The big day finally arrived, and Anya wasn't sure whether she was excited or nervous. She didn't feel 17, but she knew she was. Someone knocked on her door.
"Come in."
The doorknob turned, and standing there was Kai with a ghost of a smile on his face.
"Good morning." She said cheerfully.
"Morning." He responded, his voice and eyes betraying nothing.
Anya leapt up from her bed and started digging through her clothing to find something to wear. From the depths of her drawers, she pulled out her street clothing- a brown parka, black cargo pants, her snow boots and a white turtleneck.
Kai raised an eyebrow as she opened the window, pulled a rope out from under her bed and tied the end of the rope to her bed, throwing the other end out the window.
"What are you doing?"
"Going out through the window."
"What for?" He asked, openly amused.
"If I go out there, do you have any idea what will happen?"
Kai shot her a look as if to say "Do I look like I would know?"
"Long story short, I'll be mobbed by every worker in the damn palace. You coming?"
Kai looked at her bemused before shrugging.
"You are very strange."
Anya smirked and climbed the 3 stories down with Kai close behind, er, above.
"Finally, some alone time." Anya said with a smile, putting her hands behind her head.
"Ahem." Kai said, jerking her out of her thoughts.
"You know what I mean." She retorted.
Kai merely shrugged and put his hands in his pockets.
"Well, we have one whole day to kill, what do you want to do?" He asked.
"Hmmmm..." She purred with a sinister grin.
"Oof! How do you stand this?" Kai asked, rubbing his sore backside.
Anya laughed. She had decided to go skating on the lake that had frozen over with 4 feet of ice, and apparently Kai needed some practice. Still laughing, Anya skated backwards on the soles of her boots before turning around to help Kai. The main problem seemed to be that he kept tripping on the long white scarf she had given him. Grabbing his arm, Anya pulled a shaky Kai to his feet and took the end of his scarf, wrapping it several times around his shoulders so that it was a good 2 feet above the ice.
"Put your arms out like this and hold on."
Much to Kai's surprise, she placed her hands on his back and proceeded to push him over the ice. Once Kai slipped, but since he had his arms out as Anya had instructed, she caught him and helped the phoenix to stand upright again.
"Don't think about it and you won't fall." She murmured into his ear.
Kai took a deep breath and tried to relax.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
Anya started skating again, this time with more force when she pushed him forward. Kai tried not to concentrate on the task at hand, and to his surprise he was skating.
"You got it!"
Feeling brave, Kai stood upright and took one step forward, then another, then another until he was skating without Anya's support. Anya started showing off by skating backwards, and laughed at the expression on Kai's face when he almost slipped. While Anya tried skating backwards, she and Kai accidentally collided when she turned around, just in time to land both of them in the snow back, Kai on his back and Anya face first into the snow. Kai laughed when Anya looked up from the snow with a large pile of it on her head. Smirking evilly, she grabbed a handful of powdery snow off her head and flung it at Kai.
"This means war!" She yelled.
Kai smirked and took off for the nearest tree with Anya in hot pursuit, who scooped up another handful of snow and chucked it at him. Kai returned the favor and wound up showering Anya in powder. She smirked in response and dove behind a tree, Kai following suit. Snickering and sitting at the base of the tree, Anya loaded as much snow into her hand as she could and packed it together, flinging it at Kai who had looked out from behind the tree he was taking refuge behind. It missed when he ducked back, but when Anya noticed how much farther it went, she got creative and packed a lot of snow into a ball.
"Hey Kai!"
He looked out from behind the tree trunk just as Anya launched a snowball at him, making a direct hit on the top of his head.
"Gotcha!"
Kai smirked and grabbed some snow, packing it into a snowball and launching it at Anya, who had come out from behind her tree, and hit her square in the front.
"ARGH! I'M WOUNDED!" She yelled dramatically, clutching the spot where the snowball had made contact.
Much to Kai's hilarity, she continued to drag out the death scene until she flopped over in the snow making a gagging noise. Kai had to take a deep breath to regain his equanimity.
"Anya?"
Her foot twitched.
"Anya, seriously."
Anya burst out laughing and quickly got up, launching a snowball and nailing Kai in the forehead.
"So that's your game, eh?" He said with a smirk as he brushed the snow off.
