A Guardian's Possession - Amy Blankenship 10 стр.

The following explosion wiped out everything including what was left of the village. Toya lowered the daggers and slowly but gracefully rose to his feet. Tilting his head back, he stared up at the sky that was mostly obscured with dust and debris. Ignoring the stench of burning flesh around him, he walked across the now barren ground thanking whatever gods were up there that no humans had been alive upon his arrival.

‘This is what we’re reduced to,’ he thought sadly. ‘Destroying villages just to stop Hyakuhei’s sick and demented schemes.’

Toya sighed and his wings once more burst from his back, lifting him above the polluted ground and high into the night sky. Kyoko was waiting for him to rescue her and he was determined to find her. As he vanished into the night, a single silver feather floated to the ground and landed in the hand of a small child who had hidden and witnessed it all.

As the small fingers closed around the shimmering feather… it vanished.

*****

Hyakuhei stepped from a void not far from the cave. It would not do to give his secret location away… unless it was Kyoko who joined him. He could feel Kamui coming and wondered if the boy would make it this far before realizing the effects of confronting his nightmares would have on him. If the boy noticed his innocence dissolving… would he still come?

His long midnight hair swayed in the cool breeze as the muscles within his body flexed. Knowing if Kamui did make it to him… he would have to fight his own.

“So be it,” Hyakuhei whispered darkly.

*****

Kamui felt the icy chill of the wind cooling the fire that boiled within him. He could also see the black tips of his wings out of the corner of his eyes and it scared him. This was why he had buried those memories. The longer he held onto the dangerous memories… all the rage of the past… the harder it was to breathe.

The wind changed direction and a feather floated past him as he slowed his flight. Kamui’s eyes widened in terror. Black … the feather was solid black.

He turned in panic, looking for the black winged man that haunted him so. No one was there. His glittering eyes slowly turned to glance at his own wings and the breath left his lungs as if someone had kicked him in the chest. He had his father’s wings.

“No! I will not become you!” Kamui wrapped his arms around himself in denial. “I will not become you!” he screamed out just as he spotted Shinbe in the distance. “Make it go away, please… just make it go away,” he whispered not wanting Shinbe to see him with ebony feathers. Letting his body fall, he quickly became enveloped within the trees.

Landing hard on the forest floor, Kamui kneeled there for a moment before opening his eyes. The first thing his bright eyes fell on was his black wings. With an anguished cry, Kamui grasped one of them in a painful grip. He cried out in agony as he tried to rip the midnight wing from his very flesh.

Letting the feathery appendage go, he let his body fall exhausted on the ground. Tears fell from his eyes when he saw the grass around him hiss with the evil power he held deep within his very soul. It was leaking out of him like a plague that would kill everything it touched… hate, rage, jealousy, and untamed raw power. The one gift his father had given him was pure evil!

Curling up into a tight ball, his body started to glow and shimmer with every heartbeat as that power formed a tight cocoon around him. If he broke free of the bondage, would he be evil incarnate?

“Don’t let this happen to me?” he begged quietly as he fought with every breath. “Don’t let me become the nightmare my father wants me to be.”

Shinbe’s lips thinned feeling Kamui dead ahead. He could sense Kamui’s power becoming unstable and it didn’t bode well. “Come on Kamui, pull it together… Kyoko will need us.” Something black floated by him and he quickly snatched it from the wind.

A midnight feather… but it wasn’t Hyakuhei’s. Shinbe’s troubled gaze darted around the vicinity in search for the true owner… for Kamui. “You don’t want to do this Kamui.” His voice held a hint of fear. “If you open the door to such destruction… we may never get it closed again… please.”

The forest below him was shimmering with a strange life force and Shinbe quickly headed straight for it. A large blue sphere rested in a small clearing lighting up everything around it in a vibrant blue hue. Landing beside it, Shinbe felt the dangerous conflict raging within the sphere. His amethyst eyes showed his sadness as he took in the ebony feathers that still littered the ground.

“Kamui?” Shinbe whispered as he reached out and gently touched the swirling color on the surface of the orb.

The second his hand touched the sphere, the conflict inside stabilized for a moment… turning pure. Shinbe’s eyes slid closed as he took Kamui's essence inside him, letting it build. All of Kamui’s pure love and innocence… all his concealed malice, also the untamed power he drew from those feelings.

Kamui opened his eyes feeling someone there, but all he could see was the cage he had built around himself. Through the thick walls, he could see an amethyst aura and knew Shinbe was there. “Don’t look…” He whispered as he lowered his head, “…I don’t want you to see the truth.”

