Hiya. JML, my sincere thanks, you have no idea. I don't know what's
happening to me, but I guess my better days at ff.net are over. ^^ I've
been out of practice and inspiration. I know this isn't my best work, and
for that I apologize. Thanks everyone for coming back to read this, faults
and all.
..............................
"You WHAT?!"
Misao was wringing her hands and looked ready to weep at any moment. "I..........I..............whacked him on the head..........and I.............and that's why...................so he's.............."
Megumi woke up in one of the royal bedrooms. Being told what happened soon after she fainted, she dashed to the prince's quarters. She found him unconscious in bed, surrounded by the princess and the chief retainer. His head was bandaged, and his face was blue and purple in several places.
"What in the------"
Soujirou was moving back and forth, helter-skelter, fixing documents for delivery to hither and yon that same evening. Messengers and servants popped in and out of the bedroom door, awaiting and receiving orders. Soujirou also went and left Misao, consulted with her and reported new developments. Despite the panic in her face, her eyes had a fire the palace magician had never seen before, as she took control.
The whole palace was awake, except for its master, readying for the worst.
It was now two hours before midnight.
"MISAO!" Megumi exclaimed. "Your majesty! I can't believe you DID that!"
Misao bobbed up and down before Megumi. "I know, I know, I feel miserable about it, but he was about to kill you, and he was fighting Saitou, and he was getting crazier by the minute, sorry, but I know you like Eni-chan, so feel free me to strangle me or something.........."
"Your highness, I actually want to congratulate you," Megumi giggled, the back of her hand over her pursed mouth. "The stupid snowman deserved what he got."
"Why you------" the princess raised a fist.
Megumi continued her classy giggling. "Don't kid yourself, your majesty! Good job! Couldn't have done better!"
She was right. Misao soon joined her in the laughter.
Then Megumi grew serious. "Thank you, your majesty."
"Anytime!" And they shook hands.
The Eyes of Malice was still safely in Megumi's clothes. But its terrible work was already complete. The only spell that would work now was the spell that would destroy the Eyes of Malice. It was indeed better for everybody that, for the moment, its victim can cause no further damage.
Meanwhile, the black mage created a force field around himself and the redhaired wizard. Kaoru was just beyond its boundaries, behind Kenshin.
"Let us begin," Aoshi said simply, and positioned his wand before him.
The wizard did not answer, and placed his hands in defense.
A few minutes of intense silence. Kaoru knew from school that this was the time the combatants assessed each other's capabilities. Each looked well into the eyes of the other.
"You hated Lord Shishio, back in school, you and Megumi," the redhaired wizard began. "Why are you working for him?"
"Similar interests," his opponent said. "He wanted control over the snow prince. I wanted to snuff you out from hiding. One spell can do both."
"And you actually surrendered your principles, just to get to me? I am not worth it, Aoshi."
The black mage gritted his teeth. "Enough talk."
With a flick of the wrist, he fired the first electric blast.
Kenshin circled his hands in front of him and shielded the blast. Without changing the placement of his hands, he made a little fireball and shot it.
Soon the fighting became fierce, and the room shone with unnatural brightness from all the blasts.
Poor Kaoru did not know what to do. She was lousiest at firing electric blasts. Even if she was not so lousy at it, the force field prevented any interference from her. But maybe, while the Aoshi fellow was distracted, maybe she could..........
"Um............Kenshin..............." Kaoru tried to interrupt the furious exchange of magic blasts between the black and red mages. Some were so fast that Kaoru did not know from where the blast came.
"Talk here, milady," he said, straight into Kaoru's head. "It will be a bit harder for Aoshi to tap into telepathy while fighting me."
"WHAT?!" Kaoru asked aloud, and eyes bulged. Telepathy?! That was a high- level skill! Transference was weird enough as it was! Maybe Megumi could do telepathy, but not her! No way!
"I understand," Kenshin answered her thoughts. "Right inside pocket. Try your best."
Aoshi twirled the wand and fired a light blast at her, pinning her to the floor. "Do not disturb us, woman." He then pointed the wand at the ceiling, and dislodged a stone directly above Kenshin. The redhaired wizard created a defense field just in time to avoid a severe blow to the head.
