I am back! *sounds of disappointment ring throughout the audience* Thank you . . . *glairs at audience* anyhow, I am pleased to say that I’m hot on the trail of Umi! Hot on her trail in . . . . Hawaii!

“Umm, Peach-san?”

“Yes, Fuu?”

“Didn’t you tell me earlier that the clues you collected lead you to believe that Umi was in a meat freezer in an American restaurant in Hong Kong?”

“ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . but isn’t Hawaii great!?”

Fuu sighs and turns to the audience.

“Well, I guess I’m doing the introductions. Welcome to the next chapter of The Only Battle Worth Fighting ’, this story is rated PG-13. Rayearth doesn ’t belong to Peach-san, but the plot of this story is hers, so please, don’t copy! And I’m happy to say that there are spoilers, which means this story is moving on! The other Knights and I were thinking we would never get out of the first season, but wow, it actually happened! I think that’s it . . . so enjoy the story while Ferio, Hikaru, and myself go and search for Umi. Thank you and goodnight.”

You heard Fuu. This is . . .

RATED PG-13

And is . . .

CHAPTER 5

All-right-y now, let the story commence!

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Fuu was shocked into silence by his question. Ferio was asking her to . . . be his? To live with him? To spend the rest of their lives, together, as a couple? She was shocked at how readily she wanted to say yes, it was a feeling that had bubbled up inside of her and enclosed on her heart and fogged up her brain. Fuu felt her heart speed up and her breathing become hastened. She smiled up at Ferio, her eyes softening and a large grin taking its rightful place on her lips.

“Ferio . . .,” Fuu murmured.

~*~*~

Ferio hadn’t ever been so nervous in his life. He wanted to know her answer, he couldn’t read it off of her face, the only thing he could she there was shock and confusion and that cute little twitchy nose she got when Fuu thought very hard about something. At least she was thinking about it. He didn’t know what to do, so he just sat there, giving Fuu her space and time to think about his offer. But, what if she said no? Fuu was his soul mate; if she left him he would never be complete. There would be a hole in his heart that nothing would be able to fill. Just today when she was gone, not even for an hour mind you, he was desperate for her. Ferio needed to see her, to see her laugh, to see her smile, dear Pillar her smile, there wasn’t anything to match the way her smile made him feel. His legs go to mush and his heart speeds up, his voice catches and he can’t speak, no matter how hard he tries to say something, it won’t come out, or he studders like an idiot. Fuu gently calling his name snapped Ferio out of his revere.

“Ferio . . .”

He looked up to her giving Fuu a pleading look, begging her to stay with his eyes. Her smile grew as the time passed on.

“Yes,” Fuu said, letting tears of happiness spill down her cheeks.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes, Yes, YES! I want to be with you Ferio, more than anything else, the way I feel with you, and I’ve never felt like that before, ever! I love you so much, and I’m ever so honored that you want to share your life with me, I’ll do my best to make you happy, I promise. Just let me be with you . . .,” Fuu finished, bursting into tears and burying her face into his tunic and weeping.

“Fuu, love, why are you crying? I didn’t mean to make you cry, you know I hate it when you do, it makes my heart hurt. Now tell me what’s wrong,” Ferio, cooed gently, tying to comfort the sobbing girl.

“I, I just don’t deserve you, your so wonderful and I . . .,” She never had a chance to finish her sentence. Ferio grabbed her shoulder quickly and pulled her far enough away so he could stare into her eyes. One hand moving to her chin, holding it straight so Fuu couldn’t look away.

“Fuu. That isn’t true, in fact, that’s about as far from truth as you can get. Were soul mates Fuu. We belong together, forever. I don’t want to hear about this ‘Not deserving’ stuff anymore. When your mission is done, we shall be together. Leave the arrangements to me, I’ll set out to get things in order tonight, after I spend some more time with you okay? I won’t be able to contact you on your communicator though, mine’s busted, but I’ll come back in a week, is that alright,” Ferio asked Fuu, who had long since stopped crying.

