Yesss i finally finished the chapter... sry it took so long! I started the chapter a couple times and what i wrote just didn't feel right. i hope this is better. you might think Bambi is OOC here, but hear me out. after she and Kaguya were separated in the manga, she really did get passionate about reuniting with Kaguya, even fanatical. i don't think this s an overstatement of how she felt. At the end of this chapter, talking to Kura, she is back to her old self it seems, but really she hasn't changed. she's just found one thing to be passionate about.

also,if it's confusing that Kura keeps saying "we" instead of "i," remember he's royalty, and they often do that. now without further ado...

Review Response

(spoiler)yes, Kaguya and Seeu do get married and have children at the end…(end spoiler) sorry, did I ruin it? I should have warned you there was a spoiler. /glad you liked the interaction. I like their pairing, and will probably write about them as a pairing in the future, but throughout most of the manga i was hoping for Kaguya/Bambi since they are on the road together and since Bambi misses Kaguya so much. also i remember at the end Bambi says she hates Seeu, and I can't imagine why she would except that he took Kaguya away from her. even if Kaguya loved Seeu in the books, i really think bambi was in love with her, and i think Kaguya maybe returned her feelings until she met Seeu, and maybe a little after that. i might have Kaguya be attracted to Seeu in this story, too, because i'm sorta picturing her as bisexual, but she'll end up with bambi, happily together forever, if not legally married. when ppl talk about sexual orientations, they neglect bisexuals and it makes me mad… plus Kaguya really does like Seeu, so i think she makes a perfect bisexual. (if you're wondering by now, yes, i am bisexual.)

i got a couple of reviews that made no sense… one was just random letters and the other said something about killing everyone, so all i have to say is, well, i'm glad to know you're at least reading the story.

Taken

Chapter 6: Some Things (Bambi's Perspective)

Damn Seeu. Damn him. I paced back and forth in my assigned quarters, opulent, but a prison nonetheless. I had been there three days, and had had time to do little more than think.The emperor only kept me alive because he wanted to use me. It had not taken him long to assess my value as the master of the Geopyrogate and decide to use me for his own agenda. If I hadn't revealed it, he still would have valued me just for my ancestry, my appearance, and my intelligence- really for the prestige I would bring to his household. My intelligence was really of no interest to him, and neither was that of any of his wives. He didn't sit and talk politics with them or have philosophical chats; he just abused them. He cared about their vast intelligence only insofar as it made him look good to the public. I would have numbered among them, not by my own choosing, but out of force, had I not been the master of Pyro, or had Kura not found out that I was.

I revealed my power to him as a way to avoid choosing between death and sexual servitude; I had a third choice concealed in my person, so I used it. Now that he knew that physically, I had power equal to his, however, he really was not in a position to force me to do anything. He had the master of the Zenith Crystal under his control as well, though, so it was true that I was outmatched, but if I ever caught him alone, there was no telling what could happen. Kura had a way of worrying about his own safety before anything else, and knowing the Pyro might be a worthy opponent of his Nox Light, especially after I'd had more experience using it, he had not attempted to force me into his army. I had chosen to remain there for a reason I still found it difficult to confront.

I had joined forces with a dictator, a perpetrator of crimes against humanity, a man I despised heartily, for a chance. It was a chance that might not yield the desired result; I might have joined the odious emperor for nothing, still I stayed. Why did I stay? The reason seemed hopelessly inadequate even to me, and yet I could not make my steps turn to leave; I didn't even desire to do so. I could renounce my allegiance to Kura at any moment and he would not be able to stop me, but here I was. I sat here immobile, powerless despite my great strength. I was reduced to a toll in the hands of a lifelong enemy, all for the least important reason in the world, and the most important. I stood here in the marble palace of the emperor for the same reason I was not still in my own castle in Telene, blissfully and tragically unaware of Princess Kaguya. She disarmed me, and what was worse, or better, was that I didn't care that she did so.

I was wasting away without her from the moment she disappeared with Seeu through his star collapser. Some things you don't realize you need until they're gone, and people often fall into that category. The Princess had been nothing to me when she came to my door pleading for shelter; how I regretted that it could ever have been so. After I became accustomed to her presence in my castle, she had been a curiosity, albeit an annoyingly talkative one. I had been, and still was on some level, interested in the culture that had developed in Eden, something she could have taught me about in great detail, probably, but I'd never asked her about it, because I thought it might be painful for her to talk about her past. Now I was interested not so much in an anthropological sense, but because of her. I was interested in what made her happy, how her family had raised her to be the woman she was; I wanted to know everything about her, and her world was only a part of that.

Once we'd fled from the castle, I had been unable to avoid her when she got too loquacious, and I guess looking back that that's what forced me to learn to enjoy her talking and get to know her in that way, rather than asking prying questions about her past. We had bathed together, and I guess on her part that was because there was no reason to do so separately. She seemed comfortable with the idea and used to bathing with other women. I guessed that was common in Eden, though I had no way of knowing unless I asked her. I, on the other hand, could not remember bathing with another person in my entire life. I had no siblings, and if my parents took me with them to bathe me as a child, I was too young to remember. I had never disrobed in front of another person, and I think she sensed my nervousness, since she looked the other way while we undressed and did not look at me until I was safely in the water. I was thankful for her understanding, but more than that, I was mesmerized.

