At the Edge of Reality
By: Lily (Lena) Evans
'I wake in the dark and remember
it is the morning when I must start
by myself on the journey' W.S. Merwin
Summary: The Gravi cast is (somehow) transported to a world where kings rule the land and knights and sorcerers roam. When an evil threatens to destroy the world they must all step up and help protect it and (hopefully) find a way home. Violence. Lime. Various couples. Broken hearts. OOC-ness. Yaoi (I bet you weren't expecting that). Just when you thought Eiri couldn't get any more sexy… he gets a sword! Why, you ask? Because it's MY fic and I said so! Rating has gone up due to a certain sexy scene later in the chapter.
Genre: Fantasy/Action/Adventure
A/N: All right, we left our…ahem… heroes in various places. Shuichi, Tohma, Eiri, Hiro, and Cory are heading to Zecim, with determination on their faces. Ryuichi and Mika are in the house of a seer. K and Sakano go through with the woman's plan, with no other help near. Suguru and Tatsuha find their new clothes to be strange. Ayaka was taken into custody of the royal family while Noriko buys clothes into which she can change. And what the hell happened to ASK? Their kidnappers have them, who we will soon unmask. Anywho, Read and Review! (Sorry, couldn't resist, my crappy poetry sense kicked in.)
RATING HAS GONE UP! LIME ALERT!
Chapter 4: This is Just Way Too Weird…
"How many of us do you think got themselves stuck here?" Hiro asked, looking over at Tohma. The president shrugged.
"I really don't know, Hiroshi," he answered. "I have my guesses though."
"Like what?" Shuichi asked.
"I am assuming Ryuichi and Noriko, because they were with me when I was pulled in," he told them.
"Then that means Ayaka is here too," Hiro said.
"Why?" Shuichi asked teasingly.
"We had a date," Hiro told him. "I was there. So if people we were with came into this world, she came with me."
"But that doesn't mean those are the only people," Eiri pointed out, though not really wanting to take part in the conversation.
"You're right," Tohma agreed. "There could be anybody here."
"It doesn't really even have to be people we know," Hiro noticed. "I mean, there could be people here from all over the world and we won't know about it."
"This is weird…" Shuichi said needlessly.
"Hey!" Cory stopped from her spot way ahead of them. "Are y'all ever gonna stop talkin' and git a move on? We're wastin' time."
"Sorry," Shuichi said, jogging to catch up to her. Tohma, Eiri, and Hiro quickened their pace to stay within sight range of the two.
"I agree with the brat," Eiri said finally. "This is really strange."
"Hey, um, miss psychic lady?"
"What is it, Ryuichi?" Astra asked.
"Is—is—?" Ryuichi could not find it within himself to ask the question, for he feared the answer. "Is—" he tried again, but he could not make the words come.
"Worry not," Astra said smiling. "Kumagoro is just fine." Ryuichi sighed in relief.
"He's safe? Did you give him a bath? He needed to take one tonight!"
"I'll be sure to give him one."
Mika rolled her eyes. It was certainly beginning to feel like a long day.
"We are going to get caught!" Sakano squeaked. "They're going to kill us. They'll rip us apart, limb from limb! They're going to—"
"Stop whining," K commanded. "We're almost out."
"Did we really have to wear these pants?"
"Yes," the woman hissed. Sakano and K were currently rolling out a cart full of dirty laundry and the woman had climbed in. They were going to use the excuse that they had come on the master's orders to pick up the dirty clothes. Sakano was having his doubts. However, she said that no one would believe them if they were not wearing spandex.
"Hold it," one of the guards stopped them at the exit. "What do you think you're doing?"
"Rolling out the laundry," K said.
"Who—?"
"The master sent us," he answered the question before it was asked. Sakano found it amazing that K was keeping such a calm exterior. He, on the other hand, felt like his fear was showing right through the fake smile he wore.
"Does this one talk?" one of the guards asked, eyeing Sakano with suspicion.
