The World on the other Side

"Well there is said to be dragons, but there aren't any official dragon clans or anything. Legend has it that there is at least one elemental dragon that were created from the djinn. But I've never met one, so that kind of knowledge only the King and Queen would probably know"Jango said as she washed his back "Though now I'm really interested to know if there are actually dragons wandering around the lands...I'm sure there are, how else would we have stories about dragons if they didnt exist?"

She would run the rag down his spine, moving down towards his hips and then back up as she slid her hands against his shoulders "well perhaps that can be something we can look into, it be rather interesting and if we do find a dragon perhaps we could bridge the gap" she said simply before grabbing one arm and began to lather the soap and oils onto his skin.

"It's definitely an idea that you can bring up to my mother"Jango said as he sighed completely relaxing to her touch. It was hard to believe that a year ago this was the same person. Before her coming, Jango hardly left his cat form, and hardly spoke more than two words to anybody besides Alibaba. He was Captain of the Royal Knights, but usually left his Lieutenant in charge to do most of the work while he guarded Ali...or slept all day, whichever he fancied at the time. "Ya know Hanako, we were talking early, and I officallly want to ask you to date me before some other guy does spring up out of nowhere and try to take you from me"he said

"Its a thought, though perhaps we should better word ourselves when facing your mother or the king...though the King I think enjoys being around me he's always laughing with what ever I say plus I did promise I'd make him some cookies can't believe you guys don't have cookies in this world" she said shaking her head with a laugh, her hands moving down his other arm now massaging the muscles while cleaning his skin. She was just about to grab the small bucket to wash the soap off when she heard his statement. She sat there stunned silent her eyes on the back of his head trying to figure out if that is really what he said, before speaking "you mean....like...actually date no possibility of marriage none of that just...date or....do you mean courting as in you want me to be your wife one day...."

It could have been her way to say no but it could have just been her way to ask 'why me' it was hard to say at this point as she just sat there waiting for his answer, her heart pounding in her ears at this moment. If it was just dating that would be fine, but to court.....it just made her heart race faster was she even ready to be someones wife?!

Jango shrugged slightly as they sat there "I don't know. Why do you have to put a label on everything?"he asked "Why can't we just keep doing stuff and errands together, having occassional sex, and taking care of Alibaba like we've been doing, and if anybody asks we just tell them that we are together. I mean...when I say it like that, it pretty much sounds like we've been dating this past year, we are always together, and we are the only people we have sex with...at least to my knowledge. So why make it hard and overthink stuff?"he asked as he turned his head to look back at her now "I like you, and I want to keep you around me, isn't that enough of a reason why?"he said searching her eyes knowing exactly what she was thinking

"Well in my world things like this are...labeled" granted its only been a year but some things she still was getting used to changes. Shaking her head she couldn't let that affect this, she did like Jango enjoyed having this 'family' aspect with him. Hearing his words it was almost like a jab each time, he was right they were already together, they already did everything together as is. When he turned to look at her, she caught his eyes he knew what she was thinking already. Knew the answer that was just building behind her lips, before she could say something she regretted al she did was lean forward her lps pressing against his.

She couldn't speak she was afraid to, she loved him, and she didn't want to ruin what she had with him because of her overthinking.

Jango smiled against her lips as he pulled her from behind him to into his lap as he simply wrapped his arms around her and held the kiss for a while before slowly breaking it as his red and blue eyes looked down into her blue ones "Good answer"he said with a smile before looking over at the doorframe to see Alibaba floating there "Uhhhh I woke up from my nap and the pot is really hot ya know"he said. It wasn't the first time Alibaba had seen them naked, or known they had been together though he played innocent every time Jango scolded him "Is it time to eat now?"