I had gone into the water to bathe, and having given me enough time, Princess Kaguya had turned and begun to walk, nude, toward the water in which I stood shoulder deep. She had probably greeted me in some way, and probably felt I was being cold toward her when I did not reply. I did not reply because I heard no words, dumbstruck as I was by the sight. I fell in love with the pale, white curves, the childishly expressive blue eyes, and the luxuriously waving hair that made up the Princess' body. I had begun to love her mind through the conversations I was slowly beginning to participate in, and on that night I fell for all of her.

By day, faced once again with the endless talking she bombarded me with, it was hard to remember that magical night, and I sometimes lost patience with her chatter. I found myself listening intently on occasion, though. I surprised myself with the fact that I could enjoy such discourse, and wasembarrassed to admit to myself that I was doing so, but I slowly came around. Princess Kaguya does cast her spell on those she meets.

We continued to talk, to bathe together, and to walk through the daytimes. Both of us became leaner from our sparse meals and daily exercise of walking, and I might be flattering myself, but I think I saw her look sideways at me in a way I could only have hoped she would. I might have shown disdain for such things in the daytime, in my state of sometime annoyance at her babble, but never would I have truly felt it. My pride got in the way at night- I had survived by myself for decades, and why did I need anyone, after all? Only in the calm, cool bliss of the night could I let my true feelings overcome my hard outer shell. When she looked at me with heat, desire, or something unknown in her eyes which mirrored the pond which held us, I returned it all in my heart, if not by many outward signs. How was I to know what signs to give? Was it obvious, because a novice such as I had no skill at hiding such things? Perhaps, then again, she felt my eyes on her when she wasn't looking.

How could I not have known it would be like this? I had known I felt protective of her; I had advised her not to let herself be captured by Kura. I had known what would happen, and yet could not tell her no. I had advised her, but in the end I had come with her to this place where I was in Kura's employ. I had allowed this to happen, and Seeu had come to her rescue. I supposed I should be thankful to him for keeping her safe, but now I could not help but think she would grow to prefer him to me. I had known I felt something toward her; I had known it and tried to deny it. My presence in this place now forced me to see plainly how I cared for her, since why else would I stay? Now that I was without her, I knew. Now that it was, most likely, too late, I knew I could own my feelings and confess the truth. Now that Seeu had her, I knew. I knew I loved her, and yet knew that she would probably never love me. I knew she probably wanted a man who could give her children, who could marry her and live as a family. I had all of those capabilities in my heart; it was not fair that my body should keep me from love. It was not fair, but neither would it be fair to hold her against her will. She would have whom she chose, and why should she choose me?

"Shiina," it grated on my nerves to have my name slurred in so vulgar a manner by so vulgar a man, "We've been looking over your answers to Our test."

I said nothing.

"You did well. Better than any of Our wives, We're told."

I was not surprised that he had to be told how well I'd done. Such a man would not bother himself with learning anything that didn't directly relate to his ability to intimidate others.

"Do you know We cannot answer even one of those questions?"

"No. I could have guessed as much." Kura was standing uncomfortably close to me now, but I would not allow him to see that. It was what he wanted, and therefore he would not get it from me.

"You got every question correct, Shiina. Does it please you to know how intelligent you are?"

"I know how intelligent I am. It means nothing."

"On the contrary, We think it means a great deal," he practically purred right into my ear. The man really must have thought me one of his concubines. "You are so intelligent, so beautiful, so powerful as the master of the Pyro…" his arm snaked around me so that he was practically embracing me. He stood behind me, body draped loosely around mine. Such a foul person could never, with all the whispers in the world, with all his disgusting caresses, deter me from loving Princess Kaguya. If he thought to woo me, he was only driving me further away.

"Power means nothing if I've never used it. All my abilities are meaningless. I'm worthless. I haven't accomplished a single thing in my lifetime. I've never helped anyone but Princess Kaguya, and still you almost captured her."

"You may think you are worthless, but you mean very much to Us," he crooned, still too close to my ear. "We love you," he whispered, choosing that moment to take his leave. I was glad he was gone, but felt sullied by his profession of love. Kura didn't know what love was.

The slithering vermin gone, I was left to shudder at the evil import of his words. I was valuable to him. I had known he valued my Geopyrogate, and even before I'd come here I'd known I fit the bill for his next harem girl, but having him say it to me made my skin crawl. Kura thought I was beautiful. I almost wished to become ugly, since my alleged beauty felt forever unclean under his stare. I could never wish to be stupid, but I could wish Kura didn't know or care. Above all, I wished I'd never met him. I wished I had the courage to leave this horrible place, but leaving would mean I would probably never see the Princess again. I was weak. I was beaten. I was staying.