"Oh Yukino!" Cyan burst into the room of her fellow Priestess in training. "Yukino, the fire Prince is coming to find the Princess!"
A girl in light blue turned from the window, long skirts cascading over the window seat and onto the floor. Ice blue eyes blinked at the intruder. Her hair was hidden under a cap.
"Prince?" She asked, not sounding at all interested.
"Yes. Think of it Yukino! One of us is a Princess who will save the world!"
Yukino sighed, and cast her mind back to the legend of the elemental royalty.
The legend told of a time when the world started to become out of balance. At that time, four elementals rose from their fellows and gave power to the world, thus restoring the balance. These four were then granted special abilities for saving the world. The main one mentioned by the legend was the ability of the four to touch each other without pain or illness.
In the world of elements, no one could touch ice without freezing, or fire without burning. Wind and earth often made others ill.
They were also given the title of Prince or Princess to signify that they were above all others.
Cyan spoke again. "The Prince is supposed to be very handsome. Imagine what would happen if the Ice Princess was to marry him! Don't you wish it was you?"
"The Princes and Princesses haven't been needed for hundreds of years. If they are forced to come back, then that means that they have to save the world again. Isn't that too much trouble just for a husband?"
"You never understand these things, Yukino. You live up to your name too well. I wouldn't mind being a hero, and marrying a handsome man who saved the world."
"Then I hope it's you." Yukino stood, pushing her way out of the door. "Saving the world is too troublesome." She walked to the throne room, passing a few groups of girls who were whispering about the Prince and giggling.
She turned the corner, and bumped into someone.
"Oh sorry!" She knelt next to the tall man she had knocked over.
He looked up, a frown on his handsome face, and they stared at each other, Yukino unable to look away from fiery red eyes.
He shook his head and stood, walking away.
Rude. She thought, standing and turning back to the alter room. Once there, she went through the motions of prayer. When she grabbed a summoning rod from behind the alter, she flipped a switch and waited for the room to clear.
When the last priest left, she slipped behind the alter again and into a secret doorway. It lead her down a dark path and into a room that was filled with a strange blue light from deep within the ice walls. Yukino had slowly been setting the room up as a place to practice magic so there were candles, straw scarecrows, and rocks spread around the room.
In the society Yukino grew up in, women were expected to be priestesses until they were married. Though many had the ability to be magic users, no one was allowed to be. No one dared practice.
Except for Yukino.
She knelt by the candle and concentrated. It took a few moments, but she managed to light the small candle with a fire spell.
She had a lot of difficulty with fire.
Standing, she called up wind and manipulated the wind and fire to set the scarecrow on fire. "Great, as long as fire is already there, I can make it bigger." Turning to a boulder, she cast a quick earthquake spell and cracked it. Next she turned back to the fire and froze it.
She was getting faster.
"Not bad." A voice came out of the shadows of the room.
She screamed and turned to face it.
From the doorway came the man she had bumped into earlier, his red eyes reflecting the light and glowing. His black hair fell slightly over his tan face as he regarded her solemnly.
"Who are you?" She asked, backing away. "How did you find this place?"
"I followed you." He offered her a wry smile. "I thought you acted differently than the others I've met here. As for who I am, I am Kasai, the Fire Prince."
"Oh. I heard you were coming. You're looking for the Princess, right?"
He blinked. "I found her."
"Don't say it." She sighed.
"She's you."
"I told you not to say it. How do you know?"
"When you bumped into me. If you weren't the Princess, you would have said a bit more than 'sorry.' And the only thing that hurt on me was my pride. Anyone else would have been burning."
They stared at each other.
"Are you sure it's me?" She asked.
He closed his eyes, looking like she was trying his patience. "Yes!" He opened his eyes and grabbed her wrist. "I can't touch anyone else from this realm."
"Damn."
"Now go get your things, we're leaving."
She stared at him. "What? You can't order me around!"
"I can and I am. Go get your things or we leave without it. I'll meet you outside."
"Don't order me around, bastard."
"Look wench, you have ten minuets to get your things, and don't think about not meeting me. I will hunt you down and burn you like a twig."
"I don't want to…"
"MOVE WOMAN!"
She ran away from the small fireball he sent at her, running all the way to her room.
Once there, she grabbed a bag from the bottom of her closet and threw some clothing in there. The only thing she had were long dresses with full petticoats like the one she was wearing. Extra amulets and boots were also thrown in the bag. After that, she also put a dagger in each boot. One last dagger was placed in her belt and she hid that with a cloak. The cloak was specially designed to allow ice elementals to travel.
One last look around the room, and she left.
At the front gates, the guards seemed surprised to see her. "Lady Yukino?" One asked. "Wha- where are you going?"
