Green

Jill's favorite color was green.

She couldn't pinpoint the exact reason as to why she liked it so much, but her interest in green as a color had never wavered. She had always thought of green as the color of life, the color of new beginnings. Like when she first moved to Forget-Me-Not Valley to take over her late father's farm; the first thing she'd noticed about the valley were its big, beautiful, green trees that seemed to reach all the way up to the sky.

Skye. Yes, green was also the color of Skye's eyes. Green was the reason that she'd first fallen in love with him.

When Jill first met Skye, the valley hadn't been green. It was a cool, late autumn night and she had been taking one of her many night walks by the Goddess pond, trying to sort out her thoughts. She wasn't alone.

"What's a pretty young lady like you doing out in the cold at this time of night?" Jill heard a man's voice and stopped in her tracks. She turned around but couldn't seem to find anyone amongst the trees and shadows.

"I don't know who you are or what you're doing…" she spoke slowly after a few moments. "But I'd run away now, if I were you. I have a…um…a watering can! Yes, that's it! I have a watering can, and I'm not afraid to use it!" She drew the old can from her rucksack, holding it in front of her in what she hoped was a threatening stance.

"A watering can? That's all you've got?" the voice chuckled. Oddly enough, it seemed to be coming from somewhere closer than the last time…

Before Jill had time to react, two powerful hands whirled her around. The watering can clattered to the ground as she found herself face to face with a handsome stranger.

If she had first noticed the long, silvery hair, Jill might have made a mad dash away under the assumption that she was being attacked by somebody several years her senior. If she had first noticed the leopard print shirt she probably wouldn't have run away, rather she might have started questioning the sexual preferences of the man before her. But Jill didn't notice any of that; the only thing that she noticed was his eyes.

The man's eyes were a sparkling shade of emerald green. They appeared to be almost endlessly deep; filled with thoughts and feelings that Jill couldn't possibly fathom. Despite their vastness, however, the eyes were also very soft looking, as if the farm girl could curl up inside of them and go to sleep. Above all, they were absolutely beautiful.

"W-who are y-you?" Jill stuttered, untrue to her usual braveness. Against her will, her heart began beating rapidly. No matter how hard she tried, she could not tear away from the green eyes.

Those eyes began to dance with dark amusement as a smirk crossed the face of their owner. "I can't help but notice the way you're looking into my eyes, gorgeous. Entranced?"

Jill wanted to tell him that yes, she was entranced. She felt as though if she were to do nothing but stare into their green depths for all eternity, she'd be perfectly at peace. But she didn't say any of this. Instead, she managed finally to pull herself away from the greenness, and change the look on her face from one of awe (which the man seemed to have been relishing), to one of skepticism.

"You didn't answer my question. Who are you?" Jill said, stepping out from under the man's grip on her shoulders and crossing her arms stubbornly over her chest. Just because the color and depth of the man's eyes was exceptional didn't mean she was going to be messed around with.

The man stepped back in mock surprise. "Well, well. It appears we have a spunky one here!" he said, still smirking. "I go by many names; Prince of the Stars, the Phantom Thief, wooer of ladies, charmer of damsels…But you can call me Skye." he said with a wink that caused Jill's heart to falter against her will.

"I-I'm Jill." she managed, quietly hating herself for reacquiring a stutter. Skye seemed to take it as an opportunity to hone in.

"What a beautiful name for a beautiful young lady." he said, moving his face uncomfortably close to the aforementioned young lady. What Jill really wanted to do at that moment was take advantage of his uncalled for closeness and kick the phantom thief right where it hurts. But she found that, to her dismay, her feet refused to move. She could only stand there, transfixed by his green gaze.

"You know," Skye spoke again, after a prolonged silence on Jill's part. "I wasn't planning on stealing anything tonight. But I might have to change those plans, considering the lovely maiden standing in front of me…" the farm girl was suddenly snapped out of her daze as she was easily lifted up and off her feet and thrown across Skye's back.

"What the—? Put me down, you handsome creep!" Jill shouted, pounding her fists against his back in protest.

