The next morning Karin and Kazune were both stiff. Karin had chosen to sleep right on the ground and Kazune followed. His shoulders hurt and his neck had a crick from lack of a pillow. To make matters worse, he knew they would have to travel a lot today.
"What do you want for breakfast?" Kazune sounded towards Karin. "It has to be fast."
Still bewildered from the night before, Karin sat a blushed with her big eyes fixed on Kazune as he started packing up their camp. As if she had just registered what he said, she placed her hands to the earth and small plants began to grow. They grew bigger and fuller and formed into an array of vegetables. There were mountain mushrooms, berries, roots and some kind of edible green. Kazune was about to give Karin a hard time about not answering him but was delighted to see all the food.
"You are proving more useful by the day." he said. "I can't make things grow..." Kazune trailed off.
"Well eat fast!" Karin said snappishly. "I don't have all day for you to putter around."
She had loved him last night, but like usual, by daylight, he was terrible towards her. She hated being called "useful". It was degrading to her and she couldn't think of a good comeback fast enough before he would move on to a different subject. How could she have ever misunderstood how no one fell for him? Kazune was a jerk to women.
Kazune noticed her tone, but ignored it, he was far too hungry. He also knew that he had said something a little mean. Now that his love had caught up with him, he wanted to work on how he talked to her. It was going to prove difficult, since he hated most other people. To try to calm her down, he gathered everything together and stuffed the greens, roasting the ingredients all together.
Meanwhile, Karin was sulking by a tree waiting for Kazune to be done eating the food that she provided him with. She was hungry too, but too angry to eat now.
"What went on in his life that prompted him to start acting this way? All I know about him is that he was picked on and ran away from the war like me." Was it really safe to travel with a man who was as emotionally unstable as she was? Ready to go, Karin turned around to tell that man to hurry when she faced that man's pursed face.
Kazune was blushing madly and was a little angry at himself too. He was hiding the food he made for Karin behind his back and trying to find the words he wanted to say. Of course he knew what he wanted to convey, but saying those words were difficult.
"Um, well I have decided you aren't useful..."
"WHAT?!" Karin and Kazune simultaneously thought. That was in no way what he meant to say and he might as well start digging his own grave. He was a warlock for god's sake, he should be better with words!
Facing a furious Karin, Kazune stammered to regain his footing.
"I-I mean you shouldn't be just useful! I should see you as a human and be thankful for what you do for me..." His words were embarrassing but if her was going to change his way of speaking to her, he had to say it.
Karin was looking at him so very confused.
Giving up on the words that were failing him, Kazune presented Karin with the cooked food.
"Thank you and I'm sorry for your usefulness." was all the more he was going to say on this topic.
Taken back by his kindness and strange apology, Karin took the food and held it for a moment before eating a bit.
"Apology accepted, but do try to work on how you talk." she said with a smile. It had been so long since Kazune had seen her smile like that. It made him happy.
"Well then, let's get moving. Like you said, we can't stand here all day."
They turned and started towards the largest kingdom in the land. Kazune was anxious about what they would find. Large cities have lots of guards and a lot of crime. He hoped that they would not face any problems getting through. That idea was pretty bold for the two of them. Two headstrong people mingling in with more people than they had ever seen before was bound to bring trouble.
One foot in front of the other, the two walked towards their fate. Kazune feared the future he faced. Memories of his power flooded back to him. There was fire everywhere. Somewhere he could hear a child crying and the smell of burning flesh filled his nose. That day he had discovered his "talents" as politicians put it. That terrifying day he was the sole cause of six deaths and 13 injuries.
As they walked Kazune pulled his hood up over his eyes to hide his face from Karin. If she were to look back at him, she would see his lament for himself carved into the expression he presented. He worried about the day when she'd ask him about his past. He'd have to tell her because keeping secrets now seemed too cruel.
Back when he learned of his powers, the road was confusing. He had never been so hated, yet so desired by society. The corrupt promised him wives, fame, gold, anything he could ever want. He could have had a technically wonderful life. But it would have been built on soil that would erode away. After declining every offer, he was seen as stuck up and a murderer. Those were the days Kazune had devoted himself to his studies. He never went outside and he recluded into the woods. Those days his hatred festered in his fiery rage and he wanted to burn. With his power he knew he could have taken over that village and become king easily. He would have made them suffer. The war broke out and the destruction he wished for became reality. Those people came crawling back to him as a last resort. Of course he refused.
Sadistically displayed power enchanted the city officials. Tantalizing light and immense breadth of controlled fire brought lust to their eyes. Hope filled their dreams and as they reached out for that beautiful light that surrounded them, it all disappeared, reveling a face that scornfully smiled and said,
"Your bastardous town can burn alive in hell for all eternity and I will laugh in delight as your children die in the ashes."
He ran away after that. Everything was falling to ruin and he had a bounty on his head for treason. He imagines he still does. The big kingdom will be horrible if anyone knew of him or his bounty. Torching the city would be a federal crime too and that would lead to his execution.
"Kazune, I've never mentioned it before, but you are a good person when you want to be."
Snapped out of his thoughts, he faced Karin.
"Where'd that come from?" He said uneasily.
"Well, you been kinda quiet this whole time so I thought I'd mention it. Maybe we can argue about that if you want. "She joked with a playful smile.
"Oh? If you want to argue about that I certainly can."
"Well bring it on then." that bell like voice sang.
"I wished my whole town dead." he started.
"But you saved me." she replied.
"I hated you when I met you."
"But you haven't abandoned me yet."
He was getting annoyed. Even though Kazune liked that she could counter his argument with nice things about himself, he wanted to win his argument for the sake of pride.
"I am keeping secrets from you"
"So am I. Everyone does."
"I use you like a tool."
"But you just apologized for that."
"I'm selfish and I step on others and I have killed people." Kazune started to get angry. He was letting more information out than he had intended.
"You've killed people? That's impressive. I bet it wasn't on purpose."
Amazed at her, Kazune couldn't respond. It is true he didn't mean to, but it didn't make him unhappy about it.
"I didn't feel regret."
"Well, you said you hated your village so it is fine if you didn't regret it."
"When are you going to run out of rebuttals? I am getting tired of this, just agree with me that I am a bad person."
Kazune was stopped by a blow to the stomach. Karin could hit hard. He wheezed and staggered back, clutching his abdomen.
"Why won't you just agree that you are a good person in my eyes.?! Do you really think you are that bad? Even if the whole word hated you, you are just living how you want and how you live is kind to me. Most of the time."
Kazune glared up at Karin still trying to catch his breath.
"I-I am pretty mean... just remember how I tease you."
"I tease you plenty too. If you are mean, so am I and that is fine with me."
She was really something else. She was purposely overlooking his flaws. It made him want to make her hate him.
"What if I was a creep like the boy you met before? Would you hate me then?"
"Why do you want me to hate you?"
"Because I want to win the argument!"
Karin stared at Kazune.
"How childish..." she said flatly. It was so amusing yet so dumb. "No, I wouldn't hate you because I have dirt on you too. You could never do what he did without getting caught."
Kazune's reddened ears cooled as he got over the argument.
"Just one last thing..."
"Hmm?" Karin answered.
"I am being a liar as of this moment, and the one I am lying to is you."
