His blue eyes narrowed in suspicion once more and his face froze to something colder than ice. I felt torn for some reason – it was as though I was horrified and disgusted at myself for not giving this boy everything I possibly could. My eyes burned. What kind of a monster was I? And then disgust permeated everything: what had happened to me?
***
I blinked. There was no way the absolutely gorgeous girl across the dirt path was real. She possessed an ethereal beauty that I had never stumbled upon before. My suspicions built up but I pretended to ignore her as I watched her take in every detail of me with her cold face. She was tiny – even shorter than me – but seemed to have a commanding presence. Her hair was dark and lovely, flowing down her back in soft, dark waves. Her face was small and soft with high cheekbones and wide, soft, full lips that looked inviting. Her eyebrows were perfectly arched over her intense eyes and her nose was straight and turned up a little at the end. She had no freckles marring her lovely face, only a natural light rose to her cheeks. I felt heat diffuse my cheeks as she studied my face – and wished futilely, foolishly for my freckles to be gone. I felt her dark brown eyes studying every feature of my being and I felt self-conscious for the first time in years. Five to be exact. I was older than she was but that didn’t really matter to me, nor did the fact that I had lost any charm in Training. I knew I had to approach her, or something inside me would break. I turned and flicked my attention toward her. Our eyes locked and something held back in Training broke and I blinked the mist out of my eyes.
I called “Hello” and she responded in an absolutely lovely voice. My insides melted and it was then I set the goal to get
her to laugh.
I moved toward her, carefully, so as to not scare her away. I watched my steps more vigilantly than ever before. I noticed the deep tan of the path that I crossed to be nearer to her and hid a shudder, wishing for skin only one color. I crouched down near her and began my questioning: I wanted to know as much as I possibly could about this celestial being, a being as marvelous, delicate-looking [he can see her fierceness as well …. How to include? …] , and aloof as a cloud.
“What, if I may, were you doing skulking around these parts?” I queried softly, becomingly I hoped. I knew that I had to get to know her, or else I would crumble.
“I was simply going out for a stroll…..” There was something in her voice that made me believe her pathetic excuse of an excuse but I hungered for more. I subconsciously let some of the intense curiosity register in my eyes. I could not even remember politeness as I asked for more. I only realized how sharp I had been after I had finished and something registered in her lovely brown eyes.
“You decided to take a two-hour stroll at eleven o’clock in the morning – why?”
She seemed to come to another decision as her eyes raked over my face again, the decision being that she would have to disappoint me.
“I really should not tell you.”
Something inside me cracked nastily, but I hastily repressed it and cooled my face back to its normal frozen state.
I knew my eyes lightened with rejection, though, and I blinked the resulting tears away.
Something also seemed to crack in the depths of her brown eyes.
I knew I had to continue and I did.
“Will you at least tell me who you are?” I cut off more before I embarrassed myself and scared her away from me.
“Yes. I am Kanus Argent. And who might you be?”
“I would rather remain unidentified. Tell me, though, why did you choose these parts for your ‘stroll’?”
She raised a delicate eyebrow at my response but I saw a flash of gray in her eyes. I felt tormented inside and decided to protect her from anything that caused her the slightest discomfort and give her what she wanted.
“My name is Kerulean Aqua. Now, answer my questions.”
Her discomfort, oddly, seemed to increase and I felt the need to reassure her.
“You can trust me absolutely.” Then I screwed my eyes shut and did something I would have never imagined myself doing until the end of my life. I removed the titanium-backed gauntlet and glove off my right hand and slowly twisted my palm over and offered it to her. Her relatively long fingers were soft and though not warm, stung my skin. She sat crossed-legged and then pulled my hand toward her – I carefully shifted closer. She pushed the sleeve of my shirt roughly to reveal more skin. She then traced the tattoo gracing my inner palm, wrist and lower forearm. Her eyes closed tightly and she offered her right hand to me. I could hear my intake of breath and I felt heat rise in my face in embarrassment. I gently grasped her outstretched, barely remembering to breathe. I held it close and drank the heat with each heartbeat. Then I remembered why she had extended it and I turned it over, softly pulled her sleeve back and studied the female-version of the image tattooed on my arm. I shivered and looked deeply into her eyes.
And I knew, then, looking into her liquid brown eyes that I was changed – for forever – and I indulged in the fact.
***
But he never gave me much chance to think and continued his interrogation without much pause, although his eyes seemed to flash light blue. When I had registered the fact that he felt rejected, the same feeling overcame me and something broke within me. I tried to not let it show, but I think his observant marvelous blue eyes knew at least something had happened.
He seemed to brace himself for his next question.
“Will you at least tell me who you are?” His question cut off abruptly, and I was so overtaken with wonder, at his voice, and curiosity, at why he had stopped so abruptly.
“Yes. I am Kanus Argent. And who might you be?” I responded as coolly as I possibly could manage.
“I would rather remain unidentified. Tell me, though, why did you choose these parts for your ‘stroll’?”
I raised an eyebrow at his response, as cool as an ice-cube, but I knew my eyes flashed gray. I noticed the fine lines define themselves and he made another decision.
