Chapter 1

"Sunset and a Spark"

"Yield!" Gunther said to me, his wooden sword's point directly in my face.

"Yield," I sighed. A rock was poking into my back, and I could not wait to get up and stretch. Gunther tripped me to the ground after knocking my sword out of my hands. I was red from the heat and exercise, but also from anger. Gunther! He had beaten me; again.

Gunther set down his sword and stuck out his hand to help me to stand. Still angry with myself, I simply stood on my own. I should have taken his offer, seeing it was the one civilized thing it seemed he could do. But I knew he only did so because Sir Theodore insisted we should help one another up when we fall in a match and always shake hands after the sparring.

But, of course, Sir Theodore wasn't there.

"Again," I said, readying my sword.

"My, my," Gunther teased, "Do we have a sore loser here?"

"No," I said sarcastically, "But you'll learn nothing from your training if you only learn from pure luck."

"Pure luck?!" That did it. I knew he would take my challenge now. "Funny, how I would use the words 'pure skill.'"

"Well, I guess we will just see about that!"

"Rules?" He asked, readying his own sword.

"Just one: there are no rules. Play dirty." I answered, with a determined glare.

"This shall be fun." He smirked.

"Lots."

Our second match began.

It started off like how all of our spars start. We circled one another, and then I lunged, and we fought. I was determined to win this time. Since there were no rules, like how we usually fought, we jumped and moved around a lot. The next thing I realized about my surroundings was that I was at the steps up to my room. I quickly stepped onto the second on, and I had the height difference on Gunther.

He jumped next to me, and so I jumped higher, still blocking every blow he sent towards me. We kept doing so until we were on the very top, now on the walkway, continuing to battle. I kept walking towards him, forcing him to take step backwards. His back was finally against the small wall, and I hit his sword out of his hand, sending it over the castle walls.

We both leaned over the short barrier that I believe was meant to keep people from falling off, and looked down.

Gunther groaned and turned towards me. "Nice going, Jane! Now I do not have a sword!"

"I am sure Dragon can get it later," I said to him.

He huffed.

I pointed my sword to his chest, "Yield!"

"What?" He sighed. "Jane, my sword is—"

"Say you yield!" I insisted.

He shook his head. He pushed my sword away from him and turned back to leaning over the wall, looking for his sword. I sighed, giving up. I looked for the sword too, but soon was distracted by the sun. It was setting now, low in the sky. I put my elbow on the wall and rested my chin on my hand. I stared at the setting sun and sighed contently.

Gunther must have noticed what I was staring at, for he then came next to me.

"It's so…" I started to say, but stopped, remembering who I was talking to. He would make fun of me if I said the sight was pretty or beautiful. But, he wasn't going to stop me from staring at the magnificent view.

It really was amazing. The sun was sinking further behind the horizon, making the sky an orange tint. I found it so astonishing how this circle in the sky could go down, but always come back up. How was it possible that it knew when to come and when to go? How was it that we could also use it for time purposes? How is possible for it to give us light and warmth?

The world was full of so many questions that had no answers.

Lost in my thoughts, I forgot that Gunther was even there. I remembered when I heard him muttered something I couldn't quite understand. I turned my head to look at him the same moment he turned his head to look at me. Our eyes locked.

It was so strange. Something instantly clicked when that moment occurred. I couldn't place it, and I just continued to look at him. Something, and I don't know what, happened. I suddenly had this desire to take in and remember ever detail of Gunther. It seemed to me that the same feeling had come to Gunther as well. I noticed how his eyes were gray; a washed away blue. His black hair looked as soft as silk itself. His skin was still pale, but he had tanned a little more from being out in the sun so much. He was one inch over me, so we weren't the same height any longer.

I felt odd staring at him like I was, but he seemed to be doing the same, and so I continued to notice him in detail.

I had no idea how long we had been staring. I reluctantly looked away from him and at the sun, to see how much time had past. The sun was almost gone now and I would be suspected to arrive at supper soon with Jester, Pepper, Smithy and Rake.

We had been staring for a good fifteen minutes.

I looked back over at him, but he had his head turned towards the sunset. I tried to read his expression, but it was emotionless. I reached my hand out and placed it on his arm. He turned towards me, a thoughtful frown on his lips. I began to remove my hand from his arm, but he took my hand in his. His hand was rough from all the work he did. But, it was also strong and warm. Oh, how his hand was warm. I took a step closer towards him.

What on earth was going on?! What was wrong with me? Could I not even control myself?

Suddenly, he moved his face towards mine. I mimicked his move, not registering anything. Our faces came closer and closer to one another's; we were no more than three inches from each other, before our lips met.

"JAAA-NE!"

It was my mother.

We stopped. I took a step back from him and turned my head so I would not yell in his ear.

"Yes, mother?!" I called out.

"Jane?! Where are you?!" Her respond came near the courtyard. I went to the opposite side of the short wall and leaned over it to see my mother.

"Here, mother." I called to her.

"Ahh," She said. "The Princess would like to know if you would enjoy playing Hopscotch with her after you eat your supper."

I nodded. "Tell her I will come once I finish eating."

Mother nodded, turning to leave. But she turned back and looked at me. "Jane, why are you up there?"

"Oh," I could feel my cheeks grow pink. I moved my head to the side, hoping she would not see me blush. "Just looking at the sunset. I will be down in a moment."

She nodded and left, and I was glad she left it at that. I turned back towards Gunther and smiled sheepishly. "I have got to go now."

He nodded.

"I," I said, looking away, "I will see you tomorrow, then?"

Again, he nodded.

I forced a small smile towards him, and then went down the steps. I looked back at him and, making sure he did not see me, I broke into a run.

A/N: Good day! Well, I've been wanting to write some Jane and the Dragon - especially something Jane/Gunther. :P I just finished this less than an hour ago, so I appoligize if there's spelling and grammar mistakes. I'll edit it if I find any (and feel free to point out any of that to me, too!). Please review!

Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Jane and the Dragon. I have nothing to do with it except my obsession. I do, however, own this original plot. (: