Emerald kept her embrace on Jago for a little while longer, a little more than he would've actually liked. Looking up from the crook of his neck, she could see the discomfort and agitation etched onto his face as he squirmed under her hold. Yet, the boy voiced none of his objections. He was acting like quite the reluctant gentlemen for someone who had soundly defeated her earlier, and to be honest, he looked so teasable this way it was downright criminal.
However, even as Jago did his best to respect her personal space while she unabashedly violated his, he displayed signs of crumbling willpower. She couldn't blame him though. Experiencing such intimacy with an exotic beauty would erode the minds of most men.
She saw how his eyes would occasionally try to catch small glimpses of her body, only to quickly dart away as he mentally chastised himself. And his hand, when he thought she wasn't looking, it would hover just above her firm toned buttocks, lowering ever so slightly but never actually going for the grope. A perverse smile made its way onto her face as her mind began to whir with cruel machination.
He may have been the Jaguar, feared apex predator of the untamed jungle, but in her arms, he was nothing more than a common house cat.
In a bold move that caught Jago off guard, Emerald took her embrace a step further by pressing her body up against him, making sure that he felt every inch of her supple breast upon his bare chest. The guy looked as if he'd been slapped across the face, possibly at the knowledge that the only thing keeping him from coming in contact with her glorious fleshy mounds was a very thin sheet of malleable titanium woven fabric.
"Emerald, what are yo-" Jago was silenced by a slender dark brown finger pressed upon his lips.
"Shh... Just relax," Emerald whispered hotly into his ear. "Think of this as a treat for the both of us. One that is best savored slowly..." Wordlessly, she snaked one hand into his soft blonde hair, holding onto him delicately like a piece of fine china, while the other gently caressed his cheek. Again, if Jago had any objections, he kept them to himself, which allowed her to continue unabated. "Now you're getting it," her perverse smile widened, "just let it happen..."
Letting go of his cheek, she ran her finger around the base of his neck, tracing little circles along the way as she went lower and lower until she reached his belly. She admired his wonderful abdominals, feeling up his skin and muscles by raking across them with her nails, eliciting a sharp intake of breath by Jago through gritted teeth. Sheesh, can this guy become any more teasable? The answer to that rhetorical question is yes, yes he can.
Narrowing her eyes, she licked her lips like a hungry predator and bit down on Jago's shoulders, causing his voice to hitch and willpower to be slowly chip away at by her audacious actions. All the while she took in his scent, greedily inhaling his natural musk as it drove her consciousness into an adrenaline fueled frenzy. She could feel both their hearts beat with rising intensity like the drums of war.
Ba-bump
Bada-bump
Badapa-bump
Emerald's body grew warmer the quicker her heart paced, to the point where it felt as if her body was caught under the sweltering heat of the oppressive summer sun. This raw sensation excited her. It was addicting, like an all consuming drug worming its way into her mind and latching on fervently. She had never felt something like this before, but she knew that she loved every second of it. All it took was a taste for her to crave even more.
However, in her haze of pleasure, a moment of clarity allowed her to regain her muddled senses and come to terms with what she was actually doing. Hastily pulling away from Jago, the two stared at each other with looks of sheer bewilderment as Emerald absentmindedly wiped away the long string of saliva that hung from her bottom lip to Jago's wet reddened shoulder. A stark silence filled the air of the clearing, creating a tense and awkward atmosphere so thick you could cut at it with a knife.
"Er... uh, um..." Emerald broke the fragile silence, trying to speak, but just couldn't find the right words to spell out what she wanted to say.
"M-maybe we should head on back to Vale already," Jago suggested, earning a slow steady nod from Emerald. They untangled themselves from each other and quickly scrambled back onto their feet. They didn't so much as utter a single word to each other as they went on to retrieve their respective tops, dressed themselves, and set off on a long trek back to the city of Vale. As the silence returned, so did the sensation that had its lording grasp on Emerald's mind.
Forever Falls was a land of untarnished beauty that stretched for miles around; a grand sea of stunning red contrasted by the cool blue of the roaring river that had carved its way through the very heart of the forest. Its lush landscape of rolling hills and tranquil clearings were imbued with a seemingly innumerable amount of trees that proudly displayed its crimson leaves for all to see and admire.