"Not much," K said. "Even so, it's never anything important." He would pay for that one… okay, maybe he wouldn't, but Sakano liked to think so.
"All right," the lead guard said finally. "Let 'em through." The gates opened and they were home free. Well, nearly. Sakano still had to make it away from eyesight of the guards before he fainted.
"That was really close," the woman said once they had managed the task. "Thanks, I owe you guys big time."
"No problem," K said. "You helped us get out too."
"If—if you don't mind my asking," Sakano said, getting up his courage. "What exactly goes on in that place?" K nodded, looking to the woman for answers.
"Well, it's basically like a slave community," she said sadly. "Though they only use women."
"What?" Sakano asked. "That's—that's…" He cut off, looking for the right word.
"Why?" K asked, looking as though he would start shooting if he had his gun.
"It's just the way things work around here," she said. "Nobody really knows about it, so no one's taken the liberty to save us. Only one other person outside the palace in Zecim knows what's going on. She's the only one who's ever escaped, but nobody's seen her since." Sakano felt sick. That was NOT how you treated people, no matter how much authority you had.
"That's sick," K said, looking as disgusted as Sakano felt.
"That's true," the woman admitted. "But it's been like this for generations."
"Hm…" K put a finger to his chin in thought. "Something must be done about it."
"Not without help," Sakano said. "We can't take those guards back there!" K looked like he really did not care, but he gave up anyway, possibly because he did not have his gun.
"He's right," the woman said. "We need to get to Zecim and get some help."
"Where's Zecim?" K asked, cocking an eyebrow.
"I—I'm not sure," she said blushing. "I've never been out of Sapen before, so I really don't know where to go."
"Oh, great," K said. "Now we're out of the town, but we're in a desert wearing spandex." Sakano realized this and blushed; he really did not think the tight material would be comfortable for a long period of time.
"Speaking of that," the woman said. "I took the liberty to put your clothes in the basket." She pulled out their regular clothes and handed to them. K snatched his away, changing his shirt immediately. Sakano took it gratefully, thanking the woman.
"Would you mind turning around?" Sakano asked. The woman blushed and did so.
"I'm sorry," she apologized. "But I've never seen another man besides the master."
"So you want to watch us change?" K asked, slightly suspicious.
"No, no," the woman told them, shaking her head. "I just… never mind…"
"Okay, you can turn around now," K told her.
"No wait!" Sakano screeched. He had not finished getting his pants on and having the woman turn around would not put him in a comfortable position. He quickly pulled up is pants and zipped them up. "Okay." The woman turned around and smiled.
"I must admit," she said, eyeing the two of them. "I think you two are much cuter than the master." Sakano blushed; he had never been called cute before, by any gender.
"Well, if we're going to find this Zecim before we die of hunger and thirst we'd better start now," K said. "And where's my gun?"
"They confiscated that," the woman said apologetically. "I'm sorry. Did that cost a lot of money?"
"No, but I don't have anymore with me," K growled, looking irritated. The woman looked remorseful.
"Let's go," she said. "You were right. We don't have any food or water." They began heading off in any direction that was away from the town they had just come from. Sakano was having his doubts and was wondering why there were no electronics in the town they had just left.
"Why are we wearing these again?" Tatsuha asked, eyeing his new clothes.
"To blend in," Ken told them with a smile.
"I feel funny," Suguru complained. "Does it really have to be clothes like this?"
"That's all we've got," Ken told them. "At least you don't have to dress like the folk from the country." Suguru realized that could possibly be worse and shut his mouth. He and Tatsuha were both wearing some form of uncomfortable pants that looked like they were hand woven rather than made in a factory. The shirts were the same way, though the gloves and the boots were leather.
"Are there any leather pants?" Tatsuha asked.
"You don't need leather pants," Suguru snapped. "Why you want to show off yourself is beyond me anyway."
