Mikleo 1

3.5

They have never been so close to catching Lunarre before. This might be the chance that they have been waiting for. Who would have known that the noble intention would be turned into such an erotic display of flesh, before soon being followed by his hand on her core. She has been so tempting, so enticing, that he was seconds away from contemplating to his l**t for her, right there and then. All consequences be damned. She is beautiful, laid out before him, that he almost forgot how annoying and rude she can be.

Almost.

But so close, another random thought push to his mind. Too bad. You missed your chance, and now—

“Thank you,” the shivering girl says in a whimper. Her state of undressed, combined with the way she looks at him — so helpless and fragile — pushes all kinds of warnings in his brain. He should leave, turns his back away and never looking back. But no matter what his brain tells him, his body refuses to move.

“T— It’s not a problem,” he clears his clog-down throat.

“C— can you move away? I can’t close my legs,” she comments, turning his attention.

“Oh, right.” He can not deny but admit that she looks cute this way, not yelling and acting all shy. The prominent blush on her cheeks makes her appear even more appealing than usual. It causes his chest to constrict, oxygent to stop pumping to his brain. He stares at how the girl slowly stands up, rubbing her knees together to cover her modesty — even if it is just a little bit. He has seen everything there is to see about her — well, most of them. He still has not see breasts yet. He has seen flashes, but not entirely—

He abruptly stops that train of thoughts of his. If this continues, he is not sure if he will be able to control himself.

“Do you need any help? Can you walk?” he offers his hand, trying to distract himself from his bodily reaction. He can only wish that she does not drop her gaze down, or else she will be in for more surprises.

“Yeah, I think I’m okay.” She brushes past him to head to the bathroom, testing her sprained leg a little bit on her way. Once Nayla closes the the door behind her, she finally releases the breath she has been holding in. She can not believe that it had happened! He had touched her! He cured her, but he had touched her! She thought that she was gonna die at any given time because of that! He was so close, his knees and hands were grazing her sides. She had no idea how much time had passed, but her heart was hammering like a thunder, running of its life. She has no freakin’ idea why she had let his hand stayed there for as long as it did. Was she expecting him to go any further? Was she actually enjoying that? Despite her jumbled emotions on the boy, she can not deny the fact that he had helped her.

Though, this makes her realize that it was not the first and only time he did. When they first met in the rooftop, he had already helped her. She would have been severely attacked, if it was not for him who decided to help her. He had also held her back when she unexpectedly turned into a hellion. And now, he had healed her when she was hurt, even though it was somewhat his fault. Who told him to come into a girl’s room unannounced, anyway? Now, come to think of it, why is he here in the first place?

Before she realizes it, she is already soaked in the bathtub, her fingers grazing against the same place he has touched her. The thought makes her blushes, and she tries to forget it. It was just an accident, she tells herself. She quickly dries herself and wraps a huge towel around her body. Her clothes are still outside. She opens the door, only to stare into a pair of lavender eyes, though his body is still half transparent.

“Why are you still here?” her tone changes back to being opposing, slightly more defensive because of her state of undressed.

“I need to talk to you,” he simply says.

“Can’t we do that after I clothe myself?”

“This will only take a second,” he curts, before adding at the last minute, “Besides, it’s nothing that I haven’t seen. You can even dress yourself in front of me, for all I care.”

“Well, I do care. And I do mind when you touch something that you shouldn’t.” She walks towards the wardrobe and browse through it for an appropriate outfit. “I don’t know how it is where you came from, but from where I’m from, things like this is f*******n. You can not keep touching and staring at me naked.” When she glances back at him, his eyes are wandering to her backside, before slowly settling to meet hers. Eyes up here! His expression is still as stoic as ever, though.

“Well, what do you want to talk about?” she asks.

“Eh, well,” he clears his throat again. He seems to be clearing his throat often lately. Did he catch a cold? “I just wanted to say . . . thank you.”

“Thank you?” she echoes back in confusion.

“For helping us with the plan. The murderer killed a lot of my villagers as well,” he explains.

“Oh, I’m sorry for your lost.” She blinks back despondently. The girl herself knows how bad it is to lose someone very precious to her. “Were they someone you knew?”

“We are close among ourselves. Our numbers was already condensed, but we lost a lot of our members that night. It was a dejecting experience.”

“I’m sorry. I know how it feels to lose people who are closed to you.” Her hand is touching the side of his face before they both know it. She is so close, still drenching with water so wet that he can even feel some of them dripping on him, soaking his clothes. But he does not care about that. She is standing too close to him, his nostrils is invaded by her scent again.

