By the time Kenmei reached the alcove in the cliffs, the sun was high in the sky, and she was sweating profusely. She had shed off much of her outer clothing layers, and had drank one of the four bottles of water she had bought. Having some difficulty getting her bike stand to work on the grass, she gave up and allowed her bike to lay on its side instead, too worn out to worry about it that much. Her backpack, now filled with clothing on top of belongings and food, was heavy on her back, and she took a moment to clear it out and place the unnecessary items beside her bike.
In truth, she knew that she was actually stalling, slowly removing her clothing and folding them before setting them down. The thoughts that Judar wouldn't be down there plagued her mind, and she was starting to become sick with worry. Why it mattered so much, she wasn't sure, but she wanted to see him again. Up to this point, she hadn't heard his singing or the pleasant sound of him splashing about below the cliffs, and she had only hope that maybe he was resting silently on the pebbles instead of in the icy water.
Once her bag had only food, water, books and a coat inside, she adjusted it back onto her shoulders, taking a moment to look at her surroundings. Unlike the other day, it was green and bright, with an atmosphere that promoted joy. She felt better out here than in that stuffy little town, and she could only hope she would get to come out here more often. With a deep breath, she headed towards the edge of the cliff, standing on the edge where the grass and dirt was displaced. This had been where had she fallen before, and as she peered over the edge, she could see the patch of land that had caught her before.
Before she jumped down, she scanned the water of the small pool below. It was empty, with no movement except for the occasional rush of a small wave that disturbed its stillness. There was no sign of life in the pebbles, either, and Kenmei felt her heart grow heavy. With a defeated sigh, she sat down on the edge of the cliff, allowing her legs to dangle. For the first time, she began to wonder if she had actually met Judar or if he had been a part of her imagination. Her mind crippled enough by grief, she wouldn't put it past herself to create such a being.
Kenmei was an imaginative sort, with a passion for reading, writing and all things within the realm of fantasy. She had written many of her own stories, and one of her favorite ones was actually about a boy that lived in the sea, and she found it quite the coincidence that Judar was similar to him. "Perhaps that is what happened…" She thought out loud, taking a moment to cough. "Maybe I did fall, and I just dreamed of him." Still, his melody clouded her mind, and she knew that couldn't have been true.
Gathering her courage, she scooted herself to the edge of the cliff and let herself fall, landing clumsily onto the patch of land. She felt a sharp pain fly up her leg from her ankle, cursing at herself to be more careful. Her jeans, she thought, were a good idea, otherwise she knew she would have scraped her legs in the fall. Pulling herself to her feet with help from the roots sticking out of the dirt behind her, she began to make her way back down the path to the pebbled beach. Her heavy hiking boots she had worn helped to steady her and keep her footing.
Within moments, she hopped off a small ledge and into the pebbles, her feet sinking in up to her shoe laces. With much effort, she made her way to the waters edge, finding it easier to walk as the pebbles became more dense. She could feel the straps of her backpack tug against her arms as her chest and back heaved, trying to catch her breath as she took a moment to glance around again. Still no movement or sign of life, she took the bag off her shoulders and placed it down before she sat with it.
If he showed up or not, she was set on spending the day here, in the peacefulness of nature. Digging through her bag, she pulled out a thick, heavily used notebook, a pen, a small bag of nuts and a bottle of water. After taking a generous gulp of the lukewarm water, she settled herself to become comfortable with her notebook open on her lap. It was the notebook that she wrote her stories in, given to her as a gift from her mother when she was in her early teenage years. The blue cover was worn from use and the edges of the paper were grimy from touch and exposure, with many little different colored sticky notes and pieces of paper sticking out.
To her, the colors all meant different things, either from parts she wanted to edit in the future, places she wanted to omit from the story, and even her favorite parts. Now, having been on her mind, she turned to a page marked with a bright orange sticky note, an indicator of the beginning of her Lonely Water Boy story. Her pen in hand, she began to read, quickly growing lost in the story she had neglected to read in almost a year. Every once in a while, she would pause to make an edit, but otherwise she was completely wrapped up in the words.
Kenmei wasn't sure how long she had been reading, but she had almost reached the end when she thought she heard some noise from the body of water in front of her. After finishing the sentence she was on, she took a moment to look up, glancing around. The water's surface was still as it had been, and the small hope that had risen inside of her faded. But, a thought came to her as she watched the water, her head physically tilting to the side a bit. Why would she be looking at the water? Wouldn't he also come from the cliffs?
She took a moment to glance behind her, still seeing no sign of human life. Feeling a bit defeated, she turned back to her reading, once again becoming lost in the words. Suddenly, a few drops of water landed on the pages and she jumped, giving a small gasp in shock. After quickly dabbing them dry as to not smudge the ink, she turned her gaze up towards the sky to see if had been raindrops, closing the notebook and holding it close to her chest to prevent any further damage. To her surprise, the sky was clear blue, with only a few white fluffy clouds floating about.
"Huh…" She brought her eyes to be back level with the water, only to be met with crimson eyes as they peered at her behind black hair. Shrieking, Kenmei fumbled backwards, attempting to get away. She only succeeded in kicking up rocks and digging holes into the ground with her heels, her body only sinking into the pebbles with her struggles. As she cowered on her back, her notebook in front of her face, she could hear the sound of hysterical cackling behind the pounding beat of her heart. Immediately recognizing it, she sat back up, gasping for breath as she tried to calm her panic.