Indeed, Forever Falls is a place that had been ripped from straight out of the pages of a fairy tale novel. The perfect setting where two star crossed lovers would secretly meet and profess their undying love for one another, eventually leading up to a cliche ending of marriage and the obligatory 'And They Lived Happily Ever After' printed in gilded cursive letters across the center of the last page.
Oh, how Emerald desperately wished that she was somewhere far, far away from this blessed land.
She didn't hate Forever Falls or anything, far from it. She loved every aspect of the nature surrounding her and Jago, from the gargantuan trunk of the largest tree, to the little flecks of red that fluttered about in the wind. It was just perfect... too perfect. It made her travels with Jago somewhat discomforting, if only because of the fact she knew there was a risk of losing all sense of self-control and pulling him back into her embrace for some more intimate alone time together.
Yes, she had yet to say it out loud, but she knew that deep down she harbored deep affection towards Jago. At the risk of sounding cliche, you could say that it was love at first fight. Love was the sensation she felt plague her thoughts when she teased him, and it was also what made her stop, for she knew that if she had gone on any longer than she did, she most certainly would've done something regrettable.
She needed to stay in control. To keep her inhibition in check. She and Jago were only acquaintances, hardly even friends after everything she put him through. Currently, they only had each other's respect and company, nothing more, nothing less. It'd be unfair to just force herself onto him. That'd make her utterly despicable as a person, which in hindsight is pretty ironic coming from someone who's working under a criminal mastermind.
Besides, she actually liked what little of a relationship they had with each other, and wasn't about to risk it all just to feel the high of achieving bodily contact with him again. That pleasantly addictive high...
Emerald skittishly bit at her nails as she trailed behind Jago, something she was thankful for as she wouldn't be caught dead by anyone looking so frail and vulnerable. She was still a very prideful person, even after being humbled. Pride was a staple of her personality, and it wasn't going to diminish anytime soon because of a single loss.
She wondered how he thought of her now. Jago had been nothing but quiet ever since they departed for Vale, and it made her fear for the worst. Did he tolerate her? Did he find her grossly lascivious? Did he actually even care at all? All of this doubt put her on edge, causing her to bite at her nails much more vigorously. So much so that she unintentionally drew blood.
"Ow!" Emerald suddenly cried, causing Jago to stop in his track and check up on her.
"What's wrong?" he finally spoke whilst inspecting her hand.
"I... I broke a nail," Emerald muttered lamely. By Monty, that line sounded like it had come from out the mouth of a cheeky high schooler. Looking down at her hand, she could see her thumb bleeding in drops. There was also a small chip, no bigger than grain of rice, missing from the upper left hand corner of her thumb where the blood was dripping from. Though it didn't look like much, the area in question throbbed with an stinging pain.
"How?"
"..." Emerald hesitated to speak, but did so regardless through gritted teeth. "I was biting at them."
"To the point where you broke a piece off?" Jago eyed her skeptically.
"I was nervous, okay!" she huffed, glaring at the boy with such ferocity it was a miracle he didn't burst into flames from her fiery gaze.
"Okay, okay. Calm down," he chuckled heartily, receiving her message loud and clear. "Let's deal with your injury before you bleed out and die."
"Hmph, hilarious," Emerald deadpanned, looking away with a pout. "I'll stop the bleeding by applying some pres-" she couldn't finish her sentence when she felt Jago lips press themselves around the tip of her bloody thumb. She immediately whipped her head around to face him, and blushed like she had never blushed before.
He was sucking on her thumb like a newborn babe with a warm bottle of formula grasped in its adorably tiny hands.
The pain in her thumb gradually subsided as Jago took care of the wound. Emerald still couldn't believe that he just did that without so much as a second thought, but she wouldn't argue with results and how chivalrous he was acting. And they say chivalry is dead. That being said however, if she could see the look on her face right now, she'd probably wouldn't even recognize herself.
Whatever prideful and strong willed image Emerald carried earlier had completely evaporated into nothingness. No more sharp steely gazes. No more rigid posture. No more haughty attitude or sultry quips. It was as if she'd been abducted by aliens and been replaced by another girl who happened to be the spitting image of Emerald Sustrai.
The differences were simply astounding. Her eyes were half lidded, gazing intently at Jago in an almost trance like state. Her body language showed that she was quite extremely flustered; shoulders were slouched, hips tilted out to the side, fingers sporadically twitchy, knees unbearably weak. The smile on her face was wide and goofy, quivering excitably with anticipation of some nonexistent reward. She was acting like a totally different person.
