Oh what it was to be young and venturing around the corridors of the grand Camelot. She'd walked these corridors so many times over the years yet it was almost like overnight something had changed. One night she went to bed and the next she and Arthur had grown up to some extent. Now there was something behind their playful banter. Every bump, every graze of the hand or arm.. every look held echos of something new, something dangerous, and maybe even something forbidden. Suitors had begun to ask after Katerina and she began to have fun being sought after even if her eyes had room for only one at this point in time. Not that she'd make it easy for him, though she knew of his attraction to her. She crossed the courtyard seeing Arthur across the way. She purposefully refused to make any eye contact with him. No, she didn't even acknowledge him before she turned a corner and darted through an empty corridor. This corridor led to a part of the castle that was hardly ever used anymore and she always liked to explore it. If he wanted desired to speak to her then he'd have to seek her out.

To say it shortly to himself, Arthur realized that the little girl he'd seen over the years was suddenly intriguing to him. He wanted more of her than simple exchanges. The Court was not exactly the place for him to feel that he could truly follow after her in all of the manners her wished to. Everything was played like a game, and the ultimate prize was true love. The rules, however, were not that simple. Something about Katerina, over all of the other fair maidens at his Father's castle, made Arthur wish to throw all of the guidelines and practices to hell to see her in a manner that she'd appreciate. Without proper permission, Prince Arthur abruptly his sword in the weapons rack, leaving his trainers and his training calling, began to follow her disappearing form. "Wait! Katerina." His voice called after her before he caught up. "Wait!" It felt both alluring and frustrating to be unable to draw her attention. Normally, girls flocked to him. Arthur cleared his throat, coming up behind her and peering curiously over her shoulder. "Ahem."

She grinned just that little bit when she heard him call after her and calmly walked further into the dark corridor. Then he came up behind her and she bit her lip not even daring to turn around. "My lord, you called?" She spoke formally and then turned around quickly so that they were mare inches apart. Then she smirked. "If you wish to speak to me you'll have to catch me first." And then she quickly darted off into the corridor. It was like a hunt but who was the prey and who was the hunter wasn't immediately clear.

Arthur chuckled, and ran after her. It was obvious she wasn't going to wait for him. Their small adventure eventually led off into the garden. After chasing her a good distance around the castle, he was surprised to find she wasn't out of breath. "Not tired yet?" Arthur sighed, and ran his fingers through his hair. Wasn't this all a bit ridiculous? He had to admit, it hurt his pride a bit that she wouldn't simply respond to his common flirtations. "Or do you aim for me to chase you around the entire castle before you'll speak a word, Lady Katerina?"

She laughed as she ran and paused midway through a maze in the gardens putting her hand on a statue and walking around it. "The greatest things in life are not found through any simple means my Lord. I can talk, but wouldn't you rather earn it?" She questioned with an all too satisfied smirk of her own.

"I don't believe I know how." Arthur shrugged, still smiling up at the smile that had lit her face. Beautiful. It was true, normally he didn't have to chase the girls. They usually came chasing him. "But if you tell me, I'd..." What was the right word? "Learn? I-want to learn."

She released the statue and walked right up to him, her eyes trailing his jaw line and up to his eyes. "You want to learn." She repeated his statement purposefully letting her breath mingle with his for a moment. Then she stepped back and walked over to a flower. "Sometimes a girl likes to be the one chased. Sometimes a girl likes the thrill of the game. And sometimes a girl just likes to run around a castle making their Lord miss practice!" She said with a giggle not turning around but the smirk could be heard in her voice.

"So. There was a purpose to this...hour-long chase. A purpose to having people call my name after me in boorish tones?" Arthur couldn't resist bringing out his rather cocky annoyance in being tutored, and pampered, and trained constantly throughout his days. It seemed to never end. Truthfully, their childish chase had been quite the refreshing change to his ongoing pattern of life. Freedom seemed to lie at his fingertips. A freedom that started and ended with her. Arthur took a step closer, and raised his fingers to play with her hair. The motions were sutble, but certainly showed that he didn't appreciate being ignored.

"So proud of yourself aren't you my Lord?" She asked turning around and tilting her head. She was speaking in a mixture of formality and defiance that contradicted itself. Her eyes drifted from his hand on her hair to his face, the smirk never leaving it. In fact she even moved closer to him. "I thought they taught you to be humble, I suppose their teachings are lost on you." She said with a playful sigh.

