Disclaimer: Not mine, it belongs to CLAMP… even if they seem to have forgotten that fact… -_-;;

Twin Star

Part 8

She remembered nothing about how she had gotten here. That bothered her, but she had more pressing issues at the moment. Like how she was going to get free of these bonds.

Or, really, why she was bound to this chair in the first place.

It was dark in here; there was light, but it came from what looked like the hallway that led to this room, wherever this was. Dimmer, darker light fell in a navy blue patch below the window as she looked around and suddenly wondered what was going on.

She was in a small room – and it was obviously a bedroom, and a girl's bedroom at that. The window was framed by soft pink curtains, drawn back and held in place with bows. The bed was covered by a similarly-colored comforter, pillows and stuffed animals littering its surface. There was a dresser, desk, and chair to her right, and the door lay to her left. She could only reason that the door was the most logical way to escape.

Getting to that door was another matter entirely, however.

There was movement off to her right – she tensed, and the door opened, white light from the hallway spilling into the room until the lightswitch was flipped and she was momentarily blinded, cringing away from the attack on her pupils.

When she dared to open her eyes again, the door was closed and leaning against it was the same boy she's seen before, still clothed in the same black trenchcoat but this time without the sunglasses. The one who'd called himself –

"Ne, you're awake now, are you?" he asked genially, coming over to her chair and folding his arms across his chest, looking down his nose at her. He was very tall, she noticed, and had a very strong aura of power about him. But he was young – most certainly a boy and not a man, and were she to guess, she would say he couldn't really be all that much older than Kamui, or even herself or Sorata. Physically he looked like he wasn't yet out of high school, but there was a depth to his dark eyes that made her shiver in the already cold air, despite his tone of friendliness.

It didn't sound anything like Sorata's friendliness, and there was something beneath those audible words that made her cringe. Hate – pure, wordless hate and rage – began to stir in the pit of her stomach.

"Who are you?" she demanded, figuring that directness was probably the best way to go here. "Where is this – why –"

"Slow down there," he said, unfolding his arms and holding his palms out before him. He grinned, but it was cold and empty on his features. "I'll answer your questions, of course," he began, his voice smooth as silk. "You're in my house, Imagawa-kun – and isn't it quite a nice little place my sister used to have here?"

His sister

It felt as though the bottom had dropped out of her stomach. And suddenly she was in no mood to play games. Her head still ached from Kamui's blow, and she was disoriented enough as it was. The ropes which bound her were beginning to cut into her wrists and ankles. And she didn't like it here.

"Who are you?" she repeated, but she already knew, and he smiled once more.

"Oh, don't you remember? Well, I suppose you did pass out right away – that's quite a blow Shirou-kun landed on you, you've got to admit. Oh well, no matter, it certainly made things easier for me…"

"Who. Are you?"

"Yes, yes, getting to that – Fuuma. Monou Fuuma."

And she pitched forward into that same icy sea, only she was in the sky, and it was cold this high up, with little air left to breathe, and she was falling upwards into the arms of Kamui…

Only it wasn't Kamui…

Angel's wings, feathers, a sickening grin –

"Fuuma," she repeated, her stomach beginning to churn, as she acknowledged just who this boy was. And where she was, really, and probably why she was there as well. Instead of fear, however, the hate that had begun to well up the instant she'd awoken here only grew stronger, controlling her more effectively than fear ever could.

"Ah, I see you're beginning to work things out," he observed, his voice ringing with a note of amusement, as his hands crossed over his chest once more. "Good."

A pause.

"I don't suppose asking you to let me go is going to do any good then, ne?" she asked, a wry smile twisting her lips as she looked up at Fuuma from her chair.

He laughed, perhaps genuinely amused. But the sound cut off abruptly as his dark eyes fixed on her once again.

"No. It won't."

The silence couldn't have lasted for more than a moment, but it seemed to stretch on towards eternity.