"J-Judar!"
He didn't answer her, one arm pounding on the large rock at the drop off while he howled in laughter. Between his gasps for air, he said something in a language Kenmei couldn't quite understand, but she was too frustrated to worry about that at the time. Feeling her face flush with fire, she placed her notebook to the side, scooting herself to sit closer to the edge of the water. "Why would you scare me like that?" Unable to look at her without bursting into another fit of laughter, he turned his back to her, trying to calm himself. "Because, I couldn't help myself!"
As she glared at the back of his head, she noticed that his hair was no longer flowing freely as it had been last time. Instead, it was tied messily with some type of cloth at the base of his head, and she could see the beginnings of a large braid before the rest was hidden by the dark water. Along with this, his ears were no longer hidden by his hair, and she could see that they were not rounded, but instead came to a very slight point.
Her frustration quelled by curiosity, she stood, carefully making her way through the shallow water until she stood on the large rock he always leaned on. She was already sitting on it by the time he turned around, and he was so shocked at her close proximity to him that he gave a squeak of his own, dipping himself down into the water up to his nose. His gaze was shocked at first, until he began to glower at her in irritation, lifting his head up just enough to reveal his mouth. "Who said you could get this close to me?"
Kenmei was less than a foot from him now, and since he made no attempts to get away, she made none to make him feel more comfortable. In fact, she leaned in closer, trying to observe him better. "Your ears…" Unable to help herself, her hand unconsciously began to reach out. Before she could get far, his hand darted out of the water and snatched her by the wrist, forcing a gasp from her as she was made to stop her advance. His skin felt like ice. She stared at his hand for a moment before turning her gaze to his face, feeling her stomach bubble nervously at the blank expression on his face.
His glare was just as cold as his skin, and she immediately felt regret for how she had acted. "I-I'm sorry… That was so rude of me…" Judar's expression softened after a moment and he sighed, loosening his grip on her wrist a bit. "You really are a curious one." He pulled her arm down towards his face, his other hand coming up out of the cold water to touch the bandages on her hand gently. "What's this for?" Kenmei felt her face flush at how tenderly he was touching her. "I… I hurt myself this morning. I had a fight with my father and I broke a ceramic bowl."
"Ceramic?" He seemed confused at the word, but was more curious about the bandages, beginning to tug at them, even against Kenmei's protest not to. Hushing her with only a quick annoyed glance, he went back to his work of removing them. A bit of shock crossed his features as he reached the beginning of the bandages, where blood stained the cotton fabric. Kenmei gave a small wince as the bandage was pulled from the wound, the dried blood having stuck it to her skin. Now reopened, blood began to drip from her hand and into the water, and Judar only watched it with an intense focus.
Kenmei squirmed a bit uncomfortably where she sat, giving a small cough as she chill of the water soaking her clothing seemed to increase her congestion. "J-Judar?" His eyes only flicked to her face for a second before he brought her hand closer to his face. "Don't freak out."
Before Kenmei could ask what he meant, he brought her hand up to his lips and ran his tongue along her palm, directly over the wound. Squealing loudly in disgust, Kenmei yanked her hand back, shaking it in the air as if to rid it of the saliva. "Ew, ew, ew! Judar!" As she went to dunk her hand into the water, Judar snatched her arm again, only with both hands this time. "No, you have to leave it on there!" Kenmei, still physically cringing in disgust and trying to pull her arm away, shook her head. "No, that's so disgusting! Let me wipe it off!"
"No!" Judar snapped at her, pulling her arm down towards him, forcing her attention to his face. "It will help! Leave it!" Trembling, Kenmei stared at her hand, finding herself growing nauseous as she noticed it was still shiny with the saliva. She noticed that the bleeding had stopped, as if the liquid was a bandage in itself. "B-but, it's your spit!" With a frustrated sigh, Judar let go of her arm and floated backwards a bit, holding up his hands in mock defeat. "Fine, whatever, you don't have to trust me."
The urge to dunk her hand into the water was almost overwhelming, but she resisted, instead pulling her arm back to herself. Judar eyed her for a moment before he came back over, leaning his arms on the rock in front of her legs. He pulled himself up out of the water a bit, and Kenmei felt her cheeks flush as he leaned in closer to her. Head tilting to the side slightly, a sly smirk crossed his lips as he stared up at her. "Kenmei… right?" Kenmei huffed a bit, narrowing her eyes at him in annoyance. "You lick my hand but can't remember my name?"
"Eh, I remembered your name. Just making sure." His eyes began to travel from hers, to her nose, her lips, and soon enough away from her face completely. Kenmei felt frozen by his gaze, her embarrassment only growing as he seemed to observe every inch of her. Still, this gave her the chance to do the same, able to see him clearly in the bright light of the sun. His skin was so fair she could have sworn it was nearly translucent, his forehead, sides of his face, down along his neck and across his shoulders tinted with a red hue.
In these red areas, patches of crimson scales glistened in the sunlight, the most dense being along his neck and shoulders. His arms were mostly bare, the scales reappearing along his wrists and back of his hands, trailing up the back of his thin fingers. The only other thing she could see was his bare chest, his arms crossed in front of it, still resting on the rock.
"I wanted to hide myself from you a little bit longer just to play around, but I guess I can't anymore."
