Confessional, 8
No action. Character developpy. Pretty short.

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Seventeen


Confessional
Chapter Eight

Dear Christine,

These dreams about Tenyo are getting worse. I really don't know what to do about them. I should tell somebody right? I mean its not natural at all.

I'm really worry about it. It feels like he knows every time he looks at me, like he can see into my thoughts and knows the dirty things I dream about him at night. I know he can't but still.

Christine, what do I do?

Sralani

Dear Christine,

Tenyo brought somebody from his unit home today. John, that redhead knight who came to see him before. He's hurt and Tenyo said he needed someplace to stay while he gets better.

Well John's really nice and polite so I guess its okay. He's cute, too. I don't get to see many redhead boys, their kind of rare. He's not quite as cute as Tenyo though.

I really can't believe I just wrote that, Christine.

I'm going to check on John.

Lani

~

John Matthews was actually rather enjoying his stay with the Fuujis, though he was in excruciating pain most of the time. Tenyo had insisted that he remain in bed, and he, along with the searing pain that accompanied his every move, was not inclined to disagree.

He was reading his Bible when Sralani ducked into his room; that is, the spare bedroom which they'd put him in for the duration of his stay there. Hearing her enter, he glanced up.

She stopped and clasped her hands behind her back, smiling. "Good morning," she said, her voice sugary sweet.

"Good morning," he responded, closing the book to talk to her.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, still smiling.

"Like I got impaled." He laughed, but it faded into a sigh. "I'm so sorry to burden you guys like this."

"Don't worry. A friend of Tenyo's, you know?" She walked over and sat at the foot of his bed, and said, "I know if I were in the same situation I'd do the same thing."

"Yeah." He really had no reply for that.

"So, um, John," she said, looking up at his hair, a shade of red which could best be compared to cinnamon, and his bright green eyes, "where are you from?"

"I was born in Al de Baran," he said, running his fingers through that cinnamon hair, conscious of her staring at it. "But we moved to Prontera when I was little."

"I've never been to Al de Baran," she said, her eyes locking with his. Those fascinatingly emerald, long-lashed eyes. "I heard it's pretty."

He turned away from her, staring instead at the wall. "Well I was really young, but from what I remember, yeah, it was."

"I'd like to go there one day."

"I'm sure Tenyo would take you."

She sighed wistfully. "You think so?"

"Do you, uh, have a boyfriend, or anything?"

"No..." she said, in that same wistful sort of tone, turning to stare down at her feet. "What about you?"

"Yeah, her name's Francesca."

"Oh!" she looked up. "Mijolo?"

He blinked, and nodded. "Why, has Tenyo talked about her?"

"Uh huh, she's in your squad, right? The assassin lady from Morroc?"

John nodded. "Yeah, that's her."

"He said she doesn't know what she's doing and she's the one who got you hurt."

He winced slightly. "She's just...inexperienced. I got myself hurt by letting myself get distracted."

"Does it hurt?"

He looked at her to find her staring, once more, deeply into his eyes. It unnerved him. "Yeah," he said, subconsciously leaning back from her. This used muscles in his stomach which were currently missing pieces, and he winced. "A lot," he muttered.

"You poor thing," she said, standing and walking over to the side of the bed. She hugged him, holding his head to her bosom.

He waited patiently for her to let go of him, and when she did, he cleared his throat and said, "Yeah, well, I'll live at least," trying fervently not to be absolutely embarrassed by this.

"Are you gonna go back?"

"Huh?" He looked up at her.

"To Glast Heim."

He hesitated before answering. "If they send me back, yeah."

She frowned, but said nothing. Instead she went to leave, pausing in the doorway to look back and ask, "Would you like some breakfast?"

"That would be great."

She smiled. "Okay then." And then left.

"That girl is weird," he said to himself as he opened his Bible to continue reading.

~

When Tenyo awoke, the first thing he noticed was the smell of food. Quickly throwing his clothes on, he went out to the kitchen to find his sister fixing breakfast. "That smells good," he said, leaning over her shoulder to look at what she was cooking.

"Oh!" She dropped her spatula and turned around to face him. "Good morning, Tenyo!"

"Did you check on Matthews?"

"Uh huh. He's up." She turned back to the food, tending it so that it wouldn't burn. "They didn't say anything about your next mission, did they?"

"No, I don't think they will until Matthews gets better."

"What if they do?"

"Then they'll probably assign us another temporary squad member in his place."

"I've been thinking about joining the Army."

Tenyo froze, staring as she dumped the eggs she'd just finished scrambling out of the frying pan onto a platter, continuing on as if what she'd said was not absolutely shocking. "You...you're not...really?"

"Uh huh." She cracked two more eggs into the now-empty frying pan. "I'd fit in, don't you think?"

"L-Lani, no!" he said, appalled to the very core by the idea. "You can't! You don't know the--the things that we do!"

"What, like killing monsters in Glast Heim? Silver arrows work really well on those."

"No, Lani, you don't understand. I've seen things, horrible things! You can ask Matthews about the stuff he's seen! He's seen a heck of a lot more than I have. It's horrible, Lani. You can't subject yourself to that!"