"For my walk." She rolled her eyes.
"But…" he seemed a little confused. "But we only ever see you come back, not leave."
Usually she would leave the secret room by another exit and circle the temple to enter by the front door. "That's because you don't pay attention." She turned to leave.
"Why do you have a pack?" The other guard asked.
She sighed. "I'm collecting herbs and plants for ceremonies and things…." and she left.
Kasai was waiting in the garden, arms wrapped around himself. "Took you long enough." He muttered when she came into view.
"Sorry." She sneered. "I don't have a pack ready for the moment someone would come and liberate from my servitude to the temple."
He raised an eyebrow. "Bitter much?"
"No!" She paused. "Although I wish I had thought of it. Then I could stare out the window like an insipid twit, waiting for my knight in shinning armor to rescue me."
"Not much for the others in your temple, are you?"
"Eh." She looked around wide eyed as they walked away from the temple. "They're not bad, but they sit around and only talk about boys and how they might better serve the Gods. It gets boring after a while."
"You prefer a more intelligent conversation?" He asked.
"Wouldn't you?"
There was silence as they continued on. Yukino looked around her, never having been this far away from the temple or town before. Kasai was concentrating on staying warm.
"Just out of curiosity, and for the sake of the other girls in the temple, do you have a girlfriend?"
"No."
"Oh. Are you sure? A handsome guy like you is all single and alone in the world? See, you should have a girlfriend and bring her on this quest, then you wouldn't be cold at all."
"I don't have a girlfriend. Please stop asking."
"Oh." There was silence. "So… Why are we going on this quest?"
"To restore balance to the world."
"Oh." There was silence. "So… Why is the world out of balance?"
"I don't really know."
"Then why are you going on this quest?"
"The Oracle sent me."
"Do you always listen to everything the Oracle tells you?"
"Do you always ask so many questions!" He blew up at her.
She stepped back, staring at him with a hurt look on her face.
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"Agh!"
"I think you need anger control."
"I think you need to shut up."
She stuck her tongue out at him.
"That's so mature." He rolled his eyes.
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No! For the love of-- Will you stop asking me that?"
"I just want to make conversation. If we're going to be traveling around together, I think we should know a little bit about each other."
"Well how about we stop talking about me, and talk about you. I don't know anything about you."
"Fine. What do you want to know?"
"I don't know, HOW ABOUT YOUR NAME!"
She blinked. "I think you need a nap."
His hand raised and formed into a claw almost as if he was going to grab her by the neck and shake her. "Do you have a name?" He ground out through clenched teeth.
"Guess!" She said.
"Just tell me!"
"I want you to guess!"
"I want you to tell me."
"You can't order me around, you're not the boss of me."
"I'm older than you."
She looked at him. He didn't look that much older than her. "By what, a year or two?"
"How old are you?"
"17."
"I'm 10,000. That means I can order you around."
"No, that means you're an old man." She grinned, hopping around him. "Should I get you a wheelchair? Do you need help walking?"
He lunged for her. "Brat!"
She laughed and jumped back, trying to avoid him. With a snarl, he caught her, though his momentum made her fall on the snow. He landed on her, using her skirts and body as a shield so he wouldn't touch it.
"Okay, okay, I give." She laughed again.
He grinned at her, panting a little. "There. Maybe you'll have some respect for your elders."
"Mm… maybe. But I might forget."
"I'll be sure to remind you."
"Hey."
"What?"
"Are you still cold?"
He looked surprised, then thoughtful. "No. Still sick because I'm in the ice realm, but not that cold. Thank you." They both paused, looking at each other. He looked puzzled, then reached for the cap she wore. "Why do you have this on? I didn't see anyone else wearing anything over their hair."
"I like hats." She said.
He frowned, but didn't comment. Suddenly, his head snapped up. "We have company." Careful not to touch the snow, he stood, and helped her up.
Two artic wolves came into view, five others behind them. The two in front snarled, and lept at them.
Kasai met one with a fire spell, sending it flying away. It ran away yelping in pain. Yukino pulled out the dagger from her belt and met the other one head on. They bounced off each other. With a shout, Kasai obliterated that one in flames as well, though he did catch part of Yukino's skirt with the flames.
She sat in the snow and glared.
Another wolf attacked. Kasai sent another ball of fire at it. The wolf almost dodged, but Yukino called wind up to follow the wolf. The spell hit it's side. Kasai finished it off with more fire.
"This is becoming a trend." Yukino said, looking at the melted snow.
Two more came up, Kasai throwing more fire. The wolf dodged though and both attacked Yukino. She saw one, but the other scratched her side. She fell to the snow, and managed to block a second attack with the dagger. The other wolf almost scratched Kasai, but he rolled away. The snow hissed, and Kasai's skin looked slightly frostbitten.