"I do not want to 'show off myself'," Tatsuha snapped back. "It's just that those would probably be more comfortable."
"Those are usually left for the prostitutes," Ken told them.
"In that case these pants are just fine," Suguru said, covering Tatsuha's mouth. The other teen struggled to get away but Suguru glared at him. Tatsuha sighed and gave up.
"Oh, and I hope you boys don't mind waiting a couple days," Ken said. "I've been called back to duty so I need to fill the post for two or three days."
"Two or three days!" Tatsuha snapped breaking free of Suguru's grip. "What are we going to do for two or three days?"
"Look around," Ken said. "I mean in the safe parts of town. Here, I'll give you two a weapon to defend yourself. I'll also give you a map to where all the rich folk hang around. You'll be safe there."
"O—okay," Suguru felt as though this were not a good idea, but agreed anyway. Ken went into the back of his house and came out carrying two daggers.
"What's this?" Tatsuha asked. "What about guns? Those would make us safer."
"Whatsits?" Ken asked, looking confused. "You boys sure are strange." Both Tatsuha and Suguru stared at the man. Suguru pulled his cousin-in-law away from the knight for a moment.
"I think we have a problem," he said.
"Yeah, this guy doesn't know what a gun is," Tatsuha said. "This is weird."
"I agree," Suguru said. "Where are we?"
"I don't know," Tatsuha said. "It's not good though. Where's Mika?"
"I don't know," Suguru snapped, irritated.
"What about Sakuma-sama?"
"I. DON'T. KNOW!" Suguru nearly yelled at the other teen. It was getting rather irritating. "I've told you all this already."
"Fine," Tatsuha said shrugging. Suguru turned to walk back to Ken when Tatsuha hugged him from behind.
"What the hell are you doing?" Suguru snapped. He tilted his head back to see a wicked grin on the other teen's face. He felt something brush up against him. That definitely was not the knife that Ken had given him! Their new clothes were hiding nothing either.
"If Sakuma-sama isn't here," Tatsuha said wickedly. "I'll just have to make do with you." Damn, the little brat was horny, a fact that did not surprise Suguru.
"Get off me," Suguru demanded, only making Tatsuha grind his hips into his cousin-in-law. "I said get off me!"
"You're so uptight," Tatsuha said. "Are you still a virgin?"
"What the hell?" Suguru asked. "It's none of your business! Get off me!" Tatsuha rolled his eyes and released the other teen.
"You're no fun," he complained. "Come on. It's just the two of us right now. Haven't you ever thought about experimenting?"
"Not with you!"
"Oh, so you have," Tatsuha taunted. "So, who are you into nowadays, Suguru?"
"That's—That's none of your business!" Suguru felt himself turn red.
"Oh, come one," Tatsuha said again. "I promise I won't tell. Will you at least tell me if I'm right?" Suguru did not have time to answer as Tatsuha had already started guessing. Suguru sighed and hung his head, leading the other teen back to where Ken was standing.
Finally Noriko and Rachel left the store. They were finally able to find Noriko some traveling clothes. She had gotten a pair of black leggings and a loose, long sleeved shirt. She had also purchased boots and gloves because Rachel said that she would need them. They then decided to head back to the house to tell Nash what had happened.
"Hey, where's the other girl?" he asked when they entered the door.
"The prince wished her presence," Rachel said almost bitterly.
"Dammit," Nash cursed. "That can't be good."
"Why not?" Noriko asked. "What's he going to do to her? Damn, if something happens to her nobody's going to forgive me! Especially that Hiro guy. Well, maybe Eiri-san will…"
"What are you talking about?" Nash asked her in mid ramble.
"Hm?" she stopped to stare at him. "Oh, sorry. She is the girlfriend of one of my friend's friend and my other friend is friends with her, sort of."
"There's more of you?" Rachel asked, looking slightly confused at Noriko's incoherent ramble.
"From what I know it's just me and her," Noriko said. "I don't know what happened to Tohma and Ryuichi."
