[KH] Eyes Like A Tiger's: Breeze (theme 2)

Eyes Like A Tiger's, a Kingdom Hearts fanwork:  Drabble challenge by Cherished Tenshi, written by Raberba girl
2. Breeze (rough draft)

A/N:  Written before I remembered that Genie's totally hiding from Al & co. during Days. orz  I swear, my brain these days....  (Earlier this evening, I posted a fic intended for May 17th.  Today is April 17th. -.-)  Maybe the consequences of my stress and sleep deprivation are starting to become evident.  Lesson for you kids!  GET PROPER AMOUNTS OF SLEEP! 8D

Jasmine giggled as she poured water for Aladdin and listened to Genie's whining.

"Aww, c'mon, Al, just a little breeze?"

"Thanks, but no - really, Genie, we're used to this."

"I'm surprised you're not sizzling like bacon out here," the ebullient fey being muttered, pouring sweat like a fountain to make his point, and holding up some contraption to his face with blades spinning so fast that they created a sort of private wind.

"You'd be a lot more helpful out on the east side of the wall," Aladdin tried again.  "They could really use a hand over there."

"They've got hands!  But you know what they haven't got, Al?  You."

Aladdin couldn't help grinning.  "Thanks, Genie.  I like being with you, too.  But--"

"But your orders," Jasmine finally spoke up, "by the wish of Her Royal Highness, are to go to the east side of the city and help them.  Okay?"  She smiled as persuasively as she could.

"SIIIIGH, well, can't resist that.  Very well, milady!  I'm off!  But I shall return!"  Bowing deeply in a parody that his friends did not get the reference to, and in a sudden costume they had no context for, Genie whisked away.

"Thanks, Jasmine," Aladdin said, stealing a kiss before lifting the water jar to his lips.  "It's so great having him back, but he really can be a handful...."

"He's really useful, though," she mused.  "Maybe we should just let him fix everything with a snap of his fingers...."

"No," Aladdin said staunchly.  "Last time the city got trashed, it was because of magic, so it was okay to let Genie fix it by magic.  But when it's stuff that was no one's fault, we shouldn't be getting lazy and depending on him all the time....  Heh, I didn't free him from one kind of slavery just to let him get roped into another."

"I wouldn't quite compare it to that," she murmured, but smiled to show she wasn't all-out opposed to him.  "When do you think you'll be able to take a break again?"

"Hmm...not sure, maybe in two or three hours...."

"All right.  I'll be waiting."  She kissed him, and wished she could have done it longer before a couple of passing workers made catcalls and prompted them to pull away from each other in embarrassment.

"Ah!  Your Highness, I--!"

"We didn't know it was you...!"

"Doesn't matter now, it's too late," she snapped, and flounced off, leaving the two workers fidgeting sheepishly.

The princess was halfway through her route when the sun suddenly seemed to darken for a moment.  She instinctively dashed for cover behind a stall, and just in time, for a hulking figure came crashing down in the next second to land just where she had been standing.  "M--  Monster!" she managed to scream through her suddenly dry throat.  This was no ordinary, run-of-the-mill Heartless that could be chased off by ordinary weapons; it would take quite a warrior to dispatch this one.  These powerful Heartless did show up from time to time - they always mysteriously disappeared again within a few days, but could cause quite a lot of damage and terror in the meantime.

"Monster!"  The cry was taken up, and people began to flee.  One or two either brave or rash souls came rushing up to prove their worth, but as soon as they saw what they were up against, their faces paled and they backed away again.

"Jasmine!"

"I'm all right," she said quickly as Aladdin came dashing up to her.

"Did it just show up?"

"Yes--  Oh, Aladdin, we've got to get it away from the houses!"

"Don't worry, I've got an idea."

"You always do," she murmured affectionately.

"Get everyone to the palace; I'll be back!"  He hurled a broken plank of wood at the monster to get its attention, then leaped to the rooftops and practically flew across them, calling for Genie as he led the Heartless toward the outskirts of the city.

"Be safe!" Jasmine called after him, clutching a hand anxiously to her chest and knowing that he probably hadn't heard her.  "You'd better come back to me, Aladdin...."  Wasting no more time, she whirled and began urging as many people as she could towards the palace, where they would be safe.

Crash.

Jasmine stiffened in shock, then turned around.  Behind her loomed a second Heartless, identical to the first except for its inverted color scheme.  "Al...addin...."

"Move," someone shouted down to her, so sternly that she dashed aside without even thinking.  A huge ice crystal slammed into the creature's head and knocked it to the ground, where it kicked and flailed in a frantic attempt to right itself.  "Get out of here, princess," the voice called again, with a sort of detached authority as if the speaker was well aware of the situation but had no personal interest in it.

She gaped up at him.  "Saïx!"  His face was hidden again in the depths of that black hood, but she knew it was him.

"Evacuate quickly.  It will do no one any good if the only child of this kingdom's ruler, and one of the seven Princesses of Heart, were to get injured or killed."

"What are you doing?!  Destroy it!  Hurry, while it's still down!"

She could practically sense the coolness of his gaze, and she clenched her fists in response.  "I have no intention of fighting this Heartless.  I am on reconnaissance."

"You're just going to leave it here?!"

"I shall assign one of my subordinates to eliminate it tomorrow."

The Heartless finally managed to rock back to its feet.

"Tomorrow?!" Jasmine shrieked.  "It's destroying the city NOW!"

"Which is why I highly advise you to flee immediately."

