Chapter Eight: Beneath the Surface

Skill comes so slow, and life so fast doth fly, We learn so little and forget so much.

-Sir John Davies

Lezard closed his phone, thankfully he hadn't been chatting with anyone directly so it was easy enough to get people to ignore him. The spell to influence someone into thinking they had seen a shark was simple enough it didn't require an invocation or gesture. The water had cleared pretty quickly after the first screams echoed out and now people were all trying to account for each other without him needing to get too directly involved. Normal un gifted individuals were far too easy to manipulate with such tiny cantrips.

"Lezard." His name got his attention, purple eyes shifting to the girl walking toward him. "Hey."

Ayumi finished running up, pausing to catch her breath and leaving him politely waiting what it was she wanted for a good ten seconds before she stood back up. Though she still seemed a little short of breath she managed to speak clear enough. "Have you seen Kagome?"

The name perked his attention and he glanced over the sea again and back at the girl with a small frown. "No, I'm afraid I have not. Do you know where she was last seen? I'll help you look for her."

"Eri thought she saw her head down the beach but no one is down that way. I don't think she was planning on swimming but with the scare you know...and no one has seen her sense this morning."

"What time?" Lezard didn't want to act too openly. While it wouldn't have been too much of an issue to detect people's thoughts it was still dangerous to show too much of his power to the other students.

"We arrived around one so I'd say five or six hours ago." She answered after looking at her watch, looking nervous. "I sent a few people to check the forest paths near here and Eri's asking around too."

"I'll do what I can to look." Lezard answered politely. Ayumi nodded and bit her lip, she seemed to feel guilty but he didn't press her on it. Instead he glanced toward the beach where she was last seen, eyes carefully searching he didn't see anyone in the sand but with the sun setting the tides would be in soon. He would have to check.

He started down the beach, while he didn't prefer walking it seemed unlikely he'd be able to do much else with the crowd here unless something attacked openly. He flipped his phone open to send a text to Curtiss. This girl definitely seemed as if she could attract trouble almost as well as she seemed to pull in men.

He broke into a run when his keen vision saw her near the water of the lighthouse.

ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo

Kagome sighed as she opened her eyes, smiling at the starry sky that had begun to come out above her. Enough of the sun was still on the horizon that only the strongest of the stars was visible but on a tye-dyed sky it was much more beautiful to take in.

"Guess I should get back...they might start to get worried about me." She thought sadly, she would have liked to wait until the stars came out...it likely would have been much more lovely.

The splashing had intensified a little as the tide was just starting to rise but she was lucky to have woken up before it came in...or her path back to shore would have been a lot more difficult. As it was water was starting to get onto the already unsteady path along the side.

She gathered her things and paused as she looked around for her hat. It was floating carelessly near the rocks along one side. She'd get a little wet but if she didn't go for it she'd probably lose it all together soon.

"I really have to work on my timing." She commented with a frown, eyeing the less stable land near where the bobbing straw hat was silently mocking her concern. She was careful as she made her way lower on the steeper rock but with her sandals still in her bag it made it a little easier. "Least I won't lose a flip-flop too."

"Gotcha!" She exclaimed happily as she plucked the hat free of the spray. "Thought you'd get away from me."

Her legs and the bottom part of her dress was soaked, but she had her hat successfully, all in all she thought the exchange was worth it. The water was surprisingly warm for the time of year and she had to admit maybe she should have gone swimming after all. But the lighthouse wasn't the area for it.

She grabbed one of the more dry of the higher rocks and started to pull herself back up but a sudden burning and then a tug at her leg and she lost her grip. Not that she didn't fight to hold on, one of her nails scrapped painfully along it's uneven surface before cracking and breaking off in the middle. Her other arm saved her face from hitting the jutting rocks but she felt at least one deep cut in it before she was plunged under the surface of the water.

Her left ankle still burned horribly and she couldn't see whatever it was attacking her but it was definitely bigger than she was if even her skewed view was correct. Her finger on her right hand burned where the nail had been plucked off and her left arm was letting out a dark liquid she was fairly certain was blood.

She tried to kick herself free and upward, breaking the surface long enough to let out a loud gasp before being pulled with more force back down again. Her other leg was tangled and began to give the same slow burn as the first. Panic was definitely there and she was frantically trying to reach for anything she could grasp, even a rock she might be able to attack her assailant with would be better than flailing helplessly.

