Chapter 4 - Games and Shops
He had not even welcomed her at the gates of the city, nor at the castle. Stephanie Dola was slightly enraged. She had sent a message forward to notify them of her return, and had expected them to be there. Sora with praise and admiration, which would cause that damned winged teasing bitch to grow green of jealousy. Instead, only Shiro was there, just doing some small things. When she had asked her where Sora was, she had replied that she did not know, but that he had not been at home since noon. Not knowing what else to do, she just went to her room and started to unpack her travel bags. She would make sure that Sora would feel her rage when he would return to the castle.
"My king." She heard a servant in the hallway talking to someone. So, Stephanie thought, the unbearable king of Imanity had returned to the castle. Just before she would storm out of her room to confront the cause of her frustration and anger of the past few hours, Stephanie heard the servant greet someone else: "Miss Jibril."
If possible, Stephanie became even more irritated at hearing her name. The Flügel was constantly trying to steal Sora's attention away for her, thinking that just because she had wings she was a divine gift for men as well. That bitch didn't know how hopeless she was when it came to the Battle of Sora, as Stephanie had started calling it in the past week. Obviously, a smart princess with a body like hers would be a perfect fit for a king, way better than any other being.
But why would Jibril be with Sora right now? What was it that they had done today? Maybe Sora needed some more information about the Flügel, or needed a flying creature for something. Yes, she convinced herself, that was why she was with him. She would have to talk about that with Sora though. Jibril was probably trying to take advantage of the situation to smooch herself closer to the human king. She would have to warn him against her, or Sora might end up in that flyer's clutches. For now, she decided to wait. She would have to speak to Sora alone, or her plan would never work.
When her brother had left the palace together with Jibril, Shiro had been able to put two and two together. They were having something together, something that involved things that were only meant for adults. Although her brother technically was an adult, Shiro could not help but feel weird about it. She knew that her brother had had the hots for Jibril ever since they had met her in the library. As an eleven year old girl, she knew not of much details, but she had a feeling that she would rather not know these details either. She loved her brother, but she was born seven years too late to wake thát kind of feeling for her within her brother. In hindsight, this was probably also why Jibril had been acting so weird in the morning.
"I wonder how Stephanie thinks about this." Shiro mumbled, a huge smirk appearing on her face at the thought. She rose from the sofa, slid into her shoes and walked out of the door, ready to bully some princess with information that the princess of which she was thinking probably hadn't realised herself yet.
Jibril was floating next to him, a happy look on her face and in her eyes. This, in turn, made Sora feel happy as well. Seeing that it was around seven o'clock, they had decided to leave the castle once again and headed over to the town, where Sora had discovered a small restaurant near the river a few weeks back. It was a good spot to sit, with a good kitchen to back it up. After picking a table for two near the kitchen itself, Sora left his winged lover behind and went over to the bar to order his food and drinks.
"Albert! Two times the meal of the day please. Make sure you spice it up." He shouted towards the kitchen.
"Coming right up, your majesty."
"Né, I already told you so many times to just call me Sora, why don't you guys just do this? Anyway, thank you. We are sitting at table seventeen, so please send it there, if you would."
"Sure thing, your majesty." Albert, the chef of the kitchen and owner of the restaurant answered, earning a deep sigh from Sora, which he replied to with a smile.
The king of Imanity walked back to his table, where his place was taken by an unknown guy that was probably a few years older than he was, a few of his friends at his back. They looked, stood and behaved like they were the pinnacle of the world, mighty and far above the rest.
"What is a beauty like you doing here, sitting all alone?"
Jibril looked up, a blank look on her face as she observed the group, making the same conclusion a Sora did just a few moments ago.
"What is a youngling like you doing, asking me that question?"
"Ah, the girl has a big mouth, éh? Why don't you just come with us, and we'll see how much of a "youngling" I am."
"Sounds tempting, but I have more than just a big mouth and a great body, much for you to handle anyway." She returned her attention to her fingernails.
"Hmf, still cocky, let's do this another way then…" The boy said as he grabbed Jibril at her upper arm. The Flügel's expression remained unfazed as she was grabbed and almost dragged up.
"Come on girl, give up and just come with us… We'd hate to use more force, wouldn't we?"