Jasmine was forced to run again as the Heartless leaped across the square and completely crushed a scaffolding nearby.  "I ORDER you to destroy that thing this minute," she demanded in her best Princess Voice.

"No."

Her eyes narrowed.  Then she turned her back on him and began to march toward the Heartless.

"What are you doing?" he said sharply.

"If you don't do something about this monster in the next minute," she said icily, "then you will only have six Princesses of Heart left."

"Princess Jasmine, get back here," he thundered.

She ignored him, coming to a halt and stretching her arms out at her sides in a sacrificial gesture, resolute despite her pounding heart.  The monster turned around, its glowing yellow eyes fixed on her.  'I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die....'  The Heartless swung its arms in preparation to jump.  For a panicked second, she thought of giving up this insane idea and running for her life.

Then something crashed into the Heartless, so forcefully that its aim was completely thrown off and it skidded past her.  Jasmine watched in relief and amazement as Saïx swept into a battle stance and roared, brandishing an impressive blue and silver weapon.  The sound sent not-entirely-unpleasant chills down her spine.  "Sai--"

He seemed beyond hearing.  With beast-like savagery, he began to beat the Heartless without mercy, leaping again and again to reach its head, since its armored body seemed invulnerable to even the strongest attacks.  The power in each of his blows made her breathless to watch, and she rather wondered why it took so long for the Heartless to finally burst into a cloud of darkness and vanish.

There was a silent pause.  Saïx finally walked forward, and the golden orbs on the ground flew towards him as if drawn by magic.  He took out a bottle and started to sip, then nearly dropped it when a loud cheer burst out around them.  "What...?"  Then he was descended on by the people who had witnessed the battle, all eager to congratulate him and thank him and drag him off to treat him to drinks.  "Get away from me, I have work to do."

Jasmine giggled when someone tugged the hood back to reveal his scowling face.  There was a brief falter when they saw his unsettling eyes and the prominent scars, but then off they went again, sweeping him along.  "Unhand me, I said!"

It was strange how much it seemed to suit him, his unease amidst the merrymaking.  Jasmine was sure he would fit more comfortably in a quieter setting.  She was not surprised when he slipped off as soon as he could, and she, too, excused herself as soon as possible to follow him.

He was behind the building, ignoring the animals wandering around, focusing instead on writing something down.  A dark portal was open nearby.

Jasmine went up to him, and he had not finished raising his head to acknowledge her before he was recoiling from the kiss she had touched to his cheek.  "Why did you do that?" he demanded.

"A little reward for our brave hero," she cooed teasingly.

He glared at her in displeasure.

"Just a little one.  I am betrothed, you know, and he'll get the bigger reward," she added with a wink.

"That has nothing to do with me.  I only got involved because you were being hot-headed and reckless."  He paused as if something had occurred to him, then shook his head and went back to writing.  She thought she heard him mutter under his breath, "I am far too used to bailing such a person out of his own trouble...."

"Are you going to leave now?"

"Yes.  Thanks to you, I am now far too noticeable here, and I've been significantly set behind in my work.  I'll need to return to the castle to write up Number XIII's assignment for tomorrow, and adjust all the counts since they've now been so drastically altered...."

"You live in a castle?" she said, interested.

He glanced at her.  His face seemed to close, and he drew up his hood before turning away from her and stalking into the portal.

"Good-bye, Kitten," she managed to call before he disappeared.  'He seems to come here fairly often.  I wonder when he'll be back...?'

Author's Notes:  Okay, update on Eyes Like a Tiger's.  Turns out that the Forgotten Couples challenge is actually by my friend, Cherished Tenshi. XD  I would like, if I can, to undertake this challenge for the SaiJaz pairing.

There are fifty themes, and I will TRY to write one installment of a multi-chapter for each theme, though it might be difficult because A) I've never done that before (all my previous challenges have been a series of usually-unrelated one-shots), and B) the plot for this fic is ridiculous and boring and silly. *sweatdrop*  Also, I'll be using the "Eyes Like a Tiger's" story on FFN and MMO to post any other random SaiJaz plunnies that won't fit in other series like Stepsiblings, but these installments will not be part of the challenge.

This current installment, "Breeze," is technically chapter 2 of the challenge story (the first chapter can fit the "Wave" theme, I need to edit the author's note and stuff); I'm only posting this now because it can pass as a one-shot.  I REALLY want to avoid posting multi-chapters until I've finished their rough drafts.  I make things a lot harder on myself whenever I try to post an incomplete story. *wince*

Progress on this challenge will probably be really slow, since I've got a ton of higher priority projects in the works right now. :/  Chapter 3, "What?", is when the main plotline should start; these first two chapters were just to give Sai & Jaz a bit of history together before things start going crazy. XD

Oh, and before we get too far, let me state right now that the SaiJaz in the ELAT challenge story is not going to be romance.  ("In Music" was not a proper installment of the challenge; for those of you who read Stepsiblings, it's like an "AU" from the main plot.)  Jasmine is going to stay with Aladdin, and Sai is never going to fall in love with anyone; though for the non-challenge installments, there might (might) be either mutual or one-sided SaiJaz romance.  Or not.  I like platonic love. XD

And yes, I do realize that I'm a super-confusing author, and I apologize a lot. orz

*random journal time* Man, I worked on Urgent Thing almost all day today in-between taking care of my neighbor's kids, and I still didn't get it done. -.- I wanna finish it already so that I can get the rest of my life in order and come back off semi-hiatus! *flail*  I need more tiiiime, but I also need to work because I need moneeeeyy, and why does my life seem to be a series of vicious cycles? *headdeskdesk*