Spirits of the Earth

A week of travels... a week of walking all day and then setting up camp only to tear it down the next morning to start again. All of this may sound boring to most, but Jaela had actually been having the time of her life. She didn't have to worry about Kaida anymore and Itachi was coming with her to the Citadel... things couldn't get much better as far as she was concerned.

And then there were the constant games always going on between Jaela and Itachi. The two of them always going at one another trying to outsmart and outplay the other. Every day both of them entertaining themselves and every night the two hitting some form of 'normalcy'. Needless to say.. it had been a fun week.

When they all finally arrived at the base of the mountain Jaela just stopped, looking up to the peaks before they disappeared in the clouds. "Okay so who can fly?" Her question directed towards the members of Craol who had decided to stay with them instead of travel home for their deserved vacation.

"Anyone? Anyone at all?"

And so the next game had begun...

During that week of constant travel, Itachi would have honestly told someone that it was one of the best of his life. The stress was minimized, the men were all in good spirits, and they were filthy rich - still - from the Adelan heist.

And then there was Jaela, having walked (stumbled) into his life with a life threatening scorpion sting on her thigh. And from that day forward, he'd found himself completely enamored by her and the mystery that her mind presented to him.

And then there was the heist, where, afterwards, they'd both discovered their blossoming feelings for one another. And now, after a strange appearance by Jaela's employer, they found themselves far to the north, into the  Kilanthro Mountains.

Itachi stared upward, observing the sheer rock wall before them and the challenge it presented. He had figured this citadel of hers was up a mountain.

Not a fucking plateau.

"Yeah, bird, jes' lemme pull me wings outta me back pocket, an' I'll fly us all up there."

He continued to stare upward for a moment, and eventually lowered his gaze to look at her.

"Look, yer th' bird. You fly us up there." He grinned, and crossed his arms over his chest.

"So, wha's th' trick?"

For a second Jaela acted as if she took Itachi seriously on having wings. She even sidestepped so that she could see his back as if she were waiting for them to sprout at any moment. Except they never came and so Jaela was very clearly disappointed by his lack of feathers.

When Itachi turned to her and asked the trick Jaela just giggled for a minute before placing a hand on each hip as she herself looked upwards.

"That always seems to be the question from down here..." Peridot eyes then shifted downwards and onto the large rock wall in front of them. "It's a very simple question though. You just have to think on it for a few." In a way she was poking fun at Itachi, pointing out that not even he had figured out this puzzle.

Jaela with eyes still locked on the stone before her reached up to the metal band on her right arm and slid it off, exposing the skeletal tattoo of a dragon beneath it. Then to answer the question all of them probably had lingering Jaela turned around with bright eyes.

"Magic of course!"

With that Jaela turned back around and placed her palm on the stone basin of the mountain and closed her eyes to concentrate. From beneath her palm, a small spiral began to emerge and grow larger, glowing a light shade of purple as did the mark on her arm. When it finished, the circle held a diameter of about 12 feet. Plenty big enough for the whole group to step through at once, along with any carts.

"And up we go..." her last words before stepping forwards, her body disappearing into the rock as if it had just sucked her in. She could only hope they would all follow.

When stepping through it would seem as though you simply walked through a curtain, and on the other side was the main landing of the citadel thousands of feet up in the mountain. Since Jaela had gone ahead of all of them she was already standing there with her hands in the air as she celebrated.

"Welcome home Jaela!" she shouted and oddly enough her voice echoed back, essentially saying 'welcome home Jaela' over and over again as it bounced off the empty walls and faces of stone.

"Awe thanks!"

Itachi blinked when she said to 'think on it,' and turned his gaze back toward the wall. He'd seen some pretty ingenious contraptions in his days, but this seemed to be pretty much just....a rock wall.

And then she said 'magic,' and he promptly put his hand over his eyes. "Magic. O' course. It's always magic."

He smirked a bit, and lowered his hand, watching as she removed that curious bit of jewelry from her arm, revealing yet another tattoo. He raised a brow and wondered briefly if she had more that he hadn't seen yet.

That thought put a grin on his face. He'd have to 'investigate' at some point. So far, he hadn't pushed for anything more than simply holding her, figuring that if she wanted to move forward, she would when she was ready.

In any case, his eyes widened when she somehow opened a portal in the stone, and he quickly discovered that her tattoos all apparently had a use. He thought of that big one curling up her side, and wondered just what it did....

Suddenly she was gone, stepping into the stone as if it were a door. He stared for a moment, just standing there. And then he blinked. Once.

Twice.

And then: "Well, what ya all starin' at? Get in there an' follow 'er!"

He stepped to the side to make sure all the Craol complied, followed shortly after.

When he emerged, he was assaulted with the multitudinous echoes of "Welcome home, Jaela!" and instantly cringed. When the echo died off, he got a glance around at the architecture. His jade eyes widened as he took in his surroundings, and he let out a long whistle.

"Well....color me impressed. No' a bad place ta set up, if'n I do say so myself. Ya've outdone yerself, bird."

He walked up beside her, and gently nudged her with an elbow with a wink.

"All kinda places fer a coupla people to disappear for a few hours, eh?" He grinned and walked past her, still glancing around.

After a moment, he turned around. "Alright, Craol. Unload an' unpack, an' le's make ourselves a' home. Imma 'ave th' bird 'ere show me aroun' fer a minute...or however long it migh'take ta see this place. Gods, it's huge...."

She had hoped he would be impressed and was practically bursting at the seams when she saw he was. This was the world that Jaela had grown up in, the mortal practically adopted by dragons. After her torture and Jaela was deemed suitable for service she was taught just as any member of the family was. The Black-Hearth's were never the sort of surrounding themselves with uneducated people.

Looking at it now Jaela didn't even see it as a horrible upbringing either. She was well taken care of, educated and taught manners that clearly didn't stick. She was more of Kaida's personal... entertainment if anything. Hand selected by Emelia Black-Hearth herself.

When Itachi winked at her Jaela merely smiled wider, if that was even possible. However, his comment of getting lost threw her off again and caused her to blush. Damn him! Already Jaela was thinking of a way to get him back for that one.

Running up behind him she locked her arm in his and practically began dragging him inside, ready to show him her favorite room in the entire Citadel.

Skipping past all the boring rooms like the extensive library or elaborately decorated thrown room Jaela went straight for the weapons hall. A room filled with the collections of the Black-Hearth family that dated back thousands of years. It was more like a museum really, some of the weapons on pedestals in the center of the room while others adorned the walls.

Jaela had always found this room interesting, even if she didn't know how to use a single item within it. It was more the history behind the items that got her attention, the tales behind one blade enough to fill her dreams for weeks as she imagined them. She hoped that Itachi would think it just as amazing as she did.

In truth, no other room even peaked her interest in the slightest... well except her personal quarters that is.

When Jaela grabbed his arm and literally began running with him, he let out a little yelp of surprise. This was partially due to the surprise itself, and partially due to his lack of footing when he was yanked forward.

A small part of it may have been her sudden eagerness to get him inside, especially after what he had just said to her.

As they moved, he did his best to keep note of their path, mentally drawing himself a map to reference later. He thought he saw what looked like a library - a massive thing he'd have to look through later - and a rather posh looking throne room, noting these as landmarks.

And then, she led him to a treasure.

This room, filled with untold and uncounted implements of death, all tools of his trade in one way or another. His eyes widened as he took it all in. And one display took his attention rather quickly.

He stepped toward it, now dragging her behind him, standing before a closed and locked glass case. Inside were the most beautifully crafted small blades he had seen before.

Four-piece throwing stars, designed to fly apart into four separate tools of distance-dealing death without loss in accuracy. A collection of fine-weighted throwing knives with craftsmanship he could only marvel at.

And two beautifully curved combat daggers, making his own collection of equipment seem sorely lacking in comparison.

He turned to Jaela with eyes akin to dinnerplates. "These are....fucking beautiful."

Suddenly jerked forwards Jaela saw what had caught Itachi's eyes. Looked to be some pointy star things and some fancy knives.

"Really?" Her face was scrunched as she leaned in trying to see what was so special about them. I mean they were shiny, she would give him that. But they were also small... oh so incredibly small. "Huh" As if she had just accepted the fact that he had peculiar tastes. I mean... he did like Jaela.

"So you like them?" Jaela then reached around him, her arm snaking around his side as she reached for the latch on the case. Again the tattoo on her arm glowed the same as the lock keeping the weapons within. And then it clicked open, falling to the floor as the case flung open.

"Take them then. I'll tell Kaida when she comes back. She probably won't mind." This part was true. Kaida would most likely just give them to Itachi if it meant he owed her something in the future. The weapons room was more for Aeizith than anything, and he wasn't around anymore.

His eyes flashed toward her in surprise." ...you're.....serious, aren't you?" He was stunned, that such beautifully crafted weapons would just be...given to him.

But he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. Almost reverently, he began to switch out his own arsenal, placing them in almost the exact positions the upgrades had been in.

Except for his father's knife. Nothing could replace that.

When he finished the methodical task of rearming himself, he bent down to pick up the lock, and firmly latched it back onto the case.

"Y'know...I think that's th' firs' time I've ever locked anythin'....ever."

He glanced to Jaela with a small smile. "Thank you, Jaela." He stepped closer to her, delicately placing a hand under her chin and lifting it toward him just slightly. He kissed her, then, softly.

When Itachi locked the case again Jaela smiled at his joke, thinking it funny how he would see it like that. But then she realized how serious he really was and before she knew it he was holding up her chin to kiss her.

Of course, she kissed him back, something the two seemed to do a lot now that she thought of it. It was like the prize to every game, a kiss at the end to look forward to every single time. Just as he kissed her Jaela brought a hand up and weaved her fingers behind his neck, lacing it between hair and skin.

Grasping a small bit between her fingertips she tugged lightly, pulling his lips more into hers as they continued to exchange their feelings through a kiss. When they finally released Itachi would see Jaela biting her lip, the joking side of her all but wiped away by his lips... or so it seemed. It lasted for only a second, this look of total calmness about her. A look like she had never once in her life been anything other than the clear minded girl she was now.

"Oh, Itachi..."  she whispered, leaning in for what seemed like another kiss probably more full of passion than anyone before. But quickly her somber face turned into a wide smile.

Again Jaela was at it, returning the favor for that little comment he made earlier. All at once she pulled her hands from his neck and shoulder and stepped back, turning her back to him as she began skipping towards the door. "Gotta go unpack my tent now" she joked before turning in the hall, darting back the way they came.

She really was being quite awful. She didn't even need the silly tent.. she did have her own room.

Itachi had been prey to the trick far too many times to fall for it again, yet he found his head again clouded when they shared the kiss. It was almost as if she were intoxicating him into stunned slowness, like some sort of euphoric drug that dulled the senses.

Needless to say, he was too slow in catching her when she skipped away from him. Part of him cursed, while the other part grinned like an idiot.

She really did have him wrapped around her finger. But he'd given up on avoiding that. He'd wrap so tight around that finger of hers, it'd be like to fall off.

"Yeah, an' wha' ya need a tent for, bird? Ya gonna try an' hide from me in tha' scrap of canvas? I'll fin' ya, girl." He stalked after her, smiling devilishly.

He could keep up a chase, if that was what she wanted. And he had a feeling she wouldn't make it hard.

"I'll fin' ya, an' I'll show ya jus' wha' I can do wit' a li'l bird, flyin' away, like."

So the chase was on and Jaela couldn't stop herself from laughing while she ran through the halls. It would be hard for her to lose him unless she could somehow manage to keep quiet. Jaela didn't run back the way they had come but instead thought this the perfect opportunity to show Itachi the Citadel from the inside.

Down the hall and up an elegant flight of stairs Jaela ran past the rooms that belonged to the Black-Hearth siblings, each of them with a large double door locked so tightly that not even Jaela could get in. The only way you could even tell who the room belonged to being by the large paintings hanging across from each of them. Five rooms total, taking up one whole floor.

Going up yet another flight of stairs Jaela than ran past the dozens of guest rooms, much smaller in comparison to the ones below. Her laughter echoed through the hall as she turned yet again, taking a back stairwell that went both upwards and down. She contemplated going up the tower, which is where her room was along with a few others, but instead went down back towards the main floor.

Possibly the largest of all the floors she opted to skip going past the library and throne room again, but instead simply skipped by a study which could easily classify as another library. Further down the hallway, there was also the bath hall, the large doors wide open exposing a gigantic pool. And beyond that was a dining hall and so on... pretty much everything you would expect to find in a home this large.

Down yet another flight of stairs much smaller Jaela then skipped past the servant's quarters and kitchen. This was also where the storage rooms were along with the Black-Hearth families expansive wine collection. There was again another set of stairs but Jaela didn't dare go down those... too many memories down there.

Below that floor was Kaida's torture rooms and the prison cells for the families captives. It was where Jaela spent the majority of her time as a child and honestly didn't feel like sharing that part of her life just yet. Itachi knew about it, but details weren't important anymore.

Taking a looping hallway Jaela found herself at yet ANOTHER flight of stairs leading back up to the main floor. From there she would run back down the main hall and outside to the landing where they had all first arrived. That was pretty much it, all the important rooms passed in Jaela's own special tour.

The game wasn't over though... she wasn't ready to be caught just yet.

Itachi was young, fit, and generally a pretty agile guy. And yet he still found himself worn out and out of breath by the time they went up the last flight of stairs.

Gods, just how much energy did this girl have, anyway?

But he still managed to make note of the rooms they passed, as well as the rather roundabout way they'd travelled to get around. His mental map was very nearly complete.

When he finally burst out the doors to the landing outside, he was red in the face, with his hair plastered to his skin. His jade eyes scanned around for a moment until he caught her running again.

"She's....havin'....too much...fun wit' this...." he gasped, straightening and trying to catch his breath. Flat out running was one thing, but that coupled with going up and down stairs constantly was something completely different.

With a grimace, he started running again. Out here, outside, he was confident that he could gain ground, watch her path and intercept her. It was only a matter of time.

So, he took off again in a dead sprint, eyes narrowed and breath as even as he could keep it, silvery hair and longcoat fluttering behind him, dodging the Craol still milling about and parkouring over and around the various carts of supplies.

And then he had her, gripping the back of her top in one fist and forcing her to slow.

"Gotcha....now, bird. Jes'...gotta learn how ta breathe again..."

He eyed her while he panted, grinning widely.

Just when she stopped to catch a breath Jaela saw Itachi do the same making her think that perhaps she had won. However, very quickly he started sprinting at her and before she could take off at full speed Itachi had grabbed the back of her shirt.

One may think the game was over... that the bird had been caught. But as it was said before, Jaela wasn't ready to be caught just yet.

"You think?" she giggled.

In a very quick motion, Jaela reached up and unclasped her shirt, letting it slide back off her shoulders and into a jumbled mess within his grip. It was nothing to her, at least that was what she wanted all of them to think as she started skipping away, acting like there was nothing wrong at all.

Of course on the inside, she was slightly mortified that she had just done that, but it was a worthy sacrifice to keep the charade and game alive. Of course, Itachi couldn't really see anything since her back was to him, maybe a side glimpse but that was about it. She took advantage of that and continued to skip right back inside the citadel.

She wasn't necessarily running but more happily strolling along as she went back up the main flight of stairs and then passed the Black-Hearth's personal quarters. She was at that set of stairs again but instead went up instead of down towards her own room.

At the top of the stairs, there was yet another hallway, just not as elaborately decorated as the one before. This was where the Death Guard was stationed before, except Jaela was the only one left. Her room was at the very end of the hallway and to the right and once she was inside the blush she had been fighting finally surfaced. She wasn't sure if Itachi had followed her but figured it would be best for everyone if she quickly replaced the top she had just lost.

Her room was small, yet charming. The walls were not decorated and the bed was fitted with basic tan sheets. However, there were shelves everywhere....  Jaela had a small secret obsession and the hundreds of small figurines on the shelves exposed her for the collector she truly was.

Jaela then reached into her wardrobe and pulled out another top, quickly sliding it over her shoulders as she began to clasp the front again.

When Itachi had her in his grasp, he'd stopped for a few congratulatory gasps for air, thinking the chase had been won. And then...it wasn't.

He had been half doubled over, one hand on his knee with the other wrapped in Jaela's shirt, gasping for air. And then, suddenly, his arm dropped as suddenly the figure within the shirt was no longer able there to fill it.

His eyes widened as he saw her running away, half naked and past several incredulous Craol, straight back into the citadel. He'd only seen her back, but that was enough.

He stood there stock still, her shirt loosely hanging from his grip, staring at the open doors. And then, rather rigidly, he started to move, past the cluster of wagons, past the gathered Craol talking amongst themselves about the purple haired topless maniac, and into the citadel.

Listening, he could hear - and therefore track - her footsteps. His boots, crafted specially to make as little noise as possible, afforded no such advantage to anyone. He began following her, as quietly as he could manage.

Having stopped for a moment, Itachi looked at Jaela's shirt, tangled in his fist, and then at the stairs he'd come to. Slowly, he began to ascend, mind racing as he wondered just what was going to happen.