Imanity's king decided that enough was enough, took three big steps and appeared next to the boy in the front. Their attention had only been on his girl, so none of them had seen him until he was close. "Back off." He said, not much louder than a whisper.
Jibril used the fact that her assailant was stunned in surprise of Sora's appearance and words. With a swift step she stepped back behind Sora, smiled at the group of boys in front of them and as she rested her arms on his shoulder, raised up to peck her boyfriend's cheek .
"Let's go, Jibril. These peasants aren't worth our attention."
"You betcha'! Who are you to appear here so suddenly and insult us like this! Fight me, I dare you!"
Sora looked at Jibril, who was rubbing the slightly bruised places on her arm. As she looked around the restaurant, she spoke up in a matter-of-fact way to her boyfriend. "My King, this kid just challenged you to a game, or so it sounded like. Should we accept?"
"I will, unless you want the honors?"
"There is no honor in defeating these younglings, my King. They are all yours."
"Fine… Is that just you being lazy?"
"Nah, just giving you a chance to show off in front of your girl. Also, we haven't had our food yet, so I'll wait for that."
"Hmm, guess so." Sora said, now finally turning towards the group. The group was now acting confused, hearing the word "KIng" multiple times out of the mouth of the girl they just sort of assaulted. Nevertheless, they were the Bulls, known for their strength and tricks all over the city.
"Poor boys." The girl said to the yellow-clad boy as the group showed no sign of recognition, thinking nothing more of the word "king" then a nickname for a lover. "They do not even realise it… How pitiful. By the way, make this quick, Sora. There are more things that I want to do today."
"Heh, the same goes for me. I'm sorry Love, this isn't what I had in mind for our date. But I'll try to contain myself."
Sora turned his attention to the group of tough looking guys, who he had ignored thus far. "Now, you challenge me to a game, that means that I have the rights to decide the game and the rules. However, since I am a generous person, I'll give you the right to choose. So, go ahead and pick."
The biggest guy, who was obviously the leader, looked really offended, and took two big steps towards Sora. "Why you little…"
Jibril smiled as the bigger guy started to insult Sora in as many ways as he could think of. The fools. They didn't realise that the game had already begun.
"I don't need to pick to win from you, yellowboy."
"You think not? Very well, we'll make this quick: Black Jack." Sora said, signs of boredom in his voice.
"Ha, then you've already lost. Aschenté!"
Once again, Sora's face showed his trademark smirk. "Aschenté."
"23, you're out again boy. You shouldn't have acted like that if your actions cannot meet your words."
Sora looked up to the speaker, shook his head and kept the small smile on his lips. He discarded his cards and moved his chips to his opponent, who had now won the seventh round in a row. He didn't reply, but took heed as Jibril nudged him. "Sora, I've finished my food. So we can go any moment now. Stop toying with them, and finish already."
"Very well." He looked around his opponents. Their leader sitting opposite to him on the table. "You hear it. Let's finish this."
After some hushed words to calm him down, the leader of the Bulls, who was playing as the Bank this round, took the pile of cards and handed Sora his card, an Ace of Diamonds, as expected. Shoving half of his chips forward, around a quarter of what his opponent held, Sora signaled for another card. Seeing as this was another Ace, hearts this time, Sora separated his cards and shoved the other half of his chips on the board. His opponent gave him a strange look, but dealt him two more cards. Sora smiled, happy that he hadn't made a mistake in his calculations. A Queen of Spades, and a Knave of Hearts. "Blackjack, and… Blackjack. Twice the stakes." The referee, an employee of the restaurant, called. "Maro Bull has lost all his chips. Sora wins, congratulations."
Sora gave the referee a nod, left some money for the food on the table and took Jibril by her arm, guiding her outside.
"You know, that was not gentlemanlike of you, the way that you played them." Jibril said, the smile on her face indicating that she didn't mean it the way she said.
Sora shook his head, chuckling. "Even gentleman are allowed some respite every now and then, I kinda felt like it. How was the food?"
"It was pretty nice. It was good of you to continue playing, so that I could have two portions."
"Had to be a gentleman in some way. Now, the restaurant was my pick. Your turn. Where to, milady?"
"Well, it's just after noon. Stores are open, so I hope you won't be mad at me if I asked you to go shopping with me?"
