Chapter twenty one

"Nishi's leaving again..." Ja'far commented, watching the magi from a balcony in the palace. "Do you plan to do anything about this, Sin?" He turned and walked inside to where Sinbad was sitting at a desk.

"Not yet. But I do plan on figuring out where she's going." Sinbad spoke.

"How are you going to do that?"

"I'm not sure yet..." Sinbad thought. Nishi's not stupid, she'll notice if we try anything...

~

"Hey! What the hell?!" Judar jumped in surprise as Nishi came up behind him and wrapped her arms around his stomach.

"Hi!" Nishi laughed, quickly kissing him on the cheek before backing off. "You wanted to see me?"

"What's got you in such a good mood?" Judar grumbled, sounding slightly annoyed.

Nishi sighed dramatically, "Gosh, you don't like me when I'm sad, you don't like me when I'm happy, what do you want?" She messed his hair up with one hand.

"Stop it." Judar hit her hand away.

Nishi stuck her tongue out at Judar before returning to normal and asking, "So, what do you have planned for today?"

Judar shrugged, "I dunno."

"That's it? 'I dunno'?" Nishi frowned. "Why'd you send a letter then?"

"We haven't talked in a while."

"We met a few days ago," Nishi chuckled. "Aw, did you miss me?" She smirked and circled Judar.

"Shut the hell up." Judar crossed his arms. "Why the hell would I miss someone as annoying as you?"

Nishi continued smiling. She always found it amusing that Judar had a hard time showing his feelings. He'd say rude things, but she saw it as a feeble attempt at avoiding the topic. It almost reminded her of how Kana acted towards Rin. She found it a bit weird though, he didn't always act like he didn't care, sometimes he'd act like when she'd first confessed to him in Kou: rather open and flirty about it.

"Come on, let's go do something!" Nishi grabbed Judar's hand and used gravity magic to fly up, forcing him to do the same.

"Where do you plan on going?" It wasn't easy finding a place outside of the Kou empire and that wasn't part of the Seven Seas Alliance.

"Hmm...I've got a place in mind..."

~

"Fun fact, this is the country Yunan found me in as a baby." Nishi pointed out as her and Judar walked around a well-established country.

"Hmm. I'm surprised Kou hasn't gotten to it yet." Judar looked around. It was like any other country, it had decent citizens, although there were some slaves around. Small shops lined the streets, and people happily shopped and talked to others.

"Yeah. But, come on, there's some shops around that sell amazing food!" Nishi tried to drag him along with her.

"Do you have gold? Kou's Huang won't work here." Judar asked.

"Huang...? Oh, that's Kou's paper money, right?" Nishi checked her pockets for gold, "Of course I have-..." Her hand returned empty. "Uhm..."

Judar sighed, "Of course you don't have money...Idiot."

"Heh... " Nishi laughed awkwardly. She regretted not eating before leaving Sindria as her stomach began to growl. "Now what?"

"We could just steal something," Judar suggested. "C'mon."

"Steal?" Nishi gasped as Judar grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a small alley.

"Shh." Judar quieted her. He nodded his head to a small food cart right beside them.

Nishi raised an eyebrow as she watched the male magi quickly grab a peach off the cart before returning to their hiding place. She peeked around the corner and grabbed one herself, holding in a chuckle when the shopkeeper noticed the missing fruit and began to look around confused. She wasn't one for stealing, really, but she mentally promised to pay the poor man back. They continued to steal food from the man, but by now it wasn't that they were taking the food to eat, they were just doing it to mess with the older man.

"Hey, you!"

"Shit." Judar froze mid-grabbing more food from the man's cart. "Nishi, time to go!" He hissed and grabbed her hand.

Nishi laughed as they ran from the angry man. Judar paused and threw a peach core at the shopkeeper and a few other people who had gathered -trying to stop them as well- before continuing to run.

"Judar! Don't you think we caused enough damage already?!" Nishi scolded him, although she continued to laugh.

"Hey, in here!" Judar led her into a nearby inn.

"We don't have money, remember?" Nishi reminded.

"That's why I grabbed this," Judar smirked, pulling out a handful of gold coins. He placed them on the inn's reception desk, where a worker thanked him and told them their room number.

