A/N: I'm blue dabadi dabadai dabadi dabadai dabadi dabadaiiiiiii…
XP
"Kaida…what…what happened?" The prince asked, dazed and confused. It had taken a while for him to wake up, I'd brought him over to the table with the cushions and laid him down with his head on my lap. When Kuzkin, the same servant who'd brought me my wine that first day, came in with the breakfast, and he didn't ask any questions. I gave him a week smile and thanked him. He bowed again, and then, for the first time, looked me in the eye and touched his fingers to his lips, which I understood to mean that if word leaked out about the prince being in my room like this, they wouldn't be hearing it from him.
I hadn't touched my food yet, and it had gotten cold.
The prince's hand came up and he touched my cheek, "You've been crying…" It wasn't a question.
I held his hand in my own and closed my eyes, pressing it to the side of my face, drinking in his scent, "How long," I murmured, "Have you been hearing that voice?"
The prince paled and he sat up, looking at me, his eyes wide with horror, "What…" He murmured, "What, did, he, do?" He asked slowly. "What did you do!?" He roared to his own head.
"It's not what he did, it's what he tried to do." I said, wondering what the Dark Prince was saying to him. His eyes glazed over, and I could tell he was listening, and his rage was building.
"Oh? And what did you do to make her send them after you?" He hissed to himself. "What did he do?" He asked me after a moment. "What did he try to do?"
"I'll give you three guesses, but you're only going to need one." I said dryly, "I'm not sure how much of a compliment it is when your dark side tries to rape me."
The prince paled, "He—Kaida, Kaida I'm—"
"Don't you dare say you're sorry, Prince, because you're not the one who should be apologizing, and I don't want an apology from you." I said, my voice firm, yet gentle so that he would know I wasn't angry with him. "Just make sure he knows that if he tries something like that again he won't be so lucky next time."
The prince paused a moment, and then his face became ugly and furious, "He says he'd like to apologize for his behavior." He snarled.
"Tell him that he can take his apology and stick it up his (beep)." I said, and a grim smirk crossed his face.
"Noted." He told me. But then his expression became sour again.
"What did he say?" I asked.
"I'm not repeating it." He answered.
"So can you give me an estimate of how long you've been hearing his voice?" I asked.
The prince frowned, "I think I first realized it was actually a voice when we were on that ship and we'd been separated. Or at least, that's when I first realized I could interact with it. I thought I was going crazy, so I didn't want to say anything. I tried to just ignore it, but it kept getting stronger…do you think…do you think he could be my Inner Demon?" he asked.
"If he is, he's more like a cross between the typical non-entity inner demon, and one of mine. Because mine never had the ability to possess me like that, and yours doesn't have its own body like mine. No, this is a case of your darkness separating and obtaining its own individual consciousness. I'm not sure how it happened, and I'm not sure how he was able to take control of your body, but it did, and he did, and now we're stuck with him." I said.
"What do I do then? How can I get rid of him? Or at the very least make sure he can't take control of me again." He asked.
"Ah, my expertise in the matter is rather lacking. I constructed a huge house in my mind to keep all my inner demons out of my conscious thought, but I don't know whether that can work for you. Just make sure you take everything he says with a grain of salt, and if you feel him trying to take over, I suggest fighting it by forcing yourself to being overly aware of your body. Also…if you find yourself somehow becoming a sand monster, you'll be able to change back with water." I said.
"A, a what?" he asked. I took a deep breath, and explained what happened as well as I could. "Oh…" He murmured, "I see…It was water that changed me back to me, wasn't it?"
"Yes, so at least I have that weapon. I'll just have to make sure I keep some with me in the Manor at all times." I said. "Huh…" I said, an idea occurring.
"What is it?" He asked.
"Nothing, I was just wondering what would happen if I turned him into one of my Inner Demons like the Dahaka, always assuming I could…"
X3
"Welp, this is your new home, Princy! Enjoy it!" I said, tossing the Dark Prince into the Manor, and shutting the door behind him.
"What the hell!? Let me out of here!!!" He yelled, pounding on the door. "I'll get you for this! Let me out!!!"