"Mind block, milady," he talked to her head. "Do it!"
"SHOULD you really be talking to me right now?!" she asked aloud.
"Hurry!" Kenshin finally shouted back.
Kaoru nodded.
It was not going to be easy, but with the life of both redhaired wizard and snowhaired prince at stake, she was going to try.
She closed her eyes, knit her brows, and concentrated. Focus on the head, focus on the head, focus on the head..........got it! "Mind Block!" she chanted. She felt a swirl of magic surround her, and it was complete.
"Kenshin! Did I do it right?" she called out. "Kenshin? KENSHIN!"
He did not answer, aloud or telepathically. His opponent clenched his teeth with a glance at her, but otherwise did not do anything. She did it right!
Now to help the wizard of fiery hair. Focus, Kaoru. You can do it only once, and you have to do it perfectly right. Focus. Right inside pocket, right inside pocket...........
The duelists were equally powerful. All blasts were blocked efficiently at either side, and all shots were evaded. And all verbal warfare was even.
"Your eyes have lost the power they used to have," Kenshin finally commented. "They have been replaced, by vengeance."
Aoshi remained silent.
"I respected you, back then, when we were in school," he continued. "You were actually better than me at spellcasting. What happened?"
"I wanted to defeat the master," the black mage answered.
"I do not understand," the other replied.
"Even in school you were considered a master of the craft," he explained. "You did not realize the pressure you caused for children of guild magicians."
Students such as Aoshi and Megumi came from a long line of respected mages, and there were plenty of them in the school, the redhaired wizard knew that. But surely it was not his fault that he excelled in school! Back then he did not even think so much about what others thought of him. He was perfectly happy with Tomoe, and she with him.
The black mage continued. "My family had a reputation to maintain. I lost the chance to graduate with top honors because of you. The only way I can return with my head held high, is to defeat you." He threw a fire dart.
"The honors meant nothing to me," his opponent answered, maintaining a defensive pose. "Especially after Tomoe died. The honors meant nothing to me."
"But it meant a lot to others." He misfired an electric blast.
Kaoru was still focusing. Right inside pocket, right inside pocket, right inside pocket............
Both sides were weakening, and were beginning to make mistakes. Aoshi began to pant, while Kenshin's red hair had turned a shade lighter.
"This is .............pointless, Aoshi........." Kenshin entreated. "Do you actually want a kingdom to topple, just because you have a grudge on me?"
"If necessary," Aoshi said.
Now she was ready.
She held out her hand, and closed her eyes. "Turquoise and ruby in the right inside pocket of the black mage's cloak, come to me."
Nothing happened.
"Please?"
Still nothing.
"Shucks, there must be a set of words for this, but since I'm on Mind Block, I can't ask Kenshin. What to do...........!"
There was a spell she could do, but she did not know if she could handle it. Better something than nothing. She took a chance. She held out both hands, and positioned a palm at each combatant.
"Freeze!"
The spell worked, much to Kaoru's shock. It froze both mages in their places and disabled the force field around them.
She lost no time, ran to the black mage, fumbled in his cloak's right inside pocket. She quickly took out the two memory jewels inside, and ran back behind Kenshin.
"Un-freeze! Thaw! Defrost! Whatever!"
Evidently one of the words worked, because Kenshin faced her with a big smile. "Not the technique I expected, but well done, milady."
The black mage was awestruck. "Tricked by an ordinary mage........."
"I know I'm ordinary! Don't rub it in!" Kaoru shouted at him.
"I apologize, Aoshi, but we must continue this some other day," Kenshin bowed. "We must go back to the palace as soon as possible."
"I will not let you."
With a flick of the wand, he encased the mages in another force field.
Outside the palace, military morale was at an all-time low. They did not see the point in defending an unjust, unfair, and unreasonable prince. By now prices were unnaturally high, trade was dreadfully slow, crime was rampant, and discontent was great. Everyone wanted him out of the throne, as soon as possible.
