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All's Fair in Love and War ((Half-Demon X Yajirobe))

Natalia had received word that more troops joined the elves and more preparations for battle were being made. So much for maintaining peace. Sighing, she had her own troops to prepare, and her advisors kept her busy. Many defensive preparations were made, and she decided that in the battle, she would fight with her men, not sit behind the lines and watch. She was after all, pretending to be the Blood Prince.
The spring was still one of her daily visits, however. She would manage to slip away from the camp each evening after the sun was down and the moon was up. While her troops were busy with their nightly activities, she would slip past the scouts and make her way to the spring. The past three days, she had the spring to herself, and though it had been nice, it was also strangely lonely.
Natalia didn't expect the elf to show up that night either, and as soon as it was dark enough, she slipped from her camp towards the spring. She was surprised to see lights around it, and paused, wondering if she dared investigate. The princess was far from a coward though and silently made her way to see who it was. To her surprise, it was Yoko and that the lights were from the flowers.
 
"Well if it isn't the handmaiden of the Prince, it is good to see you again," Yoko commented as he looked over at the blonde as she came into the spring area, "come join me, for I must say from what I have heard today, this shall be the last time we shall get to do this," he said honestly as he looked at the demon, he was sure that the demon would know what he meant that the build up was happening and that soon a battle would take place between them.

"It is a nice spring and your company is always nice as well," he commented as he looked in the direction she was in, "well, I wish to talk to you for a moment or two as well, a farewell, our talks have been most enjoyable, and relaxing, it is just to bad that the battle is going to happen, oh well, I guess we shall see who is victorious and who isn't sooner rather than later, everything will be thrown into this battle for the king will die this week, in the next four or five days," he mused as he looked at the woman his eyes focused on where he knew she was.
 
"You sound as if you were saying goodbye to a friend rather than a person that would join you in debates," Natalia stated as she walked forward, glancing at him curiously. He was right though, as it would be unlikely they would both survive. She decided to act as normal as possible, despite it being their last time. She stripped and slipped into the warm water and sighed. "You are right though. It is unlikely we will both survive this battle.."
 
"I seriously doubt it too, but it has been fun, and I do consider you a friend, your fun to argue with," Yoko commented as he looked at the blonde for a long moment, "you are a most fun person to talk to, it is to bad that we are different," he said as he leaned against the rocks that were behind himself and looked up at the stars, "I am sure that I would of been one of those most annoying people who made a pass at you, if I hadn't been born different then you," he said smiling as he looked at her, "perhaps in the next life we will be on the same side," he added as he looked at the blonde, "anyhow, I will be in the middle force, I have been given the responsibility of fighting in the front of the front lines with the prince himself, a honor and a curse."
 
Natalia was both surprised and confused at his words. She was rude, a hothead, and a demon, but he not only said he had fun around her, but said he thought of her as a friend, possibly even wished for more. It took her a moment before she could come up with a reply that didn't sound completely idiotic. "So... There is a high possibility that you will face the blood prince then.." She wasn't sure why she sounded so disappointed. Maybe it was the fact that she would have to fight him. At this point it didn't matter who won, if the Demons did, he would die, if the Elves won, she would.
 
"Yeah, that sounds just about like it sounds, the blood prince, that dude is good, really good fast too," he said as he leaned back, "I am sorry if I end up being the one who kills him, I have a feeling you have some strong feelings for him," he said giving her a smile, "yet, anyhow, I am sure we will both do our very best, and I guess that is all we can be asked to do sadly," he said as he smiled looking into her eyes for a moment, "well, if you win, remember that not all elves are evil, try to tell this to your prince, for I know if my people lose it will open up our lands to the invitable rape and pillage of its people and the land by yourside, and if we win, well your kingdom's riches will be lost most likely," he said as he let out a sigh, either way things wouldn't be good in the aftermath of the fight even.
 
Her ruby eyes met his for a moment. She could see that, though he told her most of he he truth, he held something back, just as she did. She nodded slightly at his request and dropped her gaze to the water. It didn't seem that it would be a relaxing evening after all. "Well.. Since this is likely to be the last time we meet.. How about you can ask me any question, any at all, and I will answer honestly. In turn you do the same?"
 
Ico nodded his head as he looked at her and smiled as he looked at her, "fair enough what do we have to lose now," he said with a smile as he looked at her, and then thought about his question. He smiled as he looked at her and then knew just the question to ask her, "simple, if I were a demon and not a elf and I made a run at you what percentage of a chance would I have to win you over, I am guessing zero, but call it curiosity," he asked her as he figured that it would be a good question to start of with.
 
