Chapter 3! Frog Prince…err…Princess?!
"Me no want kiss!!" Quina screamed again. Kuja forced himself to chew on his lower lip. With that silly mage poking his staff at Kuja, he wasn't allowed to kill the odd, fat creature. Freya shut her eyes. Even her endless patience was running thin.
"No…I don't want to kiss you. I want the Frog Kiss—"
"Frogs over there. Catch frog! You want kiss that bad?" Eiko sighed and jumped out from behind Kuja, where she had been playing with his tail.
"No Quina! We don't want to kiss a frog or you or a duck! I still don't know where you got duck from this…but we want an ITEM! I, T, U, M!" Kuja grinned and tapped her on the shoulder.
"That isn't how you spell item. It's I, t, e, m." Eiko kicked his shin again and turned back to Quina.
"It's a item, like a potion or a ether ok? Where can we find the Frog Kiss item?" She said slowly, as if talking to a three-year-old. Quina stopped trying to catch frogs for a moment and looked as if it was really trying to use it's brain.
"Frog…Kiss…Item?" It tried. Eiko nodded and smiled. "Gold frogs have odd thing inside them. Taste like potion!" Eiko blinked. Kuja's upper lip went up with disgust.
"No!" he shouted, stomping his foot. "Revive me, annoy me, drag me into this disgusting swamp and make me talk to this foul creature but we aren't going to watch this…thing eat a gold frog then throw it up!" Vivi glared at him but Kuja wasn't done yet. "Not to mention how this stupid little girl got us lost on the way here!" Vivi had had enough. He raised his mace and moved it around, thinking of his fira spell. Soon, the flames flickered to life and slammed into Kuja, who promptly yelled out something and jumped into the deep, murky swamp. He stayed under for only a moment.
"Quina think you funny!" It laughed as Kuja surfaced. His silver white hair was covered with some unknown slime, his feathers bent oddly. A reed was sticking out of his mouth and even more mud and slime caked his body. A single frog rested on the top of his head. Freya tired desperately not to laugh but the laughter of the others forced her to giggle as well. Eiko drew out her flute and cast float on him. He floated over, sopping wet with the swamp water. Freya and Vivi helped him pick the muck off. Kuja glared at Vivi and spit the bamboo like reed at him, hitting him in the face.
"Ow!" he muttered. Kuja continued to glare at him.
"I really hate you." He stated. He wiped a large piece of the muck of his tail and tired to get some of it out of his hair. That was futile. Quina smiled and pointed behind him.
"For funny girl, I tell you something!" Kuja shut his eyes. He was going to enjoy killing these people someday. "Man take all gold frogs! Give me free lunch pass to food place!" Freya nodded and stepped forward, since Eiko was casting cure on Vivi.
"Where did he take them?" She asked. Quina jumped up and down.
"He take them to auction. He say, gold frogs get lots of Gil." Freya nodded and turned to Kuja with a grin on her face.
"Well, I guess we should thank you Kuja. You got some info out of it." Kuja narrowed his eyes and turned on a dime, walking out of the swamp. He made sure to smack Freya with his tail as he left. Eiko gave a short laughed and pointed to his head. The frog was still on it. Kuja hadn't even gotten to leave the swamp area, before Quina jumped him.
"My frog! You no take from me!" It shouted, grabbing his head roughly and pulling the frog off it. Kuja shut his eyes once more.
Calm down Kuja, think pleasant thoughts. Killing people, torturing people, these people. Kill the fat one first, then the mage, then that little girl. Maybe not the dragoon, since she wanted to end this for me.
"Can we leave now?" He asked in an eerily calm voice. Freya turned to Eiko, who nodded.
"Yep! Let's grab a chocobo and head for Treno!"
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"Hmm…I forgot how long this trip was." Eiko said as she yawned. After another outburst from Kuja had scared away the chocbos. So this trip was being made by foot. They had just passed South Gate. Night had fallen. Kuja was dead on his feet, as was Freya. Vivi was using his staff to hold him up. Eiko sighed.
"Even though we aren't far from Treno, you guys want to pitch a tent?" Vivi asked. Kuja nodded quickly and laid down on the ground. They were in the open plains, so it was a great place to sleep. Vivi got out a tent and he and Freya got to work on it. Eiko stared at Kuja and hopped over.
"Are you ok?" she asked him. He still had muck on him, only now it was hard and crusty.
"Leave me alone." He muttered. She sighed and squatted down near his face.
"Are you always this moody?" She asked. Kuja sighed and sat up, his tail flicking some of the crust at her.
"Only when such an annoying little girl is bugging me." He grumbled. "And a mage sets me on fire and when a mog yells at me." Vivi walked over with Freya.
"You did kick her." Freya reminded him. He shrugged.
"Self defense. I thought it was going to kill me." Freya rolled her eyes and pointed to the tent.
"Vivi and Eiko will sleep in there." No one argued and the children ran off into the tent. Freya sat down next to Kuja and watched this tail flick back and forth. His back was to her.
"There's a stream nearby, if you want to wash up." She suggested. Kuja blinked and stared at the ground.
"What, you want to spy on me, see if I am a girl or something?" he asked. She sighed and shook her head.
"Nah, your voice is too deep for you to be a girl. You'd be a pretty flat chested one too. And—"
"Alright all ready. I get it." He muttered. Freya smiled.
"Actually, I figured you wanted to clean some of that crust off and maybe get the swamp smell off you." Kuja's tail stopped its movement and he turned around to stare at her.
"So…you want me to go take a bath?" He said slowly. She nodded.
"Baths help you sleep better too. You seem tired but I think a bath will help." Kuja sighed and stood up.
"Fine, where is the stream?" Freya stood up and pointed towards South Gate.
"Just go that way. It's only about a five minute walk." Kuja nodded. He began to walk but stopped several yards from the campsite. He turned to stare at Freya. She was sitting cross-legged, watching the stars in the sky. He sighed and turned full around. The gentlemen in him wouldn't let him go without saying on thing.
"Freya!" he called back. She turned. "Thank you." She nodded. Kuja shook his head.
Great, next I'll be saying please and may I…
Author's Note: Alright, people may say that I'm going for a Kuja/Freya thing. And I might later but in this chapter, she was acting more like his mother, I think. Alright, on to chapter 4!! Treno, here we come!