#just look at her beautiful petal tornado!! she's a sweetheart!!

[starflungwaddledee]

please consider voting for her! miru belongs to @cleim474

ROUND ONE: Miru VS Fleur

[fandomimaginegoddess]

“She’s got spunk” Yu Yu Hakusho Jin X OC fanfiction (Part 2)

The next day Team Urameshi went to the stadium.  Kurama and Hiei were missing though…

“Hey, where are those guys?”  Kuwabara grumbled.  

“Probably training and lost track of time.  I’m sure they will be here.”  Yusuke said.

“Okay next up!  Team Urameshi vs team Dr. Ichigaki!  Will three fighters from each team please step forward!”  Koto announced.

Ivy, Yusuke, and Kuwabara stepped into the ring, along with three men from the other team who caused Kuwabara to gasp.  

“What’s the matter?” Ivy asked.

“I saw those guys in my dream last night…  they are being forced to fight!”  Kuwabara said.  

As it turned out the men were being controlled by a device on their backs that messed with their blood.  Which is where Ivy came in handy.  Ivy took back control of their blood and caused the device to pop off of the men.  The men then surrendered.  But then Dr. Ichigaki attacked.  

“You think you can beat me that easily?!”  He shouted as he transformed into a huge beast.  The three Urameshi fighters took him down pretty quickly after that.  Ivy delivered the killing blow using a pistol she pulled out of her purse she carries with her.  

“looks like we can...” Ivy mocked, glaring at his dead, bloody body as she stowed away her weapon.   

Kurama and Hiei then came into the stadium with an older man.  The men that had been forced to fight were incredibly happy to see him.  It turns out he was their teacher/father figure who they thought was dead.  They ended up in the tournament because Dr. Ichigaki tricked them and said he could save their teacher, despite having been the one that caused him to fall ill in the first place.  Well on the bright side, the teacher is alive.  So it looks like Ichigaki kept that promise at least.  But he is still an asshole….  I mean, didn’t he ever hear “do no harm”?  Dr. my ass…. 

“Shut up!”  Sophia yelled at the sky

“Who are you talking to?”  Asked Piper, raising an eyebrow.  

“The narrator!   She’s going on and on!  I mean come on!  We get it already!”  Sophia ranted.

Piper opened her mouths to say something but was stopped when Olivia put a hand on her shoulder.  She looked at Olivia who simply shook her head as if to say “just let it go.”

Team Urameshi then went back to the hotel to get some rest, but Ivy was feeling rather restless after the fight so she decided to go for another walk through the woods.

She walked into a clearing and there was a gentle breeze with rose petals flowing through the wind.  She looked around and saw Jin leaning against a tree with a rose in his mouth.  

“Who are you supposed to be?  Tuxedo mask?”  She asked, crossing her arms and glaring.

“I’m the man of your dreams…” He told her as he removed the rose from his mouth and held it gingerly in his hand.

“More like nightmares…” She grumbled as she turned to walk away.

“Wait!  Baby come back!”  He called out. 

“Not in this lifetime….  Not in any lifetime…. Not in any afterlife-time…” She told him.

“Lassy!  I can change!  Sweetheart please!”  He called out desperately.

“We will see about that ya douche” She said as she continued to walk away, rolling her eyes.  He watched her as she disappeared in the distance, his ears extended to a point wiggling away.  He’s determined to win her heart.

Ivy headed back to the hotel and got some rest for the night.  The next day the group headed back to the stadium for the next fight.  

“Team Urameshi Vs team Masho!  ...Um where is team Masho?”  Koto asked.

Before anything else could be said a small tornado appeared in the stadium.  Once the tornado subsided, in its place was a group of men wearing black cloaks.  

“Ah there they are!  Team Masho everyone!  Team captains, please step forward!”  Koto exclaimed.

Yusuke stepped into the ring and one of the cloaked men's cloaks blew off with a gust of wind revealing…. Jin.  Much to Ivy's dismay.

“God damn it not this asshole!”  Ivy shouted.

“Hiya lassy!  How ya doin my love?”  He asked as he winked at her in an attempt to be seductive.

“What’s this?  A forbidden romance? ….Ah…. Maybe not though...” Koto began but then rethought her statement when she saw Ivy flipping Jin the bird with an angry glare. 

Yusuke and Jin decided the rules for the match which was one on one elimination.  

