An Unlikely Pair [Private]

[kaissaj777]

It was probably not intentional, but somehow Kais had hoped his actions would cause this Arianna to come out again. She seemed so sweet most of the time, slightly nervous in his presence. When she had stormed out of the breakfast earlier that day, he had for the first time found some sort of attraction in her. It was this attitude that she gave him that made him smile.

"You remind me of my mother." He said softly. "You would make a very good Avalon." It was weird for the words to come out of his mouth, but somehow he was beginning to maybe like this girl, especially when she spoke back to him like that. Kais always wanted a wife, who as she was right now, fight him if he got out of line. His brother always said to him he needed a woman like that, mainly because his temper knew no bounds. The only person who could conquer his anger, was his mother, who was the only woman who could make him cringe in her presence. His mother was sweet, until you pissed her off. I guess the saying about men marrying women like their mother has some truth behind the statement.

"Getting married won't leave you without your freedoms you know." He said slowly pushing himself up. "Motherhood is the only thing that will threaten that for you." He got himself up into a sitting position so he could speak to her face again. "But trust me, punishment is necessary. The whip needs to break the skin or it is not nearly bad enough for my actions." he said in defense of the punisher. "People don't like my family, because of our extreme wealth, when someone has the chance to attack someone of a noble house, they attack." Kais took a deep breath and went to have his feet touch the floor. "They find out in those moments that we are not untouchable."

He tried to stand up at this point, but as he straightened out his back he yelled out in pain and fell to the floor, landing on his forearms and breathing heavily as he nearly passed out. His back could now be clearly seen at this point, red surrounding dark maroon dried up blood covered the parts of his back from where the whip hit. Some of the cuts looked like they were even blistering a bit, it was not a sight to look at.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna was taken aback by his soft tone and the fact that he was being nice to her and in a way complementing her. The comment about making a good Avalon surprised her the most, and she fell silent again, not sure how to proceed. She knew that he didn't want to marry her and was trying to get out of it whenever her had the chance. He was suppose to hate her, and he was complimenting her? She didn't understand him, and that worried her. But then again, she knew she was suppose to hate him, and she didn't, she couldn't. Her father would be mad enough that she unconciously protected him, let alone that she found that though she didn't want to marry, she knew that out of those she could be forced to marry, he might just accept her for who she truely was. She wanted to be accepted for herself, and not made to change.

Her started talking about how getting married wouldn't make her lose her freedoms, but she knew with most men she would. Most men expected to be obeyed, or they beat their wives, even the king was like that. Her father hadn't been, but that was a rare exception. Kais had a temper, that was obvious, but despite them technically being engaged, he had not once even raised his hand to her. And as for motherhood, that scared the hell out of her, but she didn't have to think about that right away. And the talk about the strength of his family, she wondered if it was a threat, warning the enemy clan that they were not to be taken lightly. But Arianna had no intention of fighting with the Avalons. Without knowing the reason behind the family feud, she just couldn't bring herself to hate them like her father. "Why have you not hit me? You are technically my fiancee, and could have gotten away with it, considering some of the stunts I've pulled?"

But she was never the chance to hear the answer, as Kais tried to stand and yelled out, falling. The doctor must have gotten bored and wondered off, since he was no where to be seen, and Arianna gulped as Kais' back was show to her. It was covered in dried up blood and parts were even starting to blister. "Are you capable of getting back on the bed?" she asked, but knew the answer was no. She told him to stay put, and ran to the bathroom, grabbing a towl, wetting it. Wasn't the most ideal solution, but hopefully the cool towl would make the pain bearable enough to enable him to move back on the bed. She returned to him, touching his shoulder lightly, whispering, "This is probably going to hurt a little." She placed the cool towl on his back.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais was trying to find something to hold onto as he tried to breathe out the pain in his back. He struggled to keep composure as he heard Arianna running about trying to do something to help him. Despite the fact they were suppose to hate each other, yet Kais found himself growing fond of her, and for some reason she kept trying to help him, even threw herself in front of a whip for him. As much as he did not like her doing that he could not help but admire her courage and protective instincts.

