My second fic, first time writing a Jing x Cassis story. A warning for those of you reading this, don't read if you're into that raunchy material and hormonal behavior. This is rated M for a reason, ok? Well, to put it frankly, this fic is only rated M because of further scenes in this tell tale of two childhood friends. Now, understand that they are both 18 and 19, Jing being 19 and Cassis 18. When I'm talking about scenes, I hope not to write a sex fantasy, but instead a foreshadowing of innocent love (not love making). For those of you like me, I've been dying on trying to find some REALLY good fics about these two. If you know any good places, e-mail me and let me know about them. Arigatou!

Disclaimer: If I owned King of Bandit Jing, I wouldn't change anything except actually put Cassis in it. I mean, she does deserve to be in the manga and anime more, not just the OVA!

Princess Io

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One: Kingless Queen

Warm droplets spraying from the showerhead beat down furiously onto fair skin and daylight curls. Sighing for the nth time that day, Cassis allowed her eyes to open from deep thinking. She lost track of time and wondered how she got to the shower in the first place.

It had been a long day in the town of Wallace, home of the royal Gilliam family's heirloom, the emerald diamond. Like the experienced bandit that the young adult had trained to become, she lucratively nabbed the precious stone and traveled her way to the city of Pikon and into a nearby inn for the night. Of course, it was strange for a girl of her stature and beauty to take on the perilous job of thievery, but one of the reasons she was one was to prevent from marrying the young man her parents insisted her to.

"That's why I left! How could they go around, pick of some random person that I didn't even know existed and then declare that I was to marry him?" The blonde tightened her fists in anger, snapping off the switch and stomping onto the pearl tile, a trail of water following closely behind.

Whipping a hotel towel around her drenched form, Cassis wiped off the excess fog that lingered on the reflection of the mirror to look at herself. Yes, she had developed well built over her years of training, but her beauty had also started to show. Her turquoise orbs stared at how much she had grown over six long years. Standing at 5' 7", the 18 year old had what men considered a perfect body. From her luscious curves, full chest, athletic body and pouting coral lips, she could be mistaken for an angel that had fallen from heaven to fulfill any man's fantasies. As a final point, blow-drying off her sun kissed tresses and clad in a simple nightdress, Cassis exited her lavatory and prepared for bed.

Gazing genuinely in the semiprecious stone she had stolen the day before, Cassis had little by little realized that it seemed impossible to tell apart to a certain someone's prized possession she had seen at the age of 10. Her eyes widened when his name had passed her lips, "Jing….". The name she spoke of was so quiet a pin could be louder when dropped onto the floor concurrently.

Covering her mouth abruptly like she had shouted a taboo, Cassis held her breath. As cold sweat trickled down from the side of her head to the tip of her jaw, her keen hearing picked up soft padding in close proximity to her balcony window. Shifting her attention to the window, Cassis pushed back the curtains and the glass doors open, revealing a soft breeze and clear sky. Her ears began to strain due to the continuous pounding of her heart beat and sense that someone was near, threat or not.

All of a sudden, a wind blew by her from the side and Cassis deflected the slash towards her left eye with her short blade, unsheathed from her left sleeve. A small bit of friction had been formed between the clashing of swords, until Cassis shoved the intruder off. "I see that the rumors are true…you really are known as the Shadow Bandit. Why come here and interrupt my slumber?" Cassis asked frostily, defensively holding up her blade, the metal reflecting off the moonlight. A dark snicker escaped the thief's lips.

"I'm only here for two reasons, to kill you and to retrieve the emerald diamond. If you don't like having your throat slit before you could blink, hand it over." He retorted just as venemously.

Smirking, Cassis quickly did up her golden hair in a messy bun and tied up her nightgown for better movement. "I'll go with the other option: go to sleep with no worries." She lunged towards her opponent, once again conflicting metal with metal into an endless battle for victory.

Slashing upwards, Cassis managed to cut pieces of the bandit's clothing, fluttering to the floor. Taken aback, the bandit countered and then attempted to trip the girl off her feet. With reflexes like a feline, Cassis dodged the cheap sweep and drew out a second blade from within her right sleeve.

"Give in girl. Keep going, and you're bound to lose your head." He threatened, tossing variations of daggers one after another. In seconds, Cassis once again deflected another feeble attack that the bandit pursued against her.

