Walls & Flowers

A Falling High Story

By Genvavere

Spring filled the air along with the fresh scent of rain from the morning. While they had spent the early morning rain keeping each other warm, the early afternoon clung to the cool air still and Yumemi truly felt refreshed.

While she loved her home in the Lower World, there was a sense of belonging in the Magical Kingdom that she had longed for since she first began seeing the islands as a child. This was her home, and the man beside her brought all of it together.

Giving him a longing side glance, she appreciated the more casual clothing that he wore today, especially after she had quite deliberately shown him pictures of characters in loose shirts and leather pants. The deep cut in the front gave her a nice glimpse at his tone torso and when he walked ahead of her, his taunt buttocks made her fingers twitch to squeeze it.

Heat rose to her cheeks as she remembered doing just that earlier that morning, and how they had made a mess of each other over and over. The excuse they used had been the rain, but they both knew it would not have mattered if there had been cloudless.

A week apart from each other had been too long to not indulge in the other to their hearts content.

Yet, even while she had wanted to continue their passion, her body demanded nourishment, and after a particularly bad cramp with her last orgasm, they both agreed to take a break.

After a filling brunch with water to get her hydrated again, it was nice to walk around and see how much the kingdom had progressed since she had first been there and most of the areas were rubble. There were still some outcrops of the island that had the remains of the war, buildings that had no owners left or were abandoned. Places that held memories that could not be forgotten.

Her own world had wars that showed the devastation armies could bestow upon their fellow humans, and the Heavens were no different. Power was just something that could corrupt anyone if they turned away from the spirit of themselves and the love of those around them.

Power.

Her train of thoughts brought a silence to their conversation and a halt to their walk as she stared at her own hands. The frown on Munto's face was lost to her with her thoughts pulled inward.

When he had come back to her all those years ago, they had discussed many things, and one of them had been him teaching her how to use the Akuto his people used, and hers created. It had been a slow, gradual thing to happen between them with the world still getting used to new creatures and nations in the sky, her own life and school, and the rebuilding of both of their worlds.

Now, they had been working on it for a couple of years on it, and while she could do some things, like hover for a minute in the air—flying was still far beyond her comprehension at that point—a question rang loudly in her mind.

Could this power create something beautiful?

Food could be created, she was reminded each day as she was presented with a bundle of the bizarre fruits—though as much as she had grown accustomed to the taste, she did set about using the kitchen Munto had built in the palace so other foods could be made.

Glancing around where she abruptly ended their stroll and their pleasant conversation, she noticed a small alcove hidden behind an entrance. Walls lined the small area and several pots of dirt laid scattered around in the space.

An idea brought a glow to her eyes.

"Munto," she said, a hand gripped his and she pointed to the area. "The Akuto, could it create flowers?"

His golden eyes glanced in the area she motioned. She watched him carefully, seeing the looks over his face change rapidly. One of them sent shivers down her entire body at the smoldering look that was there for only a brief moment before another emotion took its place. If they managed to get back to the castle without her panties getting lost again, she would count it as a win.

"Akuto can be used to create anything the user desires," he answered. "Be it destructive or constructive, the will is in the hands of the user and their ability to shape it." He carefully took his hand from hers and put it on the small of her back to lead her to the secluded area.

While it had been her original intent to point him to that area, it did not help that she remembered his certain look and a multitude of rather risqué thoughts began swirling in her mind. There was no question that she wanted to learn about using her powers, and he was her teacher! But he was also her future husband, her fiancé, and the love of her life…he made her toes curl with a heated kiss or a look across the room. He had made her come countless times earlier that morning…and now they were heading into an area where eyes would not be able to see them that well.

She felt the chuckle from him before her ears picked up on it as his breath caressed the shell of her ear. "Is there a reason you are so tense?"

"N-no," she said. How could she just admit what had gone through her mind just seconds before? No, he did not need to know any of that.

The smile was evident in his voice, along with the tone that told her he did not believe her. "Then relax. There is no reason for you to be so nervous when practicing your abilities."

Like she was nervous about that, she gave a huff.

Licking her lips, she took a deep—albeit shaky, breath and stepped away from him to go to one of the larger pots against a wall that had what looked like dirt in it, but nothing else. No weeds, no sprouts eager for life. An empty patch of dirt waiting for life.

But, if it was empty, would she be able to do anything with just dirt? That question brought a halt to what she had wanted to attempt and instead had her looking over her shoulder to ask Munto of that.

He shook his head. "No," he said, "Akuto can create anything out of nothing, any form you wish to create."

