a/n: it's been forever since the last update >.<

“Do you know how different we are?” Jimin asked.

The Newcomer beside him only looked forward as he walked. Jimin knew the man heard him word by word and he didn’t expect a response either. It didn’t offend him when the Newcomer whom he only knew by his surname gave way for silence to take over his answer.

“Fire and water. Two different elements. They contradict each other,” he said calmly. “I used to think that it is impossible for these two elements to rely on each other. But recently, that thought in my head has ceased to exist.”

When Jimin turned to look at the Newcomer, the latter’s face was slightly crumpled. He could see how the young man was trying his best to interpret what Jimin meant. The corner of his lips pulled into a small smile.

“Have you heard of the story of us Healers if we are upset?” Jimin spotted the house of the herb seller closed. The Newcomer was lucky Jimin was around to bring him to his best friend, Taehyung. Calmly inhaling the clean air, Jimin continued, “We turn to ice. Not literally, of course.”

The Newcomer’s brows furrowed further, looking at him in his eyes. He looked like he wanted to ask a question, but something in him made him hold his tongue.

“When you pour water on ice, is it not a slow process to melt it? Unlike fire,” Jimin said and glanced at the Newcomer. “Fire, heat… it melts the ice in no time, is it not?”

The Newcomer looked at him and lightly nodded.

“On the other hand, Defenders, fire. You only burn brighter when you are upset,” Jimin stated and smiled kindly at the emotion shown on the younger male’s face. He didn’t seem upset or offended. Surprised, it seemed. “I’ve healed quite a number of Defenders. I’ve seen enough to know. After all, my sister Chaeyoung isn’t the only one who has a friend from the Defense Sector.” He smirked upon noticing the slight burn on the man’s face at the mention of Chaeyoung.

“What can calm down fire if not water, am I not right?” Jimin asked with a lift of his brow when he sensed that the Newcomer was looking.

“Why are you telling me all this?” the Newcomer asked with a soft frown.

Jimin gave him a long look. He used to think that all Chaeyoung needed was her big brother for her to lean on in times of trouble. He used to think that his little sister could only find solace when she spoke to him of all her worries. He used to think that if their parents turn their backs on them, all they needed was each other.

But even he had Taehyung to share his burdens with that he couldn’t share with his sister. If someone out there could provide her with what she needed that she couldn’t find anywhere else, just like the presence of Taehyung in his life, the Newcomer might be that person.

Jimin placed a hand on the Newcomer’s shoulder. “Both of you might need each other more than you think you would.”

The Newcomer’s eyes slightly widened, albeit the control he had on the expression on his face. Jimin almost smiled at the surprise that didn’t seem to lessen on the younger’s face.

“My sister never told me about you,” Jimin chuckled. “Strange how nothing is supposed to be a secret between her and I. When she does keep something a secret, though, it’s always something special to her.”

*

Jungkook watched the tall trees lining in front of him with narrowed eyes. Park Jimin told him that they had arrived at his friend’s place. All he could see were trees, large with a height almost reaching the sky, layered. He bit his lip, mind swirling over the thought that this might be a joke. After all, Jimin was best friends with Taehyung. From the few stories he heard of, Kim Taehyung was known to be extremely playful, rich with tricks.

Jimin stepped closer toward the trees and Jungkook watched as the older male moved his head in what seemed to be an act of peeking. “He must be busy dealing with one of the wildest plants to ever exist. Hold on,” Jimin said and looked around as though he wanted to make sure no one else was there to witness what he was about to do. When he looked sure, he turned to Jungkook and lowered his voice when he said, “You must tell no one of this.”

Before Jungkook could question the Healer what he meant by it, the latter cleared his throat gently and softly spoke with calmness that it almost sounded like he was singing to the trees.

“Leaves that live leave us with relief for we need leaves for us to live.”

The leaves of the trees rustled above them, the grass underfoot danced like they were blown by a soft breeze. Jungkook felt the ground moved, like a wave of an ocean and his eyes instantly widened in alarm, head whipping around to look at his surroundings.

Jimin stood casually, eyes fixed onto the trees in front of them and when Jungkook threw his gaze at the same direction as Jimin’s, his eyes widened even more, though his brows drawn.

The large trees shook together alongside each other with deep, guttural sound and in just seconds, the trees’ height declined as were their sizes until each of them was a tree of only a foot tall with few tiny leaves adorning its thin and fragile looking branches.

“Taehyung planted them there to replace his fence. It’s so no one could harm his pet plants.”

Just right after he said that, a huge leaf came slicing the air fast enough that it was a little too late for Jungkook to dodge it as it came toward him like a blade, successfully sliced open his arm. Jungkook slightly hissed and lifted his brows at Jimin. “Are you sure it’s not the other way around?”

Jimin shrugged. “It could be both.” Jimin then lifted his hand and Jungkook stepped backward when he realized what the older male was trying to do.

“I am a Newcomer.”

The Healer slightly smirked after snorting lightly. “We are in the Cultivation Sector. Not in the Healing Sector.” For some reason, that brought him back to the first time Chaeyoung asked if she could try to heal his wound.

Without any second of waiting for Jungkook’s response, the other male gently pressed a palm onto his fresh wound, soft blue lights glowed around it as well as his body and when he pulled away his hand, Jungkook stared at his skin, clean and unscathed.

“You are an official Healer,” Jungkook said with a lower voice, reminding the Healer something he’d known so well. “You would be punished for healing a Newcomer.”

Jimin’s smirk only grew wider as he slowly walked away from him. “Only if you are a loudmouth like most of your people,” Jimin said and looked over his shoulder, “no offense.”

Jungkook didn’t find it in him to be angry for the truth Jimin had just said. 

He looked around, eyed every plant he saw suspiciously. It wouldn’t be a problem for him to dodge and fight the plants without using his ability, but then he couldn’t waste more time doing that when he would be summoned soon for his tra