Mark of the Magi
Chapter 10
By
Lily of Trust
Disclaimer: As previously stated, I do not own any characters displayed herein. Suing me will result in very very little, as I am nothing more than an unemployed college freshman ^^ ...Anyway, I didn't create the assorted bishounen, I just like to take terrible, evil liberties with them. We all have our hobbies.
~
"On the upside," Touma said thoughtfully, "We're still getting a meal outta this."
Two wooden spoons and a battered pot lid made contact with his head before he had the sense to duck, fortunately avoiding the cutting board en-route to his skull.
"Touma," Shu growled, Not Amused, "It's bad enough that we're stuck in here with you. The least you can do is shut your fool mouth...before I lodge something up your nose." He hefted a plucked chicken-leg in a threatening manner, and Touma wisely swallowed any retorts.
Shin sighed and concentrated on pulling fistfulls of feathers off the remainder of the bird. He wasn't happy about being shut up in a tiny kitchen with those two either. He'd much rather there were three other bodies in there with him. But their host had made it perfectly clear that if they wished to eat, not to mention avoid a blood-letting, they were to stay put.
Said host had made it equally clear to Seiji and his ex-teacher (Shin couldn't quite bring himself to think about what the one-eyed man had also been to Seiji) were not, under any circumstances, to kill each other on his front lawn.
~
"Rajura," The woodsman's gruff voice growled, cutting through the tense air between the two pale men. "Enough. I won't have your blood on my doorstep." He strode quickly back around the side of the small house, placing himself between them. He glared darkly at the both of them, but his eyes lingered on Seiji for a long moment before he turned back to the one-eyed man.
"I am aware of the grudge between the two of you," He said, his tone a clear warning. "But you are a guest in my house, and I will not stand for any damage to my property. You're overly fond of reminding me how civilized your people are, Rajura. So you can sit down and talk it out with the boy." He didn't iquite/i smirk, but there was a definite glint of satisfaction in his eyes at the withering look Rajura shot at him.
"Anubisu..." The pale man began, the corner of his one eye twitching slightly as he clenched his jaw tightly.
You three, Their unexpected host whirled on Shu, Shin, and Touma. "There's a pump around back. Get yourselves cleaned up. If you wish to eat, you can cook your own meal. You'll find everything you need in the kitchen." With that, Anubisu shouldered his way past Rajura and disappeared within the house. The five men remaining in the yard passed a surprised glance around, not entirely sure what had just happened.
So the three of them had found themselves trapped in the kitchen while Seiji and Rajura glowered at each other from opposite sides of the small sitting room. Or rather, Seiji glowered. Rajura's composure seemed unshakable. They hadn't exchanged so much as a single word in the forty five or so minutes they'd been out there.
"It's too quiet," Shu grumbled as he chopped carrots up into uneven hunks. "This whole situation is fishy. I don't like it."
"So you've said," Touma snapped, aggravated, "And said...and said...and said..."
Shin snatched the knife from Shu's hand before it ended up somewhere Touma wouldn't like. He put it to better use skinning the chicken. There really wasn't enough room in the entire house for three people, let alone the kitchen. There were only three real rooms; the sitting room, the kitchen, and a smallish bedroom towards the back. A loft overhead could be converted into extra sleeping quarters if necessary, but it would be stuffy and hot up under the eaves at night.
Shin quietly cleaned the bird under the water he pumped up from a well beneath the hill. His mind churned furiously as his hands worked; he knew nothing of what was going on. He had blindly accepted Seiji's reasons for pursuing his old teacher. It had seemed important that they find the man, if a war between Seiji and Rajura's Clans was to be prevented. But...had all of that been a lie? It had to be partly true, at least. Rajura had called himself Seiji's errant brother in-law, as well as the man who had shamed his sister. So at least the story of the runaway groom had been true.
It seemed Seiji had simply neglected to mention his own relationship to Rajura.
He felt vaguely betrayed, hurt to have heard it from Rajura and not Seiji himself. Shin understood the need to keep secrets from even your friends. He had known Shu for years and had only revealed his Elemental heritage when there had been no other choice. But that secret would have endangered his life if it had gotten out There was no such risk here for Seiji, so why hadn't he said anything? Weren't they friends at least?
