A Guardian's Possession

She and the guardians would have to find the talismans before the demons did or all would be lost.

Since then, the five guardian brothers had realized that she was the true priestess of the guardian heart crystal and therefore… very much under their protection. Kyou was the only one of the guardians that kept his distance from her. The few times they had crossed paths, she had the sensation that he was more of an enemy then an ally. His golden eyes seemed so hard and cold when he had looked at her… as if destroying her was more to his liking.

Toya had told her once that Kyou thought humans to be beneath him. That was putting it mildly. In Toya’s own words Kyou was a self-centered, conceited asshole that couldn’t develop a heart if his life depended on it. Kyoko would remember this occasionally and it always brought a smile to her face. For some reason, the aloof demeanor Kyou possessed just seemed… right.

“He definitely wears it well,” She said aloud.

The other four guardian brothers had readily placed her under their protection while they searched for the talisman before the demons of their world gathered them and used their powers to attack.

Toya had appointed himself as her closest watcher and protector. He covered up that closeness with the fact that she had started this mess by bringing the crystal back to their world to begin with. But then again, she could have argued the matter by saying that if he and Kyou hadn’t attacked her when they first met, it wouldn’t have shattered to begin with. It just wasn’t worth saying anything though… Toya’s temper always gave her a headache and made her irritated.

He still acted annoyed with her but sometimes she got the feeling maybe he loved her a little too. He just chose to often hide those feelings behind the huge chip he had on his shoulder… a chip she’d really like to knock off every once in a while. Maybe it would actually give him a better attitude about the whole thing.

She smiled softly at the thought of him. To her… Toya was fast becoming her best friend and maybe even a little more. Kyoko could feel the slight blush spreading across her cheeks. Toya had saved her life many times since the day the guardians had tried to kill her.

They had created a very strong bond and even though she and Toya still argued a lot, that bond bordered very close to a deep love. It was as if the crystal knew the feelings they hid for each other because it had somehow chosen Toya to be the only one who could follow her back into her world when the other guardians couldn’t breach the time portal. That had spurred some rather humorous arguments between the brothers. Kyoko was convinced they did it on purpose just to make her smile.

The other three brothers Shinbe, Kamui, and Kotaro all held a place in her heart as well. Kyoko’s lips lifted in a fond smile, which left her where she was now. Here she stood, all alone, in the middle of the night, in a land where demons roamed freely. Sometimes she wondered if she didn’t need her head examined.

‘More like needing to be locked up in the loony bin somewhere, in a room with rubber walls’, she thought sarcastically. Not wanting to disturb the guardians just yet, Kyoko grabbed hold of a vine and climbed up to sit on one of the surrounding white rocks.

Just because she couldn’t sleep didn’t mean she needed to wake them up. It was way too late and still way to early. Looking up into the night sky, she just sat there, enjoying the view of the lightning bolts that didn’t seem to be getting any closer.

Kyoko’s fingers rose to the small pouch she wore around her neck where some of the talisman they had gathered safely rested. She was unaware that as she touched the binding, a soft florescent blue light radiated from it and the direction of the cool breeze quickly began to change.

*****

Nearby, Kyou's head tilted as a tainted scent that was caught in the wind of the approaching storm drifted toward him. Hyakuhei was near. He narrowed his golden eyes as the breeze shifted, now coming from the direction of The Heart of Time. That scent, he gritted his teeth… the priestess and the power of the guardian heart crystal.

His hands fisted at his side as anger flashed across his expression causing a small growl to be heard in the stillness of the surrounding forest. She was alone and unguarded. How dare she be at the shrine at this dangerous hour unprotected! Why were his brothers not with her? Kyou inhaled deeply of the woman-child that traveled with his siblings.

Within his mind’s eye, he could see the image of the priestess he and his brothers had become guardians of. Auburn hair… startling emerald eyes, it was as if the beauty of the maiden statue had come to life and color. She should have never come to this world with the guardian heart crystal. Neither she, nor it, belonged here.

