Disclaimer: I do not own BB, just the OCs.

Summary: The war between two empires has gone on long enough. Now the Emperors pass down their grudge to their grandchildren. But what happens when they find themselves escaping their worlds, and finding love between one another? Pairings

Key:

"Talking"

"Thoughts"

:: Communicating with Sacred Animals ::

Chapter 6

Mika was making it through the courtyard of the Palace, when she dropped the bucket and made it for a sprinting run. Her footsteps slapped onto the ground, and the guards were quick to pick up on her escape.

"QUICKLY! GET THE WENCH!" shouted the closest guard. Hearing the footsteps behind her, Mika switched into a new gear and tore off through the garden that was set up in the palace courtyard. The wall, they were close to the wall. Looking up and down the giant barrier, she noticed a tree with a limb low enough for her to jump up and grasp.

Changing her pathway towards the tree, she could hear the cries of the guards behind her. Their menacing words bounced off of the ookami princess as she continued her run for her freedom. She wasn't sure exactly how she was going to get out of this one. She was only a slave in their eyes, not worthy of life after this.

The tree limb was only mere inches out of her grasp, when Mika felt the pressure of multiple pairs of hands emerge onto her shoulders. The weight put on her body slammed her into the ground at their feet. Eating dirt, a few of the guards lied on top of her, preventing her from squirming and trying to escape from her capture. The pressure and impact released all the air from her lungs. Gasping for any precious breath she could grasp, Mika's head started to feel light and her body draining of its strength.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" asked one of the guards, standing in front of her. The two on top of her got off, yanking her harshly off the ground, and pinning her arms behind her back. "You call this an escape attempt." Mika gathered up her wits and spat in the face of the guard in front of her. Surprised by the act of the slave, the guard slugged her with his might, gutting her, and making her bend over. "You have signed your death yet again." Unsheathing his sword, the guard lifted the metal above his head and let his arm fly down, aiming the satirical blade for the girls' neck. Mika closed her eyes.

"Oh please, BEO!"

But Mika never felt the cold blade slice her neck, and instead a new commotion around her was brought up.

"What do you think you are doing?"

"She has committed crimes against the Emperor."

Mika looked up to see the red headed man who had originally taken her from the Temple of Beo.

"And you did not expect her to run?" asked Tala. "She is an ookami. She does not deserve death. Bring her to the Tower. Spencer will deal with her there." With that, Tala turned on his heels and proceeded to exit the group. The guard, lowering his sword and sheathing it, mumbled under his breath when Tala was out of earshot.

"Come on." Mika was lifted off her own two feet as she was dragged back towards the Palace and this infamous "Tower".

Kai sat down in his room, finishing up with the paper work that his grandfather had assigned him to. Takao was standing patiently with his hands behind his back, facing the window, waiting for Dranzer to return. The feathered creature had not returned to Kai since the protest she seemed to render earlier that day. She had never been away this long before, and Kai was starting to worry.

The door creaked open and in came Hiromi, meekly walking towards her new Master. Kai's crimson eyes latched on to her, and wondered where the other girl was. She had not returned since he had left for his ever-exciting dinner with Voltaire and Boris.

"That is all for the day," stated Kai, putting his papers into a neat pile on the side of his desk. Hiromi nodded and started to walk out of the room. "Where is the other one?"

"I am not aware of –err—her current location, Master," reported Hiromi. Kai's eyes narrowed and Takao looked wary towards his angering master.

"Very well. Leave," coldly stated Kai. Hiromi bowed down and left the rooms, going towards her own little room that she was to share with Mika.

It was two hours after Hiromi had returned to her room, which the door was ripped open, and someone was thrown in. Hiromi moved and the moonlight showed the body to belong to Mika. The door was slammed shut and Hiromi heard a moan cross over the ookami's lips. Hiromi rushed over towards her side, and put her hand on Mika's shoulder. As soon as she touched the younger girl, Mika winced and gasped. Hiromi quickly withdrew her hand, and examined Mika's back.

