An Unlikely Pair [Private]

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna listened as the King and Kais discussed whether or not the King would grant their request. The King had briefly turned to her and said under the same conditions, that she would be allowed to have her father walk her down the aisle. The King also asked if she had any friend in which she wanted to stand in as her Maid of Honor. Arianna shook her head sadly. "I've lived a relatively sheltered life, and most of it learning the tools of the trade. Sadly, I haven't made any female friends, and even male friends are more business aquaintances. Besides a male friend would not likely be appropriate when I am marry someone." She thanked the King.

As the King continued to talk, she heard him say he was going to lash Kais. Before she thought it through, she slammed back from the table, knocking her chair over as she stood. "NO! Don't use the lash on him!" Arianna remembered when she had went to a child and had seen a man lashed to death. She had had nightmares for years. Lashing was a horrible way to punish someone. "Please don't! I won't fight or complain about anything else, but don't lash him, please!" she begged, her eyes pleading in all honesty with the King. The King was taken aback that Arianna was sticking her neck out for Kais.

But he did not relent. "You both acted up last night, and you both will be punished. You have already received your punishment." He pointed to the nasty bruise on her cheeck. "Back off if you don't want to be punished more." Arianna was scared of what the king would do to her, but she was more afraid of the lashes that Kais was to receive. "Then let me be punished instead. Lock me up, hit me again, but please don't use the lash on him." The king looked at her angrily. "And why would you wish to take his punishment?"

Arianna knew Kais would probably be furious about her stepping in, but she had to. "Please, I'll do anything." She begged, and there was a terrified look in her eyes. The King saw the look and relented a little, but he couldn't just let them off the hook, so he said. "If you wish to take his punishment, you will be locked up 1 hour for every lash, totaling 15 hours. No food, no water, no contact. If you complain, Kais' lashes are doubled. Do you understand and agree?" Arianna didn't like the idea, but the idea of him getting lashed terrified her so much, that she nodded. The King knew Kais would stop it. He would never let a girl or anyone take his punishment.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais was wide eyed at the fast jump Arianna took to try and take his punishment for him. He was appauled for the most part. 'Why would she want to take my punishment for me?' He asked himself in his mind before shaking his head. This girl clearly had some crazy going on inside of her head. She had no real friends to be her maid of honor, and she was offering to take the punishment of a man she was suppose to hate.

"No!" he yelled to her, sounding angry at this point. "Whatever makes you want to do this take it out of your head right now!" He was sounding commanding, and in reality he had no right too speak to her in that way, bu the King did not interject.. He waved his finger at her. "You recieved your punishment, I need to receive mine." He took in a deep breath to keep himself composed at the moment.

He had no feelings for her, but he needed to make the King think that he was putting some sort of effort into this 'relationship'. "I will not allow a lady to take the punishments of a man. I will take this honorably, should you take this for me I will be shamed and my honor tarnished." In all honest his family would applaud him for letting her take his punishment. "I have little honor left in my families eyes, let me take this to keep it." His eyes were pleading to her.

The King nodded. 'It is Kais' right to accept his punishment. It shall be in two hours. Arianna, you must be in attendance." The King said as the food was now brought. "Now let us enjoy this meal before we get to the next part." The King said with a blank expression, he apparently thought of the two of them as children, Kais though knew he would take this punishment like a man. Though his mind still wondered why she would ever try and take this for him?  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna's eyes looked at them both, full of terror. The King and Kais refused to listen to her, and worse, were making her watch. "Please don't," she wispered and just played with the food on her plate. She knew whatever she ate now would just be vomitted up later. She just prayed the nightmares were not as bad this time around and wondered if she would even be able to watch without doing something irrational. Before being excused, she apologized to the servants, and just stood up and left. The King went to stop her, but for the first time, she snarled at him, "I'll be there." and stormed out of the room.

