Dying to Live

Disclaimer: I do not own Kyo Kara Maoh or make any profit from writing this.


I intended to update multiple times before the New Year, though none of my chapters seemed right or to work. I worked on several other projects until finally it came to me what had been missing.


Shori and Franc shared a weird and slightly controversial history with each other. Shori would go out to different BDSM clubs and see Franc out on display. Sometimes Franc would be dancing; sometimes he would be perched somewhere. Shori watched Franc display himself in outfits ranging from little white and blue sailor boy outfit to a corset and heels. Shori watched Franc through his shades and wanted him but knew better.


Meanwhile Franc would see a man in dark shades, leather pants and a black dress shirt. The man, Shori would simply get a whiskey and coke; sit in the corner of the darkened club watching his surroundings. A month into their orbiting of each other Franc finally approached Shori. The two danced around each other for a while before they talked. They quickly ruled each other out as sex partners but grew to like each other as friends.


Shori had been the one to encourage Franc’s interest in Psychology while Franc had been the one to help Shori deal with some of his issues and come to terms with his more dominant nature. The two remained close even when Shori started training with Bob and Franc went to get his degrees. Franc had told Shori about his then upcoming trip to Shin Makoku. Shori had been amused and told him to say hi to his brother when he saw him. Franc had not realized until he met Yuuri that there was any relation. In a way, that casual assumption of knowledge never explicitly stated was what Franc came to term as Shori’s coping mechanism for things he was unsure about.


Their history explained why Franc’s sudden appearance on Shori’s doorstep only caused slight disturbance. “Franc what the hell happened?” Shori demanded letting the bedraggled Franc into his house. “Excuse the mess but…”


“I found Yuuri and Murata.” Franc interrupted flopping onto the sofa in Shori’s living room.


“What are you sitting down for then? Wait no, how do you know those two and then how did you know they were missing.” Shori demanded suspiciously.


“I have been the Maou’s personal therapist for a while now.” Franc admitted. “As to how I know…” Franc lifted the necklace charm so that Shori could see it. The jewel shone a ruby red that clashed horribly with the normal clear blue. “This found me.”


“Still doesn’t explain why you are sitting down.” Shori growled his black eyes flashing dangerously as he mentally ran through the different color meanings for the pendant.


“Yuuri does not wish to further endanger Murata. He asked I wait until there is more time for an escape.” Franc paused. “I think he knows that it will be hard to get Murata to leave. If I had just gotten Yuuri out odds are Murata wouldn’t have come.”


“Shit.” Shori flopped onto the other end of the couch and regarded Franc through narrowed eyes.


“Apparently Murata is a little confused right now.” Franc responded shivering lightly.


“Take your clothes off and get a shower.” Shori commanded. “I’ll get some clothes for you to wear and get some things in order for our rescue mission.”


“Don’t forget me.” Gunter spoke as he entered the hallway from a secret passage.


“Where the heck did you come from?” Franc yelped surprised by Gunter’s entrance.


“There is an indoor pool that I can get a portal through in case of emergency. Gunter sent through that he was coming.” Shori explained. “Now go shower and change before you die of pneumonia. I need all the details of where they are, what security is in place, possible complications…”


“I got it.” Franc sneezed hurrying off to shower, change and right down all he knew about the house in the woods.


“Shori there are some things I have to tell you.” Gunter spoke quietly as he watched Franc leave the room.


“I don’t think I am going to like this am I?” Shori responded cocking an eyebrow before tilting his head towards his study. Gunter knew the way and Shori followed soon after with tea.


Gunter sat down in one of the overstuffed blue chairs in the sitting area of Shori’s study. Shori placed the tea on the coffee table and studied Gunter’s face. Shori’s dark eyes probed Gunter’s violet was briefly before going to a cabinet. Pulling out a bottle of sake, he made his way to another chair facing Gunter.


“There are some things I found out about the Great Sage…” Gunter trailed off as Shori served him some tea and then sat a shot of sake beside it.


“Murata he doesn’t love you!” Yuuri screamed at the two-way mirror, his voice hoarse as he watched Hisao defile Murata again. Yuuri felt the tears falling and tried desperately to figure out a way out of this mess. The drugs made all of his thoughts fuzzy and disjointed. Yuuri remembered Franc but he did not remember maybe he had hallucinated it or it had really happened.


Yuuri continued to watch as though in a funhouse mirror. Hisao took a knife from out of nowhere and cut across Murata’s stomach the cuts were deep and jagged. Murata’s screams drowned out by Hisao’s laughter. Yuuri watched blurrily as something slipped from the bleeding. It looked like nothing more than a shadow. Yuuri thought he was losing his mind.


In the room by himself, Yuuri had never felt so alone. The only company Hisao allowed Yuuri was the videos of what Hisao did to Murata and the live action in front of him. Yuuri missed other people and he doubted he would be able to look at Murata the same way again.


“Murata please snap out of it.” Yuuri murmured before his head drooped down to his chest and he was still. The metal handcuffs keeping him in the chair dripped more blood on the floor as they effectively slit his wrists for him.


