It Started With a Kiss

There were rules for these things. You never went against the rules. No exceptions. The moment they broke the rules was the moment things would unravel. The moment they broke the rules was the moment they began down a path they had to finish.

Also a S/O to my loyal readers. Thanks for hanging in there with me. I have not given up on my stories. Life just slows down the uploads.

Chapter 5: Journey's Beginning

Her breath was a mist in this cold night. The forest leaves bristled with every step she took. Yet her motion dare not steady. It was a strange compelling force that made her move on. Past her village, even when the palace bells were sounded. Past the resting rocks near the gate to the borders. But she did still for one moment. To look back at her kingdom, the one whom she loved so dearly and feared for more than her own life. Was this really what had to be done?

"I vowed from birth to take this land and protect it in any way that I can… It is an oath within my blood." She whispered to herself. Yet her heart compelled her to go back. At least to hug her mother goodbye. For she did not know where this journey would lead her or if she would return in well health.

She, when first step across the border came, did not know where to begin her quest. Then the voice from her vision came to her.

'…The answers you seek, and even ones you do not, await you beyond The Veil…'

The Veil was something she had never heard of… no one she knows has heard of it. Not even the castle's philosopher. But…

"Maybe The Aria would know about it. She had to. But no one got into Macalania Forest to see the Aria so easy. There had to be…someway."

...There are boatmen at the moon flow….they will take you to the edge of the Macalania River…

This new voice invaded her head once more. She hated the privacy invasion but it was well needed advice. Albhedia's border was nearby Djose. So it was about half a days' journey by foot to the moon flow. She needed to hurry to the border before it was locked down by the guards. This whole country would be in disarray and she mentally apologized but this was a selfish thing she had to do for her people.

-0-0-0-0-

A few hours of walking later, Rikku was tired and her robe was fifthly form the brush of the woods. She had been used to exercise but this was out of her royal regiment. She needed to find a place to rest immediately or she'd faint where she stood. She had seen a glow in the woods from atop a hill earlier and had since been following it. Luckily for her, it turned out to be an inn of some sort.

'The Cozy Courtesan.' She read the sign above the oak door. Seemed quite the peculiar name for the inn but she had no other options. Plus that must mean there would be some sort of comfortable lodging for her to acquire. She just hoped the establishment was not as wretched as the door appeared.

Upon opening the door, she was greeted by warmth, jolly tavern music and a sight that was unfamiliar to her. Men were singing songs with huge cups of brown fluids and women were on the counters or on the men's laps giggling and dancing. But ladies did not dress the way these women were dressed. At least not the ones who were usually in her presence. Their bosoms seemed…. Flamboyant and full. Their clothes quite revealing and the men fell all over them.

'What was this place?' She wondered. But she knew she couldn't walk any further so this is where she had to stay. She scanned the room, as much as possible in this packed environment, to find a merchant or hostess. She spotted a man behind the counter and went to speak with him.

'Pardon me." She said politely as she could over the loud bustle of the room. He didn't hear her.

"PARDON ME, SIR!" She repeated louder. It did the trick. He grinned at her, he dirty demeanor giving off a creepy vibe.

"Ye look a new face round these ways. What'cha want, green eyes? "The man spoke with a thick peasant accent.

"I require a lodging for the evening." She says

"Lodgin'? Ye mean a cot? We ain't got them kind round here for lonely kinds. 'Specially not scattered women folk without a keeper" He says in the rudest way Rikku had ever been spoken to. She gasped with surprise.

"How dare you speak to me like that? Have you no knowledge of how to treat a customer yet alone a lady of my kind?" Rikku retorts almost forgetting she couldn't give up her identity. The man gives her a glare then turns his back to tend to a muscular man at the other end of the bar.

"Ya want to bunk with me, pretty rear?" A menacing voice comes from behind her, followed by a hand on her rear end in an aggressive and intrusive way. She squeaked with surprise and as a reflex swung behind her to slap the assailant. The person barely budged. To her dismay.

"OH FELLAS!" The large brute with a rugged look and putrid smell yelled to the bar. "We got us a live one tonight!"

The room erupted with laughs and cheers. Another large man, brunette and slightly more revolting, spoke up. "We can change that now, huh blokes. Have this lil chippy singing our tune and mo'"

"I am no chippy, sir!" Rikku rebuts. "And I will be singing no tune of any sort. Now if you would move aside, I will be on with my business."

"Now where'd a pretty little whore like ye learn to speak like tha'?" One chuckled.

