Thorns by liahime
Fourteen Rose Fire
Disclaimer: Though liahime had writer's block on this, she didn't know it was THAT bad until she got stuck on the disclaimer, saying that she didn't own Digimon...
"Got you." A dirt smudged face with teeth filed to points leered at Rika. Rough arms wrapped around her, laughing. She kicked him, screaming into his ear. The huge bear of a man kept his tight grip around her. Holding a muddy paw over her mouth, he called out to his friends.
"Hey, I found her-"
The man slumped onto her, eyes rolling back. His grip loosened as he fell forward. Scrambling away, Rika rushed to move. She started to run, only to have her ankle crushed by the huge bulk of the assassin. She braced herself, ready for the rush of pain to flood her.
But none came. She had fallen onto a pillow, strong enough to support her, soft enough so that the pain hadn't come. Was it one of the fairy gifts that never let her trip, evolving in this strange night?
She checked, and found her feet barely touching the ground. Looking up, she found the source of her rescue.
"I thought princesses were supposed to fall andswoon into the arms of their rescuers?" A tired voice spoke into her ear from the darkness, holding a stump of a candle in his hand.
Ryo.
She had never been more glad to seem him, standing solidly and familiar in the shifting shadows of the pines. Rika relaxed, her whole body loosening up, tension flowing away from her. She kept the relief out of her voice as she spoke. "You're back, Akiyama."
"Yes, of course. Did you think I would leave one of my most adoring fans?"
She glared up at him.
"You're a brilliant actress- you even looked scared for a moment." He laughed, his eyes showing what he- and she- really knew.
"I was not scared." Glaring violet met with smiling sky-blue into a silent staring contest. Ryo broke off quickly, laughing.
"Yes, only looking scared and pale as a sheet, right?" He looked down at her and smiled, his laughing eyes going soft. "I missed you, Rika."
There was a silence, both with a question left unspoken in their mouths, both pushing it away and returning to the solid ground of common sensibility. For a second, they stood there, in a timeless eternity that ended with the rough bellow of a nearby bandit. Rika looked away quickly, standing up.
The candle that had fallen from the unconscious man's hand had started a tiny blaze in the surrounding needles. She turned her head away from Ryo, piling dirt over the fire to smother the flame. He bent down to help her.
"You know, Rika-" His voice faded out into a blur as her inner consciousness began to scream at her.
Don't look at him. Her inner mind was speaking to her. Do not look up, Rika. Do not think about Akiyama, do not stare at Akiyama. He is the brother of the guy who killed your father. His family should be your enemies.
And you do not blush when they tell you that they missed you.
The voice was right. She should be disgusted. But her traitorous face was blushing and her heart betrayed her to start dancing, and the corners of her traitor mouth were turning up.
He was smiling at her now, making her entire-traitor-body feel light, as if it were flying. Stop. Stop. STOP. Her sane voice faded away in the deep blue light in his eyes and the patented Akiyama-Ryo grin. She was going crazy. This must be what it was like to be insane-
She had the first symptom- imagining things that weren't there- because there was no possible way that their heads were coming closer together. Any moment now, she would be going to slip away from sanity-
There- the second symptom was there- her face felt like it was on fire. The impossible continued- because if it continued, that would mean that-
Third symptom- she wasn't herself, her mind was only in a body that wouldn't listen to her, where her own emotions were shifting to something else. She should be disgusted right now- but the rest of Rika's body did exactly what she told it not to do. Her sanity had given up reasoning a long time ago- and she now had firm belief in the fact that she was definitely crazy.
So when she moved forward to close whatever gap was between them- even though her inner-conscious was screaming at the rest of her traitorous body, she didn't really mind.
Not one bit.
-
The witch, with her tattered, ash grey dress, looked like something born from the remains of dead fires as she spun, raising dust as she moved. Dazed eyes looked out blindly into the crowd before her.
The regathered horde of men- one missing- waited for her word. Dramatically, she pointed to the eastern gardens. "They are there." Her voice crackled like burning leaves. As they left, she fell, crumbling to the floor.
An annoyed whine spoke up. "That wasn't neccessary, witch, was it? After all, we could have sent out the best assassin in the realm to go and get two exhausted people, instead of having to redirect an entire horde?"
A dirk flew through the air, slicing the tip of a blonde curl. "Not a word."
Itachi sat sullenly, power recovering. With the princess gone, his power gone, bruised all over- he had returned silently. Sipping a suspiciously dark potion, he grimaced and leaned against the wall. "Not another word, girl-brat."
Priscilla stayed wisely silent.
The witch gathered up her props and paraphernalia. "We're going that way." She pointed a gnarled hand towards the dark forest in the west.
"Why?" Priscilla sat down, stubbornly. "I am exhausted. We will camp here."