“Yes, that should give us time to awaken the other two Mashin, then we would go rescue Emeraude.”

Ferio looked ecstatic. “You already have a Mashin?”

“Yes, It’s Umi’s. So I guess that means that Hikaru and I have our own as well.” “Guess so,” Ferio said laying down on the rock, and pulling Fuu down with him. Fuu snuggled op to him, placing her head on his chest, her ear right next to Ferio’s heart, listening to it beat.

‘It beats for me . . .,’ Fuu thought as she drifted off into a deep sleep.

~*~*~

Ferio woke up as the sun began to fall behind the hills, turning the sky a violent orange and red. He looked down at Fuu, her head was on his chest, rising and falling with his intake and outtake of breath. Her arm was draped carelessly over his abdomen, while her left leg decided to wind itself around his calf. No that he would have minded under normal circumstances, but he had to leave now, before it got to dark to see his way to a town. Ferio wanted to go while she was still asleep, he always hated saying goodbye to her, Fuu’s eyes would always glaze over with tears and he would feel horrible. Ferio slipped a cupped hand under Fuu’s head and gently lowered it onto the rock, all the while slowly untangling his legs from hers and using his other hand to scoop the rest of her off of him. Finally free from his warm and cute, but confining bonds, Ferio stood up and massaged out a creek in his neck and popped out his back.

Ferio looked back at Fuu, he didn’t want to leave her there, but didn’ t want to wake her up, she was so cute when she was asleep! Besides, It’s dangerous for a girl as cute as Fuu to be out alone at night. Ferio smiled and leaned over Fuu, sliding his arms under her shoulders and knees, lifting her up to his chest and letting her head loll off onto his shoulder. He bent his legs and slowly dropped so he was sitting on the boulder, all the while slowly sliding off. Finally his feet touched the ground and Ferio let out a sigh of relief. Taking a moment to recognize his location he headed north, and back to the Knight’s camp.

~*~*~

“Was too.”

“Was not.”

“Was too.”

“Was not.”

“Was too.”

“I have said this once, and I will say it again. Was NOT!!!,” Umi bellowed, but brave little Hikaru stood her ground, never removing her hand from the pile of cards it was on top of, not to mention next to Umi’s hand as well, that pile of cards is how this whole thing started, as a matter of fact. Umi, being Umi, was bored, and naturally, whining about it. And Mokona, being Mokona, decided it was a good idea to appease her, for the good of Hikaru and it’s self, of coarse. Hikaru and Umi stood fascinated as the jewel on Mokona’s head glowed a bright red. Now, having witnessed the even before, Umi just passed it off as Mokona giving her and Hikaru dinner. Much to her shock, and happiness, what was to appear before her was a stack of games piled three feet high at the very least! A Goh board, Twister, Checkers, Chess, Othello, Clue, Make a Scene, Boggle, Uno, Jenga, Dominos, and nearly every game Umi had played growing up. But five hours later and with Fuu still gone and nothing better to do and the Goh board snapped in two, the Twister mat ripped in two, the Checker and Chess pieces had large holes in them which looked remarkably like bite marks, the Othello disks had been long since flung to the ceiling, with peanut butter working remarkably well as an adhesive, the Suspect cards from Clue now all bear large, black eyebrows, moustaches, and beards. The timer from Make a Scene had long since been destroyed with a slash from Umi’s rapier, ‘The buzzing,’ she said ‘was giving her a headache’. The plastic cover on the Boggle game had been smashed open, the cubes on the coffee table were placed spelling out ‘Umi Rulez’ because of the lack of an ‘S’. Uno was renamed ‘Dos’ after all the cards were torn in two, the Jenga blocks were used to make an ingenious cage for Mokona, held together by Peanut Butter, the ‘Tastiest Glue Ever’. And Neither Umi nor Hikaru actually knew how to play the actual game Dominos, so they built one of those fun ‘stand up the pieces and then knock them over mazes’.