Finally, he spoke. "So… let's get started, shall we?" He went over to the desk and dragged the chair out from beside it, pulling it over so that it was facing Nibai before he plopped himself ungraciously down into it, draping his limbs languidly over the arms.

Nibai rolled her eyes. If this really was Fuuma, then she knew that she would have to tread carefully. Not knowing much more about him than that was probably her biggest weakness at this point, but she was going to bluff as long as she could on that front.

And there was that tiny voice in the back of her mind, whispering, He can't kill you, at least. You know he can't – you can't die like this, you'll die protecting Kamui, Fuuma can't kill you now…

She wasn't sure whether or not to believe it, but life was much more pleasant – relatively speaking – if she did.

"So I'm assuming they've already given you their little 'You're a Dragon of Heaven, help save humanity' speech," he began, watching her lazily from his position a few feet away.

"Yeah, you could say that."

He smiled. "And they've told you you're Sorata's twin, then."

"Yep, great guy, don't you think?"

He smiled wider. "And so you've already decided, then, that you're going to die for your little Kamui-chan, haven't you?"
That struck something in her, something that began to make her just the slightest bit angry, of her own accord as opposed to the hate that was welling up on its own. His tone, his mocking words, something about the way his eyes flashed as he spoke Kamui's name…

"Very good." He continued smiling, pleased although she hadn't even given him an answer. Apparently, she hadn't needed to.

She sighed. "So if you know all of this already, oh great Dragon of Earth, then why do you have me tied up in here? Seems I'm only cluttering the place up." Perhaps not the best choice of words, she realized, but she'd already spoken them now.

"Oh, we're getting there," he replied, eyes sparkling and suddenly she was even sorrier she'd asked. This didn't… look good. Or didn't feel good, was more like it, because the feral grin he was giving her made her stomach drop right through the floor.

But while he'd been answering his own questions, she'd been working on something – working on getting her power to manifest a spark of lightning, small and controlled enough, to lance through her bindings in one shot. Because she was hoping that if she could just make a mad dash for that door –

She felt the first sign of heat, of power, start in the palm of her hand, cradled between her interlaced fingers, and watched him very carefully to see if he had noticed.

But his expression showed nothing of the sort as he went on.

"You see," he was saying, "there's a slight problem with your plans. A hitch, if you will, and it's right in front of your face. Yet you don't seem to see it. But if I told you what it was, it would be no fun, now would it? And therein lies your problem, Nibai-chan."

"What, not even a hint?" she tried to produce a mock-pleading look for him, even as her blood began to boil and his sheer audacity.

And that was the last ingredient, it seemed, because at that moment she flexed her hands and power lanced through the room, ionizing the air and cutting through her bonds –

She fell to the floor and scrambled to her feet, seeing only the doorknob before her, knowing only that she must make it there before he realized what was going on and started after her.

She flung open the door and dashed into the hallway –

And it was already too late. She knew that, knew it an instant before the shockwave of angry power swept the room and flung her face-first into the wall, leaving her to slide down to the ground still in a state of shock, bits of the plaster pattering down around her like rain.

She turned herself around, wiping at the blood beginning to trickle down from her split lip, only to see a dark shadow fall over her, blotting out what little light there was coming through the doorway.

"Nibai-chan, you should know better," Fuuma said, crouching down to look her in the eye, face impassive, almost amused as she glared up at him, vision still laced with spots from hitting the wall.

"Now I'm going to have to take more… forceful steps with you. It would have been easier the other way, you know," he said, the smile disappearing as he stood.

And dragged her with him, pulling her up by the collar and slamming her against the wall as if she weighed nothing, staring into her eyes with a cold intensity that froze her until she could not move, could not think –

And then he glanced behind him. There was a vase, on the desk, containing a single rose. In an instant, it had shattered, and its shards came screaming towards the wall where he had her pinned –

And she screamed as a pain she had never even begun to imagine lanced through her hands, her legs, her shoulders, her feet...