She smells of vanilla, sweet and delicate. At first he thinks that it is just the soap, but turns out that it is her scent. She is driving him crazy. Not just because of annoyance, but also something else he can not put a finger on. He can not explain why, but teasing her only excites him even more. What it is does he want from her? What does she want from him? She does feel the same thing he feels?

But then he does something unthinkable and take a step back.

“You should probably get dressed,” he mutters coldly.

“Yes, I probably should.”

He leaves the room, but the heat does not leave their eyes. They stay there, burning in silence, longing for satisfaction that will not be conquered.

. . . . .

They all have been so overwhelmed by the plan that by the time it is only halfway until the spring festival, they have become exhausted and stressed out beyond measure. They are in no condition to fight. Rose then comes up with an idea for a picnic at the vast field behind the castle. She thinks that it will be a nice change of pace and fresh air, so Alisha has the staffs prepare for some food for the squad to bring along.

The place they are heading for is quite far to be reached by foot, so they utilizes some horses from the royal stables. The horses can not see the seraphs, and they are easily freaked out from invisible presence, so the humans will carry them as passengers, while the rest will be pulled by charts.

Edna goes with Alisha by horse. Rose is responsible for controlling the charts, so Dezel and Zaveid sits in the passenger seats. That leaves Lailah with Sorey, while Mikleo ends up with Nayla. The brunette stiffens a little when she can feel his weight behind her as he settles on the horse. She can also feel how awkward his movements are, probably not sure where to put his hands on.

Mikleo would much prefer to ride in the chart, but it is too small to fit a fourth person. Or at least, that is according what Edna told him earlier. It is already too late to change his mind when he noticed that there are still at least three move empty spaces for more people to fit in. But of course, by the time the male seraphs realizes that he has been fooled, it is already too late to change the sitting arrangement, as they are reading to depart right then.

Cheers and whistles fill their entire journey as Edna can not help but tease the two non-stop.

“Hey, did you guys know? I was passing through the hallways a few days ago, when I heard sounds coming from Nayla’s room. You couldn’t believe what I heard. ‘Wait! Mikleo, stop!’,” the earth seraph tries to do her best to imitate the Nayla’s voice. “Seems like the two had been busy.”

A loud whistle comes from behind them. Zaveid, no doubt.

The rest joins in, laughing along with them.

“It’s not what you think it is!” Nayla shouts from the front of the line.

“I also heard all kinds of grunting sounds coming from inside the room,” Edna adds, which further makes the crowd grins like a bunch of cats. “Wonder what else they were up to.”

“Kinky!” Zaveid exclaims, most probably flashing his teeth from laughing so hard.

“Stop that, Edna. That is not true,” Mikleo denies. “You misunderstood. I was just helping her.”

“Oh, right. ‘Helping’,” the golden haired girl says cheekily with obtrusive air quotes, erupting another wave of laughter from the group. It is so embarrassing to the point that Sorey even throws an approval glance towards his best friend, which Mikleo reacts by slamming his forehead.

“We really didn’t do anything!” Nayla still insists.

“Then why were you guy so loud?”

“I was in pain. He healed me. That’s all, really!”

They eventually make a stop by a hill with a large tree, and start unpacking their picnic baskets. The royal cooks have prepared all kinds of delicious treats for them to enjoy. The food, plus the peaceful scenery — clear blue sky and vas green field — surrounding them makes everything tastes even ten times better than usual. They need this. It ceases the tension that is caused from all the work they have been putting through. They are so close, but now all they need before the big battle is to calm themselves.

“So Mikleo, I have been wondering,” Sorey begins as they eat. “Since when are you and Nayla have been together?”

The question causes two things to happen at the same time: Nayla bursting her orange juice out and Mikleo choking on his cupcake.

The rest are once again laughing at their expense.

“We are not!” the two says at the same time, which only manage to fuel more laughing stock for the group.

“They suit each other so much, they even talk in sync!” Edga exclaims in amusement, slapping at her tights from giggling so much.

They turn to each other and yell at the same time. “Stop copying me! No, you stop! That’s enough.” When it comes to buttheading each other with wits, Nayla and Mikleo are equal in strength. None of them seems to be giving up anytime soon, but their actions only amuse their friends even more.

“Eh, it’s not true?” Sorey asks in confusion, totally clueless of what is going on.

Nayla abruptly turns to the green eyed boy and shakes her head frantically. “That’s wrong. We’re not going out. At all. The notion of out name being put so close together is even nauseating enough.”

“You’re still single?” She can just imagine Zaveid lifting his head, face full of hope. “That means I still have a chance, right?”

“You might want to sit this one out, Zaveid,” comes Miklo's overbearing tone. “She is rudest, most prudish and big-mouthed midget human I have ever met. Even a flirt like you deserves better than her. Take this as an advice from one seraph to another seraph.”

