Chapter 10 “Dangerous Jealousy”

Chapter 10 “Dangerous Jealousy”

The guardians met back in front of the office after having disintegrated every trace of the demons from the building. Clicks echoed as all doors were unlocked and the real panic began. The students were soaking wet, a lot of them going straight to their vehicles and leaving. Some went to the buses, waiting to see if the drivers would show up to take them home. Sirens could be heard in the distance.

“Kamui! You only have a minute.” Kyou opened the office door with a jerk of his head, “The info on Tasuki. Quickly!”

Just as the firemen started ordering the last of the stragglers to clear the building Kamui came back out the office door. “Got it,” He paused and gripped the doorframe… all color draining from his face. It felt as if he were suddenly punched in the gut, but somehow from the inside. Glancing up, he noted the other guardians had the same expression. “What… was that?” he groaned trying to move.

“I’ll kill him,” Toya hissed as he swayed. “That son of a bitch!” He was the first to recover as he took off at a dead run toward the parking lot.

Shinbe gripped the door jamb feeling something completely different from the other guardians… bliss, he could feel her under him. When Shinbe finally let go of the steel form of the door, no one noticed the imprint of his hand or the wild look in his amethyst eyes.

Tama’s body broke out in a sweat and he slid down the brick wall until his palms were planted against the concrete. ‘What’s this?’ his inner voice was a hoarse whisper as his vision swam then refocused.

Hyakuhei felt the world around him pulse with energy and he knew… the priestess had broken her blood bond. He growled loudly and it suddenly sounded like the school was once again under attack until the sound faded. All the guardians were here! “It seems your sister has run from the guardians but someone else has captured her.” He hissed at the unknowing betrayal. “Her love is a powerful thing… to powerful for a mere human. She doesn’t understand what she has done.”

‘Why can’t she just come to us? I can feel her getting further away.’ Tama’s breath came in short gulps as he tried not to cry. ‘We need her… they don’t.’

Tama became silent as Hyakuhei’s true rage filled his head. It wasn’t rage toward his sister but for the one who was stealing from her. He slowly turned his head, his eyes darkening as he watched the guardians leaving the building. He instantly summoned more demons to track them.

‘Once they lead you to her… kill the one who dared to defile my sister,’ Tama silently ordered.

Hyakuhei felt the demons within him stir as Tama’s anger jerked two of his demons from him. “Tama!” He growled wondering if the boy’s powers were not growing too fast. “Watch yourself boy… least you put your sister in danger.” He calmed as he issued a deadly warning to the demons not to touch the priestess.

Tama’s eyes widened in fear when Hyakuhei appeared right in front of him, reaching down to roughly jerk him up from the floor he was kneeling on. ‘I couldn’t help it! I could feel your emotions mixing with mine and I knew that’s what you really wanted to do!’ Tama balled his fist up at his sides but his voice calmed, ‘She’s your soul mate and my sister… we have to do something.’

Hyakuhei kept his emotions in check as he glared at the child he had raised… so alike they were. “It is time for you to be reunited with your loved one.”

***** Their harsh breathing had finally eased. Tasuki lay on his back with his arm around Kyoko’s shoulder as she lay against him with her head pillowed on his arm. He could still feel something radiating through his blood and wondered at it.

He could hear everything… the ticking of the clock downstairs on the mantle… the radio from inside a car several blocks away. He made a fist feeling like he could crush a car if he needed to. He concentrated… pushing the power out even further like Kyoko had said she’d tried to do. He didn’t get far before he heard dark thoughts with evil intentions and it was getting closer at an alarmingly fast pace.

“We have incoming demons,” Tasuki growled as he pulled her up from the bed.

Kyoko blinked at the sudden change of scenery. “How do you know?” She asked when he stuffed her clothing into her arms. When he started dressing while pulling the curtains to the side and looking out the window, she closed the distance between them putting her clothes on as she went.

Reaching out and gripping his shoulder, she inhaled sharply when he turned to glance at her. The sun reflected off his iris’s making them look like glowing amethyst. “I thought that was only in my passion dazed mind!”

“What?” Tasuki asked confused.

“Your eyes…” Turning him toward the dresser mirror she whispered, “…look at the color.”

The corners of Tasuki’s lips hinted at a smile as he took in the change. “I guess I’ll have to say they're contacts.” He glanced back at her and winked right before his smile vanished. “That power you were so desperately searching for… I think you sent it into me because I can feel the demons coming and I feel the need to rip them apart.”

“Not if I rip you apart first,” Toya growled from the doorway. He shot forward and calmly introduced Tasuki’s back to the wall, almost bringing the ceiling down on him. He released one of his daggers and buried it in the sheetrock beside Tasuki's head. Hatred burned in his silver eyes as he smelled Kyoko’s sex and power on the boy's flesh.