"I've seen some pretty terrible things myself," she said, her tone dark.

He grabbed her by the shoulders, spinning her around to face him, staring very seriously into her eyes. She tensed up, surprised by this uncharacteristic action, brandishing her spatula as if to fend him off. "You can't, Lani," he said, as stern as she'd ever seen him.

"Let go," she said tersely, emphasizing the second word as she whapped him in the shoulder with her spatula. He did, a bit surprised by that, and she frowned at him. "I'm a big girl, Tenyo. I can join the Army if I want to." She turned back to the food.

There was a long pause before finally he responded softly, "Please don't."

She paused, ever so breifly, before continuing on with her cooking as if nothing had happened. "Fine."

He gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Lani."

She gave a sort of "whatever" shrug, as she dumped this batch of eggs onto the platter along with the previous batch. "Fix yourself a plate. Make one for John, too, and take it to him."

"Okay," he said, as he stepped forward to do so.

She set her utensil down and walked to door, picking up the bow and quiver of arrows that lay beside it on her way.

"Where are you going?" Tenyo asked, looking up.

"Guild stuff," she said. "I'll be back tonight."

"Okay."

As she left, she bumped into Francesca Mijolo, who had been walking up to knock on the door. Sralani reeled back, looking up at the wiry Morrocan woman, and then glanced at Tenyo, and stepped around her to leave. Francesca stared after the huntress, and then peeked inside the house to see Tenyo.

"Mijolo," he said, obviously surprised at seeing her.

She stepped inside, flipping her curly hair over her shoulder. It wasn't tied up in its ponytail right now. "Hello, Father. I came to see John."

"Sure. He's, um, h-hang on." He finished fixing up the two plates and, seeing the food left over, said, "D-do you, uh, want some breakfast?"

"Thank you, no, I ate."

He hesitated, staring at her, and then turned to the counter, hurriedly searching for the silverware drawer to retrieve a pair of forks. In his scrambling, he dropped one on the ground, and immediately knelt down to pick it up so that he could throw it in the sink and get another one.

"You are strung high today, Father," Francesca said, watching this.

He froze, his fingers on the fork, and stared up at her.

"You are a very nervous person, has anybody told you that?"

He laughed, nervously of course, and stood, placing the dirty fork in the sink. "Y-yeah...I guess I am." He fetched another one from the drawer and slammed it shut, wincing slightly, as he hadn't meant to do so.

"How is it you are so calm at war and so jumpy at home?"

He froze again, this time staring at the counter-top instead of looking up at her. What an interesting question that was. He honestly could not answer it. Did he just somehow feel more comfortable when he was surrounded by razor-toothed monsters who would stop at nothing to rend his flesh from his bones? Perhaps, he told himself, all soldiers eventually feel they are more at home on the battlefield than they are in their own houses. Perhaps.

Setting both forks on their respective plates, and then picking said plates up, he turned and began walking in the direction of the room where John was staying. "He's over here."

Francesca followed him silently. She blinked, taken slightly aback when he handed her John's plate and said, "Give this to him," and then left to his own room without another word, closing the door behind him.

She stared for a moment, wondering what was wrong with him, before pushing open the guest room door and going in to see John.

~

It was certainly a shock when, while he was sweeping out the main body of the church, Tenyo was approached by the amazingly doll-like Lian McAllister. He almost dropped his broom when she came up behind him, saying, "I did not expect to see you so quickly."

Though he did fumble it, he managed to catch it, clutching the wood and straw contraption to his chest as he stared at her cold eyes. "L-Lian," he said, simply.

"Hello," she responded.

"Wh-what are you doing here? I...d-don't you live in Payon?"

"I have decided to follow in my mother's footsteps. I've come to enlist."

This time he did drop the broom, staring at her. "B-but, you're just a swordswoman."

"I am considering training as a knight."

"Wh-why?"

"I told you. I am following in my mother's footsteps."

"Your mom died!" he exclaimed, staring at her in horror.

"I am well aware of that fact, Mister Fuuji."

His jaw dropped and he just continued to stare at her, completely shocked.

"I had come here to pray for good luck before visiting the chivalry to enlist, however."

That snapped him out of his daze and he blinked, looking around, for his broom. He picked it up, staring at it blankly for a moment, remembering the metal instrument with which that maid girl had stabbed Matthews. He then looked up at Lian and said, "God, uh. God listens."

"I know he does."

They were both silent for a moment, staring at each other. Finally, Lian said, "I will go to the chivalry now."

"I thought you were going to pray."

"I already have, Mister Fuuji."

There was another silence, and then Tenyo said, "G-good luck, then..."

"Thank you." She turned and walked away.

He stared after her for a moment before setting his broom down against the wall and walking after her. "Wait, Lian."

She stopped and looked back at him over her shoulder, her dark bangs cut straight across her eyebrows framing her eyes like a windowframe. A window to an arctic landscape. The effect creeped him out, just a bit. "What?" she asked.

"I, uh. L-let me come with you."

"Why?"

He thought for a very short moment, but the only thing he could think of to explain it was exactly what he ended up saying. "I want to."

"Very well." She turned back to face forward and waited for him to appear at her side before she began walking again.