Title: Giving In To You

Rating: R

Authors: DragonSapphire and Mistress Ghost

Summary: Eddie looks for revenge on a man whom he formerly called 'Master' for murdering his uncle. During his search, he rescues a boy named Kohl and becomes more attached to him than he should. Will Eddie's dark past bring harm to his new lover or will he find a way to avenge his uncle and still be with the one he loves?

Disclaimers: All characters belong to DragonSapphire and co-writer, Mistress Ghost. Please do not use without permission. This story contains slash (male/male), mentions of rape, prostitution, slight language, and angst. Do not read if you are underage or are squeamish about any of the things mentioned. I will not be held responsible for any mental scarring or other side effects, it's your fault you didn't read the warnings.

A/N: (5/12/05) I read this chapter for the first time in a loooong time, and my initial reaction was “Holy crap I suck!” So I ended up revising it, since I’m anal about stuff like that, and I found I rather missed some of my first original characters. I don’t know if this means I’m going to pick it up again, but it was interesting (and painful) to see how far I’ve come in my writing.

(Eddie’s POV)

"Heh. Not so tough are ya now, pretty boy?"

The scarred and loutish leader of a moderately notorious street gang gave one last, brutal kick to his unconscious victim’s ribs and then motioned to his cronies to get the hell out of there before the police came by on their hourly rounds and broke up their entertainment.

Eddie Ra waited until the last thug was out of sight before moving quietly from his hiding place in the shadows. As he approached the trembling figure laying in the filthy deserted alleyway, he was overcome with a wave of repulsion as the potent stench of fear, blood, and semen rose from the battered individual.

Holding his breath as he crouched down next to the person, Eddie carefully rolled him or her onto their back. During a closer inspection, he saw that it was a young man. The boy’s once possibly soft brown tresses were matted to his forehead, darkened with blood and grime, while his pale skin was beginning to form large, angry bruises.

Eddie snarled in disgust as he surveyed the battered body before him.

He was furious at the cowardly bastards that had done such unspeakable acts to the petite boy who couldn't have possibly been older than eighteen, but he was even more upset about the fact that he was too weak to have been able to have stopped the attack from happening. He could have easily taken the group of delinquents with only his mahogany staff that he used as both a walking stick and a weapon, but unfortunately he did not have it with him when he had heard scuffles coming from the dark alley. And by that time he had been too late and the deeds had already been done.

Another cautious observation that had halted him from stepping in and tearing the gang apart was that the horde of men had real weapons. He was lethal when fighting hand-to- hand, or with his staff, but all that was useless when he had a muzzle of a gun aimed point-blank at his head.

Eddie started as a soft moan pulled him from his less than cheerful thoughts. He suddenly realized that he had completely forgotten the teenager in his anger, and cursed himself for being so out of it. Shaking his head as if to fling the thoughts from his mind, he focused on the task at hand, and quickly checked the hurt boy for broken bones and other injuries.

While he carefully patted the boy down, Eddie came upon a wallet in the pocket of the young man's torn, nearly unrecognizable leather pants as he examined the other’s malnourished body. An identification card he found stated that the young man's name was Kohl Amadaun and that he was, in fact, eighteen years old – the same age as Eddie.

Eddie heaved a frustrated breath as he shoved his long black hair back behind his shoulder. Kohl had a fractured leg, broken ribs, and a small concussion. Not to mention countless scrapes and bruises, although they might have not been as bad as they looked if the boy wasn’t drenched in his own blood.

Eddie decided to take Kohl to the run- down apartment he was currently staying at rather than waste valuable time trying to get to a hospital that was miles away and then have to deal with questions that he couldn’t, or didn’t, want to answer. He was a fairly capable healer himself, though. He needed to be when he traveled as often as he did on his own and doctors were rarely available. His now deceased uncle, Caire, with whom he stayed with for most of his life, was a very skilled man who had taught Eddie everything the boy would need to survive.

Caire had been extremely forgetful on most occasions (a trait that unfortunately didn't skip past Eddie’s cousin and himself), but still very skilled, nonetheless. Caire made sure that Eddie and his only daughter, Nefertiti, had the basic skills they needed for the martial arts, healing, and cooking before they even finished grade school.

Eddie brushed a wayward tear away from his brown eyes before he turned to attend to the now very pale and shivering Kohl. Kohl’s leg was stabilized before Eddie attempted to move him anywhere and the long black duster he was ordinarily adorned with was wrapped around the boy's seriously assaulted and damaged body.

He carefully picked Kohl up in his arms, surprised at how little the brunette weighed, and proceeded to carry him to his apartment.

- At the apartment -

Eddie breathed a sigh of relief as he gently laid Kohl down on his bed and collapsed into a hard, rickety chair next to it. The boy had not seemed very heavy at first, but after walking three blocks, and climbing up five flights of stairs, anything could become straining to carry that far. To prevent questions from being asked, he opted to use the stairs rather than the elevator - something he and his tired muscles were soon regretting.

He glared at the unconscious young man on his bed for a moment, gave it up when he got no reaction, then finally relaxed the best he could into his uncomfortable chair. He had no idea what he was going to do. He couldn't possibly leave Kohl by himself incase the boy was a complete bastard and decided to die on him in the middle of the night, and he couldn't go to the hospital or request a physician because of the expense and transportation - he lacked the money and a car. It seemed like the only option was to put his quest on hold and take care of the boy until Kohl could look after himself.

Eddie sighed sleepily and sank deeper into the chair, trusting the hard plastic to keep him awake if the other’s condition changed at all. Until then, he’d wait until the morning. He'd deal with this in the morning...