"You've got to be kidding me? Is that seriously all you got, woman?!"

Kenmei gave a shocked 'eep' as a shard of ice shattered her borg, flying right past her face

to pierce into the ground behind her. She heard the sound of the ice spreading across the ground,

but didn't think about it as she took a step back to catch her balance, which had been thrown off

from the attack. Her heel met with the slick surface of the ice and she slipped, falling backwards

and landing with a crash on the ice.

Along with the new found ringing in the young magician's ears, she could hear a hysterical, violent laughter coming from the skies above her. She put her hand to her head and opened her eyes, trying to focus her double vision on the floating man in the sky, who was doubled over and holding his stomach as he tried to catch his breath. Her pain was always just so funny to him.

"T-that wasn't funny!" Kenmei called to him, using her hands to help her sit up, but the slickness of the ice caused her to fall back again. The boy sputtered and began to laugh even harder, turning his back to her in an attempt to calm his laughter.

Defeated and no longer caring about her humiliation, which was more common than not around Judar, Kenmei rolled off the ice onto the rocky surface of the courtyard. She could feel the aching in her back and a pounding in the back of her head as she sat up off of the ground before sitting back down, crossing her legs.

"You should probably stop laughing before you pee yourself." She muttered to herself as she attempted her fix her hair. Though she tried to act tough, the dark red shade of her cheeks gave her embarrassment away. She had once again made herself look like a total idiot in front of the Magi she had grown to adore. And, even though he had done this to her, she could not find it in her to become angry with him.

It was his nature, after all. He was always so cruel to her, every day was seemed never ending with the constant insults, pranks and childish behavior. Still, she found herself drawn to him, wanting nothing more than to hear his voice every day. To have her first icy cold shower of the day as she walked through the courtyard in the morning, or even have a new hair-do, perfectly crafted from high winds or static electricity.

Judar had become the center of her happiness since her brothers death, though the Magi had no knowledge of this. Without him there to tease her, Kenmei felt alone. Even with the few other friends she had in the palace, nothing seemed to fill the hole in her chest like he did. Every cocky grin he flashed and every touch, be it a playful pat on the head or a hand to help her off the ground, filled her stomach with butterflies. Even now, as he laughed at her embarrassing fall, the butterflies fluttered through her stomach and threatened to burst out.

But she kept them contained. Even if she did confess her feelings, the cruel boy would only reject her. She knew this all too well, as any previous attempts to flirt or be more friendly than childish only caused him to become defensive and rude. He would simply and casually reject her affection, often leaving her alone after or insulting her before he decided that he wanted to spar. Every rejection crushed Kenmei little by little, causing her to finally decide to keep her feelings hidden and do her best to avoid showing him affection.

She looked up, fingers still tangled in her hair as Judar landed in front of her, wiping the tears of laughter from the corners of his eyes. Kenmei gave him an irritated look as she pulled her hair band loose, causing her hair to fall free across her shoulder.

"Done yet? I thought you were going to pass out from lack of air to your tiny brain."

Judar's amused expression faded and he gave her a glare, putting his hands on his hips in irritation. "You better watch it, woman, I still have ice up there."

Sure enough, Kenmei noticed his wand still held in his hand. She could feel a thought tugging at the back of her head, telling her not to look up and see if he was telling the truth.

The thing with these little 'training' sessions was that Judar was finished when he felt like being finished, even if Kenmei was completely out of Magoi. He would attack her until he was satisfied, even if all she could do was run. Of course, he covered this up by just calling it 'physical training'. And even though she knew this was complete bull, Kenmei went along with it during every session. Every second longer she could spend making him grin was worth it to her, even if she had to sleep the rest of the day to regain her energy.

After some serious consideration, the young woman tilted her head back and shifted her tired eyes to the sky. Her first thoughts were not of ice, but of how beautiful it was. Dusk had fallen, and as the sky darkened it was painted in beautiful shades of pink, orange and purple, with splashes of bright yellow coming from the sun. In the darkest part of the sky, the moon was visible and was bigger and brighter than the sun that was setting, leaving the moon to take its place.