Shin frowned as the cold well water washed over his hands, numbing them. Now that he thought about it, he and Shu had been the only ones who seemed surprised when Rajura had let the secret slip. Seiji had been frantic, and Touma...
Touma hadn't been shocked at all.
"Touma?" Shin glanced over his shoulder at where the thief sat, peeling potatoes. The tough brown skin curled away from his paring knife in a long, lazy spiral, lowering itself slowly into a wooden bucket between his feet.
"Yeah?" Touma asked warily, eyes darting towards Shu as if he feared the larger man would snap at him just for opening his mouth.
"You knew, didn't you?" Shin asked, draining the water out of the chicken and down the sink attached to the pump. "About Seiji, I mean."
Shu paused in scraping chunks of carrot into a pot of water, realization dawning in his eyes. He set the cutting board aside and turned to face the two of them.
"Yeah," Touma said shortly, frowning as he sliced the peel too thin, cutting the spiral off only halfway up the potato.
"...Well, how?" Shu asked, and Shin was startled to hear a note of anxiety creep into his voice. There was something in Shu's eyes and tone that spoke of worry, as if there were something about Touma that he feared.
"He told me," Touma raised a quizzical eyebrow at Shu, "How the hell else would I know?"
"...Right. Of course," Shu said. Shin knew he wasn't imagining the relief he heard, but he let it go for the moment.
"But when?" He pressed further, "And why wouldn't you tell us?"
Touma sighed and set his work aside for the moment, accepting that Shin wasn't about to let the subject drop. He studied his smudged hands for a moment before answering.
"Do you remember the day before we took on the Serpent? We were on the boat we stole, and Seiji had been giving you lessons with your magic," He looked up and spoke directly to Shin, who nodded. He did remember. That was the day they had first learned anything about Seiji's purpose in Taidem. "We got him talking about his family, and the whole wedding fiasco. I guess I got a little nosey," Touma paused, gaze sliding sideways to Shu as if expecting a scoff or a snide comment. When none came, he continued. "He stormed off into the cabin and I followed to make amends. Well, we got to talking...and the next thing you know, he's spilling the whole story."
"You two were down there an awfully long time," Shu nodded. "'Til sunset, when we came up to the village and nearly got lynched for stealing that boat."
Touma grinned a little, picked up a new potato, and set about parting it from its skin. His grin faded as he continued to speak.
"The more Seiji talked, the more upset he got," the thief went on. "I guess it was bad enough that his father arranged a marriage between his sister and lover, and they had to end their little affair. But when Blinkie out there disappeared, he got really pissed off. Not only had he violated a sacred oath and betrayed his Clan, but he went and put Seiji's sister on the spot. I got the impression that he wasn't real happy about being left behind, either."
"Wouldn't it have created an even bigger problem if they'd both vanished?" Shu asked.
"Well no, 'cause then both Clans would have been disgraced, and one couldn't blame the other for anything. No impending war, see? They could even arrange another marriage for the sister that way. The only ones to suffer would have been Seiji and Rajura," Touma gestured wildly with knife and potato.
"Those families have some terminally skewed logic," Shu shook his head.
"Better not let Seiji hear you say that," Touma advised.
"But...what I still don't understand is why Seiji felt he had to keep it from us," Shin sighed as he sliced chunks of chicken off the carcass. The knife he wielded clicked rhythmically against the cutting board as he diced the meat into bite-sized cubes to be tossed into the cook-pot.
"C'mon Shin," Touma snorted, jabbing the paring knife at him. "Think about it The four of us were going to be spending a lot of time cooped up on that little skiff, living and working and sleeping within a few feet of each other. It would have been a slight bit awkward if he'd told us the whole story. He also took you on as a student, creating that weird little Magi-bond thingamajig. How could he be sure you wouldn't panic if you found out just how far that bond went when he was on the student end of things?" Touma coughed awkwardly and turned a potato over in his hands. "I mean...I don't know your personal preferences, but if you swing the way most men do, that would have to be unnerving."
Shin fixed his eyes on the hunk of raw meat, concentrating fiercely on the blade of the knife as sliced ever closer to his fingers. He could feel Shu's eyes on him, and knew that Touma was still studiously averting his own gaze. Still, he took his time in replying.
"I can understand it," He said at last. "At least, when you put it that way. But...it still doesn't seem right that he let us come along, knowingly keeping us ignorant of the true situation "
"Fair enough," Touma acknowledged. "And I'm sure he'll be only too happy to apologize for deceiving you two. After he gets a chance at Rajura's throat."
