Good news, bad news time everybody. Good news: here's another chapter for you! :D Bad news: my next school semester started this past monday. :( I'll have a bit of extra time this semester so I'm hoping I can manage to get chapters up while I go, but don't hold your breath. T-T Rest assured, I will do my utmost to get you chapters!
So, without any further delay, here's the next chapter!
(Oh wait, disclaimer! I don't own anything except Izaya!)~~~~
It was only two days later that Tamahome finally awakened and Izaya couldn't have been happier about it. The day after he had woken up she had gone right back to bringing him meals and their regular conversations. There where four days were it seemed like "business as usual" for the priestess and the Suzaku warrior turned hostage. Though more irritable then before his escape attempt, Tamahome accepted his role as "guest" as Izaya continued to act as hostess to him, begrudging.
" Boo!" Izaya exclaimed, hopping her way through the threshold of the room in one of her regular visits with him. Finding her guest sitting by the window sill, Tamahome turned his attention towards his hostess as she shut the door lightly behind herself. He rolled his eyes, turning back to the window.
" Don't you have anyone else to bother?" he inquired, stiffly and Izaya let out a laugh.
" No. That would be why I asked Nakago to bring you here in the first place." she replied, crossing the room, standing a few meters away from where Tamahome sat on the window sill. Leaning to the side, she glanced out the window herself, eyes shifting side to side, observing the branches that reached out to touch the window from the outside with a steady eye. The Suzaku warrior wrinkled his nose, sitting bolt upright and stiff.
" 'Asked Nakago to bring me here'?" he echoed back these words, gazing at the Seiryu priestess who did her utmost to avoid his eyes. " You mean this was all your idea?! Bringing me here, threatening my family-"
" Hey, hey!" Izaya cut him off, scowling, pointing a finger at him. " Don't you go making assumptions about people!" digging into her back pocket, she pulled out her pocket knife, flipping the blade up and holding it up, pointed squarely at Tamahome's chest. " It's not very nice, neh?" Tamahome's eyes moved from the knife to Izaya's face and back again. After several seconds, the smile returned to the priestess' face and taking a step back, she withdrew the knife, gazing at the tip of it. One of her fingers slide along the blunt side, tracing the dulled gray edge. " Even if I did suggest the idea, the only one who did any threatening was Nakago and his men, not me." Shutting the blade swiftly, she turned a glare on Tamahome as she added. " I didn't tell him to threaten the lives of anyone; that's all his own doing. I already told you that I dislike violence, Tama-chan!" The Suzaku warrior snorted, crossing his arms and getting to his feet.
" So says the girl with a blade in her pants." he pointed out. After a few seconds of holding eye contact with her guest, a smirk tugged at the priestess' face. Turning, she flipped open the switch blade, shutting it, repeating this process over and over again as she started to pace.
" I'm a realist, Tama-chan." Izaya said, not looking at him, flicking the blade out and pausing. Slowly, she turned the open blade around in a circle, the sleek, sharpened edge gleaming in the sunlight that leaked through the window. " Just because I dislike violence doesn't mean I can't get caught up in it. Only an idiot would believe he can protect himself without a weapon or a little self defense training." Reaching out, she placed her other hand against the blunt edge, dragging the knife back until it disappeared behind the wooden hilt, the safety clicking into place. Glancing over her shoulder at him, she raised a brow, mouth twisted upward as a fire brought on a storm in those gray irises. " It's the same for you, isn't it?" There was a pause then, one where the Suzaku warrior eyed the Seiryu priestess in a way that most did mad men; shifting as though there were insects crawling all across his skin and eyes taking careful observation of the nearest escape root. He took several steps away from her until there was a meter and a half of space between them.
