LITMIR.BIZ

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little twins smiled innocently at her, pulling her toward the door. Her resolve to stay right where she was shattered when she saw their dirty bare feet. She wondered who bathed and took care of them. All the little things her mother used to do for her, that she took for granted, had not been given to these beautiful boys.

      Kyoko didn’t know what to do so she just nodded and followed the children out the door and down the hall. At the moment it was a plus just to get out of that room. There were large tapestries and paintings lining the walls… more than a few Kyoko wouldn’t have minded taking a closer look at but she wasn’t about to make an appointment. She had an ulterior motive… find a way out of the castle and back to Toya.

      The tiny hands holding hers continued to pull her down the hall to a set of white marble spiral steps. The stairway was so steep Kyoko tightened her grip on the children’s hands not wanting to see them trip and fall in their haste. At the bottom they led her through a set of double doors. Kyoko felt the change in temperature and humidity… she blinked in surprise and looked around with her lips parted in awe.

      The room was enormous with a tantalizing hot spring bubbling comfortably in the center of the stone floor. The stone stretched all the way to the walls where it was lined with soft fluffy cushions creating a very comfortable setting. Under the right circumstances… it could have been considered romantic.

      Following the wall, she craned her neck noticing it went all the way up through the center of the castle, leading to different wings and letting in the breeze and sunshine. If it were raining, she’d be wet right about now.

      â€œWell, at least this is closer to being outside than I was,” she glanced down and smiled when both the boys looked up at her curiously. “It’s beautiful,” She nodded not wanting to worry them with her own ramblings.

      Kyoko remembered Toya once telling her that Kyou lived in a luxurious setting… this alone confirmed it. She couldn’t tell just how big the castle was, and she wasn’t really sure she wanted to find out. It was bad enough she was having trouble remembering how she got to this room.

      Following her line of vision back down to the spring, she noticed there where soft materials for drying and steam rising off the heated water. She had come to absolutely love the small hot springs they often ran into in this world but this was … the best thing since sliced bread. In ways, it was even better than what she had in her modern world.

      It seemed almost too good for just general use and she wondered if this were someone’s personal bathing area. She shivered when the idea that this could be Kyou’s private bath entered her mind. Taking a quick look around to be sure, she breathed a sigh of relief upon determining he was nowhere around.

      Kyoko looked down at Hiroki and Hiraru nervously. "Are we supposed to be here?"

      They smiled, jumping up and down with excitement. "We wanted Kyoko to come with us like Mommy used to do!" With that… the twins preceded in stripping and running into the water, giggling in delight.

      Kyoko’s jaw dropped. ‘Like mommy used to do?’ She blinked several times wondering how two children so sweet and innocent had survived without their mommy and how it was that they had wound up living with the prince of ice.

      *****

      Kyou paced back and forth within the walls of his room wondering what he was going to do with Kyoko. He wasn’t worried about Toya and the others, but the fact that Hyakuhei had gotten so close to her didn’t make him happy. If he hadn’t gotten to her first, what would have happened?

      Shaking his head he growled at the question. He knew exactly what would have happened. Hyakuhei would have seduced her and then used her to gather the talisman and open a portal into her world. He could still remember the softness within her voice as she said Hyakuhei’s name in her sleep. That thought alone was enough to make him want to fly into a rage. His uncle did not deserve to touch… would NEVER touch what was his.

      He stopped pacing and stared into space. His… he very much liked the sound of that. The only problem he faced at the moment was gaining more of her trust and making her see that he was the only one that would ever have the ability to protect her the way she was meant to be protected. In order for him to accomplish this, he needed to keep her beside him and make sure she remained so.

      He knew he could force her to stay but he also realized that would only make her hate him. He had worked most of his life at keeping humans at a distance, but Kyoko… he didn’t want her distant at all. If she never left the castle, then evil could never reach her. He wanted her to want to stay willingly, like the twins.

      A very brief smile graced his lips thinking of the human children he had accommodated within his home. The expression vanished when his mind flashed back to the past… keeping the twins had been an accident.

      The humans that had been stranded in this world, millenniums ago, had had to fight the demons of this world in order to survive. But often they were killed off at early ages because of their weakness, so the population had not grown by much. Those that did survive to adulthood often spend their entire lives fighting the demons that plagued this world.

      The guardians and stronger humans within this world tried to keep them protected but they couldn’t always be there at the right time.

      Such was the situation with the twins. Not long after the guardian heart crystal had been shattered, Kyou had heard of a village near his castle being attacked by the underlings of his uncle and he knew there must have been a talisman there for Hyakuhei to show such interest. On top of that, the village was within his territory and therefore under his protection. Unfortunately, for reasons he still had not discovered, he had not sensed the demons closing in until it was too late.

      By the time Kyou had arrived, the village was under attack by several airborne fire demons. The twins had been the only ones left and that was only because their parents had hid them in a cavern under their hut. Had he not heard their cries under the burning shelter…? Kyou found it difficult to think about that part of it which constantly led him to a confused state.

      Having pulled them from the wreckage, he had noticed the twins both had been adorned with a necklace made from the shattered pieces of the guardian heart crystal. The twin’s crystalline blue eyes had matched the color of the jewel that hung around their neck as they cried for the family that had been taken from them.

      He had stood there looking around the destroyed village as the twins clutched at his legs, hiding their faces against him.

      Kyou had thought it strange that both fragments had been in the shape of a teardrop… how ironic as he looked around the village that had been slaughtered leaving behind the very reason it had been demolished. Had the guardian heart crystal somehow hid the children from the monsters that had come for them? Considering the unknown nature of the crystal and the many secrets it contained… it wouldn’t have surprised him.

      Knowing others would come for the tainted necklaces, Kyou quickly removed the fragments from their necks. He tried convincing himself repeatedly that it was part of his duty as a guardian to protect the talisman but, again, emotion constantly swayed his decisions. Later, looking back on the event, he had to stop from associating himself and his brothers with the twins. Like the children, they had no family except each other.

      Already hiding feelings for Kyoko, it had made him curious about humans, so when the twins had tried to toddle behind him… wanting to follow him… he realized they too would die without his help.

      Something about the tearstained faces and the way they looked up at him made his chest feel tight and heavy… he would not leave them. The decision made, he had turned and swept them up in his arms and brought them home behind the walls where demons could not find them. He would watch after the human siblings and learn the secret of why the guardian heart crystal protected such a race.

      Shaking the memories from his mind, he pulled the chain out from his shirt and glanced at the sphere that rested there. The fragments

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