The Princess and The Mage (Tenmiko)

Chapter Eight - Magical Lake

Himiko pulled back the brush to reveal a sparkling, crystal lake. It was shaded by trees, but where leaves were absent, sun rays came pouring through, reflecting onto the lake. Around the lake were many plants and flowers. There was also a collection of boulders that people were sitting on. No, not people. Fairies. Tenko gasped as she realized this.

"What's wrong? Never seen a fairy before?" Himiko laughed, "Just wait until you see the mermaids."

"M-mermaids?"

"Guys! Himiko's here!" A blond girl popped out from the lake's surface. A sage colored tail swung flipped out of the water from behind her. With this, other mermaids appeared from the surface shouting hellos at Himiko.

"Oh... my... gosh..." Tenko grabbed Himiko's hand and ran over to the mermaids, "This is awesome! Real life mermaids!"

"Nyeh~! I know! I know!"

The fairies on the rocks also came over and joined them. There were three mermaids and five fairies. The blonde mermaid, who seemed to be the magical being's main "leader" of some sorts, started giving out introductions:

"I'm Sonia Nevermind!" She said, "The mermaid with the red tail is Aoi Asahina, the one with the pink tail is Miu Iruma. The lovely fairy with the peach colored hair is Chiaki Nanami! Then there's Mahiru Koizumi, Hiyoko Saionji, Mikan Tsumiki, and Sakura Ogami. Who's your girlfriend, Himiko?"

"NYEH?! G-GIRLFRIEND?"

"Is she not your girlfriend?" Chiaki asked.

"You look like you'd be cute together!" Aoi pitched in.

Tenko was blushing quite a bit. Himiko too. However, Himiko looked red more out of anger than it was being flustered. Although it hurt a bit when Tenko saw this, she didn't care. Regardless of if the mage liked her or not, Tenko had already made that vow to herself. "Are they bothering you, Himiko? Want me to kick their asses?"

"Nyeh... don't bother. Sakura is a skilled martial artist."

"H-Himiko?! Have you forgotten about my mastery in aikido?"

"Doesn't matter... she's three times the size of anyone here," Himiko said, "Anyways... she's not my girlfriend. Her name is Tenko and she's a princess of some kingdom that neighbors the one I cursed. I'm letting her stay with me to try and convince me to remove the curse or..." She looked over to Tenko; she was blushing, "she always wants to convince me to brew a potion so she can fall in love and be somebody's girlfriend."

Tenko was a blushing mess. It was a bit embarrassing to admit she ran away from her castle and into a magical forest for the simple sake of getting a girlfriend. Especially because of the sudden liking she had taken to Himiko.

Her blushing made Himiko giggle. "Heh! You look cute when you're blushing!"

Tenko's mouth dropped open. Did Himiko just call me cute? "W-wait, what?!"

"Nyeh! I said you look stupid, stop blushing!"

"No, you said-" Mahriu started to speak.

"I'm gonna go gather plants! Why don't you talk and continue making new friends. Nyeh... I'll be over there if you need me!" Himiko stormed away, keeping her blush and embarrassment from the others.

"Ah, so Himiko just stopped by to collect plants," Hiyoko remarked, "Typical magical dweeb face always going out of her way for her magic. Poor you to have to get dragged along with her-"

"Hiyoko." Mahriu said, quickly bringing the small, fiery, girl's insulting spits to a stop.

"Uh... actually I convinced Himiko to come out here," Tenko said, "I wanted to help build our friendship and continue convincing her to life the curse and-"

"Wait," Sakura interrupted her, "You recommended coming out here?" Tenko looked confused and nodded.

"And she went along with it?" Chiaki asked.

"I had to pull her out the door but after that, yeah," After Tenko said this, the girls looked around surprised, "Wait, what's so odd about that? Is everything okay with Himiko?''

"No, no, don't you worry," Sonia calmed her down, "It's just... ha, that's pretty out of character for Himiko to just follow along with someone. She's a stubborn one."

"What are you guys trying to say?"

"I think she likes you!" Mahiru smiled.

"Ha! Even if she did, wouldn't matter! Himiko has some kind of grudge against showing any kind of emotions, there's no way you would ever be able to feel that love. If I were you, I'd get out and run before spending a lifetime in love with someone who would rather die than show it!" Hiyoko snorted and Tenko was ready to punch her.

"HIYOKO!"

"N-no..." The purple hair fairy spoke for the first time. Mikan, was it? "I-I think she's right, M-m-mahiru."