Warning: Still fairly mature till about half way through.

Chapter Ten: Taking Over Me

"I lie awake and try so hard not to think of you. But who can decide what they dream? And dream I do…"

-Evanescence Lyrics, Taking Over Me

The void, it affected me more than I wished to admit. I had wanted to tempt the girl, not myself, as I undressed her. It had all been forgettable enough…until I'd loosened her gag. I'd expected one of two responses; she would protest and I'd have to return the piece of cloth…or she would kiss me before I denied her. Instead, I'd been met with quiet fascination, she wasn't completely covetous of me but neither was she contrite. When I'd stopped myself from pressing my lips into her, for certainly I suddenly yearned to press more than our mouths together, she'd been almost crestfallen in that moment. Yet, she'd remained silent, quiet…even now against my chest with her pulse still accelerated she didn't speak. Her breath was uneven but not so much that she lacked it completely. Yet no words escaped her, had I broken her in so short a moment? If so, she was even more mongrel than I'd thought, all the same I felt a flutter of melancholy…for all my complaints, I'd been having fun with this 'Master', with the challenge of her.

"What the hell was that? What are you trying to do!?" She turned over in my arms, her eyes a conflagration of temper right next to the burn in her cheeks. I smiled in earnest, her flippancy meant the game wasn't over.

Natsumi –

"Attempt?" His chest rumbled against my fist, his amusement for my words ran deep and he pulled me closer to him, making me more aware of our precarious position…we were both without clothes after all, even with a few sheets tangled a bit between us it was far from what I was used to. "An untrue description, you are undoubtedly flustered. By being this close to bliss only to have it denied to you. Would you like to retract your request about my kissing you? Perhaps if you grow less cold I'll consider alleviating some of your torment."

"As if." I snapped after struggling a moment for a reply. I fumbled my way into turning back over, not wanting to give him the pleasure of looking at him. I got a bit more tangled in the sheet but I didn't really care if it put more of it between me and him. He pulled me back up close to his body, his chuckling still something I could feel as he pressed in close against my skin. Why was he so warm? His chest felt like a stone in the sun on a summer day, it was sweltering. For all my vexation at his games, it bothered me most that he was right.

My body was still alight with sensation from his undressing me, my arms and torso still could feel the sharp but slight pressure of his blade cutting through my clothing. My ear still tingled as well…and I was just…wound up. I felt like something inside of me had been electrified and then was just left spinning aimlessly. Considering it, I hated to admit that this did feel like I was left deprived of any payoff for his exasperating attention. More worrisome was that some part of me had wanted it, wanted him. Of all the beasts in the world it rattled me that I was weak enough to long for this one.

He smelled like a tropical forest, and the aroma was enveloping me since he'd gathered me up and wrapped himself around me like a cloak. Was it all just some side effect of his being a part god? Did gods smell of ambrosia and aphrodisiac? It would explain my stunning new thirst toward his touch, his tone, the trace of him around me. For as annoyed by his scheme as I was, I didn't want him to disappear. Gilgamesh was confusingly contradictory, I'd never desired someone I also despised before. How was it I could hate him and be captivated by him all at the same time if not for some deific endowment? Yet, even if I were under some sort of spell what hope did I have?

It wasn't as if I could ask him about it. I could already feel the rumbled laughter if I did and was wrong, the smug commentary that I'd been properly cowed. Ugh. This is horrible…I shouldn't even be laying down this early, it was going to mess up my plans. I'd hoped to take him out and finish another of the Servants tonight but I doubted he would be up for that. His breathing had already slowed, and if he wasn't sleeping he was close to it. Jerk. How could he do all that then fall asleep? If he wouldn't kill me for it, I'd probably elbow him in the dick. Then, he might take that as some sort of freaky foreplay, I didn't know. Gah! This was all so embarrassing!