For what felt like hours, the two carried on with the snowball fight until they both surrendered from exhaustion. Anya fell backwards into the snow, half panting and half laughing, Kai lying opposite of her.
"Damn, this has got to be the only birthday I've ever had any real fun." She laughed/panted.
"Really?" Kai asked somewhat shocked, sitting up with his head rested on his fist and the other arm resting over his stomach.
"Yeah, all of my past birthday parties were so boring. Everyone expected me to be formal, proper and dignified." She said, mockingly so on the last words. "I hate being proper and dignified, it's so boring. Normal is boring."
"That would explain why you're such a-"
"Black sheep? Weirdo? Strange one?" She asked playfully.
"Something along those lines."
For a while they sat there in silence, then Anya slapped her forehead.
"Oh shit, the time! We have to get back!" She yelled, leaping to her feet.
Kai got up and sprinted after Anya back to the palace where they climbed back up the rope back into Anya's room.
Must. Resist. Killing. Maids. Anya thought bitterly.
All of them were giggling like schoolgirls with a crush, and it was trying Anya's last nerves. When they finally finished, she was dressed in a black silver, navy and royal purple dress. The dress itself was black and had a floor-length skirt with a silver belt around the middle. In the center of the skirt was a kind of swirling pattern done in navy, behind that was silver. The top half (black) showed all of her shoulders and had long, flowing sleeves, black decorated with the same swirling design as the skirt running the length of her sleeve, which was split down the inner enc so that two pieces flowed down, revealing elbow-length white gloves. A sash around her shoulders was simple royal purple, and all of it was topped off with a silver tiara on her head.
"A package for you, miss." One maid said shyly, handing her a box. "From the boy... what was his name..."
"Kai?"
"Yes, Kai. Thank you miss." Anya dismissed the maid, turning back to the black box in her hand. Inside was a note.
Happy Birthday, Princess.
-Kai
Anya opened the box up and gasped when she saw what was inside. Laid on the black velvet inside was a silver choker, a simple band of silver with 2 diamonds encrusted into it on each side of the ring holding a charm in place. The charm hanging down in the front was a silver phoenix with tiny flecks of gold in its eyes.
"Wow..."
Putting it on, she looked at herself in the mirror. Of all the finery she had on, the choker, simplest of everything, was the most beautiful.
As the guests started to arrive, and by guests, that would be just about every Nobleman and Lady in the whole frickin' country. Looking out from behind the curtain, Anya took a deep breath.
"I can't do this." She muttered.
"What!" Anya turned around to see her best friend the General, Vladimir Valkov. "The fearless Anya Alexandria Nickolai is afraid?" He teased.
"Vlad!" She said hugging her old friend.
Vladimir Valkovwas her father's good friend and the father of one of her best friends, and hers as well. He was in his mid 50s but he was very good at not showing it.
"I'm just a bit nervous is all." She admitted.
"Well, it's not every day that you turn 17 years old." His bearded face suddenly lit up with a mischievous grin. "Are you looking to impress a young man out there?"
"Vla-aaaad!" Anya's face turned a light red with embarrassment.
"C'mon, who is he?" He asked in a hushed whisper so the maids wouldn't hear.
Anya sighed in defeat.
"His name is Kai. He can't remember his last name, and I rescued him from... some really bad place." She finished lamely.
"Show him to me, would you?"
Anya looked out from behind the curtain, searching for Kai.
"That's strange, I can't find him." She ventured out past the curtain, then it hit her that Vlad had tricked her.
"Vlad!" She snapped in a harsh whisper.
Snickering could be heard behind the curtain. "Go on now."
Anya sighed and kept looking for Kai from her spot up on the top of the 4 flights of flattish steps behind the three thrones. One for the Czar, one for the General, and one for the Empress, the one soon to be Anya's. Still looking for Kai, Anya saw a person walk to the stairs. Looking down, she smiled. There was Kai standing there with a half-smile on his face. The blue marks he always wore were gone. His two-toned hair was still messy and stuck out at odd angles, but he looked very handsome in a suit fit for a prince. It was a navy blue jacket trimmed in gold with golden shoulder bars, and hanging from his left shoulder to his right hip was a length of braided golden material. He wore spotless white pants, white gloves, and proper knee-high black boots. But despite all this, his radiant crimson eyes were what really brought out the life in the blader.
