SAPPHIRE WATER, RUBY FIRE
Author's Note:
Second chapter! Thank you for all the reviewers! This one is the beginning of Yuuri x Maou x Wolfram triangle. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Don't own KKM.
CHAPTER 2: UNWELCOMED REUNION
He stepped over the body of an unconscious soldier, nearly regretfully. 'I have asked with politeness,' he reminded himself in undeniable bitterness. 'And they attacked me.' Couldn't people solve things without violence nowadays? He had not even started the fight, for Shin'ou's sake.
A soldier managed to escape, he noticed, when he was distracted by his own thoughts. He was about to raise his hand and render the soldier unconscious, yet the name the soldier shouted all the way brought a smile to his lips, causing him to lower his hand back again.
"Wolfram-kaka!"
The shadow of a genuine smile haunted his expression. 'Soon, little wolf, soon,' he thought to himself, recalling their first, and previous, meeting last night.
Wolfram had looked so fragile and sad in his embrace that night, the tears spilling from his usually sharp emerald eyes. 'Shibuya…,' he thought, his mood darkening when he recalled the cause of Wolfram's tears. 'You just cannot see what has been waiting for you right in front of your very eyes, can you?'
A girl passed him, a girl he had known oh so well from the eyes of Shibuya Yuuri. 'Wolfram and Shibuya's adopted daughter,' he recognized, trying to remember the girl's name. '…Greta….'
The girl stared at him, then at the soldiers on his feet. He muttered several colorful curses inwardly. Trying to assure the girl, whose eyes had gone wide and terrified, he took a step forward, yet then stopped when the girl took a step backward.
"Greta!"
He turned, only to find another familiar face greeting him. 'Conrart Weller,' he registered the man, eyes narrowing. The person Yuuri was closest with, and Wolfram's older brother.
He sure as hell did not like the look Conrad was giving him, Wolfram's brother or not.
Conrad's sword was unsheathed, the sharp blade glinting under the sunlight. He had registered Conrad as a calm and mild-mannered man, yet seeing the expression on the man's face he realized that deep down, the half-human shared Wolfram's ferocity and anger whenever their loved ones were potentially threatened or hurt—an act which did not only protect the loved ones, yet also protecting themselves from having the need to go through the pain of seeing their loved ones in misery.
He raised his hand, determined to put a barrier to prevent Conrad from going on further, therefore avoiding a useless fight, only to hear Greta's panic voice, "Uncle Conrad! Don't!"
Conrad halted right on his spot, brown eyes narrowing, filled with genuine concern. "Greta…."
"He can kill you with just a single blast, Uncle!" the girl shouted, verging on tears. "Please, don't!"
Bitterness filled his heart. Was this how she saw him? Why would everyone fear him for his power only? Why did people fear it when they realized that there was someone stronger than they were?
The reddish brown haired girl turned her teary eyes at him, and he stared back with a blank expression. Was he that easy to be misunderstood?
The girl spoke up, voice shaky yet determined, "Please, don't touch Uncle Conrad. If you want to kill someone, then just take me!"
Conrad's eyes widened, lowering down his sword unconsciously. "…Greta…," he whispered, and for a brief moment his eyes softened. The Maou watched this transition with sharp yet blank eyes, cheating any emotion he had within. Wolfram's brother and Wolfram's adopted daughter. He chuckled inwardly, imagining what kind of couple the two could make.
"Greta! Weller-kyo!"
Upon hearing the voice he had known too well, the Maou raised his head, looking up, his hand lowered and the magic fading from his palm. Wolfram put himself between Greta and the Maou, eyes suspicious, protecting his adoptive daughter with his own body. "Who are you?" the blonde demanded, eyes never wavering, unlike the fragile boy he had known from the previous night. "Tell me! You have barged in the territory of the Maou!"
He unclasped his hooded cloak, a smile tugging on his lips. He could not help it. The blonde boy brought smiles to his lips, even though Wolfram was not even aware of that. What he usually felt was cold anger toward injustice, yet this feeling was different, very different….
Throwing his disguise off—cloak, hood, and all—, he greeted the blonde, who gasped at his greeting. "Hello, little wolf."
XXX
When the Maou had said that they were going to meet again, he had not expected that their meeting would have been as open as this.
He flushed, realizing how easy it was for him to accept the Maou. A crazy thing, a what seemed to be impossible, yet somehow the Maou always made everything looked too possible to be true. The Maou was a being that had passed space and time, and he supposed that everything about the Maou surpassed both elements too.
He sensed Gwendal arriving, yet even the grouchy man was left speechless in a stunned silence at the sight of the Maou. If he had been just a little bit rational, he might have had smiled. The Maou had that effect on people, the power that shone brightly out of his very being…. It was too overwhelming to be taken at once in a time.
He was the witness of it last night.
The Maou strode toward him, long steps determined and nearing to impatience, past the still-stunned Conrad and Gwendal. Then, without any further warning, yet with touches still as tender as ever, the Maou cupped his cheeks and leaned in, kissing his forehead, whispering in a painful longing that made his chest constrict itself painfully. "I have come, little wolf. Just as what I have promised."