Kenmei was drawn back from her observations by a light snickering from the childish boy in front of her. She tilted her head back down and look at him, actually a bit confused as to why he was laughing once again.

Judar put his wand away, shaking his head and snickering. "You actually looked. Klutzy and gullible."

Kenmei's face turned a darker shade of red and she looked away. She attempted to stand, but the pounding in her head caused her to become dizzy once again and she stopped, only making it to her knees. "I really must have busted my head."

"Nah, you're just weak in general."

Kenmei opened her mouth to retaliate, but stopped when he held his hand out to help her up. When she didn't take it right away, he raised an eyebrow at her, threatening to take back his offer.

She quickly took his hand after seeing his silent threat and began to stand, though she didn't need to do much as he was easily able to pull her to her feet.

Kenmei caught her balance and looked up at him to thank him, but the words caught in her throat when she saw how close he had pulled her. It felt unnaturally close to her, like it must have been some kind of accident. She could feel her face flush red once again and the butterflies returned, but more violent than ever. It almost made her feel sick to her stomach.

Judar blinked before a smirk crossed his face. "Gonna let go of me?"

Kenmei gave a small gasp and she quickly let go of his hand, which she had still be holding onto. How tightly, she did not know. She hadn't even noticed she was still clutching onto it. But once she released, she felt the longing to hold it again flood through her. She had taken his hand during similar situations before, but something about tonight was different. Her feelings were at a high point, bubbling out of control.

And she could tell, by the look on his face, that he knew it. But something was different about the way he was acting...

Wait a minute... Kenmei took a step back from him to increase the distance between them, but his smirk did not fade. He did that on purpose, pulling me that close. Why would he push me?

There was silence between them for a moment, before Kenmei gave a light cough and began to run her fingers though her hair and looking down at the ground. "I-is that all for tonight?"

Judar gave a shrug, smirk fading to a bored look. "I guess so, since you're out of Magoi already. So boring."

Kenmei continued to run her fingers though her hair, unable to really think of anything to say. She couldn't tell what he was doing, it was so confusing to her. But, this hadn't been the first time he had pushed her feelings out like that.

When her brother Kendai passed away more than half a year ago, Kenmei fell into the deepest pit of depression she had ever found herself in. Not only was she lost and confused, but she grew an extreme hatred towards herself. She blamed herself, knowing that she could have eased his pain and prolonged his life if she would have just checked the letters scattered across her desk sooner. Nothing seemed to help pull her out of this. She could not focus on her books and practicing magic was of no interest to her. Even training with Judar sparked no interests. Instead, she spent her days sleeping and sitting in hot baths, letting her mind continue to cripple in the thought of being alone in the world, now, with no family.

For the first few weeks, she didn't even notice Judar's irritation at her new found personality. His pranks brought no reaction out of her and neither did his insults. She didn't know why he continued to pick on her, even when it was so obvious that she wanted to be left alone. Even with no reaction, though, the attention he showed her continued, becoming more and more often through the days.

Until finally, a little over two months since Kendai's death, he stopped. Instead, he came up to her, threatening to remove her from the palace if she didn't shape up. He forced her back into her normal routine with sparing and her normal responsibilities around the palace.

It was like something clicked in her head while she was running from him in the courtyard. Her mind was pulled back into reality and she realized that she wasn't alone. Sure, Judar was a cruel and selfish man, but Kenmei felt like he had been there for her in his own way. She began to realize that she hadn't been alone and wasn't alone with him around.

This brought up new feelings for Judar that Kenmei hadn't yet accepted. She fell for him, and it was a hard fall. But sadly, Kenmei was not relationship building savvy and everything she tried to do seemed awkward and just amusing to him. Any time she would try to flirt or be cute with him, he would push her away and call her names. If she tried to touch him, even if he was in a good mood, he would pull away from her. He would also laugh at her attempts and tease her about it, though he still didn't really seem to catch on to what she was trying to do.

After one attempt to closer to him, Judar seemed to scold her about her odd behavior and told her that he wasn't even close to her as a friend. This hurt Kenmei, but she did not let it get to her, as she knew his nature well. She suspected that he would never understand or return the same feelings she had, and after a month and a half of constant failed attempts, Kenmei stopped acting cutesy and instead acted more like a comfortable friend with him. She didn't want to push him and risk the chance him him leaving her behind.