I had had a boyfriend for a little bit, but all we'd done was a bit of kissing and feeling…nothing like this, we'd always had clothes firmly on. My lack of experience wasn't working in my favor. I knew generally how everything worked and I wasn't usually fazed easily but it was still mortifying that I'd gone from fairly tiny side league intimacy to this…this was certainly much more major league and it was simultaneously frighteningly unfamiliar and troublingly provocative. Would this be easier if I was like some of the girls at the school just spreading my legs for anyone? Would a slut have a hand up in this situation? No, probably not, none of the boys in town were exactly legendary spirits, more or less THIS legendary spirit. I doubted even if I had been a veteran at bedtime gymnastics that I would tolerate this any easier.

Nor could I mention it without him giving me some sort of snide comment. I was instead laying here thinking myself in circles. I was unable to sleep and having a hard time putting the sensations and emotions he'd plucked from me out of my mind. He'd told me several times he was a spirit of the many pleasures of the world, was that a part of it as well? Why he'd so easily made me second guess myself and how I felt about him? Well, he was still a jerk…just an erotically attractive jerk. He was just taking advantage of my hormones, I was a teenager – even if it was almost not true I hadn't turned twenty yet and wasn't it natural for me to like a good-looking asshole? Wasn't that something all girls had to go through? Maybe this was normal and I could logic my way out…then again it was really hard with his

My agonizing over my own unclear feelings and hormones was interrupted by the sensation of another power nearby, it was feint but I picked it out just before the wards beneath the floorboards activated, throwing back a figure in the shadows. Assassin then? I frowned at the idea of anyone seeing me…like this. Not that I was naked, but that I was tangled in the bed with Gilgamesh…with a wince I realized I was too tangled cause sparks continued to fly at the edge of the circle. Thankfully, for all the irritation he'd caused me Gilgamesh woke and jumped out, birthday suit and all to respond to the attacking spirit. Though his blades cut into my walls and knocked down the curtains around the balcony doors, letting in the low sun outside.

The sunset was placed just right between my servant and the doors that Gilgamesh's personal parts seemed to be glowing with light but I didn't just stare. I didn't have time to consider that convenient placement. Instead I pulled what I could of the sheets up around myself, trying to see what I could of my enemy. He was of an average male height and slim build, there was a vertical scar on his right cheek a few inches long, he had blue-grey eyes, black hair, and a cruel smile on his mouth as he danced backward out of the way. He was familiar somehow…but I couldn't quite place it. He was wearing a sharp suit instead of the armor many spirits had, he looked more like someone out of a movie set than a legendary spirit.

He was dodging around the swords shooting at him as he circled the room but Gilgamesh's tight control of his power was keeping him back from my bed even if he wasn't really doing much connecting there were a few that cut into the enemies suit. How had he known to attack me? Had Assassin seen what we'd done earlier, to Caster? At least he could have been close enough that in the swift passing of battle we wouldn't notice him. Was the war really going to pass this quickly? Unfortunately, this also meant someone knew I was a master and they knew where I lived…most wards couldn't be bypassed by any average Servant, but Assassin was traditionally great at going unnoticed until it was too late. The other grail forging families may have him…but I couldn't know which one. Then again, could there be other Masters that knew about me? More like Nostradamus with divination styled abilities? It seemed unlikely but I couldn't discount anything after today…

"Stop destroying my house!" I called out as I heard the shattering of glass.

The Assassin had continued to jump backward and out of the way of Gilgamesh's blades and as several broke my balcony doors the enemy slipped outside again. He pulled a small button from his sleeve and I frowned…had he set a bomb inside while he was hopping about? I was sure Gilgamesh would be fine, he'd crawled out of hell after all, myself I was less convinced about. Still, perhaps they'd forgotten that I was a magus, and that I wasn't to be taken lightly either. I called on my magic, curling myself in a cocoon of shielding a moment before the fire erupted through my bedroom. Whatever was happening between my Servant and the enemy I couldn't see it through the smoke and destruction. Why were people trying to destroy my house!?