If he could, he would toss her back through the portal and destroy the statue but to do so would be a bastardization of the barrier his father Tadamichi had protected. Despite his desire, it seemed this point was now very moot.

The dangerous power his uncle continued to gain was her fault. Had she not known what would happen? If she were the true priestess, she should have known to stay away from this demonic world. His father had died because he had closed the time portal and this small human girl had undone everything he had sacrificed his life for. It had all been for nothing.

Tadamichi wanted him to protect the human’s… all of them. But why? Why would he now protect the very human who had been stupid enough to open the portal between their worlds. Why did Tadamichi care so much that he gave his life for them?

Kyou had tried to frighten her and send her screaming back into her world. But much to his disbelief… she had to be the only female who seemed to not fear him for more than a few fleeting seconds at a time. When he’d first come upon her not so long ago, she had stood there, chin held high, pointing a spirit dart straight at him as if she, a mere human, could fight him… and win.

He’d vowed to protect the guardian heart crystal and the time portal, but never a small human girl. His brothers may have agreed to it, but he had never. Humans were weak, foolish creatures that feared him. Why did she have to be different? Why did she not fear him? Why did she repeatedly stand before him, a symbol of everything defiant?

Kyou leapt from the tree he’d been sitting in and stood to his full height. He could feel his heart beat loud and thumping under his skin… his guardian blood demanding that he go to her. It happened every time she was near and that only angered him more. His instinct was a force that was stronger than his will.

Her lack of fear only attracted him to her, and of late, she had somehow consumed his thoughts… along with his dreams. He’d stayed away from the group for that reason alone. How dare that girl plant herself so deep within his thoughts? He would teach her not to enchant him with her insolence and humanity. She was nothing to him except the priestess of the crystal… she had no business here within his reach.

Kyou’s body tensed as he felt a shift in the balance of good and evil approaching the unaware priestess. His face was calm… the calm before the storm. His silver hair swayed in the constant breeze as his senses picked up what danger was about to come upon her.

*****

Hyakuhei tilted his head back, letting the storm of his own making rage around him. The wind swirled, ruffling his clothing and whipping his midnight hair around his beautiful face. His ruby eyes cracked open when the wind brought a scent to his nose that was not of the rain and sky.

An expression of euphoria crossed his features and he dipped his ebony wings downward in a powerful stroke to gain altitude. His gaze lingered in the direction of The Heart of Time while a sinister smile slowly appeared on his lips. She was here… the priestess that tormented him so.

“Ah, priestess, so you are alone and unprotected,” He whispered. “Wait for my arrival, my beauty… I am coming for you.”

Demons began pouring in droves from Hyakuhei’s body as he released them to do his bidding. A maniacal laugh escaped his soft lips and his eyes were wide, shining with the light of borderline insanity. The sky became black with his slaves as they zeroed in on the maiden statue and the object of purity within its gardens.

*****

Lowborn demons were already being drawn to her and the scent of power she held. They were only drones sent to keep her from fleeing and Kyou could feel the presence of his uncle not far behind them. Hyakuhei had discovered her unprotected presence and was coming for her. He would not let Hyakuhei have her.

Kyou glanced up as a shadow passed across the light of the moon announcing their arrival. All night sounds stopped as translucent wings appeared behind Kyou, sending a furious spray of golden feathers across the clearing his silent form stood in. His long silver hair swayed in the wind as he readied himself for the fight to come.

“So be it.” The words left his lips in an answer to his own tormented thoughts.

She had put herself in danger once again and it left him with no choice. He decided if his brothers were going to be lax in their duties, then he would take the priestess from them. If this was the idea they possessed of protection, then they deserved to have her taken away. But first… he would destroy the evil stalking her.

Chapter 2 “Fearless”

Unaware that the storm was now growing closer, Kyoko felt the breeze cool her heated skin and welcomed it with a soft smile. Closing her emerald eyes, she enjoyed the solitude of the night before heading to Sennin’s and joining the guardians that slumbered there.