The shirt was soaked a gooey liquid that was drying. The aroma of this filled Hiromi's senses and immediately brought the feeling of an upset stomach to the brunette. With the help of the moonlight, Hiromi was able to see all the slash marks and seeping blood that ran through the newly inflicted wounds that covered Mika's back.

"Mika-sama," she gasped. Mika painfully stood up, gritting her teeth as to overcome this new torture. "What happened to you, Mika-sama?" Hiromi helped Mika stand onto her feet, and led her over towards the only cot in the room.

"No, Hiromi-chan. You taken the cot."

"Nonsense, Mika-sama, you are injured," firmly stated Hiromi, totally unlike herself. "What has betrothed these wounds on to you?" Mika lied down on her stomach on the cot, allowing no pressure on her severed back.

"I tried to run, Hiromi-chan," she replied, her eyes filling with tears. "I cried out to Beo, but he did not respond."

"Mika-sama, why would you even try that?" Hiromi stood above Mika, trying her best to examine the whippings lashes lacing her blood red back. Mika rested her hands beneath her head and tried to get comfort in her position.

"I had to attempt," she simple replied, closing her eyes, as she felt Hiromi slightly shift to sit on the cot. The motion of the new arrival caused Mika's body to move slightly, and her attire to shift across her back, painfully.

"Did you take into consideration that you could risk the chance of punishment?" Hiromi knew the answer, but she figured she'd have to ask herself. Mika always had been one of thinking before she acted. It had landed her in trouble as a child, but as her status in life rendered her free from punishment, until now that was.

"To speak the truth, no." Mika opened her eyes, looking out the barred window, longing to see the constellations she could observe at home.

"Are you going to try again?"

"Yes."

"But, my Lady!"

"Hiromi-chan, please. I recall over hearing Robert telling the new soldiers in training that what does not remove your life from this world strengthens your soul."

"Maybe, Mika-sama, but here, you are a slave, an 'it', that belongs to the younger Lord Hiwatari. You are not known to be the - "

"Silence your tongue. Never speak of that, Hiromi. It might seem that renders the truth, but I am also what I was back home," Mika quietly snapped at her, wanting to rise out of the cot, but the wounds held her down. "And in that, I have a greater responsibility towards my people. That is worth more than some bastard."

"Mika-sama, your tongue has grown with poison." Never before had Hiromi heard such malice and anger emitting from Mika's tone before. Never had she heard Mika use a word such as "bastard" either.

"No, Hiromi. It had grown truthful."

"Must your words be so harsh?"

"For each lash that the Houous have placed upon me."

"Oh, Mika-sama."

"Hiromi-chan, if we – when we – get out of this hell hole and back into my lands, your freedom is inevitable. You shall never have to call me your mistress anymore. You don't have to as well at this moment on, ever again. As an oath on Beo—speaking of Beo, I wonder if he survived."

"I have not heard any of the women servants speak ill about an ookami death. And those women talk more than Master Brooklyn after his thirst for wine has left him impaired."

"What do they talk about?"

"One of them cackled that the Ookami princess has abandoned her fiancé at the altar."

"Well, that is very much accurate."

"They also say that the princess has transformed into a youkai and flew away."

"Well, they certainly are full of themselves."

"Mika-sama, I must express my woes of you being in the hands of your – our – mortal enemy."

"Think of it, we are closer to the Houou Emperor and Heir. If the opportunity renders itself valid, we can kill them and escape."

"Mika-sama! Your words, they are so tainted!"

"Hiromi, if my true identity is ever uncovered, then I must inform you that I shall be in more danger than I currently reside in."

"I know-"

"No, no you don't. I over heard the elder Hiwatari arranging for my kidnapping to make me his bride. Then he intends on using me, taking my lands, and finally disposing of me." Hiromi gasped, losing her breath for a minute, lost in the words that soared out of Mika's lips.

"Mika-sama..."

"So I have to get out of here, Hiromi-chan. I must find Beo and get out of here."

"I used to be Otosan's little girl
To us you meant the world
And oh, how we seemed so happy
Thought we had everything
But oh, how the seasons changed
When you broke up wiht us and made a new family

So many times I cried
Sleepless nights
Asking why did you go
I still don't know
What happened to the man I used to know?