Three wolves now converged on Kasai. She heard him scream in pain, but couldn't see where he was wounded. Holding her side, she ran over and attempted to jab a wolf with her dagger.
She hit one which reared away from Kasai and snarled at her. She leapt at it and hit it again, hearing Kasai scream again. It retaliated, leaping for her. She closed her eyes and attempted to cast fire, actually managing the spell and hitting it.
Fur on fire, the wolf leapt for her now. She barely managed to dodge, though it scratched her uninjured side as it went by. Turning, she saw the wolf attacking, and ducked, driving the dagger deep into its chest. The wolf howled in pain, and dropt down to the ground. It attempted to claw her again, but she stabbed it's eyes. One of the wolves turned away from Kasai and attacked it's wounded companion, killing it.
She head Kasai call out and turned just in time to get her chest clawed open by another wolf. She screamed, and fell to the ground. Dimly, she heard Kasai give a cry of rage and three wolves howl in pain. Then there was silence.
She clutched her chest with one hand, other hand digging into the ground, tears of pain pooling in her eyes. Arms went around her, pulling her back into a body. She heard the hissing noise of evaporating snow as blood hit the ground.
It was Kasai, cut and bruised, cradling her to him. He looked into her eyes, a large scratch underneath his left eyes. "I'm sorry." He whispered. "This might hurt a little." Gently, he cradled her head and held a bottle up to her lips.
She drank, and a wave of healing magic spread through her body, curing all of her cuts, though the slashes on her chest were still red and sore.
After giving her half the bottle, he downed the other half, healing himself.
"Kasai?" She whispered, still a little dazed.
"I promised I wouldn't let you get hurt. The Oracle made me promise to take care of you."
"It's not your fault we were attacked by things."
"It's a good thing I brought potions." He grimaced. "Though I didn't think we would need them so soon.
He helped her stand, and gingerly began brushing snow off himself. With a sigh, she reached up and took off her cap which was mostly falling off anyways.
Ice blue hair cascaded down her back. Not noticing his gasp of shock or his staring, Yukino knelt to put the cap away. He reached out a trembling hand to run his fingers gently through it. She looked up.
"I thought everyone in your land had white hair."
"Yeah." She looked slightly cross as she stood. "That's why I hide it. They don't seem to like people who are different, and it's bad enough my eyes are blue."
"I like your eyes." He then looked shocked that he said anything and turned slightly red.
She blushed a little. "Oh. Um, thank you."
He nodded, and turned away. "We're very close to the Earth realm now, we should be there in a few moments."
"Right."
They continued to walk. After a moment, Yukino started singing in her head. On the road again. I just can't wait to get on the road again…
Kasai twitched.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"Can you not sing that song?"
"I-I wasn't singing out loud!"
He turned slightly red. "Did I mention that I can read minds?"
"Get out of my head!" She shrieked.
"I don't mean too! I only pick up what you project, I promise! I don't go looking for thoughts!"
"Hmmph. Says you." She frowned, and concentrated on 'blocking' him out. Mostly, that consisted of humming one long note in her mind.
"What are you doing?" He asked, twitching again.
She stopped humming for a moment. "I'm blocking you out."
"Stop that, it's annoying."
"Good. Then you won't read my thought."
"I don't want to read your thoughts, you have nothing good to think about. This entire journey you've been thinking of the best way to ditch me and run away to some ice cave somewhere."
"Hey, that's not fair, reading my mind when I can't read yours."
"There's no point in reading your mind when I can't find anything useful out of it like, oh… YOUR NAME!"
She blinked innocently. "Oh, I didn't tell you?"
"NO!"
"It's Yukino."
He blinked, stopping mid rant. "Your name is ice? And you're an ice elemental."
"Hey, your name is fire, and what element are you?"
"Fire… oh."
"That's right, flame-boy."
"Right…. Um… so, earth is over here…" He scuttled ahead.
She followed with a put upon sigh. You are so weird.
Look in a mirror. He replied in her mind.
"Hey!" She called. He stopped and waited for her to catch up. "Do you know how many girls in the temple you disappointed? They all wanted to be chosen as the Princess."
"Well, it's not my choice."
"I just thought you should know of all the broken hearts you left behind."
"What about you? Would you have been disappointed if you hadn't been chosen?"
"No. Should I be?"
He looked away quickly, though she did manage to catch a glimpse of a hurt expression on his face. "No. Of course not. Why would you want to go save the world?"
"Why indeed?" She asked, confused.
The rest of the journey to the air realm was spent in silence.