Finally, she tucked her switch blade back into her back pocket, stepping over to the window. She only looked outside for a second, then turned around leaning against the sill and looking down at the floor. In that moment, the wildness dwindled away, leaving only steel in those eyes. The silence stretched between them until, finally, Izaya nodded to herself. " So, you have a family?" her voice was light, leisurely, or as leisurely as she could make it sound after that awkward quiet. There was another pause, one where Tamahome frowned, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the priestess girl. She never made eye contact, rubbing the top of her left shoulder with her hand and tilting her head to the side, attempting to stretch her neck.
Finally, he shrugged. " What of it?" Izaya shrugged back at him once she let her hand fall back to her side and straightened her head.
" Just curious," she replied, " I'm betting you're the kind that has a lot of siblings, right?" Blinking, the Suzaku's muscles all loosened as he turned his focus onto her.
" Hey, yeah," he answered, stepping a little closer, " how did you know?"
" Guessed." she said with a sharp laugh when her guest crossed his arms and pouted at her. Pointing at him, she insisted. " Do I look that smart to you, Tama-chan?" he didn't answer her right away, looking away for a second.
" That's a trick question." he stated after a few moments and Izaya lost it, throwing her head back, laughing long and loud. " You might not look or act it, but you're actually really smart," Tamahome went on once his hostess had calmed herself down enough to hear him, " that's what I think." shutting her mouth, she gazed at him with the most genuine smile that the Suzaku warrior had ever seen her wear. Not a word escaped her, and when she went on she left that compliment completely unanswered.
" And you were willing to sacrifice all of them for the sake of playing 'hero' for that little girlfriend of yours," she said, breaking eye contact, turning so that she was facing the window, " that's a rather unpleasant impression to leave behind, don't you think, Tama-chan?" that had renewed all the hostility that the boy had for the priestess.
" I don't have to prove myself to you or anyone here." he snapped back and Izaya smiled.
" True, but you do have to prove yourself to a lot of other people out there." her answer was cool and immediate. " Not only as a celestial warrior, but as a friend, son, brother, and boyfriend." Raising her index finger she looked over at him, but didn't move away from the window. " And let me tell you that you have failed at at least three of those trying to escape from here." shaking her head, the priestess girl let out a long exhale. " Why you go so far for the likes of Miaka is beyond me."
" What do you mean 'for the likes of Miaka'?!" Tamahome insisted hotly." I love her! Isn't that reason enough for me to want to help her?!" It was then that Izaya finally turned to face him. Planting herself firmly on both feet, she planted a hand on her hip as she rolled her eyes.
" Please!" she scoffed, voice heavy and dark. " How long have you even KNOWN her?" when Tamahome opens up his mouth to answer, Izaya blows through his words with her own. " A couple of days, and then you were apart for three months. Christ, do you even know anything about who she is or where she's from?" Raising her brows, she waited for him to answer.
" She eats more then her own weight in food everyday." he stated, and Izaya instantly started laughing.
" Don't sound too proud of that, Tama-chan! People might start thinking that you've been dating a pig, not a girl." she retorted and Tamahome scowled in return, crossing his arms. Once she finished her laughter, Izaya gave a dismissive wave of her hand. " I could've told you that about her and I only met her for a couple hours that one day she showed up here out of fucking nowhere." Gray eyes sparkling, she crossed her arms and held Tamahome's eyes, raising a brow." Try again, bird brain."
" She's super strong." he said.
" Again, not something to shout proudly to the hill tops. Your girlfriend will be mistake for a pig." shrugging her shoulders, Izaya added. " And again something I could tell you about her and I don't know or like her." Tamahome growled, a fire lighting up his eyes. He was answered with a cool icy glare in return. " Come on, Tama-chan, you aren't even making this hard for me." Raising an index finger, she jumped then, suddenly chipper as she said. " Ah! I get it! You need help!" The Suzaku warrior's jaw dropped, but as he opened his mouth to protest once again, Izaya interjected before he could get out a single word. " How about her family; she got any siblings to speak of? Are her mother and father still together or are they separated? Does she get along with the both of them or even one of them?" she hummed at him, finally giving him a chance to speak up.