He could hear Kamui’s heartbreaking request. While the link between him and Kamui was so strong, Shinbe used his telepathic power to reach out to him through the barrier. He laid his forehead against the shield and pressed his palms on each side… making his muscles push and pull at the same time.

Sending his voice inside Kamui’s barrier, Shinbe tried to reason with him. “Kamui, let it go… you do not need to fight Hyakuhei on your own. Not like this. We will do it as brothers… together. But right now there is someone who needs us more. Kyoko needs you Kamui.”

“Kyoko? But… I am not a true brother,” Kamui cried from inside his cell. He could see his own reflection and it was disturbing as black eyes stared back at him. “I’ll never be that… regardless of how much I want it… need it. You don’t know what’s inside me trying to come out. What if I hurt her?”

Shinbe’s amethyst eyes watered in understanding. “Let it go Kamui. That knowledge has been buried and forgotten for a reason. You had a choice and you chose us. You are my brother… a guardian to Kyoko. We protect her with everything we are… even if we have to forget where we come from.”

“But… it’s a lie!” Kamui cried out then became shock still as he heard Hyakuhei’s voice taunt him from afar. ‘You belong to me… child. So does your priestess.’

Shinbe could hear Hyakuhei’s voice within the barrier and it angered him. “Do you want him to put those same chains on Kyoko that you once wore!?” Shinbe yelled, trying to make Kamui listen to reason. “Fight the memories for her sake. Bury them deep inside and never look back. You can choose your own destiny! You do not have to become him! Think of Kyoko damn it.”

“Kyoko?” A tear fell from Kamui’s cheek as he looked down and watched it shatter with its glittering color. If he was truly his father… his tears would be black as night or crimson even … not the shattering array of light he saw now. He envisioned Kyoko struggling against Hyakuhei and knew what had to be done. The only way he could ever win against such an evil was to become evil… but he would never betray his priestess that way. He loved her too much.

Shinbe took a step back from the sphere as it started to rise several feet off the ground. The blue aura surrounding it glittered like diamonds as the light within became so bright it overpowered it.

“You cannot have me or her. Once again Hyakuhei… I deny you,” Kamui whispered just as the sphere shattered.

Several miles away, Hyakuhei’s eyes flashed red in anger as he heard Kamui’s words and he answered, “You cannot conceal the truth for long boy… you and I are the same.“

Shinbe ran forward to catch Kamui as he fell. The boy was passed out cold. His amethyst eyes widened with his smile seeing the colorful glitter that fell from his translucent wings. He hugged Kamui to him knowing everything would be all right… least for now. He had somehow forgotten the darkness once again.

“Welcome back Kamui,” He grinned as the boys eyes, too many colors to count, opened to stare up at him in confusion.

*****

“I just don’t get it… why would Kyou all of a sudden decide he wants Kyoko?” Suki paced back and forth annoyed because she wasn’t out there helping to bring her friend back.

Sennin rubbed his temple as he looked at his daughter, “Suki please sit down. You are making me dizzy.” He grabbed up a stick and poked at the fire as he continued. “Kyou is a guardian… therefore Kyoko is safe with him. As for him wanting her… well if he does then it is already out of his hands.”

Suki turned to glare at Sennin. “What do you mean by that? He isn’t a child. He can control what he does!”

Sennin stared into the fire and stated, “If it is his guardian blood that has chosen her, then even Kyou has no choice.”

“What do you mean he has no choice?” Suki demanded. “It’s against everything the Guardians stand for to take that privilege from anyone, much less their priestess. Besides, if Kyou did like Kyoko all along, then why didn’t he say something before instead of stealing her away like a thief?”

Sennin smiled, “For the same reasons our friend Shinbe has kept his silence.”

Suki felt her face heat up and turned away from her father. “Why would Shinbe want to keep quiet about liking someone? He’d never had a problem speaking his mind before… or keeping his hands to himself for that matter.” She cringed.

“Perhaps the reason Shinbe has kept his silence is due to the one thing that keeps any man quiet for the one they secretly adore… fear of rejection.” He cocked an eyebrow knowing he spoke the truth.

Suki stared at her father like he’d grown a second head. “You mean Shinbe loves Kyoko… and never got up the guts to tell her?” The thought made Suki’s chest hurt and eyesight go all watery.

Suki suddenly grabbed her head, rubbing the spot where Sennin had just brained her with her own bayonet.

