Defy Not The Heart

Shinbe watched her lips part, and his body moved with a will of its own as he closed the distance between them. He brushed his lips across hers in a feather-light kiss that was only the calm before the storm… his breath heated across her cheek. Then a roaring blur of red and black slammed into him as pain shot through his wound that his guardian powers had just started healing.

Shinbe was hauled backward and slammed into the ground by a very enraged Toya, who now stood above him, pointing one of his twin daggers directly at his throat.

"What the hell do you think you are doing kissing Kyoko, you bastard?" Toya screamed, shaking with rage. The sight of Shinbe kissing Kyoko was forever burned into his retinas. "I left her in your care and you decide to molest her?" he yelled, infuriated.

Shinbe's amethyst eyes darkened to a deep purple.

Kyoko shoved her way between them, her back to Shinbe as if protecting him. Glaring at Toya, she demanded, "Don’t you dare!" She threw out her hands in a shielding gesture. "It’s not what you think, Toya."

Toya lowered his dagger with a snarl, "Oh yeah, then why the hell are you naked?" His silver eyes lowered on her bare skin to make his point.

Kyoko's world came crashing down on her, and she just knew the gods were laughing about it as she froze in place. All of a sudden, she felt the breeze across her bare skin, and could feel Toya's eyes heating her skin just as fast. Dropping her arms back to her sides, her gaze sought out her clothing, seeing they were now dry and laying on the rock not far away.

Snapping her eyes back to Toya’s, she hissed, "I was attacked and Shinbe saved my life. I was helping him because he was wounded protecting me, and so what? I kissed him, big deal. It was a thank you!" She tried to ease her way out from between them and toward her clothes, but changed her mind when Toya again pointed the dagger at Shinbe's throat.

"You asked her for a kiss as a reward for saving her? You damned pervert!” Toya growled out, now even more furious with the guardian. Then with one quick jerk, he grabbed Kyoko's arm, pulling her behind him and out of his brother’s sight.

Shinbe's eyes flashed with anger at Toya's treatment of Kyoko. “Put the blade away, Toya," Shinbe's words began to ice as he stood up brushing his pants off, his chest still bare. He towered over Toya menacingly, being the taller of the two, getting ready to fly into him. After all… no one had ever called him a coward.

Kyoko hurried back around and slipped between the brothers once again. Her breast accidentally brushed Toya's chest at the same time that her back grazed Shinbe's hot skin because they were in the middle of taking a threatening step closer to each other. Her eyebrow began to twitch.

"I kissed him. He didn’t ask for it. Now, both of you go away so I can get dressed." She looked up, searching Toya's silver gaze and softened her voice almost pleadingly, "This is bad enough without making it worse."

She felt Shinbe back away and without turning to look, she knew he was getting dressed. She could hear the rustle of the material as he slid it on with jerking motions. Knowing better then to turn and look, she kept her eyes glued to Toya waiting to see if he had any more tendencies to injure Shinbe. She almost sighed in relief as she heard Shinbe’s retreating footsteps as he left the side of the spring.

Toya didn’t pay attention to Shinbe’s departure. At the moment, he was still staring into Kyoko’s eyes in confusion. ‘She kissed Shinbe? Why?’ She reached out to touch his arm, but he quickly turned around and took one step away, keeping his back to her.

"Get dressed, but I’m not leaving you alone again. I’ll stay until you’re ready to leave," the tone in his voice still held anger.

Kyoko huffed and quickly went to her clothes, hurrying into them. Once finally dressed, she turned back around seeing his stiff back and walked past him, ready to return to the hut when he reached out and grabbed her arm, swinging her around to face him.

Toya just wanted to know why. Why would she kiss Shinbe like that? His dark bangs fell forward, shielding his golden eyes from her. "Why did you kiss him?" he whispered. His hair swayed in the steady breeze, causing the silver highlights to shimmer attractively.

Kyoko frowned not knowing how to respond. In truth, maybe she’d just simply wanted to, but she couldn’t say that to him.

She sighed, "I didn’t think, so… I really don’t know why." She lowered her eyes. That was the truth anyway.

Toya felt fear creep into his heart with her answer. He snapped his head back up and looked directly at her, drawing her gaze to his. "Kyoko, you have never tried to kiss me… like that," he growled without thinking.

Kyoko's eyes blazed up at him for putting her on the spot, and she yelled back at him, "You never act like you want me to! Besides, I don’t have a boyfriend so I’m free to kiss anyone I want too, right?" She jerked her arm from his hold, ignoring his growl at her answer and she stalked past him wondering why all of a sudden he even cared.

Kyoko glared at the ground as she made her way towards the hut. Toya infuriated her. How dare he get angry with her or Shinbe for kissing? What was it to him anyway? He didn’t care about her. He loved no one, so what did it matter who she kissed? She threw open the door to the hut and plopped down on her sleeping bag, deep in thought.

Toya stomped in after her. “I better never see you kiss Shinbe again!” he growled as he sat down across the room from her and leaned back against the wall.

Kyoko glared at him as her mind took in exactly what he’d just said, or more like ordered. ‘How dare him,’ her emerald eyes began shooting sparks.

“I will kiss, Whomever I please, Whenever I please!” with that, Kyoko angrily stood up, rolled up her sleeping bag, picked up her backpack, and headed for the door.