" Then what about you, huh?!" he snapped back, Izaya blinking at him in befuddlement. " What do you know about your celestial warriors?!"
" That's irrelevant." she stated, bland.
" How so?!" Tamahome insisted, and Izaya crossed her arms again.
" I'm not claiming to have fallen in love with anybody." were the words that she snapped at him. Seeing the look on his face, she rolled her eyes again and shook her head. " Figures. The moron finds another moron to shack up with. People like you two really piss me off." For the moment Tamahome's anger had quelled enough to simply growl and glare at Izaya for those comments.
" Yeah? Why's that?" he prompted and Izaya threw her head up and laughed. No, it was a cackle, and when she turned to face him once again, shaking her head, there was a sickening grin on her lips. Placing a hand on her mouth, she shook her head, snickering again. Then she turned her eyes away from him, laughed some more, and when she finally calmed herself she glanced up and sneered at him
" Where do I begin?" she inquired in return, then straightened her shoulders, leaning back and rubbing her chin. Looking him up and down, Tamahome felt as though a carnivorous animal was sizing him up, judging how best to get its fangs around his throat. As she crossed the room, she grabbed a chair and dragged it behind herelf, the legs of it screeching against the floor until she thrust it into place squarely in front of Tamahome's bed. She waved for him to sit down, but when he didn't follow along she shrugged her shoulders. She placed an elbow on the back of the chair, resting an index finger against the bridge of her nose for a moment as she gazing at him, ever intent with her gray eyes.
" You're the type of person who has a one track mind." She reached out for him, but the two weren't nearly close enough for her to touch him and the invitation for physical contact went unanswered. " Oh, you get through things, crazy, terrible shit even," she gave a wave of her hand, nonchalant, refocusing her eyes on Tamahome as she went on to say," but that's only because you focus your entire person on it and nothing else. There's no other way for you to live. People like you put their entire attention on something at that very moment, and on that alone." Tamahome frowned, shifting and finally stepping forward. He sat down on the bed that he had been given while acting as hostage in Kuto. The instant he was seated though, he leaned back, away from Izaya, which only drew a smile wide across her face. Narrowing his eyes, he was silent for a few seconds.
" And that's not a good thing?" he prompted her. Izaya removed her elbow from the chair back, sitting up properly, albeit backward in her chair.
" Not at all," she replied, crossing her arms, " I never said that it was a bad quality to have. I'm saying that it pisses me off." the Suzaku warrior scowled, crossing his arms too and continuing to glare at Izaya. " People like you survive the worst shit the world can throw at you, making people like me, who struggle to do these sorts of things because of a more complicated thought process, look like a bunch of wusses who can't do a thing for ourselves." He blinked and stared blankly at her, which had Izaya rolling her eyes, and she turned her eyes away, staring at the door. " I prefer you over that silly girlfriend of yours."
" What?" Tamahome spoke up in protest abruptly, which brought a smirk across Izaya's face. Swinging herself back around to face, Tamahome, her smirk only grew all the more and her eyes zeroed in on him like a jackal on a carcass.
" Oh? Touch a nerve, did I?" she prompted, voice low, holding an almost hiss like after tone to it as she spoke. The Suzaku warrior was silent, however, Izaya bounced up and down in her chair for a moment and let out a laugh, leaning back in her chair once she'd finished and observed Tamahome with narrowed eyes. " You know, she's probably one of the types of people that I hate the most, although," she frowned and thought out loud, " that's a rather long list, so that might not be saying much." For a moment, she seemed to consider her own words. Then, she gave her head a shake and leered over at the Suzaku warrior. He held her with an equally heated gaze, one that sent a shiver running up the Seiryu priestess' spine. Wiggling her shoulders,
she was more then ready to start ripping the only other priestess in the world to shreds.