Skye raised a silver eyebrow. "Handsome creep? Hmm, I suppose I could get used to that." he said.

"…You're not going to hurt me or anything, right?" Jill asked cautiously. The Phantom thief just laughed at her.

"What, you think I'm going to rape you or something? What kind of man do you take me for?" he asked, and then laughed again. The suspended farm girl was now mentally smacked herself for voicing such a bizarre thought. Her captor may have been a charmer, but her certainly didn't seem like a real threat. "Besides," he continued, "I wouldn't want you to take out your watering can on me. Whatever would I do then?" Jill could practically sense the amusement he wore on his face.

"Ha ha ha, very funny." She rolled her eyes, attempting to salvage what little dignity she could after making such an absurd accusation of him earlier on. "Can you at least tell me where we're going?"

"Nope." He replied simply.

"What? Why?" she demanded a reason.

"Because it's a secret." He said, revealing absolutely nothing. Jill groaned loudly at him in annoyance.

"What thinks that you have the right to steal me as though I were an object, anyway?" she asked, huffily.

"I'm not stealing you as though you were an object. I'm stealing you as though you were an unusual maiden that I simply must spend some more time with." he said with certainty. Jill listened for hints of mockery and joking in his tone, but found nothing. It seemed that the green eyed wonder was being sincere…

Not that Jill believed it for even a second. "Well, isn't that flattering?" she retorted sarcastically.

"No. That wasn't flattering. What is flattering, however, is the lovely view of your butt that I have from this angle, my dear." Skye said, causing her cheeks to turn bright red. The thief smirked broadly, knowing he'd succeeded in getting to the girl tossed over his shoulder. Jill's eyes narrowed in determination; she wouldn't allow herself to be embarrassed again so easily.

"I'm glad you think so. It just so happens that I'm getting a pretty swell view of your rear end as well." She said, slapping the rear in question with a free hand. Skye, caught completely off guard, stiffened in surprise and stopped walking. Jill had to try very hard not to crack up laughing at his reaction.

"…Well played, farm girl," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "You certainly are something else." He then hoisted the girl farther up on his shoulder, so as not to have her go tumbling to the ground, and the unlikely pair continued on.

They walked silence for awhile after that; Skye ambling along slowly, and Jill just waiting, unable to do anything. Finally, she'd had enough.

"Why can't you put me down now?" she asked.

"Because you might run away. And we're almost at our destination." He said simply.

"But can't I walk next to you the rest of the way?" Jill pleaded. She knew that she'd be much more comfortable on the ground. And she'd also get to see those green eyes again…No! Don't think about the eyes!

"Sorry, no can do." Skye told her. Jill, figuring complaining wouldn't get her anywhere, just grumbled in response, and left it at that.

Fortunately for the farm girl, who was getting annoyed at the fact that the blood was beginning to rush to her head, the pair arrived at their destination a few minutes later.

"Is this a…beach?" she asked the phantom thief once she was finally down on the ground again.

"Yes. It's my favorite place to think." He said, and turned to her.

"Come on, we're going to the water." He said, looking at her expectantly.

"And what if I don't want to go to the water? What if I want to go home and go to bed?"

At her question, Skye smirked. "Well, Jill, I'm not really giving you the option. You're mine for the night." He then took her by the hand and began walking her along. His cold touch sent chills up through her arm, causing her head to spin. Why was she reacting like this? Jill was never one so easily captivated by the opposite sex; she considered herself what other girls in the village might refer to as 'high maintenance'. So why was she so easily enthralled by the phantom thief? Why did she find him so darn fascinating when she had only just met him? It couldn't have been his cheesy lines, she was sure of that.

Skye sat down on a dock, and patted the space next to him in invitation. Jill accepted, and sat down warily, her guard up in case he tried anything. But he didn't try anything, he just stared out at the water, green eyes unfocused.

Finally, Jill couldn't take the quiet anymore. "Why do you steal things?" she blurted out suddenly, and instantly regretted it. The question had been on the tip of her tongue the entire night, but she'd never planned on actually voicing it!

