Author's Note: I'd like to think that Hikari is a down to earth kind of person; all no nonsense. She's completely out of character of course, but you know, that's the pleasure of fanfiction.

P.S. I don't really have a song that goes with this…

Fairytales

In her mind, fairytales were nonexistent.

There was no such thing as 'Once upon a time…' and they definitely never ended with '…happily ever after.' It was just something incomprehensible for her. No unfortunate maiden ever got to end up with a handsome prince. If the world turned that way, there would be too many princes in the world.

In the end, the only thing that drove the existence of such frivolous stories was hope.

And she was sick of hope.

The amount of room that reality took up in the universe made no room for intangible feelings as hope. Not like anger, and hurt; because really, that's all she ever felt with him these days.

She supposes she was tired.

They were both tired.

It wasn't of each other (at least she hopes it wasn't). But living out in the wild did drastic things to people. And that's when she decided, there was no such thing as fairytales.

She was tired of empty promises of destinations and full meals and nice housing. She was getting tired of pretending that she was actually strong enough to endure sleeping on rocks every night. And she was definitely getting tired of telling herself that she was only following him around to prove a point.

He was tired of it too.

There was only so many times he could say it without getting annoyed at her (not that she cared if he did, because really, every bad thing he said to her went in one ear, got filtered out, and flew out the other). He was tired of disappointing her –even though he knew he really shouldn't care.

Sometimes he actually liked having her around, just because she managed to say some interesting things in her rage; but more than that, his shoulders seemed to lighten a bit whenever she was around. There was no need to feel so defensive to the world, because really, what was she going to do?

More than that, he could be silent with her. (It's not as if he could talk anyways, the amount of words that tumble out of her mouth on a hourly –daily basis)

And really, what more could he want in a traveling companion?

Though there really were times she wanted to yell at him.

His impassive face was sometimes more than she could bear, and she could only bear so much. So every once in a while, she wonders why she stays with him.

He wonders why she stays with him, because there's really no reason for her to.

He'll ask her every once in a while, in his own way. Mostly, he just throws snarky comments at her when she complains about the food or the ground or the walks. Casually –bordering on rude –he'll tell her to leave.

She can't stand him when he says that, because she gets all defensive and then her resolve fortifies into a war castle. The words that swarm out of her mouth are almost indiscernible, but they're always something along the lines of how she has rights and that her strength and perseverance will keep her till the end.

Really, he didn't even ask.

But the end of his mouth quivers ever so slightly –almost a smile is what she'd call it, if she could even see it, but she can't, so she doesn't; and so he doesn't.

And nothing productive ever happens.

Travelers they pass and residents of towns and cities they walk through call them an unusual pair. Most believe they were forced together through unfortunate circumstances. Maybe something as old-fashioned as an arranged marriage, but whatever it is, they must not be enjoying each other's company, it's simply not possible.

Those people can never really see clearly enough.

Both of them understand that when taking all the layers away (his being harder than hers), all the coldness and the heartlessness; stripping away all the innocence and tempers, they're really both the same.

In a world as cruel as this, there is only room for reality.

And they built on that, and formed… this.

Whatever this was.

They never even touched each other. Careful of each other's presence, and weary, they were. The only kind of fighting that ever ensued was through words. And really, if words hurt worse than sticks and stones, he would've been dead by now.

They really were an unusual pair.

Besides that, there really was no need to linger on such unimportant subject because in the end he'd always refer to her as 'that pesky girl' and she'd refer to him as 'that cold bastard.'

Overall, things were going pretty well for both of them.

Yes, they were pragmatic. What needed to be done needed to be done; there simply was no way to get around that. So for both of their sanities, they traveled with each other. Well, more so for the sake of her sanity than his, but really, he'd much prefer that she stayed though it's not something you'd ever hear him admit.

Cold hard facts weighed them down.

Even in their… relationship.

God, she hated that word.

But she would be entirely stupid to reject the idea at all.

He decided there was no need to think too hard about it, there was no big deal for him, the wavering feelings were merely an inconvenience, nothing to worry about too much; and they were always at bay. Years of mastering his self control help tame these nuisance feelings.

In fact, he'd been cold to the world for such a long time now that he didn't even know whether these were feelings at all. To him, it was all just a sort of fondness (which was still an entirely new feeling for him anyways, so in the end it didn't really matter).

Either way, nothing was going to happen…

Was what she'd convinced herself.

But fate is not all too kind.

No… not fate.

If fairytales were not allowed to co-exist with reality, then fate had no right to as well (either way, something wasn't all too kind).

Every time she stared at him too long, she'd get drawn into his eyes, or his lips, or maybe his mouth. It was almost like every time she looked, she noticed something different about him; like how his jaw clenched whenever he saw something a bit too sweet for his taste, or the way his eyebrows rose just a tiny bit higher whenever she mentioned how hungry she was (and she can't spot an almost smile?)

Those thoughts were dangerous though. Fortunately, her common sense would snap her out of it. Her head had no business up in the air. There was no time for her to be up there when there were so many things to do down here (like keeping up with his long strides, for example).

Yes, that's right.

Realists.

That's what they were.

Neither of them allowed the other to be anything else.

Except…

Sometimes.

Sometimes.

They'd both believe in fairytales.