"You stole that guy's money?!" Nishi exclaimed.

"Yeah, shut up about it, loudmouth."

The blonde magi chuckled and shook her head, "You're such a dick." Judar chuckled too and continued to smirk. Once they got to the hotel room, they relaxed some.

Nishi walked to the window and looked out, sighing thankfully when no one was there. "That was close..."

"Eh, not really. That fatass didn't even chase us this far." Judar said over her shoulder.

"Do you have to call everyone names?" Nishi frowned.

"Yeah, why not? Idiot." Judar shrugged and teased her. He walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her stomach.

"You're the idiot." Nishi retorted, looking over her shoulder at him.

"How am I the idiot? At least I'm not Sindria's magi." Judar frowned at her.

"What's wrong with Sindria? And didn't you say you wanted to be Sindria's magi anyway?"

"Pfft. That was a while ago. I'd rather kill that stupid king."

"Whatever," Nishi rolled her eyes and turned around to face Judar, his hands now on her hips. They stayed silent like that for a few moments before Nishi grew uncomfortable, "Why are you looking at me like that?" She frowned at the black haired magi that continued to stare at her.

"No reason, really. You're cute when you're annoyed." Judar smirked.

Nishi blushed at first, then frowned again, "Seriously?"

"Yeah," Judar nodded and leaned down, kissing her jaw before moving to do the same to her neck.

"J-Judar!" Nishi blushed. "W-Wait a minute! We should be getting back soon!"

"Eh? They can wait." Judar murmured, continuing to kiss her.

"J-Judar!" Nishi laughed a little. "Why all of a sudden?!"

"We paid for the room, might as well not waste it."

Nishi blushed even darker than before, "Well, technically that old man paid for it."

Judar chuckled against her skin, making Nishi shiver. "Well?" He paused and looked up at her.

"Okay..." Nishi agreed, clearly nervous. She forced every bad thought from her mind, every worry and every doubt that would prevent her from continuing with this. She knew it was crazy, but she did love him, and she hoped he really did feel the same, but she couldn't help but remember her past. Judar laid her on the bed and began taking off her top, but she quickly covered herself once he did.

"Hmm? Don't you trust me?" Judar hovered over her, watching her with curiosity.

"Of course I don't." Nishi said flatly, before her voice softened and she continued, her eyes avoiding his, "But I do love you... So- okay... I've just never done this...consensually."

"Oh, yeah. Well, I'm better than those dicks." Judar smiled evilly and kissed her.

Nishi slowly relaxed and cleared her mind, allowing herself to live in the moment. She was scared, but she really wanted to trust Judar. Besides the fact that they were dating, she knew Judar wouldn't stoop low enough to do something like that.

There was always something in the back of her mind nagging her that Judar was going to do something, or that he was manipulating her to use her for something. But being with Judar like this, both of them completely exposed to each other, she felt like the voice in her head was just how everyone else saw Judar.

They only saw the cruel, dark, side of him. The part of him that was manipulative and sadistic, who killed people fun and didn't care about anyone besides himself. Nishi saw his other side though. It wasn't like he had a completely different personality, he was still Judar, but towards Nishi he could be nice and caring, although him being really nice was rare. He had a hard time showing it, but Nishi knew what he meant.

Then there was the reason Nishi loved Judar that she'd thought about multiple times. Kana. Nishi felt like she was never able to save herself, and that she never will, but at times like this, Nishi felt like she had come to terms with her first life, and that there was some way she could live with herself. Sadly, the feeling never lasted long, but Nishi savored it whenever she could.

~

Judar looked down at the blonde magi sleeping against his chest. Her hair wasn't in it's normal braid and instead was sprawled out behind her. He watched her with an unreadable expression. He was conflicted. Judar liked Nishi -maybe even love, he wasn't sure- but he knew Al-Thamen had plans for her.

He knew this wasn't why he was supposed to befriend her. Judar didn't know the real reason, but he knew he shouldn't be this close. He was sure it would come back to bite him sometime in the future, but he honestly didn't care.

"Ne, Judar..."

Judar narrowed his eyes slightly as Nishi mumbled to him. Wasn't she asleep? "Yeah?"

"I love you."

He sighed and smiled a little, "I love you, too."

~