by CJ Anaya
This had moved far beyond some ridiculous challenge. Did he really want me to choose Victor over him and compromise his precious prophecy? To what end? Why would he want me when he came solely to unite me with Victor? I ignored the intensity of the moment and tried on one of those bored looks that Tie managed so well. As if I couldn’t be bothered enough to care about whatever was happening here.
“Do you see me swooning?” I folded my arms over my chest. “Nothing says romance like a burnt flower.”
“Make a decision, Hope. I’m giving you the opportunity to choose your own path.”
Tie’s eyes flashed one confusing emotion after another, and even though he was the one offering me such a rare and special flower, I got the distinct impression that he was silently pleading for me to refuse it.
Taking that flower would be giving him a leg up on this weird little challenge we’d struck with one another, and I had no way of knowing what kind of affect it might have on me. I didn’t want to be under its influence, but I didn’t want to give up this challenge either.
I needed to be the one setting the conditions, and I needed to make sure they were the kind of conditions that would ensure me a win. Before he had time to anticipate me, I batted the blossom away with the back of my hand and got right in his face.
He looked to the floor where the flower had landed and then watched as it disappeared. I could have sworn I heard him let out a sigh of relief.
“You seem to think one kiss from Victor was all it took to get me to fall for him,” I said pointing my finger at his chest.
“Do you deny you were into it?”
“All I’m saying is this: if you really want to prove something here, don’t hand me a withered old flower and expect me to beg for an engagement ring. Put your money where your mouth is and kiss me.”
Daring Tie to kiss me wasn’t necessarily the brightest idea I’d ever had, nor was it my normal MO. Nope. This move had Angie written all over it. However, it was a condition I could easily set without the least hope of him taking me up on it. In the back of my mind I still clung to the idea that someone like Tie would never be interested in someone like me. He just wanted to get under Victor’s skin. There was no way he planned on kissing me unless his intended audience was present.
And so I dared him to kiss me. Yep.
Taking in Tie’s expression made me think my impulsive move had actually been a good one. He had not been expecting this. His calm façade slipped, his eyes darting to my lips and pausing there before taking in my serious expression and weighing it against my words. I decided to press my advantage and enjoy it as much as possible.
“Uh oh. Are we out of practice, Tie? So busy finding love for other people we don’t remember how to do it for ourselves?” It was ruthless teasing, but I wasn’t about to apologize for it. “Better luck next time.”
I turned around and headed for my bed wearing my own smug little smile. I’d been right all along. He wouldn’t touch me without his oldest enemy present.
Before I’d taken two steps, I felt his arms surround me, clutching me to him in a tight embrace. I might have attempted to struggle, but I was too stunned by the sensation of his warm, moist lips slowly kissing the tender side of my neck. I should have put up some kind of resistance, but my body refused to cooperate with me.
What was happening? This hadn’t been the plan at all!
Instead of pushing away from him, I couldn’t help but tilt my head to the side as he continued his slow assault down the length of my neck toward my shoulder. He grabbed my waist and turned me roughly to face him. His eyes were stormy with a need I couldn’t even begin to understand. He cupped the sides of my face in his hands and crushed my lips to his. A soft moan escaped my mouth. My reaction to him was explosive. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and held him as tightly as he held me.
His kisses were aggressive and demanding, filling up every lonely space I hadn’t known existed. It was all so familiar and peaceful and turbulent and crazy. I could actually feel something powerful happening between us—something building that hadn’t been there with Victor.
Then an amazing thing happened. Our life forces connected to one another, and my mind witnessed beautiful warm tones of yellow, gold, and orange. They invited me in, beckoning me to stay, to never part from them again. I searched his heart, looking for the old ache that had been there previously, but I couldn’t find it anywhere. It seemed to have vanished along with any trace of the pain he’d been holding onto. Instead, what he did hold onto was me. Tie’s spirit held me close and claimed me for his own. I didn’t put up a fight. I didn’t want to fight it anymore. I just wanted to stay warm and loved and happy.
As I accepted this connection with all of my heart he abruptly broke away, severing the joining of our spirits in the process. It was surprisingly painful. Neither one of us spoke for several seconds. I think we were both surprised by what that kiss meant to us.
Tie looked like someone had taken his whole world and turned it upside down. He began pacing the room back and forth. He stopped to look at me for one brief second, and in that second I saw fear, disbelief, worry, and even love pouring out of his piercing blue eyes. He finally stopped in front of me and grabbed my shoulders.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen. Hachiman believed your death and rebirth would reset circumstances surrounding your soul mate. Victor and I have both been trying to determine if Hachiman was right.”
“Tie, what are you talking about? What’s so impossible about the idea of us kissing?”
He gave me a frightened look and shook me as he spoke. “Tell me…” he stopped talking. He looked like he was swallowing back a slew of unfamiliar emotions. “Tell me I’m not the only one who felt that, Hope. Tell me I’m not the only one who saw that.” He was sounding more and more desperate.
