Playing with Illusions

[Ienzo <//3]

“Thanks, it’ll be fine. I’m sure you’ve done it better than Aeleus ever could, he’d just scratch my skull off. Honestly, he just hates sometimes.” Ienzo smiled as Nadia fiddled around with his unruly hair. Ienzo felt his cheeks warm as she ran her hands through his fringe, pushing it over to the proper side of his head.
“Well if you get it to stop bleeding then I can just put it into the illusion with all the burns and scars” Ienzo said, running his fingers over the cut, bringing them away covered in blood.
“Oh, its bleeding worse than I thought” Ienzo said, looking curiously at the blood on his finger tips. Ienzo held his hand up, inspecting the blood when Aeleus leaned down and started to lick his fingers.
“OH NO YOU DON’T! Bad Kitty!” Ienzo said pulling his hand away.
Ienzo gingerly walked over to Nadia and quickly sniffed the inside of her elbow. Turning round Ienzo sniffed the air and started down the path, away from the tree they met at.
“You came this way, Hopefully this shouldn’t take too long. Your scent is still strong” Ienzo smiled back over his shoulder, his fringe falling into his right eye.

[Nadia Donovan]

Ienzo led the way in the direction Nadia had originally thought. But she had weaved a bit. She just knew she had. They were moving quite quickly now, Aeleus hitching a ride on Ienzo. The sun was nearly down now.
The conversation had died a bit, but Nadia was struggling to come up with anything to say. She felt strangely pleased about the comment over her hair organizing skills... not true but still really... sweet.
Then disaster struck. Rain. It started out quite gentle, and it wasn't really bothering Nadia but then it started pelting down, so it hurt the skin. It wasn't long before Nadia was soaked through. She hadn't thought to bring an umbrella, even though it was tempting fate not to. And by the looks of things, Ienzo hadn't either. Nadia didn't mind the rain all the time. She even liked to be out in it - but only when she chose to, rather than when the weather chose to. She'd heard at Orchid that there were people there who controlled the weather... why did they have to choose rain... why? Ienzo's hair probably wasn't soft anymore. She hated the rain at that moment.

[Ienzo <//3]

They had gotten pretty far down the path when Ienzo felt the first spark of rain hit the back of his neck. With a shiver he tried not to think of the damage that was going to occur to his hair and more of getting them out before the rain washed away Nadia scent. It was already pretty weak and the rain was making his task very hard. Within the space of a few minutes the rain was pelting down hard on his exposed arms and neck. With a squeak Ienzo threw his arms over his head, “Oh good lord, MY HAIR!” Aeleus had sprung of Ienzo’s shoulder and begun to shelter under a nearby bush, blue eyes visible in the gloom. Ienzo ran under the cover of a nearby tree to have it drop all the water stored in its leaves down on his head, rather unceremoniously drenching the unsuspecting boy underneath. The shock of the freezing water hitting his head and running down his back made him screech and drop all his illusions. Within the space of a few seconds Ienzo was transformed. He looked like a completely different person.
Both of his forearms sported severe burn marks and his wrists were laced with the thin white scars of self harm. Down the left side of his face there were 4 deep gouges in his skin, running from just below his eye down to just above his upper lip. A large scar ran from under his right ear down his neck and disappeared under the collar of his t-shirt. Looking up Ienzo realized that his illusions had failed, Pulling them all back up again Ienzo looked shell-shocked,
“You weren’t meant to see, well any of that. My illusions shouldn’t have failed, I look grotesque without them. It was the shock of the water, but even that shouldn’t have made them fail, I’m sorry.” Ienzo said, staring down at his feet, the tears rolling down his face hidden by the rain running down his face in rivulets. Ienzo had never let anyone see what he really looked like. He hated his true appearance, it was rare he lost control of his illusions but it happens, generally after a shock of some kind. Aeleus had come out from under his bush and was perched by Ienzo’s feet, rubbing his head up against his masters leg.

