Chapter 8 "Toya's Desire"
Hearing a branch snap, Kyoko jerked her head up to see Toya standing at the edge of the trees. The silver highlights glistened within the dark bangs that shielded his eyes from her view. Kyoko's mind started going a mile a minute. Had he heard what she’d said? Was he angry? Frowning slightly, she stood up not knowing what to do.
"Toy-ya?"
When she said his name, his gaze had been focused directly on her lips. He thought about how sweet they would taste if he kissed them right then and there. He felt the overwhelming desire of wanting to be inside of her and a burst of heat flooded his veins.
The demon blood within him and his guardian instincts were fighting for dominance and he was no longer in control. Both sides of him knew what he wanted and would not be denied this time. Not after hearing the damning words fall from her lips in sweet confession.
Shinbe’s senses sizzled… awakening him. He felt extraordinary power within close range and scrambled to right himself. Quickly gaining his feet and looking in Toya’s direction, he knew exactly where the power was coming from. His amethyst eyes followed Toya’s line of vision only to land directly on Kyoko.
Shinbe could feel Suki behind him and quickly took a step back shielding her from Toya’s vision, just in case. He’d never felt Toya’s power level so high before and wondered what he’d missed. He could also feel Kamui’s startled presence near the edge of the clearing. All eyes remained focused on Toya, wondering what he would do.
Kyoko involuntarily took a step backwards and sucked in a breath when he took a step toward her, his eyes coming into view. Unreadable emotion reflected in his silver gaze as he shook his head. Not knowing why he was telling her no, she stumbled back, feeling the overwhelming urge to run.
Toya’s irises glowed deep silver as the words left him, "Don't run from me Kyoko. It’s too late.” In a blur of movement, he had her in his arms, pinning her against him with a low growl.
Pushing back the frightened tears, Kyoko glanced up at him. At that moment… he looked dangerous and the red tint creeping around the edges of the silver within his irises was not a good sign. She started to struggle but against his superior strength, she had no chance of freeing herself. She squeezed her eyes shut as he took off with her at such a fast pace that it sent everything into a blur.
Toya had never felt his blood on fire like this. Why had she lied to him? All this time he’d been scared to death to show her any kind of affection for fear of her hating him. And it had worked because she thought he did hate her… or at least not love her at all. Kyou had been right… his confusion had made him week. He wasn’t confused anymore.
He wanted Kyoko so bad and this time, nothing was going to stand in his way. There wasn’t a power in his world or hers strong enough to take her from him. He’d heard the truth when she thought he was not listening.
Toya sped through the trees, using their high branches instead of the denser undergrowth as he headed deeper into the forest and away from prying eyes. He felt her hide her face against his chest and wrap her arms around his neck in an effort to hold on. His muscles tensed at the touch of her fingertips near the base of his neck. He knew the perfect place to take her and no one would find them. He’d make sure of that.
Kyoko felt a moment of panic. What did he mean it was too late? Why was he doing this? Why was he acting so strange? She hid her face against his chest, wondering where he was taking her. She found herself calming as she inhaled the scent that was only him. Kyoko opened her eyes when she felt him coming down from the height of the trees. He came closer to the ground, landing softly and approached a cave entrance on the side of a small mountain.
Toya entered the darkness, seeing a small light coming from far inside the core. His power level still raged high and he knew the deeper underground he went, the less likely others would track his power. He could hear the sound of rippling water coming from the center of the underground cavern.
As the light started growing, he knew they were getting closer to the inner chamber he’d found and forgotten so long ago. He tried to calm his body and mind so he would be in control, but now that he’d made a choice, he was not backing down. She would be his before they left this cave.
Toya slowed down, walking the last couple steps before coming to a stop in the middle of the illuminated cavern.
Kyoko opened her eyes as he stood her on her feet. She looked around the stone room in wonder. There was a beautiful sparkling pool in the center of it all. Light was shining from several tiny but deep crevices in the roof, illuminating the room in a florescent blue as it reflected off crystals that had probably taken thousands of years to form deep within the hidden walls.
The sound of the water gave a soothing echo. Beds of soft moss were growing where the slivers of light reached around the water’s edge. Kyoko turned full circle than stopped when her gaze fell on Toya. His eyes bore into her own, making her feel like she could not look away.
"Toya, this place is beautiful… but why did you bring me here?” She couldn’t keep the nervous sound from entering her voice as she watched him watching her. Emerald and golden eyes clashed from the distance that was between them.
"Why do you think I don’t love you?” Toya’s voice gave a hushed echo in the cave.
