Little Red Cinderella and the Three Beanstalks

Ezu. Was. Kissing. Me.

Ezu was kissing me, and I could do nothing but stand there dumbfounded and let him do it.
After a few stunned moments, the whirlwind of confusion, embarrassment, and pleased surprise gave way to a tidal wave of anger.
How dare he?
How dare he kiss me like this, right in front of Jack and the Prince, just to save face? Sure, maybe he saw nothing wrong with throwing himself at every girl that passed if it suited his needs, but I had a little more dignity than that- besides, he'd already stolen my first kiss, and like hell was I letting him take all the rest.
After a brief battle during which I tried to remember how exactly to work my limbs, I raised my hand, to slap Ezu across the face. But before I could let it fly, his own hand had shot up and grabbed my wrist, gripping it so tightly I almost cried out. His other arm wrapped around my waist, and pulled me into his chest. His eyes fluttered closed, and suddenly, I was aware that this was a very, very different kiss.
I didn't know what to do. My heart was pounding too loudly in my ears to leave any room to think. Wide eyed, I glanced over Ezu's shoulder at a very stunned looking Jack, silently begging for help.
He understood almost immediately.
The next thing I knew, he had bounded over and yanked my out of Ezu's grasp, leaving us both rather breathless and Ezu very puzzled as to where I had gone.
Jack helped him figure it out by striking Ezu across the face, open handed.
"How dare you!" He cried. "I thought you loved me!"

(Author's note: I left this line, but took out the reference to Jack being dressed in women's clothing. Nothing wrong with being gay, a lot wrong with making a joke of cross dressing.)

Ezu gaped, looking very much like the kiss had left him completely out of sorts.
"Wah- oh. Ooh!" He rubbed his jaw, grimacing. "Oh right." He still sounded distracted, and when I glanced at the Prince, I noticed his baby-blue eyes narrowing in suspicion.
I tried to gather myself, and ignore the fact that I could still feel Ezu's phantom lips on my own.
"Eh, excuse me, sir," I curtsied deeply at the Prince. "You don't terribly mind if we take this little... dispute outside, do you? We'd hate to make a mess in the halls." I curtsied again, extra low. The Prince pouted, his eyes still locked on Ezu- who, mind you, seemed to have finally realized Jack had slapped him and was rolling up his own sleeve to retaliate in kind.
"Oh, I suppose." He finally said, blowing out his cheeks. "If I'm not going to get any joy, I don't see the point in staying. You're going the wrong way, though. That was it the way out." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder, and turned to go.
"Wait!" I called suddenly, thinking of something. Something that wasn't Ezu, even though I was having a very difficult time getting him out of my head. The Prince paused and turned to look at me sternly. "Uh, sir," I amended quickly.
"What?" He said.
"You know, girls like it a lot more when you don't fool around all the time." I advised, probably not as subtly as I could have- though I doubted the Prince would be terribly perceptive to subtlety. "And you can't always judge a book by it's cover. Keep your eye out for that pretty girl from the ball- she may not be what she seems, but that isn't a bad thing."
The Prince gaped at me, surprise and confusion mixing in his eyes.
"What do you- how do you know about her?" He asked, but I was already hastening over to where Jack and Ezu were idiotically posturing up to each other.
"Come on," I hissed, grabbing the boys by their collars. Well, grabbing Jack by his collar anyways. I was still a little afraid to touch Ezu. We dashed down the hall, before the Prince could stop us again- only pausing to double back in mild embarrassment and grab our laundry baskets, which also happened to be hiding our backpacks, swords (which you would think would have been confiscated- go figure), and of course, the Book.