This is bullshit.

I couldn't get concerned about my house though, already even a minor distraction in my thoughts was starting to make my shield fracture against the power of the blast. I did my best to focus on the shield and keeping its form as the room burned around me though some fire licked through along my leg where part of the shield had broken before I managed to reform it. Pain could be a good focus; my magic teachers had passed on that much. My body and shield both vibrating in response to the demolition around me. The sheets mostly breaking apart where outside my protection they were enveloped in flames. I folded in half as the roof came down on the bed, bending it as well…I managed to maintain my shield but only thanks to the extra mana I'd gotten in Gilgamesh's drugged wine but I wasn't sure how long it would last, I was covered in debris, wrapped in the tattered remnants of my sheet and finding it hard to focus enough to keep however many pounds that could be on top of me from crushing me beneath the weight.

I could also still feel the tug on my mana where Gilgamesh was unleashing his own form of fury on the enemy Servant. Maintaining my own power while being the battery manifesting his was draining me quickly. Watching was my only option as the bright light of my shield cracked and spider webbed along the length, it was let it go or stop Gilgamesh's assault…and that bastard had just destroyed my bedroom. At least the weight didn't kill me outright when the shield dropped but a sharp pain in my leg that had already been burned didn't bode well. I felt a sticky warmth along my calf, not really a good sign that something had pressed down enough to make me bleed.

I wasn't dead…yet…should I use a command seal to force Gilgamesh to help me? Of course, if I gave that sort of order now he could end up leaving his back open and since I tied him to the world he'd could make him leave his back open if I gave him that sort of an order mid-battle. I also didn't really want to waste a seal on something he was sort of forced to do anyway…he would have to help me if he wanted to stay here.

"Do you think your toys will save you?" I could hear my Servant's voice. It was muffled slightly but not so distant that I was quite as afraid. I could make it out clearly enough, his mocking the enemy while I was in here bleeding and being crushed by the ceiling of my bedroom. I looked around me, pondering how I could possibly move safely to dig myself out as opposed to waiting on him.

"Great, thanks a lot Gilgamesh, nice to know the last thing I might ever hear is your arrogant rubbish." I muttered as I lifted a board that didn't seem connected directly to the others.

"No, but even if you are still here, I expect your master won't last in a burning building so can you afford to chase me down?" The opposite Servant mocked. So, he came here to destroy my house and was just going to leave? Rude. I didn't have a lot of time to survey though, the enemy servant was right since I was still bleeding and if I bled too much I'd pass out. The opposite end of a board laying on me was still on fire after the blast and I really didn't want to just leave it on top of me since it was already warm. I pushed it to the side without causing a rain of other debris…enough that I could get my leg closer and wrap what was left of the tattered sheet around it…but it turned red pretty fast. It wasn't going to do much for the wound. Then I had to be careful cause there were all sorts of splintered rocks and wood around me…this was a bad time to be naked.

Stupid jerk Gilgamesh with his stupid jerk face and his stupid jerk games.

Nothing else on top of me was on fire that I could see, a good sign. There was still a lot of dust in the air and the sun was close to setting but I could still see a few rays displacing the motes in the air in a ray. A sign there was a way to the surface, it was only a couple feet away, that was better than I was expecting. Still, if I moved the wrong thing, the small opening I was lucky enough to end up in might disappear and I didn't know how much the boards above me might weight. I already felt dizzy, I was sure the only reason I wasn't cold was the fact that the building had just been roasted. I was coughing and nervous, not sure how to get free of this…but I needed to think fast before I couldn't act anymore and just passed out.

End Chapter

The Assassin is such a dick. Running away and all after exploding Natsumi's house. Rude!

-Aura

To my reviewers:

Not sure what I'm doing wrong here...no one leaves reviews. Is Fate just not that popular of a franchise fanfiction wise or am I just messing up somewhere?