He continued following the echoing sounds of her footsteps, past the Black-Hearth rooms with their elaborate pictures across the doorways, and up another flight of stairs into unfamiliar territory. He slowed, noticing Jaela's footsteps had stopped. He found himself in a long hallway of doors, and noted one on the end was slightly ajar.

Slowly, he stalked toward the room, and stood outside the door. He listened briefly to her movements within, before slipped inside behind her, observing his surroundings as he did.

He stood behind her just as she refastened a new shirt,  and grinned.

"Personally, I liked this 'un better, even if'n it be cuz yer no' wearin' it." To her, if she hasn't been listening very hard, it would sound as if he'd literally been right behind her the entire time.

His voice made her jump. Jaela had been too distracted with what she had just done to even notice Itachi following her, let alone letting himself into her room. His comment caused her to blush even worse than she was before. Okay so maybe this was her chance to finally take the leap she had been avoiding for weeks now.

Pushing back her embarrassment Jaela placed a smug grin on her face as she reached out for the top he was holding. "Fine then, I will wear that one." She would be damned if he let her get the best out of this situation. She had to win... always had to win.

Jaela then began unclasping the one she had just put on, slowly letting the fabric part as it began to fall off of her shoulders.

"Personally I think they look exactly the same." Her eyes daring Itachi to try and win this one.

And so, the game was on. Just as it had been since it had started, it rarely, if ever, stopped.

Itachi wordlessly handed over her other shirt, unsure as of yet just what her plan was. Or, rather, if she even had one - typically, her randomness could throw him off, toss a wrench into his gears, so to speak.

And then the monkey wrench came, and her shirt came off, revealing everything to him above her hips. His eyes widened, and his mind literally just went blank.

He caught himself staring, and a small part of him could feel the blood rushing from his head to other places. He fought his urge to simply step toward her, and fought to get himself back on track again.

So. Obviously she'd done it on purpose, likely in reaction to what he'd said to her, and what she'd done implied that she was still taking part in their never-ending mind games.

Therefore, his reaction was thus: he arched a brow and grinned, his eyes finally raising from her bared chest back up to her face. Slowly, he began to slide the coat off his shoulders, and let it drop to the floor carelessly with a clang of metal.

And then, he began peeling the shirt off his chest, pulling it over his head. He stood there, his shirt in hand, and continued grinning.

He held his tunic shirt towards her. "Ya sure tha' black isn't more ya color, bird?"

So this was really happening wasn't it? He was going to play the game just like her. Little did Itachi know that Jaela would not so easily admit defeat. With her game face still on Jaela tilted her head as he began to peel off his own clothing and then offer it to her.

"I don't know is it?"

Jaela then began removing her top all over again, discarding it on the floor before she reached out and grabbed his tunic. And then once again she went through the process of slipping the clothing over her shoulders slowly.

"What do you think?" Jaela turned from side to side as she modeled the tunic for him. "I kinda like it. Thanks for the new top." Jaela then smiled as she insinuated his tunic now belonged to her.

Itachi grinned, watching her as she turned to one side and back again, crossing his arms over his chest as he tilted his head to one side.

"Yeah, it looks good on ya, but....here's another choice for ya."

He stepped forward, coming nearly chest to chest with her, one hand coming forward to settle on her shoulder.  Then, slowly, he began circling around her, that hand sliding over her shoulder and collarbone, skirting just barely over her neck.

When his hand reached the opposite shoulder, he found himself standing behind her. His other hand wrapped over her left side, his palm coming to rest just under her breastline.

He leaned in close, more than close enough for her to feel the warmth of his breath on her ear. He pushed his chest against her back while he pulled her against him.

And then he whispered, low and dangerously in her ear.

"It also comes in green."

When Itachi stepped closer Jaela held her breath, afraid to even breathe in case it ruined the moment. She could feel his body as it moved around her, his hand upon her skin at her neck. It was all almost too much, almost enough to make her break right there.

At this point Jaela was happy he was behind her, or else he would see just how close she was to caving into desire. "Oh does it?" Her voice a whisper to match his own,

"Now that I think about it..." Jaela paused to move her hands around his, pulling at the band around her waist. "...Maybe I should start wearing a dress."

When she had just gotten a finger under the material on her hips Jaela then pushed it down, sending her skirt and the shorts beneath them to the floor. Hopefully, it was enough to declare this round over because Jaela wasn't sure how much longer she would last.

Itachi let out a groan that almost sounded feral in her ear, unsure of how to proceed in their game. His hands remained where they were, one now at her hip, and the other firmly on her shoulder.

His gaze remained firmly fixated on the floor at Jaela's feet, his jade eyes only closing when he buried his face in the crook of her neck. His mouth opened just slightly, and he allowed his teeth to very lightly drag over her skin.

Meanwhile, that other hand at her hip, now joined by the one at her shoulder as it suddenly dropped, slowly began to raise, pulling the hem of the shirt with them, his fingers lightly dragging with a feathers touch over her flesh.

Up it rose, baring her to him, if he were to just open his eyes. Higher, over her ribs, his fingers lightly drumming over each one. Higher still, fingertips lightly brushing the sides of her breasts, freeing them from the tight confines of his tunic.

He stepped backward, slowly lifting the fabric over her head, stripping her of it, ridding her completely of clothes.

His hands did not return.

He skirted around her, picking his coat off the floor, and strode toward the door. He cast a glance over his shoulder at her, burning that image of her into his mind forever.

"Well'en, lemme go an' see wha' I got fer ya, beautiful. Be back in a tick." He grinned widely, and started taking slow steps forward, the tunic slung over one shoulder.

As his fingers grazed her skin yet again Jaela bit her lip, knowing that she had just lost the game. There was no way to continue, and not just because she had run out of clothes to surprise him with. Her heart was fluttering too fast, feeling like it was about to fly right out of her throat at this point.

She stood in anticipation waiting for his soft touch to return... but it never did. As he moved to pick up his coat Jaela's jaw dropped. Yep... Itachi wins.

Suddenly the entire charade fell from her and Jaela was feeling a bit embarrassed. Had she really let it get too far this time? Maybe that wasn't it at all, but just the utter disappointment of losing this round instead. Whatever this feeling was that surfaced as Itachi began to leave, she didn't like it.

"W-wait!" Jaela reached a hand out for him despite being too far away to actually touch him. Even her calling out to him didn't seem to ease the feeling growing in her stomach, this sickness that he was about to turn away from her.

Slowly she took one step forwards, and then another... and then another. In no time at all Jaela was standing just in front of Itachi throwing her hand on his shoulder as she yanked him towards her for a harsh kiss.

Game.
Set.
Match.

When she stepped around him, he'd dropped both his coat and his tunic into the floor, and lowered his arms just in time to catch her when she crushed her lips against his. He wrapped both of them around her, his palms resting on the small of her back, and kisses her.

Oh, Gods, did he kiss her.

Fervent, ardent desire finally overrode any control over him his mind might have had. He pulled her against him, crushing her against him, finally claiming the spoils of this game they'd been playing.

After a minute or so, he slid to her side, dropping one arm just behind her knees, other raising to just above her shoulders. And then he picked her up, just as he'd done that first night, carrying her just as he'd done.

But now, there was a completely different reason.

He moved to her tan-clad bed, and almost reverently settled her upon it. Heavy lidded eyes ran over her body, starting at her feet and moving upward, taking in everything. Her slender legs, the vee of her thighs, her stomach, breasts, and her face. His eyes locked with hers, and suddenly he decided that her particular shade of green, that shining peridot, was his favorite color.

"Simply...beautiful. You know that, right?"

As he cradled her Jaela could not take her eyes from him, even after he had laid her on the bed. Every second that passed she found it hard to take her gaze off of him let alone blink. The feeling in her chest had multiplied tenfold by now, but instead of sickness, it was pure desire.

When he asked about beauty Jaela simply blushed, letting her eyes finally part from his as they traveled down his chest. "Yes... yes you are." A simple joke.

Reaching up Jaela grabbed the waistband of Itachi's pants and pulled him down over her, wanting something to cover her naked frame. But even in this immense emotional moment, she couldn't help but already begin to construct an all new game. She could be cruel and slide out from under him and return the favor of walking out, but she wouldn't. She could pretend to fall asleep and ignore him, but she wouldn't. All these things she could do.. but wouldn't.

Instead, she opted for something less mind screwing and more just for laughs.

"You know... by the end of the day I will wind up claiming all your clothes as my own."

Itachi grimaced when she said he was beautiful. He looked down at himself, noting the multitudinous scars travelling across his body, the tale of his life, the good and the bad. He had a story for each one, stories for another time. Each one, precisely sewn up and and healed with the utmost care.

To him, he looked like a rough patchwork quilt. Hell, his coat had less stitches than he'd had.

But then he looked at her. Slender, delicately curved, perfect in every way. The only scar he could see was that one he'd healed himself, the mark left behind from that scorpion sting. And her tattoos, beautiful and flowing across her body, were an art.

"No, Jaela. It's you. Not me." He grinned slightly, and winked. "Thanks for the ego boost, though."

And then suddenly he was pulled on top of her, just barely catching himself with his arms to avoid hurting her. He grinned as he fell close to her, and began pressing kisses across her face.

Her forehead, her cheeks, the hollow of her throat, back to her lips. He paid homage to each, and finally pulled back an inch or two, smiling down at her.

"Is that right? Well, sorry to say, I won't be wearing yours." He grinned again, jade eyes burning as he lowered his head, trailing kisses down her throat, steadily heading southward.

"Anytime" Jaela chirped before playfully sticking out her tongue and winking back.

As he began to kiss her face Jaela started laughing again, finding the soft caress of his lips not only caused her skin to tingle but tickle as well. Soon he was kissing more than just her face, but making his way first down her neck, collarbone, and then chest. The further he traveled the more her skin seemed to become sensitive to his touch. Every kiss sending a chill down her spine that caused the hair on her body stand at a tension.

This feeling was like a poison beginning to spread over her entire body. Everything was heightened by these simple actions and Jaela's heavy breaths reflected it. He was taking the very oxygen from her lungs as he continued to travel southward over her skin. It was torture and bliss all at once and Jaela was eating up every second of it.

Weeks of mind games and not so subtle comments had led to this very moment now being shared between the two. The energy being shared by their eyes alone enough to light an entire city for days on end.

"Itachi..." she whispered as she grasped at the blanket beneath her, crumpling it between her fingers as the desire building within her made it almost impossible to lay still.

"Mmm..." came his voice, muffled behind a quick smile as his lips continued to blaze a trail down her body. Steadily, he was sliding down the bed, his feet hanging just over the side as he moved across her torso.

He'd moved down from her throat, slowly making his way down to and then over the gentle swell of one breast. After several seconds of slow kisses on bare skin, he finally reached his first prize.

His mind spiralled, then, a sudden rush of realization. Here it was. Here they were, the elementalist and the bandit, sharing their first moments of pure physical bliss. He certainly thought they'd earned it.

He trapped her pebble-hard rosebud almost tightly between his lips, tugging just slightly, his tongue working against it as he did so. His hand drifted, slowly, lightly, across the bedspread to come in contact with her hip. And there it settled momentarily, before moving with that familiar feather light touch, skimming up her side.

His lips continued to dance across her body causing more chills to run up her spine. Still, she grasped the blanket beneath her as her chest lifted and fell with each heavy breath as his mouth trailed her chest.

It wasn't until one of his hands began lightly skimming up her side that she could no longer refrain from touching him. So, Jaela released the bedding from one hand and brought it up to touch Itachi's cheek.

"Itachi..."  Again she let his name escape her lips in a whisper as the peridot of her eyes waited to be met with his once more. Oh, how she loved it when he looked at her, the feeling of someone looking at the 'real' her, something she wasn't accustomed to.

In fact, it wasn't until now that Jaela had realized something about Itachi. She had heard of it before, but never let it really register in her mind. A myth among men as she had referenced it once before. Perhaps she would tell him later exactly what it was....

Jaela continued to moan as he explored her breasts with his tongue, already feeling like she could burst at any moment and yet they had only just begun this lovely little exchange.

Her hand upon his cheek was a burning touch, scalding almost, setting his nerves aflame. His name on her lips almost gave him a start, so lost in his ministrations was he.

Itachi's heavy lidded gaze upon her creamy skin shot up, as if he knew what she was thinking. He locked eyes with her, and released her breast from his lips.

He crawled back up to her, brushing aside her hand with a smile and placing his own at her cheek instead. His thumb, resting just above her cheekbone and under her eye, rubbed tenderly. His fingers curled in her hair, tangling as he leaned down to kiss her.

Even as he did, his jade eyes remained locked with her own gaze of peridot. His other hand ceased it's slow travel upward, resting with a thumb slid over her ribs and his fingers curled toward her back.

Gladly, he leaned his weight upon her, grateful he was very nearly her size. He moaned in her mouth, feeling her breasts trapped against his chest.

After a moment, the hand at her side dropped to the bed, and he pushed himself up just slightly, looking down into her face with a smile.

"Jaela..." he whispered, a soft answer to his own uttered name.

Before she knew it Itachi had released his grasp on her and crawled up to meet her gaze. Their lips met again in another harmonious exchange from their lips and all seemed right in the world. She didn't want this to end, this feeling of complete and utter lust taking over every inch of her body.

Removing her other hand from its clutches on the blanket Jaela wrapped one around him while the other tugged at the waistband of his pants. It was a difficult position to do this in, considering he was pressed so closely against her... not that she hated that either.

Itachi pulled away with a devilish smile, having felt her working at his pants. He could remember, clearly, the apprehension he'd felt those weeks ago, when they'd escaped prison together.

He'd been changing into his clothes, trying to get as much of the prison garb off of him as humanly possible, and he'd stopped at the pants. He'd opted then to hide that part of him from her - he hadn't felt the way he felt about her now.

Now, he had no such apprehension. Still grinning, he pushed off of the bed, standing before her. For a moment, his arms raised over and behind his head, stretching his wirey, scarred chest.

And then, slowly, he brought his arms down, quickly working the button open on his pants. From there it would take only a simple little push to send them crumpling to the floor.

Instead, he stepped before her, hands placed firmly on his hips, looking down still with that grin, a light in his jade eyes.

"You know...I've undressed you. You've only ever put my clothes on before." That grin widened more, and he tilted his head to the side, a mask of silver hair covering one eye.

"....why don't you take them off?"

"I would hardly call that undressing..." she laughed as she sat up, positioning herself in front of him. "If I remember correctly it was more you holding while I ran." Now on her knees at the edge of the bed Jaela moved to place a hand on each of his hips while she wrapped the fabric of his waistband in her fingers. "But if that is what you want to call it then don't let me be the one to stand in your way."

With a soft tug, his pants fell and Jaela was standing face to face with all that was Itachi. All jokes aside this was a very serious moment for her and so after his pants fell she reached up to grab his arm, pulling him back into the bed with her. Except for this time, she didn't let him fall on top of her but instead maneuvered around so that she would wind up on top of him.

From there Jaela simply sat on top of him, a knee on each side of his body as she let her fingers lightly slide across his collarbone before trailing down. Her eyes softened as the rugged skin lay under the points of her fingers.

"Tell me about them."

Maybe this wasn't the moment for this, but she really wanted to know. Plus, if he wanted to play a game of teasing... well hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

And just like that, he was back on the bed. He allowed himself to fall beside her, twisting about to lay on his back.

He found himself straddled by her but a moment later, and he couldn't help but admire her above him, his eyes gone heavy again. Her fingers played across his chest, and he released an involuntary shiver.

And then she asked about his scars. Momentarily, his eyes widened, and a brow quirked, wondering if this was really the time.

But, it had to happen some time. He knew it was coming, but hadn't been prepared for it just then. His eyes softened as he placed his hands gently on her hips.

"You really want to know? Well...I suppose I should go in order, then...."

He closed his eyes, unable to focus on his words while looking at her. He took a deep breath, his chest rising just enough to lift her as well.

"...my back. The whip lashes came first, not too long after I left my tribe. I had nothing but the clothes on my back, my father's knife, and one glove. I had no idea what to do, had no idea how to survive, and barely spoke the common tongue. So, I went up to Ketra. Big city, lots of extra food if you don't mind stealing it."

He opened his eyes, but his gaze remained far away - it appeared as though he were looking through her, as his mind travelled back to those harder days.

"I survived like that for months, living off the scraps I could find and the meals I could steal. And then, I met one Lord Grantham. The bastard that had me knocked around when we were in prison together...he got to me the first time, too.

"I got caught stealing, and as I had no one to look after me, they put me in the dungeons. Now, mind you I had no idea what was going to happen. I couldn't understand a word they were saying, and all I knew was, "I'm going to die here."

"So, that ended up being the first time I got out of my cell. They were rather shabby back then, lots of loose stones and whatnot. I bashed the lock until it broke, and made to find my father's knife and my mother's glove. I found them, but Grantham found me, too."

His eyes suddenly focused, and his gaze locked with hers. He grimaced, and glanced to the side. "All those lashes, administered by a lord of the city. I lost count after seventy-two. I was twelve."

It was obvious that Itachi's mind had gone somewhere else as he told her the horrors of his past. Jaela could probably relate to a few even but had long ago pushed the memories of her torture out of mind. She liked to think of that point in her life as a void in her memory, something not worth remembering. Every once in a while she would get a glimpse of the past she had chosen to forget, and that glimpse alone was enough to assure her that forgetting was the best course of action still.