The first match was Kurama Vs Gamma.  Gamma uses a special make up as a weapon.  When Ivy heard this she got hyped.  

“Ooh!  Gurl!  Me and you gotta go to sephora!”  She called but was ignored.  But she did very much irritate the make up user.

In the end Gamma died but not before sealing Kurama's spirit energy along with making him immobile.

The next fight ended up being Kurama Vs Touya.  Well that’s not fair… don’t they know he can’t move or use his energy???  What the fuck dude?

“Of course they know!  They are cheating!  God!  What kinda narrator are you?”  Sophia ranted at the sky.

Touya is an ice user.  Kurama stalled him for a while by talking and that worked as when Touya was done talking Kurama could move again.  In the end Kurama won by sewing a death plant seed in his arm and attacking Touya with it.  Kurama fell unconscious on his feet while still standing in the ring.

The next fight was Kurama…. oh you’ve gotta be kidding me…. He’s not even conscious!!! 

“We. Know.”  Sophia said, unable to look at the scene before her, holding back tears.

Sorry… the next fight is Kurama Vs Bakken…. Bakken, who is a total tool, began beating up an unconscious Kurama.  Until…

“That’s enough Bakken” said one of the members of team Masho.  Bakken looked confused.  “Well do you think you could survive a bullet to the back?”  The voice said.  And Bakken then looked over and saw Yusuke aiming his spirit gun at him.  

Bakken threw Kurama out of the ring, only to be caught by Yusuke.  Yusuke was filled with rage and was about to jump in the ring and kick some ass but Ivy beat him to the punch.  

“Ivy what are you doing?”  Yusuke said.

“Let me handle this jackass Yusuke.”  Ivy said lowly.

“Ain’t that cute…. the little girl wants to fight…”  Bakken mocked.  

“Ooh you're in for it now…” Jin thought.  

“Begin!” Koto said.

Bakken was about to move to attack but Ivy took control of his blood and made it boil. She made it so hot his skin began to bubble.  Steam was coming off his melting skin.  He screamed in agony, begging for mercy.  Ivy increased the temperature of his blood more and more until she was sure he was dead.  

“Ooh that’s my girl…” Jin thought as he made his way to get his ass kicked next, I mean to fight next.  

Koto started the fight and Ivy went to punch Jin.  Something she has been wanting to do again for a while.  But he flew straight up, high in the sky.  Ivy smirked, once Jin got a few miles up Ivy made his blood increasingly heavy by increasing the iron in it.  She made him too heavy to fly, which caused him to plummet to the ground.  He smashed hard into the pavement and Ivy then began to continue to beat the shit out of him. 

“The chair!  Give him the chair!”  Oliva shouted as Ivy took a chair out from under Kuwabara and whacked Jin with it.  

Ivy continued to pummel Jin until…. “You can stop now you know…   you won the fight and we need to move on.” Koto told Ivy from a distance.  

“Oh!  Sorry!”  Ivy said as she stopped her punches and then glared at Jin as if to say “this isn’t over.” 

“What a woman…” Jin muttered as he was dragged off the stage by his teammates.

“The next fight is Ivy Vs Risho!” Koto announced.

A voice then came over the loudspeaker.  “Due to the fact that Ivy continued to beat up her opponent after the ten count was over, the fight, Ivy Vs Jin is considered a tie.”

“What?!”  Ivy exclaimed, clearly very pissed.  “No!  No!  I beat him!  Fuck you guys! Who the fuck is asking to be killed?! Come on out and take your death like a man!”  Ivy raged.  

“Down girl.  I will handle the last one.  Don’t worry.”  Yusuke said, stepping into the ring as Ivy growled and walked off the stage.  Sitting down on the ground, seething with rage.

“Correction, the next fight will be Kuwabara Vs Risho” said the voice on the loudspeaker.

“What the fuck?!  Are you fucking kidding me?!  Why?!  Fuck you guys!  That is totally unfair!  Why are you deciding who fights for us?!  Assholes!”  Yusuke exclaimed.  

“Don’t worry guys!  I got this!” Kuwabara said as he hopped into the ring. 

Risho used earth attacks and also wore different kinds of clay armor.  Kuwabara however used his spirit sword to break it and then whacked Risho with it, sending him into the wall, thus defeating him. 

“Winner of the round, Team Urameshi!”  Koto announced.

The group then began to head back to the hotel to rest, about halfway to the hotel they saw a staggering red headed figure.  