"You don't understand!" Soujirou tried to motivate the troops with an unconvincing smile. "His highness has been tricked! He has not been himself for some time, so please be patient. We are trying our best to get things back to normal."
"Let him say that to us himself!" the troops cried.
"Um.............well, you see............his highness is indisposed right now..............."
"How are we supposed to believe you? Are we even supposed to be believe that we're about to be invaded?"
Soujirou sighed. "This is a very problematic situation............."
The problematic situation was getting worse in the palace, for the prince was awakening.
Misao readied one of the bedroom's heavy books, Megumi readied her hands. "WHERE is that rookie and the redhead?!" the latter asked. "What's taking them so long?!"
"Allow me to show you, Megumi," a voice answered.
A man all dressed in black materialized in the room.
"Aoshi!" Megumi paled.
He grabbed her by the wrist, and threw a cloak over her and himself. They dematerialized before the dreadfully frightened Misao.
"Don't leave me, Megumi!" she pleaded at thin air. "What am I supposed to do with HIM?!?"
For she was glued to her spot, trembling at the sight of Enishi. "Yes, indeed, what will you do with him now?" He asked with icy sarcasm. "Try to kill him with a serving tray again? Or maybe try some other dubious technique?"
It was not the sarcasm that was terrifying. It was his eyes that made her quake in her shoes. Now, they were really and truly, the eyes of malice. They were filled with anger, arrogance, vengeance, evil.
"I never knew you hated me so much, my dear princess," he growled as he drew nearer to her. "I should have paid more attention." He drew closer as she moved back. "I should have had you executed a long time ago."
Misao's back met the wall of the bedroom. He placed his hands to the wall over her, and peered down with maniacal amusement at the cold sweat beading her forehead.
"But before I kill you, I'll take your soul."
With one hand, he held her throat. With the other, he began to unbutton her bodice.
This was not the snow prince at all. This was not even a man. This was a monster.
She screamed. "Somebody.........HELP!!!"
...............................
Sorry, I really didn't intend Aoshi to look this bad in this story. ^^ It just turned out this way, I'm really sorry. Thank you for reading. Two more chapters left. Maybe three. At any rate this is ending soon. Hope you come back.
..............................
"You WHAT?!"
Misao was wringing her hands and looked ready to weep at any moment. "I..........I..............whacked him on the head..........and I.............and that's why...................so he's.............."
Megumi woke up in one of the royal bedrooms. Being told what happened soon after she fainted, she dashed to the prince's quarters. She found him unconscious in bed, surrounded by the princess and the chief retainer. His head was bandaged, and his face was blue and purple in several places.
"What in the------"
Soujirou was moving back and forth, helter-skelter, fixing documents for delivery to hither and yon that same evening. Messengers and servants popped in and out of the bedroom door, awaiting and receiving orders. Soujirou also went and left Misao, consulted with her and reported new developments. Despite the panic in her face, her eyes had a fire the palace magician had never seen before, as she took control.
The whole palace was awake, except for its master, readying for the worst.
It was now two hours before midnight.
"MISAO!" Megumi exclaimed. "Your majesty! I can't believe you DID that!"
Misao bobbed up and down before Megumi. "I know, I know, I feel miserable about it, but he was about to kill you, and he was fighting Saitou, and he was getting crazier by the minute, sorry, but I know you like Eni-chan, so feel free me to strangle me or something.........."
"Your highness, I actually want to congratulate you," Megumi giggled, the back of her hand over her pursed mouth. "The stupid snowman deserved what he got."
"Why you------" the princess raised a fist.
Megumi continued her classy giggling. "Don't kid yourself, your majesty! Good job! Couldn't have done better!"
She was right. Misao soon joined her in the laughter.
Then Megumi grew serious. "Thank you, your majesty."
"Anytime!" And they shook hands.
The Eyes of Malice was still safely in Megumi's clothes. But its terrible work was already complete. The only spell that would work now was the spell that would destroy the Eyes of Malice. It was indeed better for everybody that, for the moment, its victim can cause no further damage.