"We ya business now tramp." The first said and then everything suddenly changed. Not only did his hand return but another went to grab her robe and another grabbed her wrist. She was thrown against the counter top and pinned down. She was just about to cry out with the pressure released. Just as soon as it happened, the men were gone. Replaced with loud crashes and screams. She slid to the floor, pain from her wrist causing her to clasp it tightly. And just barely caught glimpse of what had conspired in her favor.

There, just like he always promised to be, was Gippal. Protecting her. He had one man, like the beast he had fought in the woods, against the wall as he stepped on the other brute's chest. Gippal seemed less bulky in comparison to the two larger men but both men struggled against his hold (to little prevail). It was as though they weighed nothing to him. Rikku could've sworn she saw an aura around him… only it wasn't the gentle angelic aura she saw that first morning. It seemed… sterner. Warning almost. The room had silenced as the men who were once occupied with drinks and women, stood in a threatening manner. But that didn't deter Gippal.

"I do not wish to fight, but these men have threatened what is dearest to me. If you want their fate by continuing this nonsense assault, then I will comply. But be wise and use your eyes to see what I am capable of." Gippal spoke without blinking or turning directly to the men. He simply looked over his shoulder at them.

"We ain't afraid of no bitch and her lacky. Ye aint gonna come in here and ruin a good time." The rude merchant from earlier said brandishing a large machete he must've had behind the bar.

"Yeah! And when we're done with yer tail, we'll have hers." Another came up with a long sword or iron and steel. It looked well used, shown by the stains still on it. Rikku's heart raced.

'My lady, move to the back door quickly. It is behind the staircase to your right.' Gippal spoke to her, the way he and her only could.

And she didn't hesitate to listen. While she worried for Gippal, she knew better than to let her pure mind see this gore that would come. She crawled quickly to the door and snuck out to the back of the tavern. No sooner did the door close behind her did she hear much screams, yells and crashes. The thought made her shudder away and move to the forest. The trees offered a welcome night cover that she gladly hid in. She only prayed that it was Gippal who walked out that door and not a bloodied brute from that treacherous place. But to be safe, she went deeper. And as she thought about it…

Gippal had followed her, disobeying her. And she still was not sure who to trust. This new being that has come into her life with magic powers and intrusive ways or that vision and the voice in it. Why had she been so happy to see him? He was no better than those men in there, maybe deadlier. She should use this chance to get away. She backed further into the forest.

Then a voice in her head said 'Run…. Run away'

And it seemed as if she wasn't even able to act on her own accord. Her feet took off into the forest faster than she had ever ran. Her aching limbs had no say. Her rigid breath had no say. The trees blew past in a dark brown and winded haze. She suddenly realizes, she couldn't stop if she wanted to. She willed to grab a passing branch but had no chance in even moving her arm.

'Stop…. Stop' She begged her body but nothing changed. Then…. Something in her cried out for the very being she ran from not long ago.

'Gippal...' She was unsure at first when she called. She had left him in a room full of drunken brutes with murder in their eyes. But as she peered out and saw a large darken gap coming, she cried out openly with all her might.

"Gippal help me!" She cried out. And just as her first foot left what was left of the ground, two masculine arms encircled her waist and with an oomph, she and the individual holding her went tumbling over the darkened cliff.

-0-0-0-

It was dark and damp. The air smelled of moss, wet woodland and a tinge of swamp. Yet a soothing rock made it hard for Rikku's eyes to open. It wasn't until she remembered what had conspired that she startled awake. She looked at her surroundings in a distorted manner but found no one but Gippal in what appeared to be a carriage or carrier of some sort.

"I am happy to see you awake, My Lady." Gippal said. His voice seemed odd. She caught onto that. But she didn't know why. She sat up where she sat to see there were crossing a very luminous river and … a strange tail of some sort was following them.

"…. "She said nothing. Too confused maybe, or she may have been getting her bearings.

"What happened?" She finally asked.

"The former intruder broke into your mind again… You were under a control I couldn't break. Running off a cliff. I was able to intercept you just in time but when we landed, you hit your head pretty hard. My apologies." Gippal explained.

Rikku was still taking in the surroundings but a pain on the back of her head told her what he said was true. She looked down at herself and her cloak and dress was dirty and tattered. No state for a princess but she supposed she was no longer a princess, more like a runaway.

She knew Gippal was listening to her mind. Which probed another question.

"You said you were the only one who could reach my mind….. "

"I don't know, My Lady." Gippal admits. He already knew her question. "I will rectify this. But I believe it could be because our bond is not completely cemented as of yet."