“Oh no…” Ivy mumbled.

“What?”  Kuwabara asked.

“Keep quiet and keep walking.”  Ivy told them as Kuwabara looked around “Keep your head down!”  Ivy commanded.

“Oh isn’t that your boyfriend over there Ivy?!”  Yusuke yelled.

“I’m gonna kill you!”  She exclaimed, she was about to strangle Yusuke but before she could, the red headed demon was at her feet kneeling down reciting poetry.

“Roses are red, violets are blue, you kicked my ass and I love you.”  He said looking at her with puppy eyes.

“You are crazy...”  She said.

“Crazy for you.”  He replied.  

Yusuke herded the group away from Ivy and Jin.  “We will leave you two love birds alone!  Don’t have too much fun!  Wear a condom!”  Yusuke called back to them. 

“Wait don’t leave me!”  Ivy called out but it was too late.  “Bastards…”

“I really admire how strong you are.  You really kicked my ass.”  Jin told her in a serious voice.  

Ivy looked at him for a moment, surprised “um thanks?”  She said, rubbing the back of her head. 

“To tell you the truth, when we first met, I never meant to make you think that I thought women couldn’t fight.  I was just taken back by how beautiful you are, I couldn’t think of the right words to say.”  Jin explained.

Ivy blushed ever so slightly at this confession but hid it before Jin could see.  “Oh well in that case, I suppose I can give you another chance…” she told him.  

Jin grinned a huge grin and embraced Ivy in a huge bear hug.  

“What are you doing?!”  Ivy exclaimed, trying to wiggle free.

“Thank you lass!  You won’t regret this!  I’m gonna make you the happiest lassy there's ever been!”  Jin babbled on.

Ivy hit Jin over the head knocking him to the ground.  “Don’t push your luck!”  Ivy growled.  She then began to walk away but stopped and turned to look at Jin “I will see you later okay?”  She said with a smile.

“That’s my girl…” Jin thought to himself as he watched her depart.

Ivy was on her way back to the hotel when she saw her friends talking to an unfamiliar girl with blue hair and red eyes.  Olivia seemed very taken with her.  

“Hey, who’s this?”  Ivy asked.  

The girl looked at her with big doe eyes as Keiko spoke up “Hi Ivy, this is Yukina.  She is a friend of ours.”  She explained.

“Ah, nice to meet you!”  Ivy chirped, taking notice of how much she looked and smelled like Hiei…  “I wonder if they are related?  I will have to ask the group about that later…”  Ivy thought to herself.

“May I just say, you are the most beautiful woman I have ever laid eyes on.”  Olivia said, taking Yukina's hand and gently kissing it, while being glared at by Kuwabara and Hiei.  

Yukina blushed.  “Oh um, thank you.  You are also very pretty.”  She said with a shy smile.  

“I think we will get along very well.”  Olivia said with a wink as she released Yukina's hand.  

“Yukina!  I think you are even more beautiful!”  Kuwabara exclaimed.  

“She is not just beautiful in her appearance, it’s her entire essence.”  Olivia stated.  

Yukina blushed as Olivia handed her a purple rose and Kuwabara was dumbfounded, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.  The whole time Olivia could feel Hiei’s intense glare on her, burning a hole through the back of her head.

“Where the hell did you get a rose from?!”  Kuwabara asked, looking at Oliva surprised.

Shizuru punched Kuwabara, knocking him down and stepped on his back rubbing her foot on him.  “Don’t ask such stupid questiond little bro!”

“...I want her to step on me too…” Ivy muttered to herself.

“What? Did you say something Ivy? Botan asked.

“No!  Nothing!”  Ivy said quickly.

Piper quickly went over to Kuwabara after his sister removed her foot from his back.  “Are you okay?”  She asked helping him to his feet.  He looked at her and blushed.  

“Thank you, how lucky of me to be saved by a beautiful lady such as yourself”  He flirted as she giggled.  

The group soon headed back to the hotel to rest up for tomorrow.  

The next day, the team was at the arena ready to fight team Uratogi.  

“So how are we going to decide who goes first?”  Kuwabara asked.

“I have a suggestion…”  Said a fighter from the other team, Shishiwakamaru is his name.  “We will let fate decide who fights using these.”  He said as he pulled out some dice with each of the fighters names on them.  

