CHAPTER 8 (It's... fun)

It felt like forever as she ran, feeling the wind pass by her as the world around her turned into and an array of blur that whirled around her in a fuzzy haze, never knowing how she had brought herself to that part of the beach. Panting, she slowed her pace down until reaching a stop underneath a palm tree, and dropped down to her knees shifting the white hot sand underneath her. She tried to catch her breath, taking in deep slow breaths to calm down her shaking body. But no matter how hard she tried her heart beat remained fast. It made her wonder why she feels those kinds of emotions when he is around, or talking to her or even staring at her! Heck, even the mere thought of him made her heart pound like crazy.

She turned and lay back on the sand, her heartbeat returning to its usual pace. She squinted slightly at the blinding sunlight that peeked through the leaves of the tree that hovered above her. Raising a hand, she blocked the blinding light of the sun with her hand along another shaky breath, hoping that with that single breath, hoping that this was all just a dream. But it wasn't. This was very real.

Why does she have to feel this way towards him?

Yes it was true that she was a shy and timid girl back when she was younger, but things change, although habits may not. So why does she have these feelings? Why does she always get that fluttery feeling in her gut, her heart would pound wildly, and her face would betray her with blushes whenever she was near Meruem or even thought of him?

She shouldn't assume things, but her brain wouldn't stop on providing her more theories or ideas on what she felt. She could only keep asking herself over and over until her minds full of unanswered questions where it would soon explode, along with her heart if it continues to beat faster and faster at every occurrence.

No, no, no, no…

Releasing a frustrated groan, she flayed her arms in the air restlessly before dropping them to her side, staring hopelessly at the bright blue sky. Blushing vigorously by the stupid assuming idea that taunted her to the brink of her sanity.

Maybe I do like him.

His left eye twitched for the umpteenth time as Meruem stared at the yapping blonde who kept on wailing his frustration out which vexed Meruem more as the minutes passed by. It was his misfortune for Pouf to witness the scene in the van earlier, resulting for his subordinate to go on and on about his frustration towards what happened. Apparently Meruem didn't care about Pouf's concerns. What he was baffled about was that no matter how many faults the girl had, he could not bring himself to loath her.

"What utter insolence!" Pouf continued rambling on walking back and forth with his hands clenched tightly. Meruem had seen this scene many times before, and it irked him whenever he witnesses the scene. Without paying much attention to the blonde, Meruem turned and stared at the window absentmindedly.

"She didn't even stop to apologize! She just stared at the young master, gaping even! Does she not have the decency to apologize? She does reflect that vulgar mouthed friend of hers! I wonder what Master Santi had seen in them as companions! Surely-''

Silence now invaded the air that made Meruem wonder what had made Pouf silent. He turned his head slightly, and looked behind him to find Pouf bounded by Pitou with her arms draped around his in a lock and a scarf shoved inside the blonde's mouth, rendering Pouf unable to speak another word. Surprisingly, given the awkward position of his two subordinates, Meruem found the scene quite amusing. Although he suppressed the smile that almost broke out from his lips.

Losing balance, the two subordinates fell down and stumbled on the floor as they continued to poke, and push and pull away from each others grasps, although Pitou continued to keep him in her deadlock.

"Now, now Pouf," Pitou said flicking her index and thumb on the blonde's forehead.

"The young lady didn't mean what had happened earlier, it was all an accident so no need to get worked up by something so trifle. Matters regarding a woman's heart is not something so easy to understand."

"What do you mean by what you have said Neferpitou?" Before Meruem knew it, the words had already flown off from his lips, catching the attention of both his subordinates. Turning his body fully towards them, Meruem looked at his subordinate's faces.

"nya, I don't think I have the right words to say Young master, especially since it is a girl's feelings we're talking about here-"

"shhhach shrifle shing ish noh neshesheri sho shok afouk fhito!" Narrowing her eyes, an irate look crossed Pitou's face for a fleeting moment before she slapped Pouf that rendered him quiet momentarily, causing Meruem to raise his eyebrows in awe. Maybe he should slap Pouf sometimes to shut him up. That could work.

"and how would you know that?" Meruem asked, prying deeper if he could.

"because it's easy to see someone's feelings based on their actions, so I think its easy to say that the girl's got a crush on you."

That caught him off guard. The girl? Has a crush on him? That's absurd, foolish even.

Meruem's eyes slanted down in doubt as he stared at Pitou who was now tying up Pouf on a chair, the blonde flaying back and forth in resistance.