She locked herself in her room until a servant came to escort her to the whipping post which was outside in the courtyard. She paled as she saw it, and knew it would be even worse when they force Kais there and gave him the 15 lashes. She was escorted to a front seat, but she refused to sit, she couldn't relax enough to sit, and paced a little back and forth, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her up. She completely forgot that Kais' was supposed to be her enemy, and all she could do was keep her eyes peeled to the whipping post and pray for a miracle.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais was not sure why she seemed so afraid. Arianna was quiet for a moment and he watched her curiously. He was beginning to think that maybe Lovettes did have hearts somewhere down deep in their soul eating bodies. Kais though tried to shake the thought out of his head as he began to eat. She soon got up though and stormed out, snarling at the King. Kais never knew a moment where he was more attracted to a girl then at that very moment. He soon though realized who she was again and pushed the thought to the back of his mind.

Breakfast was quite from that point for the most part. He soon went up to his room and drank some of the liquor on his desk, hoping it would dull some of the pain a bit. Before he could drink enough of it to be drunk though, they called him to get ready. Removing his shirt, and showing the vast muscles he received from working in the quarries, he stepped out of the room, and down to his punishment.

He was walked to the whipping post, and he looked over at Arianna as he walked. His look to her was not of anger, not of love, not of neutrality either. His look was one of companionship, she and he were the one's who were in a very terrible situation. Although she was a Lovette, and although they were being forced to marry, somehow Kais was coming to tolerate her. His expression showed as much as he walked by.

They tied him to the post, arms above his head. Then they gave him a rolled up piece of leather to bite on so he would not risk biting off his tongue. He bit it in preparation of the first whip. He promised himself he would not scream, and he would show no fear in this punishment. He did not want to give the King any sort of pleasure in this. They announced him in the courtyard, and that he would receive, fifteen lashes.

"ONE" A man yelled as a swoosh came and the first lash. The pain was stinging, and it hit him up in the shoulder blades. He arched his back slightly but made no noise, the pain washing away quickly enough.

With every whip, he felt more pain though, as some of the lashes overlapped previous ones, and he soon was gripping the ropes tightly. He could not imagine what his back looked like right now, but he was more concerned with not making any noises. He listened to the count, and made his own in his head. "FIVE"......"TEN."......"THIRTEEN."

Soon the fourteenth came in, and he felt no pain because his body was already numb. He still made no noise though as he was whipped, but his body likely showed signs of pain. He could feel blood leaving the wounds before he had numbed up, and he soon loosed his grip and slid down the poll slightly, nearly passing out as well after the eleventh whip. They seemed to distance themseleves as they got closer to the goal.

He soon though waited for the final whip. "FIFTEEN." He heard the man shout, and waited for the final impact.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna bit her lip as they tied Kais to the pole and she covered her mouth as the first lash connected, doing her best not to vomit. She kept her eyes on his, unable to look away, afraid to look away. Tears started pouring down her face by the third lash. She didn't want this for him, and it was partly her fault he was being punished. If she hadn't been in his room last night, he wouldn't have been angry and may have been able to talk to the King normally. Arianna paled as each lash made contact, the sound ringing in her ears. She knew she would have nightmares again, but she couldn't look away. She let out a small whimper when he sagged around the eleventh stroke.

And then the blood started pouring out of the welts in his back and she couldn't stop herself. She moved before she could even think, and she heard the man yell 15, only giving her time to put her arms out in defense. The man, having put all his energy into the last stroke, wanting it to hurt as a reminder, didn't have time to pull back the whip, and as it connected with the flesh of her arms, it tore threw some of her fragile skin, her blood mixing with Kais' on the whip. She bit her lip to keep from crying out in pain, causing it too to bleed. "Please, no more," she whispered, a quiet plea, that only the whip man, the King, and Kais could here.

She was barely standing on her legs, trembling from the impact and what had just transpired. Her brain was just starting to register that she had taken the final hit, and that her arms were bleeding. All she could think about though was that Kais was going to be really mad at her, and she gave an ironic smile as her legs gave out and she sank to the ground, her eyes pleading with tears staining her face at the whip man and the King.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais waited for the impact that never came. He wondered at first if it had come and he just was so numb he could not feel it. In the end though that seemed like a foolish idea. He soon heard Arianna speak though, and it sounded like she was behind him. He turned his head, pain shooting up his back at the movement, and he saw he standing between him and the punisher.

