Hello Everybody! And now for the conclusion of this wonderful tale! I had
some fun writing this one and I learned some things during the process,
most of which I purposely ignored. Oh well!
Upon returning to the suite, Hisoka launched himself onto the couch and carelessly sprawled out. Kassari gingerly sat in a large chair opposite him.
"Could you please tell me what is going on?" Her tone showed a restrained anger.
"Well, yes; but where should I start?"
"How about with what just happened."
"As good a place as any." Hisoka leaned his head back, looking at her from the corner of his eye. "Jai has been stalking you for the past few weeks. It took Illumi and me a while to discover his identity and lure him out to a place where we could stop him. He was a tricky bastard, but that is to be expected of a royal guard. Apparently, he was obsessed with you and because I had you, he wanted me dead. We discovered through some sources that he asked your father's permission to marry you and when your father refused he took a leave of absence."
"Why didn't you tell me? I should have been informed of this!"
"He threatened me and you are mine to look after."
"You are so irritating. I can look after myself. And besides that in two more days you won't even be around." The girl's voice was laced with both anger and hurt.
"You can look after yourself, but you would never have believed that you were in real danger from such a source. Further, you are mine for the rest of our lives." Hisoka sat up facing her directly as he pulled a piece of what looked like skin off his arm. "See this?" He held up his arm to show her that tattoo that had been carefully concealed. "It's the same pattern as yours. Your father arraigned our marriage years ago. We will officially be married on your 25th birthday." He waited solemnly for her to respond.
Kassari grabbed his arm closely inspecting it. "How did this happen? I never even guessed." Her eyes were confused.
"Neither did your brother. He approached me before we left the hotel after figuring out who I was. He's a very scary guy when pissed off." Hisoka paused in thought. "I'll explain as best I can, so I guess I will go back with my own history a bit. My family was composed of people much like your own. We were very involved in politics, and trade and were considered to be extremely wealthy. There was coup and the rest of my family was killed. My mother hid me in a secret compartment in her room and I could do nothing as the intruders killed and molested her and my sisters. One of our guards was a Moslou and he managed to find me and carry me away to your father." Hisoka leaned back and closed his eyes, pain of the memories clearly etched on his face.
"Your father and mine were friends. They had gone to military academy together and later passed the hunter exam together. Your father was able to use his leverage to consolidate the fortune that had been left to me by my family, but the rest of my family was gone; I told him that their murders were my business to avenge."
"I was sent to school with your brothers and trained with nen, martial arts and in other skills of war. When I was 13 your father offered me citizenship, out of respect for my father and because he thought it best if I kept my royal heritage, he brought me into your family by arranging my marriage to one of his daughters. I was allowed to choose which one." The dark magician paused and looked at the wall as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.
"So you choose me?" Kassari asked trying to absorb all the information he gave her. "Why?"
"You were so young then, maybe 6 or 7 years old and you fell out of a tree. I managed to catch you just before you hit the ground. You climbed off me and waited for me to stand up, then kicked me in the shin. After that I would notice you all the time. So when your father gave me the choice, there was no one else that would suit me."
"All this time, you knew this and did not tell me!?" She stood up. "I need to rest for a while. We can talk more later." Kassari walked into the bedroom and shut the door. She felt numb with shock. Her body slowly relaxed as her thoughts raced.
The fact that her marriage had been arranged was not t new concept for the princess, that is the way the powerful or royal families often dealt with the matter. It was expected. However, to find that it was to Hisoka and that he knew the entire time, that was unsettling.
Over the past month, the growing attraction that she had felt for the unusual man had grown into something more. It seemed like a dark affection at times, wanting to be with him, knowing that he could hurt her in so many ways, but not really caring. She has started to doubt her own sanity were Hisoka was concerned. But now faced with the situation, she did not know what to think or how to deal with it. She always assumed that Hisoka would be finished with her very shortly and that they would just go their separate ways, may be meeting by chance someday.
She considered the possibilities and implications of this bonding and could come up with no solid conclusions. After a few hours she decided to just face the problem head on.
Hisoka was lying on the couch where she had left him, only a faint tenseness around his mouth disturbing his features. He was rarely as careless as he seemed.
She sat back down in the chair and asked, "So now what?"
Hisoka did not stir, just answered; "I still have many things left to accomplish as do you. For now we will go our separate ways the day after tomorrow and we will live our lives as we feel necessary. I will keep in touch with you and visit you on occasion, but that will be all for now. We have six more years before our union becomes official and we will come to terms with each other through time."
"That would probably be the best way to handle this situation for now. Honestly though, I doubt we could ever have a truly normal marriage as others have. This is going to be a very strange life."
'True, but it is our life, so we will deal with it. I think I want to have a house built, someplace very secluded where we can meet and be alone together from time to time But I imagine that most of the time we will be following our own interests and will not be together often."
Kassari could only agree with this statement as she knew that neither Hisoka or herself could really settle for a mundane lifestyle.
"I think that would be a good idea, but we can plan for that in the future." She walked towards the bedroom, "Are you going to join me, we have two days and room service, we could make this an unofficial honeymoon." The princess winked at her consort.
It's finally finished after all this time! I imagine that there are a number of readers cringing at the thought of Hisoka married. I just couldn't resist. What a total fluffly ending—that isn't what I was planning originally, but it seemed to work out that way. C'est la vie!
