Loveless (Book 1) [Completed]

Chapter 49

RESCUE.

"You done fleeing already?" Reino slowly inched forward with small, light steps - almost like a predator that was about to pounce on it's prey. "Such a shame! I do love a good chase, but oh well."

"Wh-Wh-Wh-Why?" Kyoko stuttered hysterically, her voice quivering with trepidation. Her shoulders pressed against the sides of her neck as she continued to shrink against the tree trunk. "Wh-Why me?"

"Don't you remember?" He bent down, leaning close to her until his face was only inches apart from hers. "I already told you. I'll take everything that belongs to Sho Fuwa."

"I don't belong to him or anyone!" Kyoko had intended it to be a shout but it only came out as a hoarse whisper. "Let me go! I don't have anything to do with him!"

"That's not how he sees it though," Reino's pale lips spread into a creepy smirk, sending a chill down Kyoko's back. His face was so close that she cool feel his breath on her cheek. She cocked her head away to the side and retched. Everything about him from his hair to his skin was deadly pale, and it was making her nauseous almost as if he wasn't human.

Kyoko was disgusted by the thought that at some point she had found his ghoulish features attractive. "So what? What he thinks of me doesn't mean anything," she pointed out hopefully.

"I don't care what Fuwa thinks," Reino closed his long fingers around one of Kyoko's wrists and roughly pulled her up. "All I know is that I want you."

Once she was standing straight, he snaked his arm around her stomach and caged her in while maintaining a firm grasp on her wrist. Her back tightly pressed against his chest.

With the exception of the movement of her chest bobbing up and down, Kyoko was frozen. Completely paralyzed, when their skins made contact. Just like last time, and the time before that.

She wanted to wrench away from his touch, to some place where she could be free from the torment of his dark eyes, which were greedily feasting on the sight of every inch of her body. Even with the layers of the thick, dark gown draped around her form, she felt as though she was naked.

"Not gonna fight back, huh?" Reino whispered softly in her ear, as he stood behind her. His breath burned against her skin churning her stomach in revulsion, so much so that her lunch threatened to show up again. "Since you're not running, shall we begin?"

.

.

.

In the same forest, a few paces away, Sho Fuwa was running blindly through the maze of the endless trees. The broken branches creaked and the dry leaves rustled under his shoes as he stomped on them, moving ahead without any sense of direction.

Cupping his hands around his mouth, he yelled as loud as he could manage through his gasping lungs, "Kyoko!"

Besides the fluttering of some crow's wings, which flew away, angrily cawing at him for disrupting their peace, and also the eerie chirping of the crickets, all he received in reply was sullen silence.

"Kyoko!" He called out to her again, louder this time but to no avail. He increased his pace and sprinted ahead.

Is she even here? Sho thought as he pushed his tired body to the limit, ignoring the painful tinge in the sore muscles of his legs, which were begging him to stop. His lungs were threatening to burst, but he ignored them as well, gulping the sweet air of the forest to keep himself going. He didn't care that Kyoko hated him, or that she would never want his help. All he knew was that he wasn't about to leave without making sure she was safe, no matter what it took.