~\*/~

"Rikki, slow down! You're going too fast!" Jack called after me. I ignored him.
"Rikki, hold up, come here," Ezu added, his voice hoarse. I sped up. "Oh for God's Sake, I need to talk to you! Slow down!"
"We can talk later." Came my reply, and I was all too aware that it sounded a lot more like, "I don't want to talk to you". I didn't trust myself to speak, or even think, for fear of what I'd realize.
"Rikki, if this is about that kiss-"
Oh god, he wasn't going to let this drop, was he? Fine then. I halted abruptly, and spun on my heel, fixing Ezu with a look that made him cower.
"About the... about that? You think? God, why do you keep DOING this?!" I nearly tore my hair out with frustration.
"Doing what?" Ezu asked, looking honestly nonplussed.
"This!" I waved my arms around in the air emphatically. "One minute you tell me you can't love anyone, the next I find out you've practically got your own harem! You go around telling me how much of a pain I am and how you could never like me like that, and then next you're kissing me!"
"What- are you, are you upset?" Ezu's eyebrows shot up, surprised.
"Oh, congratulations, Captain Obvious!" I lied. I wasn't really angry, but anger was a far easier emotion to deal with than whatever was churning inside my turbulent heart right then.
"Why?" He asked, uncharacteristically coolly.
"Why? Why do you think?" I stomped my feet childishly, painfully aware that the more frustrated I became, the less Ezu seemed to react.
"...Do you want me to like you like that?" He said, bluntly, making me gape.
"What? No!" My reply came almost too fast, but he didn't seem to notice.
"Then why are you upset?" He pressed in a no-nonsense tone, crossing his arms over his silly stuffed chest.
"I-I... because... I..." I babbled, trying to find a reason that would convince me as much as it would him.
"You think I know what's going on? I'm still confused from that incident with Danielle! I'm just going with the flow here, Rikki." Ezu's calm mask suddenly broke, and annoyance washed over his features.
"But that kiss-" I began lamely.
"I'm not going to tell you about that kiss." Ezu's tone was final, and so sharp it made me take a step back. "It was just to get the Prince off my back." But as he said it, I heard him falter, just slightly,. If I hadn't spent every waking moment for the past three weeks with the guy, I never would have caught it.
"You're lying." I said flatly. This time it was my turn to be the accuser.
"So?" Ezu snapped, glaring at me.
"So tell me the truth." I demanded.
"Do you really want to hear it?"
I wasn't expecting him to say that, and it shook me.
Did I want to know the truth?
Well, of course. But did I want to repercussions it would bring? I mean, I couldn't even admit to myself what my feelings really were for Ezu, because I was afraid if I thought too hard about it, something would change. I was afraid to think about that kiss, because if I did, I might realize I liked it. And I didn't know if I could handle that. Not when I didn't belong here. Not when I had to go back home.
"...No." I finally said, tearing my eyes from Ezu's and staring at the floor.
We fell silent. We'd been working up to a good fight, but our hearts weren't really in it. Neither of us were angry, and we were both too stubborn to admit what we both had felt.
"This keeps getting too complicated." Ezu spoke up after a moment. "If we're ever going to get anything done, we need to stop letting stuff like this slow us down."
"Then what do we do?"
"We forget anything ever happened. At least until we get all this under control. We're gonna keep going, and not look back. From here on out, what happens happens, no regrets. Okay?"
"Okay."
And with that, we once again resolved to continue our stubborn charade. But life, as usual, had other plans for us. It didn't even bother to wait until we'd actually managed to get out of town before setting them into motion.

~\*/~

"What?!" Several people passing by the Fortune Teller's stall paused in surprise at my outraged cry. Inside the little tent, Jack was politely but firmly holding me back from all but leaping on the little old gypsy and ripping her toothless, grinning head off.

Perhaps I should explain what happened in between this scene, and where we previously left off.

Long story short, with very few more problems, the three of us managed to finally stumble outside into the courtyard of the castle. After Jack and Ezu joyfully tore off their costumes, and with some clever espionage and a few cool dodge-rolls, we managed to slip out of the castle gates and back into the dusty, crowded streets.
The first thing we did was dash into the nearest form of shelter, to get a breather and decided what our next move should be.
The nearest form of shelter, as it turned out, happened to be a makeshift fortune teller's stall, which had been hastily set up on the side of the road. Before we could make good our escape, the fortune teller lady herself had ensnared us in her clever marketing techniques, and much to Jack and Ezu's dismay, I'd agreed to let her tell me my fortune for a small fee.
This was probably a bad idea in hindsight, and I should have suspected that I wouldn't be so lucky as to get some generic fortune like, "You'll live a long and happy life after overcoming various hardships blah blah blah". No, it had to be a real fortune teller, and a real fortune, and my all too real future being lovingly described in the Gypsy's reedy, high pitched voice.
"My dear," She had wheezed, gazing intently at my palm with her watery, gummy eyes. "What a fate you have! You are in for many an adventure, my child!"
"Tell me about it," I muttered, rolling my eyes.
"It says here," She had pointed to a seemingly random point on my hand, "That you will meet many people- some friends, some foes." Her cold, bony fingers traced the lines in my palms, making my squirm as it tickled. Generic so far. "I see two of those people standing out particularly- their fates are intertwined with yours." Her eyes flicked up, and twinkled at Jack and Ezu, who stood awkwardly behind me. "You have met them already perhaps?"
"Perhaps." I replied, noncommittally.
"And here, you have met the miller's daughter, then?" She asked, peering narrow-eyed at me. I blinked in surprise.
"How did you know that?" I had asked, thunderstruck. The woman grinned at me.
"It's written here," She tapped my hand with her long fingernail. "And there's more, too. She isn't the only princess your path will cross. A girl of glass, under a midnight moon as round as a pumpkin. A tower of cornsilk hair, with a prince, blinded by love. Kissed by roses and blushed by snow, a lady surrounded by seven knights. A princess trapped in an endless dream, a rose, surrounded by poison thorns. Four princesses, four happily-ever-afters gone wrong. Lady, their unhappiness is on your head. You've rewritten the tales; now you must set them back on their paths before the ripples of discord you have created reach the Witch. If her sorcery is returned to her, then all the land will fall to her dark shadow."

