A/N: Yeah man, here's the next chapter… enjoy… cough oh and when I put the yen things on, it came up as a box. It was supposed to look like a y with a line going through it…
Chapter 2
For the next few days, Mizu and Nami remade Kuro's bed and brought him what he needed all while keeping the okiya running. One day after cleaning his room, Kuro stopped Mizu.
"I want to thank you for all of your help," he pressed something into the palm of her hand. It was a gold piece. Never in her life had Mizu held something so valuable. She handed it back.
"I can't accept this… Mahema wouldn't approve…"
"Please… I'll tell her and if you get in trouble, I'll take the blame," she looked uncomfortable about taking it but he put in back into her hands and closed them. She bowed and left. She ran to Nami and told her what happened.
"Nami, look!" she handed her the money
"Oh! How did you get a gold piece!"
"… Prince Kuro gave it to me… I told him no but he insisted,"
"Why do you look so sad?"
"Mahema…"
"Oh…"
"MIZU-CHAN!" Mizu sighed.
"I'll be right back," she ran into the dinning room and Yokki, one of the other maids, handed her a bucket of dishes.
"Wash these,"
"Yes ma'am," Mizu walked down to the river behind the okiya and began to wash the plates when someone sat beside her.
"Hey. Need some help?" Kuro grabbed a plate.
"It doesn't really seem like something a prince would do,"
"Well I must not be a very good prince then, huh?" he smiled but she just stared forward. He coughed nervously and washed a few dishes. She didn't want to admit it, but Kuro was nicer that most royalty. When they finished, Mizu bended some water from the river.
"Hmm," Kuro watched her, "You certainly are different from most girls around here. The eyes, the clothes, the bending…"
"Is that bad?"
"No, of course not… It's cool," growing bored, Kuro bended three small rocks in his hands, "I've always wondered what it was like to be a water bender."
"Well, it's not exactly something you can describe… But… It's calming… tranquil…"
"Have you mastered it?" she smiled
"Yeah,"
"When do you have time to learn in a place like this?"
"Well… Mrs. Tanaka seems to like me, so in secret, she sends me to lessons and makes it look like I'm running an errand. Mahema still doesn't know," She sighed, "What about you?"
"Mastered earth bending? Mm hmm," he opened his mouth to say something more, but stopped.
"How about a duel?" Mizu smirked.
"Huh?" Kuro said, surprised.
"Do you wanna fight or not?" She stood up.
"Umm… Okay… But I'll warn you, I'm a master too you know," Mizu laughed.
"Show off," He stood up as well
"Very funny,"
"You know I can kinda bend earth myself,"
"Oh yeah? How?" Mizu took some water from the river and soaked the ground. Once the water had sunk in, she brought a line of mud from the ground and shot it toward Kuro. He quickly dodged it and looked at her in shock. She grinned and they got into ready stances.
"One," Mizu started
"Two," and then together they said:
"THREE!" Kuro shot three large rocks and Mizu, but she formed a thick stream of water and whipped them away. She rose up on a platform of ice and threw spikes of ice at the earth bender. He thought quickly and drew up a shield of rock, guarding him. Mizu bended her ice platform forward and froze and ice path. She skated down and made a large enough wave to knock Kuro over, throwing it over him. When the water fell to the ground, Kuro had disappeared. Mizu looked around and heard something behind her. She spun around and sure enough, Kuro had snuck up behind her. His arm came plummeting down toward her face and Mizu blocked his arm with her own. She struggled against him as he pressed down on her until she was on the ground and he on top of her. She brought up her foot under his stomach and flipped him off. He fell with a thud and Mizu brought up more water from the river when she heard her name.
"Mizu-chan! What is all that commotion? And where are those plates?" Mizu dropped the water and sighed. Kuro laughed.
"We can finish this later," she picked up the plates and walked back to the okiya.