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Go read the last post for the beginning of this story. Trust me. You're gonna want it. I'm going to try to update daily now. And I probably won't post the entire thing for a while.
Second and Third parts (under the ~~~) was written as sort of a "bedtime story" for lara... she made me write.. helped me feel better... ^^;; so....
I now dedicate this part and the rest of my story (including parts wirtten and unwritten to LaraTheBunny. ^^ heart
Taking care not to attract any attention to himself, he approached the pair, acting as casually as he could, pullling the cloak around him tighter. Neither took any notice of him, or at least made no comment about him.
The man could not be much older than himself, yet he carried a aura of someone much older, and much more menacing. His black hair laced his face, his yellow eyes cold worth malice. And yet, his voice almost carried this gentle tone to it. "You really would rather die than do what I ask?"
Her determined air faltered to a moment, as though she was truly debating it. Her crystal green eyes swept his way for a second, though they took no obvious seal of recogniztion. Dapon suddenly noticed that they were nowhere near the same clear, brilliant colour they once were, but almost the shade they had been in his dream. "..Y-yes," she said, her voice breaking slightly over the word. "Even then."
The stranger's grin grew in both malice and width. "Well then, sweets," he said, extending his hand and gripping her arm. He wrenched it over and was bringing his other hand up to touch something there, but before his hand could even make contact, he was flat on his back, spoutting fresh blood from each nostril, Dapon now between the two.
~~~
"What the hell!" the stranger yelled, glaring up at this cloaked newcomer. He pulled himself to a standing position, clutching his now broken nose as this adversary lowered his leg to the ground.
Even Kuri herself seemed completely shocked. Just moments before, this man had been too far from her to do much good with helping her. She held her arm close to her, backing away slowly. In every sense in her mind, the situation was telling her to leave before things got worse. Agaisnt her better judgement, she remained.
His scarlet eyes remained on the stranger, encased in what seemed to be pure and utter and hatred. "You will not lay one single finger on her," he hissed, his voice unrecognizable, even to Kuri, the girl who had known him for most of her life.
The stranger just stared at him, wishing nothing more than to get out of there. His eyes narrowed, looking over Dapon's shoulder at Kuri. "I won't lift it," he said quietly. "You will retrieve it for me, or you will die. Simple as that." With that he turned on his heel and walked off as calmly as he could.
Dapon rolled his eyes as he straightened up, turning to face her, alone at last. Before he could even turn most of way around, he felt the cloak begin to pull away, slowly at first, due to its tightness around himself, then swiftly as it dropped to the patched ground.
As she fell silent, he took a single step around his fallen cloak, and pulled her into a tight, but tender hug. How he had longed for this, since the day he had read that letter that first time. If he had not come when he did, who know what could have happened to her.. even to the extent of that dream. "I missed you Kuri.." he said, his voice free of that nasty hissing that was there when that stranger was there.
No embrace was returned though, but two delicate hands pressed firmly on his chest, and back from him. She looked up at him, still rather short compared to him, and of course, he had grown in these last years. She still looked taken aback, and her voice coould not find words to speak to him.
Dapon stepped back, dropping his arms to his side, feeling hurt, though he did well to mask it. His own scarlet eyes traced her face, wishing he knew what she was thinking.
Her face though, suddenly changed from its look of surprised sadness to one of misbelieving anger. "Where the hell have you been!?!" she demanded, playfully punching him hard as she could in his stomach.
~~~
He blinked stupidly, staring at her with shock, before cracking up laughing. She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around his waist out of relief. She nuzzled her head against his chest, smiling now, though she was still shaking slightly. "Sorry Kuri," he said quietly, wrapping his arms back around her as well. "I had to find myself.."
"So have you then?" she asked, pulling back slightly and looking up in his face, her dulled eyes looking up at him in wonder.
He shrugged, thinking about recent events. "Kuri," he began, pulling her away from him so he could look at her properly. "What did that guy mean by he wouldn't lift it? What won't he lift?"