Kai smiled when he saw Anya standing at the top of the steps in her dress. It looked rather unusual to see her wearing a gown, but nonetheless, she looked absolutely stunning. She had the choker he had given her around her neck. Descending the stairs with a grace he didn't know she possessed, she stopped in front of Kai. Remembering his etiquette, Kai bowed at the waist.
"You look amazing."
"So do you."
For the first few moments, Anya got dragged off to mingle with the others, returning much later looking about ready to kill someone. Kai forced back a smirk.
"I swear, the next person that says to me, "Look how much you've grown," I'm going to wring their neck." She growled emphasizing with hand actions, fingers in the strangling position.
Kai managed a half-smile. Looking to the door for any familiar faces, Anya seemed to perk up when one brunette girl came in with her parents.
"Hilary!" She said walking briskly towards her.
"Anya!" The two hugged like the best friends they were.
"Ohmigod, you look so great!" Hilary squealed.
"So do you! How've you been?"
"Pretty good, but it gets boring without having you around!"
"Well, I've been having some fun here- That reminds me, I want you to meet someone." Anya took Hilary by the hand over to the area where Kai was standing.
"Kai, this is my friend Hilary. Hilary, Kai."
"Pleasure." He said with a slight bow.
Hilary blushed mid-curtsy.
"Kai here's an awesome blader, and he taught me how to launch right." Anya said proudly.
Kai looked off in another direction for no reason.
"Hey, didn't your father give you that... you know?" She whispered.
"Black Dranzer? Yeah."
"Hate to break up this little chat session, but Anya, you have company." Kai cut in.
Anya looked over her shoulder towards the door and scowled. A blue-haired girl shot her a smug look, and Anya shot her a death glare. The blue haired girl looked away.
"Ming-Ming." She growled.
"Who?" Kai asked.
"Anya and Ming-Ming have been rivals for years. I swear, Anya nearly tore off Ming-Ming's face one time when they were kids. I think it had something to do with her calling Anya a freak."
"The little..." Anya trailed off, trying to restrain herself from saying something obscene.
She looked back to the door, scowling with her arms folded in a rather "unladylike" way, but not at Ming-Ming, more at herself.
"I better go back to my parents before they start wondering where I am." Hilary said before walking away.
Kai looked over his shoulder to see the dance floor starting to get active with the two-step.
"May I have this dance?" He asked Anya.
She looked up, somewhat surprised, but accepted with a smile. Kai lead her to the dance floor, grateful for all the hours they had spent together on his dancing lessons. For a time, the two found themselves actually enjoying the dancing.
Watching from the sidelines of the dance floor, Vladimir smiled when he saw Anya dancing with a rather dashing young man with crimson eyes and two-toned blue hair. What was it she said his name was... Kai.
Unlike the other young men his age, Kai was built with a more muscular frame and was much more pale-skinned by comparison to a fair amount of the others. He was also somewhat more masculine, making Vladimir chuckle at how sissy some of the others were. The music eventually went into a faster beat, and the dancers either gave in, switched partners or kept going. Anya stayed with Kai.
After about 3 dances, Anya and Kai were starting to get tired. The two exited the dance floor and paused for a breath.
"Anya!"
Anya looked around for the male voice that called her name, then found him.
"Tala!"
Kai looked to his left as a redhead walked up to Anya.
"Hey Tala, it's been a while!"
The blue-eyed redhead cracked a smile.
"Who's your friend?" He asked looking at Kai.
"Tala, this is Kai. Kai, Tala Valkov. He's General Vladimir's son, and the reason I'm the only girl in Russia who knows how to fire a gun."
The two shook hands.
"So, how's life been treating you?"
Tala blew a strand of fiery red hair away from his face.
"Alright, I guess. Dad's not home much, haven't seen him in 3 weeks until now, but that gives me plenty of free time to practice blading. I heard from a reliable source that you have you-know-who." He paused, his expression changing from conversational to the kind a person makes when realizing something. "Oh, I have something for you. You'll want to save it for when you really need it."
He handed her a small package wrapped in leather and a red cord.
"Don't tell anyone I gave you this, or I'm dead." He kidded just loud enough for her and Kai to hear.
"Will do."
It was then that the two noticed that Kai hadn't said a word the whole time.
"Not much for words, huh?" Tala said jokingly.
"Not really." Kai responded flatly.