"That's the part I still don't understand," Shu commented as he took the peeled potatoes and carved them up into random chunks. "How the hell does he think he's going to drag this guy halfway back around the world? Especially now We've got no supplies, no means of transportation, and not the slightest idea of where we are. It seems like a lost cause, to me."
~
"Tell me, Seiji," Rajura drawled, at last breaking the tense silence, "Just how do you expect to coerce me into returning to the Clans? There's nothing in it for me, other than a loveless marriage and the thinly veiled disapproval of my peers? For that matter, how does my return benefit you? I suspect that the news of our liaison has become common knowledge by now."
Seiji sat stiffly across a low table from Rajura, his legs folded beneath him and his hands clenched tightly in his lap. Only by keeping them twisted up in the hem of his tunic did he control the urge to lunge across the table and choke the life out of Rajura. He had nothing to say; the sheer anger incited by the other man's presence burned away any argument he might have made. All his conscious power had been redirected to prevent a murderous rampage.
"Or did you ever really intend to bring me back at all?" Rajura's voice took on an insinuating tone. He sat crosslegged, his right elbow propped up on his right knee. He leaned his cheek into his hand in a bored manner, his sole remaining eye sweeping over the young blonde in an expression of detached interest. "Did you perhaps harbor some hope of rejoining me wherever I had fled?"
Seiji barely had time to bristle in absolute rage at the suggestion before Rajura reached out to him, his left hand darting forward to catch the blonde's chin in a tight grip between thumb and forefinger. The unexpected action threw Seiji off, tilting him over the line of anger and into hopeless confusion. Rajura chuckled and leaned forward, drawing Seiji towards him as he smiled darkly.
"Poor little pupil," He purred, his voice low and silky in his throat. "Lost without guidance, were you?"
Something inside of Seiji's head snapped with such force that he saw nothing but blinding white for a few seconds. During that brief span of time, he knocked Rajura's hand away and lunged up and forward, fisting both hands into the front of the older man's shirt. Rajura had no time to realize that he was no longer in a position of control before Seiji yanked him up to snarl into his face.
"You. Do. Not. Fucking. Touch. Me." The Magi's eyes had gone flat and cold; his pupils shrank to pinpricks and the violet bled away, leaving only icy gray behind. His face was twisted into a mask of fury, teeth bared in an animalistic display of rage. "You godsbedammed bastard! You have never, not once in your miserable life, given a thought to anyone but yourself! You are a shallow, selfish, pitiful excuse for a human being, and your disregard for others has gone too far this time! If you had only left ME, I could have forgiven your actions. But no, you have put both our clans at the brink of war, you arrogant piece of shit! Hundreds, thousands of people may die in a blood-feud because you haven't got the guts to own up to your responsibilities!"
Seiji punctuated his tirade with violent shakes, rattling Rajura like a ragdoll. The one-eyed-man had been completely blind-sided by this uncharacteristic display of fury from his ex-student. Never before had Seiji been pushed to the point of utterly losing his control.
"That's quite enough," Anubisu's gravely voice interjected before Seiji could go on. He had entered, unnoticed, from the back bedroom, obviously alerted by the shouting. With contemptuous ease, he tore the blonde away from Rajura and tossed him back to the floor. Seiji hit the floor with a crunch and a grunt, and lay there in a sort of daze. His sudden venting had left him drained and hollow, after so many months of bottling it up inside.
"I thought I made it clear that this was to be a civil exchange?" Anubisu rumbled, turning an accusatory stare onto Rajura. The pale man busied himself with straightening his shirt, tugging it back into place. Seiji sat up and glared furiously at him, but stayed where he had been thrown. Anubisu crossed his scarred and tanned arms across his chest and glowered at the both of them.
"I expect to hear some sort of solution out of one of you within the next thirty seconds, or I'm tossing you both out. For good." This last comment was apparently directed to Rajura, who scowled at the woodsman. Anubisu locked eyes with him, one dark brow raising expectantly.
"Well?"
Rajura looked away, speaking in an indignant and injured tone. "I do have a suggestion, but suppose he attempts to choke me again..."