Her world went black, then white, then slowly shifted back to its normal view, and she blinked Fuuma into focus and saw that he was studying her intently as she writhed beneath the glass pinning her to the wall.

She must be in shock, she thought, for already the pain was dulling itself, and her blood seemed nothing more than hot, sticky liquid running down her limbs to pool below her feet. Her hands and feet were numb in a prickly sort of way, and her head was both spinning and clear at the same time.

"You, Nibai-chan, are very interesting. Hinoto's trump card – the edge the Dragons of Heaven hold over the Dragons of Earth. Arisugawa Sorata's twin star, a woman fated to die for the sake of a man."

He paused, and Nibai had not yet gotten her breath back to speak.

He went on. "And you're not even a woman yet, are you?" he asked, looking her up and down, taking in her now-torn school uniform with both distaste and lust. She shivered, the hate continuing to boil up inside her at his expression.

He only laughed and shoved his hands into his pockets.

"You hate me."

"You could say that, yes," she said, voice still weak but at least she could speak now, at least she could still lift her head and look him in the eye. "I mean, friends don't tend to pin other friends to the wall. With glass, no less. But maybe I'm just misguided, ne?"

He chucked. "Misguided… No, not so much misguided as confused."

He leaned in, until she could almost feel his breath on her face. She dared not turn away.

"You hated me before I pinned you to the wall," he said calmly. "You felt who I was the instant you saw me, and it's been bothering you ever since, hasn't it? Tell me, " he said, leaning away once more, "Why do you hate me so? Why, when I can grant your deepest, most desperate wish?" He cocked a grin at her now, and she couldn't help the shiver that ran through her body.

He leaned down again, staring directly into her eyes. He smiled, as if he liked what he saw there as she tried to process this new information.

Deepest, most desperate wish?

"I know your wish, Nibai-chan."

She clenched her teeth and stared him down, sure she knew what he would say next but afraid all the same.

"You can't have him, you know. Not even with your silly little price."

That wasn't what she had expected, exactly. She tried to understand what he was telling her, but it was suddenly becoming difficult. Fuuma laughed, hands still in his pockets, and his laugh seemed to make the cuts suddenly hurt more – the glass stung her skin as he gazed at her, turning her world into a sharp, pain-tinged place.

"He's mine," Fuuma veritably growled, all traces of laughter gone from the air in an instant. "You can't have him – it's as simple as that. Now you know it, I've known it, so let's just stop pretending, hmm?"

She glared at him, at that moment wishing for the power to blow him away. To make him hurt. Because now she knew – she knew that he was only doing this to break her, to hurt her, and that she had no right, especially as the Dragon of Heaven that she was, to let him get to her. No right. And yet he did. He did, in that way that made her blood boil and her vision go red and she wanted to maim him. To kill him. To protect Kamui.

She had never felt this way before – never felt such pure, unfiltered hate course through her like this. Never felt the urge to kill. And yet right now, staring at him, even with the pain lancing through her, she wanted to kill him without even knowing what he had done to Kamui, what he would do to Kamui, because his tone implied so much…

Damn it, she knew he was probably right. The same way Arashi merely put up with Sorata – Nibai knew that she probably had never had a chance with Kamui. That she probably never would. But that didn't stop her from wanting him.

That wouldn't stop her from dying for him.

Destiny could not be countered.

Apparently Fuuma was having a grand time watching the emotions play across her all-too-readable face, because he was laughing again, grinning again. She was ripped from her thoughts as he came up and placed one hand on her cheek, leaning in until his face was very, very close to hers. She could feel his warm, moist breath upon her own lips, see nothing but his dark, cold eyes filling her world as he stared into her clouded eyes.

"But you could have this Kamui, you know," he drawled lazily. "Oh, I could give you that, Nibai-chan. You know I'm much better than he is."

He paused, stepping back and pulling off the trenchcoat, draping that over the chair only to be joined by the black t-shirt he wore underneath. Then he leaned back in and without warning ripped one of the glass shards from her right hand – she winced and bit her tongue to keep from crying out, she wasn't about give him that pleasure. Because she was sure her cries would please him.

