Hurrying Back (Hallows)

[kianne]

Kiki-anne had just left the village outside of Enthel Castle. After being completely worn out by the lessons she attempted to complete today, her father had sent her out to run the daily errands. She held two baskets full of sewing materials, fruit, wine, bread, and who knows what else. It was extremely heavy, especially for someone with her build. She stumbled here and there, almost falling over at one point from exhaustion. All the way home, she could feel like someone was following her through the dense woods. Perhaps it was just the creepy atmosphere. Even if she had lived here her whole life, the place still gave her the creeps. Her arms finally gave out, causing her to spill the basket's contents all over the forest floor. "Oh, great," she muttered, leaning down to brush off the produce and throw them all back in the baskets. Instead of attempting to lift them again, she removed her wand from her waist belt and was going to try to teleport the baskets back to her home.

Suddenly, there was a rustle in the willows that were near her. There was light snickering and the sound of metal. Suddenly, a group of teenaged boys leaped out from the foliage and surrounded her in an instant.
"Hey look, it's one of those magis." The boy nudged another. "Oh yeah, you mean the kind that's too lazy to do anything with their own two hands?" He smirked at a third boy. "Yeah. I also hear they steal from babies with their teleporty powers."

Kiki-anne backed away, only to bump into another boy. She let out a little shreik at the sight of a slab of a wooden plank with rusty nails sticking out of it. "Maybe we should teach her a lesson on self defense, without her precious magic, huh boys?" While she had her back turned, one of them grasped her wand and threw it off into the distance. She was too frozen with fear to go after it.

[{Kaiji}]

In a flash of light, just about everyone with their eyes open were blinded. There stood Dai. He had one hand on his staff and one pointed at the boy who had said magi did nothing with their hands. "Nothing you say?" He said with a playful grin. "I guess I'm too lazy to do this." His staff smashed against the boy's ribs, knocking him over. He noticed the wizard girl hadn't had her wand. His eyes caught movement when he arrived. "This girl's wand, appear!" He said in the magical tongue. The wand appeared in his free hand. He turned and held the wand out to her. With his other hand he clicked his staff on the ground and a small force field appeared around them. "I believe this is yours." He said with a smile.

[kianne]

Kiki-Anne watched in awe and admiration at the heroic and chivalrous antics of this wizard. The boys, who instantly seemed to recognize this mysterious savior, fled the scene in a matter of seconds. Her mouth moved up and down in almost a quivering motion, as if she was trying to force the words out. She gave up after a second and just took her wand, smiling awkwardly. "Th-thanks.. You really... saved... me..." she managed to say, getting quieter with every word. She reached down and fiddled with the baskets of items that she had managed to drop again without realizing it. She picked up the apples and examined them. Many of them were bruised. She bit her lip and touched her wand with it, her intent to remove the bruises.

What she held in her hand instead was a coconut. She looked at it quizzically, not knowing what went wrong. She glanced up sheepishly at the other wizard and laughed nervously. She always felt like a complete idiot when things like this happened.

[{Kaiji}]

"You're welcome. It wasn't a problem if you thought it was to me." Dai said. He watched as the girl changed the bruised apple into a coconut. He laughed a little. "Looks like you forgot a spell. I messed up a lot too before." He said with a smile. The top of his staff lowered to the ground and the thigns she dropped got back into the baskets she had them in. The bruised fruits and everything that wasn't good changed into their form of perfection. The baskets floated in the air around them. "I'll help you with these." He said with a grin.

[kianne]

Kiki's eyes grew wide with amazement at the ease with which he used his spells. He was a master, quite obviously. What it would be like to have him tutor her! It seemed like he had quite a calm and pleasant disposition, which would certainly be a change from her impatient father. As she smiled awkwardly at him again, not wanting to screw up whatever she said, she began to observe the floating basket. She was looking for whatever spell he used to accomplish the feat. She began muttering quietly to herself, listing the possibilities. Her brow furrowed in concentration. "Eh, I'm hopeless," she said, her shoulders slumping with discouragement.

[{Kaiji}]

Dai smiled back at her. "I suppose you're still learning. I'm only this good at my age because of my teacher, and my natural talent." He said with a little laugh. She was more than likely wondering why he had come to her rescue. "In case you were wondeing why I appeared, it was because I can't stand seeing people picking on a mage for being one." He said with a slight hint of the anger in his eyes. He looked over to her. "You aren't hopeless." He said to her with a bright smile. He grabbed the majority of baskets. "Now, let's prove those idiots wrong. I hope you can get the rest."

[kianne]

Kiki-anne scratched the back of her head and laughed lightly. "Heh.. Yeah.. Kinda.." Her eyes widened. He could sense when wizards were in trouble? He must be a guardian! She was bursting with excitement, but she had to contain herself. Spazzing out would get her nowhere. "W-wow, that's so... neat!" She grinned brightly. She had never met someone like him before. He was so powerful, so talented, so... cute! She began to feel her face reddening. Quickly she slapped her hand over as much of her face as possible. Hopefully he wouldn't notice. Laughing nervously, she took the rest of the baskets with one hand. "Heheheh... Sure.. Thanks.." She turned away from him so he wouldn't see her face. She hoped she wouldn't be as red as the apples in the bundle the whole walk home. He would be sure to notice.