Emerald probably already realized how painfully idiotic she must look, but was torn on the matter. Half of her wanted to clock herself upside the head for making such a ridiculous expression and get serious, while the other half sought to assume direct control of her being. Luckily for the both of them, Jago finished up in the nick of time, preventing her situation from escalating to worrying heights.
As Jago's lips pulled away from Emerald's thumb, her elation faded away along with the goofiness it came with. Her old self resurfaced shortly afterwards without so much as a remnant of the other Emerald to be seen.
"There we go. All better," said Jago, wiping away the rest of the excess spit on Emerald's thumb with the hem of his jacket. Judging from his casual tone, it seems he hadn't noticed it when she went from hardened battle mistress to swooning mess then back to hardened battle mistress again in the span of only a few seconds. Although, it's difficult to tell what he's truly thinking in that head of his when he adopts his docile state of mind. "Does it still hurt?"
"Not as much..." replied Emerald, pressing her thumb up against her index finger to staunch any further bleeding. "Look, I would say thank you for doing what you did, but you do know there are other ways to go about helping a girl with her broken nail, right?"
"There are, but none of them would've made us even," he flashed her a subtle smirk before turning around and marching towards Vale.
Emerald was left speechless at what Jago had insinuated. So he did see! A brief flash of anger made its way across her face, contorting her visage into a nasty scowl. She had half the mind to chew him out, but her anger dissipated when she realized that it was just karma doing its thing.
"The crafty bastard," she mused. "He played me like a damn fiddle..." sighing, Emerald merely muttered a curse beneath her breath and followed Jago. Even when he's acting like a lazy bum, part of his fighter's brilliance shines through every now and then. But still, if there was any time to ask him the fated question, now was better than ever.
"Hey, Jago," Emerald started.
"Hmm, yeah?" Jago mumbled.
"What... what do you think about me?"
"What do you mean?" Jago looked over his shoulder with an eyebrow raised.
"I mean, what's your honest opinion of me?" she pressed, anxious to hear his answer.
"Honestly speaking, I think you're fine," Emerald wasn't satisfied with his response, nor was she sure if he purposely meant for the double entendre.
"I'm being serious here, Jago," Emerald narrowed her eyes. "Tell me everything. I want to know."
"Well, what am I supposed to say? Jago scratched his chin. "That you're a dirty good for nothing thief? That you're a loudmouthed thrill seeker who was brought down by crippling arrogance? That you're an outrageous tease who enjoys toying with a guy's heart?" though his words carried no malice, the truth behind them stung like wasps, causing Emerald to visibly wince and shrink under his looming shadow. She looked away in shame, knowing full well he was right about all of it, of her.
"I should've known," Emerald thought somberly, "and to think, I had my hopes up..."
"But, I believe that you're more than any of that," Emerald perked up as he continued, "Looking past your faults, Emerald, you are an aspiring person. Going off what you told me earlier, you've suffered a great deal in your life. The world has tripped you up every chance it's gotten, and where most would've already given up, nothing stopped you from standing back up, dusting yourself off, and moving forward. I have to say, for an orphan who grew up on the streets, that is pretty admirable in my book. I'm glad to have met you, and had the honor to spar with you."
Emerald was taken aback by his kind words. They felt warm, like the sun's rays peering through the red canopy above them. It illuminated her, pushing her out of the shadows and into the light with Jago.
Most, if not all, compliments directed towards her were usually either about her looks, her fighting prowess, her near prodigal skills with locks and the sort, or a combination of all three, but almost none were about her strength of character. She herself had overlooked such a thing because she never believed it to be all that important.
Now, however, she could see that it was the quality that Jago liked best about her.
"Well, you wanted an honest opinion out of me, and you got one," Jago shrugged. "Are you satisfied?"
"Not yet. Got anything else to add?" she smiled slyly at him.
"Yeah, work on you martial arts," he state bluntly. "Branch out and learn some new techniques, or at least find a way to compensate for your Rogue style's shortcomings. You got talent, but you need to get your head out of your ass if you ever want to compete with me."
"Yeah, yeah. Be water and all that jazz, right?"
"So you did remember what I told you," Jago chuckled.
"How could I not? You practically beat the concept into me," Emerald chuckled as well. "You know, for a moment there, I was afraid that you hated me."