It looked like some sort of large octopus maybe? The water wasn't clear enough to tell much more than that. Though amongst the many burning parts her lungs weren't going to last her forever, she was going to need air. She fought as best she could but it was amazingly stronger than her, she felt it grab one of her other arms and she wanted to cry but couldn't make a sound.

Then a horrible high pitched whine echoed in the water around her and the thing pulled away from her legs, she kicked immediately for the surface and realized for the first time that her arm hadn't been grabbed by it. A gloved hand was clasping hers strongly and while she was surprised to see Lezard she wasn't going to slow down to ask him what he was doing there. She scrambled up the side of the rocks and started coughing so hard she went right back to her knees next to the bench.

"Kagome. Get on the bench. Whatever happens stay there...it can't effect you if you aren't touching the water." Lezard's tone wasn't the soft polite one she was used to. It had transformed into something deeper and somehow more sinister. She did as was asked through and crawled onto the bench doing her best to stop coughing but not succeeding for her effort. "Where are you..."

It took her a moment to realize he was talking about whatever had attacked her. Her head was still reeling a little from the noise in the water. "He must have saved me...he attacked it and then it let me go..."it was screaming."

Lezard meanwhile was scanning the surface of the water warily. Backing toward where Kagome was starting to recover from the coughing fit.

"So much for a perfect little getaway, is this the sort of thing Ghaleon was talking about?"

She watched Lezard instead of the water, the change in him was so different. It wasn't that he actually appeared differently, but the calm around him had changed to something else, she couldn't put her finger on it but she was glad he was on her side.

"Kagome, it seems to be waiting...would you mind if we flew back to the beach?" He asked without turning around. While the question was kind he'd already reached one his hands back for her, it seemed like the request was just out of formality more than seriousness.

Not that she would refuse, anything that got her away from whatever that was was fine with her. She grasped his hand and held onto her bag and hat with her other hand as tightly as she could manage.

She squeaked when he tossed her on his back, grabbing around his shoulders and holding on as she watched the ground start to get further from underneath them. It was a little disorienting but she watched the water warily as they went higher.

About to call out she instead had to fight to hold on as the horrible high pitched sound she'd heard under the water surfaced and seemed to cut right into her brain. It was some sort of fanged monstrous octopus or squid. It was as if she'd walked onto the set of a horrible horror movie but the creature of the lagoon was real.

"Transgress no further. Let the blade of twilight fall upon your offensive spirit. Dark Savior." Kagome wasn't sure what the hell he was doing but could feel the same pressure that she had the day before when Ghaleon had cast a spell.

Dark lines appeared in the air and seemed to extend themselves into long wicked blades. As if shadows had taken form at the young boy's command. They slanted toward the creature and cut into it deeply enough that it ceased to screech and Kagome closed her eyes and pressed her head against Lezard's back as it started to bleed and sink back into the ocean.

She felt them land moments later and before she could collapse he'd turned and caught her, he was already scanning her arm and legs. She felt like she should be sick when she saw the shape her legs were in.

Where she'd felt her legs burning were horrible black scars that curled into grey lines reaching up her legs. She couldn't feel her feet at all and the burning sensation seemed to be creeping it's way up to her calves. It was as if whatever it had done her flesh was burning away in front of her, she was fairly glad she hadn't stopped to get anything to eat.

"Damn." She heard the muttered curse beneath the boys breath and it wasn't exactly the most encouraging thing.

"What's happening?" She shivered a little, she was soaked from head to toe and it was getting quickly chillier with the day turning into night. It wasn't the cold though, she was barely cold at all, and she knew that she should be. "Why is it black like that?"

"Healing isn't one of my strong suits." Lezard commented, still frowning at her legs. "Try to be still and I'll see what I can manage."

Kagome just nodded. If he could stop whatever was happening, it seemed now wasn't the time to ask for details.

"On feathered wing alleviate. Curl into the highest utopia and rejuvenate all trauma. Recover."

She stared with the pain temporarily forgotten as he closed his eyes and held his hands over her. Beautiful ebony wings unfolded from his back and she wasn't sure if they had always been there and she hadn't noticed or if they were just appearing now. A silver glow curled slowly from his hands and then circled them both in a shimmering half globe. She felt the burning sensation diminish as well as the pain in her finger and arm. Even her lungs that had been screaming at her still seemed to still.

It faded instantly as he opened his eyes again, the wings vanishing as the light did, though she noted a couple of feathers falling slowly toward the sand as he looked back over her legs...which were no different than they had been that morning when she dressed.

