A Smile

Zen

Zen had always been a guy that did what he wanted or what he thought was right, or what his instincts told him to do without questioning it. He rarely wondered why he did this or that. He just did it. But when he found himself walking the hallways of the Academy he'd wondered what had made him sprint out without finishing his treasured lunch to go buy a girl some gloves. Now, as he stood looking at her smile he knew exactly why.

Zen had always treasured beauty, he liked girls. A lot. But he was never moved by them, they were just that, girls. He treasured his friends and his chosen family much more. But that was before he saw Jia smile. It was for such a tiny thing. Just a pair of gloves. Some people smiled without really meaning it, it was a polite gesture, a reflex. They were empty. But Jia's smile was true to everything. It was pure, utter happiness. And that's exactly what it made Zen feel. A smile that took him aback completely. Her face lit up with it, her beautiful green eyes shining like the emerald pendant they both wore, her thin, delicate, nose slightly wrinkling and her white teeth showing under her red plump lips. Her two wide front teeth in the middle and two playful fangs at the edges. Her cheekbones lifted and her eyes wrinkled a little, her long lashes joining in the corners. And her frown disappeared, making small wrinkled still visible where it had previously been. Zen smiled wildly, not able to control himself. He felt like a child, happy and innocent. Bliss. That's what her smile was. She'd noticed she was pretty before, but as she looked at her now, pretty didn't begin to describe her now that he saw her smile. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Even with a redness on her temple where she'd received the punch her skin was pale and perfect under it, everything was, plump lips, beautiful slightly slanted green eyes, decorated with long and curvy black eyelashes and fierce, perfectly defined thick eyebrows. Her delicate thin nose, her high cheekbones. And her long, strong carbon black hair that she now had tied up but still fell behind her back, her green strand decorating her scalp. And then there was her body. Something Zen had somehow missed. Now in her sports attire that revealed her arms and stomach it was hard to miss. The clavicles under her thin neck, joining to her small shoulders, her perfect breasts, which were round and upright, just the perfect size. Leading to a tiny thin waist and her bare stomach, a discreet line sunken in the middle of it leading to her belly button, a cute little muscular stomach. Her body athletic but managing to keep its femininity. And her hips widened after her tiny waist, leading to her thin legs. Warmth invaded him and tickled through his body, he swallowed hard and looked back up at her face, his eyes consuming her. She noticed him looking and herself smiling and blushed, the smile vanishing from her face and returning to her frown. She took a step back and looked up at Zen, she was guarding herself again. Zen knew this and he understood it even though after seeing her guard come down for just that second it was hard to adapt to her usual distant self. 

- "Thank you." She said, her tone a little small and waver for what he was used to hearing in her. Zen took a second to come back to it, but he managed it, he shook his head and handed her the other glove. Suddenly he was a little shy and self-aware. It was a rare feeling in him.

- "It was-uhm. I just didn't want you to be breaking protocol, you know…" He lied. It didn't bother her, he could tell she hadn't even contemplated that the gift had ever meant anything else. 

- "I won't." She said, her tone serious and determined. "I promise." She said. Zen looked at her and smiled curiously. She was a very interesting girl. He cleared his throat after noticing he was staring at her like an idiot. 

- "Well then, see ya." He said smiling at her. She nodded with her frown, making Zen's smile crook as he remembered the smile, he left the room and went to meet Alt and the rest.

Jia

She had smiled. How long had it been? It made her feel weak and out of control, but at the same time she'd never felt safer. It was an odd feeling, how could a change in expression awake so many things in her? Overall she felt embarrassed. She hadn't seen Zen after that. It had been only a few days. Days of training and classes in the Academy that were very much like the ones she'd taken in Naia. The difference of it was the general treatment, not that she got, of course, she was used to disdain, but that the rest of the Lights got. Ruda was supposed to be neutral, but Jia couldn't help noticing that Lights didn't get the sour looks every Dark got from the citizens, then again, a Dark would never be polite and nice to them and the citizens were. In any way, even if the people were more courteous to the Lights, in every objective way they received the same treatment as the Darks. And Jia thought maybe the Darks enjoyed the looks they got, back home people looking at you with fear was what made you popular and cool. Her teammates' attitude hadn't taken an outstanding improvement, but at the very least a noticeable one. Jia sat at the edge of the table at lunch and people looked at her with disgust and disdain but did nothing, in class she sat at the back, got the same looks but people did nothing, and in training they looked at her differently, with fear. She could tell the Squad members that came to train them were working hard in trying to accept her, probably out of respect for Zen, but they couldn't quite accept her yet. They did respect her strength, but at the same time, like her teammates, they feared her too. She understood them and held no grudge against them, had it been the other way round and she was a LIght turned Dark things wouldn't have been as easy.