In Vacuo in Extrimis
Chapter Two


Yamato pulled on a black shirt over his head as he caught a glimpse of the clock which read: 4:15pm, he was late.

"Yamato," a rich, immersed, eerie voice boomed—a voice that could only be fitting with his father.

"Yes," he responded as he rotated to be opposite him. Irrespective of how many times he saw his father—the sight of him still made the prince feel edgy.

"Vladimir has challenged you to a duel to first blood. Weapons of my preference—swords of course, he sought daggers; but what kind of a contest would that be?" his father announced as he accompanied his son towards the door.

"Precisely at this moment? I'm afraid I have to be elsewhere at the moment; I'm already running a late as it is." He acknowledged. His father; however, only offered him a glare.

"It's only a duel to first blood—I give it 15 minutes at the most. Also, you're obligated to remember that by no means decline a duel of any sort; doing so would illustrate vulnerability. That is something you on no account want to exhibit… Look at it this way the sooner this duel is over—how to phrase it? The sooner you have…. well: jiyu e no shoutai." He said whilst escorting his son down the dimly lit corridors.

"First blood wins," Yamato's father announced. "Draw you weapons," he paused before initializing the duel with, "being!".

Yamato drew a lengthened blade, which shined brilliantly in the depressed setting. He continued there with his weapon at his side as his half-bred brother charged. Vladimir thrust his sword at his brother, he however quickly evaded. Again Vladimir stormed Yamato, aiming for his chest; but once again he dodged his aggressor. In a blur of anger Vladimir swung his sword over his head and towards Yamato's neck.
Spotting Vladimir's erratic movements Yamato easily sidestepped out of danger. With a smirk on his face he bent down and tripped Vladimir. Back on his feet once more Vladimir rushed his Aryan sibling with a tremendous force. Yamato just barely managed to avoid the blade, his sleeve on the other hand didn't. Yamato maneuvered the sword toward Vladimir who brought his up in a blocking manner.

Vladimir swung for his legs, anticipating this Yamato leapt into the air, and landing right on top of his brother's blade. Pulling the sword from under his brother's feet, Yamato fell to the floor. Bringing his sword down with incredible force, he could almost taste his victory. Yamato however didn't plan on loosing, for he rolled out of the way before any harm was done to him. Yamato lifted his sword and brought it down on Vladimir's neck.
With his eyes clenched together, the half-breed awaited the pain. He could feel the cold steel pressing against his neck, but that seemed too be all he felt. He opened his eyes to see Yamato resting the sword against his neck. He pressed his sword closer to Vladimir's neck just enough so that he was certain that skin would break. He smirked once more and he pushed Vladimir back with his foot. A lengthy crimson gash gradually exposed itself as Yamato removed his sword.

"Yamato has drawn first blood," Their father announced, "Vladimir loses, Yamato is victorious."

"What!" Vladimir asked in utter rage and disbelief.

"Yamato won," their father repeated. Vladimir walked up to Yamato and lifted up his sleeve.

"There you have it, I won" He shouted. "I drew first blood," Vladimir pointed out to their father, who only seemed to sigh inwardly.

"Have you gone mad, boy? That's but a scratch—it won't even scar. To triumph at a duel of first blood, the skin must rupture and blood must surface. In your case the blood has surfaced and the skin broke. Yamato on the other had—well you just managed to get the blood to surface, you didn't rupture the skin." Their father explained.

"That made no sense what so ever." Vladimir argued.

"You have to make the other person bleed to win," Yamato interrupted. "Did you honestly think you could beat me? The age difference alone speaks for itself, 18 to 23 that's five years." Yamato said with amusement in his voice.

"Anyone who would date a mere mortal is no match for me," Vladimir announced with a sneer.

"That's why you lost? Good one—and you know you're only saying that because you're a half-breed!" Yamato said menacingly as he wrapped his hand around Vladimir's throat.

Pulling away from the 1st heir to the throne, he spat at his feet. "I demand a rematch!" Vladimir insisted.

"Maybe next time, Yamato has somewhere to be. Which reminds me, Dante is going to be teaching you the beautiful language which is Russian." Their father said as he draped his arm around him.

"Just one moment father," Vladimir spoke through clenched teeth.

Pulling out with sword, he took hold of it carefully. Taking aim, he pulled back and lunged the sword at Yamato. With his back turned Yamato was incognizant of the razor sharp blade hurling in his direction. As the sharp steel blade cut through the skin of his arm, he turned around with a fierce look. Vladimir stood there smirking, "We're even" he stated as Yamato examined his wound.


"Malikai," Yamato's voice boomed.

"Yes," a thin, frail voice projected from the shadows.

"Bandage my arm," he demanded as he lifted his sleeve to reveal the wound.

"Sure…I don't see why though. Isn't the spawn of Satan able to take more pain than this?" Malikai asked as he searched for the proper materials.

"Of course I can, don't be ridiculous. It's just that I have to meet someone on Earth." He replied as he stared off.

"Assiah, the material world. May I ask what you'd be doing up there? It's pouring up there—we wouldn't want you to catch a cold now." He stated as Yamato glared at him.