“I can’t believe this.” Shori swore watching as Hisao exited the building his eyes burning in their hatred.


“What did Gunter tell you?” Franc whispered from his lookout perch.


“You will probably find out eventually so I see no need to tell you now.” Shori snapped irritably focused.


“He’s gone.” Franc whispered. Shori stealthily disappeared from his side. Franc waited anxiously for Shori’s return. Shori came out of the front door with Yuuri slung over his shoulder. Shori’s face was grim as he approached Franc.


“We need to get him to Bob’s.” Shori whispered urgently.


“What about Murata?” Franc asked helping to load Yuuri into the vehicle.


“I have to go back for him. Why do you think I made both of us drive?” Shori retorted bandaging Yuuri’s wrists. “Drive fast, he has lost a lot of blood but he should be fine.


“Be careful Shori.” Franc responded climbing into the front seat of the black convertible.


“Take care of Yuuri.” Shori responded gruffly. “Murata may take a while.”


Franc nodded at Shori touching his hand briefly before driving away. Shori watched them go before he turned back to the house. Mentally cracking his knuckles, Shori pulled the leather collar from his pocket. A simple silver locket holding a round oval of black opal twinkled darkly back at Shori.


Putting the collar back in his pocket, Shori sighed. Stealthily he found his way to the room where Murata’s body lay, unconscious. Shori sat on the bed beside the bloody husk that was Murata’s body.


“Murata I know you are in there somewhere.” Shori whispered quietly into Murata’s ear. For a moment, he studied Murata’s body. Murata’s pale and slender frame showed angry red marks, white scar tissue formation and leaking scars. Murata’s chest seemed barely moving as he breathed and his breathing was coming out fainter and fainter. Placing his hand on Murata’s chest, he traced a particularly deep scar across his abdomen.


“Leave my body alone!” A quivering shout rang out from somewhere in the shadows. Shori turned and studied the room. A mass of shadows furthest from the light drew his attention. Slowly Shori sank to the ground beside Murata’s prone bedridden form. Putting his back against the bed Shori looked into the shadows and waited.


“Go away we don’t want you here.” The shadow screamed and seemed to shift.


“So are you that part of Murata that has been suppressed for so long?” Shori asked quietly his eyes watching the shifting and fleeting movements of the shadow.

“Don’t speak of something you know nothing about!” The voice whimpered loudly. “You don’t know what I have had happen to me.”


“I think you need to heal.” Shori spoke slowly slipping the collar out of his pocket and running it through his palms.


“I have disappeared for generations at a time to heal and nothing has worked or changed.” The shadow shrewdly shrieked.


“Being alone is not something that helps the healing of a tortured soul. Especially one as damaged as yours.” Shori retorted slipping the leather collar through his fingers again. The shadow lengthened slowly, approaching his form. Shori watched the shadow move out of the corner of his eye.


“What is your offer?” The shadow moved closer seemingly entranced by the glimmer of the silver and opal.


“I have noticed the torture your body has gone through isn’t healing it. Those who you have approached to heal it have been selfish or ill equipped to deal with the trauma.” Shori paused letting his gaze turn to Murata. Turning to Murata’s body, he sat on his knees. Placing the collar on the bed, he ran a finger across Murata’s face tracing the lines. “You have always looked after others, maybe it is time to let someone else in to look after you.”


“We tried that and look where it got us!” The shadow screamed in Shori’s ear but Shori remained impassive. “We love and receive abuse, hatred and horrors. Why trust you, why let you try were others fail?”


“Hope.” Shori spoke his voice steel. “You have hoped for generations for someone to own you and someone you can own. Let me own you. You know what this collar stands for, the opal representation.”


“No one owns us!” the soul shadow’s voice screeched indignantly.


“Reciprocity.” Shori murmured and the soul shadow seemed to calm. Shori felt a presence seemingly breathing on his face. “If you belong to me I belong to you. You are free to go when you please.”


“Opal represents an ancestor’s presence.” The shadow spoke quietly.


“You forgot the other representations.” Shori countered his finger tracing Murata’s bottom lip. “They also represent hope, happiness and truth. Fitting isn’t it?”

There was a long silence, as the soul piece seemed to think about the words Shori spoke. The shadow quietly weighed the strength of his soul and his presence before finally speaking as though the world was too heavy for its shoulders.


“Put the collar on me and heal my body, only time will tell if you can heal me.” The soul sighed into Shori’s ear before the shadow passed back into his body. A small portion remained outside slipping into a silver and opal signet ring. Shori placed the collar around Murata’s neck and put on his black opal and silver ring. Wrapping the sheet around Murata’s body, Shori picked him up and quickly left. The collar around Murata’s neck glowed faintly as part of Shori’s soul made its way into the opal with a faint sigh escaping from his mouth, Murata’s body relaxed, the first time in a long time.


Review and let me know what you think please. I hope that you enjoyed it and can tell me what you liked if you didn’t like it review and tell me why. Thanks for reading.