All warnings were given first chapter… please refer to it!
Extra note: Frustrating times ahead.. I dearly wanted to hold onto this chapter, lol!
The Crow
(Second Arc: The witch from the Eastern lands)
(Part 13)
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Since they arrived a little after midday – there's an 8h difference between England and China – Violet chose to rest, eat then explore the mini-castle Clow called house.
Wary of magicians houses and their multitude of traps, the witch had to check with said house's owner if it was alright to snoop.
"Of course, my home is yours" The sorcerer let her know instantly, smiling that secret smile that tugged at her heartstrings, as he settled to confer with his servant Wang Hyu-an Lu, who wasn't actually human.
This wasn't settled with Violet's wide eyes. She was interested in what kind of being Wang Hyu-an was, and Clow Reed was more than happy to indulge in her search for knowledge, doubly so because he was a major source.
"Wang is a bound spirit, a poltergeist… he used to haunt one of my family' storages, so my mother bound him in contract for five hundred years in return for destroying so many things and causing mayhem"
'Equal exchange… to obtain something, you give up something of equal value in return… does it really apply everywhere here?'
Violet wasn't certain of what price magicians paid in her world – although a little different, Clow and Violet's magic were compatible, and she imagined that if the wizarding enclaves weren't so stubbornly retrogrades, magic would have had a larger potential than it already did.
'Back to exploring' The witch thought excitedly.
The house was huge, three stories high – the room she was given was once more right beside Clow's, which fortunately was close to the enchantingly large library. Violet would have loved to waste the rest of the day sprawled on a soft carpet, head popped up by a ridiculously detailed, embroidered silken pillow and a book or scroll in hand – the only thing stopping her was the fact that all literature was in Chinese…
Aside from the library, Violet discovered a sinfully comfortable looking sitting room. Tapestry hung on the walls, and whatever left bereft was covered in raised floral arabesque, painted golden to go with the blue and black silk draperies.
It was so very different from his house in London! Comparing oriental architecture and decorations to their counterparts in England was a nice experience, even though Violet wasn't all that sensible to artistic works.
'None of the pictures move' She noticed absently, wondering how much her perception of this house would change should she find a moving painting. 'And the bathroom is weird' And wasn't that experience an interesting one?
After an hour and a half of entertaining herself inside the house, Violet finally got bored enough to go look for her host – comfortable in the knowledge that she wouldn't get lost.
'Not as big as his house in Cambridge, but with the sliding walls and hidden doors you never know' It was not even close to Hogwarts' level of complicated. If compared to the moody castle and its wayward ghosts, this house was tame.
Just as she predicted, Clow was still sitting in this house's version of his study room in the second floor, doubling as an office of sorts – though there was no balcony – instead, an intricate oval window opened out to reveal a view leading to a quiet outside street.
"This place is gorgeous" Violet made sure to tell Clow, just to see that preening glint in his eyes that made funny fond tingles explode in her chest "Where is this house located anyway?"
"We are currently in Beijing, northeast of the Chaobai river" The sorcerer smiled, motioning out the window with a hand "Look out, you might see the glare of the sun reflecting from Chaobai… if you travel up the river, it leads to the Chao, fed by Hebei melting waters, and if you keep traveling southeast following the current's flow, you will be met by the Great Wall of China"
"Great Wall of China?" Violet remembered some of her primary school lessons, and one of them was about the seven greatest monuments of mankind. The Wall is one of them. "Whoah, I had no idea we were so close! Can we go there sometime?"
'So that exists even here? I want to see it'
"Everything you want, Violet" Clow told her tenderly, smiling so softly that the dimple hiding in his cheek didn't even appear. The air stuck in Violet's chest as an unknown but pleasant feeling spread through her body, settled in her chest and made an already flustered heart pick up in rate until it could be compared to a hummingbird. "Tomorrow morning we shall visit the festival's administrative officer to settle an agreement for a stand of our own, and the day after tomorrow will be spent setting up in the festival grounds and I am counting on you to mind things while I seek to conclude what brought us here. We should be done by the weekend, and then I will make sure to introduce you to the beauties of Beijing"
Flushed from the look in his eyes – he wasn't pretending to mask anything this time… 'He isn't hiding his feelings by putting on masks around me anymore' Violet noticed with awe and a thrill of adrenalin – the witch could only nod half numbly at the sorcerer's words.
'Before, I would only catch faint traces of this… whatever it is… in his eyes…now it seems he's up to something' Of course her more cynical side had to poke its head. It made the high Violet into break. She made sure to grin back at Clow though, minding that her expression wasn't actually grimace.
"That sounds great… but are you sure I will be fine minding the stand on my own?" She questioned, noticing with a strangled breath how his smile didn't falter, and if anything, became even warmer and accepting.
'Like I can do no wrong… as if he'd paint my name on the moon if I asked'
"Don't worry… I have a plan" Clow said reassuringly… For some reason, assured was the last thing Violet felt.