"Well would you lookie here." Said a familiar voice, and he spun around, coming face-to-face with none other than Monigan. But not just her, Kukarkin, Gorra, Aggle, and a large number of other female inner demons as well.
"AIIIIIIII!!! OH DARK PRINCE!!! YOU CAME FOR ME I KNEW YOU WOULD!!!" Aggle squealed, immediately latching on to him.
"We like Dark Priiiiiince." The Sisters chimed in unison, surrounding him on all sides.
With a cry of pure terror, the Dark Prince ran for it, with a large number of demonic fan girls tailing him. Finally he thought he lost him, only to have Kukarkin appear and tackle him to the ground. "Caughtcha!" She declared happily.
Suddenly the world lost all color, and there was the Dahaka, a murderous glint in his eye. "Oh, uh, hi honey!" Kukarkin said sweetly, hopping off the Dark Prince and trying to look innocent.
"Namow ym s'taht." He growled, grabbing the Dark Prince by the neck.
"I want my mommy!" the prince sobbed.
X3
The prince was in tears, not just from this little imaginative story, but also at the indignation that his darker half was voicing in his head, as he told me through gasps and bouts of laughter.
"Alright, what's going on in here!?" Keilic demanded, practically slamming the door open.
"It's not what you think!" I exclaimed, holding my hands up defensively, "I know this looks like we're just sitting around and I'm telling another funny story, but we're actually having sex!" I said.
I though the prince was going to die laughing. He certainly fell back against the pillows and rolled onto his side, and after Keilic got over the shock of me telling such a bold, shameless joke, he, too, began laughing, though not nearly as hard as the prince was.
XD
Four days had passed since the incident with the Dark Prince, and in that time I had, so far, been able to avoid the King. A good thing because I did not want him asking me why I wouldn't marry his son. Still, somehow it leaked out that the two of us were lovers, or rather, that we were going to be lovers, we just didn't realize it yet, and it was the sole duty of every meddling member of the palace to see to it that we did.
It was difficult to get around the subtle hints about how it would be nice to have such a strong woman taking up a permanent residence in the palace, as Orzan was becoming a nuisance in doing, in order to look for the Dagger, or to find out anything about it without letting anyone know that I even knew what the stolen Indian treasure was. Check that, it was nearly impossible.
I was visiting the training grounds regularly, with or without the Prince, and my frequent strolls had given me a good idea of the castle's layout so that I didn't need a guide wherever I went. Since earning myself a place there, most men were more than happy to help me out with my limited acrobatic skills. The problem was that the prince seemed to be the best of the best, and what I considered to be limited compared to his, was not the case compared to theirs. Still, the terrain I needed was there for me to practice, and while I did have difficulties, my ability to balance quite nimbly on my hands as well as my feet came in very handy, no pun intended.
More to make myself useful than anything else, I agreed to help train the rookies, though I had no idea how in the world I was suppose to teach what I'd learned through experience and by watching the prince, so Orzan and I worked out a system. I would spend an hour or two in the ring, while attempting to go easy on the rookies that came in to try and knock me out so that they could get something out of the fight other than a hard kick in the butt, and then Orzan would tell them everything they did wrong and what they needed to do to improve. It wasn't much good for a workout, I could go on for hours with opponents this pathetic, even if they tried to gang up on me three at a time.
Still, even with all of that going on, I was looking, and I had even woken up a demon named Kohlt to do a bit of spying for me. He was little else than a single eye with bat-like wings which could transform into any type of black bird and record what he sees and hears like a camera, to play back for me in my mind when I called to him. He use to be the one that kept watch on me, and which the other demons used to find out where I was.
Though he could even become invisible, he had yet to find or hear anything at all, he hadn't even found the dagger, though I had him look for that as well.
As my only education in this matter was through books, I didn't trust my information gathering skills enough to do very much. I did get Orzan talking about the war, but when I asked not even he knew what the treasure was suppose to be.
I wasn't hanging around the prince nearly so much as I though I might have to. He did have some princely duties to attend to, though what they were I had no clue, not because they were a bit secret, but more for lack of interest. Well, half lack of interest, half out of the desire to keep our worlds separated.