When she placed the wet cloth on his back he cringed a bit and arched his back, forcing his mouth shut so he would not yell out in pain. Kais was doing his best to not show any weakness, but this was one of the worst feelings he has ever had, the King has seriously crippled him a bit. He could only assume that King was looking to keep him occupied and prevent him from escaping. "I am in no condition to get up." He struggled to say as he lied there helplessly on the floor.

He realized that he had not answered her previous question, because he foolishly tried to get up and walk. He would never hit a girl, even if she struck to kill him, he would just deflect as much as he could. Something inside of him thought of women as precious gems, something to be loved and protected. He wondered if that was one of the reasons he was able to look pass her being a Lovette for the moment. He knew every woman, despite their lineage or other characteristics, had something beautiful about them.

"I would never hit you, despite you being from that family." He said slowly, still fighting back the pain. "I don't hit women, my family raised me better than that." He smiled though through the pain. "Any man who hits a woman deserves to be punished himself."  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

"I'm sorry," she said as he cringed and arched his back. She didn't like causing him pain, but needed to get the cold towl to help decrease the pain so that they could carefully get him back on the bed. She knew he must be in excrusiating pain, but couldn't think of much to do, and the bed was going to be difficult. But she couldn't just get him on the floor. She thought about going and getting help, but considering he was being punished, she knew that they would just uncermoniously lift him on the bed and toss him back down. Plus, he would be embarassed to have more people see him so weak, and she had already hurt his pride once today, not wanting to do it again.

He finally answered the question on why he never hit her, and she sat there for a moment, taking in what he said. Yesterday was the first time a man had ever hit her, as her father had sheilded her from a lot of the outside world, outside of the horse breeding business. She touched her cheek where the nasty bruise from the King's slap was and winced, it was still tender. She couldn't say that she hadn't deserved it to some degree, as she had put some people in danger, and wondered if that was what Kais had meant when he said some things deserved that kind more severe punishments. She hoped that she could avoid things that had happened these past through day, and wondered just how much trouble they were going to get into by Friday night, the night they were suppose to be wed. It was Sunday now, both of them having travelled her on the start of the weekend.

"Your family seems like they have really good morals." she murmured outloud, more to herself than to him. She didn't even realize she had spoke aloud, thinking that it had all been in her mind. Her father would be shocked at her thoughts, but honestly she judged people by her own encounters with them, and not by the past or what their families had done. She stood and went to get another towl, which she got soaked with cool water, before coming back to Kais, and switching them. The second towl should hurt a lot less than the first had.  

[kaissaj777]

As he lied there, helpless and completely at Arianna's mercy, his mind wondered. He wondered actually how their families had come to hate each other. His father had promised to tell him one day, but had not done so up until this point, it was something he was having a very difficult time understanding at this moment. This girl was taking care of him as he lied there on the floor, helpless and at the bidding of his wounded back nearly crippled.

He refused though to stay immobile though as she put the second batch of towels on his back. The pain was subsiding a bit, actually, due to her care, though he wondered if he was just getting use to the pain. "Thanks." He said, looking in the opposite direction of her, having a very difficult time forming his words, not because of pain, but other reasons. "I have been nothing but rude to you, yet you sit here and care for me." He said softly as he took a deep breath.

He spread out his arms now to a shoulders width apart, and placed his palms firmly on the ground. Straightening his feet as if he were to do push up he bent his knees and slowly began to straighten himself up. This was probably not the best idea, but Kais hated standing still. "I won't let him cripple me." He said through gritted teeth as he struggled with the pain trying to overcome his will.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna blinked at his apology, not sure if he had ever apologized to her. Mostly he just yelled at her. She smiled, "It's okay. I'm not exactly the easiest to get along with." She didn't want to fight with Kais anymore, and also realized that if she was forced to marry him, she wasn't going to be too upset about it. For the most part, he had a lot of potential and was a nice guy. At least, he hadn't hit her like the King. She shifted out of his way, not wanting to get in the way of what she already knew to be a difficult process.

