasn't doing anything out of the ordinary, which would cause me to stare at him in wonder. Wolfram's behaviour often doesn't make any sense, and it frustrates me to no end when I realise that I'm trying to understand his character when he's actually deeper then I originally thought!
I feel uncomfortable when he's holding my hand. The fact that I'm uncomfortable at the knowledge that it's comfortable with his hand in my own makes the whole situation worse.
Ahh, I don't know what to think of him anymore, I mused while gazing at his face. He has so many conflicting traits that it's hard to figure out why he does what he does. I mean, he's normally so loud and boastful about any of his 'accomplishments', and yet when I've somewhat relaxed and allowed him to do this, he chooses to be silently victorious. Argh, I don't understand him at all!
I stared at him thoughtfully for a while, until I eventually folded my fingers over the back of his palm. Oh well, I might as well just stop thinking about this for a while. This feels nice, so I'm not gonna bother working out any of the pros and cons that come with this sudden movement. He's asleep anyway…He doesn't know what he's doing.
And seconds before my eyelids slid shut, I swore I could see him smiling…
It's really hot outside, which just increases my desire to run away from all of this. Morgif was attached at my side, groaning in boredom. Everyone's eyes are watching either myself or Wolfram out in the courtyard. I seriously don't want to do this! I wouldn't have minded if there wasn't such speculation going on, and thinking realistically…Wolfram is going to own me.
Murata had just finished drawing a ring in the dirt around us and then proceeded to take a seat. He'd decided that it'd be easier to declare a winner of each of the rounds – I can't believe we're having more then one round! – by having a ring, so whoever gets knocked out loses. Murata keeps the score while Conrad, Günter, Gwendal and Celi observe. I wish I was the one standing there on the sidelines…
"Your Majesty!" Celi sang out cheerfully, offering an encouraging wave and a joyous smile. "Do your best! You too, Wolfie! You can do it!"
"Hmph!" I returned my attention back to Wolfram, and felt very, very afraid by his suddenly evil smirk. "Well, wimp…let's see how long you can last before I have you begging for surrender." Why, he-! He chooses now to be all cocky and arrogant? Grr, I'll have to do my best to take him down…!
"Wolfram, do not injure his beautiful Highness!" Günter pleaded helplessly from the side, causing me to sweatdrop.
"Let's begin, shall we?" Murata said with a large grin, looking far too amused by my current predicament. Sadistic little…! Oh, right, we're starting!
Alright, in order to summon my water magic I gotta relax…water…just gotta think of water…Okay, I got it! The water dragon suddenly surged out of my right palm and ascended above me, hissing lowly. Wolfram paused for a moment to admire my creation before flames came forth in all different directions to form a large, fiery lion. It roared menacingly, and for a second I hesitated. When Wolfram didn't make a move, I mentally ordered my own monster to attack. This really feels like I'm playing a virtual reality RPG game…
And then the flaming lion charged forward and the water serpent wrapped itself around the animal, causing it to growl indignantly. Water is stronger then fire, so I should have the upper hand in this situation! Alright!
I faintly registered the colour of an orangey-red before something collided sharply with my chest, sending me flying and landing flat on my back. Ugh, that really knocked the wind out of me…! What the heck happened? I think he just shot a fireball at me while I was distracted with the battle with the lion and the dragon…damn… Morgif made a loud and disgruntled, 'oooooh…!'
"First round goes to Sir von Bielefeld," Murata cheered happily, taking note of it and still grinning far too joyfully while I managed to stand up, dusting myself off. Günter protested over Wolfram's attack, obviously distraught at the idea of me being injured. Well, it didn't hurt too much…It was strong to knock me off my feet, but I just got winded…
"Keep one eye on your opponent!" Wolfram barked, still smirking smugly as his flaming lion retreated to stand beside him. My water dragon seemed to have dissipated from my lack of concentration, so I'll just have to summon another…Hm, there's a water fountain behind Wolfram…Perhaps if I summoned one of my dragons inside the fountain, it could lie hidden and be in a perfect position for a surprise attack!