“Sounds good to me…”  Ivy said, stepping forward, cracking her knuckles.  “Wait where’s Yusuke?” She asked looking from side to side, realizing that their team captain was not with them.

“Don’t worry about it, we don’t need him to beat these jokers.”  Kuwabara said with a smirk.

“We’ll see about that…  Now if you don’t mind, fate is calling.”  Shishiwakamaru said as he rolled the dice.  

The first roll of the dice landed on Hiei and Makintaro.  Makintaro was cocky and underestimated Hiei,  Hiei chopped one of his arms off and he didn't even notice.  Going so far as to make fun of Hiei, who was hiding the severed arm, saying he had an accident when he saw his dripping blood.  Then Hiei pulled his opponent's arm out from behind his back which caused Makintaro to freak out a bit.  Hiei began to walk away but the Makintaro regenerated his arm into an axe and ran and swung it on Hiei, who dodged at an unbelievable speed and moved to stab Makintaro through his skull and kill him.

“The winner is Hiei!”  The new announcer, Juri said into her microphone.     

“Raise your hand if you are super turned on right now…”  Ivy said, raising her hand as Kuwabara tried not to barf.  

Somewhere in the forest near the arena... “What's wrong Jin?”  Touya asked, having noticed the windmasters' sudden stop.  

“I sense a disturbance…”  Jin replied.  

“What do you mean?” Asked rinku.

“I don’t know why… but I suddenly want to kick Hiei’s butt…”  Jin explained.

“Hiei would destroy you…”  Touya grumbled.  

“Shut the fuck up!  I do what I want!”  Jin exclaimed.

“Does that include dying?”  Rinku laughed.

Before Jin could say anything else, “Quit yer yabbin!  Let's just get to the arena!  I'm almost outta booze…”  Chu scolded, muttering the last bit.  

The next fight was Hiei Vs Kuro Momotaro, Kuro used weird little smoke balls that when he breathed in the smoke it gave him different types of special armors.  In the end Hiei killed Kuro using the sword of the darkness flame attack.  

The next fight was Kurama Vs Ura Urashima.  They fought long distance for a bit until Ura surrounded the arena in a trap and used a special item to de age Kurama causing him to revert to Youko Kurama.  In the end Shishiwakamaru was the one to kill Ura by throwing his sword at him to keep him from revealing too much information.  Which meant kurama won the round.  

Sophia saw Youko and let out a wolf whistle “damn he's hot”  She said.

“Fuckin furry...”  Leon muttered.

“You're one to talk, Mr. Lola bunny body pillow!”  Sophia exclaimed.

“One time!”  Leon contoured, embarrassed.  “And don't talk about Lola that way!  You will never understand our love!” 

“The next fight is Shishiwakamaru Vs Kuwabara!”  announced Juri, distracting the two from their bickering. 

This fight went rather quickly as Shishiwakamaru sent Kuwabara away to an unknown location with the cape of no return.  

After that it was Ivy Vs Shishiwakamaru.  “Begin!” Juri said, with a wave of her hand.

Ivy ran at Shishiwakamaru at an unbelievable speed.  She stopped in front of him and kicked him hard with her stiletto shoed foot, stabbing him and then sending him flying into the wall with her pure strength.  He got up though and began to use an attack.

“Chorus of a thousand souls!”  he said as demon souls emerged from his sword and began killing everything. Everything but Ivy.  “What?!  Why?!”  He exclaimed.

“Because I'm not a weakling.  You are going to have to do better if you want to defeat me.  Which by the way won't happen.”  Ivy said as she delivered the final blow, knocking Shishiwakamaru to the ground, rendering him immobile.

“Damn...  I think I might have fallen in love.  Maybe if we had met under different circumstances, we could have had something…”  He said before falling unconscious.

“Well aren't I the lucky lady?”  Ivy said sarcastically, with a roll of her eyes.

“My Ivy senses are tingling…”  Jin said.

“Oh that's right!  Aren't you Ivy's boyfriend?”  Keiko, who had just been rescued by Jin and his friends, asked adorably 

Jin grinned.  “Why yes, yes I am.”  

“Jin are you crazy?  She will kill you if she finds out you said that!”  Touya warned only to be ignored by Jin gushing about Ivy.

   “I sense a disturbance…” said Ivy

“What are you talking about?” Hiei asked with a glare.

“I don’t know why… But I suddenly want to kick Jins butt…”  Ivy muttered

“Who?”  Hiei asked with a confused blink of his eyes.

