*TWO MONTHS LATER*
The gentle touch of calm wind takes me out of my sleep. I’m lying on my left side, so I begin searching for Kado with my hand on the other side of the bed. When I can’t feel him, I open my eyes to an empty space. The covers are folded over my legs, and the sheets still have his body impression on them. A blur flies by my window, and the same tender breeze touches me. I crawl across our bed to the balcony to see the blur. Far up in the sky, I see him looking straight up.
“What are you doing this time?” I say, materializing something appropriate to cover my near-naked body.
I fly a few feet off the balcony but stop when I see a blue sparkle high above him. The glimmer comes crashing down as a wave of a verum beam. With both of his hands, he struggles to keep it steady as he falls to the ground. He lands on his feet, creating a small crater under him. It becomes clear as day why he’s doing this, and I feel myself about to explode in a rage.
“You big dummy!” I say.
He looks at me, and the energy blows up into a plume of fiery smoke. I know the explosion isn’t detrimental, so I wait for the smoke to dissipate. It reveals his torn-up clothing. His shirt is on his left shoulder, and his pants are now tattered up into shorts.
“Damn it, Kado,” I yell in a growl.
“Morning, Vodkis,” Kado says, waving to me with a smile. He flies up to me, and I move back onto the balcony. “I didn’t hear what you said before. What did you say?”
“Forget it. You were supposed to not leave my side for today."
"Uh oh."
"You promised me you wouldn’t. It’s been two weeks! You’ve been training for nearly every hour except when you wanna eat. I just want to have my boyfriend in bed with me when I wake up.”
“I’m sorry, Vodkis. I’m just so excited that today is the day for the matches. I had to make sure I’m at one hundred percent.” I can’t even look at him with the frustration that’s detonating in me. “I’m sorry.”
“No,” I quickly say, walking past him and leaning over the railing. Seeing the crater he made pisses me off further, so I put it back to normal like it was. He walks over to my right side, but I turn my head away.
“Vodkis,” he says with a quiet voice, putting his hand on my forearm. “The morning is still young. We can go back to sleep, and I can fulfill your wish.” I turn around and give him my death stare. “Vodkis?”
“Go wash up.” He backs away from me, and I head back to the bed. While my back is turned, I revert his damaged clothing back to normal. I don’t look at him till he enters the bathroom, then I gaze at the barely lit sky behind me. “I guess I’ll give him a chance,” I whisper to myself.
**
I sit on my side of the bed, combing my hair, deciding whether to go back to sleep with him or try some other time. The bathroom door opens, and I immediately look at him. He’s in his underwear, which is always a pleasant sight to view him in. His muscular body is splendidly carved from the neck down. He's getting bigger. Even though he's not the size of Zazarel, I still find him hot.
“Are you still mad at me?” He says, coming up to me.
“You know I can’t stay mad at you for very long. Plus, this is a special day for you, so I need to cool it.” He sits beside me, and I rest my head on his upper arm. “We have some hours till the matches. Five hours to be exact.”
“That’s some good resting.” I yawn so hard that I tear up a bit.
“I’ll set a timer, and this time, don’t go sneaking off. You’ve done enough training.” I set the timer to go off into a quiet melody, so I’ll be the first one to hear it.
“I won’t go anywhere.” I give him a long low-eyed stare. He puts out his pinky near my face. He’s never done this before. I’m in awe of what to say, so I acknowledge his promise by locking my pinky around his.
**
The sounds of a wind chime slowly wake me. I flick my thumb, turning off the music before it increases in volume, and then I begin to slowly reach over to Kado. I feel my arm about to extend fully, and I start to panic. As I open my eyes, I touch his back with my fingers. Butterflies fill my stomach and fly around in my chest. Finally, after two weeks, he stays in bed and isn’t overexerting his body. I ease myself on him to spoon against his back, with one arm around his stomach and the other rubbing his white hair. Seeing him sleeping feels odd. Most of the time, I see him active or awake. Recently within the two weeks, when he sleeps, I’m awake, or he leaves to go train when I’m asleep.
“You’re so not like your old self,” I whisper, then kiss him on the back of his neck. He moves his left-hand fingers and shifts more of his back towards me. “Time to wake up, you big dummy.” I reach over to see his face. His vibrant colored orange eyes slowly reveal themselves like the curtains moving away from a stage. As he turns his head to me, I pounce on his lips for a series of kisses.
“Slow down, Vodkis,” he says, chuckling. “Good morning, beautiful. Did I fulfill your wish?”
“Not really, but I’m satisfied with what you gave me.”
“Vodkis! Kado! It’s time to get ready,” Nion says, knocking on our door. “We don’t want to be late.” I sneak one more kiss to his lips, then roll off of him.
