Somewhere Down this Road

"Akealin is probably a better leader than I could be," Kitai said. "At least he sticks by his decisions and gets people to listen to him. I doubt myself so much that I think anyone following me would start to doubt me as well." That and she had babies on the way. She wondered how long it would be before her brother escorted her back to Salinas where she would wait out the war and hopefully be able to bring up her and Yoko's children in safety.

"Well that's a good thing I guess," Yoko commented after a few moments of thought. He just hoped that his little brother wasn't going to start confusing respect with fear. You could lead by earning respect, or you could lead by making them fear you. But people destroyed what they feared.

Kitai paused uncomfortably. There is was - the short, neutral comment that usually happened shortly before he had to leave. If she couldn't have much of a comfortable conversasion with him without mentioning the looming elephant in the tent, then she would have to do something else. She wiggled out of the two arms that were draped around her protectively and positioned herself on top of Yoko, straddling his hips and leaning down close to his face.

He started to from when she wiggled out of his arms. Was something wrong? Was she uncomfortable? Sick? He started to sit up, propping himself on his elbows, but stopped when she positioned herself on top of him. He knew what she wanted, but was surprised that she wanted it now. Hormones maybe? His expression was puzzled as he stared back up at her. "I don't think that's really such a good idea," he stated, leaning up to give her a quick kiss. He didn't want to squish the behbehs after all.

"Then don't," Kitai said, pressing herself down close to him. "But you're not leaving until I make sure that I won't have any regrets should this be the last time we see eachother." She sucked on his neck, sliding her hands up his shirt and trying to take it off. Even if he didn't want to go all the way right now because of the babies, she could at least get some serious makeout time in.

He was glad that she seemed so agreeable, but when she pressed herself down on him, he knew he hadn't quite won the battle yet. "Kitai, I just thi-" And then she got to his neck. ......Sonofabitch. He laid back into the cot, unable to support himself on his elbows anymore. Hel wasn't going to like it when he came back with a giant red splotch on his neck. ...but on second thought, he really didn't care. She slid his shirt off and he wrapped his arms around her waist, every Hel induced scar on his upper body completely exposed.

Kitai gasped when she saw the scars. She would have thought that Hel was not a kind master, but to this extent.....it was horrible. Her eyes were wide as she softly traced one of the scars with her finger. "This...is terrible!" she said. "How do you put up with it?" She wrapped her arms around him, now thinking that Yoko would probably get more punishment for taking the time to come and see her. She felt like a horrible person for indirectly causing him pain.

He was confused at first when he heard her gasp. Perhaps he had gained too much weight and was fat now or something? In the past two years he had put on a few pounds, going from a scrawny twig, to a nice healthy weight. But maybe. . . . oh. When she traced one of the scars, he knew exactly what she was reffering to. Yes, they were quite an eyesore and now she was probably turned off. But if these frightened her than she sure as hell didn't want to see his feet.

"How do you put up with it?"

Because he loved her. But he didn't want to link her to his physical pain - which was nothing compared to what he went through sitting around and waiting if he could ever see her again. "S'not so bad," he answered, tightening his hold on her. He cursed himself for ruining the mood. . . . again.

"But you'll get hurt more because you came to see me," Kitai said with a sullen look on her face. She wished that she could go back with Yoko. She wished that she could walk into Yggdrasil and rip Hel apart for what she was doing to Yoko. But she couldn't. She could only look at the results as Hel tormented her love and know that she herself played a part in it.

"No I won't," he replied truthfully. Hel had gotten tired of those 'Rawer you went and saw Kitai rawer' games and had moved on to new and. . . slightly worse ones just for no apparent reason. They were now about as humiliating as they were painful. Hel had taken up waltzing for example. She had this newfound love of dance and always seemed to require a partner. Almost 100% of the time Yoko was her mate of choice. He could stand dancing with her to a point, until she started to complain that he wasn't lively enough. So she had a pair of hot iron shoes made just form him. His feet were disgusting from the burn scars.

Kitai lay back down next to Yoko, resting her head between his shoulder and neck and wrapped her arms around his bare chest. "Are you sure?" she asked. She looked up at his face, avoiding looking at the scars that ran over his torso. She sighed and stayed silent, simply enjoying the presence of Yoko while she could.

"I'm sure," he replied warmly, kissing the top of her head. He hated that she couldn't seem to stand the sight of him - or at least a shirtless him - any more. He detatched himself from Kitai just long enough that he could grab his shirt and slide it back on. He didn't want her lying there and feeling uncomfortable if he could prevent it in anyway.