“I believe he was the windmaster from team Masho, the ninjas.” Kurama explained.  

“Why do you want to kick his butt?  We already beat his team.”  Hiei asked.  

“I have seen them hanging out together quite a lot.”  Kurama added with a smirk.

The announcer, Koto spoke up next.  “What’s this???  Do my ears deceive me???  Do we have a forbidden romance between Ivy of team Urameshi, and Jin who she defeated, of the team Masho?” 

“Did you guys hear that???  Did you guys fucking hear that?!?”  Jin said, shaking Touya after the group walked into the stadium.  

Ivy then walked over to Koto and snatched her microphone and spoke into it.  “No. No we don’t”  she deadpanned.  

Jin fell to his knees in despair as his friends tried to console him  

“It’s okay Jin! Please stop growing mushrooms in other people’s closets…”  Rinku said patting Jin on the back as Jin bawled silently.  

“Oh, ok… Are you sure???”  Koto asked, wiggling her eyebrows.  

“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life.  I would never date that Irish Mr. Potato Head.” Ivy stated as Jin cried.  

Jin suddenly stood up full of life again.  “She loves me!  I know she does!  She’s Just playing hard to get” Jin said optimistically.

“You keep thinking that pal.”  Touya said as he patted Jin on the shoulder and shook his head.  

“Well!  Now that that’s done!  Let’s move onto the next fight!”  Juri announced with a roll of the dice. It landed on Kuwabara and Onji.

“Well, since Your fighter is not here I guess that means I win!  Unless you wanna pick someone else?”  Onji laughed.  

“Hold it right there!  I’m here, and I’m going to kick your ass old man!”  Kuwabara shouted, marching angrily into the stadium.  

The fight did not last long as Kuwabara was again transported out of the stadium almost immediately.  

“Well, I hope your next fighter is more of a challenge!”  Onji laughed.  The dice was rolled again, this time landing on Onji and Ivy.    “Oh... Now, you will be a challenge…”  Onji muttered to himself.  

“Begin!” Juri exclaimed.

“All right, but first why don’t you take off that disguise hmm?”  Ivy told Onji, who looked rather surprised after she had said this.

Onji smiled “well, all right, I suppose that’s only fair.  After all you are almost as beautiful as myself!” Onji said as he removed his disguise to reveal… his true self… a blond clown? “It is I!  The beautiful Sazuka!”  he exclaimed dramatically as Ivy then punched him hard in the face, knocking him to the ground.

“Are you just going to stand there yapping or are you going to fight me like a man!”

“Hey! That's cheating!” whined Sazuka.  

“This is the dark tournament jackass!  Anything goes!  And besides that!  The fight already... Started!  Ivy said, picking him up as she spoke and then throwing him into the wall, making a Sazuka shaped hole in it.  

Sazuka picked himself up off the ground, angry.  He then ran at Ivy readying a punch which Ivy dodged and then kicked him over top of his head knocking him to the ground once more leaving a large dent in the arena, breaking lots of Sazuka’s bones in the process rendering him unable to move.  

“Winner of the fight!  Ivy!” Juri announced.  

“Well…  you certainly were a challenge…” said Sazuka weakly before passing out. 

Ivy hopped down out of the ring only to be greeted by a familiar Irish Demon.  

“You were amazing my love!”  He exclaimed as he went to hug her as she dodged, causing him to fall on his face.  

“Why are you so obsessed with me???”  Ivy asked in a clearly annoyed tone.  

Jin leaned his head on his hands, laying on his stomach. “Because you are amazing…” He told her, looking up at her with love struck puppy eyes.  

Ivy blushed and looked away, but quickly hid it.  “Ugh!  If I go out with you will you leave me alone?”  Ivy asked, pretending to still be annoyed.  

[neoculturetechxgot7]

Gardenia on the crown - J.J.H.

2; Sun kissed gardens

pairing: Jung Jaehyun × Reader

genre: angst

length: around 2k words

warnings: profanity

``

The distance from the ballroom to the gardens is fairly short, having to cross only a few wide halls buzzing with the usual morning preparations as maids and servants swiftly moved around with hasty steps.

You're surprised to soon find yourself crossing a large patio paved with thick, grey gravel to reach what the king said to be the countryard, where a seemingly endless sea of green spread under the skyline. Without wasting a moment, you follow both elders as they begin making their way between big, voluminous bushes and blooming flowers covering each side of the stone path.