Sora sighed theatrical, smirked and shook his head at the offended look on the Flügel's face. "As long as I get to pick up one or two things for myself, it'll be fine."
"Hmm, I'll think about that while you're carrying my bags."
"Very well, Angel"
"Why do I get the feeling that this lacked the enthusiasm that you normally enhance that word with?"
"I have absolutely no idea, Jibril." He said as he took her left hand, letting her walk them towards wherever she wanted to unleash herself on a shopping spree, both of them smiling widely.
The city center was very much alive, people were browsing in and outside of the stores. Sora was already carrying three bags with him, and didn't think that it would stay at that. Still, he had managed to buy a rather nice-looking necklace when Jibril was fitting a huge load of clothes. It turns out that people who accompanied the King of a certain realm were allowed to take more than five pieces of clothing with them.
Instead of only fantasizing about the amount of clothing Jibril would be wearing as she was changing, he had rushed to the cashier with the necklace, told them to put it on the tab and send the bill to the palace and rushed back to the fitting booth before Jibril needed his advice so that she could ignore it and buy whatever she thought looked nice on her. Not that anything would ever look wrong on her, Sora thought. She truly had the body of an angel. And Sora was still wondering how she could ever be his.
As they returned to Jibril's room in the castle, Sora placed the bags in the corner of the room. It was around four o'clock now. After the shopping, they had grabbed a quick bite to still Sora's hunger a bit, and walked through the city to get home. With the weight out of his hands, Sora flexed his hands as he walked through the rather large room. It wasn't as big as the room that he shared with his sister ever since they had become the rulers of Elkia, but for a room that wasn't meant for royalty, it was quite large. Outside it had started to rain, which made a distinct sound on the large windows, instantly making even the large room feel very cozy.
Across the room, Jibril looked approvingly at the pile of newly acquired stuff before she let her gaze wander to Sora. He looked good, as usual. She had really enjoyed her day, and he was really sweet when they had went out shopping. It was the first time that she actually had someone with her when she went shopping, and that idea sent sparks flying through her entire body. Instantly, she felt silly about feeling that way about something small like that, and her soft giggle reached Sora's ears.
"What?" He asked, smiling at the sweet sound.
"Hmm, nothing Sora. Just that I really enjoyed today." She replied, a small smile on her lips as she sat down on her bed.
Her boyfriend walked through the room, outside of her field of view. Not turning her head around, she felt the bed budge a bit, signaling that he was now behind her. His hands went over her neck, pulling her hair behind her shoulders. Suddenly, there was a source of coldness touching her neck. As she looked down, she saw a glittering of some sort of metal. Resisting the urge to study it, she bended her head back, looking into Sora's eyes in a weird angle, her eyes signaling that she was waiting for him to explain his gift.
She didn't have to wait long. Sora moved his hands to the necklace, brushing her skin in the progress, which sent shudders down her entire body. She was longing for him touching her more, but as he took the fastly warming necklace into his hands, she heard him explain that it was apparently made from some kind of rare metal from the mountains of Disboard. She honestly couldn't care less, as it looked beautiful -it was shaped as a Flügel-wing- and it was a gift to show his love to her.
She turned around and rose up to get to the same eye-level, on her knees in front of him. "Sora, it looks really, really nice. Thank you." With this, she moved in and kissed him tenderly.
"The pleasure was all mine love, believe me." Her king replied as he broke apart from the kiss. Moving his arms behind her back, under her wings, he then proceeded to pull her back to him again, continuing their kiss.
To be continued, in the Outtakes.
Now then, Merry Christmas, or whatever everyone celebrates around the world. It has been a while, for the people that only follow this story of me.
I am finding myself with less time to write, due to assignments and all other stuff related to school, but now we have sweet, sweet vacation. After having a delicious meal, I find myself back in my room writing, and finished the second part of the chapter (I was stuck at around 900 words) in one go. So, I hope that you'll enjoy, and if you want, do take a look at the M-rated part of this story. It will be updated shortly, hopefully tomorrow, since I feel like writing lemons.
Lastly, to the guest who reviewed my story. Thank you for your words. Normally I try to answer to all the reviews, but I might have missed some in the past few months. If yours is among them, I am sorry, and I promise to improve my ways (if you review again ;) )
I hope you enjoyed, leave a review or send me a PM if you want to, and have a nice day. :)