Beneath the Blue II

A cold splash on his cheek brought Haruki back to consciousness. He expected the soft touch of a pillow and the firm hardness of the tatami under him, but the rough, jagged rocks of the ground were all that greeted him. He awoke to the smell of charred wood and damp soil. He coughed.

When Haruki opened his eyes, no one came to view. Anemone was absent, with only a piece of half-eaten halfbread laying on a purple, regal-looking cloth as proof of her existence.

He shot up and gathered his blanket, his fingers groping the handle of the utility blade on his belt. He looked around for her—or any signs of struggle. Any proof she’d been taken.

There were none but calm, muddy footsteps leading out of the cave. She must have just gotten some sun, silly me, he thought as his fingers settled down.

He stretched and headed out the cave, the refreshing morning sun and breeze bathing him in calming warmth. Though she had gone out on her own, there was still no proof she was safe. He tried to follow the footsteps in the mud, but eventually, the ground hardened to a point and the trail stopped.

“Anemone!” He shouted.

No response.

Again, he shouted. “Anemone!”

No response.

Venturing a minute further into the thick greenery, he began to hear the sound of a trickling water. “Hmm. Maybe she went to collect some water,” he muttered to himself, remembering that his canteen had actually vanished from the cave.

He followed the sound of the water until it intensified. Flowing water, like a stream. It didn’t quite sound like a gushing river, but there was definitely some body of water nearby.

“Anemone?” He called out to an absent audience. Barely making out a path, he groped one tree to another, until he clambered down a hill and turned a corner, venturing into a clearing.

When he turned, Anemone came to view, standing in the middle of a flowing stream, the water gently pushing past her legs.

Bare naked.

She had spotted him first when he called out. Haruki stared, eyes glazed over. He observed her body all at once, and yet at the same time, he didn’t—adrenaline forcing him to un-register the view from his head in real time. He didn’t even register if she was angry or surprised.

“Sorry!” He turned away.

“Sir Haruki?”

Haruki could hear the swish of water coming nearer. She was getting closer. Oh, he was just about ready to die right there. She’s so gonna kill me!

“What’s wrong?” Her hands held his shoulder.

“I was just checking where you went,” he said, trying to maintain a level of calm. “Had me worried for a sec. Didn’t know you were taking a bath. I didn’t mean to peek.”

“Peek?”

“I mean, I wasn’t trying to catch you bathing on purpose.” He resisted the urge to turn around, but—

“Come on, look at me when you’re talking to me.”

“But you’re not dressed…”

“So?”

Anemone, with both hands, turned Haruki on his heel. His face had flushed a bright red, and he looked to the side, still avoiding the view of her eyes or her body.

“Sir Haruki, I’m fine, as you can see,” she said without a hint of embarrassment. “Why not take a bath yourself? The water’s nice and cool in the morning.”

“No thanks.” He shook his head. “It’s not right. I’m a man, and you’re a woman, and…”

“Hmm?” Anemone tilted his head. “I am unbothered by it. It’s common for men and women to bathe in the same room in Ka’Ilyah.”

“Is it now?”

Hearing that, Haruki let his instincts reclaim him, and looked straight at Anemone. He studied her supple body from head to toe, enamored with how picture-perfect it was. Elves are truly something, huh.

Anemone stepped back, her brows furrowed. “But I didn’t ask you to stare, though.”

“Sorry,” he said with a curt head bow. “I just think you’re beautiful.”

“What’s that now…?” Anemone twirled a lock of hair around her finger, her cheeks finally starting to blush. “Don’t say such flattering things when you’re in front of a naked lady.”

“Okay, so now it’s an issue?” Haruki scoffed.

“Yes. Yes it is.”

Anemone pulled Haruki up to the edge of the river, and said, “It’s an issue when you’re not naked, too.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re taking a bath with me. Now.”

***

After having shared a bath for an uncomfortable but pleasant half hour—at least for Haruki—they headed back to the cave for a short breakfast.

They feasted on their meager supplies, only choosing to consume the rest of the half-eaten flatbread, while Haruki opened one of the emergency rations Mr. Junk and he had prepared in the Kenichi Modern.

Haruki sniffled. Bathing in the cold stream of a forest stream was definitely an experience, naked Anemone aside. He’d probably have to get used to it if he wanted to stay clean in this world.

“Ah—” Anemone’s eyes rounded.

Haruki shot her a glance. “W-What…?”

“You’re sniffling. You’re sick.”

“Oh, this?” He sniffled again and tilted his head. “Nothing a bit of warm water can’t fix.”

Anemone smiled. She seemed enamored with this idea of ‘being sick’, even if Haruki wasn’t enjoying it in the slightest.

Igniting the campfire again, Anemone suspended the kettle over the flame with what seemed to be wind magic until it boiled again. When Haruki asked if it would be easier if she just propped it up with more wood, Anemone claimed it was much easier to use magic to hold it up. Did she lack basic survival skills, or did magic just spoil her? Then again, not many people in Tokyo could probably start a campfire on their own even if their life counted on it.

She poured hot tea into a clay mug with ornate designs similar to the castle’s on it. Haruki sipped the hot tea, the smoke and warmth clearing his sinuses. Then, he paused.

He held the cup between his hands, rotating it and inspecting the edges of its mouth. Didn't she drink from this? Isn't she bothered?

“Anemone,” he struggled to say, running a finger over where his lips once met hers. “What was that? I mean, yesterday… when you kissed me.”

“Ah.” Anemone gingerly held her lips, cheeks a light red. “About that…”

“Then you bit me. It kinda hurt, you know…”

“I'm sorry.” Her eyes shifted. “About that…”

Haruki waited an eternity for a response. Before he could open his mouth to drop the subject, she answered.

