Title: Emotions
Chapter: Two
Rating: R overall
Pairings: Kyo/Yuya
Warnings: Language, violence, intense-ish situation, adult situations, OOC
Disclaimers: Don't own, don't sue!
Author's Notes: Okay...I hope this length seems okay for now. I keep trying to get it a smidgen longer, but it always seems to stop around the 1,500 word mark. As always, feedback is craved and adored! Thanks for reading!

After reaching the tent, Yuya was almost hesitant to give up her hold on the obviously strong warrior. 'I still don't know his name...' she thought to herself, removing her arms from around his neck as he placed her on the far side of his bedroll.

"We leave early in the morning. I suggest you get some sleep." He started to crawl in the bedroll, seeming not to notice Yuya's wide eyes and sputtering noises as he blew out the lamp.

"Wh-What are you doing!" She asked, moving away from him and curling up next to the wall of the tent. "I thought you said you weren't going to touch me!"

Kyo grunted, opening his eyes and turning so he'd face her. "And I have no intention to touch you, woman. So get some sleep." He turned back around, but Yuya didn't seem to be done with him.

"Then what do you call this, huh?" She made motions with her bound hands, but Kyo didn't see them.

"If I am correct, I am not touching you." She could hear the smirk in voice and her temper instantly flared.

"You pompous piece of sh-"

"Be careful what you say." His voice was a low growl, and Yuya gulped, swallowing the profanities she was about to spurt out. "Remember, I own you." He burrowed underneath the covers, breaking the harsh mood that had fallen in the tent. "So get some sleep, or I will tie you to the stake outside."

Yuya couldn't tell if he was joking or not, his voice carefully neutral. But, she thought, just in case he wasn't joking, she would go along with him. For now.


Sleeping next to her was torture, Kyo thought grumpily as he moved about the tent. He had slept, oh, about two hours total. Between her kicking him in the shins and her constant muttering, he felt lucky he'd been able to sleep at all.

He looked back at his bedroll, Yuya sprawled across the warm indention he'd left when he got up. She was lying in her stomach, her strawberry blonde locks falling across her relaxed face. Her right hand was curled up by her face, her left pillowed underneath her head. The blankets were strewn around her, half-covering her still-clothed body. She looked...peaceful, her breathing quiet and even and...

She began to snore.

'Oh this is great...' He thought to himself, barely able to control the smile twitching his lips. 'I just hope she doesn't do this on the trip to the village. That would be...embarrassing.'

As she slept, he packed up his meager supplies, leaving out a brass pitcher and bowl for her to bathe. Grabbing the pitcher and a spare washcloth, he headed out of his tent towards the stream about 200 feet away. After filling the pitcher and setting it on the ground, he stripped himself of his breeches and walked into the cold water.

Men were milling about, and yet Kyo really didn't care. After spending so many years in army camps, he'd lost that shy manner most men had at the beginning, the self-consciousness at undressing in front of other people. Two other men were further down the stream, their splashes audible as they bathed.

Kyo walked in the water until it was just above his waist, the bottom edges of his hair falling into the stream and flowing backwards. He methodically ran the washcloth over his body, cleaning away the grime that had collected over the past few days that he hadn't been able to clean earlier.

As he washed, he began to think about the situation he'd now found himself in. Yuya, while rather irritating at times, was hardly the inconvenience he'd first thought her to be. Underneath that whimpering, sobbing exterior, he could tell there was a core of steel just waiting to have a reason to show itself. She had shown a bit of defiance, he remembered, last night when he told her where she was sleeping.

But, true to his word, he had not touched her in any way that could be construed as sexual. He had, in fact, only touched her when it was absolutely necessary. It wasn't that he didn't trust her. He didn't trust himself. While he kept telling himself that he didn't desire her body, he couldn't help but feel something towards the runaway girl.

Runaway royal, really.

He'd known from the beginning, when he'd first laid eyes on her, that she was royal. Her very nature just emanated it. The way her speech flowed, the way her hair shone in the light, even the way her clothing was made. There was just an air of aristocracy that hung about her like fog, and Kyo knew that penetrating the fog would be high near impossible.

He should just not even begin...


Yuya was startled awake by the noise of people moving about, their voices rising above normal volume as they yelled to one another. She glanced about, blinking her eyes several times to clear away the sleep. That man was gone!

She got to a sitting position, looking even more carefully to make sure he wasn't hiding anywhere. But everything, except for a brass bowl, was placed in two trunks and a few bags. Were they leaving? Where were they going?

As she began to struggle to a standing position, the tent flap fluttered open, and the warrior walked in. She blushed furiously and turned her head, her hand covering her eyes. "Do you always walk around in the nude?"

All wet from his dip in the stream, Kyo didn't notice that he hadn't covered himself, and he shrugged as he put the pitcher on the ground. "In an encampment of men, it really doesn't matter."