[{Kaiji}]

Dai saw the motion of when the girl had put her hand over her face. He wondered what she was doing. He just put on a grin and walked beside her. "It's a good thing I can teleport. If not it would take days to get home." He said with a laugh. It was a serious statement though. Getting to the Gate from here would take a while. He didn't really have time to analyze the way she looked so he searched through his recent memory. she was actually quite the cute looking girl. 'This is really the first time I've found a girl cute!' He thought. He was carrying the baskets with the hand his staff was in so he grabbed it and used it to make sure the girl didn't see him turn slightly red while smiling a little.

[kianne]

Seeming as though the redness was beginning to leave her face, Kiki-anne halfly removed her hand to peer at him with curiousity. "So... you're like a guardian..?" It was a bit of a rhetorical question, since she had already figured it out. She bit her lip in excitement of bringing the guardian of wizards home with her. Maybe she wouldn't get a lecture if he was there with her! She smiled brightly then began talking quickly, almost as if she was thinking out loud. "Wow..! The guardian of wizards, in my house, with my family! I wonder what mother will say... I wonder what father will say! I bet he'll be soooo proud of me! Yes, I can imagine that he will be! Ohh, this is going to be so-" She cut off, realizing she had just been babbling away outloud. She clamped her lips shut immediately. She glanced at him and smiled. "Heheh.. Sorry about that.. I'm just really..excited.." She looked away shyly as they continued to walk towards her home. His face was almost concealed behind his staff. She hoped he didn't think she was some sort of freak, althought she kind of was.

[{Kaiji}]

Dai grinned when she said he was a Guardian. He also nodded after moving the staff from in between them. His ears caught all of her little rant. He just laughed lightly. "It's okay. Talking is normal for everyone. Plus, parents should be proud of their child no matter what. Unless they do something completely stupid." He said, looking at the ground in front of him the whole time. His eyes flipped their attention over to her just as she looked away.

[kianne]

Kiki-anne put her hand behind her head, laughing nervously. "Heh.. Yeah.. Stupid.. Right.." She looked around, trying to get off of the subject. She was fully aware that her father had a strong reason for not always being proud of her. She was a screw-up, that's for sure. Her magic was always extremely unpredictable, and her clutzy nature didn't help at all. She couldn't blame him if he didn't always congratulate her, or talk about her to neighbors and family friends. She tried to change the subject by getting him to talk about himself. "So, um, what's it like, being a Guardian this young? Must be tough, what with the whole 'nature falling apart' ordeal.."

[{Kaiji}]

Dai was probably the exact opposite of Kiki-anne. He really had only his teacher to impress and he was dead. He had died a few months before Dai's promotion to Guardian. His magic was actually still growing. As his teacher said, 'It grows with age.' Dai sighed and got a slightly distant look on his face as his memories flew in. The good times when he learned, the bad ones, and the worst of all; his teacher dying. The main reason he couldn't stand people picking on a mage. "Yeah, it is pretty tough. But I have to do what I can until the rest of the elemental Guardian spots are filled. Then I can really relax."

[kianne]

Kiki smiled sadly. "It's so strange. I would never expect anything like what happened to ever have happened. But then again, Axel is in power, so anything is possible." She laughed quietly. After walking together for a few minutes, they came to a clearing in the hallows. In the middle of the clearing lay a quaint, modest sized cottage with three other houses within a few yards of it. She skipped towards the house, bellowing out, "I'm back with stuff!" The front door was suddenly thrown open, and a middle-aged woman with unkempt long hair came running at full speed towards Kiki-anne with her arms spread open. "KIKII-!!!!!!!!!!!" She was suddenly tackled in a motherly hug, causing her to drop all of her things. She embraced her mother back as her mother kissed her cheek many times before finally releasing her. Her mother then turned to look at the boy standing behind her. She tilted her head to the side in curiousity. "And who is this?"
Kiki-anne grinned. "Dai, Guardian of Wizards. He saved me today."
Without another word, Kiki-anne's mother rushed forward and embraced Dai. "Oh, how chivalrous!" She pulled away after a moment and grinned brightly. "Well please, come, come! We shouldn't just stand out here all day!" Her mother gathered all of the baskets in her arms and skipped merrily off towards the house with Kiki-anne in tow.

[{Kaiji}]

Dai watched as a woman, probably the girl's mother. She asked the girl, Kiki, who he was. Before he knew what happened she had an over to him and embraced him. He nearly dropped the baskets he was carrying. "Well, thanks for the compliment. And okay. Coming." He said with a smile in return. He walked after them into the house.

[kianne]

Kiki and her overly excited mother waltzed merrily through the front door into a small sitting area with one loveseat and a beat-up rocking chair. Kiki's mother took her daughter's items as well as her own and continued on into the kitchen with no struggle at all. A moment later, an older man who looked thoroughly distraught and had lines of worry creased into his face emerged from a hidden alcove. His eyes widened at the sight of a teenaged boy standing in the middle of his home next to his daughter. He walked hurriedly towards Kiki, putting his arm on her shoulder protectively. "Renee!" he bellowed in the direction of the kitchen.
"Yeeees?" The answer came out in a sing-songy voice.
"What's going on here!?"
She poked her head through the threshold. "Oh, Kiki just made a new friend, is all!"
Kiki's father glanced worriedly at Dai, recognizing who this new "friend" happened to be. Shaking his head, he pulled her into the kitchen where Renee was unloading the basket of supplies. "'Explain?"
Kiki shrugged sheepishly. "He fended off some wizard haters, is all.."
With a look of loving worry, he embraced his daughter for a moment. "Just please don't make inviting strangers into our home a habit, okay?"
Kiki nodded and grinned happily. She skipped back out to where Dai was. "Papa's such a worrier," she said, giggling.