[Nadia Donovan]

Nadia had laughed when Ienzo had started screaming about his hair, but when the water got dumped on him and his illusions went away she was silent. She had known that he covered his scars with illusions... but she hadn't realised the extent of his injuries. Parts of Ienzo's face had been gouged, and he had a huge scar which can fromhis ear and disappeared under his shirt. His arms had been severly burnt, they had healed but the extent of the burns... She didn't miss the tiny white lines that could only have come from harm. He looked up at her in horror. He hadn't meant for her to see him like that. She felt a lump come to her throat and her eyes welled up. He covered the damage up with illusions.
“You weren’t meant to see, well any of that. My illusions shouldn’t have failed, I look grotesque without them. It was the shock of the water, but even that shouldn’t have made them fail, I’m sorry.” Ienzo couldn't look at Nadia. He stared at his feet instead. Aeleus went over to him and rubbed his leg.
The tears started down Nadia's face. Luckily the rain hid them. The lump in her throat didn't leave. She walked slowly over to Ienzo and looked at the illusions. You couldn't see past them. Tentatively, she lifter a dripping hand and stroked his cheek, searching for the damage. His illusions were concrete. She lowered her hand.

[Ienzo <//3]

Ienzo let the tears roll down his cheeks, the rain mixing with them. Looking up at Nadia, he took a sharp breath. She was just standing there watching him. She’s going to run, she’s going to run. She’s going to run and get lost and I won’t be able to find her and something horrible will happen and I’ll hate myself. Ienzo looked down at Aeleus and let the tears roll down of his cheeks with the rain and drip onto his shoes. His shoulders shook with the force of his sobs, taking in sharp breaths he looked up to find Nadia still watching him. She’s probably trying to work out her chances in the forest, they are low. I hope she knows that.
Ienzo watched, slowing his sobs as she came closer. What is she doing? Shouldn’t she be running? As she got close enough for him to see her face through the rain he could see the tears running down her face. What? God, she must be terrified. Ienzo watched her face, then her hand as she lifted a soaking wet hand up to his face. He shivered as her fingers ran at first lightly over his left cheek, then slightly harder before drawing back. Ienzo reached his hand up and slipped his fingers in between hers.
“Please, please don’t run. Don’t leave me.” Ienzo whispered through his tears, he closed his eyes and relaxed his grip on her hand so it was all her choice to let go or not.

[Nadia Donovan]

Ienzo took Nadia's hand. It sent a shiver through Nadia. It just felt like it bleonged there.
“Please, please don’t run. Don’t leave me.” Ienzo whispered. Nadia could now see that he was crying too. What were they both like, crying in the rain. He relaxed his grip on her hand a bit. She didn't like that much.
"I don't think I could." Nadia spoke softly, tightening her grip on his hand, before taking hold of his other hand too.

[Ienzo <//3]

Ienzo felt her grip tighten and her other hand reach for his free hand. Moving his hand up to meet hers, Ienzo made himself taller so he was eye level with Nadia. Moving in so he was a hairsbreadth away from her lips he whispered, “Thank you”, before kissing her gently. Ienzo shut his eyes, letting the rain run through his fringe and drip off his eyelashes, He smiled against her lips, someone had once said to him that kissing in the rain was the best, currently, he whole heartedly agreed.

[Nadia Donovan]

Ienzo moved in close to Nadia, standing straighter
“Thank you,” he said oh so softly. Then Ienzo kissed Nadia, gently. Nadia's heart started going at top speed, and she kissed him back.This has to be what life is all about... She closed her eyes mirroring Ienzo. Nadia felt Ienzo smile on her lips. She smiled back. She came a bit closer to Ienzo, still with her lips on his, still with her hands in his. She forgot about the world around her.
The moment was ruined by the weather. The rain didn't bother Nadia. Not at all. It was the thunder which made her pull back a bit and look up at what little of the sky could be seen. It was dark now. The sun had just set and the sky was grey with clouds. Storm clouds.
She hated it at that point for ruining the moment, but though she knew they had to get out of the woods before any lightening came, she couldn't bring herself to let go of Ienzo's hand.
"What should we do?" Her voice was quiet, the only noise apart from the rain and thunder.