"Quit your sniveling, Rajura. You're no child." Anubisu chided him, still standing with his arms crossed. Seiji glanced back and forth between them, mildly bemused and surprised that his old teacher actually seemed cowed by this man. There was some aspect of control, of dominance, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was obvious that Rajura had been living here for quite some time, so he supposed that sharing such small space might have-
Oh.
Seiji glanced back over his shoulder at the entrance to the single bedroom. Well, that certainly did explain a lot of things. Not that it was strange, or even entirely unexpected...no, the surprising part was that he actually felt a faint twinge of hurt at the notion.
He shook it off and forced his attention back to the matter at hand. No doubt Rajura would offer a comprimise that would benefit only himself. Seiji refused to let this happen.
"I propose a Magi-duel," Rajura said, a hint of his usual smug manner returning. "I'm sure you still remember the protocol involved?"
Seiji found himself nodding, much as he used to do when he was still a student. He put a stop to that immediately. "Of course I remember. The duel was a method of arbitration devised back in the old days, when Magi were far more numerous. If a dispute could not be settled by conventional means, then it would be solved by the duel."
Rajura nodded. "Back then, the duels were to the death. But of course, we are far more civilized today." He spoke mockingly, smiling at the flat glare Seiji shot at him. "Naturally I would not demand such a thing. That would be barbaric."
"So what are your terms..?" Seiji ventured to ask.
Rajura shrugged. "If I lose, I will return to the West with you, no strings attached. But, if I win...you will leave me in peace. For ever. No one is to ever search for me again."
Seiji absorbed this and sat in silence for a long while. It was a risky deal; he stood to gain everything and lose so much more. Even though he was confident in his grasp of battle magic, there was a tremendous amount of pressure on him to win. If he lost, his homeland would be plunged into a long and bloody feud. His sister would be forever disgraced, and he himself would return home in failure, no longer considered a man in the eyes of society. This quest had been his one chance to redeem himself, and now he was being asked to risk it all in a single toss of the dice.
However, he could think of no other way to coerce Rajura into coming home peacefully. He stood no chance of hauling a captive across an unknown wilderness, and Rajura had come to this place from their homeland, so he undoubtedly knew the way.
Therefore...the only option open to him was to win.
"I accept your proposition," He said at last, raising his chin to meet Rajura's eye. "Name your field of battle."
Rajura chuckled darkly, his eye glinting from beneath the strap of his eyepatch. Seiji frowned, his stomach clenching anxiously. What could the pale man be so amused by...what did he have up his sleeve?
"You misunderstand me, my errant pupil," He laughed. "I was not challenging you, though I thank you for accepting on the other's behalf."
Seiji frowned, bewildered. "What do you mean, you weren't challenging me? Who else has anything to do with this? "
"Why, him, of course," Rajura grinned widely and jabbed a finger towards the kitchen door. Shu, Shin, and Touma had packed themselves into the narrow opening. They had probably been alerted by the earlier shouting, and had been watching the drama for some time. "Your student."
Shin recoiled from Rajura's confident grin, Seiji's horror-struck gape, and Anubisu's thoughtful frown, bumping into Shu, who was also gawking at him.
"Who? ME? "
~
AN: *as promised, Lily dies of shock*
Muses:...oh hell no, you're not getting out of this so easily...*somebody whips out a Pheonix Down and does the lil resurrection mojo*
*jerks back to life with a gasp * O.o I am...shocked and amazed and incredibly touched. Not only did I not lose any of my established readers, but chapter 9 had more reviews than any of the others. I...wow...*boggle *
So this one's done ^^ I'm hoping to get into turning out a chapter every two months or so. See, I started college, and...well it's so different Fun, though. I rather like this last chapter. It's fun to poke at Seiji, even if he is incredibly scary when he wants to be...Angel, may I borrow your chibi-Seiji muse? I think I need to counteract the scary.
^-^ That said, enjoy the most recent plot twist. I have homework
(Side note: I'd like to apologize to all those who were unfortunate enough to read this before I fixed all the formatting glitches (and for all the glitches that slipped past me). You see, I don't have Word on this new computer, and so I typed up the chapter in Word Perfect...which skewed up the formatting somehow. I am quite annoyed with it. We will be having words, WP and I...so I apologize on behalf of it. And now I will go smite it for making me look like an idiot newbie who doesn't know enough to make a new paragraph break every time a different person speaks -.-; Aieeyaaa...)