Natalia chuckled a bit. "If my temper didn't scare you away, I would say a fairly good chance if given time." Not saying it would happen, or wouldn't, as it didn't matter. He was elf, she was demon. One of them was probably going to die anyways. With that thought though.. "If there wasn't this war, and demons and elves did get along.. And we happened to meet, would you care that I am demon?"
 
"Nope, not a bit, I don't really care that your a demon now, so the war doesn't effect my view of you honestly," he said as he looked at her. He wasn't one to care about such minor things in his view. It limited how one looked at the world, and he knew that he had to be a bigger person then his father had been especially during this period of his life. He smiled as he looked at her and then smiled, "so what are your real feelings towards the prince?"
 
Natalia was quiet for a moment. She couldn't say that he was her brother, but she wanted to be as honest as possible. "...Like I said, I was raised with him.. He's both like a brother and a best friend," She answered looking up at him.
 
"I see that does make sense, well I hope that he respects having you around," Ico commented as he floated on his back over to her and looked up at her not that far from her now, "so do you have any more questions, anything at all for me," he asked as he looked up at her in the eyes, his light greenish blue eyes looking at her red ones, "You know, that I can actually do a bit of magic as you see, but I am sure you already figured all of that out. I also lost my mom mother when I was born, and still have one sibling of my own, so yeah, I do understand having someone who is important to you, like a sister, so I am sure he looks at you and feels a great since of pride."
 
Natalia had to look away from him as he spoke. Her father was old, her mother already gone, her brother lost to the war, and the way he spoke, that her brother would be proud... She had to fight to keep calm as tears pricked at the edges of her eyes. "I~I would hope so.." She said softly. She wasn't sure she would be able to explain her feelings to him, but she had said that she lost a brother to the war. Maybe he would pick up on that.
 
The Prince looked at her and got to his feet, and gave her a small hug and looked at her, "yeah, hopefully this will all be over soon and somehow we both get out of here alive, you can go home to your family and me to mine," he said as he looked at her giving her a warm smile, "you are a very beautiful woman, extremely much so," he said as he let his eyes look into her red ones for a long moment as he smiled, "best to think of the good times when we think of the ones that we lost," he added with a nod of his head before kissing her cheek ever so softly.
 
A light blush dusted her cheeks as he planted the light kiss on her cheek. Natalia looked up at him and smiled a little bit. She truly was going to miss their talks and even arguments. "Just... Promise to be careful when the fighting actually does start..."
 
"Well, in my line of work, being careful isn't a big thing, I will do what I can though, the same goes for you, my lady," Ico commented his tone telling of the fact he too enjoyed the growing friendship he had with the Demon Princess. He swam over to the side and got a necklace for the demon from his bag, it was gold with bright rubies that formed a small sun, "This is for you, if anyone asks you can say you found it, consider it a sign of good luck tomorrow," he added putting it down on her things as he smiled half in the water.
 
"You are far too kind to just a servant girl.." Natalia commented softly. The fact that he cared about her as a person and not a princess was a nice change to how things normally were, but it was a harsh reminder that she was never supposed to have such a luxury. "Thank you though.. It is beautiful."
 
"It is simply a farewell gift, a remembrance from one servant to another encase you live though this and I do not, it is something that you can remember back on our nice talks if nothing else," he said as he looked at her for a moment longer before getting dressed and heading out he would have to have his sleep this night for battle would be a hard thing and one that would require a large amount of energy to fight, stay alive and hopefully win the day for his people. He went to bed with a somewhat conflicted mind hoping he didn't battle the woman and hoping she lived somehow.
 
Natalia watched him leave, and knew she should do the same, but at the moment, she didn't want to. She wanted to just simply let the world disappear. She looked up at the sky, praying to whichever gods would hear her. She wished for Yoko to survive the battle, even if it meant that she didn't. If anything, he was a far better person than she was. He was able to see past the war when she wasn't. He taught her to try that.
It was an hour before she managed to coax herself out of the warm water. She picked up the necklace and looked at it for a moment before slipping it on. She then quickly got dressed and headed for her camp and tent. She tried to coax herself to get some sleep, however her nerves got the better of her, keeping her up for much of the night. She had fought in several battles before, but she wasn't looking forward to this one. This was the deciding battle. Her kingdom's hopes sat on her shoulders.
 
