Chapter 14: Always There to Save You.
Kimiko was beginning to awaken. So it was all just a dream... Everything was so real... The Temple burned to ashes! Her life would be ruined if that happened! She finally opened her eyes, to find herself meeting the eyes of none other than Raimundo Pedrosa.
"Rai..." Kimiko closed her eyes, tears were trickling down her face again."Kim, what's wrong?" he asked.
She
didn't respond right away. He gave her a sympathetic glance and brought
her into a heart warming embrace, bringing her close to his heart. For
a moment, she felt a spark of joy, then it faded away.
Was Raimundo going to be stripped away from her? But how?
There wasn't any evil person wanting to take a regular old Temple girl and a clumsy Prince!
"W-Will you every l-leave me?" Kimiko opened her eyes once more.
Raimundo stared back. Before she had begun to gain consciousness, Kimiko was thrashing around in her bed and groaning.
"Why would I ever leave you Kimiko?" Raimundo held his breath and leaned forward.
"I
wouldn't leave you willing, not when I have you." He kissed her on the
lips, giving her a feeling like... Fire. But her mind wasn't focused on
the kiss, one word made he shiver.
Willing.
Someone was going to take her beloved boyfriend, whether she liked it or not.
He
stroked her cheek lovingly. What would give her the idea of him
leaving? Not like magic existed or anything like that! Raimundo trailed
his fingers down to her hand, when he noticed she had her star there.
"Kimiko..." He said, with uneasiness in his voice.
"What?-" Kimiko took a sharp in take of breath, the Star Hanabi was there, and it was glowing again.
"Don't move." Raimundo whispered, backing away from her.
A part of him wanted to hold her and protect her, while the other half wanted to protect himself!
"Use your focus Kimiko."
Something instructed in her head.
Who's voice? That wasn't anyone she knew, but the voice wasn't that cruel voice in her dream.
Kimiko looked at Raimundo, that sword was in his hands again.
How did he get that? It appeared out of thin air!
A memory ran through her head of Raimundo chained to a wall, this made her lose focus. "
FIRE!" Raimundo knew what to do.
Maybe he could make his powers help him.
"Protect
me, WIND!" There was that invisible force field around him. Kimiko
dropped her weapon, and she fell back down onto the bed.
"Raimundo... I have to tell you something." He lowered his arms, and at an instance the Wind disappeared, as if nothing ever happened. Kimiko shook her head shamefully at her remark "I'm a mage."
She couldn't faint... Not this time... Kimiko reached out to Raimundo, and touched his hand.
"Save me one day, Raimundo." Her words made Raimundo weak in the knees.
She just couldn't be! He was a mage!
Or did he already somehow know that?
"I'll always save you Kimiko. Don't worry." Raimundo didn't feel all spunky right now.
He was serious. His girlfriend was getting hurt by some unknown source, and he was bound to find out in a matter of days.
"Why
am I feeling this? I mean look..." She lifted up her hand to find there
was no Star Hanabi, instead five bloody crescents embedded in her skin.
"Kimiko, you need a potion! Which potion is it?"
Raimundo
fumbled around for a potion in the cupboard. Kimiko didn't pay much
attention to him. She ran a finger over her skin, and it healed. Right
there and then.
"I don't think I need anything."
Raimundo turned around and knelt beside her bed.
"It's as if you didn't get hurt at all... How about that wound near
your... Chest?" asked Raimundo. Kimiko didn't even think, she moved her
clothes, to reveal no wound. "Where is it? Did you hurt yourself on
your right side? I thought it was to your left though..." Raimundo
touched Kimiko right side, it burned.
"One with the Fire..."
This wasn't normal. Raimundo stared in awe at her side. She did get hurt, and he knew it.But the bleeding and cuts couldn't just go away!
There must have been a scar. Finally finding out what he was doing, he turned his head away and blushed.
She
was showing parts of her body that were usually covered with clothes,
and if he was looking carefully enough, you could see part of her bra.
"Raimundo, there's nothing to be blushing about. There is something to worry about though."
Kimiko pulled her shirt back down and rested her head back on her pillow.
"What time is it?" she asked, "I was just wondering..."
"It's night time now, want to go on a walk? Unless you're still hurting..."
Kimiko sighed inwardly.
This was a perfect moment, but she had to spoil the moment by thinking about that eerie dream.
Nothing clicked! Yet.
"So
you coming? I'm not going if you don't go." Raimundo thought about the
words Omi mentioned. Dark forces could have Kimiko in a heart beat if
they wanted her that badly. Now it seemed as though they were waiting
for the time to strike, and Raimundo wasn't going to risk it! "Sure...