Chapter 10
By
Lily of Trust
Disclaimer: As previously stated, I do not own any characters displayed herein. Suing me will result in very very little, as I am nothing more than an unemployed college freshman ^^ ...Anyway, I didn't create the assorted bishounen, I just like to take terrible, evil liberties with them. We all have our hobbies.
~
"On the upside," Touma said thoughtfully, "We're still getting a meal outta this."
Two wooden spoons and a battered pot lid made contact with his head before he had the sense to duck, fortunately avoiding the cutting board en-route to his skull.
"Touma," Shu growled, Not Amused, "It's bad enough that we're stuck in here with you. The least you can do is shut your fool mouth...before I lodge something up your nose." He hefted a plucked chicken-leg in a threatening manner, and Touma wisely swallowed any retorts.
Shin sighed and concentrated on pulling fistfulls of feathers off the remainder of the bird. He wasn't happy about being shut up in a tiny kitchen with those two either. He'd much rather there were three other bodies in there with him. But their host had made it perfectly clear that if they wished to eat, not to mention avoid a blood-letting, they were to stay put.
Said host had made it equally clear to Seiji and his ex-teacher (Shin couldn't quite bring himself to think about what the one-eyed man had also been to Seiji) were not, under any circumstances, to kill each other on his front lawn.
~
"Rajura," The woodsman's gruff voice growled, cutting through the tense air between the two pale men. "Enough. I won't have your blood on my doorstep." He strode quickly back around the side of the small house, placing himself between them. He glared darkly at the both of them, but his eyes lingered on Seiji for a long moment before he turned back to the one-eyed man.
"I am aware of the grudge between the two of you," He said, his tone a clear warning. "But you are a guest in my house, and I will not stand for any damage to my property. You're overly fond of reminding me how civilized your people are, Rajura. So you can sit down and talk it out with the boy." He didn't iquite/i smirk, but there was a definite glint of satisfaction in his eyes at the withering look Rajura shot at him.
"Anubisu..." The pale man began, the corner of his one eye twitching slightly as he clenched his jaw tightly.
You three, Their unexpected host whirled on Shu, Shin, and Touma. "There's a pump around back. Get yourselves cleaned up. If you wish to eat, you can cook your own meal. You'll find everything you need in the kitchen." With that, Anubisu shouldered his way past Rajura and disappeared within the house. The five men remaining in the yard passed a surprised glance around, not entirely sure what had just happened.
So the three of them had found themselves trapped in the kitchen while Seiji and Rajura glowered at each other from opposite sides of the small sitting room. Or rather, Seiji glowered. Rajura's composure seemed unshakable. They hadn't exchanged so much as a single word in the forty five or so minutes they'd been out there.
"It's too quiet," Shu grumbled as he chopped carrots up into uneven hunks. "This whole situation is fishy. I don't like it."
"So you've said," Touma snapped, aggravated, "And said...and said...and said..."
Shin snatched the knife from Shu's hand before it ended up somewhere Touma wouldn't like. He put it to better use skinning the chicken. There really wasn't enough room in the entire house for three people, let alone the kitchen. There were only three real rooms; the sitting room, the kitchen, and a smallish bedroom towards the back. A loft overhead could be converted into extra sleeping quarters if necessary, but it would be stuffy and hot up under the eaves at night.
Shin quietly cleaned the bird under the water he pumped up from a well beneath the hill. His mind churned furiously as his hands worked; he knew nothing of what was going on. He had blindly accepted Seiji's reasons for pursuing his old teacher. It had seemed important that they find the man, if a war between Seiji and Rajura's Clans was to be prevented. But...had all of that been a lie? It had to be partly true, at least. Rajura had called himself Seiji's errant brother in-law, as well as the man who had shamed his sister. So at least the story of the runaway groom had been true.
It seemed Seiji had simply neglected to mention his own relationship to Rajura.
He felt vaguely betrayed, hurt to have heard it from Rajura and not Seiji himself. Shin understood the need to keep secrets from even your friends. He had known Shu for years and had only revealed his Elemental heritage when there had been no other choice. But that secret would have endangered his life if it had gotten out There was no such risk here for Seiji, so why hadn't he said anything? Weren't they friends at least?
Shin frowned as the cold well water washed over his hands, numbing them. Now that he thought about it, he and Shu had been the only ones who seemed surprised when Rajura had let the secret slip. Seiji had been frantic, and Touma...