"You know young master it's a nice afternoon for a walk outside since the sun is already setting," Pitou suddenly said whilst admiring her handiwork. Meruem's brows furrowed in between, especially when she began to walk towards him.

"Also I believe you were about to leave before we had interrupted you, my apologies. But please do enjoy yourself outside for a bit, young master Santi and his friends are already at the door waiting for you." Pitou blabbered, gently nudging Meruem out. Youpi who was standing guard outside the door was now looking at them with one brow raised, beside him were Santi and the girls.

"let's go?" Was what greeted him as soon as Meruem had stepped outside the room and the door was shut behind him.

It felt as if he was being kicked out of his own turf. Not bothering to try to go back to his room, Meruem looked at his only friend that was naked from waist up wearing dark maroon beach shorts and a wide grin on his stupid face. Behind Santi, the girls- minus one white haired girl, had thin shawls draped over themselves as a cover for the swimming attire they wore underneath.

He didn't actually quite understood why girls had to cover themselves up with shawls and whatnots when they would still be parading around the beach in their under wears that they call "swimsuits", it simply wasn't necessary. But people around Meruem are crazy, nobody had the right mind to think anything.

Maybe the only sane one in this world was him.

"I wonder where did Komu-Chan run off to?" He heard the blonde girl murmur to the ruffian girl as they slowly made their way to the beach, the rocky path making soft clatters as they tread on it. A scoff was heard in response to the former's question. Meruem could actually hear the ruffian grinding her molars in agitation, clearly keeping the reins of her anger in check.

"She went ahead of us." She huffed, and Meruem could literally feel her glares pricking at his side. But he didn't care.

The beach was almost isolated, which was kind of a shock since it was summer time and people come in droves for a summer holiday by the beach. But this worked out for Meruem just fine. A crowded beach would've sent him back to his room, reading for the remainder of their time there. The water was almost a shade of scarlet, the light from the sunset sending out fiery streaks all over the sparkling crystal. It was a sight to behold, simple and untouched by the tortures of man on nature.

From afar he could see Komugi sitting underneath a tree, a gungi board in front of her. Meruem was half expecting for the raven head ruffian to run towards Komugi in a despicably desperate manner, only to see her chase down her blonde friend with a scowl on her face, muttering something incoherent through gritted teeth.

"Hey wait for me!' Was the only thing he heard from Santi before he had broke out into a run, chasing the girls as if they were little children playing tag. Meruem tsked silently.

Such immaturity! How do these people stomach that sense when they were already of age to be fine young adults? But no, here they were, running and goofing off as if they were mere toddlers in their 2nd to 3rd year of existence, squealing their hearts out.

Bored, he turned his attention to the white haired girl under the tree whose melancholy eyes was watching her friends. Looking at her closer, she was covered with a light spray of sand from her white hair to her porcelain skin, down to her toes curled underneath her. It was an odd sight to behold normally for him, Who on Earth would be willing to be covered in sand?

As if feeling his gaze on her, the girl turned her attention to where he stood, her eyes immediately meeting his. He saw how her blush flared up her face and her eyes widening in surprise, lighting up her teal orbs.

Her mouth was agape, trying to string words probably, but he didn't care. Until he caught sight of her gungi board on the sand, pieces were already placed as if she was playing with an invisible opponent.

She's playing against her own self? he thought, walking towards the flustered girl who stood up abruptly to meet him.

The way she darted her eyes to and fro underneath thick long lashes and how she fiddled with her fingers nervously made him remember Pitou's words a while back.

This girl, has a deep regard for him? Utterly impossible!

Something inside him twisted uncomfortably, like his innards were being wrung out. Stupid body! Why does it not follow the basic function anymore? How come it only reacts this way when he is with the champion or when his thoughts would accidentally linger on her.

What was it about this girl? The girl whom he had only challenged for a game in which he had lost, surely his curiosity over her would cease once he wins against her in a game of gungi, right? All of this nonsense about deep regards and feelings are just figments of overly active imaginations of crazy people around him.

"Ah- about earlier..." She started as he came to a stop right in front of her, fidgeting on her spot with head bowed but eyes staring at him from underneath dark lashes. But her next words were disregarded when he had suddenly sat down across the other side of the gungi board and eyes scanning the intricate formations of the pieces on it, amazed at how flawless the attack and defense of each side were, but more impressed on how these formations were new to his eye.

