Why, in that one crazy moment... Was it really just one? Well, it just happened in any case. The great Bahamut rose from the sea, and I was almost frightened, more like startled, and then I saw my own blood. It had been years since I'd seen it, and the thought was perhaps more frightening than the roar resounding over the oceans.

Then I did something I'd sworn never to do again. I looked back. Zidane was just standing there! His pathetic team standing side by side and the little canary dropped to her knees as she saw her mother's defeat at my hands. But instead of being proud, the only thing I could think of were those ever-widening blue eyes. A question shot through my beautiful brain that I was surprised to even find lurking there. "Zidane..."

Without even noticing my irrational decision I was commanding my silver dragon around to sweep up the battling thief off of his perch. He was screaming at me, close to histrionic, and writhing where I had him lain across my lap like a child receiving punishment. That created a pleasant little image before me, but being as fleeing and fucking hardly mixed, I felt it necessary to still him with sleep. There would be plenty of time for those to become reality later...

~

Zidane awoke the following morning with the sun prying his eyelids inside out and over the back of his head. Okay, so not really, but that's what it felt like. The last time he'd awoken so unpleasantly was after Baku had challenged him to a drinking match and lost. At least his stomach wasn't doing flips out of his throat.

Then he looked at what was weighing down the other end of the mattress. Yes, even through his watery and hazed eyes, Zidane could make out a blue feather of hair. He'd always wondered which it was exactly, and was now cursing his curiosity as he reached out a trembling hand to graze it lightly. And he still couldn't tell! That irritated him to no end, so with the smallest of movements Zidane leaned closer to inspect it.

Now, one might think Zidane should be feeling a range of emotions other than just curiosity. He should be scared, or angry, or worried, and undoubtedly confused. Because here he was, stark naked (as he was only now realizing) in a bed with THE most dangerous villain known to the Mist Content (whom was also at a lack for clothing), God knows where, with absolutely NO clue of what had become of his friends. Yet, Zidane's entire attention was absorbed in two finely shaped locks of hair. In fact, he was so absorbed in this that he failed to notice another pair of eyes slowly opening and turning towards him.

Zidane reached out to carefully touch the twin formations again, but a swift and agile hand came up to catch his wrist in soft vice. He couldn't hold back the gasp that slipped from between his lips as he was snapped back into reality.

Kuja clucked his tongue in admonishment, pulling a shocked Zidane close to him, relishing in the feeling of his tail flicking over his calves. "Surprised? You should be. I am. I'm not quite sure why I thought you entertaining enough to take." He paused, waiting for a reaction from his captive, who wasn't even struggling, and after a few moments of silence and blinking, Kuja pressed his lips lightly against Zidane's hopping that at least that would draw some rebuke.

It did, to some extent, at least. Zidane melted into the broadly muscled bare body halfway beneath him, although he hadn't a clue why. It must have been the slow burning feeling that was radiating from their points of connection, because his tail, which is where it last spread to, wrapped around Kuja's thigh and squeezed in contentment. Alright, alright, more like massaged it's contentment, but it was more or less an unconscious movement. Then, quite unexpectedly, the action was reciprocated.

Yes, upon looking down at his own thigh, Zidane affirmed it. Kuja not only had a tail, but also one, which was working it's way up towards his groin. Another surprise was there, as well. He was hard; hard as a rock. It was the most tense Zidane could ever remember feeling his cock. Oh wait, if you would, excuse me and allow correction. Two surprises. Kuja was also very hard and grinding softly against his unoccupied thigh. He couldn't help but make a small gasp in surprise.

Kuja pulled away for a moment to smile up at him, breaking their kiss and reaching down to cup his shaft. He flipped them over before Zidane could even register his first action. "This is perhaps why I kept you, yes?" Kuja asked, slinging Zidane's legs up on his shoulders.

"Where? Where are we?" He asked, feeling slightly disoriented from being moved too quickly too early in the morning. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered he wasn't upset at what Kuja was doing or how he was positioning him. It all seemed vaguely natural, the blue-haired villain already oozing so much sexuality. Just looking at him made one unconsciously think of sex.

"Would you like to see, darling? We have such a lovely view from the balcony." Reaching down to tickle the area of skin between Zidane's navel and groin, Kuja giggled cheerily.

-

Sand. What kind of person considered a desert to be a lovely view? Well, one that was used to and enjoyed isolation, I would assume. One such as Kuja. A palace here, in the middle of the desert? How very, very obscure, like one beautiful seashell lying on a ruined shore. It was probably considered the most tasteful arcitecture in the world, but Zidane didn't like it. He needed to be around people. Lots of busling people going about whatever it was that they were doing that day, and then tomorrow it was another scene entirely, but with the same theme. An ever-changing stream, constantly flowing with shiny and prescious things. This place was desolate in it's beauty, absolutely lonely.