"NO!" He yelled, though it was muffled by the leather in this mouth. He felt the tears that were in his eyes from the pain, drop slowly from his face. He was not weeping for her as much as he was angry at the punisher. "NO!" He yelled again, pulling at the bonds that held him to the post. He spit out the leather and rested his forehead against the post. "HIT ME AGAIN!" He yelled, waiting for the final whip. "HIT ME AGAIN!" He needed this, he needed for his honor to remain in tact. "GET HER OUT OF THE WAY AND HIT ME!" He was furious, but not at her. He was furious at the King again.

He heard some shuffling and he assumed the guards were coming to take her away but instead they untied his bonds. He fought and kicked at them as they tried to release him ."NO I AM NOT DONE!" His full fury had arisen through his pain, and he was shaking the wooden poll where is stood. Tears were streaming down his face as he felt himself losing the fight with his will. "NO....please....." He was pleading now.

He turned though, and saw the King standing with the other people watching. "SEE WHAT YOU HAVE DONE!" He yelled, making it seem like he was yelling to the heavens, but he was yelling to the King. "DO YOU FINALLY SEE WHAT YOU HAVE CAUSED?!" He felt himself being pulled from the post, and he struggled to get free. He did, and ran to the punisher.

Somehow Kais found his strength in that moment, and more importantly his hand found the face of the man holding the whip. "NEVER HIT A WOMAN!" He growled as they men ran back to him as he stood over the man he now hit to the ground. He struggled again but all his strength had been given to that punch. He wanted to be put on the post again, but the King shouted for him to see medical aid, and to have someone come look at Arianna.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna watched as Kais freaked out, yelling to hit him again. She thought he was mad at her, and she looked down at the ground, still partly in shock over everything that had happened. She was trembling, the pain starting to seep into her, and she let out an almost in audible whimper. She didn't care though, she was just glad that they stopped whipping him. She tried to push herself up, but couldn't, her arms too shaking and weak to hold her up, and the pressure only made them bleed more heavily. She thought it ironic that her skin was so weak that a single lash had torn through it. But it didn't matter, Kais was still alive, and he seemed to have enough energy that she knew he wasn't in immediate danger. He wasn't going to die like the man on the post. He was safe. She could deal with his anger at her later.

"Never hit a woman!" caused Arianna to look up and see Kais hitting the whipping man, and her eyes widened. He was defending her. But why? It was hurt fault, not the whipping man's that she was in the way of the final lash. Someone came over to look at her, and she whimpered as they grabbed her arm. "Please don't touch me," she begged, but the person just went and dragged her up, cause Arianna to bite her lip in pain again, which caused her to wince, as she had already bloodied it.

The king approached her, and she snarled "Stay away from me!" She didn't care if she was punished, it was his fault that Kais had been whipped. The King smiled kindly at her. "Well, it looks like I was right. You two will make a good couple after all." Then in an even lower voice, "Despite being enemies, you two both seem to protect the other. I was right in choosing you two to end this feud." Arianna stared at him weakly, rapidly losing the energy to fight, suddenly feeling sick. Strong arms wrapping themselves around her was the last thing she remembered before the pain ended and oblivion took her.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais was fighting with every fiber of his being, and soon passed out within the arms of the guards, and he felt the pain in his back cease for but a moment. He slept well at least, but soon woke up to the pain that was reality. His back was screaming in pain, and he was lying face down on a bed in his room.

He saw someone who looked like a Doctor sitting next to him in the bed, and behind him the King stood looking very pleased. "Well, how do you feel?" The King asked him with crossed arms. Kais found it difficult to speak through the sudden pain of waking up. "Like Hell." He responded. "Well it is nice to see you have come to take a liking to Arianna." The King stated.