I’d known for some time that I had feelings for Tie, but I wasn’t expecting his kisses to reveal to me how strong they were. It was like everything had been magnified and now there really was no way to deny exactly how I felt about him.
“Do you mean the connection we made? The colors we created together?”
He let go of me, running his hands through his hair.
“Amazing. You did feel it. It wasn’t just me. This is real. This is really happening.” He looked like he didn’t know whether to be ecstatic or completely freaked out.
“Of course, I felt it. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”
I stepped toward him, afraid he was trying to put distance between us. I didn’t want him to distance himself from me ever again, but he held up his hands, warding me off.
“You never felt this with Victor?” He looked like he was afraid to hear the answer. “I saw you two kissing outside earlier.” He had a hard time looking at me when he said that. “Your life force didn’t connect with his?”
“Absolutely not. You’re the only person I’ve ever connected to like that. The colors were just as amazing and wonderful as they were the first time I connected to you.”
Tie lowered his hands in surprise.
“This has happened before?”
“Two times before, actually. Once at the nurse’s station and a second time when I was healing you from that stab wound.”
Tie crossed over to me in one long stride and wrapped his arms around me.
“That can’t be true. I didn’t notice it before. Why didn’t I see it?”
“Maybe you weren’t ready to.”
“What?”
“Tie, your heart was pretty damaged even before that sword did a number on it.”
“What do you mean it was damaged?”
“There was an injury there. Something dark and hateful you were still holding onto. It was preventing me from healing you completely. The last few times I’ve connected with you I’ve managed to chip away at it, but I think when we kissed, our life forces were able to correct it together. It isn’t there anymore.”
He put his hand to his heart and held p
erfectly still.
“You’re right. It isn’t there anymore, and it was supposed to be permanent. Everything’s changing so fast, and I have no idea what to do about it. I have no idea what to tell Victor, but his reaction will not be good. He and Ms. Mori may not allow me anywhere near you until they find a way to correct it.” He let out a defiant laugh and hugged me close to him. “But there is no way to correct it. You’re mine, now. I know it’s wrong to be happy about this. I promised myself I would let you go when the time came, but I never have to. I never want to. You’re mine, Hope. Always.”
I belonged to Tie? He actually wanted this to happen?
I leaned back to look at him. I intended to ask as many questions as I could fit into one breath. Obviously, everything he’d just rattled off made absolutely no sense to me, but the joy on his face was so mesmerizing to watch. He looked so radiant and happy. I simply stared at him for just a few more moments, enjoying the happiness enshrouding his features. And how did I feel about the idea that Tie and I were somehow bound to one another forever? A warm feeling of contentment spread throughout my entire being. The rightness of his words and my own easy acceptance of it was absolutely crazy, yet there was no denying what either of us felt.
“Why is this so significant, and why was your heart supposed to be damaged permanently? I’m so sick of having absolutely no idea what you’re talking about.” I moved from him and placed my hands on my hips, tapping my foot in frustration. “So help me, Tie, you’re going to answer my questions, and you’re going to answer them now because if you don’t I’ll do something absolutely deplorable.”
He wrapped his arms around me again and rested his chin on my forehead.
“You’re incapable of deplorable acts.”
“I swear I’ll sic Angie on you.”
His laughter made my heart feel lighter than ever.
“Connecting to someone like that hardly ever happens because most people don’t use their life force the way we do. That’s why I have the job that I have. I help people recognize who their soul mates are, and that’s what the cherry blossoms are for. They open eyes and seal souls together. You and I don’t need a cherry blossom to have our eyes opened. We already understand ourselves and our spirits. We can recognize the connection and the colors we make together.”
“Just to clarify here. You’re saying we’re…”
“Soul mates,” he finished. Then he pulled back, fear and uncertainty replacing his earlier elation.
“Kiss me again, Hope. I need to know this wasn’t just some cruel joke or strange fluke or…”
I didn’t let him finish his sentence. If he wanted me to kiss him, I was more than happy to oblige. I didn’t attack his lips. I wanted to enjoy this for what it was, a tender moment between two people who were just starting to discover something wonderful. I didn’t know what this meant for us in the future, but I fully believed in what was happening to us right now.
The energy I felt before began building again, and our connection was even more explosive than it’d been the first time. The warmth I experienced took hold of every cell in my body. I was awash in a quiet storm of colors, each one wrapping around my spirit and completing parts of me that hadn’t been whole in literally hundreds of years. My mind expanded and then opened. I felt memories from my previous life begin to rise to the surface, but before I could reach out and take hold of them my connection to Tie was severed again.
I pulled back and looked at him questioningly, but his focus was on something else. I turned around, and there, standing behind me, was a totally enraged Victor.
“Tie? What’s going on?” Victor asked.
Tie made eye contact with me, but his whole demeanor changed right before me. His body went rigid, his lips lifted into a cold sneer, and his eyes flashed in anger.