"You don't like it, Zidane?" Kuja asked, noticing the other's frown.

"Where are all the people? There's not even a town around here! I still don't understand where we are."

"The desert. My palace. Your home. ...At least until I get bored with you. Why? You can't honestly say you miss those bustling, loud, unfriendly, unclean streets, can you?" Kuja let his hand wander exploringly over Zidane's bare shoulders, gazing with mixed feelings at the scenery. "I do know what you mean, though. I also have a home in Treno, I believe you've fought my pets there before?"

Not knowing much else to say, Zidane nodded, remembering the place. "I never had a place I was from, but they gave me a home. I never had parents or siblings that I'd seen, and they were my family, and though most times we stole for food, we only stole from the rich. I only know where I belong, when the world didn't seem to want me."

Kuja turned and leaned on the delicate and ornate iron railing, watching the movement tossing on the floor. "Two worlds didn't want me."

Zidane felt something brush his bare skin, at first mistaking it for his own tail, but looking down to find another. It was soft, delicate, white, and perfectly shaped and trimed. ...And it was Kuja's. He stumbled back into the bedroom, confused and disoriented making it as far as the bed before Kuja muttered a spell to put him to sleep again.

-

There was a thick and heavy smell lingering in the air throughout the bedroom that Zidane lay in. Had the bed not been so soft, and the sounds around him so quiet, he might�ve thought he were home in Lindblum. Of course this could not be the case, and as he opened his eyes he stared very dismayed at the ceiling he had looked upon curiously only hours earlier. This time however, the ceiling held a bitter kind of significance, one that taunted him with his imprisonment, gentle as it may have been so far. Thoughts lingered in the back of his mind that upset him a little, like that he may never see his brothers of Tantalus again, or what Kuja may have planned for him, certainly something more than company...

Zidane rolled over onto his side and face the wall, only to see a small tray set on a table that was laden with steaming food. His eyes and mouth watered, for he had been living in the desert for days now, and though Eiko had cooked the first night, there had been many since Maiden Sari. He was very tired of sand in his rations, of catching and roasting small animals, and of cautiously discerning the nutritional values of fruits and leaves in the wild. There was still something that forced him to hesitate before reaching for the tray, though, like an instinct reminding him of whose possession he was in.

�You�re not hungry? Or would you prefer something else? I could put sand in it to give it a more familiar taste, maybe?� Kuja sat on the other side of the bed, apparently having been there for a long time, and laughed with a small silvery chuckle. He reached a delicate hand out to play with Zidane�s tail, but the other boy swiped it away irritably and sat up, wiping the unnatural sleep from his eyes. Kuja watched silently, hiding his own tail out of habit, and lowered his eyes to give Zidane a coy look. �I didn�t know how you wanted your eggs, darling, so I made one of each kind.� He laughed again, a bit quieter this time.

Zidane sat up and shifted away from him, unnerved at his flirtatiousness. �I... don�t really like eggs.� He said at last, but still took the tray and set it into his lap, using his fingers to pick up small pieces of the different delicacies and nibble them.

�Oh...� Was all he said in response, turning around and flopping down on his back in front of Zidane with a sly grin. �Well, maybe you�ll like MY eggs, I�m an excellent cook.�

Grumpy from oversleeping, Zidane shifted away again, but continued to eat. �Yeah, I think I got that from earlier...� He missed his friends, they were his support so that he could keep up his tireless cheery attitude, but thinking of Vivi in particular his mood became more somber still.

Kuja sighed, placing a pouting frown over his smile in mockery of Zidane�s face. �I�m flattered that you remember, but you don�t have to get so sad over a simple puppet. He was only a prototype, just a fluke, so stop you�re moping.�

Zidane stopped chewing in disgust and put the tray to the side again. He rose in an angry huff from the bed and stalked towards the door, immediately walking into a transparent barrier and falling back onto the floor. He became more irritated and turned back to Kuja, who couldn�t seem to stop giggling. �Why are you so set to make me miserable? First, you have to destroy all of their lives-�

�Hey, I didn�t do anything to the Gourmond, the girl with the horn, or the man with the tacky beard! As for the canary and the puppet... you just happen to have poor luck with choosing your companions.�

�-Then you have to kidnap me during the distraction of Queen Brahne�s murder! Tell me, Kuja, what is it that you want with me? Why are you keeping me in this isolated prison? Damn it, tell me, Kuja!� His face was red from shouting and he had risen from the floor. Zidane�s fists were balled at his sides and he was still more annoyed that he had no clothes.

(TBC...)

Back