Touma hadn't been shocked at all.
"Touma?" Shin glanced over his shoulder at where the thief sat, peeling potatoes. The tough brown skin curled away from his paring knife in a long, lazy spiral, lowering itself slowly into a wooden bucket between his feet.
"Yeah?" Touma asked warily, eyes darting towards Shu as if he feared the larger man would snap at him just for opening his mouth.
"You knew, didn't you?" Shin asked, draining the water out of the chicken and down the sink attached to the pump. "About Seiji, I mean."
Shu paused in scraping chunks of carrot into a pot of water, realization dawning in his eyes. He set the cutting board aside and turned to face the two of them.
"Yeah," Touma said shortly, frowning as he sliced the peel too thin, cutting the spiral off only halfway up the potato.
"...Well, how?" Shu asked, and Shin was startled to hear a note of anxiety creep into his voice. There was something in Shu's eyes and tone that spoke of worry, as if there were something about Touma that he feared.
"He told me," Touma raised a quizzical eyebrow at Shu, "How the hell else would I know?"
"...Right. Of course," Shu said. Shin knew he wasn't imagining the relief he heard, but he let it go for the moment.
"But when?" He pressed further, "And why wouldn't you tell us?"
Touma sighed and set his work aside for the moment, accepting that Shin wasn't about to let the subject drop. He studied his smudged hands for a moment before answering.
"Do you remember the day before we took on the Serpent? We were on the boat we stole, and Seiji had been giving you lessons with your magic," He looked up and spoke directly to Shin, who nodded. He did remember. That was the day they had first learned anything about Seiji's purpose in Taidem. "We got him talking about his family, and the whole wedding fiasco. I guess I got a little nosey," Touma paused, gaze sliding sideways to Shu as if expecting a scoff or a snide comment. When none came, he continued. "He stormed off into the cabin and I followed to make amends. Well, we got to talking...and the next thing you know, he's spilling the whole story."
"You two were down there an awfully long time," Shu nodded. "'Til sunset, when we came up to the village and nearly got lynched for stealing that boat."
Touma grinned a little, picked up a new potato, and set about parting it from its skin. His grin faded as he continued to speak.
"The more Seiji talked, the more upset he got," the thief went on. "I guess it was bad enough that his father arranged a marriage between his sister and lover, and they had to end their little affair. But when Blinkie out there disappeared, he got really pissed off. Not only had he violated a sacred oath and betrayed his Clan, but he went and put Seiji's sister on the spot. I got the impression that he wasn't real happy about being left behind, either."
"Wouldn't it have created an even bigger problem if they'd both vanished?" Shu asked.
"Well no, 'cause then both Clans would have been disgraced, and one couldn't blame the other for anything. No impending war, see? They could even arrange another marriage for the sister that way. The only ones to suffer would have been Seiji and Rajura," Touma gestured wildly with knife and potato.
"Those families have some terminally skewed logic," Shu shook his head.
"Better not let Seiji hear you say that," Touma advised.
"But...what I still don't understand is why Seiji felt he had to keep it from us," Shin sighed as he sliced chunks of chicken off the carcass. The knife he wielded clicked rhythmically against the cutting board as he diced the meat into bite-sized cubes to be tossed into the cook-pot.
"C'mon Shin," Touma snorted, jabbing the paring knife at him. "Think about it The four of us were going to be spending a lot of time cooped up on that little skiff, living and working and sleeping within a few feet of each other. It would have been a slight bit awkward if he'd told us the whole story. He also took you on as a student, creating that weird little Magi-bond thingamajig. How could he be sure you wouldn't panic if you found out just how far that bond went when he was on the student end of things?" Touma coughed awkwardly and turned a potato over in his hands. "I mean...I don't know your personal preferences, but if you swing the way most men do, that would have to be unnerving."
Shin fixed his eyes on the hunk of raw meat, concentrating fiercely on the blade of the knife as sliced ever closer to his fingers. He could feel Shu's eyes on him, and knew that Touma was still studiously averting his own gaze. Still, he took his time in replying.
"I can understand it," He said at last. "At least, when you put it that way. But...it still doesn't seem right that he let us come along, knowingly keeping us ignorant of the true situation "
"Fair enough," Touma acknowledged. "And I'm sure he'll be only too happy to apologize for deceiving you two. After he gets a chance at Rajura's throat."