Toya jumped up to follow her with a stricken look. “Where do you think you’re going, damn it?” He hadn’t meant to make her angry enough to leave. He just didn’t like the fact that Shinbe had so much as touched her.

Kyoko stopped with her hand on the doorframe, her back to him. “Toya,” she turned slightly, held her hand up toward him, and then with an angry smirk, she used the Taming spell on him, knowing how much he hated it. “Shut up!”

Toya hit the ground with a string of curses. Kyoko stomped out the door, past Shinbe and walked off towards the maiden shrine with every intention of going back home.

Shinbe stood with his back to the hut, a slight grin upon his face. He heard what Kyoko had said, and his grin widened as he heard Toya hit the floor. Kyoko hadn’t seen him standing there when she came out, so he followed after her as she walked into the forest.

Chapter 4 "Don't Go"

Coming to the heart of time gardens, Kyoko slowly sat down in the grass in front of the maiden statue, looking up into the maiden’s face. She focused on the face that she knew mirrored her own looks. That image belonged to her ancestor that the statue was made in memory of. If living at the same time, they could have been twins.

Kyoko shook the thought away, remembering why she was now sitting in the grass in the first place. Her thoughts began to battle amongst themselves as if she wasn’t even there to listen.

‘Toya is such a jerk!’ She had just come back and ‘all he could do was yell’ at her. Sometimes she just… ‘Hated him…. OK, maybe that was a lie.’ Kyoko sighed, 'I can't lie to myself. I do love Toya and when no one is around to witness it… he often proves that he loves me back.' Kyoko narrowed her eyes in thought. “But then he has to go and blow it.”

She was going home and maybe she’d never come back. She jumped up with every intention of laying her hands in the maiden’s hands, knowing it would take her home.

‘But then you’d never see Shinbe again.’ Her eyes widened and her mind screamed, ‘You have feelings for him!’… ‘This is ridiculous,’ she argued with herself, ‘I only have lingering feelings because I dreamt about him, that doesn’t mean anything.’ She backed away from the statue, lowering her hand hesitantly and sat back down, leaning against a cool stone.

‘But what if he has feelings for you too? Had the kiss gone further, then would he have kissed you back?’ ’Who was it that did the kissing again?’ ‘But he’s a player… he’d kiss any woman.’ ‘And he stuck up for you with Toya.’ ‘Only because he felt threatened and besides, that’s just the way Shinbe is.’ A deep voice brought her from her scrambled thoughts.

“Kyoko,” Shinbe’s husky voice called out to her. Kyoko’s head shot up and she blushed, feeling as if he had heard her thoughts.

“Um, hi,” she looked away from him, in hopes he didn’t see the blush she knew was there.

“Are you going home?” he took a couple slow steps as he talked, “I can’t really blame you, after the way Toya acted.” Shinbe kneeled in front of her with his hand out stretched to help her up. She took the offered hand and stood up, patting the dust off her skirt.

“I just can’t stand to be around him sometimes, Shinbe... I… I’m really sorry about all the trouble I’ve caused you,” she took a step toward the shrine.

Shinbe didn’t want Kyoko to leave, but he knew there would be no stopping her once she had her mind made up. He was well aware of how much she hated it when Toya demanded she not leave, and he didn’t want her to resent him for the same reasons. But in truth, he felt the same as Toya… he didn’t want her to go.

Withholding his true feelings, he tried to cheer her up. “It’s okay, Kyoko. You can cause me trouble anytime,” he grinned at her pretending to slowly reach for her.

Kyoko didn’t miss his hand as it inched its way towards her. She giggled, flashing him a smile. Then she was gone.

Shinbe stood there staring at the statue as his smile faltered. He wanted to tell her not to go. He’d no compulsion to grope her… well, maybe a little. He made the action so she would feel at ease about leaving and know nothing had changed between them. He could tell she was upset and all he wanted was to see her smile, or show some other emotions besides sadness and anger. His plan worked better than he thought when she had laughed at him.

Shinbe’s haunted amethyst gaze jerked away from the maiden shrine. He hated the time portal’s ability to take her away from him and wished he could follow her into her world… just once. His eyes darkened attractively, then narrowed with the jealous thought of Toya being able to follow her through the heart of time. Why had the time portal picked the silver guardian and only him? It just wasn’t fair. Toya wasn’t her only guardian.

*****

When Kyoko found herself on the other side of the maiden shrine, she laid down inside the privacy of the shrine house, resting her head against her backpack and closing her eyes. She didn’t want to have to face anyone right now.

Thoughts of Shinbe making love to her kept sneaking their way back into her mind. Why did she have to dream about him like that? It just made her wish... ‘What am I thinking?’ she asked herself. She had to stop thinking about it.

Shinbe and Suki obviously liked each other, even if they wouldn’t admit it. Plus, he hits on all women. It’s just the way Shinbe was.

Kyoko slowly stood up and walked out of the shrine house that protected the maiden statue. ‘I’ll just go to my room and study. Yeah, then I’ll go to school tomorrow, and everything will be fine. I’ll maybe even call my friends and go hang out with them for a little while.’ Kyoko stopped in her tracks and nearly crossed her eyes thinking aloud, “New rule, no eating fruit around her friends.”