Author's Note: So many threats! I have to run and hide now...AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Thanks for all the reviews. They made rewriting this chapter five times worth it.
Enemy
Chapter 11 - Yamato
Don't leave me, Tai. Don't turn to me with the dawn at your back and smile before you die. Don't haunt me in my dreams, like Mother, like Sora. Stay, Tai. STAY.
"You look like a ghost," he informs me.
I fade. See what I am becoming? My skin melds with the air, because you have stolen my soul and I can do nothing but watch you leave. Thief.
"You are crying."
Am I? I never used to cry, not until I met you.
"Yama..."
Don't call me that. Don't touch me. My tears are for you. Let them stay there.
"You are beautiful when you cry."
I catch his hand through the bars. Everything has become black and white.
We live together, Tai. We die together. Do you understand?
"You didn't come to the trial."
I struggle with the lock. The guards have given me a rusty key.
"They wanted to make me king, Taichi." Why am I telling you this? It's pointless. Pointless. "I refused."
The lock gives up. I slip into his cell.
"Why?" He asks. I avoid his touch.
Let me look at you. Before you lift me up and carry me away, before I drown in your heart. Let me look.
He stares back, his warm brown eyes weakening me. But that's okay.
"I never wanted to be king," I answer. "Let them find someone else, an old man perhaps. I've suffered enough."
I will die with you, Tai. But before that moment when all shall be lost, I will fight for life, so that we both can live. You taught me that.
"If you thought you could save me as king, then you would have taken the throne."
Yes. But it is the people who are after your life. Ignorant, blood thirsty fools who only want the complete destruction of an old regime.
"There is no good or evil, Tai. Only stupidity."
He smiles softly, reaching out to touch my wet cheek. "I wish you could see yourself, Yama. Your eyes are so bright. An angel of the gods has visited me and brought me the greatest gift in this world. Be mine tonight?"
Yours. Yours. How could you ask for something that all ready belongs to you?
He unwraps me slowly, carefully, studying each inch of revealed skin as if trying to memorize me. Our clothes make a magnificent bed over the gray, cold floor. Then the night melts away under his kisses, his touches that are burned forever into my flesh. One. Whole. For the briefest of moments, I am Yamato and Taichi combined.
This is a promise, Tai. We will never be apart. Never never never.
"I love you," I say. And he trembles at my words.
OOOOOO
They choose someone else to be king. Someone older and wiser. He has contributed greatly to the war. His name is not important, just as whatever insane position he offers me is not important.
I say I'd think about it.
Taichi's execution is set at dawn, as all executions are. I go see him as much as I can. The day they carry out his sentence, is the day we will be together forever.
TK, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
You are old enough to take care of yourself now. The king admires you for your talents. I have raised you as best as I can and now I must leave you. Either way, in life, in death, we have to be separated.
He looks terrified when I tell him I love him. He knows what I plan to do.
I watch as he reaches out, wanting to hug me. But there's a wall between us now, and I am somewhere beyond his reach.
"Onii-chan...please..."
He knows me well enough. I will not change my mind.
"Take care of yourself, TK. No matter what the outcome, I will be happy. Remember that."
I am not afraid of death, only of never seeing Taichi again.
He understands. I see it in his eyes. He finally understands.
"Then be happy, Onii-chan." Our hands touch. He smiles back at me through his tears.
OOOOOO
It is going to be a clear day.
The sky glows red and gold. A beautiful day to die.
Taichi is dragged out amongst cheers. They tie him to a stake. I watch as a dozen bows bend, as a dozen arrows aim at that beloved body. His eyes search for mine.
Don't smile.
He shakes his head in disbelief as I climb over the ropes.
I stand in front of him.
I draw my sword.
I raise it in the air.
And the message is clear. Kill me with him.
Deadly silence.
"Put down your weapons!" That is the king.
The archers hesitate.
"For the love of the gods. Put down your weapons."
They do.
I raise my eyes.
"Master Ishida, what is the meaning of this?"
I almost laugh out loud. Master? I never accepted the position.
"Simple," I answer. "He is a good man that does not deserve death. I will defend him with my life."
Gasps. Shocked cries.