“Okay, Nion!” I say.
Kado stretches his face, bearing teeth in response to my yelling. I giggle at how cute it looks and at myself for being a loudmouth, then fetch the outfit I’ll wear for his matches. It’s a green open-shoulder sleeve shirt with a long blue skirt and green shoes. Nion and I will be wearing the same color scheme. For my jewelry and ornaments, I have a golden forehead crown, necklace, and girth. Each of them has a purple gem dangling off it, representing the colors of my eyes. As I place the head crown on my head, Kado comes over to my right side, peaking in my wardrobe.
“Go get dressed, Kado. I wanna have you surprised, so don’t take glances at me," I say.
As I slowly strip off my gown, I watch Kado take out his white and yellow team gi. His members have their own style, but the upper body must be white while the shin wraps are yellow. These colors represent the southern tribes of our nation. His pants are white too. Before he puts his shirt on, he wraps his lower shins with a black cloth. His curious eyes start scanning up from my feet.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
“No, peeking,” I say, crossing my arms over my breasts. I’m such a hypocrite in saying that. I laugh through my nose, thinking about all the times I’ve seen his naked body without him noticing me.
“Fine, fine,” he says, finishing wrapping his shins and turning around back inside his closet. The last part of clothing he puts on is a long-sleeved shirt that conforms to his body and a sleeveless coat that uses buttons as well as a waist wrap to keep it on. “Are you going to get dressed?”
"Eventually."
"Enjoying the view until it's obscured?"
"Yes," I say after letting the gown fall to the floor. He doesn't hesitant to look at my breasts. "I don't think it is wise to look at me like this before a big match."
"Why's that?"
"It's distracting." I point towards the bed while I grab everything I want to wear. It takes some time to put on everything I want. First, I have to get all the makeup on my face perfect. Once it is on, I start getting dressed.
"Are you almost done?"
“All most. Just need to put on my jewelry.” I dawn my earrings, bracelet for my right arm, and my golden girdle. “Walla!” He slowly takes a peek around the closet.
“You look so beautiful.”
“I’m glad you like it. You look...” I take a full examination of his attire in its glory. He takes a few steps back and kinda poses with his arms out. “You look ready to kick some butt.”
“I can’t wait to fight with the best fighters from around our world.”
I try to force myself to share his excitement, but I can feel myself entering into a deep panic from seeing his passion. He’s an excellent fighter, the best martial artist in the south of Garavis, but he’s about to enter into a competition where potential competitors might seriously injure him. I don’t wanna see that; I don’t want to imagine that. I don’t wanna see him in pain again. Images of blood, his lifeless face staring at me, and sounds of explosions flash into my mind.
“Vodkis, you don’t look alright,” Kado says, holding my hands. He continues to talk to me, but everything he’s saying is muffled.
“I think I’m going to faint.” I’m losing my sense of balance. I feel like I’m floating, yet I’m on the ground. My heart ramps up in speed as I stumble into his arms.
“I got you.” He guides me over to the bed. I feel nauseated, out of breath, and somewhat shaking.
“Kado...”
“You’re okay.” He cuffs my head into his chest. I grip his pants and shirt for dear life, taking deep breaths through my mouth. “I’m okay, Vodkis,” he whispers. “I’m okay... You’re having your flashbacks again.” Moments later, I blow up, crying loudly while holding on to him.
“Oh, Kado. I’m sorry. I can’t stop thinking about you when you were Zazarel.”
“Vodkis, you need to stop seeing me in my past life. Zazarel is gone. That version of him doesn’t exist in me.” I wail louder, trying to muffle my crying with his chest, knowing he’s right. “Look at me.” Before I look at him, I wipe my tears with my hands. Through the blur of my vision, I see Zazarel’s black eyes and black hair for a split second. Again, I can feel my eyes ready to burst back into tears. “Vodkis, stop!” He somewhat shakes me, which prevents me from crying. “You need to accept his death, move on, and you must accept the new version of him... me. I’m sorry I’m not the exact replica you cherished decades ago.”
“Are you two ready?” Nion shouts from behind the door.
“Give us a few minutes.”
“Two minutes, you two.”
I ease my grip off Kado’s clothing. My hold has crumpled up the fabric on his shirt, so I straighten them out. He surprises me with a kiss on my forehead and takes my left hand up to his chest, where I feel his fast-beating heart.
“Do you feel that?” He says.
“I do.”
“My soul isn’t gone, Vodkis.” He softly flicks my nose, which leaves a small sting. “Just certain personality traits I had.” His little joke makes me put my hand over my mouth to quiet my chuckle. “I’m significantly stronger than I was before, and I’m continually getting better each day."