Kenmei started noticing change in him a few weeks after she slowed her attempts at getting closer to him. He wanted to fight less and would rather just sit around and do nothing with her. They began to talk more often, even though it seemed more like Kenmei was talking and Judar was just listening as he ate his own weight in fruits. His teasing and pranks did not stop, but they did seem to change. His insults and teasing became less hurtful and his pranks became less dangerous. So, with this new change in his personality around her, she began her attempts at being flirty again.

She was not ready for it when he actually became flirtatious back. In fact, it shocked her so much that she locked herself away in her room and avoided him to the best of her ability for a few days. She wasn't scared of him, but was actually so excited that he had actually showed affection back, even if it was in his own rude, overbearing way.

The need to see him soon pulled her back out into the real world once again and she resumed her daily life. But, Kenmei soon learned that Judar's idea of flirting was completely different from hers.

Instead of what Kenmei had experienced from her close friend Dyvar in Magnostadt, who had attempted a relationship with her at the time and was the sweetest boy she had ever met, Judar was different. He found joy in embarrassing her as often as he could, using her feelings against her to amuse himself. He began to do things like put his arm around her shoulders and tease her, get awkwardly close and say things about her body, though they were normally rude. Still, even with this more aggressive way of showing more affection, he continued to grow on Kenmei until she couldn't stand to keep her feelings so hidden any longer.

And here he was, doing it again. Pushing her closer and closer to the edge, to the point where she was about to let herself fall. She knew she couldn't keep this up forever, hiding behind her embarrassment instead of expressing herself. But she knew what was holding her back.

The thought of losing him terrified her already. Even now, he would be there one day, then he would be gone for days on end before he would come back and life would go back to normal for her. It was so lonely without him, as she had begun to depend on him so heavily to fill the hole in her chest. She didn't want to express herself, only to anger or annoy him to the point where he decided that he didn't want to be around her anymore.

Kenmei was pulled from her thoughts as he snapped his fingers in front of her face to get her attention back on him.

"Helloooo? Anyone in there?" He knocked on the top of her head a few times. Kenmei waved his hand away. "Stop that."

He put his hands on his hips again. "Finally. Anyway, yes, I'm done for the night. You're obviously in your own little world right now, so there's no point in doing anything else." He waved his hand before he turned and started to walk away. Kenmei blinked and followed him, since he was headed in the same was she was supposed to go to her living quarters.

"Uhm.. why are you going this way?" She held her wand close to her chest as she walked beside him, looking up at him with a curious look.

He looked down at her from the corner of his eye. "What does it matter which way I go? I can go where I want to."

"I know that, you just don't normally go this way." She got an idea to tease him with and she gave a sly smile. "Unless.."

"What?" He gave her a look, already knowing he was going to be irritated by any comment she made.

"Are you walking me to my room?" She nudged him in the side gently with her elbow, but he instantly nudged her back in the arm, though he was more rough.

"Tch, what the hell makes you think I'd want to do something like that?"

"Well, I live this way. We already passed the way to go for food and I know nothing else interests you this way. So if it's not that, then what?"

"The baths are this way, too, stupid girl."

"The woman's baths are this way. Besides, you don't use the public baths, you spoiled brat."

He rolled his eyes and looked away, falling silent. Kenmei leaned forward a bit to be able to look at his face. "Well? Am I right, 'Lord Priest'?"

"You're about to be in serious trouble if you don't shut up."

"Oh? Is that right."

Judar suddenly stopped walking and turned to face her, one hand on his hip with a blank, unamused look on his face. Kenmei stopped as well, sly smile fading from her face. That look on his face always made her nervous. She was never able to tell what he was thinking or what he was about to do when he looked at her like that.

With a sniff, Judar scratched his cheek. "You know, I've noticed you've been acting a bit odd today. All quiet, using your tiny brain too much and your face hasn't turned normal color since we met up today. If you can explain that, then I'll tell you why I'm walking this way."

