A/N: Setting is after Hermes freed Ares from the clay jar where the giants Otus and Ephialtes kept him captive because he murdered Adonis out of jealousy, for the love of Aphrodite. He has stayed in the jar for thirteen months.

CURSE OF A KISS

She passed by the empty halls of nothing but torches and Corinthian designed marble columns. She was heading towards what she considers the most serene part of this place: the rooftop gardens. It is nothing but simplicity up there, a haven forged for her to delve into deep meditation, to clear her mind of things that are both necessary and useless, to breathe in the warm breath of Gaia which livens her soul, and to remind herself that despite being on top of this ever famous sets of temples and divine chambers, there are many things that puzzle her, making her perfectly insecure.

A force, a presence, attracted her though. She passed two deities by, and considered the presence of dear Hermes. The other one standing by him, though, seemed oblivious. Time slowed by when her eyes spied on his every physical aspect as her feet passed him. He was familiar, the tall and devious look, his full jaw, and the piles of armory clasped in his body, moreover, she feasted on his scarlet eyes which glowed like cinders in the dark. She never stopped to talk to them, nor greet them. It was nothing but a waste of precious time. She always lived by the principle that there is a second spent for everything, and these seconds are merely to be wasted on pure reflection. She was lost in defiant thoughts, and despite full consciousness, her guard was down on the pair of footsteps lagging behind her.

Ares' mind was in turmoil as he neared her. Above them Selene, in her full glory of silver disc, espied. He was unsure if he would start a simple conversation with her, and he doesn't even know why he always wanted to catch her alone, to isolate and own her despite the many forces that surrounded between them. He swallowed heavily, and can feel a bead of perspiration on his brow.

"Tracking my moves?"

He stopped, awed. She tilted her head to her side, enough that one of her grey eyes can set a full view of him. Ares breathed out long, and shoved off the melting feeling scurrying within his stomach, "You never sought me,"

Finally she turned to him; two magnificent grey eyes swallowed the focus. "Sought you?"

He chuckled in mockery, "and you never knew my absence,"

"You were absent… when?" she queried, the turbines in her mind started to search for any detail of his loss. Ares felt his chest heave, deep within it had struck him that she never had a fraction of a second spent to even notice his disappearance for thirteen long months. He wet his dried lips with an almost drying tongue and answered with a question:

"Why am I this insignificant to you?"

She was backed by the query, but composed herself to answer, "Does it even matter for you to know?" and chuckled, "Ares, will you hurt? Do you even feel hurt?"

"I was captivated because of being hurt," Ares shot.

"It was jealousy, not pain, that devoured you." Her ever wise voice echoed through his ears. She continued, "It was pride that made you kill the rival. It was never pain."

"Then what do you call it when your advances, your presence, were never noticed by the one you love?" he asked, losing the calmness in his voice. He stepped towards her. She stood from her seat to meet him.

"I loathe you, Ares. To me, you are unintelligent. Uncivilized. Immature. I will never come to love you even as a companion," she punished him with incontrollable words that dripped from her lips like poison. "And to answer your question, it is not pain, but imbecility that you feel. To waste your worthless charm on me is what I consider idiotic."

He opened his lips, and instead of answering, he sucked in air to comprehend with what she had just shot to him. His mouth had dried, and he can feel spasms rippling underneath his burning skin, trapping his motor nerves and completely stunning his mobility.

Despite the agonizing vibrations on his head, he begrudgingly smiled and spoke in a mixture of truth and jest, "You never had a lover because you treat your admirers that way,"

Her brows furrowed and looked at him sternly, "I made a vow."

"That vow has completely depraved you of humanistic feelings," he met her eyes, and she stirred, "so now you have humanistic feelings?"

"I can kiss very well…" he whispered with a flirting tune and stared at her full lips glittering under the moonlight, which almost snapped her to swing a fist on his cheek. She controlled her emotions, and reveled with his cool mockery which is nearly overcoming her sense of reason.

This was what she hated most of Ares, when he would unconsciously manipulate a deadly conversation to slowly transform it into a joke, stripping it off its seriousness.