It seems to be more of a maze than a garden, its complicated spirals of greenery pushing you to the brim of dizziness, constant turns killing your sense of direction. At this point, it's a fact that you'd get lost if left alone in there.

The sky is clear and gifts you a generous supply of sun beams, which you presume to be nature's way of sympathizing with your new reality, trying to provide the slightest comfort. It's hard to enjoy even that though, with Jaehyun by your side. At least he makes sure to keep more than enough distance and you feel internally grateful for his understanding of personal space.

You steal a brief glance on your right where he strolls carelessly, hands in the pockets of his dress pants like a gentleman. Glaring far into the horizon, he seems to have retreated into his own thoughts which causes you to feel a little more relaxed, knowing he isn't intently watching your every move.

The sudden urge to run away almost overpowers you when his eyes, pink and purple lavender mirroring in their depths, lock with yours and embarrassment pierces through you so brutally. Once again, your cheeks probably get more blush than any rose in the entire palace as you quickly snap your head to the other side.

He literally just caught you staring.

But there is nothing wrong with that, right? He is your husband-to-be after all...

Thanfully, Jaehyun doesn't comment anything, only leaves a blanket of silence drape over you and the bold decision of looking at anything but him takes a good seat in the back of your head.

Thankfully, the plants around you can provide a great distraction as you get fascinated by their vivid colours and freshness, early dew still sliding off of velvety petals and leaves. They aren't as Iively as those back home nor is there as much variety, but still it remains a pretty sight.

What really catches your attention though are a few snowy white blooms emerging from a plush bush beside the path and your heart flutters, inevitably drawn to them. Ducking with golden satin pooling around your ankles, your fingers reach out to pluck one and the next moment you're burying your nose to deeply inhale in the beautiful scent that makes fairies dance on the crisp air.

You love it. That's why you can't bare to avert your gaze, instead standing over the plants as if you can somehow escape in their dreamy world, wiping tiny droplets from their surface to feel the coolness of morning.

"Gardenia." A voice comes from behind and you quickly realise it's Jaehyun, his heavy footsteps growing louder as he approached.

"I know." You reply, almost allowing a chuckle past your lips. "My mother adores them. She says it takes a lot of care for these to grow."

"We do take care of them here." There is a tone of pointing out the obvious lacing his words as he halts before the flowers and slowly leans to sniff one.

"You take care of them?" You ask with a finger pointing at him, genuinely curious to know if the prince of ice has a soft spot for gardening after all.

"No, of course not. Servants do." Jaehyun explains nonchalantly and, after looking back at the path, gestures for you to follow, since both your parents have already moved way ahead.

The hint of enthusiasm in your chest is quickly crashed by his answer and once again it feels so unbearably cold to be around him, an imaginary yet sturdy wall built between you two. He continues walking, completely ignoring the uneasiness being alone with him causes you.

You wish to rush to your father's side, hide under his wing and plea to stop the marriage, but your pride and unbending sense of responsibility leaves you simply scurrying to catch up.

You don't trade any other words as he continues pretending oblivion to your existence and you begin hating even the slightest idea of him, burning with desire for all of this mess to end.

♤

A torturous amount of time later, your heels are digging into the expensive burgundy carpet decorating a high staircase leading up to what the king said to be your royal chambers. You can't wait to go up these steps and sink in the peace and quiet of a well-made bed. Privacy and some time alone is all you need to put the tornado of incomprehensible thoughts racking your mind in order.

And while you're daydreaming about soft pillows and the chilling touch of cotton sheets, Jaehyun's father keeps on with his relentless ramble regarding the wedding, which, from what you understood, will be held under the next full moon, in about a month from now.

It then dawns on you how, truly, you have only 25 days before you allow that awful prince to slide a band of polished platinum on your ring finger and tie your lives together in eternity. Then, as the unwritten laws of the ancient proclaimed, you'd be inseparable.

Fuck all of this.

Screaming and shouting until the moon itself tears in half seems like a tempting option to let out the despair now nibbling at every inch of you skin. Hatred and so much fury boils in your bloodstream, especially after your gaze lands on your betrothed, who was eyeing you back, possibly with raw dislike.

You realize now that, really, you despise him.