" I've known girls like your little Miaka before; petty, childish people that hold a type of purity that can attract flocks of people to them like honey bees to a flower. She doesn't live an untroubled life," Izaya shook her head, though there were hints of mockery in her voice that reappeared on her face in the form of a deep scowl, " but she wouldn't know real hardship if it bit her in the ass." Theatrically, she raised her hands to rub her cheeks and when she spoke her voice contained a forced hiccup. " Wah, wah, wah! My life is so terrible! I can't find a boyfriend and my parents are jerks and blah, blah, blah!" her play faded with the last three words and she straightened up and promptly spat on the ground, crossing her arms. A deep scowl contorted her lips and her entire face followed its example, glaring eyes and downward turned brows indicating an expression of utter anger and disgust. " People like her take what they have for granted; for someone like me, who lived and is living a rougher life then she ever will and still manages to find the good in it, her type of ignorance- no, her utter idiocy is unforgiveable."
" So you hate her for being a little pessimistic?!" Tamahome snarled back. Izaya promptly threw her head back and laughed at him. Growling, the Suzaku warrior watched as the Seiryu priestess laughed away. Slowly lowering her head, still chuckling, she placed her hand against her lip, shaking her head, gray eyes sparkling when they fell on Tamahome once again.
" Pessimistic he says!" she exclaimed to nobody, shaking her head continuously as she said. " No, Tamahome," an honest earnestness tinted her tone and she leaned towards him once again, finally allowing her head to still, " I don't hate her for being 'pessimistic'." pausing, she held his gaze steadily with her own as she finished. " I hate her for being who she is; for having everything that I don't. She's a simple, petulant girl with the world at her finger tips, but she's too stupid to realize it." These words did little to detour his way of thinking, apparent by the lack there of change in his stubborn, glaring eyes. Frowning, Izaya got up, twisting her chair around and sitting down again, this time in the proper fashion.
" It doesn't matter," Tamahome spoke up then, catching Izaya's attention, " what you think of her or us. Fate brought the two of us together and I love her. That's all that matters." Smiling, he placed a hand over his heart, a contented expression on his face. A short silence followed these words.
Then Izaya gave a loud snort.
" You almost made a little sense there." she scoffed at him as Tamahome raised his eyes to stare at her once again. " But then you had to go bring in that fate nonsense."
" What-?!" Tamahome began to protest, but Izaya sent such a seething glare in his direction that his voice caught in his throat. A smile touched her lips, long, twisted.
" You know, I really don't understand how anyone could believe in such a thing." she began shaking her head." This 'fate', this thing that controls all, that brings people together, that tears them apart." sniffing, she leaned over and spat on the floor. " What spiritual dribble. A five year old could come up with something more interesting then that." Tamahome only seemed bewildered by what she was saying and Izaya rolled her eyes, straightening her back. " If you ask me, your 'fate' claim is just nonsense to try and make yourselves feel special. It's you trying to make your meeting with her into something more then it is; a simple coincidence." She was met with a jaw dropped, wide eyed stare from the Suzaku warrior at that point.
" How can you, of all people, think that?!" he insisted, pointing an accusing finger at her. " You came here from another world just like Miaka did! And you think this all just happened by coincidence?!" Abruptly, Izaya let out an exasperated sigh, allowing her limbs to dangle like noddles off the chair, as well as dropping her head against the back of the chair. After a second of this, she raised her head yet again, glaring at Tamahome as she did so.
" Don't use your fucking ears much, do you?" she inquired, shaking her head before placing a hand on her temple. Rubbing her forehead tenderly, she went on. " I just told you that your precious little Miaka and I are nothing alike, or did you not catch the hint?" Then, she straitened her posture, crossing her arms under her breasts. " Besides, what does coming from another world have to do with anything? There's no rule that says that I have to believe in fate if I'm from another place. What kind of fucked up logic is that?" Scowling, Tamahome glared right back at Izaya.
