Chapter Five

THE NEXT DAY

The sun shone brightly through the trees, meaning it was going to be a beautiful day. Keomae woke up to the sun in her eyes. She yawned and looked over at the man sitting next to her with his arm wrapped gently around her waist. "Morning." He said softly. She smiled warmly, "Morning. How long have you been up?" "Oh not long, just about like for 15 minutes." He replied with his eyes closed. Keomae gasped pulling away from his grasp, "What? And you didn't wake me up, you could've you know."

Kai laughed and slid his arm around her waist again and pulled her closer, "I know but you look so peaceful when you sleep. I just didn't have the heart to wake you up." Keomae relaxed a little and hugged him around the waist. He blushed slightly and pet her head gently. Kai smiled and thought, 'Now this is the life I want. If only I could make it last.' Keomae let him go and sat up more so she was looking into his eyes, "Hey you know what?" She said at last.

"What?" He asked with some amusement in his tone. "Today is the day we make it to your Ancient City. After that long and quite painful journey we're going to finally get there at last." She replied happily. Kai turned away from her and he closed his hoping that she had not just said that. Her eyes clouded with worry and wonder, not really sure why he wasn't excited too. "Kai? What's wrong? I thought you'd be happy too." She asked him. Kai shook his head, "It's not that I'm not happy it's just I don't really think we should-"

Suddenly there was a loud mewing coming from the branches high above their heads, causing Kai to be interrupted. They both looked up in confusion then a black fur ball ran across the branches above them with a bigger gray rat hot on his trail. Keomae smiled then stood up with Kai in hand. She started laughing then said, "We'd better help him or he'll be rat food." Kai nodded but he had to admit he was a little angry with Teeco for interrupting him.

Keomae grabbed on of the branches and pulled herself up. She started climbing up towards the two rodents fighting and hissing at each other. "Teeco! Come here boy!" She called smoothly. Teeco's ears perked up at the sound of her voice and his name being called. He mewed happily then raced down to her with the rat still after him. Keomae grabbed him right as he was in arms reach then she jumped down to the ground beside Kai.

The rat raced down the tree trunk after them but right when he neared Keomae, Kai kicked him hard sending him flying through the air and well away from them. "Alright! Score 1 for us and 0 for the rats." Keomae cheered hugging Teeco close. Kai smirked a little then Teeco jumped onto his head and rubbed his cheek against it. Kai sighed then grabbed him and set him on the ground between him and Keomae. "Well, I wasn't really expecting that to happen but then again anything can happen in these woods." He said.

Keomae smiled at him then asked, "Okay fearless leader, which way now?" Kai turned around and pointed towards the mountains that shown through the trees. "That's where we're headed." He answered. Keomae smiled then grabbed his hand and said, "Well let's go. The sooner we get there the better." Kai sighed then walked beside her hand in hand towards the mountains.

Tyson smirked and stopped his horse and looked towards the area where the sun would set. "That's where we're headed next. I have a feeling in my gut that says she'll be there. Come on, let's not waste any time. We have to make it there before nightfall." He said. He flicked the reins making his horse started walking again with about 20 men behind him like: Lee, Rick, Miguel, Kevin, Gary, DJ, Claude and many others.

AT ANCIENT CITY

Mystel jumped down from his stone pillar and walked back into the large stone building where his friends were sleeping. He yawned and thought, 'Today is perfect. The sun is shining and Kai should be here soon.' He pushed open a door and walked into a large room, which looked a lot like a living room, only it was actually a storage room. He loved it in there; it was a room that held a lot of old memories.

He looked around then suddenly someone came up from behind him and asked, "Wow, you're up already? Well that's no surprise since you're up first all the time." He turned around and saw Max and Kenny standing there looking at him. "Yeah I'm awake. I was thinking about Kai. He'll be here soon but I'm not so sure he's the same old Kai we once knew." He answered looking out the window.

Ray walked around the corner and yawned, "Well I guess you'd probably be thinking that. You are the most observant and wisest of us all. So tell us oh great one, when will he be here? I'm getting tired of waiting around for him and the princess." Mystel smiled and walked over to the window and replied, "He'll be here very soon. I can feel it."

Hilary was listening from behind the wall and thought with a smirk, 'It's about time he gets here. Once that princess has our trust she'll be all mine for the taking. And once I take her down Tyson will be mine but what about Kai? If he really is falling in love with her than he'll hate me forever. Now I'm confused.'

BACK TO KAI AND KEOMAE

Kai closed his eyes and had his arms crossed against his chest. Keomae looked over at him and could tell his was deep in thought. She sighed and walked faster hoping to get a led on him before he figured out he was falling behind. Kai shook his head and opened his eyes. He saw Keomae way up in front him staring in shock at something. He ran up to meet her and to see what she was looking at.

"What is it?" He asked. Keomae pointed to the huge crevice that was laid out in front of them. "That's a big trench. How are we gonna get passed it?" She asked him. Kai smiled, he remembered as a kid swinging on vines and building bridges across this very trench only they were in a totally different spot so he couldn't really do any of those things. "Well, we'll have to jump it. That's the only way across." He answered.

