Defy Not The Heart. Amy Blankenship

sounds. Another twig snapped but this time it came from a bush closer to Kyoko. He watched in horror as Kyoko walked straight up to a large shrub, holding her towel in front of her like a shield, and called out.

      â€œOkay, Shinbe! I know it’s you! Come out… so I can slap you!” Kyoko waited, eyeing the shrub wearily. Shinbe was a known peeping tom. She cocked an eyebrow in annoyance, and he was the only one around so…. The bush shook gently. “I know you’re there, and when Toya finds out your spying on me, he’s probably gonna kill you. Not to mention, I’m sure Suki won’t mind beating on you either.”

      The shrub shook again and a long black pointy leg came out from behind the tangled limbs.

      â€œWhat the…!” Kyoko turned to run just as a very large demonic scorpion climbed out from behind the vegetation. She ran towards her clothes where she had left her crossbow inside the pack.

      â€œKyoko! Get down!” Shinbe came running out of the opposite bushes with a big stick raised in his hand like a spear. He threw it at the demon. The red eyed scorpion saw it coming and swung one leg around, blocking the pointed weapon, and sent it sailing through the air. It landed at Kyoko’s feet, just as she bent down to pick up her crossbow. Her brow twitched as she realized just how close that had come to hitting her.

      Shinbe ran towards her, bending down to pick up the stick. With a quirk of an eyebrow, he looked at Kyoko and grinned crookedly. “Why Kyoko, I do believe you are just a little under dressed for killing a demon.” His grin grew wider at the look on her face. Then her look turned to pure horror.

      Feeling a foreboding chill race up his back, Shinbe turned around, swinging his makeshift staff wildly as the scorpion demon lunged at them. He was able to hit one hairy leg, but the other struck him in the side, throwing him away from Kyoko. Shinbe’s blood froze as the deadly scorpion stalked closer to the priestess.

      He knew the demon possessed creature could sense the power within her. Knowing he had to do something fast, he used his telekinetic powers to lift a good sized rock, and flung it as hard as he could, smirking as it struck the scorpion on the head.

      The demon screeched and swung its head around to pin a glare at the wounded guardian. Shinbe lay on the ground struggling to get back up as the demon came after him again. He rolled just in time to point the sharp end of the stick up as the demon came crashing down on him. Shinbe’s amethyst eyes glowed as he whispered a spell to soften the monsters hard flesh.

      Kyoko screamed Shinbe’s name in panic as she watched the demon descend on him. Everything happened so quickly that she didn’t have time to even blink. One moment the demon was jumping on him, and the next, the end of that same stick was sticking out its back as black blood oozed to the ground. She watched as the possessed scorpion twitched before becoming limp and falling heavily on top of Shinbe.

      â€œShinbe!” Kyoko screamed in panic. She ran to him seeing the blood pooling on the dirt around them at an alarmingly fast pace. She gave a mental cringe hoping none of that blood was coming from her guardian but it was hard to tell with the oversize spawn covering everything except one side of Shinbe’s face. His eyes were closed and for a moment her heart stopped as fear washed across her.

      Shinbe could sense it, Kyoko was still terrified and whatever it was making her feel that way, he had to destroy. With a shudder to fight the pain, he opened his eyes to find her staring down at him, pale as a ghost. His heart thudded hard as he realized she was frightened for him. He could feel warmth in his veins as her fear eased from seeing that he was alive.

      Shinbe spoke in a raspy voice, “Kyoko, please. Help me… get it off.” He strained to shove the dead beast off, but his arms were trapped between it and his body. Even possessed, the mindless demon should not weigh as much as it did, and should not have put up such a fight. His eyes narrowed sensing a shattered piece of the crystal so close to him, “Kyoko, it’s riding the power of a talisman… find it.”

      Kyoko quit pushing at the gigantic creature for a moment, trying to focus her power to scan its body. When the guardian heart crystal had shattered and rained down across the demon realm, it had sent demons of all sizes into a frenzy to find the powerful shards. This must have been a small scorpion at one time… until it was lucky enough to be possessed by a demon then come across one of the missing pieces and get one hell of a power boost.

      â€œThere!” she gasped as she noticed a small electric blue glow coming from its neck. Stifling the urge to retch, Kyoko looked into its still open mouth. Making a face, she reached in and grabbed the crystal, watching as the scorpions size automatically began to shrink. Quickly, she pushed and it slid to the side enough that Shinbe was able to push it the rest of the way off before it shriveled up smaller than the size of her hand.

      Kyoko looked down at him, his long midnight blue hair obscuring his face, but from its movement she could see he was trying to catch his breath. Her gaze traveled his body looking for wounds. His side was bleeding profusely where the demon had hit him hard with its pointed leg. She looked around blindly for something to stop the bleeding. Then she ran to her towel, knowing it would be good to press against the wound.

      Shinbe sat up giving a disgusted glare at the dead little bug. With his hand over the slice in his side, he turned his attention back to Kyoko and silently watched her run to get the towel she’d discarded in her haste. His gaze roamed her body, completely forgetting about the pain he was in.

      'She has forgotten she is still unclothed,' he thought, 'Well, I’m not going to remind her.' He tried to keep his expression calm as she came back with the towel.

      Kyoko sat down beside Shinbe, tugging on his trench coat, trying to see the wound. "Shinbe, do you think you can remove this," she fingered the cloth. "I need to see where all of this blood is coming from."

      Her voice was still breathless and soft to his ears, almost seductive sounding. He was so mystified about how much she really cared that he forgot to fantasize about her asking him to take off his clothes.

      Shinbe removed his robe-like coat, and undid the icy-blue shirt underneath. It fell off his shoulders and slid down his arms to lie in a pool around him, baring his chest and taunt stomach muscles to her, along with the gash on his hip. He reached down and pushed that side of the lose pants down a couple inches, so she could better see, but left his arm across his lap to hide the evidence of his erection.

      Kyoko swallowed as she tried to stay focused on the wound, instead of what surrounded it. Placing a hand across his exposed skin to steady herself, she pressed firmly with the white cloth, watching it turn crimson. She felt his muscles jerk under her palm and it sent heat shooting up her arm. Her startled emerald eyes went quickly to his, locking with his amethyst gaze.

      He noticed the blush spread across her cheeks as their eyes met and wondered at it, feeling his own flesh heat where her soft hand was touching him. "Kyoko, are you all right?" He watched her nod weakly as she looked back down at the towel, removing it gently to see if the bleeding had stopped. Seeing it had, she went to wet the rag so she could clean the rest of the blood off him.

      Shinbe looked down, thinking to himself, 'No wonder it quit bleeding, all the blood has rushed to another destination.’ He sighed, quickly clearing the thought away as she came back and kneeled over him, giving him another view of her bra-clad breast. His darkening amethyst gaze darted back to her face. He knew she had to put some clothes on if he was to keep his dignity.

      Kyoko was slowly wiping the blood from his skin, making sure to be very, very gentle when she heard him say her name in a husky strained voice. She stopped her movements and lifted her face towards his. But the way she was leaning, she found herself only mere inches from his face. His eyes almost glowed and he seemed so much larger than life at that moment. Her focus slowly lowered to his lips as neither of them said a word.

      Shinbe watched her lips part, and his body moved with a will of its own as he closed the distance between them. He brushed his lips across hers in a feather-light kiss that was only the calm before the storm… his breath heated across her cheek. Then a roaring blur of red