Forbidden Love
Eps. XVII
Mikoto let out a cat-like yawn as they checked out of the hotel rather early, she managed to got the teen all hot and bothered only to told the girl to get some rest. Mai being unable to sleep got grouchy and ended up waking Mikoto up early to arrived to her parents' home earlier than she had planned (it's all Mikoto's fault). Wondering the quiet street, Mikoto spotted what she was looking for and increased her pace leaving Mai behind a little bit. Pushing through the doorway, she talked to a man behind the counter and handed over her card to be charged before he handed her a set of keys pointing to something outside. Mai couldn't hear as she was still a little away from the shop, but she definitely saw Mikoto nodded and went back outside.
Hopped on a slick red Honda ST1300 Sport Touring, Mai wrapped her arms tightly around Mikoto's waist just as the feral girl shifted gear and sped off. They stopped at a small bakery and grabbed something to eat as breakfast, and as time slowly drifted by the two got back on the road and soon come to the closed wooden gates in front of a moderately large home that seemed to have been built at the beginning of the last century or maybe two. Mai got off and went to opened the doors while Mikoto raved the engine waiting for the doors to open up giving enough room for her to get the bike inside. She parked the thing and killed the engine, slowly making her way up to the teen she easily pushed the doors shut as the teen breathed heavily (for wooden doors, they're really heavy).
Standing in her rolled up sleeves, loose tie, and a pair of khaki pants, Mikoto yawned yet again taking in the quiet surrounding. "You really should tidy up that tie of yours," Mai said softly trying to fix Mikoto's loose tie. "I like it as it is," Mikoto noted in a firm and commanding tone. Her hand fasten onto Mai's hands, stopping the teen's attempt to fix her tie. "Let us greet your parents before I change my mind," Mikoto said coldly. "…" Mai said nothing, the feral girl's changed of tone put the teen in a mood swing. They moved quietly, up to the front door when Mai realized that she doesn't have the keys for the front door but the back door instead. So the two detoured and went to the large backyard, and there something unexpected happen to them.
A giant boulder dropped out from the sky, cutting through the air emitting noises that was loud enough for both women to took immediate noticed of it. "Nee-chan, watch out!" someone called to Mai but the teen didn't have enough time to react. "Ahhh…" Mai screamed, the only logical thing she could think of doing was hugged her head and squat down on the ground waiting for the thing to squish her. "Hm!" Mikoto emitted just a single syllable (maybe?!) as a strange image of a devil lady superimposed behind her with an odd pair of wings flexing outward. The superimposed image raised its hand up and just as the boulder come in contact with it, the thing seemingly come apart and looked nothing more than sand dropping down around them.
"Foul demon! This is no place for your kind!" someone shouted and Mai knew that voice from anywhere, it's her father: Tohkiha Shusuke, a well-respected Grand Champion. The man was using what seemed to be a pair of blazing daggers, aiming for the top of Mikoto's head. With a single gaze from Mikoto, the superimposed devil lady behind swung her hand and sent Mai's father flying into the concrete wall around the house. Flexing her fingers, a naginata materialized onto her right hand as she grabbed onto the weapon causing it to emit a deathly aura. Getting in her fighting stance, letting the tip of the naginata's blade touched the sandy ground Mikoto waited for Tohkiha Shusuke to pulled himself out of the wall and attack her.
"Tou-san, stop it!" Mai raised her voice as she finally gathered her wits about her. "Sensei, you too. You promised not to use force when we left Kuga-sensei's place, remember?" Mai said shakily reminding Mikoto of her agreement with Shizuru about resorting to violence. The sudden hostile air around the compound just up and vanished as Mikoto's weapon dispersed itself into tiny particles, Mai was definitely hugging onto her teacher's free hand hoping to calm down whatever it is that stirred inside of her teacher.
"Mai-chan… why did you bring such filthy creature back with you?" Shusuke asked grunting as he pushed himself away from the wall leaving a nice crater behind because of the impact he made. "Tou-san, you should really start to ask questions before you coming blindly at people with those daggers of yours," Mai sighed as a young boy emerged from behind another boulder in the backyard. "Sorry about the rock coming down at you nee-chan, I was practicing on creating a force-field underneath it to bounce it off the ground. I-I didn't know it would bounce that high up," the boy said apologetically ignoring the whole fiasco between his father and Mikoto. "Mou… Takumi, you should use it on a smaller object and test it out before using it on a giant rock. I could've been killed if sensei wasn't here to save me." Mai scolded her little brother in a not so scolding tone. "I'm sorry…" Tohkiha Takumi said shyly looking down at the ground instead of at his sister or the woman next to her.
"You're pretty motherly Mai," Mikoto leaned over and whispered to the teen. "S-sensei!" Mai shouted turning red from embarrassment, she doesn't know how not to blushed when Mikoto said something like that. "Well, you really are…" Mikoto said loudly only to trailed off as Mai's grip on her arm tighten. "I hate you sensei," Mai murmured feeling a bit resentful at Mikoto for picking on her in front of her family. "Hate me all you want, but if you still don't address me properly…" Mikoto whispered. "You can just keep on hating me…" she continued causing Mai to looked up at her with angry amethyst eyes but it softened when Mikoto silently mouthed the word 'honey'. That silent word caused poor Mai turned ten different shades of red as she rested her head against Mikoto's shoulder, to hide from her family's prying eyes.