“Toya, no!” Kyoko screamed as she ran toward them. She was jerked backwards by familiar arms. “Damn it, Kyou! Let me go!” She glared up at him as she struggled. “If anyone hurts Tasuki… I’ll hate you! I’ll hate all of you!”

“It is not I that put him in danger,” Kyou’s voice was cold as ice as he locked eyes with Kyoko’s stormy ones. He was barely holding back the need to kill the boy himself. “They come. We can settle this after Kyoko is safe.”

Kyoko screamed as clawed hands suddenly burst out of the wall and pulled Tasuki through it.

“Well hell,” Toya said sarcastically as the wall crumbled leaving a gaping hole. He slowly reached down and picked up his dagger as if the blade was more important than Tasuki’s life. Maybe it was… depended on whom you asked right now. His hand twitched then fisted as he heard Kyoko crying out for someone to help the moron.

Toya glared back at her only to see tears sparkling in her emerald eyes. It just wasn’t fair. “Damn!” He growled as he stepped through the dusty opening.

Tasuki gagged, smelling what could only be described as death coming from the arm that was just under his nose. Wanting rid of the smell, he slammed his head backwards, hearing the crunch of bone but it wasn’t his bones. Its grip loosened as it staggered.

Finally prying the arm from around his neck, he twisted around only to come face to face with the meaning of the word ugly… and now that he had broken its nose, it was probably an improvement. The demon was shaped like a deformed human, its arms a foot too long and its body missing one major detail… skin. Eyes blazing with real fire offset its overly long pointed yellow teeth.

Tasuki flinched and back-stepped as it came forward with a wicked laugh. Its voice was ruined with gurgling and wheezing but was still plain as day as it hissed, “What do we have here… a half guardian that doesn’t know how to use its power? You’re nothing but a chew toy.”

“Fuck you!” Tasuki snapped. Without thinking he leapt forward, slamming his palms against the demon's chest, causing a flash of light as the impact knocked the demon across the room. He stared down at his hands like they weren’t his. “Okay… that was kind of awesome.”

Toya stepped into the room just as the demon flew past him and slammed into the wall. Before he could even offer the help he didn’t really want to give, a cry from behind caused him to whirl around. He saw another demon rake its claws down Kyou’s shoulder as Kyoko was tossed against the dresser.

Anger surged through him. In the chaos of his mind, as familiar as Tasuki was, Toya didn’t recognize him as the boy pushed past him and into the room followed by the first demon.

Tasuki stood over Kyoko, protecting her while she was down. Her scent was so ingrained in his senses that the moment she was in danger… he had known. To his fever-raging mind, he knew he would die for her… would kill for her. He crouched down ready to defend her with his life.

Kyoko collapsed to the floor holding her bleeding shoulder, a small cry escaping her lips from the impact. When she looked up, her view was almost blocked by Tasuki and Shinbe as they stood between her and the fight that had started. She blinked and suddenly it was there… a blue barrier just like the last time demons had attacked but this time Tasuki and Shinbe were both feeding it power as it pulsed and hummed.

Remembering what Shinbe had said about no demons getting through his barrier as long as he was touching her, Kyoko reached out and put a hand on each of their legs, ignoring the pain searing through her arm.

Snarling his fury as the smell of Kyoko’s blood reached him, Toya leapt into the air, coming down on the demon that had just shot past him. The twin blades of his daggers ripped through meat, flinging blood into the air. In less than a heartbeat, he was up in the air again, coming back down on the same demon just as Kyou joined him. They both attacked… ripping and clawing it to pieces.

The scent of Kyoko’s blood clouded Toya’s senses, bringing feral protectiveness out in him. He’d smelled it before… through the walls of time and it was the one thing he couldn’t handle. He turned to her.

“Oh shit,” Shinbe said nervously right before Toya took his hands and knocked both him and Tasuki to the floor so he could get to Kyoko.

Toya stood breathing hard, growling, his blood raging, wanting something else to kill. Looking down at the trail of blood on her arm, he grew angry at the demon again and hurled the large chuck of meat that he still held in his death grip through the air, shattering the mirror behind her.

When he looked back down at her, Kyoko’s breath left her as fear started in the pit of her stomach. Remembering what had happened the night before when he’d lost control; she pushed herself up from the floor and threw herself against his chest, holding on to him tightly. “Toya, stop it, please! I’m okay now… you have me… I’m okay.”

Toya wasn’t that easily calmed as he felt the other demon still hiding within the room. Picking her up, he twisted around and crashed through the window, taking her with him.

The other demon immediately went for the window but the remaining guardians met it before it could go after them.

***** Kyoko blinked realizing she must have passed out for a few minutes because she didn’t remember Toya bringing her back to her house. She was lying in very warm water as Toya held a hot rag to her shoulder, tenderly cleaning her wound. She frowned looking around the bathroom noticing it wasn’t hers. That’s when it dawned on her… this wasn’t her house.