"Emerald, if I hated you, we wouldn't even be here discussing this. More likely, I'd be dragging your unconscious body across the ground all the way back to Vale and dumping you at the nearest hospital I could find."
"Really? So what you're saying is that you wouldn't take advantage of me if I were unconscious in the middle of nowhere?" said Emerald with a mischievous gleam in her eye. "Am I that unattractive?"
"Oh no. No no no no no. I'm not getting caught up in any of this," Jago shook his head and doubled his pace, hoping to weasel out of an otherwise unwinnable situation. Unfortunately, Emerald kept up with his pace and continued bombarding him with more piercing questions.
"Is it because I'm fat? I'm fat, aren't I?" Emerald squeezed at the lower half of her belly with both hands. "Look at that. It's like a chunk of bacon from a gluttonous pig," she pouted.
"Don't say anything, Jago. That's what she wants you to do. Just keep looking straight ahead and march on. Left foot, right foot, left foot, righ-"
"Or maybe it's because I stink?" she slinked closer to Jago, throwing one arm around him and pulling him close. "Do I smell? It's probably the sweat from all that fighting."
Jago grimaced within her hold, but not because she smelled bad, rather it was the opposite.
She had the faintest scent of peaches from some sort of body wash. It mixed with the smell of dirt and sweat, making for a pleasant earthy aroma that prodded at his brain like some sort of natural pheromone. She smelled intoxicating. However, before he could be reduced to a puddle beneath her feet, he peeled her off of him and went back to marching again, trying to shake her scent off of his body.
"Hmm... So if it's not my weight, or my smell, then maybe it's my skin color?" Emerald ran her hands along her arms. "I would've figured as much. My dark skin must be ugly compared to those pale skinned vixens that surround you everyday."
"You're beautiful, okay!" Jago finally broke down under the pressure. "You look like a gorgeous amazon goddess with wonderful muscle tone, an hourglass figure, hypnotic crimson eyes, silky seafoam green hair, and you smell like a garden of the sweetest peaches in all the world of Remnant!" he paused to catch his breath after such a draining outburst. Panting, he peered over his shoulder and saw Emerald leering at him with a smug grin plastered on her face.
"Mmhmm, keep going. Tell me how much of a living deity I am to you. Worship and adore me!" she flamboyantly posed.
"Bah! Women..." Jago growled. "You give them an inch and they take a mile..."
"Aw, don't be like that," Emerald nudged at him with her elbow. "I was just fishing for praise. You can't blame a girl for wanting an ego boost."
"Pfft, an ego boost is the last thing you need," he grumbled.
"So you say," she bumped him with her hips. "Buuuut enough about me. I want to hear about you; the great, the powerful, the almighty, Jago the Jaguar."
"...I don't usually like to talk about myself."
"Come on, this isn't an interrogation. Just give me a brief rundown of yourself. Here, I'll start it off for you. Ahem," Emerald cleared her throat. "Hi there! My name is Jago, and I-" she gestured for Jago to finish.
"Have seven sisters."
"Seriously!?" Emerald's reeled back in shock, slack jawed with eyes wide like dinner plates.
"Heh, everyone always has the same reaction," Jago grinned. "It never gets old."
"Ooh, how interesting! Tell me more," Emerald scooched in closer.
"Heh heh heh, alright. One little snippet of information at a time... You know, this has happened before."
"Uh, excuse me?" Emerald raised an eyebrow.
"It's pretty surreal. I kid you not, just a few days ago I fell into a river, fought with some people, then ended up on a journey back to Vale while my friends asked me about personal life. How freaky is that?"
"Sounds like a wild coincidence to me... Wait a minute," Emerald paused, the gears in head whirred at full steam.
"Did he just call me his friend?"
A/N: Sweet mother of mercy, this chapter was an absolute pain to write. I ran through so many drafts and revisions that it would've trounced War and Peace two times over. I'm exaggerating of course, but still. What with the holidays and procrastination taking hold, this should've been done way back in November. It's here now, and that's all that matters.
Hope y'all enjoyed the chapter. Sure, it reads pretty much like shameless Jaune/Jago x Emerald fluff, but really, I came to the conclusion too late that I needed to make a whole new chapter to avoid writing myself into a corner and to advance the plot.
In other news, Jojo part 4: Diamond is Unbreakable is set for April next year. HYPE!
Merry Christmas everybody, and have a happy new year! :D