They then resorted to the last piece of entertainment the egg-house had to offer. A deck of cards.

“Know poker?”

“Nope.”

“Gypsy Rat Screw?”

“Nope.”

“Old Maid?”

“Nope.”

“Hearts?”

“Nope.”

“Go Fish?”

“Nope.”

“Then what games do you know how to play Hikaru?,” asked a very agitated Umi. Hikaru brightened and smiled over to Umi.

“Slap Jack!”

Which led to the heated argument about ‘Who Had Their Hand’s On The Card First’. This scene, broken games and all, was the scene Ferio walked into. Hikaru, forgetting all about Umi and hers’ argument, shushed Umi quietly and beckoned over to Ferio and Fuu’s direction.

“Fuu’s sleeping,” Hikaru whispered. Umi looked over and frowned.

“Where have you two been,” she whispered angrily to Ferio, who was now walking silently over too Fuu’s bed, turning down the covers and pulling off Fuu’s boots. He laid her down and spread the blankets back over her and lovingly brushed a stay curl back behind her ear, hearing a chorus of ‘Awwww . . .’ from the girls. Ferio turned back to them and explained.

“We were just talking, it got late, and she fell asleep. Simple as that. Now, what happened here?,” Ferio asked fanning his arms out to indicate the piles of junk and peanut butter that occupied the floor, walls, and ceiling.

“Umi happened,” Hikaru said.

“Ah, enough said. Now, if you ladies don’t mind, I must be going. Tell Fuu I said ‘Bye’, okay?”

“Yeah, we’ll tell he for you, later Ferio,” Hikaru said waving her bon voyage. Ferio looked back to Fuu, his eyes softening and a smile crossing his face. Gods, he loved her more than anything, it would hurt so much to be away from her, but soon, soon she would be his. What’s a week when they would have they would have forever to spend together? He smiled and blew a kiss to Fuu and stepped outside, closing the door behind him, a large grin plastered on his face. Forever.

That was the last time he ever saw her.

~*~*~

Ferio heaved a heavy sigh and ran a hand through his tousled hair. He sat up in his bed and stared out the window, looking at the lightening ridden sky. He just wanted to curl up and die, that would be kinder then this, living without her. Living without Fuu. He winced at the name. Every time he thought of it, thought of her, his heart would cry out for her. Every time it beat it called out to her, begging her to come back he needed her, he needed his very being back. Ferio didn’t even begin living before he met her, when he met her, everything was a hundred times better, now it all seemed pointless and dull compared to the time Ferio had spent with Fuu. Ambling over to his dresser Ferio pulled out change of clothes after stripping off his night things. He stepped silently out of the room and made his way to the kitchen, normally there were servants to fix him anything he could think up, but it was far to early in the morning for any of them to be on duty. Fumbling along the shelves he found the canister he was looking for and pulled it down, looking inside of it and finding what he was looking for. Ferio pulled out the pouch of tealeaves and replaced the container on the shelf. He pulled up a stool to the large wooden table in the middle of the room and waited for the teakettle to whistle.

Ferio remembered the feelings he felt when he went to go and get her. He searched around frantically for her, calling and calling and calling . . . he called for her so much he screamed his voice hoarse, but he didn’t stop searching until he heard it. A faint voice in his head that pleaded for him to forgive her. She had wanted to stay, and prayed with all her heart and soul she would be with him for forever, but she couldn’t and she was sorry. That was what the voice had said to him. Did she think he was angry with her? Ferio could never think anything of the sort about Fuu; he adored her too much to do such a thing. After hearing the apology Ferio sat down at the trunk of a tree and cried. He cried and cried until he didn’t have tears left to shed, after that he just let out a helpless and pathetic whimper, but that too subsided as he lost his voice began cracking, getting worst by the minute. It continued like that for who knows how long. Ferio just knew he had cried out all the tears her could make and sobbed until his voice wouldn’t come. That was how LaFarga found him. In a pitiful little heap mourning his lost love.

