Greetings all! This is the fifth edition of what is now my second posted fic. Enjoy!
Chapter 5As the first month of the second trimester blurred into the next, Kayura continued to have various vomiting episodes, although none as dramatic as the first. Anubis continued to visit her as well as the demon Soja-no; with Kayura giving Anubis the shaft as it were, and Soja-no keeping her in the dark.
About half way into the fifth month, Talpa called Kayura to his throne room.
"Kayura, what have you been doing?" The emperor asked, his voice mellow.
"I don't understand what you mean my lord." She responded from her keeling position.
"You have not been sparing at all lately and I want to know why. Just because you are the strongest of my vassals, it does not mean you can stray from your conditioning—you loose skill that way."
"Forgive me master Talpa," Kayura began, her face becoming hot. "I just haven't been feeling as well as I should over the past few months. I've had no energy to do much of anything."
"Regardless Kayura, you'll still need to train but I will be lenient. You are to spar with one of the Warlords for the next three days—when this is done you may rest more. Is this not reasonable?"
Kayura swallowed silently. "No master Talpa, it is very reasonable. I will begin right away."
"Very good. Sekhmet and Anubis should already be in the sparing chamber."
****
Arriving in the Spar Chamber, Kayura found her two associates preparing for a match.
"Kayura, what are you doing here? I thought you were still sick." Sekhmet inquired looking up from his kitana.
"I am, but master Talpa says I have to get off my butt and train. He says I only need to do it for three days, but I really don't feel up to it."
"I guess he figures you need the workout, but I don't need a sickly female as my sparing partner." Sekhmet commented as he shined his blade.
"Whatever. You've got Anubis here—spar with him for now and I'll go against whoever's more worn down."
"Oh brother." Anubis mumbled. Sekhmet rolled his eyes.
Kayura watched as Anubis faced Sekhmet with a large spear—standing at the ready, they bowed, then started to circle one another.
As they furthered their session, Kayura yawned and took a seat on the floor out of the way to take a small nap.
Twenty or so minutes had elapsed when Anubis nudged her awake. "Rise and shine, time to work—it's going to be you and me. Get your weapons and meet me on the floor in three minutes."
Kayura looked at him then let out a sigh as she climbed to her feet. Moments later, she was out on the floor opposite of Anubis.
"You're not going to wear that are you?" He said motioning to her kimono.
"I most certainly am. I told you I didn't want to do this in the first place. Lets just get on with it so I can get out of here."
"That's very clumsy of you Kayura—you're not going to be able to move an inch with all that cloth flying everywhere." He said with a smirk. "But have it your way—I'm not going to go easy on you."
"Who cares? Come on!" She huffed as she raised her Star Swords.
Anubis made the first attack. He swung his spear around toward her ankles; in return, Kayura dodged and moved swiftly to his left. With his weapon keeping her at a distance, Anubis moved in for a close attack. Using the spear as a pole-vault, he used the upper part of the shaft to propel him into a flying kick. Back on the floor with her at his flank, Anubis thrusted with the bottom of the spear at Kayura, then brought it around to strike her frontally. Kayura threw up her swords to block. She shoved forward fiercely to throw him off balance. While he attempted to regain himself, she ducked down for a leg sweep. Detecting this, Anubis tumbled backward away from her, and as she rose back up, he swung his spear out blade first and slashed completely though the belly of her garment. Kayura leapt back horrified, dropping her right sword as she grabbed her midsection.
"GOD! Anubis what are you DOING?"
"I'm sorry! I thought you were going to dodge!"
"You have a spear you idiot! As sick as I am, I'm not going to dodge a long pointed stick that's two feet away from me!"
"I'm sorry Kayura, are you alright? Let me see that." He asked, finally climbing to his feet.
"Uh, I'm fine—don't worry about it." She said turning away quickly.
"Come on Kayura, I need to know if you're hurt or not, let me see the damage." He demanded as he took her arm and whirled her around. "What the hell?"
Kayura promptly snatched away and turned her back to him.
"Kayura what the hell was that? Are you pregnant?!"
She said nothing.
"Kayura face me, NOW." Anubis growled. Slowly she turned around. He walked up close on her. "You are pregnant. Kayura, what the hell? How come you never told anyone about this?"
"Because it was nobody's business!"
"Is that right? How long did you really think you could keep this a secret?"
"I've kept it this long haven't I?"
"That's not the point Kayura, you should have said something!"
"Why? Its MY body, MY business!"
Anubis glared at her. "Who's the father Kayura?"
"What the hell makes you think I'm going to tell you that? Look Anubis—I've got to go--just shut-up for now and maybe I'll tell you more. But please keep this to yourself—for my sake?"
Anubis grunted. "It won't be a secret for long Lady Kayura. I bet you anything that someone else already knows."
Kayura only looked at him, then left without another word.
She removed most of her kimono in order to examine herself. She wasn't hurt—the kimono was just slashed. In some ways though, she wished it were more than just her clothing. This whole pregnancy thing made her very uneasy—and the idea that someone else already knowing chilled her to the bone. Anubis was probably right though. She did go see Badamon before she thought she might be with child. He must have known—he looked through her body. Once again that feeling of dread found its home in the pit of her stomach. She sighed audibly. Why did this have to be happening to her? What did it all mean and what was it for? Damn that Soja-no. Damn him to hell!
AN: Better? No? I'm sorry…this is taking longer than I thought, but trust me…it WILL get better. See ya!^^