…
Wang Hyu-an Lu was murdered in 1489, in a storage room belonging to the Li family, when his wife caught him cheating with the young master he served… Since she couldn't have the young master, she got him, with a knife, six times – his body was hidden in a chest and left forgotten in said storage for years until it was finally repurposed during a particularly bountiful harvest in 1495.
Angry beyond belief that his resting place – and the place where he last saw his lover – was being so utterly defied, Wang Hyu-an went on a vengeance filled rampage, breaking equipment, rotting the food, curdling milk and making a nuisance of himself. He ended up destroying half that year's harvest that's been sorted in his particular storage house, and only stopped creating chaos when the master's younger daughter came back from abroad and sealed Wang in a contract of servitude.
Now here he was, three hundred and sixty years later.
To his eternal relief, his contract wasn't given to the master, but to his grandson. Clow Reed – Yinghuá Li's only son with her foreigner husband. The family all but disinherited the girl for choosing a foreigner, even though he had powerful magic of his own, only keeping her name in the clan register as a formality, since she was the master's second daughter.
Wang should, by all rights, despise Clow Reed… and he did, for all the sorcerer looked like the spitting image of his mother and grandfather, the spirit's ex-lover. But Clow Reed was so wretchedly powerful and so horribly cunning – that nothing Wang ever tried was of use, even skittering the edges of what was allowed in the contract of servitude.
Only the fact that Clow Reed seemed to dislike his family's harpies endeared him to Wang.
And now… now Clow Reed brings a young foreigner woman into his house… she didn't have a good, child bearing body, nor was she plump enough to be considered beautiful – but Wang saw her for what she was. A slap in the face of the Li clan.
Oh, old Wang agreed wholeheartedly with the young master's ploy. He could read the mood between the young master and the lady, could see the lust building in them, and it was quite clear to Wang that the young master wanted his lady.
So he decided to help a little.
It took a bit of maneuvering, a tiring tad of gesticulation and a good dose of mimicry for the strange foreigner lady to understand what he wanted to tell her.
"Do you mean a bath? I can have a bath?" Her eyes lit up. He nodded to whatever she said as he guided the guileless woman through the corridors, down the first floor and into the spring's changing room.
"Zhù nǐ hǎoyùn" Wang waved at the door, grinning happily at a job well done.
…
Violet was winding down in her room from an honestly exciting day and preparing for a subsequent, equally as tiring day tomorrow if the prospects stood correct.
'Though I wish I could have a bath right now' Her sore muscles begged, and just from imagining herself submerging into a hot water filled tub made her body melt bonelessly on the mattress.
'I could have taken Clow up his offer to use the springs… will surely do so tomorrow. Merlin! I feel lazy!'
And washing halfheartedly from the conveniently placed water basin was no help at all.
'Better change…' The witch thought reluctantly, not wanting to crawl out the comfortable bedding and reach for the trunk where her night clothes were stored. She lost the power of choice though, for in the next five minutes her peace was disturbed by Wang, Peeves' helpful cousin.
'Wang won't come into the rooms unless it is to clean them, and Clow don't visit me at night' Violet mused, forcing herself to move and slide open the door to greet the servant.
Amidst amusing thoughts of 'where do poltergeists come from?' to 'what in Morgana's twisted panties is he trying to tell me?' Violet tried to decipher what Clow's ghostly servant wanted. It took an embarrassing while, but she did get the gist of it.
"Do you mean a bath? I can have a bath?" She asked excitedly, ignoring how poor Wang could only look at her with this helpless look in his eyes and nod. 'Ooh, thank you second chance!'
The witch grinned, bouncing back into her trunk to gather the necessary bathing items, like her favorite soap and a towel – She knew eastern bathing customs differed from western ones, but few things stayed the same.
She's going to get wet, clean then dry again. In that precise order…
Wang motioned with his hands, a universal gesture that meant "come". Violet followed the ghost, carefully watching her step so she wouldn't trip on the carpets now that the night has fallen and light was dimmer.
A couple of moments later, Violet was left unceremoniously in front of the door that led to an anteroom for the Springs – actually a bathing area made of a spacious pool that could be filled instantly with warm water – there were rocks and a garden in the room, along with a sky light that showed a wonderful view of the night' sky - filling the springs with a sense of peace and relaxing.
'I heard something' Violet tensed, eyeing the door with suspicion. 'Nah, must be a cicada… summer is almost here'she shook her head, drawing an anticipating breath and sliding the door open.
What met her eyes was not an empty pool.
Mouth dry, the witch froze on the spot as her cheeks changed colors so fast her skin burned. 'Not… good…'
Clow Reed already occupied the waters, relaxing back against the pool's margin with his head thrown back, eyes closed and thin lips half parted open.
Slick black hair slithered backwards from his head, a few wet strands clinging stubbornly to the skin of his neck, shoulders and forehead, pooling on the dry stone behind him.