You loved me then left me out here with no Otosan
No longer a family with Otosan
Though we struggled for a while we still made it through these trials
I don't think back because we're ok, Oh Otosan

Day by day it got so hard
Ma taking any job
And the car just won't drive and nothing to get by
Next thing we in a food line
These things, no you didn't see
Cuz dad you gave up on me
I just kept following my dreams

You loved me then left me out here with no Otosan
No longer a family with Otosan
Though we struggled for a while we still made it through these trials
I don't think back because we're ok, Oh Otosan

Now slowly I start to understand
This was just all part of a plan
Cuz withouth you we've been through so many things
Now to you we are thanking
And every word I say is true
I couldn't forgive but now I do
But we still can't forget I just can't let it happen all over again

You loved me then left me out here with no Otosan
No longer a family with Otosan
Though we struggled for a while we still made it through these trials
I don't think back because we're ok, Oh Otosan

You loved me then left me out here with no Otosan
No longer a family with Otosan
Though we struggled for a while we still made it through these trials
I don't think back because we're ok, Oh Otosan" (1)

Mika had managed to fall asleep, the blood soaked outfit crusting on to her back. Hiromi took her sleep on the floor next to her, and woke up in the morning with a stiff neck. Takao woke the two of them up with a knocking at the door. Entering, he attempted to quickly usher the two out of the room and into the services again that Kai was instructing. That was when his eyes laced over Mika's darkened red back.

"No wonder no one knew where she was. Poor Michi was in the Tower."

"Come on," he stated, walking over towards Mika, carefully helping her up, making sure not to touch her wounds. No matter how softly Takao was trying to help her, the pain was still powerful and enticing. Mika winced as she stood and looked towards the door, as Takao escorted both girls out.

They entered Kai's chambers, and awaited the orders of the Phoenix. The dual haired boy had not arisen yet from his down bed, and was merely lingering under the covers, not wanting to leave and find himself in another meeting with his grandfather of women not already wedded. The three of them stood at the edge of his bed, arms held behind their backs, and heads down. Pain coursed through Mika's body as the cloth was rubbing against her infecting wounds.

"Tall one will again go to the washers, and Short one, you will go with her," stated Kai, not wanting to deal with any curse the women could put on him. His head was already pained since Mika left his room last night. It had to be a curse that she was rendering and developing.

They all bowed to him and turned around. But as Kai hazily watched the two girls leave his room, his crimson eyes matched onto the "Short One's" back. He immediantly shot up and his face flared with his anger.

"Stop," he commanded. "When did you receive those?" The Prince pointed his finger at Mika's wounds. Biting her bottom lip, Mika turned around.

"Last night, sir," she replied. Kai looked her in the eye, but from what he saw made him want to confront her with his questions. She had been severely whipped from her appearance, and yet, she still had a fire dancing in her eyes. She seemed proud, a little too proud for a slave. Kai couldn't help but feel slightly threatened by this ookami woman. But Kai, his ego was too big for him to admit his fear of this fire, and also his attraction to it.

"Wait! What did I just think? Attraction? No I must be under her curse," thought Kai.

"Very well," he stated. "Tend to your lashes before going to your work." Mika bowed to him, a mockery in her mind, as she flashed him a smile. Turning around, both girls left the room, and headed back for their little room, but Hiromi went down the hallway until she came to the storage room where she would be able to find herbs and medicines to treat the wounds with.

Mika lied on the cot, a smile laced over her face. She was getting that prince right where she wanted. She had planned all this out last night as she was singing another song. She wanted to get into this prince's mind. "Curse" him like the Ookamis were seen to do. And it was working. His posture, when she looked him in the eye, it faulted. He was weaker than he let appear. And Mika would be ready to "break" him.

As the two girls were walking down the corridor towards the washer rooms, Mika and Hiromi avoided the guards and nobles that were wandering around the hallways. Keeping their gaze down, they stayed out of the view of the people, until they were stopped.