The battle began the next morning the Prince was in the lead, Ico was wearing his normal armor that was brown and green the colors of the earth, on purpose. He looked around at his men and raised his arm as he let the charge himself into the fighting, aiming his men forward pushing himself ahead as he saw the volleys of arrow fire flying over his head towards the enemy, he had sent the extra troops away to flank and come in around his enemy as his men pushed into their mainlines. It was hammer and anviel trip, his your enemy on both sides crushing them between your forces and winning the battle as fast as possible.

Ico moved though the force, attacking fighting hand to hand with his long silver sword, he wasn't one to avoid the fighting at all, he was one to work hard to defeat his foes, he was odd this day he avoided fatal wounds but managed to hit the demons in such a way that they wouldn't be able to continue the fight when he did or at least pass out from pain. He moved foward as the day was hit and was at some point in the intense fighting lost his helmet.Yet, even without that protect he continued to fight with the skills and grace he trained with.
 
Natalia dressed in her brother's armor, the black and white metal hiding her feminine features. To her men, she was the Blood Prince, not the princess. That was how she was going to fight. She lead the way as the two armies clashed, making sure to have the long ranged attackers and magicians towards the back, while the more melee warriors up front and on the sides, expecting the elves to try the hammer and anvil tactic.
The fight was vicious on both ends, as it looked like neither side was giving in. Natalia still fought with the ferocity she had become known for. The white metal of her armor gleaming red with the blood of the elves she killed. She was looking for the prince, wanting to end the war as quickly as she could. Unfortunately, she found him.
He was dressed differently from the rest of the elves, signaling who he was. That wasn't what made her blood run cold, it was his face. Yoko. She was unsure if she would be able to continue, but instead moved to defend against the elves. Natalia tried to convince herself that she should just face him, get it over with. But she just couldn't bring herself to do so. Not until she saw one of her men try to attack the elf prince from behind. Her silver sword met her own man's. She stood as if to say that this was her fight, and the demon warrior slowly accepted. Natalia then turned to face the prince, her helmet blocking her features from him.
 
He battled his way across the area when he saw the blood prince help him but, he wasn't sure why. He was a bit surprised as he looked at the prince and the people started to actually stop fighting around them as if to see who one this fight, he figured they would do so to know who would win the war most likely. The side who lost its leader would be leaderless and without any hope of victory. Ico or Yoko knew this very well. He looked at the Prince and took a deep breath as he calmled himself as best as he could.

Ico hated the idea of taking the live of the servants friend, he attacked the prince hard and fast, but he did avoid going for any fatal attacks on the prince as he went in and tried to hopefully knock the Prince on his back where he could get down and force the Prince to surrender, if he could do that, perhaps he could finish this battle and get the demons to give up. Perhaps some type of tready could be made, his father would be dead soon anyhow, he woudn't have to know about it just the victory which would let him die in peace.
 
Natalia knew that she couldn't just give up and let him kill her, she had to defend herself. Make it look like she was trying. She hated pretending to be a vicious war machine that everyone thought she was, but to be found out as not just a woman, but the princess would be bad on both sides. Both sides would know her brother, the real Blood Prince was dead.
The demon brought her sword up, blocking most of his attacks while trying to make a few swipes and thrusts at him. It was a deadly dance that she did not want to win, but couldn't afford to lose. Unfortunately, she was exhausted by this point, getting little rest the night before and fighting all day. It wasn't long before Ico caught her off balance, knocking her to the ground. She waited for the killing blow, praying it came before he took her helmet off and saw who she really was.
 
The killing blow would never come and he didn't even need to take off her helmet either as he looked at her."Prince give up now, and I shall promise you a deal to end this war for ever. I will not offer it again, this deal shall be better than anything else you could hope for," he said as he thought about the servant of his and he hoped she was alive. Around himself he could see his plan worked and the demons were surrendering to his forces.

"I wish to end this war with honor for both our sides so that we never have this happen again," he said as he offered the what he still thought was a prince his hand to help the prince up to his feet. " You may thank your servants they have shown me how," he paused as he saw the necklace and looked at her. He blinked and looked at the person and knew who it really was now."yes, let us leave this place and talk over our deal my friend."
 
As he helped her up, Natalia knew that the elf had figured out who she was. She gave the signal to those that still tried to fight to surrender. There was no more need for bloodshed. Natalia gave a shaky sigh and followed Ico away from the crowds. She wondered where he planned to lead her, but didn't ask yet. Her voice would give her away to anyone that didn't know.
 
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