Anyway, ENJOY!
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The king was being mysterious, asking her to bring her
tattoo equipment again after her last visit. The past couple of weeks had been
busy for her, making time to visit him after her last appointments. Although
exhausting, she found she enjoyed listening to the stories of his past. She was
even getting to know the cats that began frequenting the home as well, making
sure she started to bring little snacks for them.
There was one particular white and orange cat that followed
her everywhere, and she wondered silently if maybe Hao asked it to stay with
her. Either way, she did not mind it and even gave it a collar with little
stars all over it much to the king’s amusement. Looking down to the feline she
gave a smile, “We are going to see all your friends today, Fiona, isn’t that
great? I wonder if Hao wants me to add more to the phoenix today.”
A meow was the reply as the feline bolted ahead to catch a
bird in the air, missing by seconds when it took off into trees. Tail lay limp
as Fiona eyed the tree before Champagne caught up and shook her head, “You will
get stuck up there if you go after it. Then I will be late seeing Hao. Then he
will worry and come looking for me. We don’t want to worry him.”
The cat gave her a reproachful look before slinking off
after her, peering back at the bird as if promising revenge then bolting
forward once more to reach the home before she even did. A laugh as she
continued onward before slowing down when someone stepped out into the path.
Carefully, she made her way to navigate around the fairly tall man, uttering a
polite ‘excuse me’.
Long dark fingers grabbed her shoulder, stopping her, “You
are his girlfriend, aren’t you?” The voice seethed with anger, and she looked
up silently, taking in the image of dark eyes matched with similarly dark skin
while he bared his teeth at her. Black straight hair was down to only half an
inch as though growing back from a buzz cut.
“I’m not sure who you are talking about.” She replied
calmly, smile vanishing into a blank state, “I apologize for being unable to be
of any help.” The girl did not try to pull her shoulder away, carefully making
sure that she did not suddenly trigger any knee-jerk violence.
Although that seemed like it would be happening regardless
as he dug fingers into the bone, “You know exactly who the hell I am talking
about. You walk here every day to see that monster. You’re probably having sex
with him too.” The girl did not react to the words, not allowing him to know if
such things were true or not. While she wasn’t doing anything to that extreme,
she supposed people’s minds would assume such a thing anyway.
Hands kept ahold of her belongings and she shook her head
slightly, “I am fairly certain he has bigger things to worry about rather than
me. I would rather not have your time wasted.” The man sneered at her before he
started to move onwards, making movements to drag her with.
Feet dug into the ground slightly, eyes keeping on him with
absolute calm, “Please leave Hao alone. I know you are mad, but killing him
won’t solve anything nor bring anyone back.” A snarl and she was yanked
forward, causing her to stumble slightly.
“It isn’t him I plan on killing.” He did not look at her,
though his tone expected her to start begging for her life. It was not what he
had gotten, instead he heard her sigh. Finally, he glared down at her to see
her look back at him with concern. Why did she care what happened to him
anyway? The shaman refused to be pitied.
Voice was soft, fingers shifting on her bundle, “That won’t
get you anything you want you know.”
“What would you know? Did you have someone you loved killed
in front of your eyes?” He snapped as they continued to move, her feet
shuffling to make the walk as slow as possible, steps stumbling as he was
yanked forward every time she drew too far behind. Eyes flicked over towards a
towering spirit lumbering beside him, a bear looking as angry at the world as
the man dragging her.
Eyes grew soft as she knew Hao left a trail of blood on his
path to being king, but she knew more would just worsen things. Fingers
tightened, “I am sorry… but I can’t let you do this.” Her needle tool came out
of the bundle and jammed into his arm, making him yell and release her
shoulder. Taking that chance, she gripped the bundle and swung it as hard as possible
to smash it into the man’s head to knock him out. It was stopped as the bear
created an oversoul onto a thick furred glove with claws, knocking the weapon
from her hands and she heard a crunch as something broke when it landed afar.
Anger soared as he brought the clawed hand back down into
her head, claws tearing into flesh and hair as the force knocked her aside
causing her to shout. Champagne brought a hand to her head, face twisting from
the pain as she forced herself up, hand coming away covered in blood. A dazed
expression as she could see the blurry form of him coming forward to wrap claws
around her throat and lift her, vision was not clearing as she tried to blink
it away.
