Don't bother suing me. I have nothing you want.
Disobeying OrdersAuthor's note: Yes, I am still alive. cringes Don't hurt me! I didn't like how this chapter turned out, so this is a rewrite.
I love her. Kaun appears calm on the outside, but a storm is raging inside him. I always have, I always will.
Mallet Island will kill her. A dark and chilling voice rises from the back of his mind. The demons are pitiless. They will tear into her soft, sweet flesh and feast on her while she is still alive, unable to move or fight, her blades lying broken beside her.
The voice is smiling as it sends him the gruesome image of his beloved Sakura lying defenseless as a pack of hungry demons closes in, snarling with hunger.
No! The image is too much. I will not lose her!
The day you place that ring on her finger will be the day she dies. The voice laughs hideously. All of your work will be for nothing. What is an engagement ring to a dead girl?
An image of her on the funeral pyre, wearing the ring, his last gift.
Tears well up in grey eyes. I will not lose her!
You will. Cruel laughter. You already have.
The tears fall. The little red velvet box is cutting deeply into his palm.
Finally, the long-buried defiant streak awakens, roaring to life. This is the part of him that was so happy to retaliate when the other children called him a freak.
"Oh, no." Highwayman knows full well what the look on Kaun's face means. "What're ye up to?"
No answer as the white-haired sorcerer strides out the front door, tools in hand.
From the living room, Utamaru groans. "Aw, man! He's gonna do it!"
James "Highwayman" McCaulley, sighs. "We all know that look too well."
"Our week has just gone to hell in a handbasket," Utamaru grimaces, " 'Cuz you know someone's gonna have to keep his head attached to the rest of him."
"We'll get plucked for certain." Highwayman has gotten attached to the three shokoku phoenix feathers affixed to the hilt of his trusty sword. "I'll lose the white one first."
"Time to pack your bags and buy some tickets."
Kaun grew up around the shrine and is an unofficial priest. No one takes it as strange when he walks in and goes straight to the spell chamber. In the past year, he's mastered the art of time travel spells and communicating with the families of summoned swordsmen.
Still, the spells required for time travel and communication are quite difficult. They also require hours to cast properly – time that he doesn't have. Sakura could conceivably be inside the castle by now, taking on only Buddha knows what. Her family has to know about this.
After three very tiring hours of casting, Kan finally gets through to the Tachibana family. His heart is quite heavy. On one hand, this is a direct disobedience of orders, if not outright manipulation of the ones he desperately wants to make his in-laws. On the other hand, this may just be enough to save the life of the woman who can't live without.
"Tachibana-sama," He addresses Ukyo, " I bring news that you may not want to hear."
The entire family is clustered around the mirror, their usual morning activities interrupted. Kei stands with a brush in her hand, interrupted from brushing the knots out of Suzaku's hair.
Ukyo and Kei brace themselves for the worst news a parent can hear. Behind them, hot-blooded Sasame is bristling.
He draws in a deep breath before continuing. "Sakura has been sent to Mallet Island alone."
Kei's shoulders shake slightly. This is worse than hearing that her eldest will not come home. It means that she may never see her daughter again, living or dead. None of the dead of Mallet have ever been recovered.
Sasame loses his last bit of cool. "I'll come through and kill every last demon!"
The old fire lights in Ukyo's eyes. "You will not be alone."
With those words, Kaun opens the portal.
"How many tickets did you get?" Highwayman isn't fond of flying, but it's the only way to get there.
"Five." Utamaru replies. "Ukyo and Sasame aren't going to just let Sakura go there alone."
"How long's the flight?" Neither of them is keen on long flights or the jet lag that comes with them.
"Three and a half hours, movie included, I might add." Utamaru grins. "Our ferry leaves half an hour later."
"Bless ye." Short flight, and a timely ferry. "When's the planer leave."
"Ten-thirty." That's two hours from now.
Half an hour later, Kaun walks into the house with Ukyo and Sasame.
