"Jerk"

This was a request by aRLegOdDesS waaaaaaaaay before, which explains the crappy grammar and whatnot. Jade Bloom belongs to her while Nicu and other Gaia-related stuff belongs to Gaia Online. What do I own? This crappy fanfiction.

Enjoy.

"…Argh!"

The sound of tearing papers reached her ears as she yanked the now crumpled paper to an almost full trash bin. Next was her scribbling on the paper, her pen moving fast as she held it in-between her slender fingers. She quickly reread it. Not long after, her eyes narrowed. She tore the page off the notebook and crumpled it, throwing it on the poor, neglected trash bin.

She flailed her back backwards, leaning on the soft side of the swivel chair. Being on a writer's block was not fun at all! She only had a month to write a story. After that, she would no longer be a writer. Of course that would never happened…if it weren't for this stupid phenomenon.

She let out a frustrated sigh, her fingers combing her black locks. She hadn't been out for a while. Maybe a walk around the town would give her an idea or two. She stood up from her seat and threw the pen on her messy desk. Grabbing a comb from her dresser, she quickly combed her hair and took one last glance on a wall mirror before taking off. She need not bother locking her house. There wasn't anything there…except papers, a new-modeled fridge, a big flat screen TV, and lots of chocolates.

She stopped on her tracks, grumbling to herself. She turned back and looked for her keys so she could lock her house. Man, she could be naïve at times. Locking the door, she took off finally. Moments later, she arrived at the town, taking the patterned paths so she need not to face any Animateds. She wasn't armed today with her rings and those stupid lawn gnomes and flamingos would not leave her without a fight. So, better stay safe than sorry, or something like that.

The town was busy, like usual. The only thing was…they all looked happy. She was actually very jealous. While she was cramming and desperate on writing a story, these people before her had smiles on their faces and celebrated like there were no worries in the world. She shrugged those thoughts off. There was no use in being emotional about it. While walking around the streets, she admired at the new outlets and displays on the stores. She hadn't been out except on her way to school. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't been spending time with her girl pals. She let out a tired smile. Since her she became a writer, she barely had enough time with her friends.

"Why the glum look, madam?"

She looked up upon hearing that voice. A young, tall man stood in front of her. His hair was short and curly brown and he had the palest eyes she'd ever seen. His shirt was slightly open, letting her have a glimpse of his well-toned chest. She blushed at that thought, what the hell was she thinking? That was so wrong! A mental image of Jiru appeared on her mind. She rolled her eyes. No wonder she was thinking like this, Jiru had apparently rubbed her boy-crazed personality onto her. She suddenly remembered that the unknown man was still standing in front of her, his beret carelessly worn on his head.

"Oh, uh, well, nothin– Mind your own business!" she snapped, glaring at him.

He raised his hands as if surrendering.

"Woah. My apologies, madam. Nicu was just worried," he apologized, a grin ceasing on his good-looking face.

"Uh-huh, a complete stranger worried over a stranger. Great job." She turned to walk past him, but he easily blocked her with his tall figure. She frowned, not liking this event at all.

"Before you go, would you like to purchase anything from my wagon?" he offered.

She cast him a glare, not liking this offer very much.

"Sorry, but I'm broke. I have no time to buy trash or whatsoever," she said rather rudely, attempting to walk past him again.

He let out a gasp, feigning distress on his face. He, once again, blocked her way to escape.

"Nicu's things are not trash. They're splendid and one of the kind!" he said over exaggeratedly. She only stared at him, an eyebrow up.

"…Okay." She finally agreed, not feeling like arguing anymore. And here she thought she could find some ideas for her stories, but instead, she found herself giving in to this vendor.

'It's okay. It's not as if I'm buying anything. Just pretend you're interested on buying something then say you have nothing with you,' of course, she had her wallet inside her pocket. But she wouldn't let him know.

"How about this! I even have evolving items like Alnulurua's Rose!" he said, presenting a weird-looking rose.

She stared at it like it was something weird, to which it was.