"These formations are all new." He pointed out quite frankly, his eyes roaming the gungi board before quickly fixating his gaze at her bewildered expression.

"how?"

"'h-how'?" She croaked back, her attention darting away from his eyes to the gungi board that he had just looked at. Taking a moment before she finally understood his question. Sitting with her legs underneath her once again, she had fixed her eyes on the board with the same blank expression she had when they played gungi together.

"These formations," she started talking, as if she were in a trance, Meruem noted how she went still and her eyes never blinking, never staring away from the board.

"they are all mine. My own inventions..." In a flash, a look of nostalgia swept her face which brightened it up for a second before it went back to being blank again. A look that as if the girl was caught in her own world and never to return again.

For a moment he considered what was going through the girl's head as she stared at the board blankly. The girl is weird, he had pointed out, and Meruem had no interest for people with mental disorders, but this girl was no mentally ill person. He understood that as soon as he saw her aura grow when she began to slowly lift her hand and move a gungi piece, along with the string of words that surprisingly didn't stutter and were full of deep thought.

In the moment that she didn't talk anymore, he took one quick scan over the board and had quickly deduced how to attack using the pieces on his side. The blank look on her face broke as soon as he had picked up one of the black archer piece and placed it on top of a tower, a deadly glint in his purple eyes. Her teal eyes sparkling all of a sudden in surprise.

"Play with me." Meruem felt a smile tugging at the corner of his lips at the sight of the girl beaming up all of a sudden after declaring his order. She proudly squared her shoulders, smiling goofily as she stared back at him with eyes wide in excitement.

"Okay!"

"Is there a reason why you want to win?" Komugi asked Meruem after placing cannon on her left plank to add more offence on her side. Meruem quickly scanned the board with his eyes, noting how the move created a huge opening to attack her marshal, but hinders him to attack for the reason that his marshal was already under heavy guard by her spy. A few games already had passed between them with her still on the winning streak.

A small portion of the sun peeked over the horizon while the stars began to sparkle dimly against the growing dark sky. He didn't care about counting how many wins had she already made; he only cared for his own. Quickly determining the proper move to counter the attack, he raised his knight and placed it closer to his marshal. Her attacks were becoming so easy to read, and he found himself finding it easy to read her as well.

Meruem lifted his gaze off the board and looked at the girl who was staring at him moments ago, until her gaze wavered and flicked left to right. A light blush coloring her cherubic face.

His thoughts lingered on her sudden question, which was an odd one. Carefully thinking of an answer. Does a person need to have a reason to win?

She was a champion, one who was always winning and was at the very top of the chain.

What about for the sake of being triumphant? For the sake of the thrill of being on top while watching those you have beaten suffer?

Yes. That was an acceptable reason.

"I still want to keep on playing with you as my opponent. I want to win against the person who has ever defeated me" That was the answer that came out instead of the one that he had just thought of. His eyes narrowed down in irritation, why had he chosen that as an answer?

So now even his own words betray him, there is something definitely wrong with him, and it was this girl that was causing it.

One win. Just one win and for sure he'll be satisfied with her and can easily dispose of her as nothing more than a former gungi champion, another name on his list of champions that he had defeated. Then again his body was behaving abnormally again, his gut twisting in a tight coil and made his blood boil in anger. Why? Didn't he want her defeated in the first place? So why did he feel a wave of anger when he thought of her not being important?

In response to his answer, the girl was shaking her head vigorously with her face the shade of scarlet.

"Was there something wrong with what I had just said?" He inquired which stopped her from her silly head shaking. Instantly finding himself staring into her bewildered teal eyes that shone against her pale rosy complexion, the sight suddenly made his heart pound loudly making his chest hurt.

What the hell?

Again she shook her head, this time to answer him. "No-nothing your high- Ah! I mean!" Her blush turned an even brighter red and she began waving her hands around the air in front of her.

'Your highness?' Meruem thought, his eyes widening in surprise. Back then he would've found these odd antics of her strange and distasteful, but now, he didn't like admitting it but he was strangely getting drawn to her even more. Making a mental step back, he reminded himself that this feeling was just an abnormal function in his body that will soon dissipate, he can't be affected. He shouldn't be affected even if what Pitou had said about this girl's feeling was true or not.

"I'm sorry! I just don't know what's wrong with me today!" Her apology was muffled as she hid her face behind her hands, her words slowly turning to mutters.

"It's cause you're-"

Meruem raised an eyebrow. "Me?"