“It's a ritual called Sky Linking.”

“Sky Linking?” Haruki cocked his head.

“Remember when I told you you could think of anything you want to do and I'll use my magic to try and do what you're thinking of? A Sky Link helps me do that.” She nodded in self-satisfaction. “Normally, you'd give orders and I would follow, right? But a Sky Link sends your intent to me without having to say it—so I can use my magic to help you do what you want to do—without having to say it.”

So it's kinda like installing bluetooth between our brains. Haruki nodded. “I see. Is there anything else I should know about it?”

Anemone beamed like a kid who’d just come up with a cool story to tell their friends. “There is,” she said, then pointed at a loose, dangling rock on the cave ceiling. “See that rock? Try cutting it down with some wind.”

Haruki shot a glance at Anemone. “And how do I do that?”

She turned her body opposite the rock and looked away, closing her eyes. “Same way you did back with the Sky Legion.”

“Huh. Alright.”

Holding his palm out like a martial artist, he imagined the many ways he could cut that dangling rock. He thought of the wind. How would the wind cut something like that—Ah.

Haruki pictured a sword. A chinese dao. A samurai’s katana. Then in his mind, he drew their shapes in the wind.

An orb of fog-like wind appeared from his palm, swirling into a tiny vortex that drew his bangs in. Then with a powerful push, the orb formed into a blade-like shape and rushed at where the stone was the weakest.

The blade cut through the loose rock. The stone plummeted into the ground with a tiny but audible plink.

“Whoa!”

Anemone turned back and scooted up to Haruki. “Good, yes? I didn’t even imagine it myself. That was all you.”

“What does that mean?”

“You can use some measure of magic,” she said. “Sky Linking grants you access to some of my own mana. The nearer we are, the stronger it is.”

Haruki blinked. “So I can just kind of… use your magic? How much of it?”

Anemone parted her hands as if to measure the water in a glass. “This much. Like, a quarter of my strength.” But her face sank suddenly, smile turning upside down. “But when you do this, it draws from your own body’s mana reserves as well. I can’t easily tell how much you have, and if you had any in the first place. So just be careful when you use it, and how much you do.”

He nodded, though her warnings did put him on edge. “I’ll keep that in mind. Either way, that Sky Link thing… it’s a really strong spell.”

“It is. We can only do one Sky Link at a time—we’d have to break the previous one before doing it again. We don't make either decision lightly.”

“Yeah, I bet,” Haruki said, looking away and blushing. “You have to kiss someone for it, after all.”

“Oh, a kiss isn't necessary to perform a Sky Link.”

Haruki’s eyes widened. Did she like him that way after all like he (sort of) hoped back in their first flight? “T-Then why…?”

“Both sides of the pact just need their blood to touch each other's,” she said, though her face still flushed red. “I didn't know any other way to easily injure you at the time, but now that I think about it, I could've just scratched you…”

Actually, thank you for the kiss. I will never forget it. “I see. Well, I didn't hate it.”

“I didn't hate it either…” Anemone looked away, now beet red. An awkward but endearing silence passed. “Sorry I had to bite your lip though.”

“It's fine.”

Anemone glanced at Haruki.

“...I don't mind a redo.”

Haruki blinked. “Eh…?”

Anemone straightened her gaze, though her body was still turned away. “It's the first time I kissed a man… and I don't want my memory of it to be so… bloody.”

“Well,” Haruki cleared his throat and met her gaze. “Same.”

“So you want to…?”

“I don't know,” Haruki shook his head slowly. “A first kiss isn't something you just kinda toss out lightly.”

“We already did, didn't we?” Anemone said. “So I feel like we should at least do it properly.”

What are we, in middle school? Haruki couldn't believe he was humoring such juvenile ideas between himself—a working professional—and a half-elf who might be almost a generation older than him.

Haruki matched her straightened posture. “Okay. If you say so.” Somewhere deep inside, he might have thought this was repentance for turning Marina down last night.

“Was it your first time too?”

“...No.”

“I see.”

Anemone’s face fell, looking overwhelmed by dejection. He didn't mean to disappoint her like that—though better to let her down now than to be caught in a lie later.

Though…

It was still the best kiss I've had. Says a lot, considering she bit his lip until it bled.

Anemone inched closer, one sheepish squirm at a time. “Please tell me what to do.”

What happened to all that assertiveness you had, kissing me like that?

Haruki shook off the doubt. He brought it up, so now he has to deal with the consequences. Though—would a kiss from a beautiful elven princess be considered punishment?

“Close your eyes.”

Anemone closed her eyes.

Haruki calmed his breathing. His heart thumped like a marching band out of sync.

When Anemone closed in, the scent of flowers in summer met him like a day off following a long weekend. Seeing her flawless skin up close without the tension of battle in the way—mesmerizing. Haruki would become a poet if he started describing her now.

He leaned in. Closer. Closer.

Then a shrill cry from afar froze him.

A cry, rather, a howl. A cacophonous marriage of a hawk's screech and a lion's roar.

Anemone opened her eyes, and before they could blink, they were already apart, like they were never close together in the first place.

“Was that the griffon?” Haruki asked.

“Likely,” Anemome said, her bashfulness evaporating in an instant.

“You think it found the plane?”

“Not likely…” she said. “It sounds like it's in a fight.”

“You can tell?”

Another screech came, layering over one another.

Haruki shrugged. “Okay. I can tell now.”

“Sir Haruki,” Anemone said, her voice firm. “This might be our chance.”

“You want us to fly out with two griffons up there now?”

“Griffins are terribly territorial—and competitive. If presented with a food source, they're likely to fight each other over it first before they go after us.”

“That's crazy,” Haruki hesitated.

“It's not the craziest thing we've done. Don't you agree, Sir Haruki?”