"Well, I just came over to wish you днем рождения." (Translation: Happy Birthday)
With that, Tala walked away.
Anya looked back to Kai, whose eyes were betraying what appeared to be covetousness.
"Awwww, whatsamatter Kai? If I didn't know any better I would say you were jealous." She teased.
"Hn."
"Oh sh-"
Kai looked up to see her gaze falling on one corner of the room. Looking in her direction and smirking was an orange-haired boy with a gold earring in his left ear.
"Who invited HIM?" She mused aloud in very pissed-off tone.
"Who?"
"Him," She said pointing with her eyes, "Brooklyn."
Kai looked in the direction she was looking to and shot Brooklyn his trademark death glare. Brooklyn shot one right back, but looked away.
"Well, don't let him ruin your big night." Kai murmured in her ear.
The music in the background was starting up, and it was the waltz.
"Care to dance?" He asked with a smirk.
Anya turned to Kai and managed a half-smile. It wasn't much, but it was sincere.
Watching from the sidelines, Brooklyn watched silently as the Grand Duchess aka Anya danced with a blue-haired boy.
I don't like him He thought bitterly.
Of course you don't. He's stealing your throne. A dark voice snapped.
Hn.
Brooklyn folded his arms and leaned against the wall. Zeus faded away from his mind, leaving the fuming redhead to himself and his thoughts.
As the slow, steady rhythm of the waltz continued to play, Anya studied Kai's eyes. They had a faraway look to them, like he was lost in thought.
"Kai?"
The phoenix did a double take and snapped back into reality.
"Kai, are you ok?" Anya asked, worried.
"Yeah..."
The song ended, and Kai pulled away. Anya followed, concerned for her friend.
Kai wandered behind the curtain that hung at the back of the three thrones at the top of the north staircase and sauntered outside onto a balcony.
What's wrong with me? Why do I feel like this?
You are developing feelings for that girl.
Shut up Dranzer.
Denial. Typical behavior.
SHUT. UP.
Ok, ok, cool it hothead.
Kai didn't respond and ran a hand through his blue hair with a sigh.
"Kai?"
The sudden voice startled Kai, making him jump a bit. He turned around and looked over his shoulder to see Anya standing there with a look of concern in her eyes.
"You ok?" She asked softly.
"Yeah..." His voice trailed off.
Anya walked over to Kai's side, turning his head with one hand so that he was looking her in the eyes, gently holding his face in both her hands.
"If there's something wrong, you know you can tell me."
Kai felt so bad about not being able to say anything, but he had a reputation.
"I'm fine." He replied in a tone colder than he intended.
"Alright..."
Without another word, Anya walked away.
The party finally ended late at night, and it was for that reason that Anya fell asleep almost immediately. Kai still slept in the same room as her, because for some reason he felt much more secure when he was closer to her. Somehow, having Anya near him made him feel... safe. Something he hadn't felt before he met the girl. The princess had fallen asleep quickly, while Kai lay awake staring at the ceiling, lost in his thoughts. What really irked him was the hurt look in Anya's eyes before she walked away.
You know, you really hurt her feelings a few hours ago. Dranzer scolded.
I didn't mean to hurt her... I'm just sort of... confused.
Well then I suggest you apologize as soon as possible before she changes her way of thinking about you. I've been speaking to Dryxaria and he says Anya is going through the same thing, though she understands her emotions more.
Kai was taken by surprise at that comment.
Still, I can't really understand why I feel this way.
It will come to you in time, master.
Without another word, Dranzer faded away, leaving Kai to his thoughts.
Anya woke up again in the middle of the night to the sounds of Kai thrashing around in his sleep, muttering something like, "Stop, leave me alone!" Wearily, she got up from her warm bed and walked over to Kai, sitting down beside him and placing one hand over his while the other gently stroked his hair. He seemed to ease at her touch, and the cold sweat that had left beads of perspiration on his face gradually faded away. Kai opened his eyes a bit and turned his gaze to Anya.
"Anya..." He started, but Anya cut him off by placing a finger to his lips.
"Shhh. It's ok Kai, I'm right here." She crooned softly.
Anya continued to stroke his slate blue bangs away from Kai's face for a while until she had soothed the phoenix back to sleep again. Looking down at him, she couldn't help but sigh.
"Oh Kai, I wish you would tell me what's wrong."