As much as I hate to admit it, what the Dark Prince had said when pretending to be his better half was beginning to hover more and more often in the back of my mind, and I began to wonder if his words were true, and if that was how the prince really felt.
The thing was, there wasn't much more of me that I could offer the Prince which I hadn't already given him. Yes, I could give him my hand in marriage, but then what? After that…what else was there?
Pain. That's what I could give him, pain. And I feel he'd already suffered enough at my hands. He had done so much for me already, the Dark Prince was right about that, at least. The prince had given me everything he could, and then some. I'd just been too self-absorbed to realize this. How many times had he listened to me talk to him about my childhood when what he really wanted to do was shut me up and simply stay ignorant? How many times had he told me embarrassing stories of himself, just to make me feel better? Just to see me smile?
And what was I giving him? Sex, and that was about it. I couldn't even give him my love, because I didn't even know if it was there. All I could do was pretend, and that wasn't enough.
XD
I sighed, the hot bath that had been drawn for me by Kuzkin was heavenly. I'd gotten use to going for a while without baths, but nowadays they were frequent and it was so nice. I had cleaned myself off more thoroughly than simple soap would have done, and now I was just enjoying the water itself.
"You know, I take it back. You're more than only 'acceptably' pretty, much more." Said a voice I had no trouble in recognizing.
I looked over, and there was the Dark Prince, leaning against the wall next to the balcony entrance and grinning, in full view of at least the top half of my body. I stared at him, felt color rise to my cheeks, and immediately curled up in order to cover myself, "GRAAAAA!!!" I roared, "What the hell are you doing out!?!?" I demanded angrily.
"Believe it or not I was coming to apologize, but I think I've gotten side-tracked. What were we talking about again?" He asked innocently, and the next minute he was standing right next to the tub and grinning down at my attempt to cover myself, "What, you're shy? It isn't as though I haven't seen it all before, just not in person. Hey now," He said, somehow able to dodge the water that I splashed towards him.
"Alright, buddy, you have ten seconds to either, one, get out, or two, explain what you're doing here, before I let Monigan have at you. Ten," I began.
"Okay, okay, fine. I'm sorry I tried to rape you, I promise I'll stick to seducing you and I won't force you into anything…no matter how much I want to." He said in a board, drawling voice, as though resigning himself and wanting to get his apology over with as fast as he could.
"You call that an apology?" I demanded incredulously, summoning my robe over to me and covering myself with it as I got out of the water, "That was pathetic." I told him.
"Well excuse me but I've never had to apologize for anything before." He grumbled, looking more than a little put out that I'd managed to get the robe on, and was standing on the other side of a tub of water.
"Well if that's the case then you've also never had sex before, making you a virgin." I said in a falsely sweet voice.
His eyes widened and he slapped a hand to his chest, "Ouch!" He said, pretending to have been wounded physically. But then he grinned, "I don't guess you'd do me a favor and fix that for me, would you?" He asked seductively.
I gave him the finger, "Go find yourself a prostitute." I snarled.
"Oh, ouch! Another blow!" He said, giving a false wince, "Oh come on, Kaida, it doesn't have to be like that. Alright, perhaps I was a little too, ah, firm with you before."
"Yeah, one would think Monigan, Aggle, Kukarkin, and Gorra might turn you off!" I exclaimed.
"On the contrary, I just want you more." He said, wagging his finger annoyingly at me, "Such powerful creatures at your beck and call, all of them under your complete control. How many of them are there? I'll bet you have enough to topple an army."
"Monigan could topple an army by herself, if you have to know. Are you finished yet? Because I do have your weakness at my disposal and you may be able to dodge just me, but you won't be able to dodge if I decide to call Kagero." I told him.
The Dark Prince was beginning to loose some of his humor, and there was frustration and anger in his eyes now, "You've slept with him often enough, what would be the difference if you slept with me!?" He demanded, it was almost like he were a child demanding why his brother could do something that he couldn't.
"Because you're not him!" I exclaimed.