I think I'm healed again too..."
Closing the window softly was a problem. There's a very slim chance that you can slam a window shut during the middle of night and not strike any suspicion into someone!
"Why don't you use your Wind powers?" asked Kimiko.
"Because
I don't know to control them, according to Omi!" Raimundo made a face
at the name and pushed the window down. Causing a very loud cracking
sound.
"Raimundo! Why did you do that? You could have-"
He
covered her mouth and put his hand to the ground, they both flew into
the air and to a tree, silently as a leaf falling to the ground.
Raimundo put a finger over her lips and pointed below.
There was a guard with a torch, and he was shining it directly on the spot Raimundo and Kimiko used to be standing.
"See that?"
"Yes, but how did you fly off the ground like that? Well...I told you that you could fly."
Kimiko hugged him, this time he could actually enjoy it.
"Let's go down now." Raimundo whispered, peering around to see if the guard was in sight."No, that's what he expects us to do, so be still! How care free are you anyways? As care free as the Wind?"
Raimundo managed a smirk and remarked, "Don't you find it irresistible?" he asked.
Kimiko blushed and let go of him.
"You aren't going to get a hug for a while you cocky person." They simpered down after a minute.
"Is the thing still there?" asked Kimiko. Raimundo brushed back his unruly hair and sighed,"If they are, then we'll just have to wait."
So they waited, and waited, and waited. Raimundo still saw the flicker of a distant flame, and Kimiko said she somehow sensed it. Raimundo wondered if he could sense air too. Kimiko replied to his question with a 'duh.'
"Think we are ever going to make it out of this tree?"
Kimiko laughed at Raimundo's question.
"It's
not like they are going to just wait for you to fall out of a tree..."
Still knowing they were being waited on, they spoke in whispers.
"You know this might take forever, so why don't we play a little game?" asked Kimiko.
"What?
There's nothing that we can do, and if you were ever bored I would be
surprised, think about all the boredom you get from being a Prince!"
Raimundo smiled when she nodded in agreement.
"And I thought you
didn't have that many emotions for people. I made this game up a while
ago, you want to play? I promise, it won't do anything weird to you...
This time."
Raimundo cocked an eyebrow and touched her hand. "Things couldn't get any weirder with me going out with you Kim."VERY weird love that is.
Kimiko seemed to agree with this opinion also.
"Okay,
so this game is called Snap Responses... Still sure you want to play? I
mean this can make you blurt all sorts of things, like about... your
crush?" Kimiko flushed brightly when she thought about Raimundo liking
her.
But he couldn't really tell in the darkness. "Sure thing, I want to see how much I can make you say."
Raimundo shifted into a comfortable position on his branch.
"Now go ahead and explain this game, I'm sure it's worth while."
He
would make an exception this time, and listen for a change. "First,
I'll say a word like... Book. You say whatever comes first into your
mind. It's simple really."
Kimiko didn't give a great example this time, but Raimundo caught on easily, even though he was slow at certain things.
"Fine...
You go first, I don't want to spoil the fun of me asking you a
question." Kimiko grinned a little, and she almost forgot that they
were getting watched.
"Hm... Let's see..." This was the first
round of Kimiko asking Raimundo something, and there were so many
things she could make him blurt! "Make up your mind already Kimiko,
you're building up the tension!"Kimiko put her finger on her chin
thoughtfully and clucked her tongue.
"I think I got it."
"Say it already woman!"
She waited for him to calm down and said, "Kimiko."
"Hot."
"Raimundo."
"Wind."
Kimiko bit her lower lip and thought about his first answer.
He said she was hot!
She prevented herself from doing a dance or squealing and muttered, "Sophia."
"Bitch." Raimundo rolled his eyes at Sophia's name.
"Omi."
"Bald."
"Jack Spicer."
"Red headed freak."
Kimiko giggled and put her hand over her heart.
"How did I ever find someone like you have fun with?" Raimundo briefly shifted his eyes to a shadow.
In his head he swore he saw it move.
"Can I have my turn now? Thanks,"
He didn't wait for her reply though, and this was going to be fun!
"Temple."
"Dull."
"Fire."
"Mine."
"Raimundo."
"...Mine?" Raimundo tensed up a little, talk about property here!
"Oh... I'm sorry..." she murmured shyly.
"No
need to be, I like having people drooling over me." They burst into a
fit of laughter, and after a while, Kimiko fell asleep in his arms,
feeling safe and secure; there was no need to be anywhere else.