"Empty threats Shadow." She smirked, lunging in for another strike. This time she was able to break his defensive barrier and land a powerful hit, knocking him unconscious. A groan escaped the Shadow Bandit's mouth, followed by a loud thud on the floor of the balcony.

For what seemed an eternity, Cassis had won against the bandit. Out of breath, she sheathed her blades back underneath her nightgown sleeves. Sighing, Cassis wrapped the bandit in rope and disposed of him to the authorities afterwards. Yawning, Cassis proceeded back into her room, picking up her forgotten chopstick that was supposed to keep her hair up and untying the ribbon she put around her gown, letting it flow down to the tops of her knees. "He had eyes that were just like…his." She thought intently, closing the balcony doors and shutting the curtains. Sitting on the edge of her bed, the young thief began thinking back in the days when she was ten, and her innocence wasn't lost.

----Flashback----

"I thought you were the one pulling strings, Jing." A young Cassis declared holding a wooden bat in one hand. An image of a ten-year-old Jing appeared in her mind with a mischievous smile. Shifting nervously, Jing replied, trying to convince her with sly words. "Actually…this was by their own free will and…" Ignoring his response, Cassis took action. "Why, you straight-pitched son of a…don't give me crap!" Swinging her powerful bat, missing Jing unfortunately.

"Hey! Violence is not nice!" "Besides…how is this thing a treasure? They just it jacked from the window of that antique shop over there!" Cassis yelled, wildly swinging and Jing desperately dodging her lethal blows. Luckily missing the stolen egg that soon hatched to becoming Kir, Jing's partner-in-crime.

----End of Flashback----

Giggling and smiling sincerely of the amusing memory, Cassis realized that it had been too long since hearing his voice. She then began wondering where he would be now in his travels and what he has stolen so far. Too exhausted from the battle she had with the Shadow Bandit earlier, she let her thoughts of the King of Bandits drift off into a deep slumber. At that moment sleep had dominated the young blonde, the doors of the balcony had slowly opened and a mysterious figure had approached her sleeping form.

The figure, stopping at the edge of her bed, reached out and pushed back a stray hair of gold and placed it behind her ear. "Cassis…" He whispered her name.

"Jing…" She responded, whispering within her dream. Cassis reached out, as if to touch Jing once again after six years of waiting and not being able to see or hear him. Joining his hand with hers, Jing placed a small, yet sweet kiss upon the back of her palm and replacing his calloused hand with a small token.

Waking up the next day, Cassis felt her hand on her forehead. "Am I insane? Was he real… while I was sleeping?" she thought, gazing at her left hand, imagining that his lips had come in contact with her skin.

Thinking about him had suddenly made her blush, staining them a light rose and scarlet. Cassis then shook her head and scolded herself for thinking so childishly over the fact that she has a crush on the King of Bandits. No…not a small crush like she did when she was 12, now it felt more like, this alien feeling that always made her stomach feel light and cause her to shiver whenever she thought of what he may look like in her dreams.

Getting out of bed, Cassis then noticed something in her closed hand and a small note on her nightstand. Opening her hand, her eyes widened in shock! No bigger than a coin, Cassis found a lavender shaded cat mask with confused eyes and wide smile of mint green. Also opening the note, reading every detail carefully, she wanted to speak words, but no sound came out. The note given to her had written on it:

Meet me at the Isle of Edel. Inside will be the mansion of Yukoshizu, Hikari where he possesses the garnet necklace tomorrow afternoon.

At the base of the letter had been the symbol of an amethyst cat with jade eyes and devious beam. The first name of Jing signed below it in quick strokes of an ink pen.

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A word from the author…

There we go! My first chapter of this epic tale of love. . Please review and tell me what you think! Any suggestions? Ideas? Throw those in too. Please no flaming either, and if you don't like Jing x Cassis, then don't read. Thanx! Just so you know, in my story, it's been six years since Cassis and Jing have seen each other, (Jing left at 13 to travel and steal while Cassis was 12 when she last saw him). But the memory/flashback she has in this chapter was when they were ten. As for some places like the Isle of Edel and the garnet necklace, those are my ideas; there will be others so hopefully you won't get confused.

And for those of you who have seen the anime or read the manga, some material are in there, hope you recognized it!