::Experience::

(Part 2)

"You're sure this is a good idea, Koi? I mean, what if you get hurt?"

"I'll be fine, Prim. Besides, my father always wanted me to carry on the legacy. My great-grandfather was one of the first successful ones, you know."

"… Alright… Just… Don't hurt yourself… I'd be devastated if you got yourself killed…"

"Nnng…" I sat up in bed slowly, holding my head. It felt like I had a hangover. "Did you spike my drink last night, Prim?" I asked, groaning. When I opened my eyes two big, puppy-cute hazel ones stared back.

"Good morning, sunshine! Or maybe I should say Good Afternoon. Do you usually sleep that much?"

"I'm a cat. What do you expect?" I yawned wide, wincing and holding my head again. "Ow…"

"Here," Prim gave me a glass of something that smelled like Chocobo dung, and motioned for me to drink it. I paused for a little while before holding onto my nose and chugging it. Disgusted shivers ran up and down my entire body as it slithered down my throat and splashed into my stomach, audibly for everyone in the room.

"Oh my god, what the hell is this crap!?"

"A hangover potion. It should help that headache of yours in a jiffy."

"Thanks.." I held the glass back to her, and she smiled, taking it back and going to set it on the table. "Is it really noon already?"

"Just about. Did you have good dreams? You were talking in your sleep last night, it sounded like you were dreaming you were with your lover."

I blinked a few times, confused, before a deep blush crossed my cheeks. I squeaked out my words as I remembered the dream, making up one instead of what had really happened in it. "I-it was just my friend.. uh.. G-genki."

"What happened to him?"

"H-he stayed in the homeland after I left.." I winced. How could I be so stupid!? Dreaming about a male. And a Hume male at that! It went against every hateful principle I had toward their kind!

"You miss him?" He smiled softly, reaching over and petting my hair, only succeeding in making me blush even harder.

"N-not too much…"

"We'll have to visit him some day then, won't we?" He patted my head a few times before standing, and it was then I noticed he was already dressed in his armor, helmet tucked under his other arm. "I'm going to head out you two, alright? Prim-Rose, take her out into the field and show her the ropes of combat. Make your way toward San d'Oria, and I'll catch up with you guys in a few days."

"W-where are you going?" I asked, standing suddenly after he turned away. I grabbed his arm, making some of the armor clink together.

He looked back at me for a moment and then smiled. "I have some personal business to attend to back at the castle before I can official step down. Stupid politics. It's going to take at least… two or three days for the paper work to go through and then the ceremony and all this other crap. You know, Royals, always wanting to make everything harder for their own entertainment." His smile turned slightly nervous as he rambled, and something just didn't seem right. Koi turned back around and wrapped his arms around my waist, picking me up in a hug. "Don't worry, Kitten. I promise I'll be with you and Prim in a few days. Just get to know her, alright? She may be a cocky bitch at times, but she's a sweet girl."

He let me go and was gone out of the room before I hit the floor.

"Don't worry about him, kid," Prim smiled from a chair on the other side of the room. Three packs were on the floor around her, each filled to the brim with everything from extra clothes to weapons to lots and lots of food. "He's a big boy. He can take care of himself." She chuckled and winked at me. "And when I say big, I'm not exaggerating." When the blush returned to my face she burst out laughing.

"T-that's not funny!" I cried, looking at her like a wounded animal. She just wiped her eyes and stood, picking up the bundles and tossing two at me.

"Since you're the dead weight you get to carry the dead weight." I was only able to catch one, and the other slammed into my stomach before hitting the floor. At least it wasn't the weapons bag she threw…

"Why do I have to carry more? I'm smaller!"

"Training. You need to build up some muscle. You're so tiny you're naturally skinny, but that doesn't mean you're strong." She slid the weapons sack straps over her shoulders and headed for the door. I followed. Being this close to her I noticed my face was just about the place her certainly giant breasts were.

At least, giant compared to mine.

An hour of silence passed as we traveled through Jueno, stopping here and there for supplies and goods and information and what not. I checked around every corner and in every ally, hoping silently the silver paladin would show up sooner that he said he would. But once we left the city he hadn't showed up, and there was no trace of him anywhere.

"So you have a little crush on my Koi, doncha?" Prim asked after a few minutes of uneventful travel through grass. I shook my head.

"I do not. I don't have crushes. Least of all on men. I hate men."

"That's the spirit, girl! If you hate men you'll never get your heart broken by one, that's my new motto." She looked down at me and smiled. "Besides, most men are pigs anyway. All they care about is what's under the shirt and if they can get at what's hidden under your skirt." She reached up and adjusted the formal red mage hat so it blocked the sun from her face. The feather fluttered lightly in the slight wind, and I looked up at the sky.

"It's going to rain tonight."

"Now where are you getting this information?" She asked, looking up at the clear sky. It was, literally, a pure blue. Not a cloud anywhere.