Kyoko wrapped her arms around herself for warmth, turning away from him toward the water. She could hear him walking up behind her… coming closer and closer. Holding back the tears, she replied truthfully, "I know that you protect the guardian heart crystal… it’s what you and your brothers were born to do. You protect me… only because I was born the priestess of that crystal. I understand that, it’s just the way things have to be.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” his voice was harsher then he meant it to be.
Kyoko’s eyes widened hearing the underlying anger. She inhaled through her teeth as she felt his hands cup her shoulders, pulling her body back against his. She continued in confusion. "Once the crystal is complete again… I’ll take it back to my world…” Her words stopped in her throat when he cut her off.
“No you won’t,” Again, it came out sounding more like a threat, but at this point he was struggling to forget all the things that were trying to pull her away from him. He wouldn’t allow it.
Kyoko bit her bottom lip frowning. Was he saying that he didn’t think they would win? That once the crystal was complete, that Hyakuhei would have it? Had she messed everything up to the point that she’d doomed everyone involved… including the innocent people of her world?
“Why didn’t you tell me?” he repeated the question.
“Because I didn’t want you to know,” Kyoko answered without thinking and took a step forward, sliding out of his embrace. If he was angry because he’d over heard her… then she would take it back. She’d lie. “Love is just a waste of time anyway. What do I know about it?”
She stepped closer to the water and gave him a quick glance over her shoulder. His bangs had fallen over his eyes again so she couldn’t see his expression but his hands were fisted at his sides.
Kyoko shrugged like it didn’t matter and even smiled though it felt like her lips would break with the effort. “I hadn’t even been kissed until Kyou kissed me the other day. Now everyone thinks they can kiss me. I don’t want to be kissed anymore. I just want to get my crystal back in one peace and go the hell home. Forget I was ever here.”
“I would just drag you back.” Toya warned as he took back the distance she’d created between them and grabbed her by the wrist, jerking her around to face him.
Kyoko’s lips parted seeing his eyes were now pure silver… the same color they turned during some of his fiercest battles. She tried to pull her hand away but he wouldn’t let go. Feeling like she was ready to snap she yelled, “Why? Why would you bring me back when I shouldn’t be here in the first place!”
"Because I don’t want you to go,” Toya’s voice shook with emotion as he pulled her back against him. “And it’s time to stop lying about it.”
Kyoko tried to regain her senses quickly, pushing from his embrace and taking a step away so her brain would function. Maybe she hadn’t understood what he’d just said or maybe he didn’t mean it the way it had sounded.
“The crystal… it’s the reason you’re with me." She stated, her breathing a little heavy. She was so nervous, she felt like she’d jump right out of her skin if he made any sudden movements. He was acting so serious that it was scaring her. She turned frightened eyes to him as he again advanced on her and she took another retreating step back.
Toya closed in on her again, unwilling to give her the space she kept trying to take. He could smell the excitement and fear coming from her and shook his head, knowing she wasn’t listening to him because she was too busy denying her own feelings.
"Kyoko, it’s too late for you to run from me.” Toya pulled her to him with gentle force this time as his lips descended down on hers in determination of claiming her. Both sides of him were reaching for the same goal… to be one with her.
Kyoko was scared. This was not what she’d expected. Not from Toya. She pressed her palms against his chest, trying to push him back again but he wouldn’t budge. She could feel the chiseled muscles strain against her palms. The power she always felt when near one of her guardians was nothing compared to the power his aura was releasing now.
Her fear spiked but so did her need for him to keep holding her. Deep inside, some demented part of her hoped he’d keep fighting her and that he would win.
Toya lifted her struggling body then groaned when her legs gripped his hips so she wouldn’t fall. He could feel her heat pressed against his groin and he hardened, straining upward with need. Turning toward the sound of the water, he laid her down on the soft moss, keeping half his body across hers so she couldn’t escape. Still on his hands and knees, he shifted until one of his legs was between hers. Pushing his knee upward as far as it would go, he growled approvingly when her legs clutched around it.
The heat radiating off her and the smell of her arousal was driving him crazy with need. This would be the one thing he did right in his ageless life. He would love her for eternity… it felt like he already had. His soul would only bond with one other soul and his life force had chosen her the very moment she’d stepped into his world.
He moved against her lips, licking at them and wanting in. When she parted them in a silent whimper from the pressure of his knee between her legs, Toya stole the opportunity and drove his tongue deep within her, reclaiming the taste of her.
Kyoko stopped struggling against him, intoxicated with the pleasure he was giving her. If she had to choose a mate, why not choose the one she loved more than any other. Her palm was no longer pushing him away but clinging to the material of his shirt, trying to draw him even closer. She could feel bolts of erratic heat shooting through her body and flashing in her lower regions.