She stood and walked over to the window, only keeping an eye on him enough in case he needed help. He had a lot of pride, and she knew he wouldn't like her to watch as he struggled to gain some balance and stand. She wanted to give him the curtesy of at least looking away and not gawking at his weakness. It was the only thing she could do for him at the moment, but at the same time, she was ready to rush over at the slightest encouragement or dire need for help. She hoped he could stand on his own, knowing it would be less awkward for both of them. Besides, it would be nice for him to be stronger than the pain. She could tell that he had a lot of strength in him.

As she looked out the window, she once again wondered why the families started feuding in the first place. She hoped her father didn't object too much, because Arianna had decided to stop objecting unless Kais continued to not want to marry her. Mostly she figured, she would follow his lead, and let him decide what he wanted. Either way, she was eventually going to be forced to marry someone. It may as well be someone she was starting to respect.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais struggled to stand up but eventually he succeeded. Sweat was beading up on his brow and he breathed in heavily trying to keep his composure at the moment. He slowly walked over to Arianna and put his hand on her shoulder for support. "Sorry, I am having difficulty keeping my footing." He said sounding exhausted. He had wasted a lot of his energy trying to get up.

For some reason Arianna was now Kais' partner in this excursion, and in the end he would likely be forced to marry her. "Listen...." He said trying to start things out. "...I know we may not be a good match." He was still really tired. "..I promise though I will try and be a good husband, until my family kills me." He tried to smile as he attempted a joke, in hopes it would cheer her up.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna's eyes widened and she turned to look at him, his hand on her shoulder for balance. He was willing to try to make this marriage work? She wasn't sure why, but that made her happy and she gave him a small smile. She would like to make it work, and maybe someday with the two of them, they could make their families see reason and end the feud like the King wanted. She knew it ran deep, but would both of their families really abandon them. She hoped not. "Deal, so long as you try not to die. I don't want you dead. And I'll try not to hurt your pride too much. I know I am a bit willful." She gave a smile that was laughing a bit at herself.

She wondered if his family really would kill him or if it was a joke. She would do whatever it took to prevent that if it was in fact true and they did try to pull some stunt to kill them. But then she realized that there was a good chance they may just go after her instead, and kill her. With her dead, that frees him and he will no longer be attached to a hated Lovette. But that would make the feud get worse, and Arianna didn't want that, or to die. Her eyes got sad at this thought as she looked at him.

Seeing how weak he was, she took his hand, then his should and led him to the bed. Forcing him to sit down, she pulled a chair over, and said, "I know you want to play touch guy, but you need to rest or you will never get better. And don't worry about your family, we will figure it out. My father isn't going to be happy either, but I hope they eventually come to accept the choice we are making. If not, then they probably aren't very good family." She clenched her hands, praying it didn't come to be just the two of them. If it did, she could see Kais coming to resent her and she didn't want that.  

[kaissaj777]

Kais felt himself slowly regaining his strength, he must have looked miserable at the moment, though he was finding his soul's strength. He looked at her slightly puzzled though as to why she was referring to him as someone who would go and get himself killed. "What makes you think I will die?" He asked curiously.

Of course he has thoughts about something very dangerous. If Kais went about this correctly, he could figure out some political drawstrings that would enable him to run a coup de tat. He was furious with the King, and it may risk his life, but he wants to get something together, that could punish the king for his own.

He wanted to fight her from moving him but in the end he saw down. "I need to stand..." He objected, slightly dizzy from lack of food and loss of blood through the day. "How can we not worry about our families?" he asked concerned. "It does not matter what we think, they will hate us because the King will claim we did this willingly."  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna looked down at her feet. She couldn't argue with him, and though she hated the King's methods, she kind of hoped that the family feud would end. Kais seemed like a good guy, and even if they weren't married, she probably could have been friends with him had the Avalon name not come into the picture. But he was right, their families would object. "I just don't want your family to kill you. But they could just kill me too, would make it a lot easier for them. It's not like they aren't feuding with my father already," she said, trying to make a joke out of it, though she knew it was a good possibility as well.

"Would it be so bad to try an end the feud? I don't like the King's methods, but its not a bad idea to end the fighting between two of the biggest families in the kingdom. I mean, the only family as strong as ours is the Sullivan family. And considering, I'm the only Lovette child, and possible heir, to a King it might make sense to use me as a pawn, because most people don't want to lose their only heir. If my father disowns me, the land would eventually go to the King, and I don't think my father would want that. We've worked hard to run the horse breeding business."

