Gordon's Story

Sakura couldn't help but smile in sheer excitement when the familiar castle loomed into view. It was more a home to her than her father's castle was; she had made it her own, filled it with things she loved and tailored practically every last brick to her liking; she knew every hall and secret place and could navigate even the dungeons with her eyes closed. There wasn't too much to do couped up in a castle, so she had to entertain herself somehow. Mostly by playing tag or hide and go seek with Aerak, or cooking for him and forcing him to watch WGF matches with her while she squealed and fangirled over Gordon. He was such a good friend to her. She almost took him for granted, but he never complained.

"Home sweet home?" her companion asked her.

"Yep!" she said, flashing him her everlasting grin. When he made his next comment though, she puffed out her cheeks puckered her lips in a pout, slightly resembling a blowfish. "No! Of course not! A-and besides, I'm no fangirl!" She looked away from him, red burning her cheeks, and looked towards the castle as she saw a familiar white head poking out the door. "See, look! There's Aerak!"

She hopped off the carpet and ran to meet Aerak, practically throwing herself in his open arms and giving him a warm hug. "Aerak!" she cheered. "It's so good to see you, how have you been? I've missed you." She hadn't been able to see him in a while because of her new royal duties and settling in as the princess. She would usually slip away and go out to the castle to see him, or send him a bird or s(pider)-mail to invite him to some sort of ball. She didn't realize how tensed she was around Gordon until she was with Aerak. With him, she was so natural. They were friends, almost like family. She trusted him more than anybody else in the world. But Gordon was still an idol in her mind, and even though they would be travelling together and kicking ass, there was still an awkward admiration that she felt. It was a dream come true, and it almost seemed impossible. She figured it would wear off eventually, but now the nervous thrill kept you on edge.

She listened to Aerak introduce himself and stuck her tongue out at him, offering a playful punch to the shoulder. "Of course the job isn't bad. It's the best job in the world! I mean, you get to be around me after all," she teased and then stood back a little ways to let the big men talk to each other. She was sure that Gordon would have some questions, questions that she probably didn't even have an answer to about power. She remembered how Aerak had projected himself. Gordon was sure to want to know why.

Sakura watched as the boys spoke to each other and played with her hair for a bit, wrapping it around her fingers and looking at split ends. Gordon was so formal. The way he introduced himself and asked Aerak his questions was so gentlemanly. It made her like him that much more, that he was respectable, and it was a little cute that he was slightly awkward as he spoke. But she couldn't help but feel a small nudge of disappointment. She had always sort of seen him as the bad-boy type off camera. That was how he was in a lot of her...scenarios, for lack of a better word, but then again, her mind was always a little far-fetched and slightly twisted from reality.

She blushed a bright shade of strawberry when Aerak told Gordon his last thing. "E-enamoured? I-I don't know what you m-mean," she stuttered like she had when she first met Gordon. How could he say that! She didn't want Gordon to think that she was one of those crazy, obsessed fan-girls! She knew she was, and of course Aerak knew because of how much she gushed about him during her time in the castle, but still. She thought it would be better if he thought she was normal. "I just respect his abilities as a super-awesome WGF fighter. That's all." She crossed her arms and pouted out her lips while looking away.

She hurried to quickly get off the subject by taking a step towards the castle and saying with a smile, "Come on boys, you can finish the chit-chat inside over some lunch. I'm sure your hungry, Gordon, after your fight and Aerak has probably been starving to death without my delicious cooking!" She practically skipped to the castle doors and led the way towards the kitchen/dining area. There, she found her old kawaii apron with smiling cupcakes and candies on it that she had ordered while she was living in the castle. It made her smile, brought back memories of her times there. She quickly got to cooking and set the table with the best dishes they had. "Have a seat! I'll be done soon." And soon it was that the table was overflowing with noodles and rice and sweets, oh my!

Sakura was about to sit down and let herself enjoy the food she had fixed, when Gordon mentioned needing something other than noodles and rice. She snapped back up from her halfway-sitting position and held up her spatula. “Right!” she said. “I can’t let my boys go hungry on our big adventure! I’ll fix up some meat. What do you want, chicken? Beef? Pork?” She didn’t let him answer before getting some of everything and handing it to Aerak. “Can you thaw this for me?” She asked him before setting to cooking up some beef stew and bacon and boiled chicken to go with the rice. Before long, there was almost double the food, and a healthy serving that she dumped on Gordon's plate. "Do you need anything else?" she asked before allowing herself to sit down and fix her own plate.

She listened as her friend started the serious talk about Kleenexe. To be honest, she had no idea on where he was, no lead on where to find him. Except one. "The only thing my dad had to say was that he was in the south, and that we can probably find him based on where bad things are happening. He's apparantly up to no good again, so hopefully he'll let us come to him." She actually had one idea, but she knew that Aerak wouldn't go for it. Gordon probably wouldn't, just for the simple fact that she was the princess, and her dad would have both of the guys' heads on a platter if anything happened to her under their watch. So she stuffed her mouth and just said, "We can start by just looking for trouble. What do you guys think?"

Sakura clapped when Gordon finished his speech. It was empowered, exactly what she had expected from somebody like him. It didn't matter that it ended with something a little...less than decent in the presence of a princess. She didn't really see herself as much as a princess, so it wasn't a big deal to her. It was still an amazing speech that made her fearless to go into the terrifying south kingdom. But she quickly stopped herself when she saw that Aerak seemed unamused by it, and set back to eating some cake.

She had been thinking while the boys both gave their piece. Should she share her plan? It went against what Aerak said about keeping a low profile, but it was the most direct and surest way to come into contact with the evil man. Maybe she should wait. It could be their last resort, their Plan B. But still...

"Uhmm, actually," she started but was interrupted by Aerak getting up and leaving the two by themselves. Awhh, she said in her mind, bummed out by not getting to share her ideas. Oh well. They were going to be spending a lot of time together, so it could wait for later. She stood up and starting scooping food into boxes to make plenty of lunches for their journey. She wasn't going to let them go hungry!

"If you need anything to get ready, any clothes or any food requests or anything, the castle is at your disposal!" she told Gordon with a smile. She was a natural when it came to entertaining guests even though she had lived by herself for a big part of her older life. It was an instinct that came with the royal blood line.