Meanwhile, the black mage created a force field around himself and the redhaired wizard. Kaoru was just beyond its boundaries, behind Kenshin.
"Let us begin," Aoshi said simply, and positioned his wand before him.
The wizard did not answer, and placed his hands in defense.
A few minutes of intense silence. Kaoru knew from school that this was the time the combatants assessed each other's capabilities. Each looked well into the eyes of the other.
"You hated Lord Shishio, back in school, you and Megumi," the redhaired wizard began. "Why are you working for him?"
"Similar interests," his opponent said. "He wanted control over the snow prince. I wanted to snuff you out from hiding. One spell can do both."
"And you actually surrendered your principles, just to get to me? I am not worth it, Aoshi."
The black mage gritted his teeth. "Enough talk."
With a flick of the wrist, he fired the first electric blast.
Kenshin circled his hands in front of him and shielded the blast. Without changing the placement of his hands, he made a little fireball and shot it.
Soon the fighting became fierce, and the room shone with unnatural brightness from all the blasts.
Poor Kaoru did not know what to do. She was lousiest at firing electric blasts. Even if she was not so lousy at it, the force field prevented any interference from her. But maybe, while the Aoshi fellow was distracted, maybe she could..........
"Um............Kenshin..............." Kaoru tried to interrupt the furious exchange of magic blasts between the black and red mages. Some were so fast that Kaoru did not know from where the blast came.
"Talk here, milady," he said, straight into Kaoru's head. "It will be a bit harder for Aoshi to tap into telepathy while fighting me."
"WHAT?!" Kaoru asked aloud, and eyes bulged. Telepathy?! That was a high- level skill! Transference was weird enough as it was! Maybe Megumi could do telepathy, but not her! No way!
"I understand," Kenshin answered her thoughts. "Right inside pocket. Try your best."
Aoshi twirled the wand and fired a light blast at her, pinning her to the floor. "Do not disturb us, woman." He then pointed the wand at the ceiling, and dislodged a stone directly above Kenshin. The redhaired wizard created a defense field just in time to avoid a severe blow to the head.
"Mind block, milady," he talked to her head. "Do it!"
"SHOULD you really be talking to me right now?!" she asked aloud.
"Hurry!" Kenshin finally shouted back.
Kaoru nodded.
It was not going to be easy, but with the life of both redhaired wizard and snowhaired prince at stake, she was going to try.
She closed her eyes, knit her brows, and concentrated. Focus on the head, focus on the head, focus on the head..........got it! "Mind Block!" she chanted. She felt a swirl of magic surround her, and it was complete.
"Kenshin! Did I do it right?" she called out. "Kenshin? KENSHIN!"
He did not answer, aloud or telepathically. His opponent clenched his teeth with a glance at her, but otherwise did not do anything. She did it right!
Now to help the wizard of fiery hair. Focus, Kaoru. You can do it only once, and you have to do it perfectly right. Focus. Right inside pocket, right inside pocket...........
The duelists were equally powerful. All blasts were blocked efficiently at either side, and all shots were evaded. And all verbal warfare was even.
"Your eyes have lost the power they used to have," Kenshin finally commented. "They have been replaced, by vengeance."
Aoshi remained silent.
"I respected you, back then, when we were in school," he continued. "You were actually better than me at spellcasting. What happened?"
"I wanted to defeat the master," the black mage answered.
"I do not understand," the other replied.
"Even in school you were considered a master of the craft," he explained. "You did not realize the pressure you caused for children of guild magicians."
Students such as Aoshi and Megumi came from a long line of respected mages, and there were plenty of them in the school, the redhaired wizard knew that. But surely it was not his fault that he excelled in school! Back then he did not even think so much about what others thought of him. He was perfectly happy with Tomoe, and she with him.
The black mage continued. "My family had a reputation to maintain. I lost the chance to graduate with top honors because of you. The only way I can return with my head held high, is to defeat you." He threw a fire dart.
"The honors meant nothing to me," his opponent answered, maintaining a defensive pose. "Especially after Tomoe died. The honors meant nothing to me."
"But it meant a lot to others." He misfired an electric blast.