"Round Two: Start!" Murata declared, and I concentrated on summoning a water dragon from my palm while gathering the water in the fountain into the shape of a dragon. If all goes well…
"Go!" Wolfram commanded sharply, and the fiery lion ran towards me, fangs bared. Eep, it's too damn intimidating…It's fangs are huge…Oh, right, gotta keep concentrating…I sent my water creature forward and it wrapped itself around the lion. It twisted about, trying to shake my dragon off. I turned my attention to Wolfram, who had been calling forth more flames into a fireball in his palm. Okay, second water dragon – here we go!
"What the-?" Wolfram gasped in surprise when the dragon burst out of the fountain, darted forward and coiled around him. "This-!" He still tried to summon his fire, but the dragon's water body had bound his hands to his sides, preventing any fire from being created. Awesome, I got him…
Wolfram squirmed furiously, trying to break free. Mentally, I ordered the dragon to squeeze him a little tighter, preventing any form of escape. Okay, now what…I don't want to hurt him, so I guess I could get the dragon to lift him off the ground and place him outside the ring…Sounds good enough, and it won't injure him…
"Attack, now!" Wolfram cried out, and before I realised what was happening there was a loud hiss from above, and I glanced up in shock to see the lion bite the head of the dragon, and due to my lack of concentration its hold had weakened. The dragon dispersed, and then the lion charged back down to where Wolfram was. I was too busy watching the lion move to realise it had bitten the head of the other water dragon, which caused it to shriek in pain and disappear.
Crap, now what do I-? Oh, I should summon some water bombs! "Beings of water, I summon-!"
Before I could create a water bomb, however, the lion seemed to dash forward and tackle me in the chest, making me yelp. I felt the wind get knocked out of me for the second time then, and the lion rested on top of my chest, baring its fangs in my face. My chest felt like it was burning, and its breath was hot on my face, making me sweat.
"Second round goes to Sir von Bielefeld," Murata stated, and I blinked. Damn, I got knocked out again…! The lion leapt off me and ran back towards Wolfram, and for a while I couldn't move. My chest still ached a little, but I managed to stagger to my feet once the pain faded away. In the background, I smiled grimly at Günter's whimpers.
"Are you okay, Shibuya?" Murata inquired, looking concerned. I was panting lightly…Not only was I sore from hitting the ground twice, but it takes a lot out of me to summon all this magic. And meanwhile, Wolfram doesn't look like he's breaking a sweat! This isn't good at all…
"I'll be fine!" I reassured everyone, my determination to give Wolfram more of a challenge weighing out my common sense to give up. I need to believe I can beat him to win…But, what can I do now? The surprise attack strategy didn't work, and it normally does in RPG games…Hm, perhaps a different kind of surprise attack will work, I said inwardly; thoughtfully. Morgif made a moaning sound at my side, and I glanced at him, pondering.
"Let round three begin!" Murata's voice rang out, and Wolfram watched me with a blank expression, eyebrows knitted together. He must not want to attack first, probably thinking I'm weak at the moment. As nice as that is, one of us has to attack eventually!
I summoned two of my water dragons and sent them forward. I need to distract him and draw his attention off me…One of my water dragons attacked the lion while the other one soared up high into the sky. Wolfram appeared to have his attention focused on the dragons, so now's my chance…!
I ran forward, having been inspired by the way I beat him at that sumo wrestling battle on my second day in Shin Makoku. He looked back at me half a second before I got to him and I pushed him firmly in the chest. He nearly toppled back, but having noticed my sudden physical attack, he braced himself well enough to not fall back over the ring. He seized me by my shoulders unexpectedly and shoved me back roughly.
