Chapter 3

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"What's that?" Raenef asked, pointing at an odd wooden apparatus Chris was pulling to the top of the steepest hill on the grounds, with the knight and demon lord following him curiously, pulling similar contraptions.

"It's a sled," Chris informed him. "Master took me up north once, and we took a dog sled up to one of the temples. A kid up there showed me how to go sledding without dogs."

"Oh, okay then," said Raenef cheerfully, totally oblivious to what Chris just said. "What do you do with it?"

A smirk curled Chris's lips. "Get on… I'll show you."

"Okay!" Raenef bounced onto the contraption eagerly. "Now what?" Chris crouched down in a runners' pose with his hands on back of the sled.

"Hold on, and don't scream." He lunged forward and shoved the sled over the crest of the hill.

"GYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Back in the castle, Eclipse's acute hearing caught a familiar scream.

"Ha!" Chris whooped, watching poor Raenef go flying down the steep hill. "Payback for burying me alive!" he called after him. Then suddenly he smelled something burning.

Shortly there afterward, he discovered it was him.

As the cleric screamed and rolled frantically in the snow, Eclipse, who had materialized behind him, teleported to the bottom of the hill. Erutis prodded a still-smoldering Chris with her boot.

"So much for payback, huh, monk-boy?"

Eclipse quickly discovered Raenef was not at the bottom of the hill, and so he followed the sled tracks up the next hill, one about half the size of the first. At the crest, he found the blonde rising unsteadily to his feet. Apparently the celerity of the trip down gained enough momentum to propel him up the second slope, but not enough to send him over. Eclipse put a hand under Raenef's elbow, and wrapped the other around his waist to steady him.

"Are you alright, Master Raenef?"

"Uh-huh," the youth grinned giddily. "That was fun!" He stepped forward to walk on his own, but stumbled.

"Master Raenef!" Eclipse moved to catch him, but accidentally tripped over the sled buried in the snow. For once his intrinsic grace failed him; he fell forward onto the already unbalanced Raenef, and they both went rolling down the hill.

When they came to a halt at the bottom, Raenef was sprawled flat on his back in the snow with Eclipse was lying on top of him. As soon as Eclipse regained his bearings and realized the intimate proximity of their positions, he moved to jump off, raising himself to his elbows, but froze when he caught Raenef's gaze.

Beautiful…

He stared, spellbound, that single thought resonating in his mind as he gazed into the depths of the youth's sparkling emerald eyes. Raenef's hair had somehow come unbound (which was remarkable, considering it had survived being whacked with a sword and subjected to various types of magical attacks without noticeable damage) and was fanned out on the snow like a shimmering golden halo. His cheeks were tinged pink from the cold, stark against the paleness of his skin. He was panting through slightly parted rosy lips, flushed and irresistibly tempting. Eclipse was completely paralyzed, unable to move, unable to think, unable to do anything but relish this angelic vision in the snow before him.

Despite the pale winter sun lighting the two in its heavenly glow, snow began to drift down from the skies once more. Raenef smiled softly and reached up to brush a crystal flake from Eclipse's shining raven hair. The rays of the sun lit him from behind, softening his appearance, and he seemed aesthetically ethereal.

"You're so pretty, Eclipse…" he murmured, gazing up at the demon with wondrous eyes. Eclipse's eyes softened with a smile.

"I was thinking the same about you… Raenef." Raenef smiled at the sound of his name unburdened with titles or honoraries.

Eclipse found himself inexplicably drawn closer, and he realized vaguely that it must be him who was moving, for Raenef was lying with his back in the snow. The part of his mind that was always nagging him about morals and proper conduct seemed to have been stunned into silence as he leaned in still closer, and he felt small hands on his shoulders urging him on. The tips of their noses brushed and he angled his head; time seemed to have forgotten how to move… he could feel Raenef's warm breath on his lips… they were mere millimeters away from each other and then…

"YAHOO!!"

Erutis and Chris went whizzing past on a sled and crashed headlong into a snow bank. Eclipse jerked back as reality slapped him in the face and he leapt to his feet, and, not daring to look his master in the eye, vanished back to the castle with a breathless, "Go."

Raenef simply lay there for a moment, utterly pole axed, and then he scrambled to his feet just as the knight and the cleric emerged from the bank and ambled over to him, brushing snow off their clothes.

"Hey Rae! Where'd Eclipse go?" Erutis hailed him cheerfully. Raenef swallowed and wet his lips, hoping they would attribute his flushed state to the cold and his mussed appearance to the sled ride.

"Back to the castle."

"What were you doing down here?" asked Chris inquisitively. Raenef averted his eyes, scuffing the snow with his toe.

"I was… looking for my hair band. Have you seen it?"

"Here!" Erutis fished the object in question out of the snow and handed it to him. "Wanna try that hill again?"

Raenef grinned. "Yeah, let's go."

The snow was still showering them as they drug their sleds back up to the first hill. A snowflake kissed Raenef's lips where Eclipse had not, and he touched the spot briefly, closing his eyes.

Was he really going to… kiss me?

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TBC