"Who are they?"
"My best friends," she answered. "They were with me before I showed up here."
"I really hope Astra can answer our questions," Nash said.
"More like I hope she will," Rachel corrected him. "She's got that 'mysterious, I-think-I'll-keep-you-guessing' thing going on."
"You're right," Nash said. "Damn, this is really going to be difficult." Noriko, who did not know Astra, agreed anyway.
"So he told you we're in where?" Ken asked, trying his hardest not to tick off their leader.
"Ainuba," Tachi repeated for the fifth time. "I'm not crazy. If anyone is, it's that guy."
"Right," Ken said, nodding skeptically.
"You don't believe me," Tachi accused. Ma and Ken exchanged glances, then deciding that Tachi could not do anything tied to a chair.
"Not really," Ma said boldly. "This is really weird."
"I KNOW!" Tachi yelled. "Don't you think it was for me when I was hearing all this crap?"
"You seem pretty calm about it," Ken pointed out.
"Like hell I'm calm!" Tachi snapped. "This is not funny!"
"We didn't say it was," Ken said.
"Maybe he's in shock," Ma suggested.
"Or maybe passive disbelief," Ken added. The two of them agreed on the two things by nodding their heads.
"…I'm still here, you know," Tachi pointed out.
"Hey look!" Shuichi pointed. "A river!"
"How fascinating," Eiri commented dryly.
"Really Shuichi," Hiro said. "Try keeping your excitement down. It's not really that spectacular."
"But it's pretty," Shuichi protested.
"Oh, joy," Eiri snapped, still feeling cranky.
"It looks like the river we passed on our way to Flemmingale," Tohma pointed out. "Really, Shindou-san, it's not a very interesting sight." Shuichi hung his head, Tohma always managed to spoil his fun.
"You boys wanna rest?" Cory called from ahead. Shuichi agreed, taking the time to hang off of Eiri, annoying all three of the other men.
"I dunno where y'all really came from," she said. "But yer the most interestin' thing this here country's seen in a while."
"What makes you say that?" Hiro asked.
"Well, if there's ever anythin' excitin' us country folk never hear 'bout it until later," she said. "It's really strange, even for some o' the more excitin' countries for people like y'all to jus' appear, you know?"
"I suppose it would be," Tohma agreed. Cory smiled and moved her canteen around.
"We're runnin' out o' water," she commented. "It's probably good that we're makin' such great time or we'd be farther from the river." Hiro rested his head on his knees, deep in thought.
"Something on your mind, Hiroshi?" Tohma asked.
"Hm? Oh, I was just…" he cut off, glancing at Eiri, who would probably not want to hear of Ayaka.
"Oh, I see," Tohma said, noticing his discomfort. "Don't worry." Hiro glanced up; it was not like the president to be very comforting. "I'm sure she's fine." Tohma smiled kindly at him, making Hiro wonder if all this country air had made him go crazy.
"Oh, good," Astra commented. Mika was asleep and Ryuichi was trying to find the closest thing he could to Kumagoro, which turned out to be a pillow and was chewing on it. "Your friends are going to venture here."
"Hm?" Ryuichi looked up at her with wide eyes. "Kuma-chan?"
"Do you really want your rabbit?" she asked. Ryuichi nodded. Astra smiled and closed her eyes, saying some strange song. Ryuichi cocked his head for a second before Kumagoro appeared in his lap. He squealed and tossed the pillow aside, hugging Kumagoro, telling it how much he missed it.
"That's cool," Ryuichi said, blinking innocently. "That was a weird song though." Astra laughed a little and left the room. Ryuichi shrugged and decided to amuse himself by singing Bad Luck's song 'Spicy Marmalade'.
"This desert goes on forever!" Sakano shrieked. "We're never going to get out of here alive!"
"Relax," K said. "We've only been walking for five minutes." Sakano blushed and became silent.
"I just thought of something," the woman said, stopping. "I don't know your names."
