WARNING: language and attempted rape and violence.
Chapter 10:
If there is an island full of magic, there has to be places where you can get things to erase magic…or tap into it…or even drain the mages. It could be anything, bracelets, brooches, clothes…need you hear more? All mages need not be good and when evil times come, their power needs to be erased and cast away. The mages need to be taught a lesson. There was once a great sorcerer who was sealed away alone, guarded day and night, for he was the evil which had come creeping up on the land. But he was allowed to use small amounts of magic in his cell and he designed the first 'parasite' as the magic draining items were called. Once he died, it was all stolen. One way to get a parasite is to walk into the farthest corner in the eastern area of the city…if you had the money, you could buy anything!
------------------------------------------------------------
Taki watched lazily as his retainer Ma entered. "Have you got it?" Ma nodded, handing over the cloth-wrapped packages. Taki grinned gleefully. Now that bitch was going to get it! He would make sure she paid in the worst way possible. He thought about his long time rival Yuki…what better way than two kill two birds with one stone? He broke into hysterical laughter.
----------------------------------------------------------------
"You're doing really well, but unless you can scratch me, I don't think I can teach you anything more." Isilra dodged Shuichi's knives once more. "Come on, you can do better than that Shuichi! Just keep looking for an opening! It's amazing how fast you've gotten in a week!"
Shuichi saw a split second opening and tried to lunge, but she blocked easily. He cursed mentally and attacking again faster. Then he saw one more, this time she wouldn't be able to block…he shifted to the left, but lunged to the right, trying to confuse her a bit. He almost had her when he blocked again. He clicked his tongue in frustration. She backed off. "Ok for the next lesson." He blinked and stared at her. "What do you mean?"
She grinned at him and pointed, on her arm, she had a small white track. Like when you graze yourself on a grit particle. "I said 'unless you can scratch me' Shuichi, and you did, not that it would make a difference in a real fight of course, it would only hurt the opponent if he or she had dried skin!" then she proceeded to teach him a few more moves. They finished by lunch again and Shuichi smiled a little disappointedly. Time had passed so quickly and he was beginning to enjoy this. But anyway, now he could spend some time with Yuki! He looked at the young woman picking up her sandals and strolling towards him. "Isilra, what do you think of Tatsuha?" she blushed and Shuichi had a sudden realization that the woman was actually younger than him…he tended to forget sometimes.
"Tatsuha? How do you mean? Um…why would I think of him? I have got better things to do you know, rather than think of him, though he is cute and funny and kisses divinely…"she stopped and saw Shuichi hiding a smile. "He's nice." She started in surprise when Shuichi ruffled her hair. It was nice that Shuichi didn't have to reach up to do so, she might have been absolutely beautiful, but she lacked the height being equal to Shuichi in that aspect. "Sometimes, princess, I forget you're younger than me…"
She narrowed her eyes and pursed up her lips huffily. "That's because I'm so mature. Nobody thinks of me as a child." Shuichi nodded. "Except when it comes to Tatsuha," he murmured. "WHAT?" he laughed. "So mature huh? Now tell me who's the child…" Isilra reddened, but kept silent. Shuichi walked on, she was a lot like his younger sister in so many ways, except she was teaching him how to fight.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Shuichi cuddled up to his lover. Yuki had fallen asleep right after they made love; he was exhausted with all the stuff he'd had to do for the day. Suddenly, Yuki's body went rigid. Shuichi turned to look at him, his mouth was tight, his face flushed. He was clearly having a nightmare. "Yuki…?" she shook his lover softly.
The prince's eyes shot open and he sat up. For a moment Shuichi felt weird, Yuki was looking at him, but through him. He had never seen so much distrust in anyone's eyes. He reached out to him, but the prince swatted his hand away, shoving himself backwards. "Don't!" Yuki sounded so sharp, Shuichi winced. He looked into his lovers eyes, distrust was still there but there was something else he couldn't place his finger on…was it fear? "Yuki…its me. You were having a nightmare." He reached out carefully this time, slipping his arms around the blonde and pulling him close. Yuki hugged back still slightly tense.
"What did you dream about?" that was when the blonde pulled away. "I don't remember Shuichi. Go to sleep." He pulled the younger man down beside him. Shuichi snuggled up once more, he fell asleep watching Yuki. Yuki looked at his peaceful face…trying to block out the dream. Something's were best forgotten.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Isilra wandered around the palace, she was bored. Yuki was with Shuichi, and Tatsuha was inspecting some place on the other side of town. She decided to go down to the beach. She walked down to the garden and took a nice secluded path. She liked these paths, they weren't too well maintained, but they were beautiful with lots of green and different bright colours. She noticed something on the ground…it looked like cloth.
She bent down to examine it, cloth wrapping? Who would leave cloth wrapping lying around in a garden…she heard something; she turned when something hit her. Everything blurred before turning black.
----------------------------------------------------------
She blinked a few times, trying to clear her eyes. The bright sunlight was in her face. She tried to shade it, but the wrists were bound together with two silver bracelets connected by a chain. She groaned softly her head hurt. "Ah, you're awake…good afternoon, princess…" she squinted and vaguely saw Taki. "I should have known it would be you…you're the only idiot, who would hit me without warning!"