"Ahem…" a woman's voice interrupted the young couple as a elegant woman in her late thirties walked out of the house and looked at everyone in the yard. "Let us all come inside and have some tea," she spoke softly and Mikoto could tell where Mai had gotten her luscious body from but her hair and eyes were definitely from her father. Everyone nodded in acknowledgement and they all quietly marched inside, it seemed that in the Tohkiha household, the wife wore the pants.
"So, run this by me again…" Mai's mother paused as she's trying to digest the relationship between her daughter and the feral girl in front of her. "You're her teacher…" she paused yet again and Mikoto nodded in confirming the truth. "You're her… girlfriend…" Tohkiha-Ito Sayaki trailed off with a raised brow at her daughter who writhed under her husband's intense gaze. Mai didn't dare to look up at the others and just nodded her head while her eyes remained tightly shut waiting for the inevitable to come. "What nonsense!" Shusuke grated. "My daughter will not love another woman and especially not her own teacher, you will not do such a taboo thing that the High Council had forbade since it was formed. You will now perform what you have learned for me, once you passed the test you will be paired properly with a companion." Shusuke raised his voice as he tossed a picture of a handsome young man on the table in front of Mai's face. "He is the grandson of one of the High Council members, who just recently recieved the Guardian title. His name is Tate Yuuichi, your companion once you passes your tests." Mai's father said coldly at her.
Mai finally opened her eyes, only to be stared at a picture of the handsome young man with blonde and brownish hair and long sideburns (Mikoto's sideburns were braided, what irony). She couldn't belief what she's hearing, it made her blood boiled but her tears seemed to be the first thing that came out of her body. Drops of tears blurred the picture, Mai slowly reached her right hand up from under the table where it rested on her lap grabbing the photo and balling it up in her now shaky fist. Throughout the whole time, Mikoto remained silent and passive as her inside was anything but serene as she seemed to be.
Mikoto fished out a small metal box, placed it on the table and gently placed her hand on Mai's shoulder. Giving an encouraging smile at the teen, she wiped the tears away and nodded at the box in front of them. Mai sniffed and nodded her head, concentrating on the object in front of her, she put a force-field around it perfectly with only a millimeter to spare. Mai's family could only gaped at such precision and expertly timing, but they're even more surprised when Mai created a force-field from underneath the box moving it up slowly and kept it there for a while before she tapped her fingers onto the table's surface and caused the box to bounced up and landed back onto the force-field safely without any mishaps.
"Great job Mai-chan," Sayaki praised her daughter as she was surprised at how quick the girl learned such a hard technique since she taught Takumi the technique when he was just five as he seemed to be the one with the most potential in the family (guess she's wrong). Mai gave her mother a strained smile, because her mood is nowhere near the word 'happy' at the moment. "Good job Mai, you have now skipped the Magnus title and now a Seer." Shusuke said proudly at his daughter, who didn't bother to look at him or replied to his words whatsoever. "Tomorrow, we will go in front the High Council and dub you in as a Seer, and there you will meet your companion." Shusuke said ever so proudly at Mai, who looked completely sullen while staring down at the table with the picture balled up in her hand still.
Mikoto suddenly got up, and caused the teen to looked up at her beloved person questionably. The feral girl said nothing as she just smiled and extended her left hand out to the teen, Mai hesitated for a split second before she reached out her own hand and took Mikoto's hand who in turn pulled her up to her feet and brought her into a tight embrace. "Hmph!" was the only disagreeable sound coming from Tohkiha Shusuke as the other two just looked on.
"Omedetou Mai," Mikoto finally spoke after she pulled away. "Wh-what do you mean?" Mai's eyes widen upon the words the escaped Mikoto's lips. "I did my job, and I'm proud of you becoming a Seer. If you work hard, I'm sure you will be Grand Master in no time." Mikoto said forcing herself to sound and looked cheerful though her heart was shattering into a million pieces inside. "Remember what I told you? I think that this is for the best, because when the times come you will not have time to regret. Good-bye Mai…" Mikoto finished putting on a brave face and smiling at the teen one last time before she turned her heels and walked out the front door with her head held up high.
A/N:1. I'm curious of the reaction of Mai's family. -Oh, me too! Seriously, I don't know either since I don't really plot out the storyline. 2. And I like these line : "Mai Hime" but it's make me think at Nagi, reading book in the Fuuka's library. -True, but Mikoto just called Mai (Princess Mai) in an endearing way. 3. before finishing, I want to rewind to the latest chapter. The "black armor" that Mikoto create, is it inspired by Tsutomu Nihei's Blame! and is other artwork ? - Never read nor heard of Blame until now. The 'Black Armor' from the first few chapters were something more like 'Black Knight' medieval era type of armor. As per the later chapter after she miraculously came back to life, it's more of a leather outfit like in those X-Men movies (not cartoon version). 4. Maybe, you don't want to pull out your inspiration's story ? -This… I don't really understand, because right now another Mikoto/Mai story occupied my mind, though I haven't been able to wrote it down on papers (work got crazy so no break time to work on it). Ex: the little cat in extra curious mode ^o^ -Though curiosity does kill the cat ;p