The king takes it rather calmly. There's rage in his face.
"He was second in command to the enemy."
"I am well aware of that."
He sits down again.
"To protect him is to betray the throne!"
Yes.
His eyes are narrowed. "Kill him. Kill them both."
I can deflect arrows. I can fight for hours. I am Ishida Yamato, who needs no weapon to win.
There are horrified cries from the crowd, and then, one after another, they kneel. They beg for my life. I was their leader and they will not allow me to die.
"Please, Your Majesty. Not him. Consider what he has done. Consider how you acquired this throne."
"Have mercy!"
The king looks at me once more. "Step aside, and I will spare you."
I laugh.
"Yama..." I ignore Taichi's call.
"You will not step aside."
"No."
"You see?" He spreads his arms before the people. "He defies divine will. He has sided with the devil! What will you have me do?"
Still, they remain kneeling.
"I will give you honorable death." The king says finally. "I will give you choice. How do you want to die? Both of you. Yagami Taichi as a prisoner of war and Ishida Yamato for treason. It is final. Get up! All of you. For the sake of my people I allow you to die the way you wish. That is all the mercy I will allow."
I am silent. I don't care. Kill us. Kill us now.
"He chooses poison." TK's voice. I give him a sharp look. "Tomorrow evening, in the temple of his gods, before his king and his brother, Ishida Yamato will take poison with Yagami Taichi. Then they will be allowed to leave, to die where they wish."
"Did I ask you to speak for him?"
Shut up TK. Shut up. Don't get yourself killed.
"I am his brother and I know him well. This is what he wishes, though he says nothing."
"Is it?" The king asks me harshly.
"Yes," I say. If this is how TK wants me to go, then so be it.
"Then so be it."
OOOOOO
Taichi's mad at me.
"You are so stupid! You know that, Yama?"
He shakes me when I don't answer.
"Idiot...moron...bastard. You want me to feel guilty for all eternity?"
Really mad.
I shake his hands off me.
"How am I supposed to live without you?"
There is a brief pause. Then I am swept up in his arms, his mouth moving over mine.
"I know, Yama," he whispers. "Together...always...always..."
I rest my head against his shoulder. Our hearts beat in unison.
This is it. The end of the beginning.
"Now," says the king.
I take the tiny bottle in my hand, my gaze never leaving Taichi's face.
We drink the poison together.
I look around me, at the faces of my stone gods, at my brother.
TK steps closer to hug me, his hands caressing my back. "Goodbye, Onii-chan."
I take Taichi's hand in mine, and we leave.
Goodbye.
OOOOOO
I find the note in my pocket on the second day.
Onii-chan,
Did you really think I'd let you die? It isn't poison you drank. I switched the bottles. It is not enough, I know, to merely give you your lives. But it is all I can do. All I can do. Perhaps, one day, I can repay you for all you have done for me. Go with my love, brother. All the love I dare to give you without losing myself... I can't think of anyone else, who deserves this freedom and happiness more than you. We will meet again, someday...
Yagami Taichi,
I am giving you the most precious of all that I know, my only family. Take care of him. Love him as no one has ever loved him. Not even the gods can help you, if you fail in this.
My blessings. My love.
TK
Wordless, I hand the paper to Taichi.
How? What have I done, to deserve such a brother? TK, TK, it is I, who shall never be able to repay you for all that you have done for me. You kept me alive when all else was lost. And now, now you bring me back from the dead.
Hotness over my cheeks. I weep with happiness, with grief, with love.
Taichi reaches out for me. We cling to each other like the survivors of a shipwreck.
And above our heads, the sun is bright.
OOOOOO
Author's Note: ooo cackles evilly ooo You all thought I was going to kill them off, didn't you? ooo insane giggling ooo See? Happy ending! Do I get cookies? Do I get candy? Do I get to never write English essays again? Never mind, ignore the last part. Anyway, there will be an epilogue, to wrap things up, and to make way for the sequel. That's right! There's going to be a sequel. Happy? Excited? Sick of my rambling? I'll just...leave now... After all ooo dramatic pause ooo my work here is done...
Rubisco. Is. An. Enzyme.