"I think I'm learning." His eyes sparkled in a way that teased her. Arthur had been taught to be proud, and strong. He thought it was the only way to survive the world. Only time would tell if was allowing himself to be lead down the path of a fool, or if it would make him a better man. "But perhaps I like the way I live, and feel that there is indeed nothing to learn." His words were a dare for her to contest his ways. The hand that held her strand of hair began to wind it over his thumb, absentmindedly.

She stared up into his eyes and bit her lip. She was well aware of their close proximity and the fact that her heart and breathing had gotten just that little bit faster. She blinked slowly taking a deep breath. "There is always something more to learn my Lord." She said moving even closer almost as if she was contemplating kissing him but then with a smirk she quickly backed away and began to walk off back toward the darked corridor. Then she paused a moment and spoke. "Perhaps one day you'll learn that a man takes what he wants, he's not scared to go after it or.. make the first move." And then she turned around and walked quickly into the corridor almost disappearing into the narrow hallways that none had walked in years since this part of the castle hadn't been used in just as long.

Arthur was very well aware he'd been left behind at the moment. A smile lingered on his lips, watching her lingering form disappear into the shadows quickly. He'd get his time, and certainly didn't plan on being left in her shadow. "You'll see. I can play the game too." Arthur turned, and with a bounce in his step began to walk back towards the courtyard and his life of duty.

-Time Skip, a few days later.-

She hadn't heard from Arthur in quite some time though she had seen him around. She might not want to admit it but life in Camelot seemed quite boring to her without Arthur keeping her company. But then an envoy of noble guests had come to court and it appeared that one of the young gentlemen had set his eyes on her. She also 'seemed' quite taken with the man though he didn't elicit the same fire as someone else she knew, within her heart. Not that she'd admit that either. She had been spending quite the time with him as the week progressed and all but forgot about Arthur. This seemingly courting by this man did not go unnoticed by many a person of the court either. They walked and talked quite often passing right by Arthur. She was walking down a corridor on her way to meet this noble man yet again.

"Just where do you think your going?" Arthur reached out from a niche in one of the corridor walls, and grabbed her wrist as she walked past. The grip was soft enough it wouldn't be painful, but had enough force she'd have to come without a fight. He couldn't put a finger on how he'd been feeling the past few days, but sleep had certainly been evading him, and signs of that had begun to show upon his face. A sword still hung at his belt, as he was on his way to daily practice. When the silence appeared to be his answer, his brow and lips knit together in a tight frown. He wasn't going to loose so easily, not by a long shot. "What is his name, Katerina?"

She had been walking pleasantly enough through the corridor when suddenly she was somewhat roughly pulled into the niche in the wall. She let out a slight gasp of surprise before she was face to face with Arthur Pendragon. Her face echoed her shock over this turn of events more then anything and she wasn't quite able to form words yet. She opened and closed her mouth before a glare permeated her face. "I fail to see what business that is of yours. Now if you'll excuse me I'll be going." She began to pull away or attempt to.

Arthur pulled her back. It was hard, nor forceful, but rather demanding in its way. "No. I'm not letting you go until I get my answer. You've been avoiding me for an entire week, and I deserve that much." The answer he shot back was defensive, and drawn. No longer was he testing her loyalty. He wanted it. Arthur could practically feel tension build up in the small space between them, but did not avert his eyes.

She again was pulled back and her gaze turned almost deadly. Her breathing became a bit faster as her annoyance was growing. "Stop being childish. Perhaps you should pay more attention at meeting of the court if you want to know who is visiting your kingdom. I haven't been avoiding you, I've been busy or did you not hear /your/ father give our visitor permission to court me?" She almost yelled back at him, eyes narrow.

Arthur planted a hand firmly over her mouth before her voice could grow in volume. The conversation was not one he particularly wanted being overheard."Busy you have been." His tone was less than tolerant now. "Apparently to busy to catch up with an old friend that greatly cares about you." He watched her struggle for a moment, then shoot daggers at him with her eyes.

The nerve of him! She was beyond furious now. Katerina struggled for a moment giving him a death glare. Somewhere in her mind his words or part of them registered but her anger was masking everything. She all but ripped his hand away from her mouth. "Don't touch me!" She said it much harsher then she would of if she was calm. Her heart was racing and she was staring with such intensity at him that the heat could literally be felt.