She couldn't help but chuckle slightly as he pulled her around and into his lap, her hand raising up to run against his cheek. She remained silent as their lips pressed together till she would hear Alibaba's voice, she turned her head as she would nod her head. "Alright, it should be done stewing sometimes even a little 'char' to it makes it taste that much better" she said simply, as she would then slowly slid from Jango's lap. "We will be right out Ali, unless you want Jango to give you a quick bath while I check on the food"

She didn't really feel uncomfortable being naked infront of Ali, he was like her little brother and they had bathed together countless times. Standing up she moved from the water, and over to the towels to start wrapping one around her. "The pie's should be chilled enough to eat too."

"No I don't need a bath I'm hungry"Alibaba said as he vanished in a puff of smoke reappearing in the kitchen floating over the counters "Everything smells so good I can't wait to eat it!"he said excitedly "And then go back to sleep, my mana is still really low...I think being so close to the djinn is affecting my magic some"he commented as Jango soon moved out of the tub drying off and putting on a fresh pair of clothes putting his eyepatch back over his blue eye "I agree with that, let's eat"Jango said

She would start to dress as well sliding into a simple outfit of her own, wanting to at least be in fresh new cloths while she had her other one cleaned for now. Twisting her blonde hair into a braid she moved into the kitchen before looking over to Ali with a small smile, "alright alright, calm down" she stated moving to the pot as she checked it, as she lifted the lid a swirl of smells filled the kitchen.

"Perfect" she said happily, and gathering up plates she would laydel the stew into the bowls before setting them on the tables. With that she also slid a fresh loaf of bread on the table, "eat up boys"

Before she even finished her sentence both the boys started stuffing their faces by the spoonful with stew munching down happily "This is really good!" "Delicious!" they said as they heartily ate their soup and bread and it was Alibaba who spoke first after a long minute eating "So tomorrow, we will be our trek up Java mountain to the volcano to find the djinn"he said to the group

She shook her head watching them, they were always so quick to eat when ever food was infront of them but to hear them say it was delicious made her smile. Sitting down she took her own bowl and began to eat, it would taste like the stew had been cooking slowly for hours when it was only for a few minutes. Glancing towards Ali as he spoke she cleaned her mouth after taking another bite, "what sort of strategy should we attempt? I know Jango is going to be the one getting this dijnn but to have a strategy would help perhaps."

"I'm not to sure."Alibaba said as he took another bite of his food before a sip of water "I don't know how this djinn is going to be. According to my mother, some djinn are very reasonable and you can talk to them to form their contracts. Some of them want an offering in exchange for their contract. Others want a demonstration of power, either through completing a task or trial, or beating the djinn and subduing and forcibly sealing them."

"Well I would assume with this one being the first breech of contract and the fire djinn, things are going to get a little wild."Jango said "That's why I can't wait to have this guy fighting by my side, I like that kind of energy"

"You like anything that is chaotic" she stated quickly towards Jango with a small chuckle at him as she sat there, then looked back to Ali. "If we can try and limit the damage I think some sort of negotiation should be attempted. I know its the first Dijinn and its also fire but we should save our energy for the really big fights and avoid conflict if we can."

Ali and Jango exchanged a look with one another before looking back at her 'This is a God-level creature....what kind of fight would be bigger than this one?"Alibaba asked causing Jango to laugh to himself "Kid has a point, I say we just go all out and kick ass from the beginning, that is why Ali went through the hard work of learning how to seal them, we should just do that."

"sometimes you can gain something without fighting, I understand they are god-level creatures but even gods can be talked with. We've all trained hard, Ali you more than us but I still think we can try because what if we harm innocent people? god-level creatures able to control flames, lava all that....could do serious damage if we just rush in there blasting away."

"Like I said, it's up to the djinn. Whatever the djinn wants is what we are going to do."Alibaba said as he finished his first bowl of stew going back for seconds "If the djinn wants us to reason, we reason, but if the djinn wants us to fight, then we fight. But Java Mountain is far off from the other villages and stuff, we should be fine if it does come to that."Alibaba said

"Besides, the Dark Elves have multiple homes all throughout the mountain ranges which stretch from sea to sea, no one will really be affected if we go all out."Jango said "I'm honestly excited to test my skills against my own djinn. You've had Venus for a year already, and look how much you two have come together to help you grow."