I nearly fell over, but managed to gain my footing. He moved further away from the outside of the ring, smirking. I felt the temperature increase, realising I had once again lost concentration on my water dragons, so his lion was probably floating directly above me. Morgif gave a panicked groan, and that's when I was struck by a sudden idea. Swaying slightly from exhaustion, I grabbed Morgif's handle and drew him from his sheath. To get rid of his flaming lion, I need to get Wolfram to lose his concentration, so this should work…
I attempted to swipe at him with Morgif, but he easily dodged it. He drew his own sword, and as the blades clashed, I felt the temperature decrease, so the lion must have dissipated…After a few more strikes from his sword, Morgif flew out of my hand and landed a few metres away, letting out a loud, 'oooooh!'
This is my last chance, urgh…I'm so tired…I created my own water bomb and threw it at Wolfram, which miraculously hit him squarely in the chest. He fell back and landed on the ground, but he had previously been standing in the centre of the ring, so my bomb hadn't been strong enough to know him those extra few metres out of the ring. Now that he's at a disadvantage though, I could-
The fireball came so fast and unexpectedly, hitting me painfully and causing me to fly back and land in a heap on the ground. Ouch…that hurt just a tad…
I hadn't landed outside of the ring…I lay on the ground, Wolfram having disappeared from my vision. My mind yelled at me to stand up, but my legs were saying otherwise. I was too tired for this-eh?
The glint of a blade shone brightly in my face as the sword rested dangerously close to my throat. My eyes trailed up the blade which eventually ended at Wolfram, who was breathing heavily, but looked a great deal more composed then I was. If I make a move now, the sword'll nick me…My vision's getting kinda blurry…I feel so weak…
My eyelids drooped shut, and I was met with blissful unconsciousness.
My mind was still in a daze when I stirred lightly. I attempted to open my eyes, but it seemed that my eyelids were glued shut. I felt a dull pounding in my head and my chest was aching…but apart from that, I was pretty okay.
I was resting on something strangely comfortable, and something that felt like long, slender fingers were running through my hair. Ahh, that feels nice…It's relaxing, and judging from the dark green glow I could see in my vision, someone was using healing magic.
"…Totally irresponsible! You did not have to use full-strength when His Majesty is only learning how to control his magic without the help of his other personality!" Someone was ranting unhappily to someone else. I recognised the hysterical voice to belong to Günter, and when a voice that sounded just above me made an indignant, 'Hmph!' it could only be Wolfram. So, did that mean I was resting on Wolfram's lap? Was Wolfram the one using his healing magic? Was Wolfram making those really, really nice movements along my scalp which made my mind melt into a pile of goo?
…Surely not… "I wanted to test Yuuri to see how much he could handle before something like that happened," Wolfram explained impatiently while Günter made angry sounds somewhere else. "He's a wimp, so I should have expected him to have fainted like this…Well, it just proves that he's even wimpier then I originally thought," Wolfram mused aloud, and I was too content to grumble about his mild insults.
"Sir von Christ, you should not fret. I doubt Shibuya has been badly damaged; he was merely tired from using that much magic for the first time," Said Murata's calming voice from close by. "Come along, Sir von Christ…"
"I…" Günter half-protested, but by the sounds of the shuffling footsteps getting further away, Murata was leading him away. There was a pair of footsteps coming closer, and then I recognised Conrad's and Gwendal's voices.
"He seems to have made progress," Conrad commented in a delighted voice. "It appears all your training has paid off in the end, Wolfram."
"Of course it did!" Wolfram replied with an air of obnoxiousness, obviously pleased by his half-brother's praise. "Yuuri has definitely improved. In fact, if he weren't such a wimp, I'd almost say I was proud of him," Wolfram admitted, and despite his insult, I felt slightly touched.
"Let's just hope His Majesty is capable of recovering from this," Gwendal grunted sullenly, and I heard him turning on his heel and marching away. Conrad laughed lightly.
"I'm supposed to be training my soldiers now, so I'll let you take of His Highness until he awakens," Conrad told him, and even now I was still too tired to reprimand him for the formality. When his footsteps faded away, it was obvious we were now alone, and even though I hadn't heard her leave, Celi would have gone or she'd be simpering over Wolfram.