He smirked, standing over her blocking out the sun. "I think you should consider your predicament. I don't think commenting would be a good idea." He knelt down, grasping the chain between the bracelets yanking her up roughly. She stood up, the good thing was the sun wasn't in her eyes anymore; the bad thing was that her head was throbbing. Taki pushed her up against a tree, and kissed her fiercely. She struggled, biting his lip hard. He yelped and drew back. "You bitch!" he slapped her really hard, splitting her lip. She winced as a trickle of blood ran down her chin, and pooled her magic, once she was out of this contraption…her eyes widened.
"No your magic won't help you this time. Have you heard of a 'parasite'? Every time you use your magic, it'll drain you. Amazing to see our strong, fearless princess all helpless isn't it?" he smiled maliciously, moving towards her. Her arms came up connecting solidly with his jaw as she swung at him. "Idiot, you've bound my hands in front, I can still harm you!" she saw him sprawling on the ground. He looked up his eyes livid with rage. She swallowed; she knew she'd just gotten herself into a lot of trouble.
He pushed her roughly on to the ground, she skidded, a sharp piece of shell tearing a long gash on her left arm, from shoulder to elbow. She winced in pain. He caught hold of the chain again, slipping her bound hands over a tree stump. Isilra pulled at it with all her might, but she couldn't get free nor could she yank it off the stump. Taki leaned over her a manic smile on his face. "You shouldn't have done that. Don't push me princess, I have no qualms about hurting you. This will really be fun, Isilra. I finally get to break the 'powerful princess and give our darling heir his just desserts.
She glared at him defiantly. "The way I see things, you're assaulting me! Where does Yuki come into the picture?" Taki grinned, more madly if possible. "You don't know do you? It was all so hushed up; I don't think the king himself knows. Your precious prince was raped. We went to Athens when we were sixteen to study for a few years. Our teacher Kita raped him. Our sweet prince killed the man. Tohma hushed everything up and made me swear not to tell."
Isilra listened numb with shock. She stared at him finding her tongue. "So, if you do the same to me…it'll affect him. You can't!" Taki came closer, kissing her softly. "Yes, I can. Noble Yuki will beat himself up for not protecting you…I know you're keeping some sort of secret for him. Trust me; I'll make sure you'll never forget this. Two birds with one stone. Yuki will come unhinged, and you'll be broken…I am a genius!" he kissed her again, Isilra tried to pull away, but she couldn't. She could taste his blood from where she had bit him; she just wanted to be sick right now.
He moved his hand slowly up her legs, pushing her skirt up, while the other hand ripped her sleeve. She started to feel woozy, from the loss of blood from hr shoulder. She struggled as much as she could, feeling his hands sliding over the smooth skin and the swell of her breast. He kissed her again roughly this time, parting her legs. She closed her eyes and readied for the thrust, but it never came. Suddenly his weight was off her. Someone had undone those troublesome bracelets. She sat up trying to focus. "Bastard, bastard!" Shuichi? Her eyes snapped open and focused on Shuichi and Taki rolling around on the ground. There was a Full fledged fight going on. Taki slipped two knives out. Isilra almost fainted, Shuichi was good, but she was still an amateur. She didn't know how good Taki was.
Taki attacked, Shuichi blocked easily, staying defensive. He was trying to wear Taki out. The dark haired noble attacked viciously, Shuichi dodged a little too slow and a knife cut through his leg. "Attack, Shuichi!" he heard Isilra call. That was it; he focused all his attention on attacking quickly and fast. He didn't know where he got that lightning speed from, but Taki was looking worried. They fought for a few more minutes. Then Taki suddenly lunged, Shuichi dodged and saw an opening. Without thinking he slid in, burying the knife up to the hilt.
Isilra watched her student's knife burry itself in Lord Taki's chest. It was as if in slow motion, Taki fell backwards with a scream, shuddering slightly, before going still. She forced herself up and stared at Shuichi who was staring at Taki's body. She put a hand on his shoulder. He turned, trying to be normal. "Are you ok?" She nodded wordlessly. She could hear many footsteps. Soldiers, they'll capture Shuichi! She caught hold of the older man and pushed him into the trees. "Shuichi run! Go on, I swear I'll kill you if you don't run. Run back to the palace let me take care of this." he hesitated, but she pushed him in with all the force she could muster. Then he ran. She turned to the knife, using a bit of magic to clean all proof that Shuichi was there.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The captain of the guard ran up to the clearing where the scream had come from. He stopped in shock when he saw the scene. Lord Taki of house Onassis was lying dead on the beach. The heir's fiancée, princess Isilra was standing over the body wounded and bloody, her dress torn in several places, barely able to stand. She turned to look at him, a faraway look in her eyes. "It was me. I killed him."
----------------------------------------------------------------
A/N: ok that's it. I'm a blood thirsty maniac, but I thought it would be good if Taki was out of the way. Then everyone could focus on much better things…like sex! Anyway how was it, I know there wasn't much of Yuki in this but there will be in the following chapters. Thanks for reviewing all!
Taka