She didn't tell Kais that she wasn't too opposed to marrying him anymore. In fact, to some degree she kind of wanted to, but that wouldn't be wise. He wouldn't like it if she did something that seemed to side with the King right now. She touched her cheek lightly. The King could be tough on his subjects sometimes, though hs forced marriage idea was one he could have found a better way of handling.  

[kaissaj777]

As much as his family hated the Lovettes, Kais doubted that his mother would ever allow his father or any member of his family to ever cause him intentional bodily harm, though he assumed there would be some sort of a response from his family. "I doubt they would do that. Something tells me there are two options for my family...." He stated sadly. "They disown me, or they rise up against the King." Were he to work things out to his liking, it would be the latter of the two options.

"Ending the feud may seem like the Kings plan, though part of me doubts that as his personality." Kais was really just finding any and all things about the King that he disliked, and focusing on it as a while. "You said it yourself, he is forcing your father to almost give up his lands, my family to disown me. He wants us to be his slaves." Kais sometimes had a twisted view on the world. "He is 'giving' us some land if we are to go through with this wedding. Sounds like a trap to me."

In all honesty Kais had a difficult time trusting people, he did not trust Arianna either. He saw her as the enemy of his enemy at the moment. Better to have an ally in this than more than one enemy. He wondered again what had caused their families though to feud the way they had.

"This feud will never end through such a stupid prospect such as marriage." Kais said with a stern look toward the ground, focusing all his mental strength on keeping himself composed. "It will only end in bloodshed." It was a cryptic idea, but in all honesty, Kais believed in this as a sad truth of reality.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna's eyes grew hard again. "What is it with people and bloodshed. And he isn't forcing my father to give up his lands, its just if he dies with no heirs, then the land goes to the king. Though currently I am the heir, and I plan to stay that way until I am forced to marry. You forget they option where they accept the King's decision and deal with it. And before you get mad at me, it's not that I'm siding with the King, but these are my beliefs. You act like the only option is bloodshed, and that's just not acceptible. And if you think, though are the only two options, I will not marry you, regardless of whether we might actually get along. You are a fool."

With that Arianna stormed out of the room, heading back to her room where she nearly ran into the doctor. He took a quick check over her, seeing how she swayed, light headed, and ordered her straight to bed, telling her he'd send food up for her to eat later. Arianna barely heard him, as she entered her room, so furious with Kais. Why must everything be a battle and war? Just when she thinks he has potential, he goes and says something stupid. And she had meant what she had said, she refused to marry him if war was one of the main options.

Crawling into bed, it took Arianna a while to fall asleep, as she calmed down. It wasn't until late, when a simple dinner was brought up to her that she awoke. She ate dinner alone and in silence, allowing the maid to take the tray away and draw her a bath. With some help, which she hated, because she liked her privacy when she bathed, the maid washed her off, the water stinging her arms which had been unwrapped. The maid wrapped new bandages for Arianna, and left Arianna to fall back to sleep soon after, exhausted from the simple efforts of eating and bathing. She was also tired of fighting Kais.  

[kaissaj777]

At this point Kais was no surprised by her sudden outburst. He assumed that at this very moment they were just beginning to get along, and possibly coming to accept the fact that they would be wed within the next week. But soon he began to be frustrated as she seemed, even though she claimed not to be, siding with the King. Either that or she was agreeing with his actions.

Kais would have said something but she stormed out before he had the chance to verbalize his arguments. he stood quickly to try and follow, but the pain in his back forced him to fall in the chair. Soon the doctor came in and reapplied some cream to his back, and then sent him back up to his room. Kais refused the help of anyone else, and angrily walked back up to his room.

Kais stood in his room for a while, not sure what to do. He felt alone to be honest, the King was clearly against him, and it seemed that as much as he was now trying, Arianna was as well. He did not like this feeling, and he wanted to go home if he could.

Kais found a cane, provided to him to help him keep some of his balance, and walked into the bathroom, where the Doctor and his aides were going to wash some of his wounds. Needless to say it was not a pleasant experience, and some of the aides went back with bruises and angry faces. Kais sat kneeling in the tub, trying to keep himself composed from the amount of pain he felt.

