Author’s note:  Guess whose back? Back again? Lol, thank you to everyone who reviewed my stories, thank you so incredibly much. I hope you enjoy this chapter of Desire the Iris.

[Chapter 6: BaizeinForest]

            It had been some hours since Iris left Juuse’s slave auction and she was exhausted of walking with her new “master” in silence (though Iris refuse to see him as that and refused to call him that, she would never stoop that low in calling him “master”).

Iris squirmed with irritation, her wrists were aching. The ropes that bound her were too tight.

“Can ya’ loosen this damn rope?” she asked while pulling on the rope that the young man had held onto the other end of.

“No” was the first word he spoke since the auction. He made no eye contact with Iris he just continued forward walking in a hastened pace.

‘You think he would treat me better’ Iris thought to herself, but then chuckled mentally. ‘He knows I’m the foreseer and therefore I am just treasure to him, him and everybody else’. She couldn’t believe that she, Iris, the “demon” had gotten caught was put up as an auction. As if she was just a prize to be won and that made the anger inside of her grow. She wanted to hit this guy that was in front of her, she wanted to hit him, how dare he put a rope on her, like some sort of leash. Though she wanted to attack him she couldn’t help forget that he had paid a great deal of money for her. Of course she knew that it was wrong to put a price on her, but she couldn’t help notice that this man had to be rich and this made Iris smile.

Iris was so caught up in thought that she hadn’t noticed that the man had stopped and she bumped into his broad back. “We’ll camp here tonight” he said sternly.

Iris looked at the location that he picked, “This is the woods though…”

“I’m aware of that” he said as he flung his bag of belongings on the grass filled floor.

Iris narrowed her eyes at him since she didn’t like the tone in his voice. “Why can’t we sleep on the trees? It’s much better there, I always sleep up there”

The man stood quiet for a moment and spoke as he was walking to a nearby tree. ‘At least he’s listening to me’ Iris mused mentally, but what the man did next made Iris change her prediction. No, he wasn’t going to the tree to take the advice Iris had given him, no, he bound the rope around the tree and tightened it so that Iris only had enough space to kneel.

“W-what the hell are you doing?!” Iris yelled.

“Isn’t it obvious?”

Her eyes felt hot, “You let me go right now!”

“Don’t tell your master what to do. You aren’t in the position of giving me orders” he looked at the ropes, “literally” he turned away and headed to the opposite side of the tree that bounded Iris and walked into some bushes leaving Iris in disbelief. She would just have to find a way to escape and believe me Iris ALWAYS found some sort of way to escape.

-:-         -:-         -:-

            The man had been looking for a lake that he had been informed about and finally after some time he found it. He was going to catch some fish for his dinner and then it was straight to bed. He had been exhausted and famished. After all he rode for awhile trying to find Juuse’s auction to find the foreseer that everyone was talking about. He had to get the foreseer, he HAD to. It was his duty, which was what he was trained to do, to find the foreseer. He had been expecting that day would come, but what he wasn’t expecting was that this “demon”, the foreseer, was a young girl. How could that be? He never expected it at all, yes she may be beautiful, but he had to remember that she was THE treasure that everyone was looking for. It was just his duty to get her, but above all he had to remember that she, the foreseer, the “demon” was merely a woman.

-:-         -:-         -:-

            Iris nudged the rope. “Just a little… more…” she whispered. She was breaking the tight bonds that held her captive by scraping the metal bracelets that Juuse had made her wear for the auction on the rope. It may sound like a helpless effort and it would have been if Iris hadn’t found just the right angle in which the bracelet was sharpest.

SNAP

“Yes!” Iris smiled contently as she caressed her wrists. Now all she had to do was run for it, but not before checking in the bag that lay sprawled on the floor. She prayed silently that the man wouldn’t come in now and well, if he did, she would just have to take the whole damn bag with her. She rustled through his belongings nothing that interested her, just some clothes (she could tell that he planned a long journey ahead.), a drinking bottle that was empty (and Iris got frustrated by this) and books. Nothing useful! She smacked the bag in frustration and that’s when she heard something jingle. There was a side pocket that was left unnoticed. She opened it quickly and found ONLY 20 pieces of Gil and all the way in the bottom lay a little pocket knife that was decorated nicely, she took that along as well (she hid that inside her upper metal section).

“Heh, goodbye, ‘master’” Iris said mockingly and stood up.

“Goodbye?” said a low voice, which made Iris jump slightly. She turned to see the man standing only inches away from her holding a handful of fish. How could she not have sensed his arrival? She thought she would. ‘He must be a very swift and great fighter’ she assumed since mostly great fighters can erase all sense of their presence.

The man walked up casually to her as if he was expecting to see that Iris had escape and in truth he was, after all she was famous for getting out of tight spots. “Why leave now?” he asked her and with every step he took forward, Iris took a step back.

Iris glared, “Why? Why not? Why would I spend one more minute with you?”

The boy lifted up his catch, “Because I have freshly caught fish”

Iris stood there looking at his dinner and when he dropped it her eyes followed it all the way down to the ground. She had not eaten for a while now and she was starving. She usually managed to steal a piece of bread here and there, but she never did well when it came to fish. Catching fish wasn’t one of Iris’ strong points, so naturally to her, those fish that her “master” had caught was a banquet.

Iris stood open mouthed at the fish that she forgot all about the man. He took hold of her wrist and forcefully opened them to reveal the 20 pieces of Gil she had stolen. “This is mine” he looked into Iris’ eyes sternly, “if I were you I would not do this again. For it won’t be just simple bonds that will restrain you” Iris would have took it as a sort of an intimate statement, but the look in his cold eyes made her think otherwise.