Kais wanted to object, just say she had ruined his honor, but the King took none of it. They stood there for a moment, and the Doctor put some cream on his back before the two left the room, leaving Kais to his thoughts. He was indeed mad at the punisher for hitting Arianna, but he did not know why he had hit him. He still harbored no known feelings for the girl. The big question to him though was wondering why the hell she was trying to save him? Did she have feelings for him? He lied there on his stomach looking at the wall at the side of his room.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna woke up whimpering, nightmare's assaulting her though she could not remember what they were. Her arms were burning, but she could feel someone applying a salve that cooled her arms down, and they wrapped them up in bandages afterwards. It looked like a doctor, and she gave him a small smile in thanks, not understanding everything. Why did she faint? She should have been able to handle the pain. She looked at the doctor. "What happened? Why did I faint?" She remembered that she had bitten her lip hard earlier, and that it was swollen and cut, hurting when she talked. The doctor gave her a smile. "Glad to see that you are finally awake. And my guess is you fainted from the relief of all the stress. You didn't do so well at the whipping and then added the stress of getting involved." All the color drained from Arianna's face as she struggled to sit up at the mention of the whipping. The doctor pushed her back down.

"Let me go. I have to make sure Kais is okay. He can't die, he can't." She said, panicked and struggling against the doctor. "Calm down, Miss Arianna. Calm down. Kais is fine, I treated him first. His back is going to hurt for a while but he will be fine." The doctor wondered if her unconcious unrest had also been due to the whipping. She had a strong negative impact from any thought of it, and wasn't settling. He wondered if she had seen someone beaten to death. She was only 19, so she would have been pretty young, and that could emotionally scar someone. She was still trying to get up. She was weak, and should be resting, but he knew that unless he drugged her at this point, she was going to fight him to check on the other patient. Sighing, he released her, saying, "Look, I will take you to see him, but if he is asleep, you are returning to bed. And you will listen to me afterwards, ok?" Arianna nodded, the panic settling in her eyes.

The doctor helped her stand, and slowly led his patient to the other patient's room. He knocked quietly, hearing someone say come in, he opened the door a bit, and said to Kais, "Miss Arianna insisted on coming here to check on you with her own eyes." But before he could sheild Arianna from the pain of Kais' back, she slipped passed him, and walked unsteadily over to him, her face paling again, and the doctor was afraid she was going to collapse. He grabbed a nearby chair and put in near Kais' bed where she would be looking at his face, not back, and forced her to sit down. Thankfully she didn't fight him on it and looked up at him, pleading, "Give me a few minutes, please?" She asked and the doctor nodded and left.

She looked at Kais for a few moments, then looked down at her lap. Her bandaged arms rested on her legs, as she whispered, "I'm sorry." She spoke slowly, trying to keep her lip from hurting more, as she didn't want to reopen the cut. She wasn't sure what she was apologizing for, most likely everything. Having to marry her, angering him where he flips out on the king, taking the final blow and hurting his pride, she had a lot to apologize for.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais was for the most part having a very difficult time finding a comfortable position. He obviously would not be able to lie down on his back for what would likely be over a week. The cream the doctor put on his back helped significantly lower the pain threshold, but other than that he assumed there was really little to be done to ease his suffering.

For the most part though his honor was in tact. He want so badly to just sleep off the pain, but unfortunately medicinal drugs were not an advanced part of their current society. Kais sighed though as he soon heard the door open. The Doctor spoke, and soon he saw him and Arianna walk into the room.

Kais had mixed emotions about this entrance. In one hand he was furious at Arianna for trying to take the pain from him, on the other she had done a very good job at likely convincing the king they actually cared for each other. He was ready for the fifteenth whip though, and he was still mad that she did not let him take the full punishment.

When she apologized he pushed himself up and tried to sit up on the bed. His back shot with pain, and he grunted as he put himself into that position, but he was sitting before he knew it. He cracked his knuckles and felt relieved that he was able to have some sort of mobility. His face though was not one of relaxation, it was one of frustration.