"That's the part I still don't understand," Shu commented as he took the peeled potatoes and carved them up into random chunks. "How the hell does he think he's going to drag this guy halfway back around the world? Especially now We've got no supplies, no means of transportation, and not the slightest idea of where we are. It seems like a lost cause, to me."
~
"Tell me, Seiji," Rajura drawled, at last breaking the tense silence, "Just how do you expect to coerce me into returning to the Clans? There's nothing in it for me, other than a loveless marriage and the thinly veiled disapproval of my peers? For that matter, how does my return benefit you? I suspect that the news of our liaison has become common knowledge by now."
Seiji sat stiffly across a low table from Rajura, his legs folded beneath him and his hands clenched tightly in his lap. Only by keeping them twisted up in the hem of his tunic did he control the urge to lunge across the table and choke the life out of Rajura. He had nothing to say; the sheer anger incited by the other man's presence burned away any argument he might have made. All his conscious power had been redirected to prevent a murderous rampage.
"Or did you ever really intend to bring me back at all?" Rajura's voice took on an insinuating tone. He sat crosslegged, his right elbow propped up on his right knee. He leaned his cheek into his hand in a bored manner, his sole remaining eye sweeping over the young blonde in an expression of detached interest. "Did you perhaps harbor some hope of rejoining me wherever I had fled?"
Seiji barely had time to bristle in absolute rage at the suggestion before Rajura reached out to him, his left hand darting forward to catch the blonde's chin in a tight grip between thumb and forefinger. The unexpected action threw Seiji off, tilting him over the line of anger and into hopeless confusion. Rajura chuckled and leaned forward, drawing Seiji towards him as he smiled darkly.
"Poor little pupil," He purred, his voice low and silky in his throat. "Lost without guidance, were you?"
Something inside of Seiji's head snapped with such force that he saw nothing but blinding white for a few seconds. During that brief span of time, he knocked Rajura's hand away and lunged up and forward, fisting both hands into the front of the older man's shirt. Rajura had no time to realize that he was no longer in a position of control before Seiji yanked him up to snarl into his face.
"You. Do. Not. Fucking. Touch. Me." The Magi's eyes had gone flat and cold; his pupils shrank to pinpricks and the violet bled away, leaving only icy gray behind. His face was twisted into a mask of fury, teeth bared in an animalistic display of rage. "You godsbedammed bastard! You have never, not once in your miserable life, given a thought to anyone but yourself! You are a shallow, selfish, pitiful excuse for a human being, and your disregard for others has gone too far this time! If you had only left ME, I could have forgiven your actions. But no, you have put both our clans at the brink of war, you arrogant piece of shit! Hundreds, thousands of people may die in a blood-feud because you haven't got the guts to own up to your responsibilities!"
Seiji punctuated his tirade with violent shakes, rattling Rajura like a ragdoll. The one-eyed-man had been completely blind-sided by this uncharacteristic display of fury from his ex-student. Never before had Seiji been pushed to the point of utterly losing his control.
"That's quite enough," Anubisu's gravely voice interjected before Seiji could go on. He had entered, unnoticed, from the back bedroom, obviously alerted by the shouting. With contemptuous ease, he tore the blonde away from Rajura and tossed him back to the floor. Seiji hit the floor with a crunch and a grunt, and lay there in a sort of daze. His sudden venting had left him drained and hollow, after so many months of bottling it up inside.
"I thought I made it clear that this was to be a civil exchange?" Anubisu rumbled, turning an accusatory stare onto Rajura. The pale man busied himself with straightening his shirt, tugging it back into place. Seiji sat up and glared furiously at him, but stayed where he had been thrown. Anubisu crossed his scarred and tanned arms across his chest and glowered at the both of them.
"I expect to hear some sort of solution out of one of you within the next thirty seconds, or I'm tossing you both out. For good." This last comment was apparently directed to Rajura, who scowled at the woodsman. Anubisu locked eyes with him, one dark brow raising expectantly.
"Well?"
Rajura looked away, speaking in an indignant and injured tone. "I do have a suggestion, but suppose he attempts to choke me again..."