An old hand grasped onto Mika's inside shoulder and spun around her around, gazing into the cold, demonic eyes of the Houou Emperor. His grip clenched onto her cheeks, pinching them in as he inspected her, checking her over.

"Well, well, this is a new one, no Boris?" questioned Voltaire as he looked up and down Mika's frightened face and body. His eyes latched onto her breasts, and then towards her thighs. Mika was frozen in fear and shock, and the unknown of what to do. The last beating hurt, and she did not want a repeat, even if she wanted her freedom.

"Yes, my Lord. This is the second day I have seen her. Spencer has reported to me that young Tala took two ookami women from the Temple of Beo. It appears that these are the girls," declared Boris, looking over the two girls, hungrily. "Spencer has also informed me that Tala has given them to Young Master Kai as birthday offerings."

Voltaire ignored Hiromi entirely, even though Boris' eyes searched her over. Voltaire was too busy concentrating on the feminine physique of the one in his hands. "Interesting. Never the less, she looks intriguing to me. And she still has fire in her eyes. She isn't tame. I shall see to it myself that she's properly broken." He pulled her closer and ran his finger down her breasts, and circling around her lower abdomen. Mika mentally gulped. Certainly this "breaking in" was not what she had in mind for Kai.

"Shall I bring her to your quarters now?" questioned Boris, wanting so much to take this bitch and demand pleasure. She was a slave, but ever so attractive. He was only a man, a male. And as that, he had desires.

"Yes." Voltaire released the grip on the girl's face as Boris closed in and grasped her by her hair, giving her a rough shake.

"Lets go, wench."

"What are you doing?" called a new voice behind Mika and Hiromi. All of them looked up to see a storming young Hiwatari making his entrance into this "debate". Making his way over towards Boris and his grandfather, Kai pushed off Boris' grip on his slave. Boris wanted to growl at the action, but let it slide.

"Why, Master Kai, what an unexpected visit."

"As I questioned before, what are you doing with my bitch?" His crimson eyes narrowed, as he regretted calling her that, feeling her expression downfall and then lighten in anger. He did not want to upset an ookami.

"Tala might have given her to you, but this is my Empire, rendering everything on my lands, mine," Voltaire reminded Kai. "And I am going to break her in. You see that fire in her eyes? That won't be tolerated. That fire only leads to two things, Kai. Take head to my warning. It will only lead to a rebellion."

"Nonsense."

"According to the guards, this one has attempted an escape last night, Master Kai," smirked Boris. "See." He reached out and ran his hand over Mika's back, causing a rush of exhilarating pain through her body. Mika cringed and stifled a groan of pain. Boris could only smile more at this show of defeat on the Heir's part. He continued to stroke her back, making her breathing raspier in the pain.

"Then I will punish her," declared Kai, knocking Boris' hand off of Mika's back, and standing up to the sorcerer of the Houou. Boris frowned and was ready to take a stand against the acts of Kai, but then his reminder of the Emperor halted his wants.

"She has been punished already."

"Then I shall personally break her."

"Kai, you are inexperienced in this matter," chuckled Voltaire, the words laced in poison and mockery. Kai turned from Boris to his grandfather, his hatred still ever so flowing.

"Well she's only an ookami, so she is meaningless. Plus she is my property."

"Fine, I shall allow you to break her in, but if that fire does not die. I shall take her," informed Voltaire. He stood nose to nose with his grandson. "And Kai, do not forget your place in this Empire." Voltaire turned around and started down the hallway, leaving the Prince and his wenches.

"Yes sir," mumbled Kai underneath his breath. Voltaire stopped and turned around. Kai's stance became more rigid. If his grandfather heard his words, then he would have the same treatment that the "Short One" had.

A twinkle danced in Voltaire's eye. "Oh and Kai, the second thing that that fire brings is an enjoyable taming..."

(1) "Oh Daddy" Christina Milian , 'father' word change.

Jap Dictionary:

Ookami wolf

Kami God

Tora tiger

Ojiisan Grandfather

Otosan Father

Isshi beloved child