Destiny's Fool

Author's Notes: Um... it gets a bit rape-y. But nothing graphic.

Thanks for all the sweet comments. You guys rock.

~:~:~:~:~


"You don't feel the slightest bit guilty...?"

"No."

"You look guilty."

"No, I don't. Shut up."

Kit was huddled into a blanket near their fire the next morning, pouting in Jinn's general direction. Besides a fairly nasty bruise across his stomach, he seemed okay.

Jinn sat a ways from him, his arms folded in front of him in blatant refusal. Desert Rose sat opposite, cleaning her blade, occasionally inserting her comments.

"He's been gone all night, Jinn!" Kit whined, "And you guys need to talk!"

"I won't talk to that... that... furball!" Jinn refused to look into Kit's eyes, which seemed to grow wider and glisten every time Jinn told him no.

"Original," Rose commented, receiving a deadly glare from Jinn.

"Look, he started it!" Jinn growled at both of them.

"He was mistaken about your position, which was on top of the Little One while he was screaming at you to stop," Desert Rose pointed out as she polished away a dull spot on her otherwise glistening scythe.

Kit blushed at the memory and Jinn blushed at the way Rose had made it sound.

"I wasn't... I mean... I stopped, but he had to throw a huge fit about it!" Jinn shouted helplessly.

"But you had to admit it looked bad..." Kit squeaked, ducking into his blanket as he continued to blush.

"... It would've been better if you just hadn't started screaming bloody murder," Jinn said, glaring at him flatly. Unbeknownst to him, his tail was starting to tick back and forth in agitation.

"Sorry! I didn't know what was going on!" Kit wailed, close to tears.

"Ah, damnit..." Jinn sighed, "Look, don't cry, okay?"

"Go find him and apologize, or I will!" Kit threatened.

Jinn paused and suddenly smiled. "What kinda threat is that?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Kit suddenly gave a tearful wail, which made Jinn jump. Rose just nonchalantly continued her work.

"Hey, that's..." Jinn blinked, scooting away from Kit, as if in fear. "That won't work! I know you're faking it!" Jinn waiting for a response but Kit only cried louder, rubbing his eyes childishly. "Would you stop...?! I'm not... I won't... DAMNIT! FINE!!!"

Kit stopped and sniffled a couple of times before smiling. "Thank you!"

"Yeah, yeah," Jinn huffed, standing up and stomping the way he'd last seen Branret take off, "Pushy little kid, I hope you sink in the sand..."

Kit smiled contently as Jinn disappeared over a dune, snuggling into his blanket.

"The Little One has a few tactics that we didn't know about," Rose commented lightly.

Kit blinked and smiled. "Well... I don't know what it is, but both he and Branret seem to respond to my emotions," Kit replied, "So I figured if it would help everyone get along, I can use it to my advantage occasionally."

"You don't know why they respond to you?" Rose asked, raising an eyebrow, "Even after last night?"

Kit blinked. "... No."

Desert Rose continued to stare, as if to see if he was lying, before polishing the last of her scythe. "You really don't know?" she asked.

Kit shook his head, leaning forward as Desert Rose put away her weapon and placed her hands together, as though she was about to launch into an explanation. She closed her eyes, as though trying to find the perfect way to word the situation.

"Mmm, well then..." she said, "... I won't tell you."

Kit nearly fell over from leaning so far forward. "Whaaaat?!" he cried, "Why??"

"Not my place," she said, never opening her eyes.

"Rose!" Kit whined, crawling over to her, tugging on her shirt gently, "Pleeeeaaase?"

"Those tactics don't work with me," she said impassively.

"Rooooooose!" Kit begged, staring at her from the tops of his eyes.

"I'll make breakfast," she said, completely unperturbed.

Kit pouted as he watched her pull out some supplies and get started on a breakfast.

~:~

"Stupid fuzzy jerk, running off and making me look for him. Stupid blonde whiny kid, begging me to look for him. What am I, clean up crew?" Jinn paused and huffed, then looked at the sand in the general direction that Branret had run off to. His footprints where a little snuffed but traceable.

Trusting that Rose could take care of Kit, Jinn continued to follow the tracks.

~:~

Ever since Branret had been very small, he remembered having problems doing the right thing. He was the one who always thought he had done the right thing, but in the end, it ended up being a mistake.

Sometimes there's no helping that. He'd take a chance and make a mistake. Often times, he'd refuse to act out in fear of another mistake, until his teacher told him something.

"Branret, are you alive?" he'd asked the cub.

"Yes..." Branret had replied.

"Are you close to dying?" he asked.

"No..." Branret had replied.

"Is anyone else dead or dying?" he asked.

"No..." Branret once again replied.

"Then you can afford a few more mistakes in your youth."

The problem with mistakes, he'd told Branret, is that people think their bad. On the contrary, his beloved teacher thought they were wonderful, so long as no one got hurt. He referred to them as the ultimate teachers. And by learning to love your mistakes, you learned to learn from your mistakes.

Branret had never really been able to love it when he messed up or made a bad decision. However, he was less afraid to make split decisions.

Until...

Until his home had been mercilessly burned down and he had been left alone.

Branret lay in the sand, his arm thrown over his head, stiff and shivering, thinking of fire. The smell of the smoke, the wood and the bodies. Fascinating was the mixture...

And like a coward, he’d run as fast as he could. While his family, his friends, his teacher… while they all fought or suffered, he’d run away.

“If it isn’t a stray cat with no collar…”

Branret slowly turned to see who had spoken, then gasped and tried to sit up. However, before he could react, he was flattened on his back and pinned to the sand.

Dalune gripped both of Branret’s wrists tightly, smirking.

“I’ve always loved the strays,” he whispered softly.