He's standing just a step below, too close for your lungs to breathe freely but close enough for your nails to claw at his eyes and-

"...and the ceremony will take place at the palace, before the grand feast..." The hoarsennes of the king's voice scratches your ears almost cruelly.

You can't stand hearing whatever shit is coming out his mouth, already way past your breaking point. You can't take it anymore, you can't wait for him to finish that annoying monologue.

Your fingers start to tremble ever so slightly, golden rings clashing inaudibly against each other.

You don't want to hear anything else about that damned wedding, the upcoming end of life as you know it, and right now all you can think about is how to reach your room as soon as possible.

Then, a god-sent idea flashes before your conscious, dramatic yet somehow good, the distress in your eyes replaced by glimmering relief.

If this works, you'll be in the security of a spacious room within seconds, away from the overwhelming royals and their annoying chit-chat.

A soft gasp falls from your parted lips and a hand shot up to your forehead, knees bending slightly.

"Sweetheart, are you okay?" Your dad's concern coated tone sends traces of guilt to crawl under your skin.

"Yes, I'm just feeling a little dizzy, father." You whine, sounding pathetic nonetheless, leaning towards his embrace for support.

"Do you need me to call the maids?"

Your inevitably gaze shoots to Jaehyun's father eyeing you, awaiting your answer.

"No, no, it's alright. I'd prefer to retreat from your company, though." You mentally cringe at the immerse politeness you're forced show when in reality all you long to say is a simple fuck off, all of you.

So your plan might be...really pitiful at its execution after all. You aren't sure if anyone will believe your pretentious groan of pain and the helpless tone, but even so, who can refuse a princess a such simple request?

"The sun. Its probably the heat that's caused this, my Lady." The unbothered king points out, without a single drop of regret in his voice for having you wander around the entire garden under the searing licks of sunshine.

And then, fingertips scorch a tight grasp around your wrist making you flinch, eyes darting daggers at Jaehyun who is taking a step forward to tower over you, blaze adorning his gaze.

"Are you sure you're alright, princess?" His other hand snakes its way around your waist so smoothly, fingers squeezing waves of newfound heat against your side.

You can burst any moment now and slap that pretty face of his that's now only a breath away as he pulls you ever so slightly towards his chest.

If you had a fake headache before, it's a certain fact that a real one is starting to pulse inside your head at right now.

"Guards!" The king loudly calls for the two men in light armor standing on either side of the base of the stairs and they hurry away from their positions to approach you. "Take her highness to her royal chambers immediately."

You'd be glad to be escorted by them, followed by the soft clatter of iron as you head for the comfort of your apartments, away from that stupid prince.

But apparently Jaehyun isn't about to allow that luxury, when he throws a sharp nod to stop them dead on their tracks.

"I got her."

No, no, no, no. Damnit, no.

You can barely contain your body's reaction to violently wiggle out of his grip and pick up your skirts to bolt away, not giving a shit about manners at this point. Being almost pressed flush with his body strangely drains you of energy and clouds your mind with a heavy daze, sensing his every warm inhale brush against your neck.

"Father, please continue without us."

You don't make it to hear what the others mumble -probably their farewells- as he spins you around, palm moving lower on the small of your back to support it, although it's really not necessary. If it weren't for his tight hold though, you would've fallen flat on your face after tripping on the first step, the clumsiness striking you yet again.

"Do you need me to carry you?" He leans to whisper in your ear, freezing you in place at the proximity and his spine-chilling touch.

You are somewhat disgusted. His concern is probably nothing more than sugar-coated pretence.

"No, I'm okay. I can do this alone." That's all you manage to blurt out, insides lit on ruby fire as you try to move away hopelessly.

Even so, his bony fingers don't loosen up. "There's only a few steps left."

His voice rings faintly, because everything around you except him seems to disintegrate into a blur and you melt painfully slow into his unwanted embrace. The erratic heartbeat thumping on your temples is louder than gunshots at this point, making you wonder if he can hear it so clearly too.

Jaehyun's scent of sandalwood and rosemary has a shaky breath hitch at your throat so painfully, overpowering all your senses in a feverish way.

You curse at your impatience, regretting not waiting for the king to end the annoying palace tour and bidding all three men goodbye to find your room all alone. Yes, that would've been perfect compared to the current situation.

Your whole body is tense, every muscle buzzing with electricity as you keep going up the staircase in the heated hands of your betrothed.

The devil holds you tight only to burn you tighter.

//