Kaoru was still focusing. Right inside pocket, right inside pocket, right inside pocket............
Both sides were weakening, and were beginning to make mistakes. Aoshi began to pant, while Kenshin's red hair had turned a shade lighter.
"This is .............pointless, Aoshi........." Kenshin entreated. "Do you actually want a kingdom to topple, just because you have a grudge on me?"
"If necessary," Aoshi said.
Now she was ready.
She held out her hand, and closed her eyes. "Turquoise and ruby in the right inside pocket of the black mage's cloak, come to me."
Nothing happened.
"Please?"
Still nothing.
"Shucks, there must be a set of words for this, but since I'm on Mind Block, I can't ask Kenshin. What to do...........!"
There was a spell she could do, but she did not know if she could handle it. Better something than nothing. She took a chance. She held out both hands, and positioned a palm at each combatant.
"Freeze!"
The spell worked, much to Kaoru's shock. It froze both mages in their places and disabled the force field around them.
She lost no time, ran to the black mage, fumbled in his cloak's right inside pocket. She quickly took out the two memory jewels inside, and ran back behind Kenshin.
"Un-freeze! Thaw! Defrost! Whatever!"
Evidently one of the words worked, because Kenshin faced her with a big smile. "Not the technique I expected, but well done, milady."
The black mage was awestruck. "Tricked by an ordinary mage........."
"I know I'm ordinary! Don't rub it in!" Kaoru shouted at him.
"I apologize, Aoshi, but we must continue this some other day," Kenshin bowed. "We must go back to the palace as soon as possible."
"I will not let you."
With a flick of the wand, he encased the mages in another force field.
Outside the palace, military morale was at an all-time low. They did not see the point in defending an unjust, unfair, and unreasonable prince. By now prices were unnaturally high, trade was dreadfully slow, crime was rampant, and discontent was great. Everyone wanted him out of the throne, as soon as possible.
"You don't understand!" Soujirou tried to motivate the troops with an unconvincing smile. "His highness has been tricked! He has not been himself for some time, so please be patient. We are trying our best to get things back to normal."
"Let him say that to us himself!" the troops cried.
"Um.............well, you see............his highness is indisposed right now..............."
"How are we supposed to believe you? Are we even supposed to be believe that we're about to be invaded?"
Soujirou sighed. "This is a very problematic situation............."
The problematic situation was getting worse in the palace, for the prince was awakening.
Misao readied one of the bedroom's heavy books, Megumi readied her hands. "WHERE is that rookie and the redhead?!" the latter asked. "What's taking them so long?!"
"Allow me to show you, Megumi," a voice answered.
A man all dressed in black materialized in the room.
"Aoshi!" Megumi paled.
He grabbed her by the wrist, and threw a cloak over her and himself. They dematerialized before the dreadfully frightened Misao.
"Don't leave me, Megumi!" she pleaded at thin air. "What am I supposed to do with HIM?!?"
For she was glued to her spot, trembling at the sight of Enishi. "Yes, indeed, what will you do with him now?" He asked with icy sarcasm. "Try to kill him with a serving tray again? Or maybe try some other dubious technique?"
It was not the sarcasm that was terrifying. It was his eyes that made her quake in her shoes. Now, they were really and truly, the eyes of malice. They were filled with anger, arrogance, vengeance, evil.
"I never knew you hated me so much, my dear princess," he growled as he drew nearer to her. "I should have paid more attention." He drew closer as she moved back. "I should have had you executed a long time ago."
Misao's back met the wall of the bedroom. He placed his hands to the wall over her, and peered down with maniacal amusement at the cold sweat beading her forehead.
"But before I kill you, I'll take your soul."
With one hand, he held her throat. With the other, he began to unbutton her bodice.
This was not the snow prince at all. This was not even a man. This was a monster.
She screamed. "Somebody.........HELP!!!"
...............................
Sorry, I really didn't intend Aoshi to look this bad in this story. ^^ It just turned out this way, I'm really sorry. Thank you for reading. Two more chapters left. Maybe three. At any rate this is ending soon. Hope you come back.