Then, as if out of instinct, he wrapped his arms around the dark-haired boy's torso, loosely at first yet tightening with each passing second, seeking the familiar warmth and finding it, the feeling that he could not comprehend from last night surging back into his whole body, unsettling yet oddly comfortable. He settled his head on the crook of the taller boy's neck, relishing the peace he found within the embrace of the being of Justice. For a moment, he did not care even though the whole world was watching.
"Welcome back."
XXX
Yuuri had been wandering around as usual, avoiding Gunther and his endless paperwork. The sun was shining brightly, too bright even for his liking, causing him to discard his jacket and leave it in his room. He did not want to be barbecued in his own castle, thank you very much.
Whistling a familiar tune, he kept on walking, scanning the garden for any sign of his adopted daughter. When he spotted the familiar reddish brown top, he was not quite ready to meet the scene in front of him.
Wolfram—only clad in his white shirt as a top—was hugging his alter ego (that sure as hell had not gained a real body of himself yesterday, as long as he remembered).
The scenes in front of his previous dream flashed back into his mind, forcing themselves into his brain. His brain tried to register what was happening, yet nothing made sense. The scene in front of him was not supposed to happen, never. It was supposed to be impossible.
Yet then, what was happening in front of him?
Conrad spotted him, and immediately called out in a mixture of surprise and concern, "Yuuri?" before rushing toward his side. Wolfram jumped backward, away from his alter ego, expressionless emerald eyes fixed on his wide onyx black ones. Then, the Maou, his alter ego, gazed at him straight in the eyes with such intensity that he could not help but shudder under such piercing eyes.
Gwendal shook his head, and Yuuri realized that this was just the beginning of everything.
XXX
Wolfram stood in the balcony of the King's chamber, his back leaning against the railing, arms crossed in front of his chest, facing his fuming fiancée. A pain was starting to grow inside his cranium, potentially turning into a headache, and he stared impassively at the pacing boy.
"So you were saying," Yuuri said, tone cold and flat. "…that last night you have been kidnapped by my alter-ego that now somehow has a body of his own, and yet you didn't tell me straightaway?"
Wolfram frowned. "He did not kidnap me!" the blonde shouted, countering back. "We were just…talking in the balcony! It was you who were sleeping all the time and not aware of everything around you, wimp!" No way he was going to admit that he had been crying and the Maou had been soothing him, not for…say…another millennia.
"Don't call me a wimp!" Yuuri cried out in frustration. "You always accuse me as a cheater, yet who is the cheater here?!"
The sentence caused Wolfram's eyes to narrow dangerously. "Funny, I thought you never cared about this engagement-of-an-accident thing!" he shouted, cheeks flushed red.
Yuuri was taken aback by the sentence. True, he never cared about the engagement. It was a silly mistake after all. Just a misunderstanding. And he never spared any thought of going serious with Wolfram. Heck, they were both boys, for Shin'ou's sake!
Then, why did he start caring now?
Gaze now weak, he turned at his fiancée, who seemed close to tears by then. Tears of anger, he noted. And…was it despair in his eyes?
"Wolf…," he called out, voice weary and weak. "I just want you to be safe…."
"I can take care of myself, thank you," replied the arrogant voice, yet the tone was wavering noticeably, and Yuuri was suddenly aware of how fragile Wolfram looked sometimes. The usually ever-existing rage in those emerald eyes now seemed void, blank, a mask to cover whatever was beneath. Yuuri reached out, hesitantly bringing the smaller boy closer toward him.
Then, slowly, awkwardly, he encircled his arms around the blonde's narrow waist. "Sorry, Wolf…," he whispered in regret. "I…just don't want to see you hurt."
A muffled "Wimp" was his reply, yet this time he smiled when he heard it.
XXX
He heard everything, and he knew.
Shibuya was finally opening his heart toward the little wolf, and he was supposed to be happy, seeing how relaxed Wolfram was in the King's embrace. He had seen the boy going through all the pain he did not deserve at all, and now was the time Wolfram could finally be able to get a bit of happiness he longed.
Yes, Wolfram was happy. Slowly, yet surely, Shibuya would finally see what Wolfram truly was, a boy that needed affection desperately, and deserved it.
Slowly, yet surely, they would find out that they were made for each other.
He was supposed to be happy, he told himself, fists curled on his side, his back still leaning on the door of the King's chamber. Yet he simply could not make the pain, the bitterness in his heart, go away.
What was wrong with him? Shin'ou assigned him to separate himself from Yuuri in order to get those two together. He was supposed to make Yuuri jealous, therefore causing the young King to realize the feelings that had been buried deep within—the feelings he had for Wolfram—and also the power he had.
Damn Shin'ou and his ambition for another life!
Slowly, he could feel the tears rolling down his cheeks, and there was nobody there to comfort him.
He, the Maou, one of the strongest beings in the whole world, suddenly found himself pathetic in front of a small feeling, and a lithe prince with deep emerald eyes.