Skye looked at her for a moment, considering her. " Figures that you'd ask that of all things. It's a bit of a...touchy subject, you could say. Quite the long story, really." he explained vaguely.

But Jill wasn't satisfied. "C'mon, phantom thief, I've got all night! You might as well tell me." she said, flashing him a grin. She found herself feeling much more comfortable now that she was in the position of power.

Skye chuckled nervously in response, "You sure are stubborn. I suppose I do owe you something, after whisking you away to this place. But I have to warn you; my story's kind of a downer."

"You've got my full attention." She told him, her voice warm and sincere. Skye, it appeared, wasn't too keen on sharing his story with just anyone. But with the way that Jill was talking to him, the way she was looking eagerly at him, he felt…okay. For the first time, he felt as though he could tell someone absolutely everything.

Skye sat for a moment, Jill waiting patiently beside him. He then took a big breath, and the words began to flow. "When I was little, we lived…well, we were pretty much in the sticks. My dad lost his job pretty early on. He spent most of his time looking for another, but nobody would hire him. So he started drinking." He stopped for a moment, green eyes turning notably somber before continuing.

"He and mom were always fighting; mom yelling at dad to stop drinking, dad yelling at mom that she didn't understand. I tried to stop them; I thought that it was all my fault that they fought." Jill looked upon the phantom thief in horror as he said this. She could picture the scene; a faceless, silver haired man yelling drunkenly at a woman standing nearby, with a littler version of Skye stepping between them, shouting for them to stop as his green eyes became edged with red puffiness.

Skye must've noticed the look that Jill was giving him, because his eyes lost their nostalgic look and his lips curved into a smirk.

"Are you pitying me?" he asked, laughing. But his laugh wasn't hearty as it had been earlier; there was now a hollowness to it. "Don't waste your time. What's done is done. So if you could hear me out without getting a look on your face like you just saw someone kick a puppy, then that would be appreciated." Jill was slightly taken aback by his request of her, but she did her best to put on a straight face.

"That's better." He said, nodding approvingly. "Anyways, you get the general setup; drunken father, angry mother, little boy who thinks he's the problem. Of course, our family's dysfunctional state wasn't a secret; the social workers came by every now and then to check in on things. At first, their visits were quick. But as the situation got worse, their visits became longer and more frequent. They would often pull me aside, and ask me what I thought of the circumstance, how I was dealing with it. I played stubborn and didn't answer their questions, which really bugged the hell out of them." He explained, smiling a bit at the thought.

"Unfortunately, my refusal to talk gave them more time to talk themselves. And, inevitably, there came a day where they began talking to me about foster families. I knew that I couldn't go with a foster family. But I couldn't stay with my parents either. I was only fifteen at the time, but I was smart; I knew that, if I told them that I wanted to stay, they wouldn't stand for it. Things would get legal and messy. My parents could've ended up in jail. I didn't want any of that...So I walked."

"You walked? What do you mean, walked?" Jill asked, not quite believing what she thought she was hearing.

"I mean like I said. I ran out of the room, packed a bag, and ran away that night. The first few days were great; I just travelled around, feeling liberated from my parent's constant bickering and the social workers' nagging. I was able to do whatever I wanted, when I wanted, with nobody to tell me otherwise."

"But reality began to dawn on me; I couldn't go on like I was. I needed money if I was going to survive. It was then that I started stealing."

"Didn't you ever worry about getting caught?" Jill wondered, straining to keep her tone measured.

"No, I didn't. Like I said, I wasn't an idiot; I knew how to sneak around, and how to make my way. Eventually, stealing became a way of life. It's my job, my profession. You farm, I steal."

"Not to say that I didn't think about my parents every now and again. Even though they gave me what might've been the crappiest childhood possible, I still missed them a little bit. They were my parents, after all. So, once I turned eighteen, I decided to go back home. I figured that, as I was officially a legal adult, that maybe I could support the three of us, and maybe help them sort themselves out if they hadn't already done so."