As he finished his recollection Jaela merely bit her lip, wanting nothing more than to cry for him and the pain he had endured. She was speechless, unsure of what to say that could possibly make him feel better about his past. Right now she was actually wishing she had never even brought it up. "Way to go Jaela" she thought to herself as she continued to run her fingers over his chest.

Slowly Jaela lowered her lips to his chest, delicately running her lips over his scars as she trailed them with her own kisses. Jaela loved his scars and the last thing she wanted was for him to think they were anything less than extraordinary. If she had any she knew deep down he would embrace hers just as she did his now.

Itachi let his hands slide up her sides as she lowered her head to his chest. His eyes slowly drifted closed as she began to explore his chest and his scars with her kisses, and one hand came to rest at the nape of her neck.

He'd thought before that he'd long gotten over his scars, and the story behind them. After all, the events that lead to those scars were what made him who he was today, right? No need to dwell on the past, if the future it delivers you to is bright.

But the look in her eyes that split second when he locked eyes with her brought it all back for that moment. For himself, he grieved. That day, in the Adelan dungeons as a child, that was what had killed the boy. The man took his place, the bandit, the leader of his little band.

What would have happened to him if that child he used to be had never been introduced to the barbs of Grantham's cruel whip? What if he'd found a niche in the world to settle into, and live a normal life?

Suddenly, he realized, he didn't care. Because if that day had never happened, he would have never found himself where he was today. No money, no Craol, no excitement in his life.

And no Jaela. That thought twisted the knife more than he thought it would.

Did he love her? It seemed quite possible. There had been precious few people he could say he loved, in any sort of way. But this beautiful girl he held in his arms just now, who kissed his scars as if to kiss away the pain....

....he felt that, just perhaps, she'd earned his love.

Words weren't needed here, both of them seeming to understand the other in this moment. Despite the conversation that had just occurred Jaela felt closer to Itachi than she had yet. Maybe it was his past that made her realize how much she truly felt for him. His past pulled at her heartstrings in a way she never thought to be possible. Again she thought of the thing she had dismissed as a lie in this world.

Finishing her placement of kisses on his chest Jaela sat up a bit, positioning herself over him so that other things would be all too convenient now. Slowly at first, she began swaying her body on top of him, teasing him in a way she knew he would her if he had the chance. And there it was, that subtle yet devilish grin the two often shared.

With her smile alone Jaela was daring Itachi to take the next step and end this prolonged tension that had been building for weeks on end now.

Itachi saw the gleam in her eye, the spark of her grin that set his own to shine, and knew that it was on again. He let out a hiss of pleasure when she changed her positioning over him, swaying gently

He placed both hands above her hips, fingers pressing gently into her skin, and effectively held her still. After a moment, his grin softened into a smile.

"No more games, Jaela. Not for this."

And then he pulled her down against him, feeling himself sliding up into her, feeling her warmth and her heartbeat all around him, squeezing him tightly.

There it was. Two, separate, become one.

Jaela allowed him to hold her still and just as his smile had softened so did hers. He was right, this was no time for games. And then finally it happened, the moment that was inevitable from the time their eyes first met.

Softly Jaela hummed, filled with indescribable desire once more. She then began to move, slowly motioning her body as she sat on top of him and her hands on his chest for support. However, as her heartbeat quickened so did her pace and her breaths became heavier with each motion.

"Itachi", his name leaving her lips out of pure lust as she continued.

Itachi's eyes had drifted shut again, completely without him noticing it. She'd began to move, slowly at first, and the sensation could only be described as heavenly. This, he felt, had been a long time coming.

His hands slid backwards on her body, lightly skimming her sides and down her back to cup her rear end, settling there comfortably. He easily fell into her rhythm, lending his arms strength when her pace increased.

She moaned his name; his eyes opened, dark and dusky under heavy kids. She was beautiful, he realized, despite every time she passed it off as a joke. But, was beautiful a word that could aptly describe the sight above him?

No. He'd have to make up a new word for what she was.

"Jaela....I...."

"Jaela....I...."

The only words she heard before uncontrollably letting his name escape her lips again. With the aid of his arms and harmony of his pace, Jaela had been able to keep moving, not tiring in the slightest as her movements quickened even more.

However, his incomplete statement had thrown her off a bit. Suddenly her mind was anywhere but there as she tried to finish it in her mind. It only took a few moments for her to figure out what she thought it was. But didn't he say this wasn't the time for games? Oh well....

Jaela immediately stopped, her hips no longer moving to the rhythm of his body. "You what?" She asked point blank. Of course, she knew it wasn't going to be that easy to get out of him, but she at least had to try.

That is how this was going to go anyways. He would have to be the one to say if first... he did start it after all.

Game on.

Shit.

Inwardly, he cursed his tongue, his mouth, and his rampant brain as it tried to spoil everything about this moment.

When Jaela stopped moving, he looked up at her again, and couldn't help but smile. He knew that look.

Fine. Game on, again. He'd won earlier already...he'd just see if he could do it again.

His smile softened, and that glint returned to his eye. "Oh, I was just going to comment on just how damn good you look right now. And that maybe we should have done this earlier.'

He grinned, and gave her a bit of a pinch, both hands still on her rear.

She knew she should have been happy about what he said, perhaps even a bit bashful that he found her so beautiful. However, to say she wasn't disappointed would be a lie. Deep down she wanted to believe that he meant to say those three words, and by gods, she was going to make him say them!

And then he pinched her, causing her to jerk forwards a bit which in turn caused sensation to overwhelm her again. Well, this wasn't going to do...  "Anything to win the game Jaela" she told herself. Realizing she would have to sacrifice pleasure for strategy.

...."Dangit"....

It truly was a battle of will in this moment as Jaela resisted the urge to start moving again, oh and trust me she wanted to.

"Oh?" Jaela bit her lip as she leaned forwards, halfway pulling herself off of him as her lips began kissing his collarbone again. Delicately she kissed it before moving upwards to his neck, burying her face between his shoulder and face as she began passionately covering it with her lips. She only paused once, letting her lips linger just over his ear as she breathed heavily into it, whispering in a devilish tone.

"I could have sworn you were going to say something else..."

Itachi was strong enough to force her to move, if he really wanted to. And he really, really wanted to. But, he felt as though that would break the rules of this new game he had unwittingly started.

Curse his brain.

When she lifted herself up, it took everything he had not to simply push back up into her, still connected as they were. This became twice as hard when she found the crook of his neck.

He tilted his head into hers, relishing the feeling of his face in her hair. All the while, he formulated his next move in this game of theirs.

"Mmmm....and what was it you were expecting me to say?"

Going back to kissing his neck Jaela pressed softly with her teeth against his skin, lightly biting his neck and then his ear lobe. Again she brushed the tender skin of his ear with her lips as she whispered.

"I don't know... you tell me."

And if that wasn't motivation enough Jaela then stopped the assault on the tender flesh of his neck and sat back up, brushing his sides with her fingers as she moved back into position. This also caused him to move back into her causing a soft moan to escape her lips.

She's going to kill me... he thought, very nearly breaking right then and there. Yet, gamely, he continued on, barely suppressing a pleasured groan when she sank back down onto him.

"Mmm...but that would take all the fun out of it." He grinned up at her, and released his grip on her rear to push himself up with his elbows, putting him into a near-sitting position.

Naturally, this movement caused all sorts of jostling between the two of them. A double-edged sword, so to speak, that caused just a bit more of that pleasurable friction between them.

"Why don't you...."

He shifted one arm to fully support himself on that hand, pushing him much closer to her. His grin appeared once more.

"...tell me what you want to hear." And again, he went for her breast, assaulting that rosy tip again, nipping gently with his teeth.

As he moved to sit up Jaela bit her lip to keep from screaming out. Gods this was hard...

And then he began at her breasts again, causing her muscles to tense as her body jerked in rejoice. Again she shifted, moving so that her legs were now wrapped around his body as she continued to sit in his lap.

"What I want is to hear is you say it!" she cried out, whipping her head back as it was all becoming just too much.  Her resolve was failing and Jaela didn't know what else she could do. But then an idea sparked...

It would be the ultimate sacrifice, one that would cause her to suffer just as much as him, but a worthy sacrifice nonetheless.

Taking a deep breath Jaela pushed Itachi away, her hand pressing against his shoulder to move him back from her breast. Without a word she then sat up from his lap, completely removing any contact being shared between the two as she got up from the bed.

"Another time then?" she asked, turning back to look at him before acting like she was moving for her clothes.

He was pushed away from her.

She stood up, breaking contact between them.

And then she began walking away. That was it. She won.

As she began looking for her clothes, he closed his eyes, letting out a sigh. I hate to lose. But this...this could change everything.

He opened his eyes again, and he smirked. Clever, clever bird.

"Jaela." He flicked his gaze to her, jade eyes burning. She'd won. But if he was going down, he was going down in flames.

"Ever since you broke me out of that cell, this has been true. Hell, maybe before that. Your personality, your mind, your heart. Everything about you makes me feel this.

"You give me a hell of a run, Jaela. So...I guess you deserve to know."

He grinned and winked at her, tilting his head to one side just so, a screen of silver hair falling over his face.

"I love you, Jaela."

With her back still turned she listened as he had begun to speak. She knew from the moment she crawled out of that bed she was going to win this game and as he continued she could only smile. She knew that was what he wanted to say... she just knew it.

When the three words left his lips a sense of calm overcame her. It was as if her entire existence was suddenly validated by one statement.

"And I love you, Itachi"

Pulling her hand away from her clothing she then turned, facing him with somber eyes as she began walking back towards the bed.

"I love you, I love you... I love you." Her words becoming a whisper as she closed the distance between them again. Crawling onto the bed and placing a hand behind his head she let her lips meet his in a heavy kiss.

Well, that went better than expected.

Wait...what was he expecting again?

.....was he expecting something?

Slowly his mind just began to grind to a halt as she returned, her hand behind his head pulling him into her kiss. He met her with matching passion, lips parting just so against hers as he deepened the kiss further.

His hand found itself again tangled in her hair, fingers curling into it, grasping as if she'd slip away again. His other hand moved to her back, pulling her weight down onto his chest.

He loved this woman. He'd freely admit it, now. And with that thought, and the knowledge that she loved him in return, sent his heart soaring.

After a moment, he parted the kiss, resting his forehead against hers as he looked deeply into her eyes.

He smirked, and then chuckled a bit, eyes narrowing with his laugh. "You know...I was actually afraid there for a minute."

Jaela giggled as he pulled her closer. "Afraid of what? Afraid that I would leave?" Jaela then answered her own question as she kissed him again, pulling her lips away after only a moment. "... never."

And then she was kissing him again, pressing her body against his and wrapping her own fingers in his hair. She would then fall back, pulling Itachi on top of her as she moved her legs to wrap around his waist.

Itachi smiled into their kiss, truly happy to be in love, truly happy to be with this woman. For a moment he didn't say anything, somehow keeping in contact with her even as she pulled him over her.

He never wanted to let those lips go. Not if he could help it.

When she wrapped her legs around his waist, he chuckled into her lips, and pulled away only slightly.

"Never? Alright. I'll hold you to that." He smiled warmly at her, and again trapped her lips in a kiss.

As he did so, he pushed into her, sinking his length into her again, renewing that pleasurable contact.

She couldn't help but bite his lip a bit when he pushed into her, the sensation overcoming her body in a rush.

As they went on Jaela held her hands at his sides, pulling him inward with each passing movement as she moaned and screamed out his name several times. By the end of it, she was sure she had screamed loud enough for even the Craol to hear her outside and fill the halls with an echo.

Her body lay limp on the bed, covered in sweat as she had already begun to relive this moment over and over again. This... this was a memory that she would be sure to remember and not let fade like others in her life.

This. This here was satisfaction.

Itachi had fallen over onto the bed beside her, eyes glazed over and his hair plastered onto his forehead. Gods, when did it get so hot in Here?

Panting, he glanced at her, and smiled.

Oh yeah. That's when.

He chuckled at his own joke, and slowly reached his hand across the bed, and threaded his fingers with hers, squeezing tightly.

"I love you, Jaela. Gods...you're like no woman I've ever met." He lifted their hands, and brought hers near his mouth to press a kiss to her knuckles. "I don't ever want this moment to end."

She giggled as she wound her fingers with his. "I try not to be..." she smiled.

"And you are like no man I have ever met." She then stuck her tongue out at him while rolling onto her side to face him. With her head propped up by one hand, she stared at him for a moment, completely content with laying here for the rest of the day if she could. However, there were still Craol to attend to.

Rolling back over she slid off of the bed and began slipping her clothes on, slipping her feet into a pair of dark leather flats last.

"Think we should go check on them? Make sure they are not running around like a bunch of lunatics?" Her mind was already whirling with the things they had yet to get done since arriving. "I should probably show them some rooms, or do you think they would rather sleep outside in a tent?"

"I mean... they are your Craol after all."

"Them?"

Oh. Them.

".....oh yeah. I suppose everyone still needs to get settled in, don't they..." He sighed, loathe to leave the bed. With exaggerated slowness, he crawled out of the bed, and moved to gather his clothes together.

He pulled his tunic and pants on, and began the laborious process of lacing up his boots. As he did, he glanced up at her with a smile. "I wouldn't honestly be surprised if they already set up camp. Probably scared them off." He chuckled a bit as he stood, and slid on his coat.

"You weren't exactly quiet." He moved next to her, wrapped an arm around her waist, and pressed a kiss to her cheek. "Just imagine the looks we're gonna get when we finally get outside." He offered a cheeky grin before he released her.

"Alright. Let's go see what they've broken so far."

Crimson cheeks surfaced at the mention of not being quiet. She couldn't help it.. it was that good. After he kissed her cheek Jaela moved past him to the door, opening it before turning back to him.

"Well, then I guess we just shouldn't play anymore."

And she was off, running down the hall and descending the few sets of stairwells that stood between her and the outside world. Already she had a plan in motion and had begun to place the charade back up. She was determined to make all of them forget anything they had just heard.

Bursting out the front doors Jaela ran up to where the Craol had set up a camp on the lawn and looked panicked.

"Butter witches!" Her eyes skipped between members as she gauged their reactions. "Have you had your horseradish today!? We forgot about the horseradish!?" Jaela then grasped at her head as she looked like even she didn't know what to do about this current... situation.

"Shouldn't play anymore? Now, what's....and you're gone." Itachi chuckled to himself as he crossed his arms over his chest, slowly walking across the threshold and down the hallway.

"You'll play, Jaela. You and me, we'll always play." His voice echoed into the stairwell as he laughed to himself, descending at a leisurely pace.

When he finally made his way to the front - something made him confused about the layout of the place, but he didn't know what - he stepped outside to see the Craol, digging through their respective belongings.

He glanced to the side to see Jaela, once again acting with her shenanigans. "..Lemme guess. 'Orseradish? Again?" He grinned and stepped over to her with a grin. "Y'know, they're gonna figger it ou', some day, an' yer gonna 'ave ta make up sommat new ta keep 'em on their toes."

He turned to look over his men as they continued busying themselves with their task.

"'Ey! Forget th' 'orderadish fer a minute, an' get yer asses inside an' moved in, proper like. Plenny o' room fer th' lot o' us. Jus'...."

He remembered something Kaida had said, during that meeting those weeks ago.

"....jus' don' destroy the place. Mind?" He winked at Jaela.

When Itachi approached and asked about horseradish Jaela innocently smiled at him. If only he knew a lie she once told to this poor kid back in Jadenshine.  Standing next to him she crossed her arms and leaned towards him a bit, watching as the Craol began to gather their things.

"I could tell them that hanging the leg of a dead cow in the doorway helps too."  Her voice was soft enough so the others couldn't hear her.  "I once had a whole tavern believing that bit."

She then stepped away, following the Craol inside. Already she was back to herself as she clapped her hands behind them. "Hurry! The sooner we get in the sooner I can tell you about caramel golems!"

One Craol, in particular, seemed to take interest in her newest topic and so she divulged him in everything she knew about them. "They are just as bad as butter witches, except more evil."

Itachi shook his head out of disbelief at her mentioning of hanging the leg of a cow to ward off butter witches. This girl just didn't quit.

He smiled. He could admire that.

He walked slowly, hands clasped behind his back, after Jaela and the Craol, a thoughtful smile in place. Butter witches and caramel golems. Really, now.

"Now, I've 'eard o' some strange things'n me life, bu' caramel golems? This I gotta 'ear." He strode up to Jaela and the Craol she was speaking with, and flicked the older man in the back of the head.

"Get'cher ass in there, Rumil, an' then ya can listen ta the Princess's legends an' whatnot. Got work ta do so we c'n get settled."

When the Craol hurried off, he grinned at Jaela. "Stories, AFTER we get moved in. We've got to figure out just where everyone's going to be staying...and that's gonna take awhile if the boys are busy hanging dead cow legs and horseradish everywhere."

He glanced around, and grinned. Everyone else was inside. He laced an arm around Jaela's waist, and grinned at her. "So. Caramel golems, huh? How much of this stuff is actually real?"