Toya drew back from her lips and gazed down into her emerald eyes. His dark hair was hanging down around her framing her face under him. The silver highlights within his dark locks shimmered with a touch of florescent-blue from the luminous colors of the cave. He took in her flushed face and passion-glazed eyes thinking she was the most mesmerizing creature he’d ever seen.
"It was so hard trying to hide this from you,” He whispered, trailing his lips over to her ear and down the side of her neck. “It was killing me. I’ve loved you for way to long.” His breath tingled against her skin and she moaned in pure bliss. He was memorized by those sounds and it flared his awakening passion that much higher.
Somewhere in the back of Kyoko's mind, behind all the sensations he was causing, she was saying the words he wanted to hear. When she felt his hand trail down her thigh then back up between them, she thought she’d die as heat rocketed through her. His hand cupped her through her panties… hot and possessive. She had never been touched there before and the shock it sent her had her crying out his name.
His fingers continued to stroke her through the now moist cotton as he kissed his way across her neck to the other side to torture it as well. Feeling her pulse at the arc of her neck Toya suckled it, knowing the soft delicate skin there would soon bear his mark. His guardian blood simmered as he released the skin and noted the redness he’d left behind. Before the kissed redness faded, she would belong to him.
Returning to her lips, he deepened the kiss to an intoxicating level before pulling away. His harsh breathing resounded within the cavern as he rose up on his knees above her and began to remove his shirt.
Kyoko watched in fascination as the muscles rippled beneath his skin with every move he made. The reflecting streams of light shining off the water glistened across his chest and face. His eyes had returned to liquid gold and she could see love and desire shimmering within them. This was right. He wanted her just as much as she wanted him.
She’d known she would never be able to choose a mate unless it was her heart’s desire. Toya had been her heart’s desire since the day he’d tried to kill her only to find out that she was the priestess of the guardian heart crystal.
Toya stared down at the vision that now lay under him. This was his heaven and he wanted to keep her… forever. He had read in a scroll somewhere that a guardian’s heart was a passionate possessive thing and right now he agreed. The bond between soul mates was meant to outlast… even time.
Very slowly and savoring every second, he began to undress her, sliding his fingers across the flesh as he uncovered it. Toya leaned his body back down over hers, removing his hand long enough to slice through the edges of her panties.
Placing his lips to the shell of her ear, he whispered, "Say it Kyoko, I want to hear you say it.” He returned to her lips, giving her teasing butterfly kisses that would never be enough. Sliding his hand up the inside of her thigh, he pressed his fingers against her core, stroking her in rhythm as she bucked against his hand. “Tell me you want me as much as I want you.” He pressed his hardness against her, giving into a slight rhythm.
Sliding her hands across his ribs and around him, Kyoko allowed herself to finally touch him like she’d only dreamed about. A seductively soft smile caressed her lips when he inhaled quickly. "Toya, I have always loved you… wanted you.”
The weight of the world seemed to shatter from Toya’s shoulders as he heard her confession. Lowering his lips to her breast and sucking the pink nipple into his mouth, he let his finger slip through her moist heat while his thumb massaged the small bundle of nerves right above it.
Crying out, Kyoko arched her back, urging him closer and attempting to wiggle away from him at the same time. If he was trying to drive her crazier then she already was, then he was succeeding. Her light caresses were now, not too gently clawing at his back as she rocked against him.
Toya smiled bringing his lips back to her ear. "Again,” His voice was husky and his body was breaking out in a slight sweat, holding back his passion until he brought her. “But this time, tell me you’ll never leave me,” his voice demanded as he slid his finger further inside of her, only to withdraw teasingly.
Hearing her whimpering cries almost broke his control. He slowly removed his finger from her and stopped kissing her body. Hovering just above her he waited, hoping to bring her attention back to what he was saying.
Kyoko panicked thinking he was leaving her and lifted her hips trying to follow him, which was only heightening his need and Toya groaned. Lowering his body against hers to keep her still and his own mind intact was the wrong thing to do. Unable to stop himself, he slid upwards, pushing her legs farther apart until he felt the swollen head of him push against her hot entrance and throb.
He inhaled unsteadily as silver once again shattered within his golden eyes. With an arm on each side of her face, he gazed down at her trying to get her to focus her attention. Although this was killing him, he needed to hear her promise to never leave him. If he took her now, she had to understand that he would never give her back.
"Kyoko, look at me. Listen to my voice. Before we make love, before I can enter you…” He gave her a quick nudge and pressed into her just a little more. "Before I claim you… I want to hear you say that you will never leave me.” He saw her eyes focus on him and felt her hand slide up into his hair, pulling at him.