The assassin had silently pocketed the potion bottle and followed the witch. "Do you know the exact location?" He ignored the girl behind him.
"More or less." They walked on, leaving the princess ready to throw a full-out tantrum. In the past few hours, they had gotten to know each other much more than any of them had ever wanted to. Bracing for a scream, they paused in their trek to the woods.
Behind them, the dirk had somehow come out of the wall, and sliced the tip of Itachi's dark hair. He grabbed it instinctively, and whirled around.
Priscilla stood up, smiling smugly at his surprise in her new found talent- or in other words, dumb luck. "Let's go."
-
A blazing torch lit their way through the pine forest. The assassin strode out in front, listening carefully for any sign of life. The witch dropped her bag, and scrambled to stuff the content's back in.
Itachi picked one of the small boxes up and looked at it closely. He raised an eyebrow and handed it back to the old woman. "Fireworks?"
She snatched it away. "For extra 'scare factor'. I don't need it, of course." She added defensively.
"Right." He nodded, still not believing. Of all the foolish things to do- to be stuck with a princess and an old liar who knows how to light a few fireworks and chant a few bits of rubbish.
Concentrate, he told himself. He was losing his focus in the work, drowning it in revenge. Assassins needed to be cold and calculating, with hearts of stone. He closed his eyes, blocking out all other senses but hearing. Blindly walking forward, he heard something. Lowering the torch, he grinned, teeth cold and pale as a shark's.
He had found the target.
Creeping forward, he slipped through the shadows. Motioning for the others to be silent, he pulled out a double edged knife. Dropping the torch behind him, he moved, heart beat drumming in his ears. He was close enough- he could see two pairs of feet through an overgrown bush, just standing. The Middle kingdom princess. His brother.
The old woman and Priscilla were behind him. Silence was key here- one false move, and his brother would flee. He motioned them away, ignoring their silent complaints and protests. They grumbled, and moved through another way, feet painfully noisy on the forest dirt.
He was ready. Itachi concentrated on his brother, ready to plunge the dagger into his back. Slowly, he crept forward, holding his breath to silence any distraction. It was odd- how he just stood there. What was happening finally dawned on him. He hadn't planned too, but two birds with one stone was a good thing- he would kill the love and joy of his brother's life, and then Ryo.
Terribly sad? Yes. It was. It would probably be the material for the bards' songs for years. But this was a lifetime of waiting, a lifetime of revenge- if his brother had chosen to kiss someone instead of running away, so be it. It was over.
His arm was trembling. One movement, he told himself. Smooth and fast- and it will be over. As long as Priscilla didn't make a sound and didn't see her 'future husband' and the princess together, the attack would be as smooth as silk.
Please don't scream, please don't move, please don't cough, please don't see my brother. he begged. Just shut your mouth for once in your life, and I will put up with all the whining- He checked for noise. There was quiet- no noise. He breathed out in relief and stepped forward.
Itachi raised his arm to plunge the knife-
An unearthly screech filled the air, chilling the bones of all who heard it, making the thin metal of the dagger tremble- heads turned.
Itachi groaned.
Priscilla had seen them.
Meeko Melody- thank you very much for reviewing!
Whitezetsu- congrats! you got the 200 review mark
HelloMimmy- glad you liked it.. Hi to all the DemiDeemons and DemiDeveemon ( if I spell things wrong, forgive me!)
AzNAnGeL07- Thank you! I'll continue.
danchoo- thank you for the reviews!
Anna- glad that the party went well. I'm gonna end this somehow.. I just need to fill everything that needs to happen in (I wrote the last chapter, but none of the things in between..)
My Dream's Shadow- Thank you for reviewing!
FAITHful- glad you liked it and found Rika realistic here.. Thank you!
permanent-rose- thank you tons!
kunoichixxkanna- thank you now that I've got a break in between projects and homework I can finally update!
DigiChick- Yay! glad you like it... Thank you so much for reviewing I'll try to update faster next time... hopefully...
Kari Minamoto- Thanks for reviewing! Itachi means weasel in Japanese.. I chose it because it sounded like an Evil Older Brother name. Later, after I updated, I found out that Itachi is the Evil Older Brother in Naruto... It must be an Evil Older Brother name.. ?
tsuhime- thank you! I'll try to update more..
Lil' Lilo- thank you for reviewing! Sorry for the long wait.
authoress notes:
With less homework, I've been trying to write this as fast as possible.. But I just finished all my work for the week (I hope.) Thank you, everyone! I passed the 200 mark this week! I'm so happy.. Anyways, short a/n because I really should be sleeping now and I want to upload this as fast as possible...
Thank you everyone! Hope this chapter wasn't very horrible...I am not editing this much.. Just posting it... so I'm worried for it..
Send me feedback- compliments, criticism- all is loved!
-liahime