He gently tugged her toward the door, trying to insinuate they could talk while they moved.

"Butter witches are real" she plainly stated. "It's been years since I have seen one but trust me they are out there. Caramel Golems, however... I have yet to discover. No myth should ever be taken lightly though." It was sad really, how someone, as calculated as Jaela, would fall victim to such superstitions and that deep in her heart she truly believed the basis of every single one.

"I think we should place the Craol in the servants quarters. Not because they are inferior or anything, but they would probably feel most at home there. The rooms each have four beds so that none of them are ever alone. Plus I think Kaida has other plans for the guest rooms upstairs."

After that, the remainder of the day was spent settling all of them into their rooms as well as assigning shifts to walk the premises. All of that, of course, was just boring because... who would climb all the way up here anyways?

At least that was what Jaela was thinking as she herself was making rounds. She was out on the main landing, standing at the edge as she took the sight in of the sun setting on the horizon. She had left Itachi inside, although she was sure he would find her sooner or later, then at least making rounds wouldn't be so boring.

It was then that something caught her eye, a strange movement in her peripheral vision just below. Crouching down Jaela tried to focus on the blur of movement only to have a knife go flying past her face, skimming her cheek as it passed. It was such a shock in fact that she fell back, landing on her rear as she tried to process what was happening.

"How... delightful" she groaned as she reached up to touch the cut on her face. She wasn't scared in the slightest and if anything almost seemed amused that someone would dare attack the citadel. Standing back up she looked over the edge again, another knife flying past that this time she managed to dodge. To her surprise what she saw turned from delightful to horribly inconvenient. It wasn't just one or two, but dozens of people making their way up the mountain.

"Dragon hunters.... again."

All at once they started emerging from below, taking stance on the stony edge of the landing while Jaela just stood there with her arms crossed waiting. Not only for all of them to show themselves, but for Itachi who she was sure would be arriving any minute now....

Itachi found himself bored. Mind numbingly, skull crushing, eye gouging bored. With Jaela off doing her thing, Itachi had been left with next to nothing to do but wait.

He busied himself with darts, at first, setting up a crude board in the hallway outside Jaela's room. He'd taken a knife and simply carved circles into it until it somewhat resembled a bullseye.

And so he played, until he got bored with that, too. The board stayed there, with numerous little holes gouges in the very center. Darts wasn't much fun alone.

And so, he took to wandering the halls for awhile. He hadn't actually asked if there was any place he was or wasn't allowed to go, and so decided to stick with main hallways and corridors.

After his fifth or sixth trip up and down the stairs with multiple stairwells, he finally decided to head outside. Maybe he'd keep Jaela company.

And so, when he first set foot out the door, he at first noticed it was quiet. He'd expected to perhaps hear her musing away her own boredom, and was a little offput when he didn't.

And then he found out why - he heard a slight whistling in the air, and reflexes caused him to shoot his hand out and just grab, just a moment before the steel shining in the fading sunlight gave the knife away.

It's handle solidly connected with  his palm, and automatically he looked at it to determine its origin. The first thing he noticed, however, was the slight bit of blood on it's edge. Itachi's jade eyes narrowed to nearly nothing.

He heard - and this time saw - the second one not a moment later, just as he began striding forward. He lifted an arm just in time to catch it, the blade just wedged between two fingers, less than three inches away from his eye.

And then, he saw Jaela, standing with her back to him with her arms crossed over her chest, looking below the wall. As he drew closer to her, he saw the slice in her cheek, and glanced down at the bloody blade he held.

"Visitors, I take it?" He stepped up beside her, glancing down at the mass before them. He could see two men in particular, looking as if they were just then reaching Dr a weapon.

Itachi happily gave them each one, assuming it was these two that dared strike out at Jaela. He wasn't able to tell from the distance where exactly he hit them, but he gave a smug smile when they both crumpled.

Face or throat, then. Not a bad toss.

"You okay, bird?" he asked, his town deadly serious.

As she had expected Itachi had impeccable timing. He was beside her within a matter of minutes and now both of them stared at the men making their way towards the Citadel.

"Delightful" her tone just as serious as his.

By the handful, dragon hunters began running in their direction clearly taking no time to catch their breath after that treacherous climb. It wasn't until they were within range that her serious expression curled into a terrifying smile.

"I'll take the right." And then Jaela was gone, storming towards the men attempting to siege her home. She didn't even have any weapons in hand as she lunged forwards, but then again Jaela never really needed any.

The first hunter whipped past her, swinging a blade that Jaela merely dropped on her knees and slid under to avoid. The man didn't even have a chance to swing again before Jaela had flipped backward, using her hands to vault herself from the ground and wrap her own legs around his neck, pulling him forwards with her body as his face slammed into the ground.

Sitting on top of his unconscious corpse she then eyed two more who were headed in her direction. Jumping up she matched their pace, running straight at them before stopping suddenly. It threw the two men off as they looked to her and then one another.

"Bye bye" she giggled before flicking her wrist as if to wave them away. It was then that the ground beneath them began to quake before a large rock structure jolted from the ground and sent them flying off the mountain's side. Seeing as this was probably the most efficient way to decrease their numbers Jaela repeated her trick at least three more times. Groups of men were sent flying off the edge to the earth thousands of feet below with nothing more than a hand flick from the wiley girl.

She had gotten it down to three remaining on her side and so Jaela decided to have a bit of fun. She let them all run at her with weapons drawn without even so much of a flinch. With each swing of a blade, Jaela dodged by either dropping or jumping back. It was times like this her short stature came in handy. It was all too easy to dodge attacks like this, especially from large weapons. Small weapons like what Itachi used were a different story....

Small weapons, like daggers, knives, shuriken, and yet another surprise he kept hidden up his sleeves were a godsend in situations like this. Up on the wall, he had range over the entire battlefield.

For a moment, he held back, watching Jaela hold her own against the group she decided to take on. He watched her movements, and theirs, and almost immediately knew that this was going to be a cakewalk.

With a bloodthirsty grin, he pulled his two daggers from the sheathes on his belt, twirling the beautiful black blades between his fingers.

He wouldn't even need range for this.

And so, he didn't bother to meet them on level ground. When the group of men made it within twenty feet of the wall, he simply jumped, grin gone again as he formulated his plan of attack.

Itachi landed feet first on the shoulders of one man, riding him down as he fell backwards. Just as he was about to hit the ground, he leapt a second time, over the sweeping horizontal slice of a broadsword from a man to his side.

His twin daggers buried themselves in the chest of the man he'd surprised, and the blades lay abandoned there for the moment as he rolled to his feet.

He spent the next several seconds dancing around the blades swung at him, ducking and dodging, goading their wild swings into connecting with the men behind him.

Stupid, stupid fools. Now, the coup de grace.

A battleaxe swept low at his feet, and almost casually he stepped up onto it's broad surface, riding it's ascent and leaping high with it's momentum.

For a moment, time seemed to stand still as he spun into the air. Each hand slid into its opposite sleeve with a deft moment, grasping handfuls of the contents within.

During his spin into the air, and just reaching the apex of his jump, he flung his hands outward. A storm of battle darts, thin and weighted, flung from his hands, peppering the men around him. Faces, chests, throats, soft spots in armor....

All were kill marks.

When he landed again, he fell to his hands and knees, and slowly stood. Around him, all was quiet for a moment. Again, time stood still.

And then they fell in a cacophonous clash of metal and dead flesh, soldiers falling in bloody heaps around him.

"Hmph. Amateurs."

He turned around, having eventually lost his original placement, and saw Jaela dodging around three attackers. He smiled for a moment. Let her have her fun, or....

Fuck it.

He withdrew three throwing knives from his coat, and held them at the ready.

"Three on one, is it, then? No' very sportin' of ya, y'know!"

He grinned and flung the daggers, taking the two on either side in the throat, and the last straight in the kneecap, allowing him to crumple before Jaela.

From the corner of her eye, Jaela watched Itachi completely destroy his opponents one by one. Jaela would be lying if she didn't say it was rather impressive among many other feelings fluttering in her chest right now.

Still dodging the three assailants but not making a move Jaela was constantly ducking and weaving between them. However, when Itachi began to strike them down it caused her attention to shift for the slightest of seconds.

The two fell first at her sides and then the one standing in front of her. From Itachi's view it would look like he merely crumbled at her feet since her back was turned towards him, however, that was only partially the case.

From the front, Jaela stood completely still, her eyes slowly looking down as her hands gripped the hilt of the small dagger that was now lodged in her lower abdomen. She choked as the surprise of it had truly taken every bit of breath remaining in her lungs. She had never been stabbed before, well at least not like this anyways.

Slowly Jaela began to fall, her knees buckling before she managed to catch herself with one palm pressed firmly onto the ground.

"Dammit Itachi..." she managed to get out. "I was having so much fun..."

Blood began to trickle from her wound while Jaela continued to hold the hilt with one hand, the other hand keeping her from faceplanting into the stone.

Itachi had begun walking toward her when she fell, and when she did hit the ground, he broke into a sprint. His eyes were wide when he reached her, kneeling by her side.

He saw the knife lodged in her abdomen, and immediately his eyes began to tear up. This was his fault, trying to play savior. Trying to impress her. He might as well have stabbed her himself.

His eyes narrowed as he noticed movement in front of him, and suddenly he stood and kicked outward. A satisfying crunch signalled the breaking of the man's nose and jaw as Itachi's boot connected with his face. The other slumped again to the ground, clearly unconscious.

Immediately he returned to Jaela, and gently rolled her over onto her back. "Gods, Jaela...I'm so sorry, Jaela. I'm so sorry....this is going to hurt, okay?" His voice nearly broke as he finished that sentence, clearly blaming himself for the incident.

He tore off a long strip of his tunic in haste, and gently pulled her hand away from the hilt of the blade buried in her flesh. Around the base of the wound, he wrapped the fine cloth, and began to apply pressure.

And then he pulled out the knife. He ignored the spurt of blood, even as it splashed upon his face, and continued to apply pressure. With an angry grunt, he flung the offending object off the plateau.

Mentally, he tried to convince himself that this was not Jaela that he was trying to save, but someone else, hoping to stave off the sorrow so he could concentrate on his work.

Holding the cloth down with one hand, he reached again inside his coat, sighing with relief when he found his case of equipment was still secure. His dexterous fingers untied the knot keeping it tied to his back, and he slid it out.

"I'm going to have to stop the bleeding, somehow. Gods...." he muttered to himself. His eyes continued to flow with tears as he opened his case, locating another bag of herbs from it's confines.

"Please let this work...." he muttered, opening the cloth bag, and holding it over her wound. He pulled his other hand away, and narrowed his eyes as her blood again began to flow freely. He hissed, and upended the bag and it's contents into her wound.

The effect was, unusually, instantaneous. Unbeknownst to him, just as he'd began to empty the bag into the free-bleeding wound, his eyes had begun to glow, a soft white light that lightened the jade hue of his eyes until they very nearly matched Jaela's own eye color.

"Common yarrow...seems to have done the trick...." he mumbled, even while he pulled a needle and fine thread from his case.

"Gotta...close the wound..."

Still absolutely refusing to look at her, he quickly threaded the needle, and pushed it quickly into her skin at an almost flat angle, his face an utter mask of concentration, his eyes still glowing, pulsating now.

Quickly, precisely, he sewed the wound shut, tying the end off with a small knot. Then, immediately, he grabbed his jar of poultice, opened it, and hastily smeared a generous amount over the closed wound.

Still in haste, he grabbed a roll of bandages, unwound and then doubled them, and laid them atop her abdomen. Then he glanced up to see if she was still conscious, needing to move her to properly bandage her, sorrow in his eyes as he gazed at her.

Rolled onto her side Jaela winced, the pressure of moving around so much causing the pain in her stomach to radiate tenfold. Even as he told her it was going to hurt she didn't think the pain could get any worse than it already was. However, Jaela was wrong.

At first, she didn't want to pull her hand away because at least with it there she had some form of control over the knife. She did give in though and let it fall to her side so that Itachi could fix her up. When he applied pressure she began to moan in pain, the muscles in her body tensing as her natural instinct was to stop whatever was causing the pain.

When the knife was pulled Jaela felt a sense of relieved pressure and took in a deep breath. Okay so maybe that wasn't that bad.

"It's just a cut Itachi... I will be fine." She even tried to push him away a bit but when her blood began spurting out she realized that maybe it wasn't just a 'simple' cut. Itachi then began trying to stop the bleeding but all Jaela could focus on was his eyes. He looked so awful right now, but then...

His eyes began to glow and even in her current state Jaela managed to tilt her head in confusion. "Itachi.," she whispered, reaching a bloodied hand towards his face.  "Ita-" and then he was stitching her up. The sting of the needle was nothing in comparison to the feeling of having a knife jabbed into your stomach, however, the pulling of skin was very uncomforting.

It was more than just a flesh wound, this one was deep. That knife had managed to not only pierce her skin but also slice at the core muscles in her stomach. They would take weeks to heal. Finally, Itachi was looking at her and Jaela smiled despite the amount of blood she had just lost.

"Stop looking at me like that."

"I can't, Jaela. Something like this could kill you." He offered a watery smile, and moved to help her sit up, still gently holding the bandage in place.

"This isn't a necrotic scorpion sting, love. This is a deep stab wound. I can't look inside to make sure there's nothing inside damaged..muscle and skin for sure, but the human body is very...complicated on the inside."

He sighed as he tied the bandage off, and absentmindedly went to wipe the blood off of his face, smearing it even more. Slowly, the pale glow of his eyes receded, and he smiled sadly at her.

"I'm sorry, Jaela. I shouldn't...I shouldn't have done that.  I shouldn't have distracted you....and now here I am hoping my luck will hold out, and you'll be okay. Gods..."

He looked away from her, his mind carrying him to a terrifying place. What would happen if something inside was damaged? The human body was so full of toxins, damaging the wrong organ could cause a rampant, untreatable infection. Especially without magic to help her along.

He imagined, then, spending the next few days watching her waste away, sicker every day, standing at her bedside while....

No. If it got worse, he'd take her straight back to Ketra if he absolutely had to. Sanctuary could fix her, far better than he'd be able to. Kaida could fuck off, if leaving the Citadel unattended would save Jaela's life.

Cautiously she sat up with his help, hissing at the pain radiating in her stomach.

"It could have happened to anyone. It was my fault... I lost focus. Just because you were being all amazing doesn't mean I should have taken my eyes off of them for even a split second." Jaela then looked down at her stomach and pursed her lips. "Lesson learned."

When Itachi looked away Jaela could see he was already mapping out the worst case scenario. It was, of course, the smartest thing to do, making plans in case others failed. "Hey!" she yelled, causing her to wince again from the muscle strain. "Don't even think for a second I am going anywhere."

She then reached up, cupping his cheek in her hand so that he would be forced to look at her. "I'm not going anywhere I promise. I'm going to be fine."

Itachi jerked when she yelled at him, startled back to attention. When she placed her hand on his cheek, he looked into her eyes, noting how they could shine even when she was in pain.

He smiled, and raised one blood covered hand to hers, gently holding it against his cheek. "You'd better not. That'd be a piss poor ending to our first day together, don't you think? Not that this wasn't bad enough."

Gods, he was feeling so morose he couldn't even joke without getting depressed. He sighed, and his gaze flicked back to the ground.

Out of his peripheral vision, he could see a foot. His eyes narrowed hatefully, and his gaze travelled from the foot to the man it belonged to, unconscious on the ground.

"....i think I know what will make me feel better."

He stood up, moving behind her to slip his hands under her armpits to help her stand with him, more than ready to offer himself as a crutch if she needed it.

"Let's get you inside. Then I'm going to work on this fucker." He spit towards the man, more than ready to let him know just how pissed he was.

With his help Jaela was on her feet again, every movement tugging at the wound on her stomach. It's funny really. Jaela had gone years without so much as a scratch and now just in the last few weeks, she had been gravely injured twice now. She could already hear Kaida lecturing her about it. "Priorities Jaela... priorities"

Using him as an aid Jaela slowly crept back towards the citadel, taking each step with extreme caution. The last thing she wanted was to open this wound up that he had just so meticulously taken care of. "Just set me in here and go take care of him." Her eyes hardened as she looked out the door where the unconscious man lay. "Show him why it's stupid to try and take the Citadel Itachi."

Of course, by here Jaela clearly meant just inside the door in the entryway, she would somehow manage from there.

Itachi slowly walked her to the Citadel doorway, for once glad that he was so short of stature that his height made it fairly easy to help support her. He supposed he could have carried her, but didn't want to take the chance to aggravate her wound more than simply walking already had.

When they finally cleared the doorway, he released her so that she could lean against the wall. "Let me get one of the boys up here to help you, love. I'd rather make sure someone was around, just in case."

He leaned toward her, pressing a loving kiss to her lips before he strode away.

Couldn't get caught up in that. There was work to be done.

He found himself at the stairs that descended to the servants quarters, and made his presence known.

"'EY! Some'un get'cher ass up'ere an' make yerselves useful! Fron' door! Princess needs yer 'elp!"

He turned away from the stairs, and stood still for a second.