"Oh, forgive us," Sakano pleaded. "I'm Sakano. This is K."
"…Really?" she asked. "You're names are pretty funny."
"Well, what's your name?" Sakano asked.
"I'm Lavinia," she answered. Sakano could not help but wonder if it was American. K did not seem to think it for he cocked an eyebrow.
"Let's keep going," K suggested. "The sooner we get out of this desert, the sooner he'll stop whining." Sakano glared at the manager. "Never mind, he'll probably whine when we get to the city too."
"Sh—shut up," Sakano said boldly. K shook his head and continued walking forward.
Ken had left Suguru alone with Tatsuha, allowing them to explore the town. Suguru, however, felt that this was not a good idea. He kept glancing back at the other teen while they were walking, just to make sure he was not sneaking up on him.
"Why do you keep doing that?" Tatsuha inquired eventually.
"What?"
"Staring at me," he clarified. "You keep glancing back like I'm going to do something to you."
"That's exactly why," Suguru said honestly. "I don't trust you not to do anything." Tatsuha laughed at him, making Suguru feel slightly angry.
"What do you think I'll do?" Tatsuha asked. "Rape you? No way. That's not my style. I don't need to rape anybody to get some."
"I really don't wish to take part in this conversation," Suguru said, blushing as he looked away.
"Now, really," Tatsuha said. "Come on, when was the last time you had sex?" Suguru blushed even harder, making him look like a tomato. He looked around and noticed that they were completely alone. Tatsuha had led him to a dark corner of an alleyway.
"I—I told you that's none of your business," Suguru reminded him. Tatsuha shrugged and pushed himself against the other teen, who was already leaning against the wall. Suguru suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
"Fine," Tatsuha said huskily. He pressed himself against the other teen further, their hips grinding together. Suguru began to squirm, trying to break free of Tatsuha's dominating hold on him.
"Get—get off me," Suguru said, feeling himself blush even harder, if it were possible.
"That's not what your body's telling me," Tatsuha said, looking down and smiling at his cousin-in-law. Suguru sputtered, not really knowing what to do in this situation.
"St—stop," he commanded.
"What? You like being dominant in a relationship?" Tatsuha asked. "Or is this your first time?"
"This isn't funny," Suguru told him, glaring at the other teen.
"I didn't say it was," Tatsuha told him. He then lowered his lips to Suguru's neck and began nibbling at it. Suguru gasped, not knowing what to do.
"Tat—" He heard the other teen moan in response. Suguru felt his breathing quicken as the boy in front of him devoured his collarbone.
Tatsuha began licking his neck. Now it was Suguru's turn to moan. He could feel those lips spread into a smile as Tatsuha's hands were quickly undoing the buttons on his pants. Suguru desperately wanted to stop him, to shove him away, but his body was not responding to what his head was telling it to do. Every time he planned to do something he told himself 'just a little bit more'.
They were panting now, both of them. Tatsuha moved his head up and captured Suguru's lips in a kiss, shoving his back painfully into the wall. Tatsuha licked his lips, requesting entrance. Suguru was very surprised when he granted that request, returning the kiss with equal fever. Suguru wrapped his arms around the other boy, urging him forward. Tatsuha's hands were everywhere… it felt so good…
"Oh, God," Suguru moaned as Tatsuha went back to his neck. He had never realized how talented Tatsuha was. Tatsuha lowered himself to his knees in front of Suguru and began pulling down his pants.
"What are you boys doing?" came a voice. Tatsuha stood up quickly, hiding Suguru from whoever interrupted them. It was another knight, a taller one than Ken, but he was standing in the entrance of the alleyway, staring at them.
"Not much," Tatsuha said, feigning innocence. "Just what teenage boys do."
"Well, get out of that alleyway," he commanded. "It's not safe in there, you know." He turned and left, his armor clinking. Suguru was still panting and felt himself sweating. Tatsuha's face was also streaked with sweat.
