I'm not sure how long we lied there, but it felt so nice to be rapped in his arms once more. After awhile, I could feel him softly breathing and I knew he was asleep. I, on the other hand, was feeling wide-awake and very hungry. I slowly made my way out of his arms and pressed a kiss to his cheek. With a wave of my arm, I was dressed in a light blue dress with a pair of warm tights underneath. I sighed happily as my hair fell around me in soft curls. I snuck out of the room quietly, shutting the door behind me, and almost slipping on the wooden floor in my tights.
"Careful." Someone said as I regained my balance. I looked up to see Kurogane sitting near the window staring at me.
"Right, sorry!" I replied, laughing a bit.
"Why are you apologizing? Just don't hurt yourself." He told me with an emotionless face.
"I'm going to make some food, would you like some?" I smiled, making my way toward a kitchen-like area.
"Sure, but with what food?" He asked. I just smiled before holding my hands up and allowing gold sparks to fly between my fingers. He just continued to stare at me, raising an eyebrow at my excitement.
"Oh come now, this is going to be fun!" I told him. He continued his stare as I simply smiled. I turned on my heel, focusing my attention back to the pre-historic kitchen.
"Are you sure this won't be too ancient for you?" Kurogane asked, as if reading my mind.
"No! I'll just fix it up a bit first!" I told him before waving my hand. A burst of gold light enveloped the kitchen as my magic created everything I would need. When the light faded, an empty counter, a stove with a pot of boiling water, a box of pasta, and an empty pan were before us.
"What is all this?" the swordsman asked. I smiled at him before waving my hand in front of the empty counter and expecting a package of chicken that I used to cook with in college to appear. Instead, a live chicken materialized on the counter and began trying to run around the room.
"Shit!" I exclaimed as I tried to use my magic to change it. I missed a couple of times, sending gold sparks into the wall, until I was finally able to transform it into material that I could cook. The strips of non-living chicken fell into the pan and the fire from the stove lit up. I looked over my shoulder to see him staring at me with his usual face… but his eyes seemed… darker.
"See?" I asked, trying to get him to smile, "Fun!" He chuckled, rolling his eyes a bit. I moved over to the stove, dumping the box of pasta into the boiling water and flipping the cooking chicken over.
"It smells good." He told me.
"Thanks! My cooking has gotten surprisingly better since I discovered my magic. I'm not really sure if the two are related, but it kind of feels like they are!" I laughed.
"I wouldn't be surprised." He replied, "But why go through all the motions of cooking if you can just use your magic to make everything at once."
"Oh… I guess I didn't really think to… I have always really enjoyed the act of cooking so I guess I never really thought to." I laughed. With a flick of my wrist everything vanished and was replaced by three plates of pasta, chicken, and even some salad.
As if realizing that there was food waiting, the door to our bedroom opened, revealing Fai, fully dressed, and looking a bit drowsy. I smiled up at him as he walked over and noticed the food. I handed him a plate which he accepted with a large smile and a grateful bow. I held my hand out to him, a fork appearing in my palm, to which he gladly took before sitting near Kurogane and digging into the meal. I grabbed my plate as well as the swordsman's and moved over to where my friends were sitting.
"So what did their king have to say?" I asked, after handing Kurogane's food to him.
"He said we are welcome to stay here as long as we want, as long as we help his army." He replied.
"Army?" I asked.
"Yah, apparently, in this world they are fighting with a clan run by King Ashura."
"Like in the last world."
"Exactly. Except…" He paused, "They don't want you fighting."
"What!?" I exclaimed, jumping to my feet, my hands unintentionally igniting with flames. Fai, completely unaware of what we were discussing, rose quickly and moved to put a hand on my shoulder. I clasped my hands together, extinguishing the flames, before smiling half-heartedly up at him.
"You okay?" Kurogane asked once I had calmed down.
"It's just dumb that they don't want my help." I pouted, sitting back down along with Fai.
"I know; I tried to explain that you would be helpful but he thought you looked too innocent to get mixed up in battle." I stared blankly at him, feeling frustrated.
"When do you two have to go?" I asked.
"Tonight." He replied with a half smile.
"You know I'm coming with you anyway, don't you?" I said.
"I would be surprised if you didn't." He told me. I laughed a bit. I looked up at Fai, noticing his confused look. I thought for a moment, trying to come up with a way to explain through pantomiming, when an idea hit me. I moved my right hand in front of me in a circular motion, creating a grey cloud like structure with lots of miniature soldiers on it. The magician watched me with a curious look on his face. I moved my left hand above the cloud I had created and formed two miniatures of Kurogane and Fai, placing them down onto my creation. Fai nodded in understanding. Then I created a miniature of myself with my left hand – in a fit of anger – and placed it to the side of the cloud. Fai laughed, nodding once more, before holding up a finger as if to tell me to wait. He moved one of his hands below the miniature of me and lifted it up before placing it down on the battle field-cloud. I laughed and nodded, glad he understood. I waved my right arm over my creation, allowing it to evaporate into nothingness. Fai clapped proudly before putting a hand on my head. I blushed a bit as I smiled up at him.
"You should get some rest if you're so bent on coming with us. It could be a difficult fight, I'm not too sure what we should expect." Kurogane told me.
"Okay." I said before finishing up my food. I stood up and prepared to head back to the room but Fai grabbed my hand, looking up at me in confusion. I smiled before putting my hands together, resting my head on them as though they were a pillow, and pretending to be asleep. He nodded and stood up with me.
"I guess he's going to take a nap with me, wake us up before it's time to go?" I asked Kurogane.
"Yah. Just…" he paused, "Never mind."
"What?" I wanted to know what he was going to say.
"Nothing." He replied. I sighed before Fai and I retired to our bedroom. Once the door was shut, the magician pulled me close and kissed me deeply. He pulled away, leaving me feeling lightheaded, before picking me up and climbing into bed for a nice nap.