“I was planning to kill you in front of him, but I will be
just as happy to hand over your dead body!” The lack of oxygen made everything
begin to go dark, cold creeping into her skin as hair began to become soaked
with her blood. Arms hung limp as she had no strength to fight it as all of her
energy was spent on her lungs fighting instinct to try to expand when there was
no way to do so.
Black swallowed colors, ears droning on with slowing pounds
of the heart, nose filled with only the scent of blood and the skin was cold.
It would have been nice to have a good dream, she thought, if this was a final
sleep.
A warmth suddenly surged behind her, and she wondered if
maybe her dream was giving her that final wish before it blanketed her skin and
a sudden movement caused lungs to almost explode as they were finally given
their sustenance. Vision cleared only slightly, mostly in washed out forms
except for the blazing gold one holding her and her mind raced suddenly as she
tried to make out what the dangerously low voice of Hao.
“If … want… ….. rlfrie ……. die …ner” A weak frown as she
tried to work her arms to grab the slender ones that wrapped around her in a
cradle. Muscles were not working well at all and she heard a cry pierce through
the quiet of her muffled head. Panic started to form as she twitched fingers
weakly, warmth growing as the golden glow grew brighter, slight shifts in
movement made her begin to feel nauseated as she could not see what was going
on around her.
The patch girl was determined to stop this before Hao killed
someone out of anger, hands stubbornly refusing to respond. Trembling, she
could feel it as some sensations would return to her from the warmth. The
toting shaman had to have been furious to be acting in such a way, normally
seeing so calm when she was around.
Another yell from the man and she twitched at the sound. It
was time for another angle, and she started to work her throat. It hurt like
hell, but she needed it to cooperate even though she was fairly sure it had
been about crushed. A rasping sound came from the throat, giving hope before
another horrible sound came again. Well,
there was a hope she could be coherent as she forced words once more.
“Stop.”
It sounded almost like a bark, but she could feel the world
stop moving, arms tensing around her as she peered into a mass of brown and
flesh. His lips were moving, but she could not make most of it out once more,
face contorting in slight frustration. So instead she just simply continued to
talk with rasping broken syllables.
“No… More… kill… ing. Peace.” All she could do then was wait
for him to decide.
Evidence of anger was still in his features, holding her
even closer to him before warmth blazed to swallow them up and they seemed to
have been in another entirely different place; his home. Warmth still held her
as she felt some of the pain ebb away. Vision would start to clarify to where
she could see the very furious hurt in the face above her.
It took a moment for her to get her arms to respond as she
raised a hand up to touch his cheek, a tired smile spreading on her features.
The same man capable of reviving some was mending her, even her throat started
to feel better, “Thank you.”
He did not smile in return, body still trembling. Words came
out at a low volume, almost too hard for her to hear, “He was killing you. Yet
you wanted him to live when he should have died. I should have killed him.”
Some of the warmth ebbed as she certainly felt like she
wasn’t nearing death any time soon, although her head still felt odd with the
thick substance drying on it, “You don’t need more blood on your hands.
Mirroring his actions that made you angry would have only made things worse.”
Her body was pulled closer to his, face buried into her
shoulder as he did so, “If you had died before I got there, I would have killed
him without hesitating. Plus, he made you break your things…” The last sentence
made her blink before she started to giggle softly, her face resting against
the side of his head.
“Well the needle and stuff can be replaced unlike people.”
Face turned towards him and she spoke softly, “I appreciate you saving me. I am
pretty sure I wouldn’t want to stop spending time with you and the hundreds of
cats.”
Now he would look towards her, nose touching the tip of
hers, “There are only 73 cats.” The voice was a slight bit pouting though the
tension and trembling went away when she moved forward, lips catching his with
a relieved joy.
The kiss broke and she spoke softly, “So, why was I coming
over with the needle anyway?” Her forehead rested on his, still trying to get
over the breathless feeling she got every time lips touched his.
“I wanted you to give me a tattoo of a cat.” He replied
seriously, making her grin slightly as she held back a laugh. Hands ruffled
thick hair in thought before he distracted with another dizzying kiss, making
her glad that he was still holding her. Arms wrapped snugly around his neck as
she was fairly certain that she was on the path to falling in love with him.
If she had not already.
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