“Where are we?” she whispered then remembered the fight at Tasuki’s house. Grabbing the rim of the bathtub, she tried to sit up but Toya pressed harder, keeping her where he put her. “Let me go!” she shouted becoming panicked.

Toya had calmed down some but still wasn’t feeling quite himself. He jumped up and placed a hand on both sides of the tub, trapping her in it. He watched with satisfaction as she slowly lowered herself back down into the water. That was the second time she’d told him to let her go… he wasn’t falling for it this time.

Kyoko didn’t know what to do as she studied the hooded expression on his face. His anger wasn’t gone… his eyes were still burning with silver swirls. She swallowed hard and glanced away from him. Her lips parted when she noticed all the soap in the water… so thick that she couldn’t see down into it. He had washed her… all of her. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she did.

Seeing the blush rise in her cheeks, Toya gave her a dark look knowing what she was thinking. “His scent was all over you,” he informed her with a scowl.

Kyoko’s hand was lying on her thigh and without realizing she’d even done it, she moved it over to hide herself. Her eyes widened feeling nothing but smooth skin… there wasn’t any hair there. Before she could stop herself she blurted, “What did you do… shave me?”

Toya growled, dropping the rag into the water with a splash, “I didn’t have to! It’s what happens when the priestess breaks the seal on her power!”

“What?” This time Kyoko did rise from the water, her hands fisted at her sides. Looking straight down at herself, she confirmed that she was now as bald as a newborn baby. Fear made her check to make sure she still had hair where it counted… on her head. Seeing Toya’s haunting eyes skimming her body, she placed an arm over her breasts and dangled the other down lower refusing to squirm.

“When did that happen?” she nearly yelled, confused and still not feeling any power.

Toya stepped into the water, pushing her back against the cold tile wall. “It happened when you decided to have sex with Tasuki!” He yelled back, their faces now only an inch apart. “Your body is now ready for you to gain the power that you can only get from us… not him!”

Kyoko’s heart was pounding a mile a minute as she looked up into eyes the color of mercury. She started to argue with him but snapped her lips shut realizing he wasn’t finished.

“Instead of gaining power that would protect you… or heal you… you gave power away, creating yourself another guardian! You already had five… was it not enough?” Toya ranted as he leaned toward her. “You could have gotten yourself… both of you killed, had we not shown up. Why do you think that is?!”

Toya raised his fist and hit the wall beside her head, causing small pieces of the tile to fall into the water. “It’s because WE are your protectors. Only WE can give you the power you need. WE are your lovers!” Suddenly his voice quieted but that didn’t make it any less dangerous. “Why Kyoko? Why did you run from us… from me?”

She searched his face looking for any hint that he was lying… finding only the blinding truth made her want to run from him. She hadn’t run from him before but she planned on doing it now. “That’s not how it happened.” Telling the truth made her voice steady and that gave her courage.

Kyoko ducked out from under his arm and stepped out of the bath grabbing the towel. Before she could get it fully around her, Toya’s arm wrapped around her chest, and she found herself being pulled back into his warm embrace… warmth that only belonged to Toya. Even Kyou couldn’t compare to this feeling.

Heat radiated from his chest, burning into her back and his hair tickled the side of her face as he bent his head down to her ear. His breath was hot, causing shivers to pass up and down her chilled body as he held her tightly.

"Then make me fucking understand what happened!" he demanded.

Kyoko shook her head knowing anything she said would only make him angrier. He would never understand. “I didn’t mean for it to go that far.” She couldn’t tell him about Tama, and she refused to blame anything on Tasuki. “I asked Tasuki to help me. I feel safe with him. After what Kyou did to me last night… I thought maybe he could…”

“Could what! That he could what!” Toya yelled cutting her off. “Bring on your powers?” He breathed hard between his teeth, trying to control the rage that simmered just below the surface. He knew what had happened… Tasuki had seduced her not knowing what the hell he was getting himself into. The mental picture of them entwined together snapped what little control he’d been holding onto.

“If its true power that you’re looking for…” He slid his arm under her legs and lifted her from the water, “…then I’ll give it to you.” His voice was tight and unyielding.

Kyoko was shaking her head when he dropped her on his bed, but he knew how to change her mind. He removed the towel from her with a quick jerk. She didn’t know the truth about herself, but he was about to show her if it would keep her from running around endangering other people and creating demi-guardians that were not trained.

He tried to push the jealous image of her and Tasuki from his mind. What angered him the most was that she’d chosen someone besides him. He could also feel Tadamichi's anger at the same betrayal burning deep inside him like a fire. Toya lowered himself across her body to hold her still as he held her wrists down into the mattress above her head.