His hands dropped to his sides, but remarkably neither one of them moved from their places. They were too captivated by one another. "Don't touch me!" Her words echoed in his mind, drawing him in like another one of her playful words games, though he knew this phrase was not meant in jest nor light. Tick, tock, tick, tock. A minute, passed, and then two. Arthur still had not a single word to say as he stared. Dark, impulsive eyes glared right into his but hid a childlike innocence behind them, and lips a red as blood opened half a centimeter for a breathe of air as the air grew thick.

"Do you want this as much as I do?" His words were barely audible, but his breathes echoed over her like warm summer breezes.

The moment Katerina's words were out and she threw his hand down there almost seemed a shift in the air. It was as if time stopped and sped up all at once. His face was slightly red from the emotions running through him and she was quite sure hers was the same.
"What..?"

She wanted to move, to go rushing down the corridor and back to the person she had spent the week with. What right did he have to be expressing any sort of anger toward whom she spent her time with? The King even approved of her activities. She gave him more than one chance to chase her and..

That was it, this was his move.

Her mouth parted slightly in an almost gasp as suddenly a firestorm of emotions were coursing through her. Her eyes drifted from his eyes to his mouth and back up again. She became hyper aware of their proximity she was sure that even had she wanted to move she wouldn't be able to. The tension between them had hit a critical level and her breathing fluctuated between heavy gasping breaths as she was still recovering from their heated argument and holding her breath all together.

It was slow; soft, and silent was the motion towards her. Anyone standing nearby would not have noticed, and simply gone on with their everyday activities, slipping the sweet but shy moment between their fingertips.

Arthur felt his heart begin to race. Katerina always seemed to have that effect on him, even when trapped only in his thoughts. His fiery blue eyes slipped close, and before he knew what quite was happening, he'd placed his arms gently around her shoulders, then locked his lips into hers.

She watched him as he moved toward her. Every millisecond almost seemed to take far too long. Her mind had become cloudy and everything else and everyone else had suddenly disappeared from her thoughts all together. This little game they had going had finally entered the next level and she wasn't the one that was responsible for it this time. Then she could feel his arms around her shoulders, her back hit the wall in the small enclosed space, and his lips on hers. All in an instant a fury of emotions ignited in her. Teasing him and getting his attention was one thing but having it now was another. Anger, passion, love, affection? All those things blurred together in that moment and before she even knew what she was doing she had responded to the kiss and her hands had shot up around his neck. This wasn't a gentle kiss, no, both their emotions were far too furious for that, yet, somehow, for a first kiss between them it was exactly the way it should be.

Arthur wound his fingers in his hair, and a half smile tilted of his lips, even while they were thuroughly occupied with hers. For a moment he felt himself needing air, and only seperated for that bare time it took to gather a breathe before he began to kiss her again. She was too beautiful, and it overwhelmed him. Seconds turned into minutes, and his ears became silenced to the footsteps approaching. A first kiss. So perfect, so passionate.
"Katerina! Arthur?" He blinked and looked up.

Fire and Ice. Those were the best words describe the feelings rushing through them at this moment. The heated passion of the kiss with the icy anger that came with it. When he pulled away for air she found herself pouting for the smallest of moments and pulling him back. She wasn't sure what was happening between them. On one end it was new and exciting. On the other it angered her for even happening. Then she broke away breathing heavily as Morgana's shocked voice rang out.

Morgana looked at them with a tilt of her head and arms on her hips. A smirk graced her lips that in that moment made Katerina roll her eyes. Oh, she knew this would happen and she wasn't going to let her forget about this.

"Morgana! This... um..."

She quickly attempted to pull away from Arthur, finding it harder than she realised.

A flush grew over the Prince's cheeks. What had happened? There Morgana stood, managing to look so self satisfied. 'Like she knew.' Arthur thought, but then realised she probably had. Morgana knew everything about him. She could practically see into his heart.

"Morgana!" Arthur still kept his arm around Katerina's shoulder, in a way that was almost protective. There was not a way he letting her go. Not now, not ever. There was something there.

Still, looking from girl to the other, both of whom he desperately cared for, Arthur knew that this was a relationship that would be hidden in shadows, at least until Katerina's other suitor had relented his case.

Bottom of Form 1