"Quit your sniveling, Rajura. You're no child." Anubisu chided him, still standing with his arms crossed. Seiji glanced back and forth between them, mildly bemused and surprised that his old teacher actually seemed cowed by this man. There was some aspect of control, of dominance, but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. It was obvious that Rajura had been living here for quite some time, so he supposed that sharing such small space might have-
Oh.
Seiji glanced back over his shoulder at the entrance to the single bedroom. Well, that certainly did explain a lot of things. Not that it was strange, or even entirely unexpected...no, the surprising part was that he actually felt a faint twinge of hurt at the notion.
He shook it off and forced his attention back to the matter at hand. No doubt Rajura would offer a comprimise that would benefit only himself. Seiji refused to let this happen.
"I propose a Magi-duel," Rajura said, a hint of his usual smug manner returning. "I'm sure you still remember the protocol involved?"
Seiji found himself nodding, much as he used to do when he was still a student. He put a stop to that immediately. "Of course I remember. The duel was a method of arbitration devised back in the old days, when Magi were far more numerous. If a dispute could not be settled by conventional means, then it would be solved by the duel."
Rajura nodded. "Back then, the duels were to the death. But of course, we are far more civilized today." He spoke mockingly, smiling at the flat glare Seiji shot at him. "Naturally I would not demand such a thing. That would be barbaric."
"So what are your terms..?" Seiji ventured to ask.
Rajura shrugged. "If I lose, I will return to the West with you, no strings attached. But, if I win...you will leave me in peace. For ever. No one is to ever search for me again."
Seiji absorbed this and sat in silence for a long while. It was a risky deal; he stood to gain everything and lose so much more. Even though he was confident in his grasp of battle magic, there was a tremendous amount of pressure on him to win. If he lost, his homeland would be plunged into a long and bloody feud. His sister would be forever disgraced, and he himself would return home in failure, no longer considered a man in the eyes of society. This quest had been his one chance to redeem himself, and now he was being asked to risk it all in a single toss of the dice.
However, he could think of no other way to coerce Rajura into coming home peacefully. He stood no chance of hauling a captive across an unknown wilderness, and Rajura had come to this place from their homeland, so he undoubtedly knew the way.
Therefore...the only option open to him was to win.
"I accept your proposition," He said at last, raising his chin to meet Rajura's eye. "Name your field of battle."
Rajura chuckled darkly, his eye glinting from beneath the strap of his eyepatch. Seiji frowned, his stomach clenching anxiously. What could the pale man be so amused by...what did he have up his sleeve?
"You misunderstand me, my errant pupil," He laughed. "I was not challenging you, though I thank you for accepting on the other's behalf."
Seiji frowned, bewildered. "What do you mean, you weren't challenging me? Who else has anything to do with this? "
"Why, him, of course," Rajura grinned widely and jabbed a finger towards the kitchen door. Shu, Shin, and Touma had packed themselves into the narrow opening. They had probably been alerted by the earlier shouting, and had been watching the drama for some time. "Your student."
Shin recoiled from Rajura's confident grin, Seiji's horror-struck gape, and Anubisu's thoughtful frown, bumping into Shu, who was also gawking at him.
"Who? ME? "
~
AN: *as promised, Lily dies of shock*
Muses:...oh hell no, you're not getting out of this so easily...*somebody whips out a Pheonix Down and does the lil resurrection mojo*
*jerks back to life with a gasp * O.o I am...shocked and amazed and incredibly touched. Not only did I not lose any of my established readers, but chapter 9 had more reviews than any of the others. I...wow...*boggle *
So this one's done ^^ I'm hoping to get into turning out a chapter every two months or so. See, I started college, and...well it's so different Fun, though. I rather like this last chapter. It's fun to poke at Seiji, even if he is incredibly scary when he wants to be...Angel, may I borrow your chibi-Seiji muse? I think I need to counteract the scary.
^-^ That said, enjoy the most recent plot twist. I have homework
(Side note: I'd like to apologize to all those who were unfortunate enough to read this before I fixed all the formatting glitches (and for all the glitches that slipped past me). You see, I don't have Word on this new computer, and so I typed up the chapter in Word Perfect...which skewed up the formatting somehow. I am quite annoyed with it. We will be having words, WP and I...so I apologize on behalf of it. And now I will go smite it for making me look like an idiot newbie who doesn't know enough to make a new paragraph break every time a different person speaks -.-; Aieeyaaa...)