She gripped her spoon tightly as she would sit there, before speaking "I may have Venus...but every time I draw her...if I do not command her to become a different weapon...she will continue to become a Scythe...dark mana is still something that is extremely easy for me to use...and that is not something I want...even Venus cannot explain it" she said softly, parts of her abilities still scared her that she feared things but did her best to keep it to herself at times.

With a sigh she stood up and would gather up another bowl of food, these fears were hers and she needed to control the darkness that felt like it was creeping up....the warning of the king still in her ears that to protect Ali...she'd be killed...

"Yes, I know that, but she still has helped you tremendously since you've gotten here. Who used to be your midnight sparring partner when Alibaba first started teaching you magic?"Jango said with a chuckle "And I'm sure she's also helping you keep some of that dark magic at bay too without admitting it herself. Djinns are very agreeable and awesome once they are sealed properly it looks like"he said as Alibaba returned to the table and began eating again

"You make it sound like you miss training with me at Midnight Jango" she stated as she took another bite of her food and shifted in her seat, before she would speak "As for what Venus is doing, I wouldn't know so long as it doesn't involve interfering with my tasks to aid or protect Ali I don't really have an issue with what she does...shes still a living creature that can make up her own decisions in life"

She would finish her bowl not long after as she stood up and went to put her dish in the sink so she could start cleaning up, as she did she would start to hum softly to herself.

"Yeah I guess so"Jango said as he went to finish another hearty bowl of stew "Man this stuff is good, driving the carriage does take up a lot of mana, I didn't even realize just how much until now"he said with a laugh as he listened to her humming smiling to himself as Ali looked between the two of them smiling to himself as he finished eating bringing his bowl over to Hanako to be washed

Hanako would grab hold of the bowl as Ali passed it to her, "Thank you, besides I did some research on food while we were at the palace, some foods are good for restoring Mana and the stew has many of the foods that help replenish it so its probably one reason why you two ate so much" she said simply with a warm smile and would then go back to cleaning up. "I'll put the rest of the stew away, it would be good to eat in the morning too, it will make sure we are refreshed."

"I agree. I'm excited for us to start up the mountain tomorrow. We can leave the carriage here at the base and after breakfast and packing up our things we can begin our climb!"Alibaba said excitedly

"Yeah let's just hope the Dark Elves aren't too weary of our unexpected visit. They knew we were coming to deal with the fire djinn but we didn't give them any advanced notice as to WHEN we were coming"Jango said as he stayed behind to help Hanako clean up while Alibaba got himself ready to go back to sleep once again after eating such a filling meal

"Well I did make sure to have the cooks prep some dried jerky, it be filling enough and wont take as much space as regular food will." she stated watching the two of them and seeing how excited both were getting,if she had any suspensions if they were related now those where gone seeing how they both light up the same way in excitement. "you sure your not twins...you both just lit up like fireworks with excitement."

"Well it's only natural for a man to want to challenge something like this."Alibaba said proudly thumping his chest as he floated up into the air as Jango laughed slapping his leg "Well the kid's not wrong, the idea of getting a djinn and obtaining that power is amazing. So traditionally, long time ago the Disciple made the contract or forcibly sealed the djinn into the vessels, and the Disciple was married to the village or Kingdom's best warrior was wielded the power of the djinn. Rules were created for any unique circumstances by the power of foresight. My Dad wielded all of them, but because he died, the contract broke and now they go to his children at the different palaces."Jango said "I happen to be getting the fire one, which is also my magical affinity. Each of us kids can only wield one of the elements, while Alibaba can do it all.

Alibaba nodded "My Father was rejected by the djinn to be the successor to the Elf King though. Jango's Dad united all the Elves Kingdoms under one banner though he was a Dark Elf and married my mother but then their kids didn't have strong magic, and he was assassinated through still unknown means and my father who was Captain of the Royal Guard became the next King."