I slapped him out of reflex. I seemed to have caught him off guard and he left ahead of me. I arrived at the arena, still in shock. Why did he kiss me?! Hasn't he moved on? I even met his fiance!
"Sorry to keep you waiting." Smoke said to Zai... but my husband's eyes were on me. I didn't want to distract him during his fight so I closed my eyes and turned away.
"What the f*ck did you do to my wife?" He asked. I have always had trouble playing coy... of course, I was going to tell him what happened, after the fight.
"I talked to her about our past together... We are each other's first love after all." Smoke admitted and I gasped and looked up at him and Zai who were glaring at each other... Why did he invite me here? Was it to see his brother get married and catch up? Or did he have less pure motives? Zai's face distorted into a smile and he tilted his head as he said,
"Let's start... who's our referee?" Ibij then rushed in with a small crowd behind him. I recognized Kara and Buba but the others were strangers.
"I'm the ref!" Ibij announced, standing just outside the battlegrounds. The others filled the audience stand, I sat down with them. I feel sick. I might puke, this is similar to what happened during my music video. It's partly from guilt, letting my guard down, and fear of how Zai will react. I don't want to hurt him. Zai removed his shoes and socks, then pulled off his shirt, tossing it aside. His stance was relaxed. Smoke was already in battle clothes so he just turned to Ibij and they both shouted, "READY!" in unison.
"Alright! Begin!" Ibij yelled I didn't even see Zai Move, it was like an invisible force assaulted Smoke's face, and then there was a flash of light, a noise, and a gust of wind, which forced me to close my eyes for a moment. When I opened them Zai's fist was covered in blood but a second later it pierced through Smoke's face which had literally become smoke, when Zai removed his arm it was covered in dark purple bruises.
"You're fast." Smoke praised, as he spoke his body dispersed into a black gaseous form, surrounding the field. Zai stood in place only turning his head slightly to scan the area around him. I'm worried... if he inhales any of that, I don't see how he'd win. Zai put his hands together as if he were saying a prayer, his body began glowing, his hair stood straight up, and then a sphere of electricity covered all corners of the arena floor. The charge was so strong I could feel myself being drawn in from the audience and it shined so brightly I had to close my eyes, after 3 seconds I could tell the light had dimmed so I peeked out to see Smoke, tangible once again, his body full of black holes.
"Pulled yourself together just in time," Zai noted. Smoke responded by getting into a fighting stance. Zai smiled at him but his form stayed relaxed. Then the fight changed to hand to hand to hand combat, at times it was hard to see their movements. I don't think I have ever seen Zai go all out in a fight, he seems to be enjoying himself. Smoke paused with his hand around Zai's fist, he must've caught the punch. But why isn't he moving? Then I saw how frozen Smoke's face was, his teeth gritted together and his eyes were wide open. He can't move. Zai's fist that he was touching was completely black and purple and I could see Smoke's poison creeping up Zai's arm. There were lots of rose-shaped purple marks all over Zai's body, and even tears of blood streaming from his beautiful silver eyes. "Yield," Zai commanded a second later Smoke fell on his knees and the ground beneath him cracked. Smoke was foaming from the mouth but I could tell he was still injecting his venom into Zai's bloodstream, while Zai was amping up his electricity to dangerous levels. Are they trying to kill each other?!
"It's a draw!" Ibij yelled. That's when Zai clicked his tongue and retracted his fist, He then exhaled heavily and a black smoke left his body, along with all the poisonous marks on his body. He... wasn't in any danger.
"I figured you would respect me once you realized I can kick your ass..." Zai said while kneeling in front of Smoke, "You've never been beaten before, have you?" He whispered then I entered the area and embraced him.
"I was so worried," I said with tears in my eyes. He laughed,
"Why? It was just a friendly sparring match..." I sniffled and Zai stroked my cheek then laid his forehead on mine.
"I got to... talk to you... once we're alone." I mumbled.
"If you don't tell me now, I don't want to hear it," Zai replied. I glanced at Smoke, who was steadily recovering. He looked angry, but then he turned to Ibij and his other friends and said,
"Thanks for coming but I need you all to leave... now." Without a question they all left. I feel a bit bad for talking about this right now but,
"Smoke kissed me." If I hold it in, I'll be filled with guilt.
"Oh... I knew he was looking down on me... Now I regret holding back so much. " Then he released me and stood face to face with Smoke once again.
"Yeah... I kissed her... but it was obvious she wasn't into it. I just wanted to see if she still had lingering feelings for me." He admitted, in a friendly tone. Seems it wasn't as big a deal for him as it was for me.
"You must be a moron if you think that's a good excuse," Zai responded with a smile. Oh no, I know what that smile means!
"It's just unfair, it's been much less time for her but she's moved on completely. Why should I be the only one still hung up on our memories together? I just wanted to be on her mind a little. I'm not trying to steal your woman, I'm happy where I am, to be honest, my fiancee is my real first love..." After Smoke's explanation, they started fighting again, this time without a referee. Both of them became their elements completely, darting across the ground. It was clear from watching that I could keep up with only one of them. Their physical strength may be close but in speed Smoke was completely outmatched. Even after creating dozens of clones, they were swatted away and dispersed like dandelion seeds. They were moving so fast it hurt my eyes to try to follow. Then the battle ended with smoke forced back into his tangible form and his face pushed into the center of the stone arena floor. I had to scream,
"Don't kill him!" To stop Zai from striking again. He looked at me and sighed, then rolled his eyes and walked away, expelling the poison from his nose as he did. Once he was at my side he grabbed my hand and teleported us to our room. "I... wasn't trying to stand up for him! I promise it's just if you kill someone on Infaniya the Balancers will come for you. Especially, since Smoke is a prince... I'm sorry... I should've told you before the match but I was worried it'd throw you off." Zai kissed me to end my rambling.
"I'm going to need you to keep your guard up better." I nodded and pressed my lips together tightly. Then he kissed me again causing me to relax and close my eyes. "Also... I figured it was something weird...but I don't think he would've tried it if you came here alone." Does that mean... he only kissed me because he felt like he needed to compete with Zai? "Just so you know he's not one of the people I wanted to see... I didn't even know he existed before we got here."
"I'm sorry." I blurted after his additional statement and he snickered.
"Fine... as revenge, I'll tell you about the second woman I'd been with." His statement triggered a series of emotions. Why do I hate this woman that I've never met? "Or do you not want to hear it?" He asked,
"No, tell me!" I raised my voice slightly and Zai pouted,
"I wanted you to be jealous."
"I am!" I assured him, and he looked at me fondly.
"Alright... it's storytime, then we can go see your mom together." See who?! We headed back to our room first and there he began by saying "I was 10." Okay... at least he's full-grown by this point, we stop growing at 10 years, and some males at 11 so it should be the same for Afarions. "I was under isolation because of some... rebellion. But to be useful I still had to be trained and the only person who had a decent enough understanding of my element to train me was a woman who named herself, Giga. She has straight burgundy hair and orange eyes. A bronze complexion." I pouted,
"Is she prettier than me?" Zai broke out laughing then kissed me sweetly and said,
"Impossible... now stop interrupting me or I won't finish the story." I imitated zipping my lips so Zai closed his eyes and continued. "I resented her... she was always talking down on me, no matter what I accomplished she'd look for ways to criticize me. Even the sound of her voice irked me. So I figured the only way to change the way she spoke to me was to alter the dynamics of our relationship."