"But when I got home...The house was abandoned. Ransacked. It looked like it hadn't been touched in years." he explained, his eyes downcast, his voice careful. Jill longed to reach out to him, to put a hand on his shoulder and tell him that he didn't have to finish his story if he didn't want to. But she knew it wouldn't do any good; Skye would continue regardless of what she said or did.

"I left again, never looking back. I knew then that there was no way that I could make an 'honest' life for myself. Without my parents, stealing was all I knew."

"Since then, I've been travelling and stealing and charming all over. And now here I am, sitting on this dock, telling the story of my own worthlessness to a pretty girl that I've only just met. Man, I really am pathetic." He said, laughing hollowly again.

" Don't say things like that!" Jill shouted, momentarily hating the thief for demeaning himself. "You shouldn't beat yourself up over things that happened so long ago. And you're most certainly not pathetic!"

Skye quirked an eyebrow curiously at her exclamation. "You think so? Ha! I'm the reason all of it happened. I was a mistake. My parents didn't want to have me; they were screwed up enough without a kid to look after. I was the reason my dad needed to find a job so badly, the reason he started drinking. I was the cause of their fighting. I was the reason that the social workers kept coming back. My running away was probably the reason that they left, and I didn't bother coming back until four years later, by which point they were long gone. Do you still think I'm not pathetic, farm girl?"

Jill didn't know what to say. "Skye, I…I'm so sorry. It's just that it's—"

"I know what it is, Jill!" Skye lashed out, causing her to flinch back in surprise at his sudden anger. Green eyes became raging flames. "Do you think I don't? I lived it! I breathed it! I still do! And if you can't wrap your head around it, then I...I..." Skye's tirade faltered as he noticed the look on Jill's face. She looked fearful, a look that, earlier on in the night, he never would have been able to picture on the brave, sarcastic, confident farmer. He took a breath, let his muscles relax, and managed a small smile.

"You don't have to be sorry. I'm the one that should be sorry; I told you my story and then blew up at you for trying to make me feel better." He told her, tucking a stray brown hair behind her ear as he did so.

"It's not too late for you, you know." Jill said, almost in a whisper.

"What exactly do you mean? What can I do with myself, a dirty thief?" Skye asked, leaning slightly closer to the farmer.

"It's not too late for you to change. You don't have to steal anymore, if you don't want to. You can put what happened behind you. Get a job, buy a house, settle down with some girl…" only after she said this did she realize the implications that might come along with it. But no sooner had she turned her head away than a smooth hand cupped her chin and guided it back to meet a green gaze. Skye's eyes bore into hers, blazing with a new emotion. It wasn't the mischief, or the sorrow, or the anger, it was more like…desire.

Seconds after she realized what the look in his eyes might've meant, Jill found her lips brushing against those belonging to the Phantom thief.

He kissed her gently at first, but slowly began getting more forceful. Jill could feel her heart practically exploding inside her chest. She ran her fingers through soft, silvery hair, and felt his hands running their way through her own brown locks.

Skye had kissed a number of women throughout his thieving career. There had been Muffy, Celia, Flora, Nami, Claire, Lumina, and the list went on and on. But none of them kissed like Jill did. With most of his maidens, kissing was a simple pleasure, a way to pass the time. But with Jill, it was different. Skye felt wonder, passion, heat...what did the romance novels call it? Oh, yes.

With Jill, Skye felt sparks.

Reluctantly, the thief and the farm girl both pulled away, and Jill was once again faced with the mesmerizing green eyes.

"You're right, Jill. Maybe I can try to figure things out. I could start my own curry business..." Skye thought aloud, then shook his head disbelief. "God, Jill, I don't believe you. You really are something else." He stood up, and beckoned for Jill to do so as well.
" You're the first person I've ever told that story to, you know!"

"Really? Well, I'm honored." She laughed, following suit.

"I'm also surprised that, throughout all of my storytelling, you didn't once ask me why I chose this beach to come to." he said.

"Alright, I guess I'll bite then. Why did you choose this beach to come to?" Jill asked.

"This beach was where my parents had their first kiss." He told her, winking playfully.