"Yes I am! Haven't you been listening!?" He demanded, grabbing at his hair and actually pulling on the smoky locks. "I am just as much a part of the prince as the half that you know! Allowing me to touch you is no different from allowing him to touch you!!!"
"Oh yeah? Then how come you can't be content with having him touch me?" I asked him hotly.
"Because I am a shadow, and as such, I only get a shadow of what he does! When he touches you I don't feel your skin, I feel him feeling your skin!" He exclaimed.
"You see!? That's the difference! Because I wouldn't be having sex with him I'd be having sex with you!"
"WE'RE THE SAME PERSON!!!" He roared.
"NO YOU'RE NOT!!!" I roared right back at him, my fists in the air, "I can tell I can feel the difference between you!!! When he kisses me he kisses me out of love, but you kiss me out of lust! When we make love there's meaning to it, there's emotion, there's a fire, a spark there that makes it more intimate than just sex. All you want is the sex itself and nothing more!" I exclaimed.
"And what if you're wrong? Hm? What if what I really want is what he has!? What if that's exactly what I want!? What if it's that little something extra, that indescribable…something that makes it more than just sex!? If it were just about the sex I could care less, believe it or not! But it isn't! He and I are different parts of the same being, we are one! Is it so wrong that I want an equal share of what he has!?" He demanded angrily.
"What, so you think you have the right to just take it!?" I asked.
"How the hell else am I going to get it!?"
"Not by freak'n raping me!" I answered.
"Then HOW!?" He roared, and he actually grabbed the tub and pushed it hard so that it skidded far out of our way, its low water level sloshed but other than that didn't spill. "How!? Or do you even have an answer!? You are afraid, aren't you!? You're afraid that by letting me in you'll be even more entwined with the prince than you already are! You're afraid to allow your affection to spread to me because I am his darkness, and loving his darkness and his light is just too much for you! You cowardly b(beep)!!!"
My blood was boiling now, I could hardly think straight anymore, I was so angry, angry not just at him, but at myself, because I knew he was right. What had happened to that bit of fan-girl attraction I use to have for the Dark Prince in my video games? Well, I could always make the excuse that he killed it by trying to force himself on me but…in a way…I could almost understand why he felt he had to do it that way in order to get what he wanted, and I also hated myself for that as well. I wanted to keep hating him because I didn't want to love the prince this much. I didn't want to admit that my affection could be love, because it just might, and that was the danger of it. I was afraid, yes, I was, but no one calls me a coward.
It was that, more than anything, that made me reckless enough to do what I did next.
I raised my hand, and he obviously thought I was about to slap him, though he wasn't backing down from it at all. But what I really did shocked him so much that, for a few moments, he forgot how to breathe. I grabbed him by the light wisps of smoky hair, discovering that they did, in fact, have substance, and I pulled him down the few inches of height difference between us and kissed him full on the lips.
I was not a coward. But what the hell had I just gotten myself into?
It was different though, it was different from the last time, and though it was still different from when the prince and I kissed, it wasn't…bad. The taste of him was the same, but there was something else in the mix there. Like something had been taken away and a subtly different herb had been added. A darker, deeper taste, odd, and yet…it seemed kind of like an acquired taste, the more I had of it, the less I found I disliked it, and the more I wanted.
The dark prince soon kissed me back, hungrily, passionately, and, yes, lustfully. But this time I let him, and this time I felt a dark, sinful sort of pleasure at the way he was running his hands up and down my body, pulling my sash away so that they could slip inside the robe and caress bear skin with bear skin. A small part of me, the part of me that was far more SENSIBLE was beginning to panic and yell at me to get out now. But I had gotten myself in too far. I dug the hole already, I might as well burry myself in it and be done with it. I brought my arms around his neck and slipped the ring off my finger, banishing it to the Manor and experiencing the transformation back into my own sand form.
Somehow sensing what I'd done, the Dark Prince pulled back so he could look at me, and he smirked lustfully at my black body, practically ripping the robe all the way off so he could have a better view. "Magnificent," He purred, "I'm glad to see that you—"
"Dark Prince?" I said sweetly, grabbing him by the back of the neck, "Let me make a suggestion, shut up before I change my mind and decide to feed you to the harpies." I snarled at him.