"Ah, don't you mean Alruna's Rose?" she asked, crossing her arms to her chest.

He simply shook his head, his right index finger swaying.

"No, it's Alnulurua's Rose! It's like the popular Alruna, but more expensive! I accept pure gold, but I prefer G-cash!" he said mischievously.

Jade ignored him, poking the weird-looking rose with a twig she found nearby. The rose, in return, munched on the twig, making her pull away.

"…Uh..." she trailed off, uncertain what to say.

"And how much is this?" she asked, expecting it to be thousands of gold.

"One million gold!"

"Oh, one milli- ONE MILLION GOLD?" she repeated, her eyes wide.

"What the hell! That's more expensive than the real thing! That's not fair!" she complained.

He ticked his hat calmly, a grin still on his face.

"Well, I did say it's more expensive than Alruna's Rose!" he reminded casually. "And of course, my prices are fair. For all you know, you're getting a great deal,"

"More like getting me bankrupt. I'm out of here," she quickly dodged and ran away as this Nicu guy made a move to stop her from escaping. She stuck her tongue at him and made her towards the west gate.

"Hey, wait! Don't go-" but she ignored the warnings of the guards that stood beside the gate. She entered the Zen gardens, temporarily forgetting the danger inside the once tourist spot of Gaia. She stopped on her tracks, heaving for breath. Just a few seconds of running made her tired. She was out of shape. She better start exercising or something. A weird sound disturbed her train of thoughts. She quickly stood up straight, now alarmed. She found her self surrounded by the animated Kokeshi Dolls. Their faces looked mad and ready to kill her.

"Oh great," she said, "can my life get any worse than this?"

She barely missed a sharp bladed fan as it flew towards her way. A thin line of red formed on one of her cheeks. Not long after, blood trickled down on her face. She tried to summon a whirl of wind but nothing happened. She slapped her forehead. She didn't wear any rings today.

"Oh yes, my life can get worse," she said sarcastically, taking a step back as the Kokeshi dolls approached her. The dolls raised their fans, but before they could send them flying towards her, they all flew away as a strong gust of wind sliced through them.

She looked for the source and found the vendor from a while ago.

"Really, why would you come here armless?" he asked, his grin never leaving his face.

Before she could even utter a comeback, he pulled her away and attacked the Kokeshi dolls that stood back to their little feet. Before long, they all lied lifelessly on the ground, back to being regular Kokeshi dolls.

"That's the last of them," he announced as he glanced at her way.

She only looked at him. She had to admit it he looked…cool.

"…Thanks," she finally muttered, blushing at her confession she had thought.

"No problem. Nicu will save his customers any time! You know what they say about great customers: there's one born every minute,"

She actually smiled at his joke.

"Thank you…Nicu. That was nice of you,"

"In exchange for saving your life,"

Uh-oh.

"Would you like to purchase this Alnulurua's Ring? It comes handy, especially when you're fighting those Animateds!"

Jade stared at him for a full minute, right eye twitching. She suddenly picked up a fan that was once held by one of the Kokeshi dolls and hit Nicu's head with it.

"Jerk!" she exclaimed before stomping away. And here she thought he totally changed…

That night, Jade sat in front of her computer, hands positioned on the keyboard. A clean bandage covered the small wound that she had gotten from the fight a while ago. She glanced at the weird-looking rose that was settled on a vase, munching a roaming housefly. She reminisced, smiling at the thought. She started typing on the keyboard, a plot already in her mind. She had typed fifty pages already in just two hours. She was capable of doing that, if she was very engrossed to it. She clicked on her journal and updated it.

Dear Diary,

Today I met this traveling vendor. He was a corrupt and a manipulative jerk. But he saved me when I was almost rammed by those evil Kokeshi dolls. I don't know why, but after saving me, I think I like him.

She glanced at the rose again, which was looking at her back. She smiled and looked back at the screen.

I ended up keeping this weird rose he had. Is this what they call love at first sight?

Maybe it was, or maybe it was not. But for sure, she liked him; especially his grin that she thought irritated her. Love does work in mysterious ways.

END.