"Ah! N-no! I-I don't mean you! I mean- I don't mean to call you 'your highness' even though you look like one- Ah! W-what I'm trying to say is-" Helpless by her own doing, she dropped her hands to her lap and hid her face beneath her hair where he can't see her blushing face anymore.

"You've never been this talkative since the first time we met." He quickly pointed out, leaning closer with his arms folded over his chest. It was true. She was talkative now compared to the last time they spent time together and that was something he didn't really expect her to be. She stiffened, surprised by his question, and stared at him with wide eyes.

"I-I-" She faltered, her gaze looking left and right, away from his.

"I have this tendency not to talk too much to strangers, but when it's with people that I like, I-" He watched her blush intensify when realization hit her with the words she had just blurted out, words from ideas that clearly just pop right out of her head.

"I'm sorry! I- I don't mean like as in- like, LIKE! Ohh.. Please punish me for disrespecting you, young master!" She dipped her head in front of him in a slight bow. If the situation and the person was different, maybe he would have been pleased with the sight of her being inferior to him, but for some odd reason he didn't like seeing her grovel and sell herself so low.

"Why do you call me 'young master'?" he asked, not intending to divert the topic.

"You are not one of my subordinates; you can freely call me by my given name, and no honorifics. I don't want you to be calling me with 'master' or any of the sort" That felt like a punch in the gut. Who was she to him that he'd allow her to call him by his name?

"I-I could simply not-"

"I don't like repeating myself" he interrupted her before she could even try to refuse, or change his mind.

"But I'm not even your friend to consider calling you by your first name, not even worthy to be your friend." She whispered, her teal eyes glowing softly under the red setting sun.

"If making me your friend will make you call me by my first name, then so be it." He said and felt something tug at his lips, surprised to find himself smiling when he seldom does that in front of other people.

"And if you think that you're not worthy to be my friend, then you thought wrong. You are the only person who has ever beaten me in a game of gungi."

He felt his smile grow wider. Rational thinking was meaningless now; he had already spoken nonsensical words. He already said the words which oddly made something in him felt lighter.

"But rest assured that, that will not stay long, I will eventually beat you at your game." He taunted, advancing his musketeer close to her marshal which he knows that will mark her doom in this game. He had her now. He will be winning this game, but he did not want to part with her yet, win or lose.

Komugi stared at the move for a few moments before he saw her smile widely and raised a hand to pick up her archer. His eyes widening in surprise upon realizing what she was doing.

"If you think that I'll let you win just because we're friends now, then you're terribly wrong" She smiled smugly and then in one swift move she easily bypassed his attack at the same time trapping his marshal. He was defeated. Again.

He smirked. Finding himself oddly satisfied for no reason. "It won't be satisfying if ever you did lost on purpose" He answered back, suddenly finding himself mesmerized by the determination that sparked in those teal eyes of hers. He leaned closer with a smug smile on his face, feeling weirdly happy for no apparent reason. He lost again, but he did not feel any sort of anger or bitterness towards the fact.

For some reason he found himself waiting. For what? The both of them had just stared at each other for what seemed like hours but only a few seconds in reality until she opened her mouth to say something had broken the spell. The only sound that came out was: "Mer-"

Before it was drowned by:"Komugi!" From a certain someone that he didn't have to turn his head to know who.

In a flash, Komugi disappeared from his sight. That was what made him turn his head to find that she was being dragged away towards the scarlet sea.

"Had fun?" Santi asked as he approached from behind, slapping a wet hand over Meruem's back that drenched his shirt. But he didn't mind. His thoughts were somewhere far. He vaguely remembered his recent loss, quickly taking note how the irritation of the loss didn't bother him anymore. This game felt a bit more different than the previous games. It felt more meaningful somehow.

"Yeah, it was, fun"

A/N : Hey guys I'm back from the dead ! :P Anyway I do apologize for taking too long to update this , I went through hell this past coupe months and yadda yadda yadda * insert usual lame excuses * But hey at least finally I get to have a well deserved vacation since its semestral break already *parties for three months *

So …. As for the next chappy …. It will be posted on … dun dun dun dunnnn ….. ! NEXT WEEK ! yup that will be on October 31, Halloween day :D who knows , I might even post a special chappy to celebrate the holidays , that is if my brain allows me to (_ _")

PS . was this boring ? I think so too *wails* and if you guys found any typo , of course blame it all on me :P ahahahahaha * escapes *

I just realized this chappy is too long (_ _")