After a few minutes, my mind became less hazy and I was capable of rational thought. But, regardless of my sanity returning, I didn't want to move from my current position since it was so relaxing. His healing magic had made my migraine disappear, so it was okay. Although, normally when he uses his healing magic, he needs to press some body part of the person he's healing to his forehead to get it to work…Hm, maybe I just imagined that green glow…Maybe he didn't actually use healing magic at all, and it's just the gentle ministrations that made the headache go away…Or maybe I'm just going insane…
I was slightly surprised when Wolfram chuckled. "You know…" Wolfram trailed off, and I took a moment to contemplate just who he was talking to. Either someone was still here, or he was talking out loud to himself… "Normally when you're asleep…you snore."
…Crap. Oh, God, no…! NO! My eyes snapped open as an embarrassed flush rose to my cheeks. I met his amused stare as the corner of his mouth twitched into a sly smile, and with an indignant and rather manly cry of, "Eeek!" I crawled as fast as possible away from him.
Oh, damn it, this is soooo embarrassing…! I can't believe this! How could he…he…he picked up on that, how? Must have been because I pointed that out to him when I tried to tickle him. Damn, damn, damn. What am I going to do to redeem myself? What if he gets ideas? Nooooo!
"A-ah! Wolfram! Hello!" I squeaked, panicked by his smirk. My face was hot…! God, I can't believe I let myself enjoy his ministrations so much…How…? How could I, just…? ARGH! No, he's never going to let me forget this, and…!
I blinked in bewilderment at the palm that had been extended in front of me. I followed the extremity all the way up to Wolfram's shoulder, and then my eyes fell on his face. His evil grin had disappeared and had been replaced by one of those kind, gentle, 'I-Only-Give-This-Wolfram-Smile-To-You-You-Wimp' smiles. Something's doing back flips in my stomach, but I'll pretend I'm relatively unaffected by his smile.
But, damn it! It's…a really nice smile and all…
"Come on, Yuuri!" I jumped by his nearly impatient voice and grabbed his hand, thankful for him quickly pulling me to my feet. I got pulled too far forward however, and I made another manly, "Eeek!" as I landed face-first into his chest. Well, I've always found it good when things go from bad, to badder, and then to baddest. This suuuuucks, I internally whined. What makes things worse is that I'm enjoying the heat coming from his chest and the sweet, rose scent that intoxicates my senses in the nicest way possible…
He placed his hands on either of my shoulders and moved me so I was standing straight on the ground. Ah, well, at least he didn't try to hug me or do something in some gay manner…That would have been awkward…I was grateful when he chose not to comment about my flustered features and instead said, "Good match today."
I gazed at him and offered a sheepish grin. "Well…I guess I did okay, considering I'm still learning…"
Wolfram gave another trademark, 'This-Is-Designed-To-Make-Your-Insides-Melt' smile before saying, "Yes. You did well."
He walked past me then, and before I could begin to follow I heard him call back over his shoulder, "Unfortunately, wimp, I did better." And with a final arrogant smirk in my disbelieving face, he headed back towards the castle with an almost swagger in his step. I was about to shout something after him, but found nothing was suitable to say at that particular moment, so I closed my mouth. He…He…! ARGH!
And so, I stayed in that place for a long time, seething.
Author's Notes: Despite how weary I am from how late it is, I did have fun writing this. I find this chapter cute. This chapter actually did hold some significance, you know...It's mainly about Yuuri learning to cope with his magic, and - of course - learning to get used to Wolfram touching him. He needs to stop being such a...such a...such a wimp? Yes, that could work...
Wolfram: Too right it does.
Anyway, I'm hoping to get a good haul of reviews while I'm off on camp. So, please REVIEW! I mean, after all, I put so much time and effort into this chapter...
And Wolfram was a total seme in this chapter! Yay!
Wolfram: (smirks)
REVIEW!