And so, we come to the moment when my outraged scream made several innocent passer's by pause in alarm.

"No, no!" I struggled against Ezu and Jack's restraints. "We just saved one princess! I'm not rescuing four more! Isn't that a Prince's job?"
The Fortune Teller just laughed wheezingly at me.
"Who is this witch person? What do you mean, 'the land will fall to her shadow' or whatever?! Stop laughing! Take it back, right now! Take it back!"
"Rikki, calm down!" Jack implored. I threw the boys off of me and slammed my palms down on the rickety table that separated me from the gypsy.
"Tell me what you mean, or I'll do something only you'll regret, old woman," I threatened, snarling at her. She sneered back, and spoke between mad cackles.
"You and your Knights have seven sun rises to fix what you have broken. Find the Princesses- weave them their stories. Find the Witch of the Roses- the Blood Sorceress, the Fairest of Them All. A powerful queen she once was- a crippled hag she now is. If, in seven days you do not save the damsels, their youth and beauty will fall victim to the Witch's greedy hunger, and she will rise again. Seven sun rises, child! Seven sun rises!"

Her shrieking cries followed us, even after Jack and Ezu dragged me from the tent and down the street, ignoring the villager's pointed stares.
"Rikki, relax, would you!" Ezu forced through grit teeth as the three of us slipped into the shadows of a building that hid us from the street's view.
"Relax? Relax?" I growled, though in a slightly more controlled tone. "Did you hear the old nutcase? There are still four more princesses to track down and save, and an evil witch thing to fight, and we only have a week!" I took out a clump of hair in my fist. Jack grabbed my wrists and pried my fingers open, letting my hair fall to the ground in a sad heap.
"You'll go bald if you keep pulling your hair like that," He chastised gently.
"Oh come on," Ezu tried to look disdainful. "Like you said, she was just some nut job. She probably tells that to everyone who she sees."
I fixed him with The Look.
"Now do you really believe that?" I snapped. Ezu grit his teeth, but didn't look me in the eye.
"...All right. Maybe that was genuine. Maybe. Possibly. A little." He groaned and rubbed his forehead with his palm, as if trying to fend off a headache. "Princesses, eh? God, I hate Princesses."
"How come?" Jack asked.
"Princesses mean Princes." He growled. "And Knights." He added sourly.
"Did the Fortune Teller call us Knights?" Jack pointed out, glancing at me. I snorted.
"Ha. You two, Knights."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ezu said indignantly.
"Knights are supposed to get a lady out of trouble. We just keep going from bad to worse." I replied shortly.
"So then," Jack said with a grimace. "We've been given a Quest. Are we going to take it?"
"Of course." I replied unhappily. "We don't really have a choice, do we? Not unless we're willing to sacrifice the whole world or whatever."
"I'm willing to do just that, thank you very much." Ezu frowned.
"Too late," I retorted, "It's my Quest, and I accepted it, so we're doing it."
"Why we?" Ezu demanded.
"Because I can't do it without you guys." That shut him up. I pulled my backpack off my back and began rummaging through it, until I pulled out the source of all my troubles- the Book.
"Why are you bringing that out?" Ezu asked warily, eying the Book with mistrust.
"It's got all the answers." I replied. "Do either of you have a pencil or something?" Jack managed to produce one from somewhere, and I flipped to the very back of the ancient storybook, where there were a few blank pages left. "Okay, now what was it that woman said? 'A girl of glass'... midnight... something about a pumpkin?" I chewed on the end of the pencil.
"'A girl of glass, under a midnight moon as round as a pumpkin'." Jack quoted, verbatim. I glanced up appreciatively at him.
"Great. Do you remember the rest?" I asked hopefully. He nodded and grinned at me.
"Of course. I've got my talents too, you know."
"Wonderful." I scrawled the sentence down on the top of the page. "Do you think it's the moon that is round as a pumpkin, or the girl?"
"Let's assume it's the moon, for sake of our own frail imaginations." Ezu winced. "What were the others?"
"'A tower of cornsilk hair, with a prince, blinded by love. Kissed by roses and blushed by snow, a lady surrounded by seven knights. A princess trapped in an endless dream, a rose, surrounded by poison thorns.'," Jack recited smoothly. I scribbled them all down, and sat back to give them a long, hard look over.
"Pumpkins and glass; cornsilk hair and blinded princes; roses, snow, and seven knights; endless dreams and thorns." I muttered under my breath, thinking hard. "They're all fairy tales, right?"
Pumpkins.
"Cinderella-"
Cornsilk hair.
"Rapunzel-"
Seven Knights.
"Snow White-"
Endless dreams.
"Sleeping Beauty."
"And a witch." Ezu said.