Annoyed by his words, Nayla quickly bends over to pinch his tight, earning a groan from the water seraph.

“Ouch! What the heck?”

“What was that you were saying about me?” she questions with cold, dangerous tone.

Zaveid laughs at the display. “Nayla, I didn’t know that you can see us already. Whose squire are you, by the way?” At this notion, the rest seems to be paying attention to the girl in a more serious manner. They all seems to have quieted down, not laughing merrily anymore.

“Squire?” the girl raises an eyebrow.

“You are not familiar with the term?” Edna asks in surprise.

Nayla turns to the people she can see, searching for answers, but it is Lailah calm and collected voice that explains it to her. “A squire is is a human who acts as an assistant to the Shepherd. Though from what it appears to be, I don’t think you being able to hear or see us has something to do with this connection.”

“But if that is not the case, then how do we explain how she can make contact with us?” Rose asks, sounding inquisitive, her tone mixed with a slight hint of envy.

“It might have been something similar to Sorey. He is a human, but he was raised by seraphs only all his life,” Edna musters.

“That is an interesting theory, though it still does not support much of the facts. Nayla has only been with us for several days,” Zaveid counters, which seems to surprise the group even more with the way he responds, because they don’t exactly expect smart things to come out of his mouth. Their starring must be caught on by the man, because he then starts to throw offended looks at them. “What? I can be smart if I want to,” he huffs upsetly, earning a few chuckles.

Nayla joins in also, before speaking again. “And to answer your question, it is a negative. I can not see any of you yet, but I do see him a little bit, though he is still halfway transparent to my eyes.”

“Wow, really? That’s amazing. It is possible to see seraphs just by accustomed proximity?” Alisha enquires analytically.

“It could be, but there must be another trigger playing in the background,” Lailah adds.

“By the way, how come it is only Mikleo she already starts seeing? We pretty much spend time together with her as evenly. Wait a minute, didn’t Edna mention something about hearing your voice coming from her room. Don’t tell me—” Zaveid suddenly gives a horrified expression. “The children are not children anymore!” he explains, causing blush to appear on both Mikleo and Nayla’s faces.

“It’s not what you think. Nothing happened, really!” Nayla tries to defend herself, but her words make it sound like she is avoiding the accusation.

But more questions only roll out. “How many times have you guys done it?” Some even begin to whistle suggestively.

“You guys are impossible!” she shouts in frustration, before turning her gaze to Mikleo. “Say something. Your silence is only making this worst.”

“I beg to differ,” he curtly says.

“What is this? Lovers’ quarrel already?” Edna eggs on, grinning wickedly like witch. Mikleo zooms his eyes at her direction coldly, but still refuses to take the bait. There is no use speaking to these loons. They are already so bought of the idea of him and this silly girl being together, that they will refuse to hear anything else that contradicts it.

He can’t believe this.

When the hots of the supposedly “couple” have died down, they start to tell a little bit more about themselves to Nayla. It is discovered, the girl begins to learn some interesting facts about the squad members. Like how Sorey and Mikleo have been besties ever since they are born, or that Mikleo is his Sub Lord (no surprise there, considering their closeness). Lailah is a Prime Lord, which means that every contracts formed between a Shepherd and a Sub Lord has to be approved by one such as her degree of authority. Alisha is the farthest from inheriting the throne, which explain why she turns to dedicating her life as a knight instead. Rose’s merchant guild is called the Sparrowfeathers. The girl also happens to be afraid of ghosts. This explains the slight display of jealousy, since it took her much longer to be able to see the seraphs.

So far as she knows, Mikleo is Sorey’s Sub Lord, while Lailah is his Prime Lord. Alisha is only a Squire, usually acting as a support for the green eyed boy. Edna and Zaveid also act as Sub Lords to the boy, while Dezel is solely contracted to Rose. The two seems close, pretty close, especially with the way they seem to be whispering to each other — Nayla takes notice because she can tell they prefer to sit together, judging from the sound that comes next to the rosette.

They talk and laugh until daytime eventually turns to noon, before it gradually grows dark. It will be a long and tiring journey to get back to. While Alisha can not stick around for that long, Rose and Dezel admit that they do need to head back first. It has been a wonderful recreation, but now they have some business to take care of. Alisha is a princess and a knight, after all, and Rose has her merchant guild to manage pretty frequently. Nayla does not know what Dezel will be up to, but she thinks that it will be too rude to demand answers from someone she barely knows.

She dreams again by night, but she is not sure if it is a good or a bad one. It seems like nightmare and memories blend into one, confusing and scaring her. 

[ End of Book 1 ]