"Skye! Don't tell me you lured me out here just so you could kiss me!" Jill shouted, feigning anger but smiling all the same.

He shrugged. "Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Maybe you'll never know." He laughed. "Come on, I'll walk you home."

"Whoa, you're actually going to let me walk? I don't have to be carried over your shoulder this time?"

"No, I think I can let you walk by yourself now." he said, offering a hand, which Jill then took. The two left the beach, and walked hand in hand all the way home.

That was a wonderful night, Jill remembered with a sigh. From that point on, the pair of them had started meeting regularly. Subsequently, thievery in the valley had grown less frequent, and the phantom thief became more of a legend than anything else. After about a year of late night rendezvous', Jill had proposed to Skye with a blue feather, which he'd happily accepted. She recalled that their marriage ceremony was the first time Skye had gone into the valley in the daylight; they had both been a bit nervous about that. Fortunately, rumors of the phantom thief had been so long gone, that nobody suspected the silver haired man that stood by Jill at the altar; they'd all assumed he was a city boy, and did no further digging. Skye had then proceeded to open up a curry shop near the bar in the center of town, which had quickly become very popular with the villagers.

"Jill?" a male voice brought Jill back to reality as she turned to meet bright green eyes and a trademark smirk.

"Staring off into the distance, eh? What were you thinking about?" Skye asked, walking over and pulling her up from her seat at their kitchen table.

"Oh, just about that first night."

"I sure did dump a load of angst on you that night, didn't I?" Skye mused, putting his hands around her hips and pulling her close.

"You did. At the beginning of that night, I never would've pegged you as someone to show that much emotion!"

"Well, I am a man of many mysteries…" he trailed off, looking at his wife thoughtfully. Before that night, Skye wouldn't have pegged himself as one to express that much emotion either. He also wouldn't have pegged himself as one to settle down, but he had certainly been wrong about that.

"Do you know what really made me fall for you that night?" Jill asked, moving her face closer to his, so that their noses were almost touching.

"Actually, I don't. You seemed to be quite the resilient girl, not one to be easily charmed..." he thought back to Jill's initial stubbornness and knew that this was true.

"It was your eyes." she told him. "They were absolutely mesmerizing. Still are." To her happiness, Jill watched those eyes light up at her words.

"I knew I saw you looking at my eyes that night!"

"You most certainly did! No matter how horrible your outfit was, or how terrible your pick-up lines were, I couldn't resist the eyes."

"What? You don't like leopard print?" he joked.

"No, it's not my personal favorite." She laughed. "But your eyes made up for it. Green is my favorite color, you know." She admitted, smiling.

"And amethyst is mine." He told her, closing the gap between their lips in one swift movement.

Third oneshot, completed! Wow, I haven't updated anything since school started. And I'm sorry to say, fanfictioners, but it doesn't seem like that'll be changing for awhile; homework is really picking up, and extracurriculars have started up as well (On a happy side note: our school musical just got cast, and I got the part that I wanted! WOOHOO :D!). Anyway, please forgive me if my work is sporadic, and if I end up paying more attention to some stories than others. I'll continue to do my best regardless, I promise!

Back to this story, what did you think? It certainly turned out to be one heck of a long oneshot xD. Early on during the summer, I'd planned on writing a Skye and Jill story, but never really got around to it, so I suppose that this makes up for it ;). Critique would be welcomed, as I've never written Skye before (was he OOC at all?). Anyhow, I hope you all enjoyed this, as I put lots of work into it :). The next oneshot I'll be working on is for the word 'cat', and I've decided that it will center around Gale and Molly. So you have that to look forward to :D.

ALSO, an important note! While I'm perfectly fine with many of these oneshots turning out to be romance stories between a pairing, I'd love to mix it up with some friendship/rivalry/anything but romance oneshots too! Unfortunately, many requests of yours don't leave me much room for that x). So please remember that these stories don't HAVE to be romantic!

Thank you all very, very much for taking time to read this. I hope you have a lovely day, and I'll try and update something soon!