"What do you mean?"

"Sexually, you have not had me. I have not served you fully. So there may be gaps to play into…" Gippal explains. "I was never taught about this in depth as Sires don't usually have to wait long to be…. Used."

"I have told you why this will not occur, and I shall not explain myself again." She looks away, hiding her blush. She could not deny the thought had come into her mind. And yet, she was so close only the other night.

This being was dangerous.

"I am of no danger to you. Only your most humble servant." He stated. "One who only wishes to protect you, from any danger?"

"And if that danger is you?" She retorts, looking from the corner of her eye.

"I would never be-"

"But if you are? " Images of the vivid dream flash in her mind. The blood, her bloodied corpse in his arms. "If you are my undoing? What would you do this, Sire?"

For a moment, a tinge of something glints in his eye. Sadness…. Hurt… but he concealed it well.

"Then I would protect you…. "

"How? By killing yourself?!" She laughs cynically at him. "Do not take me for a fool, Gippal."

"I take you for nothing of the sorts. You are Princess of Albhedia. You were raised in no sense."

"Then how would you protect me?! " Her temper flares for a moment, her lady demeanor fleeting. "Am I to watch you drown or jump from a cliff in belief that I am safe?"

He looks away. He didn't qualm her temper.

"I once told you anything you truly desire, I will do. Do you remember?" He says.

She listens. Recalling the night in the piano room quite well.

"There are only few rules to having a sire." He tells her.

"Which are?" She continues him. She did not want to let on her eagerness to hear this rules or her interest in what he has to say.

"I may never harm you." She knew that one.

"I may never betray you." That was a given he was losing her interest.

"Only you hold my heart. And only you may have me."

"Do get to something I do not know, I grow tiresome of your avoidance. Answer my question, or do not speak."

"Only you can be my demise." He says it so directly. Bluntly. The words shock her. But more so angers her. She turns it on to him.

"Say what you mean clearly, I will not tolerate these word games any longer!" She stands in the carriage, swaying uneasily but determined in her manner.

"No blade can kill me, unless in the hands of you. No fire may burn. No fist may bruise me. No air taken from my lungs. Unless it is by your hands." He stands with her.

"Why do you tell me this?" She says between gritted teeth. Her stomach curled, tears burned my eyes. "So it must be my hands your blood dirties?"

Gippal pulls his blouse from his shoulder revealing scratches on his shoulder. They had yet to heal.

"Your hands dug into me as we fell over the cliff…. I hit every rock and branch as we descended but it was only your scratch that harmed me. Your fear… your hands." His voice is strong. But he meant no ill.

She looked at the marks on his perfect skin. The 4 small trails looking so out of place.

"Such a strong being…." She whispers. Her hands trembled with fear. This was not something her shattered nerves could handle.

"With such a strong weakness." He finishes for her. "The closer you come to death, the stronger you become. If I was to be your threat, my strength against you is nothing. My powers against you are nothing."

She had not noticed the sudden halt of the swaying until a groan came and the carriage rocked violently. Her footing slipped and she slipped into the arms of Gippal. She looked up to him, her hands still trembling and he gazed back saying nothing. He knew this was not something he could calm her about. This could not be changed.

-0-0-0-0-

Rikku waited in silence with her face cloaked as she waited for Gippal to pay the Shoopuf driver. Her hands seemed so much more…. Detesting. She felt the need to scrub them. Going to the edge of the moon flow and rinsing them in the cool liquid. It seemed as if she saw the stain of blood on her hand. She suddenly scrubbed harder and harder. Not seeing it go away. She would not have ceased had it not been for two masculine hands taking hold of hers.

"There is nothing there, your Highness." He whispers close to her ear so that she was the only to have heard him. "There is nothing there."

She stands with him, looking once more into those green orbs that took hold of her when they first met. Drawing back her hands, she said nothing. She said nothing and simply walked on the dirt road that lied ahead. She had nothing to say to these rules. Yet, what Gippal failed to say was there was one more. One that if broken would bring all worlds, his and her own, tumbling down.

TBC….

Okay not a lot by my standards in this chapter but as some things need to happen before I feel it is okay to progress into the more complex. I do hope you enjoyed this chapter and please forgive the late updates. Flash drive broke so I'm working with what was saved to my hard drive. I do however would love to hear your thoughts on the story so far and future predictions, whether it be character events or story predictions. R&R

Xoxo,

Ayata-Ayumi