Soon they wrapped his back and left him alone. Kais saw this as a time to go for a walk. He went to grab some food from the kitchens first, which took his a while, and then he went out to the gardens. He though about hiding out here, and maybe find a way to escape. Kais then decided against it and went back up to his room, where he passed out on his bed, exhausted and worn out.  

[KagomeHigurashi08]

Arianna groans as she woke up the next morning, her arms throbbing in pain, and her lip still swollen. At least the pain in her cheek was beginning to fade, she thought glumly. She got up and got dressed, which was a slow process, as everytime she moved a certain way to settle her clothes, the wounds on her arm threatened to reopen. She heard a knock on her door, and the doctor entered, along with a maid. They were both surprised to find her moving and already dressed. The doctor checked her arms, and instead of rewrapping the bandages, he said, "Since you are wearing short sleeves today, keep the bandages off. The fresh air will do well to help the healing process." Arianna nodded, and left Arianna with the maid.

The maid bowed. "The king has asked me to get your measurements for the wedding dress." Arianna blinked then her eyes went sad. She had said she wanted a normal wedding, but it all seemed like such a farce. Besides, last night she told Kais if he kept believing the worse in people and kept preparing for a battle, then she couldn't marry him. But Arianna nodded and allowed the maid to do her job. It wasn't the maid's fault that she was in this mess, so it was no use taking it out on her.

But as the maid measured her, she realized that the maid was measuring for a long sleeved dress, and Arianna's eyes narrowed. The King was afraid of showing her arms to her father, and thus was hiding them as long as possible from him. It was hot and in the middle of summer! "I want a short sleeved dress." Arianna told the maid, and the maid paled and started to object. "Tell the King if there is an issue, that I told you I will not wear a long sleeved dress to my wedding if it is summer. If he wants to push it back to winter fine, but I refuse to wear long sleeves this time of year."

The maid nodded, measured for both long sleeves and short sleeves, and scurried off, needing to get more instructions, afraid to get punished or lose her job. Arianna sighed, she hadn't meant to be mean to the girl, but she was not going to allow the king to hide the truth so easily. Hearing her stomach growl, Arianna headed down to the dining room where she knew a buffet would be for the next few hours. Everyone she passed would stop and stare at her arms, but Arianna ignored them. The maids, having heard from the earlier maid, that Arianna was still ignoring some of the King's orders, were wary of her, not wanting to work with her for chance of angering the King. Like everyone else, she ignored them and fixed herself a plate before sitting down at the dining table, ignoring the put and tug of the wound on her arm. She would not let it beat her.  

[kaissaj777]

The night was relatively restless for Kais. On most occasions he would be rolling around while he slept, constantly adjusting his position for his own comfort. Last night though he was unable to do so, simply because if he was on any other position that his stomach, he would be in more pain than was worth the comfort.

He awoke just as the sun had begun to peek it's head above the horizon to greet the new day. He doubted anyone was awake in the castle other than the cooking staff and the guards who had the night shift. None the less he stood up and walked to a chair, slowly situating himself in it so as to not strain his back.

Despite the restless night though he had begun to feel less pain in his back, and found it much easier for himself to move around than it had been the previous day. He could only hope that something like this would show he would be back to one hundred percent soon enough.

A man then came knocking at the door, with a few maids by his side. ''m'lord Kais we are here to size you up for your tuxedo. The King sent us." The man said in a pompous voice and took a step in. <******** off." Kais said, not willing to deal with anyone in affiliation with the king at the moment. When the man went to object Kais silenced him by pointing his cane in the mans direction. "I will give you my sizes. And you will deal with it. Lay a hand on me and expect it to be broken." Kais was typically grumpy in the mornings, ad not having gotten a ton of sleep did not help that attitude.

He wrote down the sizes one a paper and gave it to the man. They servants then left with swiftness so as to not tempt his rage. They did though make sure to mention that breakfast was soon, so Kais soon made his way down to the dining room where he would be eating. He fixed himself some food, seeing Arianna had done so herself, and sat aside her in his assigned seat, not even acknowledging her.