He was angry. Beyond angry. He was furious at himself, unconvinced that the situation was anything less than his fault. He was furious at the company of men that had decided to ruin this first day. And he was absolutely livid at the man who had hurt Jaela.

When he stepped away from the stairs, his face was a terrifying sight, a flame in his eyes that Jaela certainly hadn't seen in him before. His face was set in a grim smile, as if he looked forward to what he was about to do.

And oh, he did.

He strode past Jaela, refusing to look at her. Bad enough she had to see the darker side of him. He didn't dare turn that gaze on her.

Funny enough it was Zamik who came running first, Jaela's personal target from the moment she heard he drug Itachi by his hair. She happened to steal a glance at Itachi before he went back outside and Jaela could tell that justice would be served.

With Zamik's aid and Jaela's oh so helpful instruction, he had managed to get her almost completely down the hall. All the was left was the stairs going up to her room and honestly, she didn't want him up there.  "Just leave me here so that I-"  Oh right, Jaela forgot to act crazy for a moment.

"I mean uh... Leave me here so that I can listen to my voice echo in the long hall." She turned to him to smile. "I did always love hearing the sound of my own voice." Jaela tilted her head, hoping that was enough to erase any doubt about her mental state. It seemed to work too because Zamik helped her into a sitting position in the hall before going on his way again.

For a few minutes, Jaela hummed the same tune she sang in the jail that Itachi had been placed in if anything she did it to keep the illusion alive. "Fly away little pretty bird. Fly, fly awwwaayyy. Fllyyy away little pretty birrrdd, and pretty you will always stayy."

As soon as she thought the coast was clear Jaela ceased her tune and turned her attention not on the stairs, but on one of the large rooms just before. At first, she tried to crawl, but the strain it put on her stomach was too much. So instead Jaela opted to try and stand on her own and with the aid of the wall, it really wasn't as difficult as she thought it would be.

Slowly she made her way towards the room in question, the room she desired to be in more than anything right now... the bath hall.

You see Jaela may have been many things but something she was never a fan of was the sight of her own blood. It caused her stomach to twist in the most unpleasant ways and almost stirred up some kind of memory she wished didn't exist. She was bound and determined to make it to the bath hall and scrub every last bit of it off of her body.

It took a longer than expected but Jaela had managed and now laying before her was the massive pool of water that always seemed to be impeccably clear. Kaida had explained it to her once, something to do with a natural stream that they siphoned to fill the large pool naturally. It eliminated the need for extra staff and always assured the water was fresh no matter the occasion.

Leaving the safety of the wall Jaela then crawled towards the edge of the pool, dipping her hand in just as she had reached its edge.... it was cold.  "Dammit"

He was on his way outside again, positively grinning by now, a bloodthirsty grin twisting his lips malignantly. There was death in his eyes, a dark look that would send even the hardest of his Craol running for the hills.

This was a look that drove Adelan Dragonriders to fall in their own swords. This was the look that Adela had so kindly posted up all over Ketra on his wanted posters.

Put simply, when he had this look, the reaper was coming. But he'd be awhile. A long, long while, if Itachi wanted.

He may be a criminal, a wanted man, a bandit. He may be considered one of the most dangerous mortal men in the entire province. But there was one thing that most people didn't consider when they thought of pain.

Itachi was also a doctor. He knew exactly how and where to hurt you. He knew how to bring you so utterly close to death that you could embrace it, and still wake up screaming in torment.

When he reached the man lying there unconscious upon the marble, Itachi stood over him for almost a solid minute, staring holes in his face. This man, this pathetic excuse for excrement had dared to hurt the woman he loved.

He reached down, down towards that mouth twisted in it's awkward pose with it's broken jaw, and grabbed at his lower teeth, curling his fingers and dragging him to a sitting position by his broken jaw.

That woke him up. The man absolutely screamed.

Itachi wrenched him forward, throwing him on his face in such a way that caused a snap as his jaw splintered further. He remembered the knife lodged in his kneecap, and grinned with glee as he stomped on that leg.

Then he hopped around to stand in front of him, two throwing knives already his hands. As the man on the ground whimpered and crawled forward, Itachi threw those knives straight down, penetrating the back of both palms and pinning them to the marble.

Oh, the screams, the way the echoed, the varying timbres that set his ears to singing!

He kneeled down, one knee on the ground beside the man's head. He grabbed his filthy, bloody hair, and lifted his head up.

"Do I got'cher fuckin' attention, friend? You an' me....we're gonna 'ave is a nice. Fuckin'. Chat. An' 'ow good ya are a' answerin' me questions determined jus' 'ow long th' chats gonna last, ya got me?"

The only answer was an unintelligible, whimpering loan.

"Oh, don'tcha go blubberin' at me now, I've barely started! Me an' you, we're gonna 'ave loads o' fun together."

"I'll 'ella anyfin a wanna-"

"I don' wanna 'ear anythin', me bleedin' li'l friend. An' besides, when I do wanna 'ear sommat, I wanna be sure I'm 'earin' every fucking thing, ya stupid sod."

Itachi stood, and slowly began walking circles around the man, grinning all the while.

"Now, b'fore we ge' started, there's sommat ya gotta know. Tha' girl ya stabbed? Th' pretty 'un ya jus' abou' killed? I love her. D'ya know wha' tha' means, boyo? I'm gonna fuckin' kill ya, I won' lie. Bu' I can make yer las' breaths fuckin' burn, mate. How bad depends on you."

He stepped out, and pushed on the knife in the man's palm, angling it sharply. The agonized screams in Itachi's ear made him smile.

"There ya be. Tha's a taste for ya. Now, then. Why are ya 'ere?"

"Was...huntin....dragon."

Itachi quickly pulled another knife from inside his coat, and plunged it down into his right shoulder, shattering bone and rending the muscle.

"Ain' no fuckin' dragons 'ere, ya...did you jus' fuckin' piss yerself? You li'l bitch!" He delivered a rough kick to the man's side, and kneeled down by his head again. After the man quit screaming for a couple seconds, Itachi tried again.

"Now....why were ya really 'ere?"

"Really....dragon. Black-Hearth."

Itachi blinked. That name stuck true. And if Kaida was a dragon...

"Why ya goin' after this Black-'Earth then?"

"....'angerous."

"I'm fuckin' dangerous. Me girl inside is fuckin' dangerous. Yeah,  dragons 're dangerous, bu' I don' see an army comin' fer us, do I?"

"No....jus' the dragon...."

Tink! Another throwing knife found itself in thr man's other knee, not quite sticking into the ground. Itachi's grin looked like it could take off the top of his head.

"Yer gonna run me outta knives, frien'. Best be singin' s diff'rent tune."

Meanwhile, the screams continued to echo through the mountains. Doubtless, Jaela would be able to hear it inside.

_____________

It was another forty minutes before Itachi finally decided the man didn't know anything. He'd left the man there for a time to stride back into the citadel, surprising several Craol that had come to investigate the screams with his blood covered visage.

Wirelessly, he had walked in past them, and a couple minutes later returned with a large bowl full of salt.

Itachi's mind was in a dark place, inventing new means of agony for the screaming man outside. His latest involved stripping the flesh from his back in patches, covering said pieces of flesh with the salt, and then calmly placing them back over the wound, like bandages. The man's back had to be on fire, having had the flesh literally stripped from him, the raw muscle liberally salted.

At least he wouldn't bleed to death.

He was just having fun, now, but eventually it had to end. At the end, Itachi removed all the knives he'd inserted into the various places of the man's body, drug him still-screaming to the ledge, and dropped him over the side.

And then the others, one by one, collecting his two daggers and what darts he could save, and then dropping them over the edge as well for the carrion creatures below.

Then, he dragged his blood-soaked self back to the Citadel, tired and worn, but with an evil glint in his eye.

Peridot eyes watched as the ripples she had just created spread across the water like wildfire. It was so calm before that, and even just placing her fingers in the water created such a subtle yet beautiful effect. It was truly magnificent, the wonders you could see if you just sat back and focused on the little things.

Speaking of little things, Jaela pursed her lips at the thought of how cold that water would feel over her entire body. "No thank you" she hummed to herself, closing her eyes as the echo of her own voice reverberated off the stone walls. Everything was so different in here unlike the entertaining show happening outside. Jaela couldn't even imagine what Itachi was going to do to that poor man and part of her regretted that she was missing it.

It had been too long since Jaela got to experience the joy of watching someone get struck down. She wasn't afraid to admit that she loved it, loved seeing those who deserved it get the justice due handed to them. Maybe she was a little crazy, maybe that charade she always claimed to have wasn't as much of a joke as she let on.

Setting her mind back on the minor problem at hand Jaela dipped her fingers into the water again creating yet another ripple to spread across the pool. She could fix it quickly but that would require energy she honestly didn't think she had.

"Metal, sand, rocks... other things." Jaela recalled the conversation she had with Itachi back in the dungeon they had managed to get themselves locked in. "Yes, other things" she giggled to herself. It was an ability that she did not use often but also the very reason that she had caught the attention of the Black-Hearth's, to begin with. It was what set her apart from other earth elementals, not just that she could use it but that she could use it along with sand and stone. Three variations of the most common element known to man.

So now she was debating whether or not the prize would be worth the exhaustion it would bring. Easily she could channel heat through the mountain to cause the spring to raise to a comfortable temperature, one that would probably soothe her pains. "Dammit" she groaned as she removed her hand from the water and spread her palm over the stone lining the water.

It was too far, and she was too weak to do anything about it. She could feel it and almost felt like she could reach it, but it was too great a risk. "Dammit dammit dammit" she muttered again as she rolled onto her back, admitting defeat to the task.

"Dammit!" again she yelled, this time bringing a hand to lay over the wound on her stomach. She didn't like this, not at all. Jaela was so used to being more than capable of taking care of herself. She had always been so careful, always calculated with every move she made. Yet here she was laying on the stone floor of the bath hall unable to even heat the stupid water up.

Blood in his hair, blood on his face, blood soaked into his clothes, blood where blood ought not to be....

Itachi was covered in it, head to toe, his hair dyed with it. His feet squelched in his boots, with blood between his toes, drenched whilst he was dragging the multitude of corpses to fall over the mountain.

But, none of it was his own. It was theirs, and his, and Jaela's. Briefly, he wondered how she was, intending to check on her just as soon as he'd washed up. He dearly wanted to see her now, but with her injury he'd rather not accidentally introduce foreign blood to her system. No... That wouldn't do at all.

And so, he consulted his mental map of the maze-like citadel, and trudged through the halls, cursing the bloody footprints he left behind. That would need cleaning up later.

Eventually, he found his way to the bath hall, and arched an eyebrow when he found the door ajar. Initially, he shrugged it off, thinking one of the Craol had gone exploring and simply left it open, and pushed it open the rest of the way.

He stopped, eyes locked forward, when he saw her lying there on the floor, hand held over her wound. He slid to her side, down on both knees.

"Jaela!" he said, none too quietly, taking her stare as listless or dead, unknowing of her previous anger.

In the blink of an eye, Itachi was at her side, saying her name like he had just discovered her corpse.

"What?" she asked, her eyes just as serious as his. "Did something happen?" It was then that she realized that Itachi was covered in blood. Instinctively she reached a hand up to touch his face. "Are you hurt?" Carefully she then sat up with a wince.

Her hand brushed his cheek before exploring his entire face, even going as far as sweeping some of his hair back. "Where are you bleeding from?"

Itachi laughed, relieved that his first assumption was false, and put his hand over hers. "No, no. None of it is mine. Gods, you scared me." He chuckled again at the situation, and then sighed.

"But no. After I...finished with that bastard, I cleaned up the bodies. Kaida will have a nice little welcome home present when she decides to show up, in the form of a mountain of corpses." He winked at her. "I dropped them over the side. Oh, and you missed a good show, by the way."

He settled beside her, gently pulling her against his side with an arm around her shoulders. They were both bloody anyway.

"Anyway....why am I finding you lying on the floor in the bath hall? Do you need help?"

"The bodies will probably be gone before she even gets back. All kinds of creatures out there that we just made lunch for."

When Itachi pulled her against himself she sighed... "Yay more blood..."

"Well I was going to try and get some of this blood off of me, I absolutely hate the sight of my own..." Jaela trailed off as a flashback played behind her eyes. Quickly she recovered, shaking her head before turning her head back to the water.

"I can't heat the water right now... not like this. I was going to call for Zamik to start a fire in the warming room below but I scared him away with my crazy. So I decided I would just lay here and listen to the sound of my own voice." 

Itachi smiled a bit, and released her to stand. He didn't really want to add to the problem any more than he had.

"Truth be told, I doubt you could honestly scare him off. Besides, he's been with me for years now...if he was that easy to scare away, I think he'd have been long gone by now." He chuckled a little bit, and stepped toward the door.

"Listen, I want a bath, too. So I'll get Zamik or one of the boys to get a blaze going, and we can share the space, hmm? It'll give me a chance to check your wound, too." Gods, that sounded familiar. He was going to feel horrible if she started collecting scars just by being around him.

He drew quiet for a moment, before he smiled, to hide his thoughts. "I'll be right back, love."

"Challenge accepted..." Jaela now making it a personal goal to scare Zamik somehow.

"Alright," she giggled, feeling nostalgic when he said he was going to check her wound. It was just like when they first met, he was constantly checking her leg for infection. Her eyes then trailed down to her thigh where the scorpion scar still remained. Carefully she ran a finger over the imperfections in her skin and pursed her lips. "It will be gone in a few weeks."

Itachi had guessed right back when they first met. Jaela did always have a healer at her disposal back when the Black-Hearth family was still doing well, but even without them, she healed rather efficiently. Her body was constantly pulling energy from the earth which always over time seemed to completely heal any scar she bore. Just as all her others did the one on her leg would fade as well as her newly acquired puncture wound on her stomach.

She kicked her flats off first, letting the two small shoes fumble in front of her on the pavement. Next, she began pushing down her bottoms, the article of clothing that seemed the worst off in terms of blood stains.  It was difficult, that was for sure, but in time Jaela managed to get them off and scoot herself away from them too. Last would be her top, but Jaela was already tired from the simple action of removing what clothes she had so far and so she admitted defeat for the time being. She already considered it a triumph she had made it as far as she had considering her circumstances, all of it while she was still sitting on the floor.

The stone was a welcome feeling on her back when she lay back down, as was the peace of mind knowing that soon she wouldn't have to feel the blood sticking to her skin. Again Jaela found her eyes wandering the large bath hall as it had fallen silent. Her fingers traced her stomach in a circle, always stopping and moving around the area where her wound was, while her other hand lay flat on the concrete beside her.

"Fly away little pretty bird. Fly, fly awwwaayyy. Fllyyy away little pretty birrrdd, and pretty you will always stayy." Jaela had begun to sing the same tune again, one that had been stuck in her mind from the moment Itachi first called her a pretty bird. Something about it familiar yet distant in her mind.

Itachi smiled as she giggled, winking at her just before he disappeared around the corner. As he strode down the hallways, he couldn't help but think to himself, as he always did.

A week, maybe, before she'd be able to get around on her own without help. Another week after that before Itachi would dare let her outside. He was more than willing to take her rounds on top of his, used to long days on the run anyway. Sleep to him was a precious and rare commodity.

He knew it would cut into their time together, but she would need rest and time to recover. And he'd see to it that she got it, one way or the other.

"...tie her down if I have to....Zamik!"

He'd arrived at the stairwell to the servants quarters, and began to descend. He'd need to find the furnace that heated the water, or the poor sod would be likely to set fire to the wrong thing and kill all of them.

After a moment, he found them in a sort of common area, playing cards. He rapped on the doorway with his knuckles, instantly gaining all of their attention. His bloody and disheveled appearance no longer shocked them - apparently word had spread fast.

"Zamik. There's a furnace...." He thought for a moment, poking his head out the door as he thought of the layout of the floor above them, noting the location of the bath hall.

"....down th' hall, aroun' th' corner, second door onna right. Light it. It's fer th' bath hall. Princess needs a bath." He looked down at his blood covered self, and sighed. "An' me, too. Keep it burnin' for awhile, mind."

Zamik stood. "Aye, boss, I gotcha. Is the Princess gonna be okay? I saw the work you did on her."

"Yeah. She'll be fine. Knowin' her, she could prob'ly take a whole lot more'n tha' an' keep goin'. Bu' jus' th' same, she asks ya fer sommat, ya do it. Jus' like if I said it. Goes for all o' ya." He glanced about the room as they talked amongst themselves at this arrangement - they all seemed in agreement.

"Good on ya, boys. Rumil, take rounds, an' walk th' wall. If'n anymore o' them asses show up again, I wanna know firs' thing, yeah?"

With that, he left the room, and made his way back to the bath hall.

_______

A couple minutes later, he returned to find Jaela lying on the floor again, tracing circles around her wound. As he entered the bath hall, he dropped his blood soaked coat onto the floor, and walked to her. "Clothes being stubborn?" He smiled, and held out a hand to help her sit up, his gaze only briefly flicking to her lower regions.

"Here, sit up and I'll get it off of you. You probably shouldn't work the muscles too much anyway, or they won't heal right."

"Thanks" Jaela whispered as Itachi helped her sit up. It was funny how just by walking in and seeing her like that he knew what was wrong. Already he was beginning to pick up on her little quirks and the reasons behind her actions.

