AN: wow, I'm totally sorry! I completely forgot about updating! Please forgive me, i had a lot on plate with finals and stuff, but now school is out and i'll have a lot more time! Once again, im sorry about forgetting to update!

NEXT UPDATE: THURSDAY JUNE 18 2009

ONCE UPON A TIME

BY SAPPHIRE ROSE E.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: THE PROMISE

The sun shone brightly down blanketing the land with a golden light. The whole smelled of warm summer and green grew everywhere. A calm summer breeze blew through the land, rustling the high grass.

Miyu had completely recovered from her burns, only receiving a light scar on her back from the burns. However, no one––no man––should see of it, besides her future husband.

Miyu, who was dressed in a simple green dress with little white flowers sown into the skirts, rolled through the high grasses of the meadow. Kanata, amused, watched her as he sat underneath a small tree. She rolled next to him and smiled widely up at him. He looked down at her, smirking. "What on earth are you doing?" He asked giving out a little chuckle.

"Having fun." She replied with a bright smile and sat up.

He looked at her with a teasing and almost a reprimanding look as he took a bite out of his shiny, red apple.

"We are supposed to have fun today." She reminded him.

"I know. I know," he told her, holding up both of his hands. She gave him a doubting look and he shrugged his shoulders, taking another bite out of apple.

She rolled her eyes and looked at the many flowers growing throughout the meadows: daisies; lavender; black-eyed susan; forget-me-nots; blue sage; red poppies; blue flax; foxglove; golden lupine; white yarrow; and many more. She carefully picked a daisy; then some lavender; white yarrow; blue sage; and others. She picked the flowers and tied them together.

Kanata, as he finished off his apple, watched her, wondering what she was doing. She tied the ends of her flower rope together, forming a crown out of the flowers. She looked over at him, stood up, and smiled, walking over to him. She fell to her knees next to him and placed the crown on his head. The crown fit perfectly on his head. "Perfect," she told him, smiling. "You look so pretty," she teased.

He looked up at her, annoyed. "Flowers," he began as he removed the crown, "are for girls." He put the crown on her head. However, the crown was a little too big for her head and it slipped down her brow; pass her nose. She pulled the crown up to her forehead.

Her smiled grew wider and she said, "That's why I gave them to you, silly."

Kanata's expression grew shocked. He looked at her teasing smile as his mouth hung open, insulted. He closed his mouth and leapt to his feet, proclaiming, "Miyu, you're dead!"

She let out a shriek and ran away from him as he began to chase her. Laughter arose through the air from her as they ran. He let a smile come over his face.

Miyu ran with Kanata calling her name as he chased her. "Catch me if you can!" She told him over her shoulder.

"Miyu!"

She looked ahead to see the edge of a cliff and came to a sudden stop. She looked down at the waters of a small lake that was about five feet below the cliff. She turned around and looked at him as he slowed down and started to walk toward her with a mischievous smile. He had her cornered. She looked at him. "You wouldn't dare push a princess into the water, now, would you?" She asked, hoping that he had some sense of chivalry in him.

"No"––he took a step forward; then another––"I wouldn't…" Miyu looked into his eyes that were filled with mischievous and cunningness. Kanata suddenly leapt toward her and tackled her. Miyu let out a scream as the two of them fell off of the cliff and into the deep water of the lake with a great splash. Miyu's head and arms broke through the surface of the water, splashing about, as she gasped for breath. Once she had calmed down and kept herself afloat, she shot a glare at the laughing knight. "But," he started, continuing his sentence, "to Miyu, I would."

She furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance. "You jerk!" She hissed and splashed at him. With a deep breath, he jumped up and pushed down on her head, forcing her to go under the water. After a few seconds, he let her go and she broke the surface. She gasped for breath once again and splashed him again. "Jerk!"

He swam backward, retreating, as he splashed back.

"Kanata!" She yelled, but the only reply she got was his laughter. She jumped toward him and started to push him under the water. However, he was stronger then her and her attempts were futile.

"Mercy! Mercy!" He called as he laughed, mocking her attempt to push him under the water.

"I'll show you mercy!" She declared, pushing him under the water.

He had enough of her vain attempts and suddenly pushed her under the water. She, on the other hand, wasn't expecting that and breathed in some water. She thrust her arms up out of the water in order to break free. After some struggles, she broke free of the water and coughed as she tried to catch her breath and begged to stop.

"Hey," he started, growing worried, "are you okay?"

She glared at him. She, then, leapt toward him, pushing him into the water and pounding on his chest. "You almost drowned me!" She pushed him under the water. She let go of him and pouted. But Kanata never immerged from the water. She looked around worried. She called his named again and again, growing more frantic each time. "This isn't funny, Kanata Saionji!" She declared as she swam around, looking for him, but she couldn't find him.

"You know," a voice said behind her, "you're awfully cute when you are worried."

She spun in the water and looked to see Kanata as he stood on a rock with a most amusing smile on his face. Her anger boiled over inside her. "You jerk! You gave me a fright!"