" So all of this, you, Miaka, the legends about the priestesses that we have here in this world, all of it just happened to fall into place, like some kind of puzzle?" he insisted. In response, Izaya shrugged of her shoulders, nonchalant.
" The gods of this world, that exist across all planes, have a part to play in all of this," she answered back, " it's only because of them that your legends even exist or what led me to come to this world in the first place. However, that isn't fate." raising an index finger she added. " It's the intervention of deities with enormous power. Why these gods chose Miaka and I for these roles, I won't even pretend to understand, but that has nothing to do with your supposed 'fate'."
Then she placed a hand over her heart and said. " No matter the gods, it was my choice to come to this world in the first place and it was my choice to take on the role of the priestess. As far as I'm concerned, my desicions are my own, and so there is nothing that can control where I am and what the future holds for me but me myself." Lifting her eyes, she gazed intently at Tamahome, giving a small smirk at him. The Suzaku warrior, perhaps a bit creeped out by Izaya's expression, backed up on the bed a small distance.
" So you can take your silly fate and shove it up your ass."~~
Later that same evening, Izaya did as she did every night, brought Tamahome his meal with fullest intention of engaging in more conversation that would only frustrate and anger her beloved guest all the more. Recalling the earlier conversation that had happened before, Izaya couldn't keep a little grin off of her face. As she approached the door leading to the room that Tamahome was staying in, she slowed to a stop. She could hear him talking aloud.
Wondering vaguely if he was beginning to go crazy, being forced to stay inside for so long and everything, Izaya only needed to take two steps closer to realize that his was not the only voice echoing into her ears from behind those closed doors. Blinking, she inched a bit closer, placing her back to the sliding door and simply standing there, listening in on his conversation.
" Perfect! Tomorrow night at 12 o'clock!" Izaya wrinkled her nose, recognizing the obnoxious tone of voice as her fellow priestess, Miaka. " We are going to finally be able to meet!"
" Miaka. . ." Tamahome's voice was low, soft, the kind of enduring voice that lovers used to sweet talk each other on the way to bed. Sticking out her tongue, Izaya was about to burst in to interrupt the two of them when the next words that came caught her by surprise.
" Tama-home?" it was Miaka again, the tone of her voice unmistakably concerned. Freezing with her hand on the door, Izaya waited. " Is- something wrong?" the Suzaku priestess spoke slowly, tentative. There was a long silence after that, one where Izaya couldn't hear a thing. Not Tamahome's or Miaka's voices, not the creaking of the floor boards or even the gentle shuffle of clothe. Izaya held her breath, patient, mind racing.
" It's- nothing." he managed to get out of his body. Another short pause followed, then Tamahome spoke again, quickly, as though Miaka were about to leave him. " Miaka," he paused part way, then spoke softly and more slowly as he went on, " is it really alright? Between us?"
" Eh?" was Miaka's brilliant answer, giving a nervous laugh as she said.
" Of course it is, Tamahome. Why wouldn't it be?" there was another silence, one where Izaya could feel the small amount of tension that was in the air between the two love birds from just outside the door.
" It's just, I've been thinking, " hearing these words, Izaya rolled her eyes thinking that's a first, " we barely know each other, Miaka. We've only actually known each other for a few days."
" Huh?! Tamahome, why are you bringing this up now?"
" Well if not now then when?!" he snapped back, Izaya recognizing the hot undertone of his voice.
As the two continued to bicker lightly back and forth, Izaya was desperately trying to keep herself under control. She had to physically put down the tray that was meant for Tamahome on the floor so she could clamp both of her hands over her mouth. This was all in an almost vain effort to contain her laughter; to avoid revealing herself to the two of them. She hit her knees, curling up on her side, laughing silently as tears began streaming down her face.