I smiled sweetly and tried to wink at her. "That's my little secret."

"Oh, you little skank!"

"Hey! I am not a skank!" I pouted. "If anyone's a skank, you are!"

"GASP! How dare you!!!" She squealed, though a smile was plastered on her face. She threw a pitiful punch at my face, and even with the extra twenty thousand pounds of items on my back, I ducked to dodge it. It flew over my head, and Prim let out a laugh, smiling. "Good job."

"I'm not as inexperienced as you may think." I straightened up, adjusting the straps of my packs. She shrugged slightly, looking back up at the sky.

"You still should be careful. There are people out there who will really hurt you, and they won't even give you a chance to defend yourself like Koi did last night." She glanced over at me without moving her head, blinking. My eyes were on the ground, watching the grass beneath our boots.

"Hey. Chin up, Kid. No one your age should be as sad looking as you do, even when you're happy you look sad."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry for it, if you're sorry for it, change it. Sorry never did nobody any good. Sorry just gives people false hopes and false securities."

"You know, when I first saw you yesterday I thought you were just a stuck up Royal's pet."

"I'm my own woman, kid. I go where I please, and do as I please. I've never been tied down to one person for too long. Not even Koi."

"You two seem to be very close.."

"We are. We've been friends since we were children. His mother… came to the Homeland with her husband, who was good friends with my father. He was born in Windurst, and then his parents disappeared suddenly, so my parents took him in."

"Disappeared?"

"They just up and went poof one day. We think they didn't like the settled down life. Didn't like being tied down by a baby son. It makes me mad… I would never do that to my child…"

"Did you two start traveling together?"

"Actually, yes. We left when he turned fourteen. I was thirteen. We, in a way, ran from home together."

"Why?"

"Just the lust for adventure, he says. All of Vana'diel was spread out before us, and he wanted to see it all."

"Do you believe him?"

"Not for a second. I know him better than he knows himself. He's searching for his parents… Still is, I think. We traced them to San d'Oria by the time we were sixteen, but the trail from there on was gone when we got there." She sighed heavily, running a gloved hand over her face. "They didn't want to be found, so they covered their tracks so well not even a regular hound could find them…"

A few minutes of silence on the field and suddenly she dropped her weapons back with a clank. "Alright, stop right there and drop your things. I'm going to give you a quick fighting lesson."

"I don't need any lessons!" I protested.

"Do you want to get so far ahead that Koi will never be able to catch up to us?"

"… No…"

"Good. Then take out your daggers and show me whacha got." She smirked and pulled out a one handed blade from the sack, a gem imbedded in the hilt. I removed my daggers from my sides, taking a defensive stance.

"Dia!" Her smirk widened as she flicked her free wrist at me. It felt like a puff of air slammed into my chest, and then she sped forward. "Defend yourself!" She cried, bringing the sword up in a slow over hand swing.

After a moment I came back to my senses, putting my daggers up in a defensive cross to catch the sword just in time. The blades slammed together, causing a bit of a spark. I nearly collapsed with the weight of her on my arms, but I managed to yank her sword between my own weapons down and over so I could jump away.

Dia.. what was that. I knew that spell. I had almost forgotten it. If she used Dia on me, that means my defense was worse, and that I'd be taking damage in a little while.

She was trying to force me into attacking!

"The next blow won't be held back, kid!" She called from a few yards away. I'd jumped back a bit too far to get some space between us, but I was faster than her. I was a thief after all. If she wanted me to attack her first I'd ablige, and hopefully cut her flesh with something.

"Here I come!" I snarled, racing forward as fast as I could and, just before I reached her, I ducked down and tried to stab her in the stomach with a thrust upward using my legs. Her sword flew in the way, however, and only succeeded in disarming me.

Both my daggers flew off in random directions, slicing into the ground and sticking like a fork in meat. She looked down at me for a moment, still half knelt on one leg, before a wide smile spread over her face.

"That was fun."

"Fun!?" I roared. "You could have killed me!"

"But I didn't. So be thankful." She smiled like an innocent kitten and sheathed her sword, skipping back over to the bags.

"Fighting you is totally unfair! You're way stronger and more experienced than I!"

"Life isn't fair, kid. People who aren't supposed to disappear leave, men who should be arrested for rape are never brought to justice, and Royals and Politicians continue to lie and manipulate the government to their own profit." She picked up her bag, throwing it over her shoulder and slapping the cap down farther on her head. "And yet, the world continues to rotate on its axis, oblivious to these problems." She looked off in the distance, as if seeing something I could never hope to glimpse, before turning and starting to walk.

"Pick up your bags and weapons. We should be a quarter to San d'Oria by nightfall."

Coming Soon: Level Four: The Whyner

P.S.: xD Again, sorry if the settings really fail. AND REVIEWS FEED MY SOUL. ::::3333

And thanks for sticking with the story, Kitty Lurv! x33 You make me happy -flails happily-