Kitai grabbed the hem of Yoko's shirt as he slipped it back on and started lifting it up again. "No, don't put it back on," she said. While being able to see what Hel had done to Yoko made her sad beyond belief, it was a reminder of what she, and the whole Rebellion, was fighting for. She removed her own shirt, stripped down to just her chest bindings, and kissed him again. It was a slow, gentle kiss, one full of sorrow for things lost and hope for things that might be yet to come.

"Okay," he replied, helping her with his shirt while she stripped down to her bindings. As long as he kept his shoes on, she could remove any article of his clothing that she wanted. Oh and the gloves. The gloves needed to stay on too much to his displeasure. He could feel the level of emotion behind her kiss and wanted to return those same emtions. But he couldn't. He didn't feel sorrow for lost moments right now. He only felt delighted that he was with her now.

Kitai sighed and lay down beside Yoko, resting her head on top of his chest and wrapping an arm around him. She listened to the quiet sound of his breathing, trying not to focus on the fact that there was no heartbeat even though her head rested on top of the spot where his heart should be.

"When do you have to leave?" she asked. Knowing wouldn't make it better, but at least would help her decide how to use the time that she had left with him.

He looked up towards the roof of the tent as he thought, playing with a strand of Kitais hair as he did so. "She doesn't really even know that I'm out," he stated, figuring Kitai would know who he was talking about. He guessed that he should be back by mid day at least. . .but that only gave him a couple more hours with the werewolf. "Shortly before sunset," he lied, wanting to push his luck and spend as much time with Kitai as possible.

"Good," she said, rolling over and laying lightly on top of Yoko. She rested her chin on her hands and looked into his eyes. "Let's make the most of the precious few hours that we have, then. What do you want to do?" Even though she was satisfied with simply laying next to him for those hours, she also wanted to do something that would make their time together memorable in case this was their last time.

"Ohh, I'm terrible at making decisions," he half whimpered, half laughed in response. He would've been just as content to lay there and not have to think about Akaelin or leaving, or war, or Hel, or hot iron shoes. Just him, Kitai, and nothing else. "I don't think we should stay here though. Someone might come looking for you and see me." And that wouldn't be a good thing.

"Where should we go then?" Kitai asked. "And how do we get out unnoticed?" It was still fairly early in the morning for the great majority of people to be up and about, but there would still be some people that could see them. She really wished that there wasn't any necessity for this sneaking about. If only the Rebellion could know the truth about Yoko, how he wasn't fighting them of his own choice; that it was the last thing that he would choose to do.

"I could shift and you could hide me in a bag or something and carry me out," he suggested. He was used to having to sneak around by now so it didn't really bother him so much. He sat upright, pushing Kitai up with him, so that she would be sitting - and not falling over - when he changed form to the tiny little 11'' long fennec fox.

Kitai giggled and picked Yoko up. He always looked so cute in this form with his giant ears and adorable eyes. "Let's see..." she said before digging out a medium leather bag and putting Yoko gently into it. She got up and left the tent, nearly running into a werewolf that had been about to inquire after her.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I'm going to look for herbs to help with certain things," she said. "Morning sickness...pain..other thngs." The werewolf nodded and left for a different part of the camp. Kitai set off at a slow jog into the woods, looking for a good place for her and Yoko to be together.

He squeaked a little as Kitai picked him up and placed him in the bag, trying hard not to move and adjust himself when she was speaking to the other person. He poked his head out of the bag once she had gotten a little ways into the words, black eyes scanning the area for a good spot. They passed by a small stream, but he figured that it would be a bad place to stop. People would be going there to drink, or bathe, or wash clothes, or what the heck over. But as they continued along the path the stream led to a pond. He guessed that people probably wouldn't go this far and hopped out of the bag, ears swivling in every direction as he listened for any other possible presences. He relaxed when he didn't hear anything other than the wildlife and shifted back.

Kitai smiled and took Yoko's hands in hers, feeling more relaxed now that they were out in nature. Unless someone got desperate enough to consult her that they would go follow her scent trail, they should be safe. The scent of thyme drifted faintly through the clearing also helping to calm her nerves.

He grinned, lacing his fingers inbetween hers as he walked along side her, looking for a comfortable place to just relax. Or at least as much as he could relax with the looming thought of 'hoshit when's hel going to realize i'm gone?' in his mind. His foot hit against a rock and he hissed - more from the pain his feet were already in than from the rock itself - and fell, letting go of Kitais hand as he ate grass. ...How attractive. He rolled over and stared up at her for a few seconds before laughing at himself. "I think here seems like a good spot."

Kitai gasped when Yoko fell. "Yoko, are you all right?!" she asked. She quickly went over to him and knelt next to him. The rock he tripped on didn't seem all that big, though she was sure it still would have hurt. While normally she would want to inquire after that, right now she put it aside and leaned over to kiss him. "You're right, I guess this is a good place," she said, getting back into the position she had been in in the tent before she had seen the scars on Yoko's chest.