"They will heal regardless" her tone coming off more agitated than she meant.

With Itachi's help, Jaela reached up and unclasped the front of her top and then let him pull it off of her shoulders. "Just throw it over there" She then pointed to where her bottoms were lying. "Going to have to burn them after this..."

"... I hate this already."

Itachi did as asked, taking her bloodstained shirt and tossing it aside with her other clothes.

"Listen. I've been here, dozens of times. Look at me, Jaela."

He made sure Jaela could stand on her own, and stepped in front of her. His torn and bloody tunic, he stripped, and tossed it with her clothes, needing burned just as much.

"Look. I've been cut. I've been stabbed. I've been beaten so badly, I couldn't walk. But. I got better, every time, because I always had someone with me, to make sure I wasn't doing something stupid."

Itachi stepped toward her again, and took one of her hands in his. "Let me be that for you, Jaela. It'll suck, I won't lie. But it won't last forever."

He smiled down at her, took her hand, and brought it to his lips. "I'll take care o' ya, bird. Now, ya fancy a bath?" He grinned down at her, jade eyes glimmering.

She knew he meant well and as such every word he uttered pulled at her heartstrings a little. The thought of anyone taking care of her was a little unsettling but she guessed if she had to choose, she would rather it be Itachi.

"Have I ever told you I love you?" she smiled, trying her best to push away this negative attitude looming over her.

Now standing with Itachi holding her hand she laughed when he kissed her hand. "Very much so." Very carefully Jaela then stepped towards the pool of water, first placing the tip of her foot in to test the water's temperature. It was still colder than she would have liked, but it was warming up.

With Itachi's help, Jaela then knelt down, letting both of her legs sink into the water as she sat on the edge of the pool. It would have been nice to fully submerge herself but with her newfound disability, she knew it wasn't an option.

"There should be some cloths around here somewhere." Jaela thought for a moment, trying to recall where they would be hidden. "Oh! Over there!" Extending a finger she then pointed at an antique-looking cabinet.

"Mmm-hmm. This makes four times now. And I'm going to be keeping count." He grinned and pressed a kiss to her cheek, before stepping to the cabinet she'd indicated.

He opened it, and found several clean wash cloths, along with a multitude of towels. He raised an eyebrow, wondering just who'd been doing the laundry around the place. They looked immaculate.

He shrugged the thought aside, and grabbed two cloths and two thick towels before sliding behind her, sitting with his chest against her back.

"And you know what?" he asked, voice low in her ear. "I love you, too. My pretty little bird." He smiled while he soaked the cloth, and brought it to her neck, lovingly washing away the blood and the grime, heedless of whatever amount of it fell on him.

When he called her pretty little bird again Jaela blushed. Funny how a little nickname like that could stick so well. As he washed away the debris from her skin Jaela looked at the water in front of them, staring at Itachi's form in its reflection. It really was a shame she was injured right now, bathing could be so fun.

"So... hopefully we won't have any more unwelcomed visitors. You should, however, expect more dragon hunters to show up at some point." Jaela smirked, thinking of how stupid they were. "It wasn't the first time their kind has shown up here and I promise it won't be the last."

"Honestly I had hoped they thought all of the Black-Hearths were dead. Maybe then Kaida wouldn't have to worry about having the citadel guarded." She paused realizing that statement was false. "Actually... there are those who would still want to see what is in here. You know that library is one of a kind. All kinds of interesting things in there."

All of this course was just small talk to pass the time. Jaela was trying not to think about Itachi's hands all over her body right now, or else risk injuring herself in a special kind of assault. Which after she thought of it... wasn't helping at all.

"Dammit"

"About that...it might have been nice to know Kaida was a dragon. Though I suppose it does make some sense...." He shrugged a bit, and continued. "I've got one of the boys walking thr walls, now. They're to let me know if anyone else decided to do something idiotic." He huffed a little, clearly irritated that it had happened to begin with. Though, he figured he could deal with it.

He rinsed and wrung out the cloth, trying to prevent any excess water from dribbling down to her wound, and began to wash her chest, starting just below her neck and working his way down.

"And...I wouldn't mind getting a looksee at the library, personally. It's been awhile since I've had an opportunity to just sit and read." He started on and around her breasts at that point, his touch gentle yet liberal, and only well intended.

Though it didn't stop the thoughts running through his mind. Dutifully, he kept his gaze on the wash cloth and the task at hand.

"Sorry about that. I'm used to people just knowing the name. I forget the Black-Hearth's aren't as popular as they used to be."

When Itachi began washing her neck Jaela tilted her head back, leaning it against his shoulder as she stared into his wondrous eyes. However, when he began washing around her breasts it caused her to blush. "I told you how much I hate this right?" With a defeated breath, Jaela then grabbed his hand, squeezing it lightly before taking the cloth from his hand. "I think it would be best for both of our sanities if I finished myself."

"If I need your help I will let you know. In the meantime go ahead and jump in, it would make me feel better if I knew at least one of us got to enjoy the warm water."  Not to mention the added bonus of watching Itachi wash... but she would keep that bit to herself.

Itachi stood, an almost relieved smile on his face as she took the cloth from him. "Yeah...you're probably right. Though, I pride myself on my self control, you know."

He smirked as he stripped his boots and pants off, and took up the other cloth. From beside her, he stepped into the pool, sinking automatically to his neck. At first, he was a bit surprised at the depth, but quickly grew to enjoy it.

It'd been forever since he'd bathed in something other than a stream. This was heavenly.

For a moment, all he could do was relax, flipping over into his back and floating there with his eyes closed, letting the warmth of the water soothe his various aches.

Harmoniously the two smiled at the relief of separation. "Oh thank the gods" Jaela told herself as she began washing.  Merely smiling at his comment of self-control Jaela tried to focus on the task at hand, only glancing at Itachi from time to time to make sure he wasn't drowning or anything.

Jaela was just about done washing up when she glanced at Itachi one last time who was floating on top of the water. Immediately from her neck up Jaela flushed crimson and bit her lip. "Dammit dammit dammit" That seeming to be her favorite word as of late.

She couldn't help it, almost acting on instinct alone as she chucked the rag at him. "That is not fair and you know it!" Her eyes darting between his face and then lower extremities.

Itachi couldn't hear her, his ears both submerged under the water, but he certainly felt the damp cloth land on his face, adhering to his skin. He shot out of the water, flinging it off his face.

He looked to Jaela oddly, sitting there at the edge of the pool and seeing her flustered look. "What was that for? Can't a guy relax?" He tilted a brow and sighed, and tossed her cloth towards the floor beside her.

"I don't know what I did, but surely it didn't warrant that kind of look." He grinned a bit, and made his way toward her.

"Though the flush to your cheeks makes you look adorable."

Narrowing her eyes Jaela's blush only intensified when Itachi called her out on it. He must have been trying to spark some kind of game out of this... she just knew it.

"Though the flush on your cheeks makes you look adorable." Jaela mocked, spitting the sentence way too fast from her lips. In truth, she was just frustrated at the entire situation. So badly she wanted to just jump right in and join Itachi in the wonders of bath games. Instead, she opted for something else.

With a kick of her foot, she splashed water at him before pulling her feet out, carefully standing up without harming herself. "You enjoy your bath then..."

In a few strides, Jaela made her way over to the towels that Itachi had pulled and wrapped one around herself, covering any bit that would tempt Itachi to continue his game. "... I'll just be over here, not looking at you."

Turning towards the wall Jaela then stared, crossing her arms over her chest as she fought the urge to turn back around. "Man this is hard..."

Itachi arched a brow, completely confused about what had her so flustered. He sighed a bit, and dipped back into the water.

"....dunno what I did, Jaela, but I'm sorry."

He began to scrub, then, desperately trying to get the blood out of his hair and off of his skin. He did not want to parade around the citadel with pink hair. Interesting look, yes, but not for him.

Slowly, almost too slowly, he managed to scrub all the blood that had dried on his body and face. It seemed that everywhere he looked, there was more.

"Ugh...this has got to be the worst part about my line of work. Healing people or hurting them, there's always so much blood, and it just won't come off."

He groaned, and glanced at her, an eyebrow raised. "If you're not too...irritated...do you suppose you could tell me if I got it all?" He turned around, and tried to glance down his back over his shoulder, knowing it was futile.

"This is ridiculous...."

It seemed like it was taking forever and honestly Jaela was getting tired of staring at the stone in front of her. With a defeated breath, she turned around just as Itachi was asking if he got it all. By now Jaela was completely convinced he was playing some kind of game.

"Nope. it's still all over your back" she lied. From what she could see he really had gotten all of it but then again, he didn't need to know that. "Your hair is still pink too..." another lie.

"Perhaps scrub a little harder." With an amused smirk she walked back up to the edge of the pool, bending down to make it seem she really was looking for blood. "Yes definitely... you missed so much."

Itachi arched a brow. "Are you sure? Fuck." He grimaced and strained his arm trying to scrub away the blood and grime that wasn't even there anymore, scrubbing so hard his skin was turning red.

After a minute or so of this, he happened to glance down at the pool of water, and saw his reflection. Mentally, he kicked himself for not thinking of that earlier.

He dropped the cloth, and leveled a cold stare in Jaela's direction. "Really? Looks pretty clean to me. And my hair is decidedly not pink."

That leveled stare gradually cracked into a grin. "So much for not looking at me, eh? Looks like you were staring pretty hard." That said, he climbed out of the pool right beside her, naked and dripping, and headed to grab the other towel.

As Itachi continued to scrub Jaela simply smiled, internally seeing this as a battle won. But then he looked at his reflection in the water and she knew it was game over. "I could have sworn there was still some blood..." Pouting her lip she tried to look as innocent as possible.

Of course, Itachi then had to go and open his mouth causing Jaela to flush red all over again as her eyes narrowed. "The heart wants what the heart wants...." and oh did her heart want him bad.

The cruel gesture of climbing out right beside her only sent Jaela further into frustration. Standing back up she followed him as he walked for the towel, stopping behind him as he went to grab for it. Again Jaela found herself staring at his marvelous figure, biting her lip wishing for more.

"Two can play this game... just you wait"

"Umm. Itachi" Jaela's voice was soft, almost innocent as she continued. "Do you think you could help me up to my room? I'm cold and tired and I think it may be easier to examine my wound if I were laying down." Again she was pouting her lip as she shivered "Please..."

Itachi had just finished toweling off, and had the towel wrapped around his hips when she'd asked about helping her up to her room. He turned around, smiling.

"Of course. I'd planned on helping you, anyway. That's quite a bit of stairs." He stepped over to her, intending to carry her, if necessary.

Damn, that little finger. It felt especially tight, just now. He didn't mind, though.

"Now. Do you want a shoulder, or should I just carry you all the way up there?" he asked, completely serious. Any damage caused by jostling would be easy enough to fix, considering he planned on checking her wound anyway.

"Checkmate"

"I can try to walk it but..." Jaela counted in her mind the number of steps "... I think we may be walking for a long while if I do."

Truthfully, if Jaela hadn't decided to exact revenge on her beloved Itachi she probably still would have chosen to be carried. She was exhausted and physically drained after the day the two of them had. First the tour,  then the moment the two shared in her room, then rounds. Not to mention fighting dragon hunters and being gravely injured.

"I'm sorry for being such a bother."

Itachi chuckled good-naturedly. "Jaela, to be honest with you, if you were such a bother I'd have let you go as soon as I patched up your leg. You're not a bother."

He smiled at her before he bent at the knees to pick her up. Gently, behind the knees, and at her shoulders, he swung her into his arms, cradling her against his chest.

"Besides, I think you warrant more attention from me than anyone else, eh?" He bent down to kiss her forehead before stepping out of the bath hall.

"That's the thing about love, bird. There's not much you could ask for that I wouldn't do." This sentence was punctuated with a wink.

She almost felt guilty acting so frail. Here Itachi was whisking her away in his arms explaining his love and devotion towards her and all she could think about was getting even. Visually Jaela grew a little upset, disappointed that she had let herself take advantage like this.

"Itachi... Thank you."

Closing her eyes Jaela leaned her head against his chest, taking in the warmth of his skin under her cheek for all it was worth. Jaela had never had something like this, someone to take care of her when she needed it. At first, she hated it but now... now she felt lucky she could say she had such a person.

Once they were upstairs Jaela was happier to see her bed than she thought. Now that she was thinking about it, it had been months since she had the pleasure of sleeping on a real mattress. She would admit though there was something special about sleeping in a tent with Itachi. The Citadel was nice and all, but she already couldn't wait to get back out on the road with him to see what adventures lay ahead.

"So when we leave... where do you want to go? Perhaps you could take me to Pickham Grove?"

Itachi gently laid her on the bed, and grinned. "Ah, Pickham Grove. A village of cutthroats, thieves, bandits, wanted men and women, and all their kin. Sounds like paradise, doesn't it?" He chuckled, and set down on the bed beside her.

"If you're sure you want to see it, I'll take you. And it's really not as bad as it sounds....the entire village is Craol, almost. Just the ones that can't pick up and move all the time...elderly, parents with young ones, the sick. It's....really the reason I do what I do."

His gaze got distant for a moment, trapped in the past. After that, though, he grinned widely.

"Hell of a walk from here, though. You're gonna need to heal up before we try it." He reached out, and gently tugged at the end of her towel to start pulling it open.

"Now, then. Let's see how you're doing under there, hmm?" Itachi joked, speaking of both under the bandages, and the rest of her under the towel itself.

"It really does..." Pickham Grove sounded more like paradise than even Thanatos. It was a village of people just like Itachi who needed him to survive. Not only that but there were families there. Young and old people who stuck together with their entire lives. Yep... that was paradise.

"By the time I am healed I am sure Kaida won't need us here anymore anyways."

Just then Itachi tugged at her towel and Jaela offered little resistance. "I am pretty sure all the right parts are still there" she laughed as she aided him in removing it. "You tell me... everything seems to be in working order?"

This, of course, being just the beginning of the revenge she planned on giving after the bath incident.

As the towel was opened to reveal her beneath him yet again, he had to remind himself that she was his patient first. Everything else was secondary....until she was fully healed, that is.

Still, he caught his eyes roving for a second, and gamely redirected his gaze to her face, a crooked smile in place. "Yeah, looks like everything that's meant to be there is still there. Luckily, nothing important came off in the bath." He chuckled a little, and began to undo the bandage, eventually removing it completely and tossing it on the floor to be disposed of later.

He looked at her wound, and her stitches, appraising his work and her condition. He noted that the skin immediately around the stitches themselves was a bit pink and irritated, but that was normal. The wound itself appeared about as good as it could, under the circumstances.

"Well, I should think that so long as you don't go fighting any armies and actually rest, you'll live. It's too early to tell yet if there's any infection, but I've got some things to give you that could prevent it, just in case."

He glanced at her, and gave a small nod and a smile. "You'll live. Just...make sure you rest for me, hmm?" He leaned down, and pressed a kiss to her stomach, just a few inches above her stitches. "I mean it. You're not moving from that bed, at least until it doesn't hurt for you to sit up. If you have to get up for anything, I'll help you."

He levelled a stare at her, a look in his eyes that dared her to challenge him. "Are we understood?"

While Itachi examined her wound Jaela did her best to remain the best patient possible.

"I will rest as long as I feel I need to." Jaela then yawned. "However, unless you plan on sitting by my side 24/7 I cannot guarantee I won't get bored."

"Two... maybe three days tops" already she was assuming she would be okay by then.

Noticing the way he was glaring at her Jaela returned his gaze with just as much ferocity. "I will do my best." Oh, so many holes in that statement alone.

Now then, it was time to get down to business. Whether Itachi meant to or not he had put Jaela through quite the ordeal in the bath hall. The way he was strutting about enough to make her risk injury just to get a piece of him. She had to see him in all his glory and now... well now it was her turn.

Still lying there uncovered Jaela shifted, placing a finger over her lip while the other found its place on her lower abdomen. "Too bad I can't do anything..." her legs shifted so that her knees were propped up. "... I'm just going to be laying here all alone and bored." An overdramatic sigh then escaped her lips. "Oh well."

Itachi watched the way she moved, again unable to help his gaze as it caught movement. Quickly, he squeezed his eyes shut, clearing his head and looking back to her face.

"You'll rest as long as I say you will. I mean it." He reached up and, mimicking something she'd done awhile ago, flicked her forehead.

"And I'll be around as much as I can. That should go without saying," he said. He smirked a bit, and stood.

And quickly found that turning back around was a mistake, as she shifted her legs and propped her knees. He saw her finger travelling down her abdomen, and released a groan as his gaze again flicked to her womanhood.

Shit, was he salivating? 'Get yourself under control, you stupid fool...' he thought to himself, and again wrenched his gaze to her face. "I'm sure you can find....something to entertain yourself..."

When he flicked her forehead Jaela scrunched her nose, sticking her tongue out before going back to being completely and utterly evil. "I suppose..." she sighed again, this time rolling her eyes as she moved the hand from her mouth to her forehead.

"Now what could I possibly do entertain myself?" Jaela searched for the Jade in his eyes. Slowly she moved her hand down further, letting her finger glide over her skin until she was tracing shapes on her inner thigh.