Sennin’s daughter, Suki, had become her closest female friend on this side of the time portal and her hut was where the group stayed when they weren’t traveling across the dangerous lands looking for the shattered fragments of the guardian heart crystal. Suki had been with them from the very start, even though she wasn’t a guardian.

Kyoko smiled thinking of Suki and the one guardian that never left her friend’s side… Shinbe. He was one of the five guardian brothers. He was also a letch and very much had a thing for Suki. With midnight blue hair and eyes of amethyst, it was all Suki could do to continue to fight his advances.

Her smile widened wondering how much longer Suki could hold out. Suki may be stubborn but Kyoko knew just how stubborn a guardian could be once he set his mind to something.

Kyoko and the youngest guardian, Kamui, would often go into laughing fits as Suki tried her best to keep Shinbe in line without admitting she liked him. Kamui had a great sense of humor and she loved him dearly. The color of Kamui's eyes would change with his mood but she didn’t think anyone noticed but her.

When Kamui smiled, it was true happiness and very contagious. But deep down, Kyoko sensed something more… something he hid from everyone… even himself. Sometimes Kamui’s eyes would shine with secrets and knowledge she couldn’t even come close to comprehending. For one so pure of heart, it was almost as if he held the weight of the entire universe on his shoulders. It made her want to protect him just as much as he protected her, even though he was in no way weak.

Shaking her worries for Kamui from her mind, Kyoko was left with Kotaro, the livelier of the group and Toya’s self-proclaimed competition. Almost from the very beginning Kotaro had claimed Kyoko for his own… constantly telling the others that she was his woman. This always got a rise out of Toya regardless of the situation. She knew Kotaro was joking but Toya always took him so seriously.

With dark windblown hair and ice blue eyes, Kotaro was a handful. He was constantly calling her ‘his woman’ no matter how many times she denied it. He was a prince within his own territory and spent much time there, protecting it from the demons within his realm. Most of the time all he would have to do was just flash those bright blue eyes of his at her and she’d melt into a puddle.

He knew what strings to pull with her to get almost anything he wanted. Sometimes she wondered if every one of the guardians didn’t have her wrapped around their little fingers in one way or another. The group very seldom saw him though. Her thoughts came full circle back to Kyou.

“Kyou,” Kyoko shivered as the name left her lips. He didn’t like her… or anyone else it would seem. He often acted more like an enemy than a brother to Toya. Those two gave the words ‘sibling rivalry’ a new meaning. Out of the five brothers, Kyou was definitely the strange one and the one to avoid at all costs. He was even more hostile than the demon plagued land he lived in.

Giving up on her scattered thoughts, Kyoko opened her emerald eyes and slid off the stone only to stop dead in her tracks. There… not twenty feet from her stood Kyou. He looked almost angelic except for the dangerous expression in his golden eyes.

‘Speak of the devil,’ she thought to herself.

The darkness that surrounded them seemed to illuminate his body… giving him a ghostly appearance. Kyou's silence was thunderous. He looked as if he was considering something and Kyoko had a feeling she wouldn’t like whatever the result was.

Kyou watched her face become pale because of her alarm and savored her intoxicating scent. For once… she should fear him. She should also fear the demons he had just destroyed to protect her. His eyes bore into her as he remembered the dangerous monsters he’d just eliminated. If they had gotten to her…

The muscles in Kyou’s jaw flexed angrily at the very thought of a demons claws touching her. Still… she did not run, nor did she scream. Would she scream if she realized Hyakuhei was on his way? Such fearlessness was not in her best interest. As his thoughts darkened, her lack of fear only served to inflame him further… stoking the fires of the odd rage and passion he felt for the priestess.

Kyoko stood completely still. She didn't know how to take his hauntingly beautiful image. She was too scared to move and she dared not utter a sound knowing anything she did could put her life in danger. She wasn’t so sure he had forgiven her for bringing the guardian heart crystal back into his realm.