"Well," Tatsuha said. "Wasn't that fun?" Suguru regained his composure and glared at the other boy.
"That wasn't funny…" Tatsuha smiled again.
"I didn't say it was…" Before Suguru could say anything Tatsuha was on his knees again. He was pretty sure he knew what his cousin-in-law was going to do, but he still gasped when he did it.
Noriko was not very happy at the moment. Nash and Rachel were both trying to cheer her up, but all to no avail.
"Look, we'll get her back," Rachel promised.
"What's with that prince guy?" Noriko snapped. "He has no right to do that!"
"Actually he does," Rachel told her. "It comes with being ruler of the country."
"Jerk," Noriko spat. She was not particularly upset at the fact that she lost Ayaka, but more upset at how she was going to have to explain to everyone that she had been kidnapped right in front of her eyes.
"Look, I think I know where he's taking her," Rachel said. "All we have to do is find a way in and out of there."
"Where's that?" Noriko asked, lifting her head that she had rested on her knees.
"Sapen," Rachel told her. Noriko cocked an eyebrow.
"Not following," she informed the other girl.
"Oh, that's right," Rachel said. "Sapen is basically a slave community. The prince finds unsuspecting women and takes them to serve him." Noriko, if she had such an ability, would have spit fire at that precise moment.
"What the hell?" she demanded. "That's it! That prince is so going down!"
"No, wait," Rachel stood up to stop the other woman. "We can't just go barging in there. We'll be killed. We don't even know if he's taking her there."
"That's sick," Noriko said, not paying attention to Rachel anymore.
"I agree," she said.
"Why doesn't anybody do anything about it?" Noriko snapped.
"Because nobody really knows about it," she answered.
"How did you know about it?" Noriko was now curious.
"I was put in there for about a year when I was fifteen," she said, suddenly looking bitter. "Nash followed the guards who took me and was able to sneak me out eventually."
"It took him a year?" Noriko asked, now feeling very panic stricken.
"Yeah," she said. "But now that we know how to do it, it's much easier. There's just the problem of getting in." Noriko sighed. "Just be patient. We'll save her." Noriko shook her head, feeling rather skeptical.
The man finally came back into the room and looked around, noticing all three of his captives were awake. However, two of them had moved their chairs across the room away from the first one who woke up.
"Where are we?" Ma asked.
"Our hideout," the man answered vaguely.
"Yes, we gathered that," Ken said. "But what country?"
"Ainuba." The two of them looked over at Tachi who glared at them.
"See?" he asked. "I'm not crazy!" The two now looked as though they thought that they were going insane.
"I'm not sure I heard you correctly," Ken said. "Where again?"
"Ainuba," the man repeated, growing increasingly irritated. "Listen. I'm having Irene take you back to Zecim and you won't breath a word of our hideout, do you understand?"
"Take us back?" Tachi asked.
"Would you rather stay here?" All three men shook their heads quickly. "Good. If you say anything, we will know."
"Who's Irene?" Ma asked, looking half confused and half interested.
"I am." The girl who had knocked them out earlier was leaning against a wall, looking upset. "I still don't see why I have to take them to Zecim. Can't you have someone else do it?"
"No, you will," the man said. "Now go." He pointed and Irene motioned for the three to follow her.
"Um… excuse me…" Ma said boldly.
"What do you want?" she asked turning around. Then she noticed that they were still tied to the chairs and the other man was nowhere to be found. "Whoops. Sorry." She then untied them and they started on their way.
END CHAPTER 4
A/N: I really do not know what came over me with writing a Tatsuha/Suguru scene, but I felt that it had to be done. I am just going to let your minds imagine what they are doing because I am not a lemon writer. That is probably the closest I will ever get to writing a lemon, though maybe not. I have been very mean to ASK, mostly because I think that Tachi needs more abuse than he gets from his bandmates already. Anywho… review please!
Love always,
Lily