She knew she had him, the way his eyes kept flicking from her face. Even his body language suggested his mind was beginning to travel elsewhere. "Maybe I could read a book?" Her speech was playful as she continued listing things that she could do but obviously wouldn't.

Itachi's gaze again caught movement, but every little bit of willpower in his possession thankfully kept his eyes on her face.

He knew he couldn't touch her. As much as he wanted to, he didn't want to risk hurting her further.

He let his eyes drift shut for a second, again trying to clear his head. He seemed much less successful this time.

"Well....a book...or you could draw or something....why don't...um...we get some clothes on you,  huh?"

Taking a deep breath Jaela rolled her eyes again when Itachi mentioned clothes. Curses him and his willpower! He truly was dedicated to making sure she healed correctly and for that, she could forgive him.

Defeated she stopped gliding her fingers over her skin and instead pointed towards the wardrobe she was in hours before. "I think there is a nightgown or two in there. Haven't worn them in forever though... too frilly for my taste."

Itachi breathed a sigh of relief. He'd won the game - desperately. He eyed his own state of undress, and realized he'd need some clothes too.

And his coat needed cleaned. And he still had to walk the walls. It was going to be a loooong night.

He opened the wardrobe, shoving aside her various outfits until he found what he was looking for. He blinked as he pulled it out, and held it in front of him.

For a moment, his eyes flicked back and forth between her and the gown, and he had to laugh a bit. "This? Are you serious?" He chuckled a little, and put it back.

"Look. I've got clothes you can wear if you'd rather, if you really don't want that."

When Itachi pulled out the frilly nightgown even Jaela laughed, immediately regretting it as her hand shot to her wound.

"I would much rather wear anything than that..." She looked away for a second before turning her eyes back to it. "... gods I forgot how awful that thing was. No wonder I left it in there... please burn it."

"If you let me wear something of yours I promise that at least for tonight I will stay put. You can do whatever it is you need to do and I will stay right here... I promise."

It was a deal she was willing to make if it meant she didn't have to wear that monstrosity.

Burn it, huh? The rate she was going, she'd have burned all her clothes. And then where would she be?

Easy enough to answer. She'd be wearing his clothes. At least until he insisted on buying her a new wardrobe. It wasn't as if he were lacking the funds for it.

"Alright. You sit tight, and I'll be right back with a couple things for you." He passed her that trademark wink as he stepped out the door, closing it securely behind him.

As he padded barefoot down the halls, garbed in naught but a towel - and it was getting rather chilly, as the night deepened - he mused on what he could do for her. He wondered idly how she'd appreciate a day that the normal people of the world had every day. A day just on the town, maybe wandering shop to shop, perhaps a dinner or a couple hours in a tavern.

He chuckled. Like it would ever happen. He could barely show his face most places, without the city guard being called. And the smaller towns and villages that he wasn't known in...they just didn't have the spark that a larger city had. In truth, there was only one province that he hadn't committed some crime in, and he would never take her there if he had the choice.

Besides, mordecai made his head feel all...fuzzy. For the life of him, he could never figure out why - it wasn't as if he were a mage. And bringing Jaela there for any reason would be basically sentencing her to death.

As he walked, he crossed his arms over his chest in thought. Perhaps he'd just have to make the best of their visit to Pickham, when they had the opportunity to get there. He was sure she'd enjoy it.

Eventually, he made his way outside, and shivered as the mountain winds cut through him. He groaned as he grabbed a large, thin box off the wagon, one full of nothing but his clothes. He'd have to make the Craol actually bring the things in, in the morning.

______

It was some time before he'd returned, stepping into her room again and settling the box on the floor. He was slightly out of breath, stretching his arms out - the thing was much more heavy and awkward than carrying Jaela had been.

With a smile, he opened the lid, and pulled out a tunic cut just the same as his other had been.

"Told ya it came in green."

She nodded when Itachi said he would be right back and before she knew it he disappeared out the door. While he was gone Jaela lay in the bed staring at the figurines on her shelves. So many she had collected and ironically she never knew why she did. It was always a habit of hers, picking up odd things for the very purpose of bringing them back to this very room. None of them held any real importance to her yet she couldn't imagine not having them either.

About to drift off Jaela's eyes flicked open when she heard Itachi's steps coming back down the hall. Sitting up in the bed she waited for him to round the doorway and when he did she was shocked by the large crate he had carried... ironically without losing his towel. When he sat it down and then began digging in it, she smiled when he pulled out a tunic in her favorite color... green.

"It's perfect!" she chirped as she extended her hands out for it.

Itachi grinned widely as dug around again, and withdrew a pair of green pant of a familiar cut - just like his, but of a softer material more suitable for lounging. "Good. Let's get you dressed and comfortable then, hmm?"

He stepped around the box, holding both garments in hand. "You'll be my green girl tonight, hmm?" He stood in front of her, still (somehow) in only a towel, holding the tunic and pants before her.

"Maybe I should dress you, if it'll be easier. It'll give me an excuse to spend a few more minutes with you before I have to leave again."

Seriously... was this a magic towel? Moving on...

"How about you help. I am not that incapable..." Jaela sat up a bit more, moving her legs to hang off of the edge of the bed as she grabbed the tunic. Easily she slipped it over her head, only needing assistance pulling it down over her waist. Next was the pants, a whole new battle in their own. Just as she had done with the tunic Jaela grabbed them, slipping each foot into the leg and slowly pulling them up, again needing assistance pulling them over her waist.

Once she was dressed she continued sitting at the edge of the bed, staring at Itachi STILL in his towel. "First the tent... then your jacket.... and now this." Jaela winked at him. "Everything of yours is slowly becoming mine..." Of course, she was joking but was actually getting at something.

Suddenly she fell serious, her eyes searching for whatever he may have been thinking. "... but I want you to know that my heart..." she paused to place a hand over her chest. "...belongs to you."

Helping her dress was no problem whatsoever, and he found he rarely had need to step in and help, other than helping to settle the garments over her bandages and whatnot.

And after she was dressed, finally he dressed as well, removing the clingy towel that honestly had begun to scare him. He wondered if it had some sort of sentient malevolence....he'd seen weirder things. He decided it, too, needed burned. With a place as large as this, there certainly shouldn't be any shortage of towels.

In any case, he found himself wearing black, yet again, but with blue embroidery and trim. His favorite tunic had gone the way of the rag, and helped him to save Jaela's life. Surely, there was no greater honor for a simple shirt.

And then, suddenly, the amused thoughts in his head came to a screeching halt at her words. He looked up at her, having just finished lacing a clean pair of boots, and his gaze softened.

When she said that, something pulled in his chest. In all his life, no one had ever said anything like that to him, and words such as those held a special significance to him. He looked at her, perched at the edge of the bed with her hand on her chest...and quite simply couldn't look away. Seeing her, like that...that picture would be one he'd remember always.

No matter what.

He made his way over to her, and fell to his knees before her. Very slowly, he reached out, took the hand she'd placed on her chest, and laid it on his own, just over his own heart.

"And mine belongs to you, Jaela. Keep it. I know it is in no better hands than yours."

He then took that same hand, and lifted it to his lips, pressing a kiss into her soft skin, holding her peridot gaze with eyes of pure jade, his own gaze soft. "And in turn, yours is safe with me. I swear it."

He released her to stand, before bending down to kiss her, a hand on her cheek, putting all the affection he could manage into a few scant seconds before he pulled away.

"But...I'm afraid I've gotta go for now. I still have to relieve Rumil and do about twenty other things before I sleep...and I'll be sure to come back here before I do. Expect to wake up with me next to you."

He smiled at her, winked, and turned toward the door. "Good night, love."

The moment Itachi left Jaela drifted off to sleep. When he finally did return later in the night she didn't even stir, her body silently recovering in its own special way as she slumbered.

Meanwhile on the floor below them a visitor had arrived, entering through the balcony doors adjoining to her room undetected.
__________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning began as many others had when Kaida was present in the citadel. She was up before the sun, never needing near as much sleep as a common human would. She would admit though that it was nice to sleep in her own bed for a change, something she never thought she wouldn't be used to.

All of this she thought over as she took a sip of tea from the cup delicately held in her hand. Without even being noticed Kaida had managed to make her way from her bedroom to the dining hall where she now sat at the head of the table. Her eyes were skimming over the text in an old book while one of her clones poured more tea into the cup. She wasn't sure where Jaela was but assumed probably still sleeping. Kaida had noticed the multitude of bodies laying at the bottom of the mountain and placed two and two together that some unwelcomed visitors had reared their ugly heads the previous day.

This high up the mountain, dawn came early - no obstructions blocked the sun's rays as it began it's slow crawl into the sky.

Jade eyes snapped open as soon as first light shone over Itachi's eyes. He'd arrived back in Jaela's room rather late last night, having completed his rounds, scrubbed as much of the blood out of his coat as humanly possible, restocked his medical box...

He'd been tired, and it had already been the wee hours of the morning when he finally crept into bed beside Jaela, curling around her and swiftly falling to sleep.

But now, as the dawn split the night, he found himself awake as he did most mornings. Quietly and gently, he pulled himself away from Jaela, noticing how heavily she was sleeping. He smiled down at her, loathing to wake her up.

He decided not to. He'd be back to wake her later, perhaps with a tray of breakfast.

And so, he dressed for the day, again slipping his tunic on. Last night, with his coat still soaking wet, he'd opted for two bandoliers, full to the brim with his knives, and a satchel at his side full of his stars.

His bowie knife, sheathed behind him on his belt, and his combat knives on his hip, completed his armament.  His arms,  bared and heavily scarred, remained visible.

When he had finished readying himself, he slipped out the door, pulling it gently behind him with a soft click. Then, he made his way downstairs.

_______

Even the other Craol were still asleep, aside from one walking the walls. Itachi mumbled to himself, irritated yet not yet wishing to command them to wake, knowing that his usual yelling would echo within the Citadel. He'd wake them later.

So instead, he sought food. During the previous nights excitement, he'd completely forgotten to actually eat something, and hoped the Craol had thought to unpack what they'd brought and store it away.

Itachi wasn't the best hand at the cookfire, but he figured he could at least bring Jaela something edible to eat.

And so, when he entered the dining hall, in search of the kitchen, he found a hand snapping to one of the knives strapped to his chest, seeing two women at the head of the table. One sat, looking over old texts, while the other poured tea.

The very next instant, he realized both were the same person: Kaida.

He relaxed his arm, letting it fall back to his side, and leaned against the doorway. She didn't seem to have noticed his presence yet.

"Mornin'...boss."

Not taking her eyes from the book in front of her Kaida nodded, only raising a brow when he referred to her as boss. After finishing the sentence she was on Kaida slid the book from in front of her and in its place rested her hands clasped together on the table.

"Itachi..." she nodded.

"Come... sit..." Kaida then motioned to the chair at the far end of the table away from her with an eye flick. "... have some breakfast..."

Another clone of Kaida's then appeared with a tray full of food and set it at the place she motioned towards whether he was sitting there or not.

"...let's talk."

Well, this was certainly a surprise. He'd been informed that Kaida wasn't around much, yet here she was. This was unforseen, unplanned, and unprepared for.

Needless to say, Itachi was made uncomfortable about this. Not to mention, a little angry that whoever had been on the wall hadn't notified him of an arrival.

Or, perhaps, even seen her.

He watched as a second clone entered, and placed a tray of food at the opposite end of the table, and his stomach began to growl. He moved to sit, and decided to deny his hunger for the moment. He felt he'd need to pay attention to what was about to happen.

"Alrigh', Kaida. Le's talk, then. After tha', I'll eat."

He nudged the tray forward, away from him just a few inches, and laid both arms on the table.

"So, then. Whatcha wanna talk abou', hmm?"

So he was going to play it like that then? Alright then.

Shifting in her chair Kaida leaned in, clearly amused at the front Itachi was putting on. "So tell me then... how is Jaela?" At the very mention of Jaela's name Kaida visually relaxed, sitting back in her chair and placing her hands in her lap.

"Is she performing up to your standards? Is everything about her to your liking?" The way Kaida talked about Jaela was as if she were referring to a piece of furniture or lifeless object. "I mean that is all you want from her right? You see a pretty face and want it... I get it."

"I will admit though no one has ever followed her quite like you have. Could it be perhaps you have seen something else behind those crazy eyes?"

Itachi arched a brow, and sat back in his chair, tilting it back in two legs. His arms went to fold behind his head, and he rolled his shoulders a bit, still a bit sore from last night's endeavors.

"Ta me liking? I think ya get th' wrong idea o' me, Kaida. Yeah, she's pretty  enough. An' yeah, she performs well enough. Bu' it ain' me standards I worry abou' when it comes ta her."

Suddenly, Itachi was leaning forward in that chair, now only the front two legs on the ground. One arm rested on the table, supporting his weight, the other pointed in her direction with a finger extended.

"Ya should know, Kaida, I ain' in this fer you. An' if a pretty face was all I was after, I wouldn't be in this at all. I'm in this fer her, cuz she's alot more'n jus' a pretty face. Its wha's inna inside wha' matters ta me."

He snorted, and set all four legs of the chair on the floor. "She's more'n jus' a crazy bird, too. She's go' a hellofa 'eart, too."

Normally if someone spoke to Kaida like that she would explode, however, she had other motives for asking that particular set of questions. Her head tilted a bit though when he referred to Jaela as a bird. "Funny"

"So I take it she dropped the act then?" In truth, Kaida knew that Jaela only acted crazy, although Jaela had no idea she had picked up on it. "I will admit I bought it for a few years, but after a while, I think anyone can see through it."

"However judging from what I saw outside I am tempted to rethink my conclusion." Pushing the chair out Kaida then stood up and began slowly walking towards Itachi. "I happened to take a stroll out on the front landing this morning and smelled something quite interesting."

Stopping about halfway down the table Kaida slammed her palm onto its surface as a loud slap echoed off the walls. "I am a dragon with an exceptionally great sense of smell. How badly did she get hurt because of you?" Dragging her hand off of the table it then met her other as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Jaela doesn't make mistakes..."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at her, his face turned into a scowl at the mentioning of Jaela's coming to harm. A brief flicker of remorse flickered behind that hard jade gaze, only just there.

"....yeah, she go' 'urt. An' it wasn' her mistake. Was mine." He crossed his arms over his chest, sitting back.

"I distracted 'er when I tried ta 'elp 'er. 'Ad some dangerous visitors show up, lookin' fer you. Was jus' her an' me onna wall when they showed up."

He was quiet for a moment, his gaze flicking to the side.

"....Won' lie to ya. It wasn't good. Stabbed, right 'ere." He pressed his hand to his lower abdomen, to show her where the wound was located. "Woulda died, maybe, but I patched 'er up real good. Imma....bit o' a doctor, too. Jack o' all trades, yeah?"

He looked back to her. "She'll live, wit' no problems. Jus' be offa 'er feet fer awhile. If'n it's 'er work yer worried 'bout, don'. I'll do it. Was me fault, anyway."

She smirked, amused at his offer of doing Jaela's work. "Like you could." Shaking her head she then twirled on the ball of her foot as she began walking back towards her chair. With her back turned to Itachi Kaida's know it all smile faded into worry. She was no doctor but Kaida had seen large men perish from a wound like Itachi described. In fact, she was pretty sure they almost always died.

Turning back around Kaida was now clearly interested. "So you're a doctor? How many people have you saved? Or better question... how many of your patients have died?" Suddenly that feeling was rising in her stomach... that feeling of just knowing there was more than meets the eyes.

"Again, yer only takin' me a' face value, Kaida. Tha's a mistake." A fairly confident smirk appeared on his lips. For a moment he was quiet.

"I think yer gonna fin' ou' Imma lo' more capable than ya think. I've been playin' me games fer years now. Kinda 'ard ta survive in me line o' work as long as I 'ave wit'out....certain skills."

He smiled again when she asked about his patient fatalities. He'd hit her with a curveball. If she were to be his employer, so to speak, she might as well know what games he was playing.

He dropped the accent.

"I've documented every single case I've ever had. Four-hundred sixty-two cases. Some life threatening, some not. Out of those cases....I have zero fatalities. Last night makes four-hundred sixty-three. Jaela is actually the last two...the night I met her, she wandered into my camp with a scorpion sting that should have honestly taken her leg off - necrosis had already set in. I saved her from that, too."

He snorted, and grinned. "No mistakes. Yeah. She's only human, you know. Not all of us have your kind of luck. Being a Dragon and all. That would have been nice to know before hand."

The moment Itachi dropped his accent Kaida's smile widened. "I knew it" It was no wonder why Jaela had grown so fond of him, they were both playing the same hand on unsuspecting culprits.

"Luck is something I do not have Itachi... however..." Her eyes trailed him up and down "I suddenly find you much more interesting than I did 5 minutes ago." Shrugging it off Kaida then finally began making her way back towards her chair, sitting in it and picking up her cup of tea to take a sip.

"I have a feeling Jaela is going to be just fine with you." And there you have it, Kaida admitting that maybe Itachi wasn't as bad for her friend as she initially thought. "By the way... Why do you call her bird?"

Again Kaida was edging at something more with her questions.