She could feel a chill slowly crawling its way up her spine… not stopping until it reached the back of her neck and spread out from there like icy fingers of warning. She took a step backwards before she realized it and stopped herself from taking another retreating step. She knew that would be considered showing fear and she had been taught by her grandfather at a young age to hide such fear.

Her grandfather’s words came back to haunt her, “Showing fear only makes you an instant victim.”

Trying to fight the creeping sensation, Kyoko closed her eyes for a second. But when she opened them again, Kyou was nowhere to be seen, causing her to be even more terrified. Again the teachings of her grandfather haunted her, “Never let the enemy out of your sight or you will not see the coming attack.”

"Kyou?" She whispered his name as fear laced her voice. She then felt his hot breath on her neck and heard him inhale long and slow as if testing her scent.

Slowly, with her eyes wide open, expecting death any second, she tilted her head sideways, stopping only when her cheek touched his silky one. She gasped and tried to throw herself forward only to feel his arm go around her like a steal band, slamming her back against him and knocking the breath from her.

Kyoko's sudden fear was making it harder for her to regain that breath. She decided that she now knew what a panic attack really was and wondered if she was going to hyperventilate. This was the one person she feared more than Hyakuhei, though she had kept that little fact to herself. She had never been within touching distance of him… she definitely liked it better that way.

Her scent now surrounded him, intoxicating him. Kyou could smell her untainted scent mixed with fear, getting stronger and heavier the longer he held her imprisoned against him. Finally… she was showing the fear he demanded but still she did not scream. Her first mistake had been that small step she had taken away from him. Just that simple gesture had heated his guardian blood in ways he hadn’t felt in a very long time.

The lids of his golden eyes momentarily closed while images flashed before him too fast to decipher as he imagined the ghostly sound of her voice screaming… whether in fear or something else was hard to tell. All he did know is he did not want to hear it.

Or… maybe he needed to hear that sound to rid himself of the spell she had put him under. Something told him that it wouldn’t matter one way or the other. Deep inside his guardian’s heart, Kyou knew he wanted her and he was not one to be denied. A slow dangerous smile graced his lips as she started to struggle against him. He quickly caught one of her wrist in a light grip as she jerked.

Kyou nuzzled her neck and then took in a sharp breath when she rubbed up against him trying to free herself. "You are encouraging me," He growled low in his throat and brushed his lips against the delicate flesh of her neck. His heated blood challenged him to claim her as his own.

Kyoko couldn't help the chills the sensation of his lips gave her. Was he trying to seduce her or was he going to kill her after all? She stopped struggling and went perfectly still not sure if she liked the sound of what he had just said and she didn't want to piss him off. Something told her that he was only trying to scare her.

'Smart girl,' Kyou contemplated to himself, but still she was not screaming and he was touching her… how odd. His arms loosened into a softer hold as she looked up over her shoulder at him curiously, her fear starting to subside.

Kyou got his first up close glance at her emerald eyes and the reaction startled him. She was looking at him as if he were a man… not a guardian lord. Her inability to show proper fear of him was confusing and that alone angered him. Her lack of fear had been what put her in danger tonight in the first place.

It was also why Hyakuhei was on his way to her right now thinking he could steal her away in the middle of the night. Even at this great a distance… he could feel the malicious intent of his uncle. With his hearing as sensitive as it was, he could almost hear the caress of the wind against ebony feathers. This was something for her to fear… among other things.

Fear… he could teach her that.

He would teach her the reality of his world and show her why she should never have entered it. The Guardian’s, his brothers… her protectors… they were not here to save her now. He would instruct her in various ways the true meaning of fear. His golden eyes shone wickedly in the waning moonlight as an idea came to him.

Kyou reached around her body, sliding the palm of his hand slowly downward in a caressing motion until it rested against her thigh at the bottom of her skirt. He then slid it up and under the loose cloth. He could feel the heat coming from her soft skin scalding the palm of his hand.