“Stop being daft girl,” Sennin muttered, placing the bayonet back on the floor of the hut. “Young people and their obliviousness.” He paused in thought for a moment… secretly reminiscing about his own ‘oblivious’ moments with Suki’s mother. ‘Ah, the memories.’

*****

The talisman within the dream master blazed to life as it felt Hyakuhei and Kyoko both slip within the walls of sleep. This was when he gained enough freedom to gaze into both their souls and find things they had both forgotten or never had the power to remember, the other side of their souls.

The dream demon’s black eyes opened wide as he looked into that world and brought his victims into it. Even the protective barrier around the girl was not strong enough to keep him out.

*****

Dreams were a strange enigma indeed but when you awaken within a dream, you no longer know you are still lost within your own mind… that’s just beyond strange. Kyoko came into that same haze, feeling like she was wrapped in a blanket of warmth. Resisting the urge to open her eyes, she snuggled closer.

Everything was so quiet except for the heartbeat that sounded so strong and calm pressed against her ear.

Her eyes shot open knowing she was not supposed to be sleeping with anyone. Kyoko’s startled gaze came in contact with a bare chest. She noticed the lean muscles underneath flawless skin and tendrils of long dark silky hair that lay in waves across his ribs. Her gaze curiously followed the ebony locks upward to the flawless face… Hyakuhei.

She bit her lower lip feeling a blush spread across her cheeks. What was she doing lying with him? Seeing his eyes were still closed, she quickly looked back down between them to make sure he was wearing pants. Thank god, other than his missing shirt they were both still dressed.

‘It’s just Hyakuhei… he is my guardian… right?’ She reminded herself stubbornly. Trying to remember how they got there… she drew a blank. As a matter of fact, she couldn’t remember the last thing she had done and frowned softly as she glanced back up at him.

‘That’s right… I was falling and he saved me.’ Her lips parted when her eyes locked with his, he was awake and staring quietly at her. Her hand was still pressed against his chest. She could feel the same heartbeat strong and steady that she had heard only moments before. Her attention lowered to his lips before reluctantly pulling her gaze away.

She slowly sat up, feeling his gaze follow her as she did so. Now that they were no longer touching, she wondered at the cold emptiness that rushed in to steal her warmth.

Hyakuhei watched her awaken and sensing no fear, he waited for her to rise. He craved this. He liked her conflicting scent… her purity clashing with his own evil aura. His dark eyes were drawn to the pink that now tinted her cheeks. It made him wonder what she was thinking. As he watched her take in the solitude of the cave, he could tell she did not like the confinement of its walls.

“Where are we?” Kyoko turned away from him to look at the small opening of the cave and felt a slight fear seeing the cold darkness that lay beyond it. She took a hesitant step back wishing she could still hear his heartbeat and feel the security she had woken with.

Hyakuhei rose up behind her and wrapped his arms securely around her when he felt her fear spike. “Do not worry my pet. I brought you here to keep you safe from the demons who want the guardian heart crystal.” He nuzzled her hair with his cheek. “I will always protect you and keep you… safe.” his lips hinted in a secret smile that she couldn’t see.

Kyoko closed her eyes and tilted her head to give into his soft caress as she nodded. That sounded like it was the right answer though she didn’t remember the demons that had given chase. “Oh, okay.” she whispered as she sank into his warmth.

"Kyoko, would you like to go outside? I would like to show you something." He slid his palm slowly down her arm until her small hand was within his.

Kyoko wondered why she felt so weak. ‘Yes, sunshine… That’s what she needed to clear her head.’ For some reason, she felt out of place but couldn’t put her finger on the dilemma. She only nodded to Hyakuhei, trusting him to take her out of this dark beautiful dungeon.

Hyakuhei tightened his strong arm around Kyoko pressing her to his side and rose above the stone floor. In turn, he felt her wrap her arms around him, clinging to him so she wouldn’t fall.

"I will not ever let you go Kyoko," He whispered in her ear as he touched her chin gently knowing she would not hear the double meaning within his words. Her face turned up to his and she loosened her hold. He glided out of the cave and then straight up but not too fast so he wouldn’t frighten her. He landed on the soft ground in the sunlight.

Kyoko looked around at the leaves. The forest offered speckled shade to them and everything was so bright as her emerald eyes adjusted to the light. She let go and took a step out of the circle of his arms. What was she doing here? What was she missing? She glanced at Hyakuhei still feeling a little confused. Wasn’t she looking for something she had lost?