"Well since I'm not male, do you think you can cover yourself?" Her voice was something he couldn't recognize-a mix of sarcasm, embarrassment, and fear, maybe? He shrugged again and used the towel he'd had earlier to wrap around his waist.

"Better?"

Yuya turned, her face still very red, and nodded slightly. "Better." Her voice dripped with relief.

Several moments passed in uncomfortable silence, Kyo getting dressed and Yuya able to do nothing but watch. His back was turned to her, and she was able to look closely at the scars, their ragged edges telling how painful they must have been.

"Where did you get all of those scars?"

He paused his dressing, glancing over his shoulder through the slits of his eyes. "Battles." There was a pause. "Why did you run away...princess?" His voice was a sneer, and Yuya gasped.

"How did you know?" She exclaimed, jumping to a standing position. "We're far awa-"

"You forget who I am." He went back to dressing, a silence once again spreading between them.

"You never told me who you were." She had spoken softly, her face in the direction of the front of the tent. "I don't even know your name."

Kyo gulped. "Kyo. My name is Kyo."

There was a moment of silence before Yuya let out a chuckle. "Now, that wasn't so bad, was it?" The sparkle Kyo saw in her eye made heat go to his face and to...other regions of his body.

"So why did you run away?" He had to concentrate so he didn't stutter. "It wasn't like you were being mistreated."

Yuya made a 'hmphing' noise, crossing her arms over her chest and sniffing audibly. "You know nothing about court. You wouldn't understand."

"Try me." His voice was a challenge. And even though Yuya knew it was a blatant attack to get her to talk, she couldn't pass it up.

"I thought I loved him." Her eyebrows peaked together. "And I thought he loved me." She began to chew her bottom lip, a movement that was quickly making jelly of Kyo's iron grip on his emotions. "But it was a lie."

"A lie, you say? How so?" Why did he continue to get her to talk? He really needed to get going, move on to the next village. But he also really wanted to hear her talk, watch her alternate between biting and licking her bottom lip. A shiver ran up his spine as he watched that tongue...

"It's no secret that I'm wealthy. My dowry is enough to keep me and a husband comfortable for several years." She frowned. "And he had made it seem that he, well, that he wanted me." For a moment there, Kyo thought he saw tears in her emerald eyes. "But I was wrong." He could almost see as she built walls up around her emotions, blocking away those memories to ponder over another day.

Kyo wanted to say more, wanted to give her a comforting touch. But he was a warrior, and everybody knew that warriors, of all people, had no sense of comfort, and therefore were bad companions. So he simply shrugged, and finished dressing, letting Yuya have a moment of privacy while she stabled her shaky emotions and readied herself mentally for what lied ahead.


There were several noises outside of the tent, their volume growing louder and louder until there was a grunt just outside of the tent. Kyo walked to the flap, and opened the corner. "Do you need something?"

"I've just come to make sure everything is-"

"We're fine." The biting tone in Kyo's voice caused the man on the other side to squeak. "I'll be ready to move out in an hour."

"Well, that's good. Is the woman going to-"

"She's riding with me." The possessiveness in Kyo's voice startled Yuya, and she glanced at his face to see if it was really true. And all she could see was the hard features, and she knew that what he said was true: He owned her. Every bit of her.


Tbc...

All right, well, I was kind of hoping to be able to explain why Yuya wants to go home, but I couldn't seem to get it written right. . Home, to me, is a relative term. She may be a runaway, but to get 'home' means more like 'get to a safe place,' rather than actually 'home, as in back to Kyoshiro' (I hope that made sense...) If that didn't help clear up some of the confusion, let me know and I'll try harder to work it in the actual story!

Thank you's:

Ayume Omoide-I'm glad that you like this story so far! glomps back I hope I was able to get her a bit stronger in this chapter-I tried!

Triste1-I always thought of Kyo having that hard exterior, but then being a truly good person underneath. Yuya was a bit more like herself (I think) in this chapter-stronger but still submissive. How is the emotion coming? Let me know! I'm really trying to get it worked in, but it's more difficult than what I thought it would be.

WTH-What can I say? I love bad boys with soft sides I'm also very attached to Kyo for some reason...prolly because he's a bad boy with a soft side! Hehehe! I'm glad that you like it!

Genjy0-Sanz0-After re-reading what I wrote, I did realize he seemed a bit OOC. And while I wanted some OOC, I didn't want him to be completely OOC. I'll remember to put it in the warnings Thanks for letting me know, and I'm glad that you like it!

LadyWater-hopefully those moments come soon! I can't wait to write them!

DudettRin101-I'm trying, really! I'm glad that you like it!

luna-magic-2005- squeals I'm ranking near the top? Yay! I hope I explained a little what I mean by 'going home' up in the author's notes. If it's still slightly confusing, let me know, and I'll see what I can do I'm glad that you're enjoying this so far!

Thanks again! Update might take a little longer for the next chapter only because I'm going away on vacation next week-I'll let y'all know!

Midnight Anonymous