Early every morning, without fail, she leaves her home in search of any pond she can find. You wonder what she's looking for, but at the nervous age of six you can't find the courage to ask. It doesn't concern you, and you leave it at that.

You can't help but quietly tag along, though. It's better than hanging out with Hibiki, who only seems interested in playing small pranks to get Kris's attention.

That's the only reason, you tell yourself.

Then on one of the hotter days of summer, she asks you why you always follow her. Startled, you quickly tell her that it's none of her business and she laughs before returning to her work. Then you wonder if she has noticed you all this time, and your face reddens.

You ask her why she's always looking in ponds and streams, and she replies that she's looking for her prince. Then she proceeds to relate the story about frogs and kisses and princes and how she wants a prince of her own.

It's a sappy story, you think, and you roll your eyes. But you decide to help her look, anyway, so you squat down in the moist soil next to her, and she smiles.

You have the time of your life, squelching down in the mud, listening to her talk about airy and happy things.

You start to come every day, without fail, early every morning. Just to see her smile. And she's always waiting in small fields and grassy meadows for you. But you don't smile. You never do.

When the colder winds start to blow and icy powder starts to drift from the sky, you visit the ponds to see if she's there. To your surprise, she isn't, so you sit there in the cold and continue looking through the thin sheets of ice.

You suppose that her parents didn't want her out in the cold, so you continue the work for her, shivering through your clothes.

You quietly claw at ice and dig through light snow.

When you don't find her 'prince', you leave, defeated and upset.

When the snow melts and the flowers shoot eagerly from the earth, you head to the pond. When you find her there looking around again, you almost run over to her. Almost.

Only this time, you don't feel like helping.

You feel like shouting at her, telling her that if she looked harder, she would see her prince standing right beside her. You. But you're too young to be her prince, and your fists clench. You feel frustrated now, because you start to think you wouldn't make a good prince even if you tried.

Instead, you painfully choke down the words and squat down beside her like you usually do. She smiles her usual bright and toothy smile, and you slightly wish you could be a frog. But that's a stupid thought, and it hurts. You stand up, brush off your hands on your shorts and walk briskly away.

You don't think she notices, since she's so preoccupied with her stupid frog princes, but she does, and she lets you get away. You never notice how her eyes dull and how her smile dies.

You stop going. You don't need a girl with stupid ideas and stupid smiles.

You're older now, with old memories tucked deep into the back of your mind with the hope that they will never come out.

You've long forgotten about ponds and girls and princes. Nowadays you only concern yourself with winning and strength and power.

Then one day, she bumps into you, and you feel an unknown panic rising in your throat. It bothers you, so you push her out of the way and leave her sitting there, dazed and confused. Her expression is that of faint recognition, as if she's struggling to remember your name and your face.

You force the memories down and continue walking, almost running so she won't run after you. Never looking behind you.

After a few weeks, you see her again at a pond while your memories sit intact. She's poking a lily pad with a stick, and you fight down the urge to ask her if she's found her prince.

You squat down close to her, and from the corner of your eyes you see her eyes widen in shock. You smirk, the closest to a smile you've ever done. And you don't notice how cold the evening is when you see tears drip from her eyes as she stares.

You begin to ask yourself what you did wrong, but your thoughts freeze when she suddenly hugs you. You feel uncomfortable, but hug her back rather awkwardly, anyway, because she remembers you, and that's enough.

She says she doesn't need a prince anymore. And that's fine with you, because you aren't a prince and you are most definitely not a frog.

And you smile, because you're making up for the time when you never did.

end.

It's another SoulSilver fic c:

I thought this idea was pretty good when it was in it's early stages, but I feel as if I've ruined the fic. Meh, I'll post it anyways. You can never have enough fanfiction.

Please review if you can~