The only part of what had happened that even left proof was a couple discarded black feathers and the fact that she was still soaked to the bone and now starting to shiver for that purpose.

"Thank you." She managed, uncertain of how to speak to him. "What is he? He had wings..."

"Are you feeling better now? Is there any burning?" He still seemed uncertain of her being healed. He didn't even seem to notice that he'd caused the light or had shown his wings for a moment. But she couldn't know what was normal for them.

"I'm a lot better now...and not anymore." She answered, pushing herself up and accepting the aid he offered to get to her feet. She didn't even have to mention she was cold before a thick towel was draped around her. It felt like velvet but it was warm and she wasn't about to complain.

"Where did you..." She glanced at it and then at him curiously, he hadn't been wearing it.

"You'll find there is a lot about me that isn't easily explained." He commented, apparently finally content that she was doing better he looked into her eyes and she had to look away.

She was floored by the amount of emotion she'd seen. Most of the other boys were more subdued or open in a rude manner...Lezard was always so polite she hadn't quite realized that he seemed to have the same eyes for her as many of the others. He had been honestly concerned for her, had fought a monster, saved her not just from it but the vicious wounds it had left on her. It was all so much. The words 'Thank you' seemed so incomparable.

"We should get you back before your friends continue to worry." He said glancing back toward where they'd started a bonfire. "They are why I knew where to come looking you know."

"I'm glad you did." Kagome said with certainty. Reaching out to take his hand and smiling at him when he glanced back at her with a slightly surprised look of his own. "I know it seems a little small but Thank you. You saved me twice there."

His expression softened and he looked up the beach again. "All in a days work Kagome. If you'd like I can take you home once you've assured everyone you are all right."

"I think that sounds like a good idea. I'll need new clothes before I freeze to death or catch cold." Kagome agreed. "I'm glad that you are my friend Lezard."

He squeezed her hand and tugged gently toward the side of the beach where her friends and a small group was running back toward them.

"Kagome!" Ayumi nearly knocked the girl over she slammed into her hugging her. Eri and Yuka weren't far behind and the pile of girls went tumbling to the sand.

"We were so worried!" Yuka threw in, she seemed like she was ready to cry.

"You are soaked Kagome. What happened?" Eri was the first to notice, backing up and wiping at her cheeks while waiting for a explanation.

Kagome blushed a little, not sure how to tell them, it wasn't as if the truth was an option.

"She saw a baby seal caught in some garbage near the lighthouse and jumped in to free it." Lezard hopped in with a smooth lie. "However she had a hard time climbing back onto the lighthouse island and I found her near there when I walked down to check."

"That's nearly two miles away." Kagome glanced over at hearing Seto's voice, not expecting to see the billionaire as one of the people that had rushed to make sure she was safe. Ed and Winry were there as well as some of the other students she sat near at school.

"Yes, I'm a bit tired and offered to give Kagome a ride back to her home so if you all don't mind. I don't mean to be rude but I'd like to be underway." Lezard offered, his polite persona firmly back in place.

Kagome got up again from the sand with the help of her friends, she felt a little bad that she'd made them worry and then worse when they started complimenting her for being such a hero to save the baby seals.

Seto was glancing between them as if he was still not too sure of the story they were spinning. "I'm glad that you are safe Kagome."

"Me too." Kagome smiled at Seto for the kindness. "I'm sorry I made all of you worry so much but I think I am going to get a ride with Lezard. If you don't mind Ayumi."

"Of course not." Ayumi offered her friend a wry grin. "It's a little cramp in my small car anyway and we were thinking about staying the night. Hope you can come by tomorrow Kagome."

After a few more goodbyes she followed Lezard off toward the filled parking lot and nearly walked by the expensive looking steel blue sedan he stopped at. Eyeing the luxury vehicle and then him curiously before taking a few steps back to the door. "This is your car?"

"Is it that surprising?" He smirked a bit, unlocking the doors before opening the drivers side door.

"Just...most kids in high school don't drive cars like this." She answered staring at it. "I think maybe I should just make Ayumi take me in her car. I wouldn't want to get it all dirty."

"It's fine." Lezard waved a hand lightly. "I can fix anything that might go wrong without effort. Trust me on that."

She smiled a bit at the comment, she didn't doubt it...though a chilly wind is what made her desicion for her. It was way too cold outside to linger. She laid the cloak/towel thing he'd given her over her seat as best she could before sitting down. Though as it was leather that was more of a battle she wouldn't win.