Her lower lip disappeared between her teeth. "Is that…how yo—children are born up here?" It had been a question she had been curious about for many years, especially with the lack of them before the wars ended and his memories. If his own parents could be punished for creating him, would they have known what they were doing besides being intimate with each other? For their own children, when that time came, would they have to do something different?

The question brought a look of surprise to him, laughter shook his entire body and he wrapped his arms around his stomach. Annoyed, she fixed her hands on her hips and gave him a look that did nothing to quell his laughter or amusement. As fierce as she might of thought she looked, it only endeared her more to him.

Collecting himself, he stepped up to her and offered her a smile. "How my parents created me is exactly how we have been being intimate," he said in a light tone, still with a hint of laughter in it. "But where we have utilized items to keep us from having a child yet, they made the decision to forego any of that to have me."

Her hands slipped from her hips and she felt a sense of shame in asking such a personal question. The memories of what he endured when he watched them shattered into Akuto shards stabbed painfully at her heart. "I'm sorry. That is a question I should not ha—"

Lips covered hers softly, cutting off her apology and her body relaxed. "You can ask any question you want or need, Yumemi," he said, lips a breath away from hers. She opened her eyes just as he pulled away from her. "Now, you wanted to try to create a flower?"

Not trusting her voice, she nodded and turned back to the large pot. Flower. Right!

Though the pot was larger, she had to kneel down to reach it better and held her hands over the dirt at an angle. Remembering the lessons she had received before, she closed her eyes and focused Akuto to form into her outstretched palms. Heat began to build where it concentrated, and behind her eyelids, she could see the light it was creating.

In her mind, she focused on a flower growing from the dirt, small at first, then the stem reaching up and up. As it grows in her mind, leaves sprout out and at the very top, a bud formed that wiggled back and forth like a cocoon about to burst with a newly formed butterfly inside.

The pod shuddered, and just as it was supposed to pop open and reveal the gorgeous pedals, a loud crack shattered her concentration. Eyes snapped open and to her dismay, no flower grew beneath her hands. The concentrated Akuto began to glow brighter in her hands. Without her concentration on it, the magic shifted and then launched forward.

Before it collided with the wall in front of her, she saw a large crack that was shared with the flower pot spreading to the second floor of the building. Then the bolt of power hit the wall, destroying the crack she had made.

Arms wrapped around her and pulled her to safety away from the cloud of dust and wall chunks that littered the ground around the pots, which were mostly broken now. The inner structure of the building now had a new opening to enter through, and two pairs of eyes stared at the contents of the warehouse.

"How…?" Had she done something wrong? She had imagined what she wanted, brought that thought forward, then…oh, she had not pushed that thought forward into her hands to mold the Akuto.

Munto's words echoed in her mind, "Destroying things is easy with the power of Akuto, but creating things takes more finesse and control. Do not be surprised if you destroy more things in the beginning than not. Even I destroy things still."

The arms around her tightened. She put a hand on Munto's forearm to let him know that she was fine, but her pride hurt. If she had not forgot that step, she knew there would be a flower there!

Then she felt tremors in the arm. How badly had she scared him?

"Munto," she said and turned her head to face him. "I'm all rig—"

Her eyes widened. In that moment, she felt utter betrayal.

For the second time that afternoon, within the same hour, he was laughing! She pulled away from him and glared up at him as he threw his head back and let out a hearty bellow of laughter into the sky. His arms were wrapped around his waist again to keep his stomach from hurting.

"Hey!" She stomped her foot on the ground and glared at him. "Aren't you supposed to be supportive and not make fun of my mistakes?" Heat spread over her cheeks in embarrassment.

Though he tried to answer, his laughter left little room for him to breath, much less form words. And while she was glad he had relaxed enough to be able to laugh like this, it was no fair that he did so at her expense.

Cheeks puffing out, she poked him in the chest. "Laugh it up, mister," she crossed her arms over her chest. "But you better not expect anything from me for the next week!"

She turned to stomp away, to show him she was serious, and then, to her horror and to his amusement, the wall next to the one she had blown up crumbled and added to the mess on the ground.

Face and ears beet red, she could not even stomp away as she more tried to slink into the shadows and away from the crime scene all the while the deep, rich laughter she had grown to love echoed behind her. It was official, she was done with trying anything with Akuto for at least a month.


A/N - Bit of a note on Munto's parents and if they created him in the fun way or just by doing magic stuff. This was a discussion Ari and I had awhile ago, and I decided to plop it in. If I remember correctly, we both agreed that it would be no fun if they didn't get to have fun, too!

Also, this story was referenced in Falling High in a short snippet and I wanted to make it an actual story. Might do it for other snippets that are through the stories.