His body wasn't exactly built for strength, but his build was sinewy. The planes of his chest were hard, trimming into a lean torso and a flat belly. Like many oriental men his body had little hair, just a smattering of teasingly dark pelage drawing a sinful path down beneath his bellybutton, continuing down until disappearing from sight beneath scented and salted opaque waters.
Oh, Violet already thought him attractive before – not only his lovely exotic face, but his mostly his mind. It wasn't an attraction firmed in lust 'though the dreams helped…' because of her genuine lack of experience – but Clow's personality, flaws and virtues attracted her in a pure naïve sense.
'But… oh Merlin…' Thought the girl who's never seen a bare man before… and wasn't he glorious to look at? Chest rising and falling, moves languid and relaxed, the flutter of his lashes now more visible without the glasses he wore. Violet was privy to every twitch of his muscles, the force his tendons explored, the sheer virility of the powerful man – her knees were getting increasingly weak.
'I'm peeping… I'm peeping at Clow in the bath…' She realized fretfully, anxiously backing out the room as slowly and silently as she could while keeping an eye on his face 'Please don't open your eyes!'
He stretched. Letting out that low, guttural groan from deep within his chest… His neck rolled, Violet whimpered…
There were two vastly amused blue eyes resting on her flustered form, as far from offended as one who's been peeped at should be, though he did look surprised for a second or two.
"Why my dear, if you wished to join me, all you had to do was ask" Clow purred, lounging like a feline observing his prey. Water lapped dangerously around him, threatening to expose something Violet wasn't ready to think about yet.
"I'm so sorry! I… I didn't know there was someone already inside, and there can't be anyone else but you, since we're alone here, and I didn't think, Wang said bath… well mimicked really, and I wanted a bath so I… I'm rambling… sorry!"
Amused chuckles followed the flushed witch out the Spring. Violet closed the door with a snap and rested against it for a moment to regain her bearings - throughoutly ignoring the sound of sloshing water as Clow indubitably rose from the pool. Rustling sounds came, then footsteps as he must have dressed in robes, and was now walking to the only exit.
'Do I run?' Her brain frantically asked her common sense. 'It will only make things more awkward later' Common sense told Violet, who was fairly sure her grasp on Clow's idiosyncrasies was accurate. She stood from her leaning position and prepared her heart for the worst – though that flutter of anticipation was hard to disregard.
Her sorcerer friend came as she predicted. Tall, imposing and dripping wet. The utterly dark and debauched light in his eyes was unholy, agreeing with the completely self-satisfied smirk covering his lips.
"What I said stands true, Violet" He said promisingly from the doorway. "All you have to do is ask, and I will do my best to accommodate you"
'He is seducing me… I'm not imagining things' She cried mentally… the sheer want weaving evil patterns in her lower belly, pressure building in her blood – rushing in her ears like lava – making her hairs stand on end.
"But… you're my teacher… I didn't think you…" would think of me like that.
"Since the first time I saw you, I think of you precisely like that" Clow promised. "And was it not you who accosted me in the bath?" He teased, making Violet's blush explode in volume and intensity.
"I-" words got caught in her throat. 'I can't… I think this is a bad joke… there's no way he'd propose to me…I'm not ready…'
His eyes were now more silver than blue, they bore into her own, as if he could read her very soul.
Suddenly everything slowed down.
"It seems I went too far, too soon…" When Clow reached out a hand to smooth over Violet's hair, she didn't flinch, leaning into his touch instead as relief spread around her stiff limbs. "I am deeply sorry for surprising you like that, Violet. I regret stressing you, but I do not regret what my words mean, they still stand true"
"Do they, really?" Her voice was shaky, but there was this spamming warm feeling flooding her heart. "Will you wait until I'm…?" '…ready'
'Do I dare hope that what I feel is reciprocal?'
'Well' A coy little voice in her head whispered 'If a man blatantly propositioning you was not an indication that he wants you, you're the dumbest bint on earth'
"Always" He sounded broken heartedly lonely. Violet curled against Clow, hoping this past few moments were nothing more than an awkward dream.
"You know I can't stay here…" She warned halfheartedly, but soon became unaware of everything else. Thankfully she missed the dark pondering look that crossed the sorcerer's face… it soon transformed into a smile so loaded in mischief that it promised the end of the world in a bang…
…
"Wake up, my dear, we have a busy day ahead of us" Clow's voice sounded annoyingly chipper. Violed groaned against her pillow. It twitched underneath her cheeks. "We do have to rise sometime this morning" This time, the voice sounded huskily, right by her ear.
A green eye popped open, followed by a second one.
"Whah?" This wasn't her room.
And that was not her pillow.
"I said I'd wait for you… I just didn't say how quietly" Long fingered hands wrapped around her shoulders bearing her weight up, and making Violet realize with embarrassing clarity that she was sleeping on the sorcerer's chest.
'What is going on?!'
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TBC~
PS: Don't hate me please?