"Yes ma'am." He cooed, but though I'd stopped his verbal gloat, there was no getting around the satisfied look on his face, even as I used his hair like a leash and drug him over to the bed.
I pushed him down onto the bed so I could be on top, and once more our lips met, our tongues entwined, and as the dance began I felt my anger fade, and I could feel his own arrogant satisfaction and victorious airs leave as well. It was strange, and I somehow felt as though the Dark Prince from the game, the one that I thought I knew from the other day, and this one were all different somehow. The same, yet not the same at once. He did not adore me like the prince did, his kisses and nibbles weren't loving like his, but they were full of that same fire. His adoration came in the form of lust and a desire to take, to own. But this time, this time I let him. And when I did, I realized that the one with the true power, the one who held the keys in their hand, the one who was really in control of all this…was me. And rather than being slightly appalled by this power, as I would have with the prince, I embraced it, I enjoyed it and used it. I used it so that he knew, so that he could see without a doubt that he had just given me a dark, macabre power over him, but one that I wasn't going to hold on to if he found he didn't like it, if he realized this wasn't what he wanted and decided to make it stop.
But he didn't want it to stop, he didn't want me to relinquish that power.
And so I didn't.
XP
DP: YEAH!!! Finally some action!!!
Prince: (In shock) O0O…
DP: Heheheheh. So, how about you ditch the prince and stick with me?
Kaida: Tempting, but no, not happening.
DP: Oh come on, you know I'm much more awesome than he is.
Kaida: (twitch, twitch)
Kioko: Heheheheh, (Evil smile) (Whispers something to Kaida)
Kaida: (Similarly evil smile) Dark Prince?
DP: Yeeeeeeeeees?
Kaida: Heel.
DP: (Zipps over to Kaida, a large grin on his face)
Kaida: Wow, you were right! Good boy.
DP: Hey wait a moment…
Kioko: (Laughing her head off) Oh gods that was priceless!!!
DP: What the—I'm not your dog!
Kaida: No, but you're acting like it. (Smirks evilly and begins whispering huskily in his ear)
DP: (Grinning with sinister satisfaction, but then frowns slightly) Why should I—(Kaida kisses him) Yes ma'am! (Runs off)
Rhea: Hey! What did you tell him!? I told him he could do the FAQ today!!!
Kaida: Oh, he'll be back in a minute. (Laughing) I am simply exercising the power I have over him! It feels good.
Kioko: Doesn't it though?
Rhea: Just don't humiliate him or anything like that, he's too awesome for that!
Prince: (Snapping back to reality) NOT YOU TOO!!!
DP: (Coming back with a box in his hand) HAHA! I told you!
Rhea: Er…he reminds me of my brother?
DP: O.o Say what!?
Rhea: Anyway, do the FAQ!
DP: ALRIGHT!!!
Q: So is the Dark Prince a bit more tightly tied to the prince than he was in the game now?
A: Yes. We have a sort of yami/hikari thing going here. We are two parts of the same person, and as such I'm not going anywhere. They're both stuck with me!
Q: So is the dagger actually in Persia? And if it is, where is it?
A: Not telling, heheheheh.
Q: How come Kaida gave in to the Dark Prince like that?
A: If you honestly have to ask that question then you really don't deserve an answer.
Q: You know the Prince isn't going to be too happy when he finds out.
A: Psh, we're the same person, he'll get over it. It's not like she technically cheated on him or anything. Once he learns I'm the better man things will go a lot more smoothly from here on out.
Q: So does Kaida really have that much power over you now?
A: What? A woman, having power over me? You're out of your mind.
Kioko: Oh yeah? What's in the box Dark Princy?
A: …SHUT UP!!! (Gives it over to Kaida, who's laughing)
Rhea: Well, that's all for now! Until next time!!!
DP: I want in the Drabbles now!
Rhea: Oh for the love of—FINE!!! YOU GREEDY SOB!!!
Kioko: Read and review and all that fun stuff.