"I know..."
"There’s no need to worry," he says softly. "I’m sorry you had to see me die protecting you, but revel at me now, my love. I’m alive, I’m here, and staying with you forever. Fear nothing, be brave.”
“Wow, where did those lovely words come from?” I say, wiping away the last few drops of my tears.
“Months of trying to understand what you went through. Are you feeling okay now?”
“I’m good, Kado. Your father would be so mad at me for not truly understanding what he did for me.”
“I’m sure he won’t be. Don’t forget, you also contributed to my regeneration.” I look at his hair.
“A gift from me for you to remember me always,” I say, quoting myself from decades ago.
“Thank you for bringing me back. I don’t think I ever said that to you.”
“Your gonna make me cry again. I wasn’t the only one that helped.” We kiss and purr without remorse. I don’t care if Nion can hear us. I’m so grateful to have him back in my life after two long depressing decades. The love of my existence is here to stay, forever and ever.
“Let’s go!” Nion says, killing the moment.
“Alright!” I yell back at the same intensity she spoke. Kado starts laughing, but I shut him up with a surprise kiss on his cheek. “Let’s go, my love.”
**
I lay flat on Kado’s back as we fly through the skies heading to the tournament building in the city of Garavis. Nion looks at me with a tight upper-lip smile. I roll my eyes at her and lay my head on his back with my eyes closed. He presses his hands on my hands that are wrapped around his stomach. Calming moments like this are special to me. I’m capable of flying, but any chance I get to ride on him, I’m taking it. Laying on his back takes me back to the days of my strenuous yet wondrous life when Kado was Zazarel. Every time I ride like this, I think about the high flying we did through beautiful orange dawn skies and the calmness of the wind.
“Vodkis,” Nion whispers.
“Hmm?” I say, opening my right eye.
“We’re here.”
I hop off Kado’s back to look down. I see crowds of people all around the arena. Near the entrance, I detect four distinctive colors huddled in groups. Red, White, Blue, and Green.
“Are those the teams?” I say.
“Mhmm,” Kado says.
Kado begins his descent down to the crowd. I stay close to him all the way down. Once we touchdown, some people look at us and recognize me. They wave, so I do a quick bow, acknowledging their respect for Nion and me. I somewhat acknowledge others far away from me by giving them a lackluster wave. Kado walks up to his teammates, and everyone greets him with chants, shakes, and hugs. Seeing everyone give him warm welcomes makes me happy.
Something small hits the back of my head. It gives me a slight itchy sting that I have to scratch to ease it.
“What was that?” I say, turning around.
There’s no one there, so I look at Nion. Her attention is on Kado. I look everywhere, but no one is close, so I look up to eliminate the possibility of someone hovering. Up in the clouds, I see a figure beam out in an orange aura. I immediately know who’s looking down on me, and I shed a tear as he disappears, waving at me.
“Thank you so much,” I whisper.
The speakers at the front of the stadium turn on. It plays bombastic music that riles up the crowd and Kado’s team with applause. The music has the opposite effect on me. That noise is a sign of the beginning of my worries. Kado doesn’t seem to be taking notice of it. He looks happy to be with this competing team. They head in, but he flies over to me.
“Yes?” I say, confused about why he’s not walking with his team.
“Walk with me.” His hand interlocks with mine without looking at it. “Are you nervous?”
“You have no idea.”
“Hmm,” he hums as we walk together. “You’ve seen me fight before. It’ll be just the same.”
“But two times the competitiveness and the stage is bigger. Oh, gosh, Kado. I don’t think I’m going to be much of a big supporter.” He lets go of my hand to grip my waist. His fingers comfortably sink in to firmly hold it. I love how his hand feels on me. I admire it so much, it’s making my body tingle.
“You being here is enough for me. You can sit in the crowd and not say a word. Your presence is all the support I need.” His words make me tear up. “Don’t cry. You’re gonna mess up your makeup.” I dig my eyes into his arm to let his sleeve soak up my tears. He stops walking to let me finish.
“Are you guys alright?” A man asks us.
“We’re fine.” As I'm still on his arm, Kado turns in the man’s direction.
“Hey, do you know where I can find my team? I came in late. I was selected to be a replacement.“Once I clear my eyes, I turn to my right to see who’s talking. It’s a man in a red and black gi. His outfit is different from Kado’s. He has a black short-sleeved undershirt and a red sleeveless coat. His pants are also black. The shoes he’s wearing are black with a yellow trim that goes down the middle and goes around the sole.
“What tribe are you representing?” I say.
“The north. My name is Haiku by the way.” He offers his hand to be shaken. “I look forward to competing against you.”