Raging Hearts. Amy Blankenship

demons and especially not his brothers.

      Slowly, so as not to wake her, Toya leaned back on the blanket and laid them both down, pulling the top up over them. He kept a hold on her, keeping her body against his and curled around her in a protective embrace. It was the most comfortable he’d ever been in his life and it only took a minute for him to fall into the first deep sleep he’d had since… forever.

      It was several hours later that Kyoko felt warmth and reached for it. She froze. Slowly, as if afraid to know the truth, she turned her head to the side just as Toya sat up.

      Feeling her stirring he frowned, knowing he should’ve gotten up and away from her hours ago.

      Kyoko gazed at him curiously, trying to see his eyes but his head lowered and his hair fell across them, shielding their expression. He stood up without saying anything and walked into the foliage surrounding their camp.

      Kyoko’s brows lowered in confusion. He slept here with her last night? Then a memory came back to her. She remembered dreaming and Toya… She gasped. It wasn’t a dream. He’d held her last night. She looked down at the blanket that still had his imprint on it. He must’ve fallen asleep beside her. She smiled her secret smile, reaching over and tracing her fingers over the imprint he’d left behind.

      She glanced up as Kamui came into the clearing, "Hi, Kamui. Glad your back." His tussled hair glinted with purple highlights in the morning sun and his eyes shown the most beautiful colors. Those who were close enough to see knew they held multihued glitter within the shining orbs but to Kyoko, it was his smile that made him irresistible.

      Kamui glanced around seeing she was alone and wondered why. "Where is everyone? Are Suki and Shinbe not back yet? And where’s Toya?” Kamui pulled a sack from his shoulder and placed it in front of Kyoko with raised eyebrows.

      "Nope, not yet, but Toya should be back in a few minutes. What do you have here?" Kyoko watched as Kamui started lifting food from the bag.

      "Sennin sent this with me and said to enjoy it since we hardly ever get a really good meal unless you bring it back from your time.” Kamui looked up at her with his big eyes sparkling with an array of colors and beamed at her expression when she spotted the sweets that came with the small feast. "Come on, let’s dig in.” Kamui announced.

      "Well, you’re back early this morning, Kamui,” Toya said lazily as he walked back into the clearing. He glanced at Kyoko with some unreadable emotions reflecting in his golden eyes then quickly looked away.

      Kamui glanced up at Toya. They fought a lot but in truth, Kamui looked up to Toya. He’d changed a lot since spending so much time around Kyoko. In Kamui’s opinion, Kyoko made Toya a better person.

      "Sennin said that the forest to the east has had an uprising of demons terrorizing the area within the last week. There might be talismans involved so we should check it out." The last was said as Kamui stuffed his mouth with a flavorful piece of bread.

      â€œHey, you’re gonna save me some of that, right Kamui?" Toya sat down beside them and started grabbing some of the food for himself.

      Kyoko grinned as she watched them fight over a strawberry rice ball Sennin had sent. The normalness of it didn’t last long though.

      Toya tensed up, catching a scent riding the breeze. "Damn it!" He jumped to his feet as his eyes narrowed. "What the hell does he want?"

      Before Kyoko could ask who, a rush of air blew across the clearing and stopped less than a foot in front of her, knocking Toya off balance. Kyoko found herself staring into the ice blue eyes of Kotaro, one of the five guardians. Much like Kyou, he hunted the talisman alone, searching for clues to where Hyakuhei was hiding.

      He was perfection, with lean muscles and windblown ebony hair that hung down longer in the back and ice blue eyes. He was wearing all black with a purple undershirt showing through. He and Toya couldn’t stand each other but it was mostly because Kotaro had told everyone that Kyoko belonged to him.

      "Good morning, Kyoko," Kotaro said in a soft, masculine voice, taking her hands in his and raising them up in front of him. "How is my future mate this morning?" He gazed deep into her eyes making her blush.

      No matter how many times Kyoko had told him she wasn’t his or anybody else’s, he still called her his future mate with such confidence and charm.

      "Kotaro, damn it! Let go of Kyoko and why don’t you ever watch what you’re doing?” Toya growled at him as he pushed himself off the tree he practically had been shoved into by Kotaro’s guardian winds.

      Kotaro wrinkled his nose not even bothering to look at Toya and just glared in the general direction of his sibling. "I knew I smelled you somewhere," He said insultingly.

      Kamui watched in amazement as Toya bristled and could tell he was getting more pissed off by the second. He slid closer to Kyoko whispering. "Ah, Kyoko, you might want to stop this before it starts." Knowing that Kyoko was the only thing keeping them from tearing each other apart, Kamui took a safe step back from the trio.

      Kyoko knew Kotaro was harmless… well, to her anyway. She took her hands from his… still blushing from the way he was looking at her. She could actually see the love and devotion shining in his ice blue eyes.

      "Kotaro, what brings you this way?" She asked to get his attention off of Toya.

      Kotaro smiled, forgetting Toya at once and answering her question. "I heard there’s trouble in the east area near the forest. I was hoping to find Hyakuhei and kill him for you so you could hurry up and become my mate, my sweet Kyoko." Oh, he did love Kyoko but he also loved rattling Toya's cage.

      Kyoko turned a couple of shades pinker at hearing his words. Her lips parted to say something, but losing her train of thought she simply gave up.

      Toya had heard enough nonsense from the stupid blowhard. Stepping in front of Kyoko to shield her from Kotaro’s view he growled low in his throat, “Back off!” He narrowed his golden eyes and scowled. "We don’t need your help to get rid of Hyakuhei. So why don’t you just try to stay out of our way and leave Kyoko the hell alone?"

      Kotaro acted as if Toya wasn’t even there. In a blur, he moved around Toya to lay a chaste kiss on Kyoko’s cheek. With a wink, he was gone just as fast as he’d appeared.

      Toya balled his fists up at his sides. He was so mad it felt like he was going to explode. Why did everyone all of a sudden want to kiss Kyoko? She was his damn it!

      â€œKotaro, get back here and fight you bastard!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.

      Kyoko turned to Kamui as if nothing had happened. "So, I guess Sennin's information was right."

      Toya gave up and turned around. "Come on, let’s get our stuff together. We can collect Suki and Shinbe on the way. We have to pass by where they are to get to the east forest anyway," He ground out still mad at his lecherous brother for spouting lies about Kyoko. He’d never let Kotaro have her and he couldn’t wait to run into him and beat the crap out of him to let him know it.

      Kyoko knew Toya was jealous of Kotaro. However, the way she saw it, at least Kotaro could tell her his true feelings, where Toya just kept her confused. She bent down and started gathering up the remaining food that they would later share with the others.

      Toya stooped down in front of her waiting on her to climb up on his back. They’d make better time that way and it was the only time he could get away with holding her without anyone raising an eyebrow.

      Kyoko held her breath for a second then let it out slowly not wanting to make it any different from the other times she’d done this… but it was. She wrapped her arms around his chest as his hands when under her knees to hold her tightly against his back. She glanced up at the sky wondering if the fates were having fun yet.

      Kamui silently laughed to himself at Toya’s actions every time someone else tried to get Kyoko’s