Kenmei blinked, feeling the butterflies rise up once again and her cheeks become warm. "I dont know what you mea-"

"That!" Judar cut her off, pointing his finger in her face. "You get this stupid look on your face sometimes and it's annoying. Tell me why."

Kenmei's eyes fell to the floor and she held her wand closer to her. "I..." Her thoughts were cut off when she saw his feet move as he took a step closer to her, causing her to look back up at him again. He held his hand out still, but turned it so that it was facing palm up, like he was expecting her to hand him something. "Come on, spill it."

She could only stare at his hand and continue to step backwards, able to feel her face continue to heat up. But with every step she back that she took, he followed, until she felt her back press against the cold, hard stone of the hall they were in.

Judar only stopped when he was at that awkwardly close distance, even closer than he had pulled her just moments before. He raised his eyebrow at her, his hands now placed on his hips once again. "Well?"

Kenmei began to tremble, her eyes locked on the red jewel on his neck piece. There were a million different feelings growing inside of her.

Embarrassment at how close he was. If she was relaxed and not pressing herself against the wall, her arms could easily touch his chest.

Anger at how he was treating her, keeping her pushed up against the wall like a trapped rat.

Fear at the thought of what he would do if she told him how deeply she cared for him.

Happiness that he was still acting this way towards her.

Hope that it might work out if she did express herself.

After moments of silence between the two, Kenmei looked up at him in the eye, though her trembling was still obvious. Judar gave a smirk. "What's wrong? Scared?"

She tightened her grip on her wand. "No.."

"Then what? You're shaking like it's winter out here, even though it's the middle of summer. Come on, spit it out."

"I can't..."

He raised an eyebrow at her. "Can't? Bull, you're just being weak."

She bit down on the inside of her lower lip as she kept her eyes on his. "But.. you might.."

"Just shut up an-"

Judar was suddenly cut off by Kenmei leaning up off of the wall and lightly pressing her lips against his.

Kenmei just couldn't take it anymore. It was too much for her to continue to hide, especially with this extreme pressure coming from his end. But, as their lips touched, she felt an extreme weight lift off of her shoulders. It would have taken her hours to explain herself, but she easily said everything with this simple, yet important action.

Though Kenmei longed for it to last, it ended after simple seconds. She pressed herself back against the wall and hid her face behind her wand, looking at him past the jewel held in its center.

Judar blinked, a confused and shocked look on his face. He tilted his head down a bit before he closed his eyes, one hand coming up to cover his mouth. Kenmei felt her heart weight down heavily, the fear starting to well up inside of her again.

Until she heard the snickering before the full on laughter arose from his lungs. Judar took a step back, putting a hand on his stomach as he pointed at her. "Are you serious?!"

Those words pushed the fear away and just brought up confusion.

"Uhm.. yes?"

Judar continued to laugh at Kenmei, almost unable to catch his breath. "You are the worst kisser ever!"

Kenmei made a face, lowering her wand. "That's why you're laughing at me?!"

"Well duh! You suck! I thought you'd be better at kissing, honestly, but it seems you're weak in that department, too." He wiped the tears of laughter from his eyes.

Kenmei poked him in the chest with her wand. "That's all you have to say? Seriously?!"

He grabbed her wand after she poked him. "Well, what else do you want me to say? What did you expect to happen?"

She didn't try to pull her wand back and just gave a shrug. "I.. don't know. I kind of thought you'd be mad."

"Mad?" He shook his head. "Nah. Just annoyed at how long you took to stop being weak and actually be confident."

Kenmei just stared at him, at a loss for words. "I don't-"

She was cut off as he pulled on the wand and pulled her over, putting one arm around her shoulders. "Just shut up."

Kenmei could only look up at him with confused eyes. "But we-"

"I mean it. Shut up." He removed his arm from her shoulders, but he let his hand run gently across her back and push her forwards slightly in the direction they had been heading before. Kenmei took a few small quick steps when he did so, though she kept her eyes on him as he continued to walk, leaving her behind.

Judar waved his hand, walking with a bit of skip in his step. "Better hurry up before I decide not to walk this way anymore."

Kenmei smiled and quickly followed after him. She didn't need a for sure answer right now. As long as he stayed by her side, she was happy.