Upon returning to the suite, Hisoka launched himself onto the couch and carelessly sprawled out. Kassari gingerly sat in a large chair opposite him.
"Could you please tell me what is going on?" Her tone showed a restrained anger.
"Well, yes; but where should I start?"
"How about with what just happened."
"As good a place as any." Hisoka leaned his head back, looking at her from the corner of his eye. "Jai has been stalking you for the past few weeks. It took Illumi and me a while to discover his identity and lure him out to a place where we could stop him. He was a tricky bastard, but that is to be expected of a royal guard. Apparently, he was obsessed with you and because I had you, he wanted me dead. We discovered through some sources that he asked your father's permission to marry you and when your father refused he took a leave of absence."
"Why didn't you tell me? I should have been informed of this!"
"He threatened me and you are mine to look after."
"You are so irritating. I can look after myself. And besides that in two more days you won't even be around." The girl's voice was laced with both anger and hurt.
"You can look after yourself, but you would never have believed that you were in real danger from such a source. Further, you are mine for the rest of our lives." Hisoka sat up facing her directly as he pulled a piece of what looked like skin off his arm. "See this?" He held up his arm to show her that tattoo that had been carefully concealed. "It's the same pattern as yours. Your father arraigned our marriage years ago. We will officially be married on your 25th birthday." He waited solemnly for her to respond.
Kassari grabbed his arm closely inspecting it. "How did this happen? I never even guessed." Her eyes were confused.
"Neither did your brother. He approached me before we left the hotel after figuring out who I was. He's a very scary guy when pissed off." Hisoka paused in thought. "I'll explain as best I can, so I guess I will go back with my own history a bit. My family was composed of people much like your own. We were very involved in politics, and trade and were considered to be extremely wealthy. There was coup and the rest of my family was killed. My mother hid me in a secret compartment in her room and I could do nothing as the intruders killed and molested her and my sisters. One of our guards was a Moslou and he managed to find me and carry me away to your father." Hisoka leaned back and closed his eyes, pain of the memories clearly etched on his face.
"Your father and mine were friends. They had gone to military academy together and later passed the hunter exam together. Your father was able to use his leverage to consolidate the fortune that had been left to me by my family, but the rest of my family was gone; I told him that their murders were my business to avenge."
"I was sent to school with your brothers and trained with nen, martial arts and in other skills of war. When I was 13 your father offered me citizenship, out of respect for my father and because he thought it best if I kept my royal heritage, he brought me into your family by arranging my marriage to one of his daughters. I was allowed to choose which one." The dark magician paused and looked at the wall as if it were the most interesting thing in the world.
"So you choose me?" Kassari asked trying to absorb all the information he gave her. "Why?"
"You were so young then, maybe 6 or 7 years old and you fell out of a tree. I managed to catch you just before you hit the ground. You climbed off me and waited for me to stand up, then kicked me in the shin. After that I would notice you all the time. So when your father gave me the choice, there was no one else that would suit me."
"All this time, you knew this and did not tell me!?" She stood up. "I need to rest for a while. We can talk more later." Kassari walked into the bedroom and shut the door. She felt numb with shock. Her body slowly relaxed as her thoughts raced.
The fact that her marriage had been arranged was not t new concept for the princess, that is the way the powerful or royal families often dealt with the matter. It was expected. However, to find that it was to Hisoka and that he knew the entire time, that was unsettling.
Over the past month, the growing attraction that she had felt for the unusual man had grown into something more. It seemed like a dark affection at times, wanting to be with him, knowing that he could hurt her in so many ways, but not really caring. She has started to doubt her own sanity were Hisoka was concerned. But now faced with the situation, she did not know what to think or how to deal with it. She always assumed that Hisoka would be finished with her very shortly and that they would just go their separate ways, may be meeting by chance someday.
She considered the possibilities and implications of this bonding and could come up with no solid conclusions. After a few hours she decided to just face the problem head on.
Hisoka was lying on the couch where she had left him, only a faint tenseness around his mouth disturbing his features. He was rarely as careless as he seemed.
She sat back down in the chair and asked, "So now what?"
Hisoka did not stir, just answered; "I still have many things left to accomplish as do you. For now we will go our separate ways the day after tomorrow and we will live our lives as we feel necessary. I will keep in touch with you and visit you on occasion, but that will be all for now. We have six more years before our union becomes official and we will come to terms with each other through time."
"That would probably be the best way to handle this situation for now. Honestly though, I doubt we could ever have a truly normal marriage as others have. This is going to be a very strange life."
'True, but it is our life, so we will deal with it. I think I want to have a house built, someplace very secluded where we can meet and be alone together from time to time But I imagine that most of the time we will be following our own interests and will not be together often."
Kassari could only agree with this statement as she knew that neither Hisoka or herself could really settle for a mundane lifestyle.
"I think that would be a good idea, but we can plan for that in the future." She walked towards the bedroom, "Are you going to join me, we have two days and room service, we could make this an unofficial honeymoon." The princess winked at her consort.
It's finally finished after all this time! I imagine that there are a number of readers cringing at the thought of Hisoka married. I just couldn't resist. What a total fluffly ending—that isn't what I was planning originally, but it seemed to work out that way. C'est la vie!