Branret stared up at him, his eyes a little wide, his expression fearful.

“Get off me,” he said hoarsely.

“Make me,” Dalune said, “I saw your little camp, but you weren’t there. That made me very sad. So I thought I’d come find you.”

“Get off,” Branret said, tense all over.

“Relax,” Dalune said with a sick smile, “It’ll all be over soon…” He said, leaning forward and kissing Branret’s collar bone softly. “That is… until I do it again.”

Branret squeezed his eyes shut as Dalune cast a spell, pinning Branret to the ground without having to keep hold of him, allowing his hands to roughly grip Branret’s hips. The Katze’s heartbeat picked up several beats as he weakly tried to fight.

“I’ll bet your noisy,” Dalune mused as he backed up slightly, gripping either of Branret’s knees and suddenly shoving them apart. Branret gave a small startled cry, feeling helpless and afraid. Dalune chuckled at this, forcing his body between Branret’s legs, forcing them to stay open.

“No…” Branret shook his head fiercely, struggling, “Stop! Get off!”

Dalune simply smiled as he roughly kissed the Katze. Branret tried to fight him off, but Dalune’s hand tightly gripped his chin, holding his head in place. Unable to do anything else, Branret just closed his eyes…

“That’s a good boy,” Dalune said, slipping his hands towards Branret’s pants, pushing them off his hips.

Knowing nothing else to do, Branret screamed loudly, hoping that someone would hear him. Dalune just laughed.

“Geez, I knew you seemed like a perverted kind of guy,” they both heard. They turned and saw Jinn standing nearby, his arms folded, his face betraying the joking sound of his voice by being serious and cold.

“Oh, it’s the elf,” smirked Dalune, “If you’ll excuse me, elf, I was about to indulge myself.” With that, he pushed up Branret’s shirt and slowly licked up his stomach. Branret gave a small frightened cry, trying to wiggle away.

“I’m afraid I’ll have to stop you there,” Jinn said, “As much as he pissed me off, I still probably should bring him back untraumatized.”

“And ruin my fun?” Dalune said with a sigh, “How rude…” He shoved Branret’s shirt up and away from his chest, moving slowly upwards, kissing the center of his chest. Branret squirmed helplessly.

“Jinn…” Branret whispered, near panic, “Please, don’t let him… please…”

Jinn frowned, not having expected such fearful behavior from Branret, more concerned now. However, he was unsure what to do. With Dalune having Branret in such a vulnerable position, it seemed very risky to just charge in. Especially since Dalune didn’t seem the type that would panic at a sudden attack.

“Why don’t you just go away, elf?” Dalune said, leaning up and looking Branret in the eyes, sliding his hands over the Katze’s chest, causing him to bite his lower lip and close his eyes.

“Can’t,” Jinn said, “And stop it. Now. You should at least win before you take the prize.”

Dalune said nothing, just roughly ran his nails down Branret’s sides, leaving a trail of bloody beads.

“I said stop!” Jinn said, suddenly afraid for Branret.

“In a moment…” Dalune said sickly, his fingernails viciously sinking into Branret’s back, causing him to instinctively arch his back, Dalune taking advantage by kissing his exposed abdomen.

“I said stop it!” Jinn shouted and without thinking, charged the vice-commander, tackling him and knocking him off of Branret. Dalune growled and tried to gain the top position, but Jinn slammed his back to the ground, then proceeded to rear a fist back, punching him hard in the face.

Dalune shoved Jinn and managed to move away, standing, but quickly disappeared, leaving Jinn to look around for him, only to realize he was totally gone.

After a moment, he turned to Branret.

The Katze boy lay limply on his back, his hands still pinned above his head, his eyes somewhat blank, and yet, moist with emotion.

Jinn carefully walked over and reached up to break the bonds on his hands, while he started adjusting Branret’s clothing, more for his own comfort than Branret’s.

As soon as Branret was free, he took over in covering himself, hugging himself tightly, near tears, staring off into the distance blankly.

Jinn sighed. “You’re only a kid after all,” Jinn said.

“Sh-shut up,” Branret said, desperately holding back tears. He was humiliated, violated and bleeding. It was more than he could stand.

“I wouldn’t blame you, you know,” Jinn said, sitting down next to him and staring up at the stars, “If you cried…?”

“Shut up!” Branret shouted, hugging himself tighter.

Jinn fell silent, figuring he should oblige under the circumstances. Branret just sat there for a long time, his arms wrapped around himself tightly, trying to stop unbidden tears that ran down his face.

“Maybe you should talk about it…” Jinn said.

“Shut up! Shut up! This is your fault!” Branret shouted.

“It’s scary huh?” Jinn said, “To be helpless to someone? At least he didn’t get all that far. It’s the most humiliating thing in the world when your body is responding to something you just don’t want. You’re scared and forced to perform an act of intimacy with someone you hate. Or worse. Someone you trusted.”

Branret was calming down some, not responding, just listening, seeming to realize that in his panic, he’d forgotten it could have been a lot worse.

“Let’s just say, I know how you feel,” Jinn said, standing. He offered his hand to Branret, who stared up at him, furiously wiping at tears, ashamed of them.

“What… What happened?” he asked instead of standing.

“I don’t really remember,” Jinn shrugged, “I repressed those memories and had a best friend who was there heart and soul for me. So as far as I can tell, it doesn’t matter what happened. It happened and I’m over it. It’s time for you to try and get passed it too.”

“Why did you try to do it to Kit…?” Branret asked softly.

“I didn’t…” Jinn sighed, “I just pulled the moves on him and he didn’t know what to do with them.”

Branret snorted.

“Come on, Kit’s waiting.”

Branret stood. “This doesn’t mean I like you.”

“Likewise,” Jinn grinned before heading back to camp.