“Our little healer had a bit of a nightmare. She was thrashing around so much I was afraid she might do some damage to the bed frame or possibly herself. I thought I’d wake her up by giving her something pleasant to dream about.”
“And the only thing you could think of was molesting the girl I’m supposed to marry?” Victor’s voice echoed off the bedroom walls.
Tie took a side step and came up from behind me, planting himself between me and Victor while giving my hand an encouraging squeeze in the process. It was that minimal hand contact that let me know he wasn’t messing with me. He was trying to protect me.
From Victor?
“I figured it was the most enjoyable way of convincing her that there is no bogeyman,” he said in that lazy voice of his. “Then I can kill two birds with one stone by checking her response to me.”
“There may be no bogeyman, but I think a killer cat that is capable of turning itself into Mr. Fairmont is a hell of a lot scarier,” said Angie from the corner of the room. I turned to her in surprise, realizing she didn’t appear a bit sleepy.
From the smirk on her face, it was obvious she hadn’t been sleeping for quite some time.
Fabulous.
Angie’s comment distracted Tie and myself enough that we didn’t notice Victor sliding in between us until it was too late. He immediately swept my small frame behind him.
“Thanks for all your help, but I think I can take things from here,” Victor said with forced civility.
I stared at Victor’s back and tried to get my breathing under control, but all I saw was red. I couldn’t believe he’d just swept me behind him like I was some helpless child with little control and little choice. I was getting ready to vocalize my complete and total annoyance when I heard Tie’s voice rise up out of the silence.
“You’re right. I probably should have let her thrash about and wake up the rest of the household.”
“That wasn’t what I meant.”
I peeked around Victor. Tie wore his usual cool facade, but there was definitely something slightly off about it this time. To me, it appeared as if he was barely in control of himself. Like maybe he couldn’t bear seeing me standing behind Victor instead of in his arms.
In a way, I felt relieved. When Victor had barged in on us, I feared Tie had somehow orchestrated our make-out session just so Victor would see us together. If Tie really had planned to use me to get to Victor, he wouldn’t be playing it off as if it meant nothing to either one of us. Right? He had to have felt that kiss straight to his core.
I still felt it.
I waited for him to get possessive or even break down and tell Victor the truth. Heck, I was getting ready to tell him the truth. He needed to know what had happened between Tie and myself. We had just shared something that changed everything about our current predicament.
“Victor, I think we need to straighten some things out here between all three of us,” I began.
“Sorry, but I’m entirely too sleepy to sit here and attempt to make nice with either one of you,” Tie butted in. He flashed me an anxious glance.
“Tie,” I tried again.
“I think Hope is merely suggesting that we end this contention between us,” interrupted Victor.
I tried to catch Tie’s eye so he would understand my intent, but he refused to look at me. Instead, his focus was on Victor. Correction. His venomous glare of unconcealed hatred was focused on Victor.
“You’re here for a specific purpose, and I need to know you can fulfill your purpose as objectively as possible despite your feelings toward me.”
A heavy pressure began building behind my eyelids again.
Not this again.
“I’ve already told you I can handle it,” Tie said. “I know exactly what I’m here for.” That last part seemed painful for him to get out.
I couldn’t see the expression on Victor’s face, and I didn’t really want to. I just wanted to understand what was going on here. Tie looked at me and shook his head ever so slightly. Did that mean he wanted me to keep quiet? His strained expression smoothed out quickly and became as cool and serene as ever.
Why hadn’t he told Victor what had happened?
What was holding him back? The pressure in my head continued to build, pushing and shoving its way through the rest of my body.
“Good,” Victor said, offering his hand to Tie.
Tie reluctantly shook it, which made me feel powerless. It was like an agreement had just been reached; something about my fate had been determined for me, and I was no longer capable of doing anything about it.
The building pressure erupted from my body, and a hot, white light shot from every inch of my skin, at least that’s how it looked and felt to me. I knew better than to fight it and simply did the very best I could to breathe through it until my eyesight cleared and my surroundings became visible again.
Tie and Victor stood in the same position, shaking hands as if they’d just struck some form of agreement. I was next to Victor instead of behind him. That wasn’t the only thing that was different. A strange woman stood behind Tie and to his left. Several other people surrounded us in a highly decorative room.
The moment we shared was serious. I sensed that immediately, but I couldn’t understand what exactly was taking place. Tie began speaking in a language that was far from English, but I caught every word like it was my own native tongue.
“As it has been prophesied so shall it come to pass. The princess will soon take her rightful place alongside the honorable Masaru Katsu, god of warriors and keeper of the Grass Cutter Sword.”
He put some emphasis on the word honorable, causing Victor to tense at my side. Despite the formal and reverent tone being set for what I assumed was some kind of wedding ceremony, I couldn’t help but notice Tie’s struggle between indifference and rage. He didn’t want to be here, and the look he gave me made me feel as if I had betrayed him in some way.
“As a god ordained by our first parents to give approval and blessings for unions such as these, I bestow upon this particular union a blessing of the highest order and seal it with this cherry blossom,” he said.