“Prince,” LaFarga had said “You are needed,” then he turned began to leave. Ferio hefted his sword onto his shoulder and followed. He knew about his heritage. Before Emeraude died her powers had faded, she had told him everything, even the fact that Fuu would leave soon. He begged to her and pleaded to he to let her stay, she had told him that there was nothing that she could do, when the battle was over, she would return with Hikaru and Umi to her world. Ferio refused to believe it and ran back as fast as he could to the place where they had agreed to meet, the lake where he stole her clothes and she pushed him in. He didn’t believe Fuu had returned to her world until he heard the voice inside of his head, Fuu’s voice, tell him so.

He and LaFarga reached the castle and servants crowded around him, taking his measurements, asking what he desired for dinner, and showing him to his quarters. They brought some clothes for him to sleep in when they brought him his dinner. Ferio changed and set about to eating the large meal they had prepared for him. His stomach rumbled mercilisly, but he could only bring himself to eat two bites. The Butler who was assisting him looked concerned.

“Is there anything wrong with the food, Your Highness?,” The Butler questioned. Ferio shook his head and leaned back onto the mountain of pillows behind him. The Butler smiled and nodded.

“Just tired? I can imagine. I’ll take absence now, Prince. I will leave the tray here, just in case, Sire. Is there anything in particular you would like for morning’s meal tomorrow?”

Ferio shook his head no.

“Alright then, I’ll have the chef prepare a bit of everything then, Your Highness. Good Night, Sire.” The Butler bowed deeply and stepped out of the room.

Ferio’s eyes shot open as the teakettle’s whistle became almost deafening. He quickly pulled it off the top of the wood stove and pored it over his strainer-enclosed tealeaves. He hadn’t spoken since the day Fuu left him, that was well over two months ago. People tried to get him to speak very actively at first, but as their attempts failed they slowly began to stop, which was fine with Ferio. People rarely noticed him or paid him any mind now and days, and he found himself alone more and more, melting away, hiding himself from others. Ascot was the only one he did things with, which was odd at first, mostly because Ascot had tried to kill him once, and the whole, ‘I was short, but now I’m tall’ thing was weird too. Ascot talked to him about everything, the weather, which was always bad, people’s hope and such, which was also bad. Ascot was normally a shy person who kept to himself, so Ferio just thought that he could let out his pent up feelings around someone who wouldn’t, and couldn’t judge him. I was nice having a friend, but her would rather have Fuu.

Fuu . . .

He put his teacup down with more force than he intended and watched as it shattered, jagged shards digging into his hand and blood running down to his wrist. Ferio stared at the blood dripping onto the counter with a morbid fascination, it was a nice feeling watching himself bleed. It let him know he was alive, which was a fact he was beginning to doubt, because he felt so dead on the inside. A loud clatter arose behind his followed by a gasp of terror.

“My goodness . . . Help! Someone, quickly! The Prince Needs medical attention!,” One servant called to another, the latter taking off down the hallway and returning a short time later with the castle’s healer. The Woman lifted his hand with hers and placed her other one on top of the bleeding mass, chanting a spell. Ferio watched as his cuts began to heal and the pieces of teacup sprang out of the surface of his skin, clattering onto the countertop.

‘Damn,’ He thought bitterly ‘Just when I was begging to fell alive again.’

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. . . . . . . . Well, that took a morbid turn toward the end, huh? Didn’t mean for that to happen, sorry, It just kinda’ came out that way, and this chapter is two and a half pages longer than intended, so I guess that makes up for it . . . write me, okay, wow, I’m kinda’ depressed after writing that . . .

confused@kg.hsanet.net

Until next time . . .

-Peach Goddess.