"What in the Hell were you ******** thinking back there." He said to her pointedly. "You did exactly what I did not want you to do. You attempted to take away my honor!" He was not yelling per-say but his voice was definitely raised. "I am not a child! I can take some pain you know!" He pointed his finger at her. "Never do that again, if we are too escape we need at lease one of us in perfectly good health. He did this to me because he thinks it will weaken me enough so that I must stay for the wedding." He shook his head and rubbed his eyes a bit. "If at least one of us escapes it will delay the wedding, that will give our parents enough time to object."  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna looked up as he began to tell her off for jumping in. As he talked about how she shouldn't have done it and all that, she just sat there and glared at him. When he finally stopped talking, she said, "I'm not sorry for jumping in, though I hadn't meant to. I can't watch someone possibly be whipped to death. Not again." Arianna realized what she had said and shut up for a few moments, shifting to glare at the wall. She hated the King for what he had made them both go through, and she wished that this day would just end.

Arianna took a deep breath, before turning back to face him, not wanting to fight with him when both of them were tired. "I am sorry if my actions hurt your honor in some way. I did not mean to do what I did, but I do not regret it either." She looked at her bandaged arms, they stung a little, but hopefully wouldn't scar since they were clean cuts. She would have to be careful in the next few days not to irritate her arms and keep the salve that the doctor had given her on fresh. She looked back at him and asked hesitantly, "How are you doing, anyway?"

She sighed as she thought about what he was saying. He still did not want this marriage to her, but she realized despite their families being mortal enemies, she had nothing against him. It was a pity he wasn't from another family, her father might have liked him, well minus the loud temper of course. But despite all his 'bark,' he had never even tried to 'bite' her and she respected that, knowing that this was not the first, nor would it be the last time she made him angry. She smiled, the thought amused her for some reason.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais came from a family that was said to have had their blood built in the foundations of the earth. His family loved doing physical labor, and due to that was a large reason they gained the amount of wealth that they received. This was only the men in the family though. The women were traditionally as lady-like as you could possibly get, though they sometimes tended to have a stubborn side.

Arianna in on case reminded him of his mother. She seemed to have a strong will, and was too stubborn to listen. Despite being an Avalon, Kais knew he likely got his stubborn personality from his mother, at least that is what his father use to say to him when he was working in the quarries. He wondered if the scars from the punishment would look good when he worked, make him seem more powerful that he already was. Kais liked the idea of finding some sort of use for these scars.

Turning his attention back to Arianna though he frowned, still not happy. "How could you not have meant to jump in front of that whip?" He asked fiercely, but then laid off a little bit as she finished her sentence. He then let her talk a little bit more, hearing her apology for shaming him at the lashing. "Don't change the subject." He hissed though as she asked how he was. "I have been better but been worse." He finished though quickly so she would lay off for a moment. He was more concerned with getting her point off to him. "Who the hell did you see die at the post?"  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna was silent for a few moments, considering what he was saying. "Um, as for jumping in front, I didn't realize I had done it. It just happened. I remember seeing your blood and then next thing I remember was the pain." As for his other question, it was a memory she would have rather not talked about, but she also figured that she owed him an explaination. But considering she was probably going to have the nightmares, regardless of whether she told him or not, it made no sense to keep it from him. She closed her eyes, calming herself as much as possible before she allowed the images and the memory to come forward.

Arianna started. "I wasn't meant to see it, as I wasn't supposed to be in town that day. But I had begged the house keeper to take me shopping. My father had been out on business for a couple of days and I was bored out of my mind. I just needed to get off the grounds and do something, so I got her to take me along. She didn't know there was a beating that day. We did the shopping and she wanted to go check on someone for a bit and asked me to stay where I was. While she was gone, a man was brought, and they said 30 lashes was his punishment. But they didn't stop at 30. They were enjoying it and kept going. He was a man without family I found out later, and thus no one to miss him. I was traumatized. I wouldn't go to the market for months, and the nightmares lasted a lot longer."