Kuri pulled herself the rest of the way out of the embrace, turning her back on him, wrapping her arms about her waist. "It doesn't matter, Dapon," she said, and started off in a brisk walk, trying to put as much distance as she could.
Dapon blinked, grabbing his bag and his cloak and taking off after her. She was able to loose herself in the crowd rather quickly though, as he came to find out. He scowled, his eyes frantically searching the sea of faces around her. Obviously is was something big if she was not going to tell him, something she was scared of. She had always told him everything before, even things he did not want to know. And here she was leaving him in the dark now. "Kuri!" he called, still looking around, igoring the looks he was getting from many of the people that stared right back. Popularity in high school certainly had its drawbacks.
There. Walking into that store! Was that her? Ignoring the hands and voices that beckoned his attention, he ran in after her. Inside, his eyes scanned the store's endless aisles, looking for a glimpse of her white-blonde hair. It should not have been that hard. After all, how many people in the village had hair that colour!? Not watching where he was going, he walked right into her. "Kuri!" he said, grabbing her arm before she could get away again.
She flinched horribly at his touch, trying to wrench her arm away from his grasp. Not letting go, though moving his grasp down to her wrist, Dapon turned her arm over, looking at what that stranger had tried to touch himself earlier. He gasped, recognizing the engraved symbol. This was so rarely used, this engraving, but how; why did she get this? "Kuri," he said quietly, his voice higher than normal in his shock, his other hand dropping his bag, and now tracing the mark with his fingers, careful not to hurt her with his touch. "Where.. What's going on?"
She wretched his arm away finally, sighing and turning her face from him. "Not here, Dapon. I'll tell you back at the house. Come on." She left, leaving him with nothing to do but to follow her.
In a few minutes time, they had returned to her house, though it was not without Dapon's mind clouding with worry from the mark. Last time he had seen it engraved into the skin like that, it was on a small little boy, a small little boy who had died that evening in his mother's arm. The mark was one of an old magic, a dark magic that claimed its victim's life. Only two cures were known, though neither had ever been envoked. "Sit," came her voice, jerking her head towards the kitchen table and him out of his thoughts, before busying herself with some tea.
When she had finally settled herself across from him, she looked almost mournful. "I haven't told Mother or Amal," she said quietly, absentmindedly stirring a little bit of sugar into her tea. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention it to them, okay?"
He gave a curt nod, and repeated his question. He had to know what had happened, how she had gotten a mark like that, and why.
"His name's Soran, that man that you attacked earlier," she began, trying hard as she could to keep her voice casual. She never once looked at him, just kept her eyes on the swirling mass of her tea. "He came here a couple weeks ago, looking for something, or someone, I'll never know which I suppose. But he found me, and asked me if I could help him. No.. Ask is too light of a word I suppose.
"He told me that he needed help with getting something he had been looking for for quite some time. I agreed to help him even before he had told me what he had wanted. He seemed like such a gentle man... there couldn't have been anything too bad with what he had wanted, right? He told me the mark would help him keep track of me, so that if I got in trouble, he could come to my aid. I didn't even realize that it was going to engraved...
"He told me what he wanted. And I left. Not far along, I was attacked by some thugs, and turned back, intent on finding him and insisting he came with me. He was nowhere to be found. Today was the first time I had seen him since then..."
Dapon stopped her for a moment, cupping her face in his hand, and studying her eyes carefully. They were that same dull cast as he had seen earlier, something that had scared him entirely, and now that he knew why, it scared him even more. Though now, her eyes even carried more fear in them than they had earlier. "What was he looking for, Kuri? Maybe I can help.."
"A gem. A crystal or something. He called it the Shiney. Said it looked like a crystal lily coming out of the moon."
 Marion-san · Mon Jul 31, 2006 @ 04:28am · 2 Comments |
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