-:-         -:-         -:-

            “Here,” the man said and put a piece of fish inside Iris’ mouth. “I don’t understand why I can’t eat by myself” Iris stated. “One word, ‘escape’” the man said. Iris shook her head, “Nah, not yet” she opened her mouth inviting another piece of fish in. When she finished she said, “I promise I won’t run away if you just untie me”

The man looked up, “Mm, very reassuring”

“I promise!”

“What’s that worth? A promise of a woman?” he put another piece inside Iris’ mouth, “you’re should be happy that you have something to eat” as he put another piece into Iris’ mouth he had to move his hands away rather quickly for she tried to bite the man’s fingers.

-:-         -:-         -:-

            It was late into the night when the young man finally decided to get ready for bed. He had to tie Iris onto the tree again before he went to bed, but not before he gained information on her last escape.

“Now let’s see here,” the man looked around Iris whom was tied to the tree. She had hardly anything on so it took a while to find out how she escaped with such possessions. “You couldn’t move well. So, you must have used your hands to break free…but how if you have nothing in your hands? Or at least I think you don’t” he moved to her hands and saw nothing. “Those were very strong bonds, it’s impossible to break free bare handed” he stood quiet for a long while, a stern expression as he was deep in thought. After a while of pondering and Iris looking intently at him he finally spoke, “but you weren’t bare handed” he took her wrists to reveal bracelets. He touched the surface smoothly as if seeing if it was capable of breaking a rope. “You’re a smart girl” he said now knowing that she used the bracelets for her escape. He took the bracelets off with some difficulty since Iris hand been kicking him.

“Got `em” the man said while throwing the bracelets into his bag. He then started to pat some grass and took a blanket out of the bag and covered himself lazily as he fell onto the soft grass-filled ground leaving Iris to the tree.

Iris couldn’t believe this! She had to sleep kneeling down? And in the cold!? A freezing gust of wind blew into Iris’ face making her shiver slightly. She appreciated the night, for it was in the nighttime that she was able to steal food and money, but when it came to the weather that was a different story. It seemed as if it was summer by day and winter by night.

Iris knew that the man was about to fall asleep and she refused to sleep tied to a tree. “What’s your name?” Iris asked him trying to keep him up.

“…”

“Hello? I asked you what your name is!” Iris yelled, but the man didn’t respond, “don’t fall asleep please! I don’t want to be alone, especially tied to this tree!”

The man turned onto his belly and looked at Iris’, “How can I fall asleep when all I hear is your annoying voice?”

“…” a cold gust of wind wrapped around her bare legs and she shivered, “I-I just wanted to know what was your name”

The man sunk his head low and closed his eyes, “Blade”

Iris stood quiet for a while then yelled once more, “aren’t you gonna ask me for my name?”

The man sighed, “No” he said coldly, cold as the wind.

“Why won’t you ask me? Aren’t ya’ at least curious to know the woman’s name, the one that you paid 50,000,000 Gil for?” Iris yelled.

“Not really”, he opened his eyes again, “don’t get too wrapped up on the price I paid for you. I only did it because it was my duty to do so. Now…if you will?” he closed his eyes apparently tired.

It must have been an hour later when Iris heard a howl of a wolf. If there was anything that this “demon” feared it was a wolf.

“Blade!” she yelled out his name, her intention to wake him, but she failed. “BLADE! DAMN YOU! UNTIE ME YOU BASTARD!” she yelled and she kicked the ground.

Finally Blade turned around in irritation, “Shut up woman”

“No! They’re wolves around here”

“No kidding, it’s a forest” Blade said groggily.

“I knew I should have slept ON the tree and not BESIDE it!” Iris yelled, “STUPID BASTARD!”

Suddenly Blade got up and walked to Iris. “A ‘demon’ like you afraid of wolves?”

“I’m not afraid of wolves” Iris lied.

“You’re not a good liar” he then unexpectedly pulled on the ropes to set her free and this (needless to say) surprised Iris. ‘I guess he’s not such a bad guy after all’

Suddenly Blade had tied her hands with the rope and he did the same to his hands as he waked over to his “bed”.

“W-what are you doing?” Iris asked confused.

“Since you refuse sleeping next to the tree I guess the only alternative is for you to sleep next to me” Blade said and had lay down making him pull on the rope that held on Iris and she fell next to him. He must have realized her expression because he looked into her light orange eyes and simply said, “Don’t take it as an intimate statement”

“I didn’t-I wasn’t!” Iris yelled and backed away from as far as the rope allowed her to go.

Blade turned his head toward the sky and closed his eyes, “Good, because I did this in case you decided to runaway from me, but you wouldn’t be able to, since we are bounded by the same rope, therefore wherever you go, I will follow” he sighed, “now, no more interruptions, we both have a long day ahead of us” and with those words he fell silent and into sleep.

Iris couldn’t go to sleep not yet she stared at the sky and began to count the stars as she always did when she was bored.

“287…um, 288…” Iris pointed at the stars as she counted, “289, oh no, I counted you already, well I guess those are all the stars” she whispered and sighed in exhaustion. She turned her head toward the sleeping young man. She didn’t hate him, but she didn’t approve of what he did. Treated her as just a slave, but it wasn’t that bad at least she slept next to him than sleeping next to no one, it had been over a decade since she encountered anyone and slept next to them, even though she would deny it she was terribly insecure.  At least she knew that he would protect her in case a wolf would come near, after all he did pay a good amount of money for her, or rather for her powers and he wouldn’t let her get hurt…or that’s what Iris wanted to believe.

She closed her eyes, tired, and satisfied.