The frosty light that trickled into their room woke Kazune from his much needed sleep. It was unusually cold for the spring. But under the warm blankets, he was cozy and transported back to the long lost warmth of the childhood before his magic. His out-stretched hand gripped the chilling air as if he were trying to capture everything about this point in time in his fist. Kazune exhaled and saw his breath dance in the cool room. He liked this part of the cold. His breath always reminded him of smoke from something burning.
Pushing himself over beneath the covers, he came to face a sleeping princess. She slept soundly and was blissfully warm in the cold. Though her hair looked like ice and her skin was so pale it was as if she were frozen, the soft cloud of breath formed at her mouth. Her shoulders rose and fell with her slumber and Kazune could only think to watch and remember the kind of beginning this leg of their journey had. He couldn't move from his current position. He was frozen in place for fear of breaking this moment in time.
His nose was cold and he noticed that at some point during the night, he must have removed his tunic and pendants. They were never nice to sleep in but he really had no memory of removing them. To remove clothing in his sleep, he must have been exhausted. He was lucky he didn't sleep walk. To pass the time, Kazune looked around at the room and counted the number of boards on the wall. There were quite a few, 110 by his count.
Karin began to stir and snapped Kazune's attention back to her. Before she could get around to opening her eyes, Kazune leaned in and kissed her awake. First her nose, then her lips and around to her cheeks and ears, till he was half on top of her, resting his torso over her chest and stomach. Soft moans of approval and a sleepy smile were roused from her soft mouth.
"Hurry and wake up, we have a long day today." Kazune purred
Hands wrapped around his neck and the emeralds were uncovered.
"Can't we stay here today? I don't want to travel." she laced her fingers down his back making him arch into her more.
"You know we don't have the money to stay longer than we have to." Kazune said with regret.
*sigh "I know... but can we leave a bit later? I want to play." Karin's now bright eyes twinkled.
Her words excited him. The idea of playing with her more made his mind nearly go dumb. Kazune fought back the instinct to cover her in his own skin. He wanted to make her cry out like she did the night before, those sounds were so beautiful in his ears. A bit disturbingly though, he caught himself enjoying that they sounded like cries of suffering. After all this time, he was beginning to suspect that he was a truly a sadist at heart.
"What are you thinking?" came that inquisitive bell voice.
"We can't play until the next inn. But if you aren't too tired by then, I'll gladly be your playmate." Kazune let a quick wink be passed to Karin's eyes.
"How shall we play next time? You got to have all the fun, how about you let me show you how giving the power to a girl can be fun?"
"Not likely... but if you are good, maybe... We need to get dressed and leave."
Kazune caught his old way of speaking to her rising up inside himself again. He wanted to stop it because now he couldn't lie to himself that she was beneath him. She was his equal and his stupid ego wanted to squash that.
Karin promptly obeyed his demand to get dressed by pulling her sash tight again. She then got up with a little hop in her step and gathered Kazune's tunic off the floor. Kazune watched her with confusion as to why she was listening to what he barked at her.
"Here" she presented him with his clothing and smiled a wonderful smile at him.
Taking the clothing from her, Kazune was still confused.
"Why are you doing as I say?" he asked.
"Why? Because you told me to, and because I know if I am a 'good girl' I get to play with you later." She smirked at him.
Irked by her sweetly snarky tone and face, Kazune scowled and put his tunic on.
"You like ordering me around, don't you?" Karin said in more of a statement than a question. "It turns you on, right? And you like having complete control." She smiled again this time making Kazune a bit angry.
She grabbed his face and forced him to face her as she leaned forward, placing one hand on the bed.
"I don't mind pretending to bend to your wishes because it is you, but bear in mind that I also like power. I will not comply with everything and I will have my turn at spouting orders."
Staring into the cool green eyes, Kazune was taken by surprise. He had never thought she would call him out in such a way and she had not challenged him like this yet. It was not an argument, it was a warning and his sadistic side was briefly dampened by the memories of the times she had overpowered him. She truly was terrifying, and it lit him from deep within.
Pushing her away, Kazune scoffed a puff of his hot breath into the space between them.
"I know you like power, why else would you battle me about everything I say?" glancing a provoking stare in Karin's direction.