Itachi had a smug smile. Interesting, huh? That was an edge, one that he had employed for years. Keep surprising them - that was the ticket.

"I think you'll be more than interested in what I can do, come enough time. Though, I've never done what I do for someone else, exactly. Not on a...payroll, anyway."

He wondered idly if she knew about the impromptu heist he and Jaela had pulled the night before she'd sent one of her weird clones to show up in his camp. Maybe he'd keep that card up his sleeve for the moment.

When she asked about the 'bird' thing, his lips twisted into a small smirk. "Bird...you've seriously not heard that term before? That's what I call the ladies. The pretty ones, mind you, but I'm not too picky. To be honest, the only reason you didn't get that, too, was because I was trying to kill you. And now, you're my boss, and it seems rather inappropriate, no?"

He frowned a bit, and looked down at the table. "Doesn't really mean anything, though. Jaela's the only 'bird' for me, so don't get your unders in a bunch if it slips. I don't mean anything by it."

Despite his attempt at embarrassing her with his comment, Kaida's face remained amused. "Oh, so I take it that she didn't tell you then?" Again Kaida pulled the tea cup to her lips as she took a small sip.

"Ever hear her sing that song? Oh, how did it go?" She paused trying to remember the words. "Something like the pretty bird flies away... uh... forever something you will stay." Setting the cup back down she continued.

"She used to sing it all the time in the dungeon and at first I thought it was the most annoying thing ever." At this part, Kaida felt a pang of guilt. She truly did regret how they used to get someone to manifest their abilities and wished it had never come to be that way. No matter though, she had put a stop to it the minute Emelia was gone.

"Turns out Jaela's father used to call her Bird. She told me once... back when I was 'dealing' with her. That song is actually a lullaby he sang to her. I'm surprised she still remembers it."

As Kaida spoke, Itachi's face gradually became more and more red. It had been enough that Jaela had spent time in a dungeon to begin with. He'd even let it go, knowing that she was the way she was because of it. It had made her stronger. She was better for it.

But this...that song. He'd heard echoes of it, still under the effects of whatever they'd drugged him with when they were in the Adela dungeons. She sang it there, in the dungeon. And she sang it here, too.

And it was from her father. That struck a major nerve in him. Jaela had said before, she'd, 'never known' her parents.

He knew different, now. She knew them, once upon a time. Those memories had just been tortured out of her.

"Her father....." he muttered, more to himself than as a part of the conversation.

He shot up, standing so fast the chair flew backward. He found his hand had flown to one of the combat knives on his belt.

He couldn't believe this woman. To put someone under duress, to unlock their potential. That was one thing....to torture someone so hard as to destroy memory? That was something else.

When he spoke, his voice sounded feral, forced between grit teeth.

"Her fucking father. Do you realize she doesn't even remember her parents? Because of what you did to her?"

He looked up at her, his jade eyes absolutely on fire.

"And where's her father now, Kaida? Hmm? You'd better fucking hope he's dead, and you so graciously saved her from starving to death. Because if I find out otherwise?"

He ripped the combat knife from it's sheath, and slammed it into the table, the blade buried all the way into the wood.

"The other one of these will go into your fucking head, this Godsdamn job be thrown to the fucking abyss. You wanna talk about torture? You're talking to the wrong fucking person. You wanna talk about parents? Same fucking deal."

He grabbed the tray of food in front of him, spilling some of it onto the ruined table, and began walking away.

"Conversation over."

His reaction was something she was growing used to. Again Kaida didn't even acknowledge his outburst but instead took another sip of tea. Shakily she placed the cup back on the table despite the fact that Itachi had just thrown the tray of food AND stabbed it with a knife. "Some people just don't appreciate mahogany like they used to."

As he walked away she finally spoke up, her small voice reverberating off of the walls of the room. "I don't know where her parents are because I am not the one who took her. It was my job to make them suitable for duty, but I am not the one who picked them... not at first anyway."

"I can only assume that since my sister held some part in it that they are most likely dead. Otherwise, I would have found them for her months ago." While Kaida spoke the fire within her was ignited. Too many times now she had been yelled at for trying to make things right and today was apparently no exception. Pushing herself away from the table again she picked up her teacup and threw it at the wall ahead of Itachi, upset with herself that she had just ruined such fine dinnerware.

"I am trying so hard here to not be the monster everyone thinks I am! People change but for some reason when I try the ghosts of my past still come to haunt me. Jaela is the only one who did not turn their back on me when everything went to shit! Do you see servants or guards hanging around here anymore?! NO! Because as soon as my sister was gone they all tucked tail and ran!"

Standing there her shoulders rose and fell as she drew in deep breaths. Itachi had struck a nerve just as she had done in him.

It took literally everything he had not to turn around and fling the tray straight at her. His eyes closed as the tiny bits of China rained down upon him and the tray of food he carried.

He sighed, standing their and meticulously began to pick the bits of porcelain out of the food.  It was a long time before he responded to her, his voice level and completely masking his anger.

"You know, I've had the same crew of men around me for years. Yeah, sometimes they leave. Sometimes they get fed up with my shit and turn tail in the middle of the night. But they always come back, because they know what they're fighting for."

Slowly, he turned around, and dropped the last bit of her teacup on the ground.

"I'm an asshole. I won't deny it. But these men I have here with me, not the ones I sent home, are some of the most loyal sons of bitches you could find. They're with me, because they know the alternative....Kaida, people like you are the alternative. There's a reason they ran. You just saw it too late."

He turned around again, and started walking out of the dining hall. Still, he spoke.

"I've the feeling that Jaela is only still here because that's all she knows. And she has you to thank for that. You piss me off? I'll be gone. And don't be surprised when she follows me. Because I can offer her more than a life based on your whims."

And then he was gone, his footsteps echoing down the hall.

His words hurt, causing that feeling in her chest to emerge that she had felt only a few nights before. Again Kaida tried to explain that she was trying, yet to most, she was still a monster. Even now she didn't feel quite so at home in her own Citadel and so she left, wiping her eyes as she stormed out of the dining hall in the opposite direction of Itachi. The moment she was out the front doors and on the landing she began to transform, wings sprouting from her back as she lifted herself into the sky.

________________________________________________

Upstairs Jaela was till fast asleep until she suddenly shot up from the bed. Frantically she looked around as she thought she had just heard Kaida's voice. After the initial confusion, her eyes then searched for Itachi who was nowhere to be found.

Swinging her feet around she let them slide off the bed as she planted them firmly on the floor. She had promised Itachi she would stay put last night, but today was a new day.

Itachi only stopped one time, hearing the booming of the front doors as someone departed - likely Kaida. He listened closely for several seconds, and sighed when he'd heard wingbeats, signalling her exit.

Fuck, but he'd certainly done it now, hadn't he? First day here, and he'd already pissed off the boss.

Well, at least now she knew what she was dealing with. And so did he. Perhaps their next meeting could be more....cordial, now that they'd gotten their problems with each other in the air. Maybe.

He sighed, and continued on his way, hoping that the day could only get better. It had started out shitty enough as it is.

A few minutes later, he found himself before Jaela's door again, and sighed. He wondered what he was going to tell her...

He edged the door open, and poked his head inside to see she was already up. He smiled widely and stepped inside fully.

"Good morning, beautiful. You're looking well. Sleep good?" He grinned and sat down on the bed next to her.

"Managed to get us some breakfast. You wouldn't believe what I had to go through for it, though...."

The moment the door creaked open Jaela smiled, Itachi's face wiping away any kind of worry she harbored.

"Good morning to you too " she smiled.

Looking down at the food her stomach growled, all of it looking quite delicious.

"Oh? And what sort of battle ensued while obtaining our breakfast?"

Itachi sighed, and set the tray on the bed between them, allowing her to have her pick first.

"Well...Kaida was here. Sort of ambushed me in the dining hall." He laid backward, and threw an arm over his eyes.

"We...got into one hell of an argument. Seems like we both just pushed exactly the wrong buttons for each other. But to be fair...."

He moved his arm, and peeked at her with a crooked sort of grin.

"She started it. I...hope it did some good, though. Clear the air and whatnot...."

As he laid back Jaela reached for a piece of honey bread off of the tray and immediately ripped a piece off to plop in her mouth. As it slid down her throat and then settled in her stomach Jaela immediately felt better than before. Just as she was about to place yet another piece in her mouth Itachi stated that Kaida had come and even worse... that they had gotten into an argument.

She fiddled with the bit of bread in her hand as he went over how they pushed each other's buttons before she finally chimed in.

"Kaida starting an argument is hardly news..." Placing the bread in her mouth Jaela chewed on it along with how to approach the topic. "... but I assume since you said she was here that you really did push her buttons."

"Whether or not it did any good though I don't know. She's been pretty down on herself ever since her sister died... or at least we think she died." Plopping yet another bit of bread in her mouth Jaela laid back next to Itachi, still chewing on the bread as she turned her head to face him. "Sad I missed her, was going to ask how her latest little project was moving along."

Itachi sighed again, turning his head to face her more fully, his face half hidden by his arm still.

"Eh..well, I'm sure she'll be back eventually, right? Even if it is to come and take a bite of me. Funny, though. She mentioned a sister, but didn't say anything about her dying. Mentioned everything going to shit after she was gone."

He was quiet for a moment, simply losing himself in her eyes, seeing his own reflection in them. Quickly, he fought off the dazed sight of his mind - better not head that way, or he'd fall asleep again.

He pushed himself into a sitting position, and grabbed a piece of the bread, and bit into it thoughtfully.

After he chewed and swallowed, he shrugged. "Well, nevermind that. What's this project you mentioned?" He popped the last of the bread in his mouth, and laid a hand on her side as he turned his body toward her.

Still laying there Jaela smiled when Itachi asked about Kaida's project. "There is this boy she had me follow a while back. He thinks he is a healer but in reality, she thinks he can do so much more than that." A light giggle then rose from her chest.

"Last I knew he still had no idea what he could actually do and she was going to go and help him figure it out." Eventually, Jaela sat back up, grabbing a piece of ham from the tray. "She really isn't as bad as everyone thinks she is. I mean she used to be, but after Emelia, it opened her eyes a little."

After that Jaela savored the taste of the ham before continuing. "Kaida wants everyone who is different to be able to lean on each other if they need to. She is working towards making that possible but it seems everyone still thinks she is some kind of evil thing." Sometimes even Jaela couldn't help but see the evil that once rest behind Kaida's eyes.

"Emelia was dead, but only recently we found out she may be back. Ever since then Kaida has been going out of her way to stay away from where the rumors originate. She doesn't want to get sucked back in. If you had ever known Emelia you would understand why."

"Emelia is single handily the most selfish and awful person I have ever met."

Itachi listened to her intently while she spoke, trying to glean whatever information he could. He wondered about Kaida, what made her tick, what made her do the things she did.

After a moment, he put a hand on his chin, his gaze going far away as he buried himself in thought. She had a fondness for the 'unique'. She'd said herself that she found him interesting...he wondered why. So he was good at what he did. So what? There were plenty of skilled doctors in the world. A spotless record wasn't anything to sneeze at, sure, but to him it was just a fluke. Just....

Luck. Pure and simple. So what was special about him?

And this...Emelia. Dead, and returned again, and sounded like a big problem.

"So...if Kaida doesn't want to deal with this Emelia....why doesn't she send someone after her? Demon, Dragon, human, fey...all things can die. Get rid of the girl, and the problem is gone."

His question was a good one... so good in fact it caused Jaela to stop chewing in order to think better. Finally swallowing the bit of ham in her mouth she took a deep breath.

"If your mother was someone who needed to die would you trust anyone but yourself to kill her? I think Kaida knows that Emelia needs to die, permanently, but I think she also still misses her. Emelia was the only one out of all of her siblings who even gave her the time of day. Hell... Emelia practically raised Kaida." Which explained a lot as to why Kaida is the way she is.

"And Kaida is not stupid enough to go after her like that. Emelia was strong, way stronger than any of the Black-Hearth siblings combined." Again Jaela went for another piece of bread and began ripping it apart in her fingers.

"It's all just a big mess really. Eventually, she is just going to have to go to Aeizith and ask him for help." She stated it as if it were fact... and technically it was. Aeizith Black-Hearth, the only other sibling left who had even a fraction of what it would take to help Kaida. Except there was one tiny little problem... Aeizith practically told Kaida if he ever saw her again he would kill her.

Itachi was again silent for a moment, thoughtfully chewing on an apple slice.

"Personally....I think if anyone I knew needed to die, I would do whatever was necessary to see it through. I mean...look where I came from. I've been swearing up and down since I left them that I would wipe out the Sarbanes. Clearly, that hasn't happened yet...because I can't do it on my own. I want to...but I can't. "

He sighed, and shook his head. "No...if something is bad enough that it absolutely has to be eliminated, then whomever involved should be prepared to do whatever it necessary to see it through. She should see this Aeizith, and whomever else she can call on, and get it done."

"I suppose..." she sighed before leaning back again.

"Oh well, it's not my decision to make so I will just stay out of it until I am needed." Jaela then recalled the one time she actually faced off with Aeizith resulting in both of them eventually working together. "I'm sure that Kaida will need my help with it some day and when she does I will gladly extend a helping hand. She's already done so much for me that it's the least I can do."

In that moment Jaela thought on what she had just said. Had Kaida done so much for her? Or maybe it was the brainwashing coming into play? Either way, Jaela knew deep in her heart she was meant to help Kaida and so she would... that would never change.

"Speaking of helping hands... I'm surprised you haven't tried to look at my stomach today."

Itachi shrugged, feeling mostly the same way. It really wasn't his problem until someone made it his problem. And besides that, he was sure that Kaida could find better than him when the time came. Dragons weren't too much of a problem, if you really knew what you were doing, but he'd found that each one tended to be different. His skills were handy, typically, but not everything could be handled with well placed pointy objects.

Not everything, but alot of things.

When she mentioned her wound, he smiled at her. "Well, you seemed like you were moving around all right on your own. You were sitting up when I came in, and haven't so much as grimaced from the pain since I've seen you. Besides, I figured you wanted to eat first."

He shrugged a bit, and bent down to slide his box out from under her bed. "If you're ready, though, we can get it done and out of the way. Has it been hurting at all? Maybe itching around the stitches?"

"Nope" she giggled, reaching down to begin rolling the tunic up on her stomach. "I mean I can still feel it but it doesn't hurt all that much to move around."

After rolling up the shirt Jaela reached down and brushed her fingers over the bandages as her hand made its way down to the waistband of her pants. Carefully she rolled them down just enough to give Itachi full view of the area without any obstructions.

Itachi nodded, a small smile on his lips. "Good. I'm actually less worried about pain, but if it starts itching this early this early, or feels hot to the touch, let me know. It's an early sign of infection, and with a wound like this it can become very serious. And I don't think you want me to clean this like I had to clean the last one."

He began to slowly pull the bandage away, gingerly pulling it away from her stitches to avoid sticking to them. When they were revealed to him, he was again appalled by her ability to heal.

The poultice he'd put over the stitches had dried, but it had done its job. Nothing was swollen, or even red, save for the direct area where the stitches entered her skin. The cut itself seemed to be healing well, the skin nicely drawn together.

He took the tool he'd used before to clean her scorpion sting, and gently flaked the poultice away and brushed it away. Then he simply rebandaged it, and looked up at Jaela with a smile.

"The world would be lucky to heal half as well as you do, you know that right? It's already closed on the surface, but I don't want to chance removing the stitches until I'm absolutely sure that it's not going to bust open again." He unrolled the waistband of her pants, and pulled her shirt down again to cover the bandages.

"After just a night, I can't say for sure, but I think I could safely take the stitches out in two, maybe three days to be safe."

He closed his box, having replaced his tools and bandages. He opted not to apply the poultice again, unless it started looking worse. Then, he simply laid down next to her, and laid an arm over her abdomen, just under her breastline.

"Still aren't getting out of bed, though. I love you too much to let you break yourself.

The very thought of going through what she went through from the scorpion bite caused Jaela's stomach to twist in the most unpleasant way. As Itachi worked all she could think about was that the wound on her stomach would somehow turn out that way. Except when he mentioned her amazing ability to heal she let out a breath she didn't know she had been holding.

When he laid beside her she was disappointed when he mentioned he wasn't letting her out of the bed. "I won't break myself any worse than I already have. I can't stand laying here like this."

Feeling defeated she placed an arm over her eyes. "I'm already going insane Itachi... well worse than I already allegedly am."

He gave a wan smile as he looked at her, lying there with her eyes hidden from him. He could understand exactly how she felt, having been bedridden he couldn't even remember how many times from seemingly lethal wounds.

"Well, look at it this way. If you were me, or almost anyone else out there, you'd be stuck in that bed for weeks. People typically can't recover from life-threatening stabs to the gut like you do." That smile turned into a wry grin.

"Besides that, if you're good...maybe we can do yesterday all over again. Starting with when I first found you here, and ending shortly before our little accident." That hand of his slid slowly up her body, between her breasts, ending as a finger slowly traced it's way up her cheek, underneath her arm over her face.

With his free hand, he pulled himself up towards her head, and pressed a kiss against her neck on the other side. "And I tell you what....if you can get up and walk about without any pain..I'll let you join me on the wall later."