“My name is Kerulean Aqua. Now, answer my questions.” Why did he change his mind, I wondered? Whatever the reason, it made me uncomfortable – why did he want answers? Why did he ask for my trust? Too many questions and my Training-enhanced predatory instincts stretched my nerves out.
“You can trust me absolutely.” I blinked as he screwed his eyes shut and did something I would have never imagined. He removed his metal-backed gauntlet and glove off his right hand and slowly twisted his palm over and offered it to me. My small fingers felt his steady heartbeat through his warm skin. I sat crossed-legged and then pulled his hand toward myself forcing him to shift closer. I roughly pushed the sleeve of his shirt to reveal more of his pale ivory skin. I then traced his tattoo and I braced myself and offered my right hand to him. I heard his intake of breath and opened my eyes to see the slightest rose leave his freckled cheeks. He gently held my hand close to him, gently because his hands were so much bigger than mine, his fingers too and they looked strong. He seemed to forget why I had outstretched my hand in the first place. Why? Then he was raptly studying my tattoo – the female version of his. He traced it gently with his right forefinger. He shivered when he had completed tracing the peculiar circuit four times around and when his marvelous blue eyes looked into my own something within me changed and my eyes widened because I did not know what.
**
I closed my eyes and wished for a force to take me back – if only I had another chance. Instead, I followed my memory, regretfully, shamefully.
***
I leaned forward because I suddenly knew that we had something in common that few did and I needed to be consoled against that fact that I was a freak. I tilted my head to the side and question with my eyes. Her eyes were confused and glistened. I tried to soothe her.
“I will not harm you in any way that is harm to me. Trust me.” I used my most soothing and hypnotic voice. I leaned even closer and lidded my eyes, seeing only through my eyelashes. Her head seem to tilt automatically in response but instead of leaning closer she stayed in her rigid sitting position. I dropped her hand and used both my hands to support her neck and chin. She shivered and her eyes seemed to close but she needed to be more relaxed. I allowed my breath to fan across her face. She swallowed hard, fighting against herself, I wondered. I leaned even farther in and then I had exactly half a second to react to her hand moving. I wasn’t fast enough – almost all my guards were down. Her blade went through my neck. The heat of the light blue color of my eyes burned though my skull – never had I been brought down so horribly in my life – especially for anything I had not done! Then their color changed to deep red and the anger that had been simmering on a backburner in my mind leapt into all-out rage – my temper burst. Fear tightened her eyes momentarily, then the frozen look that comes with the color on the tattoo, then came remorse. Still, simple remorse in those lovely brown eyes was not enough to sate the emotionless rage that came with Training and burned within me. My right hand cupped her throat with immeasurable force while my left poked a pressure point in the back of her neck. Her head tilted backwards awkwardly and her hands dropped to her sides – the rest of my hand pressed her shoulder blades down. Her eyes shut closed – she knew she was beaten. I dug my finger into the pressure point again sharply to emphasize it and then released her, standing up and stepping back. After I had adjusted my footing, I created an air-tight orb around me by hardening the air around me. She blinked and created a sheet of nothing around my orb. I felt her blink as her trick failed to cancel out mine. I grinned and sent the action over to her. I heard her utter a sound of shock. Then I heard her yell:
“You have bested me! Please stop this! I accept defeat at your hand! Just stop, please!”
I smiled coldly and extended a few tendrils of air to gently push soft air at the backs of her knees. She knelt in front of me. My smile widened but fell as a tear escaped her left eye. The fire left my eyes and they turned to dark gray: what had I become?
***
He let me go. He let me go. He let me go. I kept chanting it in my mind. He let me go. After I knew that he had let me go, I pondered why. During the Training, trainees were told to kill those that angered them, and kill them without mercy, respect or anything a person with dignity should deserve and not feel remorse after the act. I shivered: why had he let me go?
***
Orange burned deep in my eyes as I stared at her crouching figure on the grass in front of me. I let the air smoothen-out so she could see my eyes. She shuddered as her eyes met mine. It was then that I remembered that her tattoo bore the colors of level seven. She knew the code of a Trainee. It was my turn to shiver. But instead of killing myself for breaking the code, I braced myself and began to speak.
***
The air-orb surrounding him shivered and seemed to stretch until I could clearly make out every feature. His eyes turned to a deep orange that scared me – no respectable Trainee should feel such remorse – and I shuddered visibly. He seemed to remember something and then he shivered. But what confused me the most was that he braced himself and opened his mouth. Although the air-orb was perfectly clear, it gleamed with an orange under-tint, and, apparently was not soundproof because I could hear his silky voice perfectly. Although I was confused on one point: his mouth was open but his lips didn’t move.
“We will tell no one of this incident. We will take long routes to the Training Compound so we can give our wounds time to heal completely.”
I blinked. What was he saying? He wasn’t going to kill me? Or perhaps he was going to turn me in, or perhaps he was going to kill me, he just didn’t want to go through the trouble of moving my body, or maybe, or perhaps. No. I stop myself. I looked up, straight into his eyes and said one of the truest things I had ever said. [Not that I knew that it was until later, of course (or would ever say)].
“I trust you.”
He nodded once, curtly. “Lets go.”
We went.
**
I stared at my reflection, seeing the subtle signs of the ravages of time. So long a time to live without the person you loved. Too long without even a glimpse.