It gave a purr as he started the engine and turned on the heaters both of the general cab and the seats.

"How can you afford this?" She asked looking at the expensive interior and back at him curiously.

"I have a rich family." Lezard answered with a shrug. "Though you'll find that most of us in the extraordinary section of things will tend to enjoy the finer things in life. We're paid well for fighting creatures like that one."

"Doesn't it frighten you?" Kagome relaxed a little as things began to get warm. She'd never been in a car with heated seats before, it was actually very convenient. She put on her seat belt as he did and wrapped what she could of the cloak around her again after taking her sweater off. Being soaked it wasn't helping her get any warmer.

"Not really." He answered honestly, backing out and heading slowly toward the exit of the parking lot. "That one was actually weaker than Curtiss made it out to be."

"That one was weak?" She frowned a little, then did a double take at the time. "It's only seven-thirty?!"

"Is that a problem?" Lezard glanced to her sometimes between keeping his eyes on the road, though there wasn't much traffic this far out of the city.

"Mom's still gonna be awake and she's gonna freak out that I got soaked." Kagome answered looking a little deflated and glancing out to take in the forests as they passed them. "I'll probably get sick again."

"Would you prefer we just drive for a while? How late would you like to be delivered home?" Lezard asked, slowing a little as there was a turn off coming up that would take them more around the outside of the city.

"She usually goes to bed at nine...but you said you were tired...I don't want to keep you up. You've already helped me so much." Kagome burst into a rant, fearful she was being too selfish after he'd done so much for her already.

"I was lying Kagome. I'm not tired...I just didn't want to get stuck with dozens of questions and you seemed as if you needed to get somewhere warmer." He pointed out, chuckling a bit. "There is a park further up with a lovely view if you'd like to just stop and wait for a while. I much prefer your company to that of everyone else anyway."

She blushed at that, tugging the towel/cloak thing a little tighter again and nodding slowly. "I guess that's all right. I just don't want to impose."

"You aren't." He answered, taking the next exit and heading along a smaller road that lead through the woods. "I've actually been hoping for a chance to speak with you but I hadn't seen you at the party. Where were you all day?"

"I fell asleep on the bench by the lighthouse..." She mumbled sheepishly, sinking a little more in her seat when he laughed at her answer. "I didn't mean to. I was just tired...I had trouble sleeping last night."

"That's too bad." Lezard gave her another very polite answer and she was starting to think that perhaps not all guys were so awful. "I could try to make you some tea that would help you. I've always gotten very good marks in my alchemical studies."

"You can make magic potions?" Kagome's lips quirked a little. "Can you make other stuff?"

"A variety of things." He replied, turning onto a hill that held a small parking lot with a few picnic tables nearby. No one was around but the view overlooked the beach where they had been shortly before as well as the lighthouse and a lot of the neighboring landscape. It was much easier to see the stars now and Kagome was delighted to find that his sunroof offered her a magnificent, if small, view.

"This is beautiful." She breathed. "I can even see the bonfires they have going."

"It's a good place to come and gather one's thoughts." He answered, watching her stare instead of looking out at the view himself.

"I have a couple places like that." She answered. "It's harder to get them in the city though..."

She broke off as she noticed him staring, just like before his violet gaze was brimming with energy she couldn't completely place. "What's wrong?"

The question was one she was hoping wouldn't come up. It seemed only fair to offer him the truth didn't it? "I just...I've had a lot of issues lately it seems like. All of this...being attacked...if you hadn't been there I'd probably be at the bottom of the ocean."

She reached over and took his hand again, squeezing it and looking back toward the view with more trepidation. "I don't know what to expect from anything anymore. It's nerve-wracking."

"You are safe here Kagome." He said softly, returning the squeeze to his hand. "I won't let anything get to you."

"Shut up and let me protect you!"

She glanced back at Lezard, staring back in his purple eyes at the thought. She didn't completely recognize it, but somehow it seemed very important to her. She leaned over and hugged him, shivering a little again without the cloak but just needing to hug him.

"It's all right." He comforted, closing his eyes while she wasn't looking at him and pulling her closer before tugging the cloak back over her.

He was so warm compared to her, it felt great just to be close to someone and she wanted to soak up as much of the heat as she could. When she felt him put the cloak back around her she relaxed against his body and while it was a little strange it was also bizarrely comfortable. She was unaware of the effect she was causing on Lezard.