"I've," he began again, taking her hand, numb and bleeding, and running it down his bare chest, "got such a better figure, don't you think?"

There was an evil glint in his eye, and her stomach suddenly churned as he continued with her hand, tracing his own muscles with it, leaving a trail of her blood on his skin and obviously enjoying the looks of disgust and hatred she was unable to keep from crossing her face.

"You wanted Kamui," he said slowly, leaning in, his breath tickling her ear as she flinched away from him, unable to help herself this time. "Now you've got him. I'm Kamui, more than he ever will be, and you know it, Nibai-chan. And I'll take you." His tongue licked a lazy trail down her cheek to her mouth, where he captured her lips with his own and shoved his tongue against her mouth, forcing it inside as she squeezed her eyes shut. Disgustingly encouraged, he pressed his full weight against her – so now she could feel, intentionally, just how willing he was to take her.

When his tongue had finally left, she felt fingers dance across her eyelids. "Open your eyes, Nibai-chan. Don't you want to see your Kamui?"

Disgust and hate exploded in her mind, and something inside her snapped. Because she was not going to take this – she was not going to just stand there – pinned to the wall though she was – and take this.

She searched her mind for something – anything – that she could use against him. And remembered his words, Hinoto's words, Sorata's words…

She opened her eyes and smiled wanly. "So you don't just like boys then, Fuuma? You can get off on anyone? Frankly, I'm impressed. I'd have thought –"

SLAP

Her head flew to the side, her cheek stinging fiercely but she held her smile as he glared down at her, eyes narrowed, angry now that she wasn't going to be as submissive as she'd seemed.

"You'll pay for that," he said, voice still calm but eyes glittering with anger, and abruptly he ripped her shirt down the middle; she shivered but glared back at him, showing no sign of her actual mortification that he'd just bared her chest. "I was going to be gentle with you out of pity, Nibai-chan, but now..." His voice had turned to a growl; her stomach continued to churn, had she just done herself in worse than he'd planned before?

He was rubbing his entire body against her fiercely as she squirmed beneath his grasp, the glass breaking away and grinding into pieces in her skin, hurting like hell but it was all she had to distract herself from him

His teeth grabbed her neck and bit, drawing blood as he left there to travel downward, repeating the process, ripping her skin and leaving bite marks down her arms. When he was done, his tongue traveled back up, lapping the liquid away.

"Ne, doesn't Kanoe feed you?" she choked out – she was answered with one hand seizing her chest, grasping painfully as his teeth bit her throat again. She bit her tongue again to keep from crying out – damned if that hadn't really hurt.

He ground against her harder, pressing against her and she was mortified, lost, scared beyond her ability to feel fear and she knew there was no one to save her.

All she knew was that she couldn't – wouldn't – let him take her so easily.

"Hmph, no wonder you're on such a power trip," she choked, but it was getting harder to speak, let alone lie as she could feel him pressing against her. "If I was that small I'd be blowing up everything I could to compensate too."

"You know, Nibai-chan," he growled, as he grabbed a fistful of her hair in one hand and

nuzzled – in no way tenderly – against her cheek, "Shut. Up."

"Or you'll... what?" she asked, trying to sound uncooperative, strong, anything but broken, because she was not going to let him break her. She was not she was not she was not...

"Or I'll rip your tongue out."

As it was, his tongue was back in her mouth now and he bit down on her tongue, hard –

Her mouth filled with blood, her world filled with pain from every angle, and as he began moving his hips against her again, and she began to realize…

She had no defenses. Her power was not enough to harm him, and he was much stronger than she was. He was going to have his way with her – hell, he practically already was – and there was…

There was absolutely nothing she could do to stop him.

"And you know the funny thing, Nibai-chan," he murmured into her hair, as she closed her eyes to the world and began to wish it all away. "You know… this isn't even what you really wish for. But… I think it'll do."