"That's for me to know," Yamato replied as he pulled his arm away from the old man.


Upon his arrival to Earth, he was greeted with bitter weather. As he reached for the soccer field just barely managing to see her walking away; he raced to meet her before she became out of reach.

He reached out and took hold of her arm, causing her to turn and glare. For the first time ever, he saw her glare. He attempted an innocent smile, but she continued to stare him down. Her hair was drenched, her make-up slightly streaked—her appearance only made him want to laugh.

"You're late," she pointed out.

"I'm sorry," he said as he led her under a tree. "I got held up at home…I'm sorry," he said as he attempted to kiss her to only have her turn away. "C'mon I said I was sorry," he apologized once again.

"I was waiting in the rain for 35 minutes. I don't think sorry, is going to cut it." She informed him.

"Well, what do you want me to do if sorry isn't going to do it?" he questioned her.

"Don't worry about it…I forgive you." She told

"Good," Yamato replied as he leaned down to kiss her. "I hate the rain," he muttered.

"No you don't," she told him.

"You probably should though," he stated between kisses.

"I should but I don't," she replied.
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The blonde man wondered down the slick wet streets—once again with no destination in mind.

"This is depressing" he muttered as the rain increased. His mind began to wonder….He hadn't seen her since their last encounter. He was beginning to think that their meeting was merely a ruse of some sort orchestrated by the half-blood pest, Vladimir. Taking a seat on the cold metal bench he looked out onto that which lie before him.

Humans, mere humans… He was confused. He preferred them—he favored them over all others. They were given paradise, they corrupted it. He gave them everything—and they defiled it all. Most importantly they were given a choice. They have the choice to acknowledge his presence or not. He allowed them the option of believing in him.

No one else was given a choice…that was what confused him. His great grandfather didn't posses the right of neither opinion nor choice…so when he spoke against himhe showed no mercy. Not a single shred of the compassion, kindness and patience he shows them—The humans!

"Hey, get off of me!" he heard someone shout from across the park. "Please, just stay away," he heard a woman say. Humans assault one another yet he prefers them? He questioned as he coolly strolled towards the battling voices.

"…please…" he heard the woman beg. Disgusting, loathsome creatures…and yet we're the ones who are the bad guys?

He didn't plan on interfering, no—he just wanted to see who'd be in for eternal damnation. They'd be getting what they deserved—what he was born into. Once again his decision had been decided for him.

"Stop, get away from me," her voice was louder, and somewhat familiar. Stop? They could and would if they wanted to. He peered onto the clearing only to be pleasantly surprised by what he saw.
It's that girl…so much for not interfering. "Hey, back off," the demon's voice boomed as he stepped into view.

"What!" one of them asked in disbelief.

"Back off," he repeated himself with an intense piercing glare.

"Sure thing pal," one of the men said nervously grabbing his friend by the arm.

"What do you mean?"

"Shut-up man, let's just get out here."
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"Hey, you're the girl from the park; aren't you?" he asked all while cautiously approaching.

He's nervous? "Yes I am—Yamato wasn't it?" she questioned him.

"Yeah…Megan, Mandy? Mindy? Mi—Mimi? Mimi, right?" he recalled with a very slight grin.

"..Right.." she simply replied.

"So…are you alright? I mean like are you okay; they didn't do anything to you—did they?" he asked as he examined her from a safe distance.

"No, no—I'm fine, luckily I had enough open space around…Well, no they didn't." she explained as she twisted a strand of her hair.

"…Stupid bastards," he muttered.

"Don't call them that…they don't know any better."

"They just tried to most likely rape you and you're protecting them?"

"They have yet to find where their salvation lies."

"Salvation? Please lady, give me a break. They were grown men!"

"All the more reason to find salvation."

"…whatever," he scoffed

"Say whatever as much as you want you know I'm right…" she told him with a serious tone.

He looked her in the eye and said, "whatever."

"…fine…but……Thank-you." She expressed her gratitude.

"You're welcome, I guess." He said unsure of himself.:
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"I still don't like the rain." He said.

"What happened to your arm?" she questioned him as she noticed blood seeping though his gauze wrapped arm.

"Nothing," he responded with a quick kiss. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he pressed his hips into hers. He backed her into the tree behind them as her lips parted. He slid his tongue into her mouth, and she giggled. Her arm slipped off his shoulder and slightly grazed his arm, he flinched visibly.

"Seriously what happened?" she asked after she had pulled way from him.

"Nothing happened," he replied. She frowned and lifted up her hand to reveal her palm.

"It's still bleeding," she said as she wiped the blood off of her hand.

"Nothing happened, I swear to god," he insisted.

"Fine…but you really shouldn't swear to god," she stated.

"Ok, I won't swear to god," he said with a roll of his eyes. "Now did you want to stay out here, or did you have another place in mind?" he asked.


Author's Notes: I felt kind of hypocritical when writing this chapter…not the whole thing; but the part in the flash back with Yamato's thoughts on choices. But—yeah…I'm willing to take any suggestion on this fic—since it's one of those fics in which need to see what people think in order to write. So please review.

A Fire Inside.