Chapter fourteen

"Oh, no...I'm definitely lost..." Nishi looked around the large corridor she was walking down. She was supposed to be meeting Princess Kougyoku at the entrance of the palace, but little did the princess know the blonde magi was horrible with directions. "Why does this always happen?!"

It was two days since Nishi had arrived to Kou, and she was loving it. At first, the royal family seemed intimidating, but now they all seemed to like her. Although Nishi hadn't seen Hakuryuu or his mother and sister, Gyokuen and Hakuei yet. Nishi had noticed a few Al-Thamen members scattered around the palace as well, but she tried to avoid them as much as possible.

A single black rukh caught her attention and she turned her head to in front of her. She gasped and jumped back as she nearly ran into someone. Another Al-Thamen member?! Nishi panicked.

"Did you get lost again?"

Nishi frowned, recognizing Judar's voice. Well...I was close, he is a member of Al-Thamen. "Uh...Yeah..."

Judar sighed, "Come on." He turned away from her and began walking down the hallway.

Nishi hesitated for a moment before walking quickly to catch up to him, "How'd you know where I was?"

"Hard not to notice the abundance of rukh around you." Judar grumbled, not paying much attention as usual.

Nishi looked around at the rukh surrounding them. The black and white birds were mixing together and going crazy as the pair walked. It was weirdly comforting to her as she watched the birds, she was no longer intimidated or scared of the darker half of the rukh. She also wasn't too worried about anyone seeing them, she had spent a lot of time with everyone there, and it was clear to most that Nishi and Judar had some things in common- even if it wasn't a lot.

"Oh! There they are!" Kouha looked down the corridor as the two magi approached him and Kougyoku. "You know, if you guys wanted to be alone you could've just asked." The prince smirked.

Nishi blushed and defended herself, "I got lost!"

"Ya, ok." Kouha continued smirking, his hands behind his head. Kougyoku chuckled and covered her mouth with her sleeve.

Nishi pouted and changed the subject, "Can we just go already?"

~

The group consisting of Nishi, Judar, Kouha, and Kougyoku, walked around the country for the entire afternoon, something the Ren's hadn't done in a while. They all enjoyed it, even Judar seemed to be enjoying himself a little. Kougyoku and Kouha really had fun, the siblings never really spent time with each other like that.

"Hey, Nishi, why do you carry a sword anyway? Why would you need it if you're a magician?" Kouha asked curiously, starting to pull Nishi's sword from it's sheath.

"Hey! Don't just go grabbing people's things!" Nishi jumped away from him, she hadn't seen the prince creeping up on her.

"It's cause she sucks with magic," Judar answered Kouha for her.

Nishi frowned, "Really, I suck? You're the one who lost when we fought!"

"I didn't lose! You did!" Judar placed his hands on his hips and argued at Nishi.

"You two fought before?" Kougyoku interrupted.

"Yeah," Nishi nodded, continuing to glare at Judar. "And he totally lost."

"Wanna rematch?" Judar smirked. "I was getting bored anyway."

"Hell yeah." Nishi returned the smirk. Both magi got out their wands.

"Woah, woah! Wait!" Kougyoku stepped between them. "You can't fight here!"

"Why not? It'd be awesome to see two magi fight!" Kouha said excitedly.

"You'd destroy everything!" Kougyoku gestured to around them.

"Hmm..." Nishi sighed and put her wand away, "Yeah. She's right."

"Aww..." Kouha pouted.

Judar sighed and put his wand away as well, "You guys are no fun...Well, I'm gonna head back then, see ya!" He spun around and began walking back to the palace.

"Yeah...Me too." Kouha agreed.

"It is getting late," Kougyoku looked to the sky at the slowly setting sun.

"Mhm. Let's go back too." Nishi nodded.

~