He meanwhile still had his eyes closed and was fighting the severe urge to push her down and have his way with her. Fractured images of her with silvery wings and hair replayed in his mind and he took to staring at the ceiling of his sedan instead.

His future goddess, the woman that would be his queen. She was still so frail and weak but her body was far less immature than her power. The curves of her through the still wet dress wouldn't have been more obvious if she had been wearing a body suit. Beneath the salty scent of the ocean water he could still pick up the floral aroma that seemed to cling to her. Her hair was still drying but he was fairly certain she could have shaved it off and he wouldn't have cared.

7:52

He wasn't sure even his willpower was going to last until she wanted to go home, once she started to trail her fingers over his arm he definitely was starting to question the necessity of even waiting to make her his.

"I'm sorry Lezard..." Kagome started up from his chest as she actually thought about how intimate the scene was, ready to move until he held her in place. "I didn't really think about..."

It looked almost like his eyes were glowing softly, it was nye impossible not to stare at that, she swallowed a little and blushed more. "Lezard..."

Her eyes widened when he pulled her in for the kiss instead of leaning over himself. It wasn't exactly what she was used to...but it seemed like everyone was suddenly interested in her lately.

Unlike Ghaleon his kiss wasn't as gentle at first, it started out dizzying and hungry. He was holding her so tightly it was on the edge of uncomfortable. As if he feared to let her go.

She froze for a long moment before relaxing, she returned the embrace as she let her eyes close. Much like before, a part of her knew something was amiss, but she pushed it far away from her conscious mind as he relaxed his hand enough to trace her spine. Just before her own eyes slid shut she was certain there was a gentle purple glow coming from beneath his.

Her whole body seemed to want to contort whenever his fingers played over her back in just the right way...and it was so much wrong and still something she didn't want to pull away from.

Lezard tugged her entire form on top of him, ignoring the dress ripping as he settled her in his lap straddling him. Fingers tickling her sides she didn't notice just exactly how he was readjusting her just that it made it easier to press against him.

He was boiling warm compared to her but she wasn't thinking about being cold anymore. She was barely thinking at all, it was so much easier to let go and enjoy the sensation of his body near her, his hands caressing her.

When she started to hump him through the clothing he moaned against her lips and his nails dug a little deeper into her thigh where they'd been teasing her skin.

That however, snapped back to reality the part of her screaming that she was acting way out of line and she pulled herself back and then moved quickly to her seat and tugged what she could of the cloak around her to save what little dignity she had left. "Oh my god...I just...I don't know why I did that...I'm sorry Lezard...I'm sorry. I'm not like that. I just..."

Her rambling seemed close enough to tears that he was able to bring himself under control and shake his head. "Kagome quit. I should be the one apologizing. You are just so angelic...and I couldn't stop myself once you kissed me back."

"It's a wonder I stopped even now." It frustrated him and while it did make it seem like he felt awful, in fact he was just as irritated that they stopped as he was that he was having such poor self-control. He could have ruined his whole plan for a few hours of bliss, albeit it would have been some of the best hours of his life...but ruining his future seemed a pitiful excuse for such pathetic self discipline.

She smiled a little, still awfully embarrassed. "I think I should just go home early maybe. I'm not trying to be rude...but I think lately there might be something wrong with me."

"Again, stop blaming yourself." He repeated, starting the car sense she requested it. "Would you like me to stop somewhere and get you clothes...I..."

He stopped talking and looked away from her. It was a very bad plan to think about her straddling him if he wanted to keep from ravaging her.

"Um, I think I'll be okay." She answered with a blush as she remembered the same thing, albeit not knowing at all what he was thinking. "I'm so horrible..."

End Chapter

Okay so yeah...man...whew Lezard. They're all so damn smexy! I'm wanting to give each of the 'suitors' a little chance of their own to deal with (and kiss somehow) Kagome. So I've gotten a few down. Just need to get to the rest. Sooooo many. Harem fictions are busy! Next chapter is time for another inspection from the guy side of things.

-Aura

P.S. Yes, the spell is effecting Kagome too. Just to put that out there.

To my reviewers:

Ayjah - Let's all hope eh?

Shiroi - It's fun to write her all nervous.

Kage - The spell is effecting Kagome a little as well. Hope you continue to enjoy things. Your feedback is always something I look forward to.

Lovelywitch - or is it Kagome's Sesshy? -Insert gasp here-

Veil - I guess the title is pretty silly compared to how I usually tend to write.