Athena sighed to confront herself that it was no use overpowering her rational proficiency to someone whom she considers missing half a brain. And it irked her. She sarcastically smiled, "Even if I were to kiss someone, you would be the last on—"

Her grey eyes were in full color when they grew wide at his unexpected move. His lips had parted hers, and he pressed onto her face swiftly, palms locking both her cheeks. She resisted with a faint push on his chest and her voice muffled. It lasted swiftly, though, didn't even consume a whole minute. His objective was to only prove her wrong, and only to satisfy the desire banging on his chest, but to be satisfied was a very rare expectation.

Ares breathed warmly on her lips as he slowly parted his face from hers. It was a slow move, and he was itching to continue, though keeping his hunger locked up. A hunger which he had always released in deep frustration to other women, ever wishing that they were the one he desired more that savagery. He was readying himself for a pair of slaps on his face, or a stab on his back, or to be sent into Hades via her own hands feasting on his guts. But he was rather surprised that she seemed not to exhale.

Her mind went blank as a clear slate. Her eyes were half-opened, and her thundering pulses reminded her that she had stopped breathing. She exhaled calmly and looked at the lips that had touched hers. Suddenly there was an invisible force that pushed her to pursue him, and she held his cheeks to kiss him back.

Ares was appalled by the act, and gained a million questions in his mind, but cursed them all to disappear. His skin heated, and desperately sought his arms to touch her. She tasted more desirable than nectar and he pressed further to devour her. He had taken a leap immediately, coursing his hands behind her and pushed her against him. His chest heaved at the softness of her breasts, making his heart beat wilder, turning his tender kisses into punishment which she would be lucky if she survived. Everything turned into madness for him, and he nearly swallowed her tongue. Athena never retaliated when he nearly asphyxiated her; in her mind were thoughts that were criss-crossing uncontrollably.

His arms gripped around her waist, and she arched back. He was lost into confusion in intense hunger which was inevitable within him. She felt his hand form a fist on her hair and she sucked in a breath when he pulled the soft locks and dragged his lips unto her neck. Her scent only made him more berserk, and he ran the tip of his tongue through the milky flesh until he sucked on her skin once more, making his body stiffen. Her nails dug behind his shoulders, and he earned a groan. On the tip of his lips her pulse reverberated, and a soft moan escaped her throat.

Athena caught Ares' trembling breath as he pushed her on a nearby column. For the very first time she had seen the beauty wreathed on his fiery eyes, one that she was too blind to notice. Everything around her deafened. She felt anaesthetized under his gaze, not noticing her shoulders being undressed. He squeezed his body which nearly choked her out of air, and his fingers trembled as he surfaced them on her hips. He traced the gentle arch of her waist, feeling every inch perfectly seductive, and landed his palm above her breast.

She never sought for a lover's affection, never felt envy towards marriage, and never pitied herself for singleness. But right there and then, she had begun to question if she made the right course of enslaving herself with the vow of independence. Deep within, she felt nothing but pleasantness and peace that crawled inside. It was more peaceful that pure meditation, and it was then she had realized that all along, she had been missing this feeling. This wonderful feeling to be wanted and it was undeniably…incredible.

She tasted iron. Ares withdrew, as much as he tasted the same. His eyes grew in shock to see the thick red bead on the side of her lip. He finally let her go, and apologized as he brushed the blood from her lip with his thumb. She lowered her lashes and redressed her shoulders.

"I'm sorry…" Ares whispered. Athena merely smiled and regained her composure after sucking the blood from her own lip.

"Don't be," she plainly answered, breathing out. She looked at her side and smiled with lowered lashes, "You are right, though."

Ares tried to comprehend with her, but he could not extract the emotions hiding underneath her apathy. He could not fathom what she was thinking, and she was ever silent about what she had just learned about herself. She passed by him and he can only watch her walk away.

Athena turned to him after a deep thought and smiled, "Thanks…" she chuckled though Ares can see a conflict on her eyes, "for teaching me how to do…that." And completely walked away, cursed by a kiss which had made her feel pathetic and suspicious that being in love wasn't too bad at all, one thing she was never given the privilege nor the right to do.

End.

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~AthenAres~