Shadow Lands: Palace of the Spirit King - Kiharu's Plight

Kiharu turned to him. "I don't know about you, but I don't take kindly to being kidnapped, held against my will, and on top of it all you're going to force me to marry you? And after you've gained our trust, only to stab us in the back. I thought the Avatar was supposed to be noble and just. This is -- this -- !" she seemed to be incapable of speaking now. Kiharu leaned against the wall, breathing heavily.

"I despise you," she ended awkwardly, still glaring daggers at his face.

Kagutsuchi frowned "Well you'd better learn to like it...because you're going to be here for a while" he told her "I hope your mood improves by dinner...we have a date tonight, you'll find your dress in the closet, it belonged to my mother, it was a beautiful gown sewn from the softest silk from the Fire Nation...dinner's in an hour, wash up if you must." With this Kagutsuchi dissapeared, he sighed, he knew this was going to be harder than he thought.

Kiharu sighed. Him disappearing and reappearing all the time was starting to get irritating. Couldn't he just walk into a room like a normal person?

She supposed not.

Kiharu stood and walked over to the closet. Just as she expected, a single dress was suspended from its hanger, a kind of deep purplish red. She closed the doors again and went into the bathroom, preparing a bath but dressing in the same clothes she'd worn to the carnival.

She arrived after an hour and a half to dinner, late. She scooted into her seat, not looking at Kagutsuchi, and glaring at her food.

Kagutsuchi looked over at Kiharu from the other end of a long stone table "Eat" he said planly "Otherwise you'll starve yourself...this is the only food you're getting until my next meal....you'd better enjoy it."

Kiharu begrudgedly took tentative sips at her soup, growing more and more sour at the moment. She slouched in her seat, peering half-lidded at the table as she ate. After a moment, a cloud of boredness settled over her.

"So ..." she began. "How are you going to get me to marry you if I don't want to? I might have considered if you gave me more time and didn't end up being a total jackass."

Kagutsuchi looked at her a little shocked. This was the first half decent thing she had said to him since they arrived here, "You think I'm planning on marrying you now?" he said "I'm not a complete idiot, besides there are things I need to do first, and you need to adjust to this place....and I'm not totally stupid, you can't rush love,,but eventually yes, we will marry."

Kiharu scoffed. "You can't rush love ... " she mimicked, blowing softly on her soup before taking another sip. "You sound like such a hypocrite. How can you be so sure I will marry you? I am young and I have a boyfriend."

She thought of Maira, undoubtedly back in the Fire Nation awaiting her return. She'd known him for a while, but he seemed to be changing. War seemed to have gone to his head. Even so, they were still a couple, and Kiharu was determined to be loyal to him.

Kagutsuchi stood up and walked over to the window, a pale moonlight pouring into the room, making his red eyes seem to glow bright. He scoffed "You're in no position to talk about hypocracy and loyalty...you should've thought of all that before you accepted a date with me...besides" he said turning to her, his crimson eyes seeming to pierce her soul "Wasn't it you who just said that you would've considered sooner given....proper circumstances."

Kiharu said, coldly, "I have reasons for that, but they are truly none of your concern." She drank some of her wine. Dainty sips.

"So ... what if I don't marry you? Are you going to let me go?" An unspoken threat lingered on her tongue, turning her voice sour with malice. She ate some lamb, delicately slicing the tender meat from the bone with grace.

Kagutsuchi sighed "You have no choice, eventually you will marry me...but I have decided to be generous and allow you the time to choose" he said "If in the end you choose not to...it will be forced upon you...so make your choice...adapt and accept or refuse and be forced."