Arianna had kept the story brief and simple, but her eyes had become lost as she had travelled back to that day. Her hands had started to tremble, and when she realized it, it took more of her energy just to stop. She hoped that he didn't ask anymore questions, or she might just fall apart, but she wanted to be honest with him. But in this case, honesty came with a price, one she didn't like to pay. She looked at her hands the entire time.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais looked at her, watching as she was losing control over her own body as she told the story of the whipping gone wrong. "The men doing the punishment should have been beheaded." Kais said in a mildly agitated voice. He could tell how much it troubled her. "Listen, you are to be a wife of someone powerful someday." He did not mention himself as an option though, still hoping they could get out of this. "You will make a fool of yourself if you ever shame your husband like you did me." He was being harsh he knew, but there was no easy way for him to get his point across.

"Some men deserve to die, but my father always said to me, should I demand punishment, which I have before, that I should be the one to carry out the punishment." Kais had killed only one man before, and while the story bothered him, and was relevant to the topic, he thought best not to trouble her with it right now. "You need to toughen up, you husband or sons will be the ones conducting punishments like this, and you need to be there to comfort them when they do. It is not an easy thing to kill a man." Kais face was sincere at this point.

He was fighting with the stinging pain in his back, he bit his lip at points to prevent himself from grunting. She seemed like she was afraid of what he would ask or say, so Kais just kept his points to commands and comments. He for some reason felt she needed to know how to conduct herself in his presence. If he toughened her up, they would likely be able to escape a little bit easier. "Do I make myself clear?" He asked. He wondered how she would react to him bossing her around.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna glared at him, starting to get very angry, and not fully understanding why. All she knew was this man was threatening everything she held dear. "Look, I don't know why I have to get married in the first place. I am capable of running my own business, despite being a woman. And yes, I know, because of being a woman, eventually they will take that freedom away from me as soon as they find someone they like to be my husband. You just happen to be the first that they are attempting this crap with." Arianna's eyes grew fierce, and if she had known that the fear had gone away and her eyes were no longer haunted by the past of whipping, she may have thanked him, but right now she had a point to get across, and she was going to make it.

"You think marrying me is some kind of punishment, and who knows, maybe it is as our families will be against it, and neither of us can say how they will react. But no matter who I marry, I lose everything, my freedom, and the little independence I have earned. I don't want to be some damn housewife. I like running the horse breeding farm, and you know what, I'm really good at it. I don't want to be docile, and meek, and obey everything my husband says. I want to be able to be challenged by my husband and enjoy his company, and he mine. But I will never get that, because everyone will dictate what I must do, and it will get worse when I get married." Arianna would never be free once she married, and whatever freedoms and independence she had would be at the whims of whatever guy the decided to force upon her. Arianna stood and started pacing around the room, trying to control her anger, as she did not like having outbursts in front of people. Arianna grew up with less society restrictions as a child, and having them placed on her now was driving her crazy.

She turned back to him, the glare still on her face. "And as for making a fool out of you and whoever I end up married to in the end, whether it be you or some other a**, I don't regret what I did. I will not be made to feel guilty about wanting to keep someone safe. I apologize to you, more than once, and I will not do so again on this matter." Arianna took a deep breath, still trying to calm herself. She was surprised to find that Kais wasn't the only one with a temper in this room, and honestly, venting was making her feel better, even if it did nothing to help thier situation. Arianna had forgot though, that she was supposed to be resting, and was starting to feel light headed. She shook it off, and stood beside his bed, looking down where he lay, still annoyed at him.

"I understand that punishment may be necessary, but I refuse to understand people's need and enjoyment to inflict pain on others. Do you think that last whip should have cut my skin, which had not been touched before? It only should have if I had been hit repeatedly. The reason it cut was because the whipping man wanted to inflict as much pain as he could into that last lash, but no one, not even me, expected me to step in front. And that I don't understand. I would rather find other ways of punishment, and only have to deal with that for the worse of crimes." Personally, she did not think that backtalking to the king had deserved a lashing, punishment maybe, but not one so severe. But she thought it best not to mention that part, as it would probably make him madder at her.

Arianna sat, becoming dizzy, and knowing fainting again on him wasn't something she wanted to do. "Besides, unless you have plans on actually marrying me at the end of the week, don't tell me what I need to do. I will do what I think I must at that point, and deal with the consequences. Do I make myself clear?" she asked, still pissed enough to turn his words back on him.