The moment his lips closed around her breast, Kyoko felt something warm and tender, hot and demanding, streak across her soul. She knew this touch… his touch. “Toya?” Her voice was ragged as her back arched closer to him, her hand coming up to grip his hair in lost confusion. “The room is blue.”

He flattened his tongue over her nipple and gave it another hard lick before he pulled back enough to enlighten her. “That’s your power… not mine. You’ve created a shield around us so no one can interrupt.” His eyes were hot as he glanced up her body to find her staring at the electric blue glow that now surrounded them.

Toya slid his hands down her arms and continued to caress down over her stomach, his lips moving below her breasts as he left a path of fire across her ribs. Moving his hands down, he spread her legs wide knowing what he wanted.

Before she had time to become embarrassed at being so completely exposed before him, his strong hands were lifting her hips, and suddenly his mouth was there, closing over her core. The room spun, taking her ability to think and leaving only sensations for her to clutch at. He was sucking and licking and she was melting, burning, floating as his tongue invaded her body, making love to her with his hungry mouth.

She screamed his name as several things happened at once. Clutching his hair in a tight grip, her sight exploded leaving only stardust within her vision and her shoulder tingling. She could feel the wound the demon had given her healing.

A throbbing, pounding sensation shot through her at the same time Toya growled, digging his face even deeper between her legs. She could feel his growl sending a vibration into her that caused the throbbing again to shoot down into her lower stomach and into his eager mouth.

“Toya please,” she cried as she tossed her head back and forth. “I can’t… please help me.” She pulled at his hair as he lowered her back to the bed. “I need…” Her hips jerked as he left her so fast, cutting off another cry as his lips covered hers in a near savage kiss.

Toya knew what she needed and he had every intention of giving it all to her. He couldn’t have been any harder as he surged forward, burying himself within her tightness as far as he could get. He deepened the kiss with the same vengeance he’d showed between her legs… wanting to be so deep inside her that she could never run from him again.

Now that he had claimed her… there would be nowhere she could hide. Escape was no longer an option.

Kyoko gasped against his lips, feeling power rolling through her body, crashing against her… escaping her to crash into the barrier in waves as he began to move within her. She could do nothing but hold on to him as the waves turned back into hard throbs while he pounded into her, then slowed down to deep forceful strokes that made her cry and wither.

She grabbed onto his shoulder, leaving a small trail of torn skin as she raked her nails against him. Tearing her lips from his, she cried out, but not from pain… more from the most delirious animalistic ecstasy the gods had ever created.

Setting a relentless, almost frantic pace, Toya ground his hips hard against her, his entire body straining against hers as he sought release from the near-painful erection. "Kyoko," he groaned into her ear. Hearing her whimper beneath him in reply, he lowered his head to catch her lips in another frantic kiss.

"What you need…” Toya panted against her mouth. “…is who I am." His voice changed to a mere whisper as he added, “My love.”

He couldn’t hold on any longer, after a final violent push, lifting her hips for the deepest penetration he could find, feeling her clench vise-like around him, he let go, crying out as his seed erupted from his body in a fierce flood. He pulsed and strained against her for long, long moments as she held him in her most intimate embrace, her release triggering even more from him.

Holding himself above her, Toya wasn’t ready for what happened next.

Kyoko knew his power had healed her wound and seeing the small scratches she’d left on him, she raised herself forward and kissed one of the marks. The power that she felt building within her left her in a warm wave as she fell back on the mattress gazing up at him… her thighs still throbbing.

She inhaled deeply when transparent silver wings that matched the mercury within his eyes erupted from his back, spreading out so far that they touched the barrier… shattering it into blue crystalline sparkles.

Toya’s lips parted as his wings vanished… not permanently, but back within his soul as his irises returned to their molten gold color. “You healed me,” he whispered in astonishment.

Kyoko gave him a soft sleepy smile, “You healed me first.”

Toya nodded knowing she didn’t understand what she had just done… she’d returned him to his full power. He gently lowered himself, taking her into his arms and rolling so he could wrap his body around hers.

“Sleep… I’ve got you.” He threw a barrier up around them knowing nothing from this world or the next would ever break through… not as long as he was holding her. Toya's eyes started to drift closed. ‘Find me,’ the words slipped through his mind and he recognized Tadamichi’s voice but it was so far away. He’d heard the request before but this time it sounded calm and closer somehow.

He kissed the crown of Kyoko’s hair as he thought about Tadamichi. Sometimes he could feel Tadamichi's pain and it made him wonder if Tadamichi had just felt him with Kyoko. ‘Your brother is here somewhere. I have to focus on protecting her now,’ Toya answered, not knowing if Tadamichi could even hear him. It didn’t matter because it was the truth. She comes before anyone else… it had always been that way.

Hearing her heartbeat even out along with her breathing, Toya kissed the soft skin next to her ear, pulling her deeper against him as he too fell into an exhausted sleep.