Somewhere mid-sentence, Miaka's voice cut off and there was nothing but silence to follow it. Izaya didn't notice it at first, too busy writhing in utter glee in a little bundle on the floor. As her legs stopped kicking and her began to mop her cheeks, her mind began trying to piece together what had cut the girl off so suddenly. She couldn't figure it out even if she actually felt the need to do so. No, all the priestess of Seiryu did was attempt to pull herself together.
Slowly but surely, she managed this, a wide grin on her face as she finally picked up the tray of food and making her way into Tamahome's room. She found him knelt down on the floor, his head bowed and hands clenched on his knees. The Seiryu priestess' entrance had startled him apparently, because he jumped. Turning around swiftly, he glared at her, letting his posture droop to one of supposed leisure. Izaya took it with a grin, holding up the tray and moving to place it on the table.
" Meal time, Tama-chan!" she giggled, girlish, Tamahome raising a brow as he got to his feet and moved to take a seat in his usual place. The frown on his lips and glare in his eyes never left, and he sat down. Izaya simply smiled, making her way for the door.
" Not interested in your usual banter?" Tamahome prompted just as she reached the door. Standing in the door frame, Izaya took a moment before glancing over her shoulder, a delicate smirk playing across her lips.
" Nah," she said with a nonchalant wave of her hand, " I think I've tormented you enough for one day." Turning, she grabbed the doorknob from outside of the door, leaning in, that smile still broad across her face.
" Have a good night, Tamahome." then, she shut the door and walked down the hall, holding in her laughter only long enough to get completely out of the Suzaku warriors earshot.
As she leaned, laughing against the wall, Nakago noticed her, turning and blinking at her, a blank expression coloring his face. The men that were with him exchanged glances and a few murmurs, but otherwise shrugged their shoulders, as confused as their general. Approaching the young priestess cautiously, Nakago leaned, attempting to get a better look into her face.
" Lady Izaya?" he prompted, sounding almost nervous. " Is everything alright?" Abruptly, she threw herself at the general. Instantly stiffening, he stood stock still as she continued to laugh hysterically. The men around him where giving gasps and whistles, a quick glare from Nakago cutting off the grinning, happier exclamations from the air. It was then that one of Izaya's arms, having first been thrown over his shoulders, slid down. She began punching his chest and none too gently either. It didn't bother him; the breast plate of the general's armor absorbing all of the pain or discomfort it might have caused him otherwise.
" Just when I thought there was no hope for that idiot bird-!" she managed to get out of her system before giggling onward, her fist moving mechanically as she pounded it against his armor. Considering her words and actions for a second, realization hit Nakago abruptly just as Izaya was calming her fit of laughter, standing on her own once again.
" Oh?" he prompted, raising a brow, crossing his arms as he gazed at her steadily. " Your show has finally gotten interesting?" grinning, she seemed to glow, beaming as she nodded her head eagerly in return.
" Finally!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms to full length and spinning around. " It took long enough, but the show has finally picked up!" Watching her, Nakago's brows dropped and his eyelids dropped to half shut.
Stopping, Izaya looked into his face for only a second before reaching out, tapping him on the nose with her index finger. " It's too bad the climax is coming tomorrow night though," she sighed, looking away as the general's once lazy eyes snapped back to attention, " those feather heads really have bad timing; though I guess I should thank them for giving me the a real good laugh." Turning from Nakago and his small troop, she dipped her hand into a pocket, pulling out the astral-poison that the general had given to her a few days ago. " I'll be dumping this into his breakfast tomorrow, so if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to bed." Then, slipping the poison back into her pocket, she skipped away, humming a tune.~~~~
TA-DAH! There it is! I know there was a lot of just Izaya talking all this chapter. . .and apologize for it. I couldn't stop her! T_T She demanded talk time and, as many of you have probably noticed, she is quite a chatter box. Still, things are moving along and we should see more of Miaka and some of the Suzaku warriors in the next chapter. Look forward to it! In the mean time, favorite and review! Let me know that you're here and reading!