[Ienzo <//3]

Ienzo felt the best he had since he came to Orchid Hill. Letting go of one of Nadia’s hands we wrapped his arm around her slender waist. The thunder rolled over head, and a flash of lightening lit up the sky. Nadia pulled back and glanced up at the sky. Ienzo mirrored her, taking in all the dark foreboding clouds.
“We need to get out of here, and fast. I don’t fancy being stuck in a forest in a storm.” Ienzo said, shiver running down his spine.
“Wait, where was the sun when you came into the forest? If you know what direction it was in we can take a direction from the sunset, just walk in a straight line and then we just have to find the school.” Ienzo beamed. He was intelligent when he wanted to be.
“What do you think? Think it’ll work?” Ienzo asked, rubbing his thumb along the side of her hand.

[Nadia Donovan]

"Yeah, should do. The sun was thata way," Nadia pointed into the trees. She turned and looked at Ienzo again before tightening her grip on his hand and she started to come in close to Ienzo again. She had been thinking of kissing him again and was about to, but the thuder pealed again and she jumped out of her skin, towards Ienzo.
"I wasn't expecting it..." she muttered, turning red.

[Ienzo <//3]

Ienzo cursed the thunder for the second time that night. Looking at the reddened face of his, well new girlfriend, he smiled and kissed her. The thunder clapped overhead, Ienzo tightened his grip around her waist, Thunder was not going to ruin this moment if he could help it.

[Nadia Donovan]

Ienzo kissed Nadia again, she really loved it. So soft, so gentle. She kissed him back, quite happy to ignore the thunder. He had his arms around Nadia's waist, holding her close. She liked it. She smiled at him, her eyes sparkling. She wrapped her arms around Ienzo's neck, kissing him with more force. She didn't care about the thunder anymore.

[Ienzo <//3]

Ienzo smiled against Nadia lips, me moved his right hand up from her waist and placed it gently on her back. Ienzo had been in loads of relationships, he tended to be able to judge the speed people needed to go. Nadia seemed hungry for more, but not quite ready for the full force that Ienzo could give. Ienzo bit her lip gently his left hand coming up to cup her face, his thumb rubbing her cheek in smooth circles.

[Nadia Donovan]

Ienzo seemed to be going very carefully with Nadia, almost like he didn't want to scare her. It made her feel like a princess. She was really really happy, probably the happiest she'd been in a long while. He moved his hand to her back and brought his other hand to her cheek. He cupped her face lightly, his thumb making circular movements. He bit her lip gently and as he did so, Nadia knew that she didn't just want this to be a fling. She wanted a relationship. She was glad that he could see she didn't want to go too fast. She bit his lip back, also gently. The she moved her hands to his hair, running her fingers through it. They were soaked to the skin and the wind was making Nadia freezing, like an ice-block; but she didn't want to end it. Instead she moved closer somehow, so that she could steal a little heat from Ienzo.

[Ienzo <//3]

Ienzo shivered against the cold wind biting into his back. He was sheltering Nadia from the worst of it, but he could still feel whenever she shivered and moved against him. Removing his hand from her face he wrapped his arm around her, tightening his grip to keep her warm. Wish I was wearing a jacket, would come in so handy about now. Ienzo kissed the side of her mouth and sighed,
“We have to get going now, I know I’m frozen solid and you can’t be any warmer than I am. If we get moving now, we might still have time to have a shower before bed.” Ienzo said through the rain. Lightning flashed over head, grounding very nearby. Ienzo looked up in horror. A tree about 15 meters to their left had caught on fire. Taking a deep breath Ienzo grabbed Nadia’s hand and took off at a run in the direction of the school.
“The rain will put it out. Should be fine” Ienzo said over his shoulder at Nadia, He hoped he was right.