Her whole body shivered at the light touch as she tried to twist out of his hold. The motion caused him to form a tighter grip on her. He slid his other hand across her rib cage meaning to only teach her the lesson of being caught alone and without protection so she would be wise enough not to do so again.

Once again his instinct was stronger than his will as something within her called to him… making him want. Kyou could feel the heat radiating from her and his highborn blood stirred dangerously out of his control. Becoming confused, he suddenly did not want to let her go.

He would never know if the warning was for him or her. Dipping his lips closer to her ear, Kyou breathed one word. "Run."

In Kyoko's mind, fear gave way to panic when his arms loosened. She could be very obedient when the time was right and now was that time. She shot forward with no thought except to escape. Her mind screamed Toya's name repeatedly but not a sound came from her lips. Every sound she would have made seemed to be lodged in her throat, leaving it echoing only in her own ears.

If she could just get closer to the village and Toya, she would then have a chance of him hearing her and saving her from his deranged brother. She mentally pleaded with herself to wake up even though she knew this was too real to be a dream.

She nearly groaned out loud when a raindrop hit her proving she had been right… this was no dream she could wake up from, the storm had finally reached her. Glancing quickly over her shoulder she slammed into what felt like a wall and stumbled backwards with the impact.

Seeing the white billowing silk shirt only a step from her, she sprinted in another direction… now running away from the village where the guardians slept and the only hope she had of someone saving her. She knew Hyakuhei used to be a guardian but somehow had lost himself to the demons he once fought… becoming the enemy. Kyoko wondered if the same thing hadn’t happened to Kyou without anyone realizing it.

Kyoko caught a glimpse of white to her right and shifted back toward the village hoping to now have a chance to get to Toya. Her heartbeat was so loud in her ears it was deafening. Somewhere she knew the gods were laughing at her as the sky opened up and let loose its rain with a ground shaking crash of thunder.

Why? Why was he doing this? Why didn't he just kill her instead of torturing her first? She knew she didn't have a chance of out running him. She was also aware of the fact that he was going to stop her before she got to safety, but that didn't stop her headlong rush for it.

Kyou watched her get closer to the village and decided to let her think she had half a chance of escaping for a minute. It would only make it better when he caught her. Then another scent hit him. His brothers. No! He would not allow it! They had failed in protecting her and because of that, she would now stay with him no matter what. His highborn blood demanded it.

Kyoko could feel the sudden change in him. She felt Kyou’s aura closing in on her and she screamed, this time unable to hold it back. The sound rang like a death bell throughout the forest as a hand clamped over her mouth and an arm went around her waist tightening, cutting off her air supply as she was once again slammed back against his chest. Her feet were now dangling a couple of inches from the ground.

*****

Toya glanced up at the darkening night sky just as the first raindrops came. Tonight was a bad night… he could feel it clear down into his soul. His eyes matched the color of the lightning that danced across the darkness as the storm closed in.

Unable to sleep while Kyoko wasn't with him, Toya had climbed onto a high branch of a tree on the outskirts of the village to keep watch. All he could do was wait until dawn and then go meet her in the gardens of The Heart of Time. If he had his way… she never would have gone home to start with.

The ground shook with a rumble of thunder but Toya’s eyes widened… his hearing picking up a terrified scream within the storm. That scream had taken his breath away. “Kyoko?” What was she doing back here at this time of night without telling him first?

His eyes instantly turned to molten silver as his protective instincts went into overdrive. He’d never heard her that scared, even during battle. His heartbeat flew as his silver wings sprang to life and he took off almost too fast for the human eye to detect.

"Kyoko!" The worried cry ripped from his throat.

*****

Shinbe stood outside Suki’s hut no longer able to sleep. His nightmares would not allow it. His amethyst gaze locked on the forest that held The Heart of Time portal. Something was wrong, he could feel it… it had nothing to do with the oncoming storm that now raged over the forest.