Keomae gasped and looked at him like he had lost it, "Are you crazy! We'll never make it! If we fall down that thing we'll be stuck down there until we die! I'm not about to risk it!" Kai shook his head and placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "Relax. It's not as bad as it looks. As long as we get a long enough run we should be able to jump it. Don't worry, I won't let you fall." Keomae wasn't so sure but she did trust him so she nodded then said, "Alright Kai. I trust you, you first." Kai's heart ached when she said that she trusted him but he shook it off and took a few steps back.

He crouched down a little then took off. He sprinted as fast as he could for the trench. Keomae held her breath and prayed he wouldn't fall or miss the jump. At the last second he jumped off of the ground and lunged for the other side. He hit the ground in a cloud of dust and toppled over himself quiet a few times. He untangled himself and coughed then yelled over to her, "Piece of cake. Now its your turn." Keomae knew Kai was faster than her and a better jumper so she doubted herself.

She backed away much farther than Kai then she started to run. She ran faster and faster until she couldn't go any faster. Kai began to worry; even at her top speed she wasn't anywhere near Kai's which made him scared she might not make it. She ran right down to the trench then jumped when she felt she should. She huddled through the air and hoped she'd make it onto land.

Unfortunately luck wasn't on her side. She saw it coming and so did Kai. She wasn't going to make it; she had jumped at the wrong time. She stuck her hands out in front of her and hoped she'd at least be able to grab onto the ledge. Her hands hit the ground making her dig her fingers into the hard ground just to keep a hold of it. She hit the ledge hard and almost lost her grip.

"I'm slipping…" She said loudly hoping Kai could hear her. She closed her eyes and felt her fingers slip through the dirt and over the edge making her fall. Suddenly she felt a strong grip around her wrist causing her to look up. She saw Kai leaning over the ledge grasping her wrist. "Don't worry Keomae. I've got you." He managed to say.

He tightened his grip on her wrist and started to pull her up. Once he got her over the ledge he fell onto his back and lay there panting with Keomae at his side doing the same. "I…I told you I wouldn't let you fall." He said between breaths. Keomae sat up a little and smiled down at him then laid her head on his chest. He couldn't even blush for he was too worn out. He just smiled and pet her head a little.

After what seemed like forever Keomae sat up and let Kai sit up too. "Thank you Kai. I owe you my life…again." She said softly. Kai chuckled, "It's okay. You don't owe me anything. I like protecting and saving you." Keomae smiled then Teeco climbed out her pocket and looked around nervously. "Hey! How did you get in there?" She asked pulling him out of her pocket. He mewed happily and rubbed his head against her fingers.

She smiled and held him closer, "Looks like he's scared of bottomless pits." He glared at her then started mewing angrily. He hopped out of her hands and walked behind Kai's feet. "I've heard of a scaredy cat but not a scaredy rat!" He sneered causing the little guy to start jumping up and down making little angry barking sounds. Keomae and Kai both started laughing then Keomae bent down and said, "We're just kidding. Calm down Teeco, we didn't mean anything by it."

He didn't look convinced but he went along with it anyways. "Okay so where to now?" Keomae asked Kai. Kai put his hand under her chin and turned it towards a small trail between 2 mountains. "All we have to do is follow that trail and it'll lead us right to Ancient City." He replied.

Keomae smiled then turned back to him. He still had his hand under her chin so he slowly started lifting her head up to his level so her lips could meet his. Their lips were practically touching when suddenly there was a loud crumbling sound coming from behind them.

Kai turned angrily towards the sound letting go of Keomae's chin. Keomae turned too but she was more disappointed than angry. They looked up and saw a bunch of boulders and rocks rolling down the mountains right at them. "Rock Slide! Look out!" Kai yelled to Keomae over the noise. He grabbed her hand and dragged her away from their line of fire and out of danger. The rocks crashed noisily passed them and then down into the trench.

They huddled together for a moment before walking back to the spot they were in before. "How did all those rocks fall?" Keomae asked. Kai looked up and replied, "Sometimes a loose rock will fall causing much more bigger and more dangerous rocks to fall." Keomae nodded and closed her eyes, "Also known as a rock slide."

Kai nodded then said, "Dang. Those always happen around here but I never thought they would right then." Then he quickly thought, 'It seems everyone doesn't want us to kiss, even nature is against us. Why? Why did it have to happen then? This sucks.' For once he never even thought badly about the situation. Keomae looked at him closely then smirked, knowing what he had meant by that.

The sky started turning black making Kai start to worry. "Come on, we'd better get going. We have to get there before dark or else we'll never make it." He said stuffing his hands in his pockets and walking towards the trail. "Wait, what do you mean by that?" She asked running after him. "I mean that a lot of dangerous stuff happens in these mountains after dark. No one has ever lived through the night out here and I'm not about to take any chances." He replied roughly.

Keomae nodded then looked up at the mountains above her. Suddenly there was a flash of movement. Keomae adjusted her eyesight and looked around but she couldn't find anything. "Hm…that was strange." She muttered. "Hey! Are you coming or not?" Kai asked from way ahead of her.

She shook her head and ran after him thinking, 'I'll bet whoever or whatever was up there was the thing that caused that rockslide. But why did they do it? Did they just not want us to kiss or something? Man! I'm so confused!' "Sorry just thought I saw something." She apologized.

He blushed slightly and backed up with his hands in front of him and said, "Hey there's no need to get all sappy! I was just trying to hurry up and get there. There's no need for you to apologize." Keomae laughed then started walking leaving Kai to stare after her in confusion.