XXX
"You have to find your own power," he replied coolly when Shibuya asked him the question about why he had chosen this time, from all the times, to separate himself from the King. "And you know what, Shibuya? As long as I am in you, you will continue depending on me."
Besides, he had some other jobs from Shin'ou.
Shibuya scratched his chin thoughtfully, scrutinizing him. He threw the boy a sharp glare, and the boy winced, grinning sheepishly. "You really don't look like me, do you?" Shibuya said, laughing a little. "I mean, I was just wondering…."
"What do you expect from me? We are two separate beings, Shibuya. Even when I was residing in your body, we were separated mentally. The only difference now is that we are separated both mentally and physically."
They were sitting in the King's study, all alone, since Shibuya had refused to let anybody in. Said he wanted to have a private conversation with his used-to-be alter ego. He would have refused this 'friendly meeting', yet unfortunately, it was Wolfram who delivered the invitation to him, and suddenly he found himself unable to resist.
'Good Shin'ou,' he thought darkly. 'I have been going soft lately.'
Shibuya looked at him straight in the eyes, suddenly going serious again. "You didn't do anything to Wolfram, did you?" he asked, eyes narrow in suspicion.
His brows furrowed, and Shibuya had enough senses to begin panicking. "I would not, and will not, do such thing to your fiancée, Shibuya," he thundered, the rage trying to claim him again. 'Little wolf would not be happy if I hurt his fiancée,' he reminded himself, feeling the bitterness take over again when he thought the word 'fiancée'.
Somehow, being trapped in Shibuya's body seemed a better situation. At least, since he would have no body of his own, he did not have to endure what was called 'headaches'.
"If you dared to hurt him, I would not forgive you." Shibuya's next sentence snapped him out of his daze. He turned at the now serious King, a smirk tugging on his lips. 'So he cares after all…,' he mused inwardly. 'Good for you, little wolf.'
Not good for him, however.
The sheepish look on the King's face returned again, and the half-mazoku asked, not staring at him, "Umm…, now that you have a body of your own…, do you have a name? I mean, it feels strange of calling you 'Maou' all the time, since we are both the Maou, actually…."
His eyes widened a little. His name…. Of course, it was the name he used in his previous life, before he knew neither Wolfram nor Shibuya. A name he had long forgotten….
"I do not think it is a great matter to be discussed now," he said flatly after a few seconds. He stood up, ready to leave, eyes boring a hole on Shibuya's eyes. "If you have nothing to say, I will excuse myself, Shibuya."
Shibuya, dumb-founded, could simply nodded.
XXX
The door of his chamber opened, and he sat up in a jolt. The stranger at the door paused, as if sensing his movement. Even though the sun had not fully set, he had draped all the curtains over the windows, making the room dark. Too dark to recognize the person standing in the doorway, at least.
But he could smell the familiar scent the stranger gave out, or perhaps he just sensed who was there. "Little wolf," he called, a smile coming back to his lips. "Come in."
The door was closed slowly, as if hesitantly. There were soft steps, and Wolfram von Bielefeld seated himself on the edge of his bed. "Yuuri is explaining the reason behind your sudden separation to my brothers," came the flat statement. He nodded, listening.
Emerald green eyes found his, and he could not help but let his hand run through the mop of smooth blonde hair. He entangled his fingers in those silky strands, and Wolfram seemed to relax in his touch. "Anything else?" he whispered huskily into Wolfram's ear.
"Just checking by," the blonde replied, shuddering when he caressed his cheeks. "What, am I not allowed to do that?"
He chuckled deeply. "Quite the opposite, little wolf," he replied lightly, kissing his cheek. Wolfram blushed deeply, and he pulled the lithe boy so that the smaller boy was sitting on his lap, pampered like a small child.
"The wimp invites you to dinner with us."
"Hmm," he murmured absent-mindedly, toying with his bangs. "You like him, don't you?"
Wolfram's reply was arrogant, yet somehow simple and pure. "He is a wimp who just happened to be my fiancée. That's all."
Somehow, that sentence brought a wistful smile on the Maou's lips, nearing to sadness and regret. Wolfram blinked, yet in the next second the Maou's expression had changed into his usual unreadable one.
"Who are you to me?" Wolfram whispered, curious, yet somehow feeling odd toward the boy who just kept playing with his hair.
"Just a very good friend of yours."
That reply brought a fresh stab of pain on both boys' heart. Not that they knew why.
XXX
IMPORTANT NOTICE:
I badly need a suggestion for the Maou's name. So, if you have any suggestion, tell me straight away or I'll use the name Seigi (Justice in Japanese). BTW, anybody knows what is justice in German? I might use it as the Maou's name.
XXX
Both YuuRam and OuRam are here. The characters are OOC, there are some mistakes (maybe), and I am starting to…what? Like writing fluff? Gods, I think I'm going crazy….
See you in the next chapter! If you review, the next one can be up today or tomorrow!
Aqua Alta