He stood up and got fully dressed and gathered up his things. Karin sat around looking impatient.
"Aren't you ready to go yet? You take longer than a girl to get dressed!" she laughed. As she said that however, Kazune walked out the door and shut it behind him leaving Karin alone in the room.
"Hey!" she went to the door and pulled the handle. When it wouldn't budge she tried harder, it gave a little before being pushed back to the shut position.
"What are you five?!" She yelled at Kazune.
"This kind of prank is seriously dumb!"
She heard laughter from the other side. Karin backed up, ready to run the door down. Charging at full speed she reached for the door handle and the door swung open. Karin unable to stop fell flat on her face and slid a bit on the layer of ice that had formed in the night. Kazune stood there with his eyes wide and looking both guilty and surprised that she fell.
"You jerk!" She yelled up at him. "Locking me in was bad enough, you had to humiliate me more?!"
"I-I honestly didn't know you were going to charge the door!" he said defensively while hiding his giggles.
"Liar!"
"It's the truth! I couldn't see you!"
Kazune looked around and realized they had already drawn more attention to themselves than he would have liked. Bending over swiftly, he helped Karin off the ground and pulled the hood of her cloak over her eyes.
"We must go quietly now. No more arguments."
"I know I can do that, can you?" replied the mouth that hid under the brim of the fabric.
Biting back his annoyance, Kazune grasped Karin's hand and they started out through the town. The crowds were unlike anything they had ever seen. Moving was difficult and the possibility of losing the other grew more real.
"Kazune! I am having a hard time avoiding people! Can we walk slower?"
"Not yet, let's get to that tower first." Came the words that Kazune would regret.
They moved a few feet further but he felt Karin's hand rip away from his and as he turned to regain her, he was face to face with a sea of people. He stood there hoping that she would be smart enough to keep walking in that direction even without him. They would meet again in a few moments.
He stood and waited as a single immobile object in waves of unending people.
More time passed and he became worried. He started out through the crowd and tried to see if she was wandering around lost somewhere. Surely she wasn't so stupid to not come looking for him or call out to him. He hadn't thought about what would happened if they were separated. If it took too long to find her, should he just continue the journey alone? No, he could never do that, not after how far she had wormed her way into his heart.
"Get to higher ground." he thought. Making his way over to the side of the road, he tried to find stairs or a ladder to climb.
He could feel panic rising within himself. Trying as hard as he could to fight it he located a fire escape.
"Ironic isn't it." he thought to himself. He climbed up and peered over the heads in the bustling streets. That golden hair was nowhere to be seen. He scanned and scanned but the cold metal was freezing to his hands. His panic grew more, he could feel his eyes changing to blue fire. He had lost Karin and it wasn't even their first whole day. Stewing in his self hatred, he heard a voice call out to him.
"Mister!" it called.
"Mister did you lose your traveling partner?"
Kazune's spirits lifted.
"Yes, did you see where she went?"
"Yes, it was terrible, she got snatched right from under you!" a little boy came running over to him.
"Snatched?" Kazune's voice darkened.
"Yes, Mister. by the governor's guards!"
Damn it, he thought, "Those guards at the gate must have sent a spy to make sure she was going where I said she would."
"Where does the governor live?" Kazune asked the boy.
"He lives up on the hill over there. But Mister, you don't want to go alone!"
"And why not?" Kazune said furious with the idea that Karin could be in danger of more perverts like the guards at the gate.
"Because, he has powers that are unrivaled! He can create the worst of weather and climates. No one dares to go against him."
"What is your name, boy?" came the dulled voice.
"My name, Mister? I am called Suzune. I am eight years old, but very well rounded for my age!" He stated proudly.
"Suzune, I want you to take me to the governor's house. I will reward you greatly and show you power that will rival even his."
"But, he is so scary... you sure you want to go? I might get in trouble too!"
"If you weren't going to take me and tell me not to go, you shouldn't have told me where my companion got taken to, now should you." Kazune looked down at the boy with a burning anger in his eyes, but his smile was laced with near indescribable murderous intent.
The boy looked up at Kazune, scared of him but amazed at the aura he gave off.
"I'll take you, Mister, as long as you give me the show you promise."
"Oh, I will and more." His skin glowed white hot.
"I will dethrone him and crush his prideful city."