He let out a laugh and jumped off the rock with a yell as he splashed into the water. Miyu shielded her face from the water as she squealed. Then suddenly, something grabbed her ankle from under the water and it pulled her under. She gasped as she was dragged under and she struggled against her opponent to which she struck him on the head. Kanata let go of her ankle and the two of them broke the surface. He laughed as she cursed him.

He swam around her. "So," he began, "I gave you a fright?"

She blushed. "Yes!" she exclaimed, "If you had done that to anyone, you would have surely given them a fright, indeed!"

He laughed for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. He pushed the water away from him as he swam backward toward the middle of the lake, and she began to follow him.

Something thin and black swam in the water behind Kanata. "Yeah, sure I would I give them a fright!" He said and Miyu gave him a look. "Oh, come on, Miyu, it was joke––" A black snake, about a meter long, wrapped itself around his neck. He swore as he tried to pull it off of him.

Miyu saw the snake around Kanata's neck and she let out a terrible scream. "Kanata!" She called out as she began to swam toward him.

"Get out of the water, Miyu!" He yelled as he wrestled with the hissing snake.

She stopped and looked at him with an unbelievable expression. She almost didn't listen to him. She wanted to help him. But she did swim out of the water. She ran back to the meadow and retrieved Kanata's sword; then she ran back to the lake

The snake hissed as it squirmed in Kanata's grasp. It thrashed its body around until its head was close enough to Kanata's skin; then it bit hard into his bicep. He let out a small cry of pain and pulled the snake off of him.

Miyu drew his sword and jumped back into the water. "Kanata," she called, "I'll save you!" He looked at her with pleading eyes for her to stay away. Once she reached him, she slashed the sword down into the snake, cutting the snake in half. "Are you all right?" She asked him, looking into his eyes with worry and fright.

He breathed a bit easier as he let the dead snake fall into the water. "Thanks." He flinched as he gripped his arm. Numbness circled around his bicep. "It bit me." He explained.

"I'll help you." She told him and she helped him swim to the shore.

Kanata sat down on the sandy dirt on the bank. He squeezed the area above the snakebite. "Could you suck out the venom?" He asked as he flinched. Miyu nodded and kneeled down next to him. She rolled his sleeve to his shoulder and brought her lips to his skin. She sucked on the bite, drawing blood and snake venom into her mouth. "Spit it out," he instructed calmly. She did so; then sucked on the bite again, repeating the process. She sucked and spat out numerous of times until he finally said, "That's enough. There's nothing else you can do."

"Will it kill you?" She asked as she looked down at his hand, which was purple due to the fact that he gripping his bicep so hard that he was stopping his circulation, and she tried to hold back her tears.

"Probably not." He let go of his bicep and let the blood flow through his arm once again. "You did a good job." He told her as he rubbed the top of her head.

She looked up at him, letting a tear roll down her cheek, as she sniffled. She attached herself onto him, pushing him to the ground. "I was so scared! I thought you were going to die!" She sobbed.

He breathed out a chuckle and rubbed his hand into her hair. "There, there," he spoke calmly, "I won't die on you. Besides, who's gonna protect you if I do?"

She didn't answer. She only cried into his chest until she fell asleep, and he, tired from all the excitement that day, decided that it was good to take a nap and so he too fell asleep.

A smoky smell entered Miyu's nose. She opened her eyes and noticed a small campfire blazing next to her. A horse's blanket was draped over her. She pushed herself off the ground and sat up, noticing that it was sunset. The forest around them was dark with only a few random strands of light falling down inside the forest.

"Oh, you're awake, sleepy head," Kanata, who sat across from her on the other side of the fire, noted as he ate a small fish. His bicep was tightly wrapped with a piece of cloth. "Hungry?" He asked.

She nodded and looked at the small fish that was cooking next to the fire. She pulled the twig that the fish was skewered on and bit into the fish. "Mmm, this is good." She told him.

"Thanks," he told her, finishing off his fish. He tossed the bones and the twig behind him as he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. He looked at the lake and the high grasses. A firefly flew by a landed on a strand of grass. "He's out early." He remarked.

Miyu looked at Kanata strangely. "Who?" She asked baffled.

"The firefly," he explained as pointed at it. "Fireflies don't come out until next month."

Miyu looked at the firefly with just amazement as the firefly flashed its light. "It's so pretty," she said with a smile.

"It's just a firefly." Kanata told her as he looked at her. She stared at it with such bewilderment and wonder. "Miyu," he began.

"Yeah," she replied, but didn't take her eyes off the firefly.

"Could it be that you never saw a firefly before?"

"I did once, a long time ago. I think it was when I was about Ruu's age." She explained.

"Miyu," she looked at him, "I promise, when its firefly season, I'll take you to see them."

She smiled. "All right. It's a promise," she spoke and he smiled once again.

The firefly flew off of the grass and into the darkness of the forest, blinking its light as it flew.

NEXT TIME ON ONCE UPON A TIME: CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX: THE CONTEST