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Ping- Well, this took a while, didn't it?
Touma- Well it *wouldn't* have if you'd have quit playing with Mousse!
Ranma- Aw, quitcherbitchin!
Touma- Get out of my fic!
Ranma- Get a haircut!
Seiji- GET ON WITH THE STORY!!
 
 

Warnings: Serious AU, Lemon
Pairings: SeijixTouma (SagexRowen)

Disclaimers: The characters belong to somebody else. All changes in tense are mine.

This fic is dedicated to Kyoki! This is yours, hon, like it or not. I'll try and hand Seiji and Touma to you on a lubricated silver platter, but we'll have to wait and see. ^-^
 

My Sacrifice

By Pan Pingli
A.K.A
Rowen's Girl



‘thoughts’

*************

Chapter 7

*************
 

Tah ran a cool cloth over Touma’s wounded temple, wincing as he furrowed his brow and whined in his sleep. She heard the door open and close behind her, followed by the sound of softly shuffling feet. Looking over her shoulder, she met her father's worried gaze.

Touma moaned and tossed in his sleep, and Tah tried to hold him down.

“No... please, help me..." His breathing quickened. “Please... He's trying to kill me... Seiji... trying to kill me...”

Tah chanced another look behind her, but her father was gone.
 

**********
 

Seiji spat blood on the floor, rubbing the inside of his mouth with his tongue, feeling the damage of nearly loose teeth.

“I don't know what you're talking about! I already told you-“

Another punch silenced him, but his men held in similar cells all around screamed and protested the treatment of their prince. The man delivering the blows walked in a slow circle around Seiji, who was on his knees, bleeding.

“Don't play dumb with me... I saw what you did to Prince Touma, you bastard.”

Seiji shook his head, trying to find his voice.

“I don't know what you mean! I've never heard of Prince Touma! And I haven't kidnapped anybody!!”

Another rain of blows landed on his head, and Seiji was nearly unconscious by the time his 'inquisitor' left the dungeon with a hearty slam of the heavy, metal door. Seiji rolled around, trying to get comfortable on the slimy stone floor and failed, laying limply on his side as darkness threatened to overwhelm him.

"My lord?"

"...wh-at..." Seiji croaked.

"Perhaps they are referring to your guest."

"What?"

"Rowen, sir. Perhaps they think you kidnapped him."

'No, that's not right...' Seiji thought to himself, playing with loose teeth with the tip of his tongue. 'I didn't kidnap anybody.'

"He's not a prince."

"I know sir." The voice was getting distant. Perhaps his servant was being removed? "But I can't think of any-"

The voice stopped suddenly. How strange. Did  he leave? Was he dead? Why wasn't he talking? His body stopped hurting, so perhaps it was he himself who was dead.

'Dead people don't think.'

'Right.'

'So I'm not dead. I'm just in hell.'

* 'Perhaps they are referring to... Rowen.' *
 

**********
 

As soon as Touma had his wits together, he tried desperately to convince his family of the truth. Their need for someone to blame and his poor condition did nothing to help him. At ever turn to defend his love, he was presented with an iron defense, and 'evidence' to dispute him.

'How can I make them believe me?'

He'd described his attackers- that got him nowhere. He described how he was saved by Seiji, but they merely drew the lines that he was there the entire time, as he and his men were the ones who slaughtered his servants. He tried explaining that they were friends, but they merely passed it off as a means to confuse and use him.

And the fact that throughout it all, the only person his father blamed more than Seiji for all this mess was the king himself, didn't help any at all. Tah was worried sick, staying awake at his bedside, refusing to leave, while his father wallowed in shame and guilt as he juggled all the powerful men frothing at the mouth for answers and action.

No one would tell him anything about Seiji, and his worry was eating him alive. If he hadn't lied, if he'd have been  a better warrior, Seiji would never have been put in such peril.

At another end, Touma resorted to picking up right where he left off.

"Please, you have to listen to me! I'm telling the truth!!"

"But Touma... there was never any statement that I was kidnapped! I've been here the whole time, worried about you! And now this Seiji person-"

"He didn't do this." Touma ground out between clenched teeth.

"Touma," Tah settled on the bed beside her distraught brother, holding his hand in hers. "I want to believe you, I do. But-"

"But it's obvious what has happened." Their father cut in.

Touma just shook his head sadly, gazing imploringly at his father.

"It wasn't him..."

"It all comes down to this, son." The King stepped out of the corner and towered over the foot of Touma's bed. "You were attacked and stranded in the woods, where Prince Seiji just *happen* to have set up camp. For days now you have been in his company, while we received reports of your torture and death for ransom. During your stay you were... physically accosted," Touma groaned, wondering just how much he'd 'said' while he was out.  "...and then beaten. Have I left out anything so far?"

Touma shook his head until the blood threatened to pool in one side and set him off balance, so he resorted to sad little moans as he watched his fists clench in his bedclothes.

"Then, once word got out that the prince was seen in the area, and scouts were sent out to find him and bring him here safely, we found you, in this wretched condition. To think that we were concerned for his welfare!!" He slammed his palms on the bed frame, sending Touma tumbling onto his back, Tah gathering him in her arms. "He came here to try and fool us again! To twist the truth so that he would seem innocent! Then there would be no wedding. There would be no alliance. The war would continue, maybe escalate- all that that warring land could ever hope for." Face red, the king turned to leave, stopping in the doorway. "I shall delegate now, on a suitable punishment." He turned and looked at his fearful son. "And it doesn't bode well for him."

As soon as he had left, Touma burst into tears in Tah's arms. Tah rocked him and petted his hair as he wept, feeling tears stinging her own eyes. Touma had a concussion, was delirious. But he seemed so sure, so certain that the prince was not to blame.

Tucking him in, Tah left the room.
 

**********
 

"Your majesty? Have you decided?"

The King of Tenkuu, chin in his hand, slumped in his throne, didn't answer. He'd been deliberating for hours now, and still had not come to a decision. Finally speaking, though more to himself, he stared out the window paying no mind to his servant.

"If we send him home in disgrace, and spread the word... no one will ever look to Korin with respect again. That's a heavy blow..." An unhappy shuffle from his servant gathered his attention. "What do you think, then? If we execute him, it will start a *real* war. I won't condone an act of war!"

"But my lord, it would be an execution in disgrace. Make it public, his crimes against the throne and the prince's person. He's a murderer, a kidnapper, a rapist and a liar. It would seem you were without your wits if you simply sent him home with a nasty letter to his father."

"...and the servants?" His own servant shrugged his broad shoulders.

"They were merely following orders, like any good worker. They should be returned- after being soundly punished, of course."

The king thought for a few moments, nodding absently, then more surely.

"Very well. Execute him."

The roughened warrior smiled darkly.

"Yes, my lord."
 

**********

Ping- Oh, I am so evil....
Seiji- (0)_(0)
Touma- T~T    I hate you...

The next one should come faster, as I now picked up the thread that I lost months ago and actually know where this is going...