"Toya, I’m not going anywhere.” She jerked her hips upwards, feeling him press deeper and groaned. “Make love to me or kill me… but please do something before I die."
He heard her cries as she tried to wiggle closer to him. Toya felt a rush pass through his body. Rivers of lava had shot from his stomach and spread through his lower half with a vengeance. As soon as she gripped him, he thrust forward, breaking her blood bond and burying himself to the hilt inside her… simultaneously sinking his fanged teeth into the arch of her neck.
Kyoko’s eyes flashed open in pain but it instantly vanished as overwhelming ecstasy flooded through her and she came hard. She tried to blink back the flashing lights in her vision when a silver shadow fell across them. Translucent wings… like a barrier protecting them from the world… both worlds.
Straining to hold still within her tightness, Toya slowly removed his fangs from her seeing the two drops of blood well up on her pale skin. He moved his lips to her ear as he felt another shock wave pass through her body. "Kyoko, you are now mine… forever." As the shadow left them, transparent silver feathers floated down to land along the ends of her auburn hair… before vanishing.
He was so thick and hard as he started to move inside her, pulling out and thrusting back in, setting a pace only lovers share the knowledge of. She pressed her head back into the moss and cried out, not in pain but in passion as she raised her hips up to meet him. She could feel every wonderful inch of him filling her up.
Kyoko began to pull at him. Toya smiled seductively wondering if she was aware of what she was asking for. Flexing his hips, he slammed into her making her have to hold on to him even tighter. Feeling her grip him tightly from the inside had him repeating the motion time and again, slowing down in between too hard paced thrust. He brought her several times before he sped up, using his guardian powers to make him go even faster, leaving her to hold on if she could, the speed taking her breath away time and time again.
Kyoko felt like her body was going to burst. This was the highest she’d ever been and she almost panicked thinking she would never be able to come back down again. More than once she died and came back to life only to feel like she was on the brink again. She felt Toya’s fingers interlace with hers as he brought her hands above her head and held them captive.
Toya had held back as long as he could. When she tightened around him even more and he felt her hot liquid surround him… that was all he could take. Thrusting as far as he could inside her, he strained even further as his seed shot deep within her in the pulsing rhythm of his heartbeat. His groans echoed off the walls of the cave, mingled with her cries.
At first, Toya couldn’t move, holding most of his weight up with trembling arms… their breathing still labored… their bodies still interlocked. Finally sliding an arm around her, he rolled, taking her with him to keep her within the heat of his body. He watched as her breathing slowed and her eyes closed, her face flushed with a very seductive afterglow.
Having never witnessed a mating mark before… Toya wasn’t sure of the after effects but he was convinced sleeping would be one of them while listening to their slowing heartbeats. Holding her close, he knew Kyoko was now his but he also felt fear shift through him as the thought of Kyou and the claim he was also intending to make on her. Was he strong enough to keep her at his side? What would Kyoko think if she found out he knew about Kyou’s intended claim on her? He also worried about Amni’s warning.
‘Hyakuhei…’ Toya had to suppress a growl as the enemy’s name sounded in his head. He pulled Kyoko as close as he could get her, wrapping his body around her in the safe cocoon of his love. His eyelids slowly lowered as the effects of the marking began to take hold, draining him of even the strength to stay awake.
***** Several miles away, Hyakuhei had grabbed the mirror from Yuuhi’s small pale hands and sent the boy away while he watched Toya’s abduction of the priestess. The room was now cast in an eerie darkness as he sat on the windowsill holding the tainted mirror in a tight grip. His dark hair flowed around him from the slight breeze of the opening as the moon reflected down upon his heated skin. His eyes were now a soft brown as he held back unshed tears for the girl and his own loneliness.
Only at moments like this could he fight the demons that resided within him. Had his nephews known of the battle he waged within… maybe they would have helped him? Had they known it was not his fault… maybe they wouldn’t have forsaken him. Even now, Hyakuhei could feel all the demons he’d taken within himself trying to override his mind… controlling him. It was an easy thing for them to do since they both wanted the same thing.
His ability to take demons within himself and use their power as his own was thought of as a great weapon but he had been a fool. Had he known the evil within him would overpower him… he would not have used the power to consume the beast. Hyakuhei could hear the taunting voices of the demons calling out to him as he watched the mirror of souls, the image of the girl he’d once loved more than life itself… become one with Toya.
The demons within him screamed for him to take vengeance on his nephew for taking what should have been his. Hyakuhei closed his eyes, trying to block out the sight of the lovers but could not hold his own will. When his eyes opened once more, they were blood red and Hyakuhei was once again, the pawn of the demons within.
