Sorcerer Hunters Fan Fiction ❯ An Untitled Scene... ❯ Chapter 1

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Marron ran through the forests, gasping and panting as he went.

His eyes were only partly open, enough so he could see where he was going, but that was all; it was all he needed and all he wanted- no, all he wanted was to curl up somewhere and try and figure out what the hell was going on inside of him.

The forest area was silent, and dark. The moon shone above.

Marron carried on running for a while, then he reached out, grabbing and leaning against a nearby tree. He leant against it, gaining his breath back, thinking about how things had been a little while ago, back at camp.

Marron looked up and behind him, as if he was going to still see the campfire behind him... he shook his head slightly, realising he wouldn't. He'd been running too fast and he'd run too far for that. Looking up, the moon was up, the stars, a slight chill breeze blew around, blowing his dark hair wayward for a few moments before he ran an idle hand through it. The hand ran through his hair and then pressed to one temple; it slipped down to his mouth, he kept it there, holding his breath for a moment, then letting it out again.

He looked over his shoulder again. Other than his breathing and the rustle of the leaves in the trees, the place was quiet; Marron was sure he wasn't being followed, or anything like that. Followed... Carrot would probably notice he was gone, Carrot might come after him.... Marron pictured Carrot in his mind, for the moment, Carrot seemed the most desirable thing. If Carrot came after him and wanted to know what was wrong, it'd be okay, he'd stand and listen...

"Niisan..."

Marron looked around continually, as if he expected Carrot to jump out of the bushes or something like that; he wasn't, though. Other than Carrot... Gateau might notice that Marron was gone... Marron looked down. Strike that, Gateau WOULD notice Marron was gone. Gateau was the reason that Marron had ran so fast from the camp in the first place; if anyone was going to go after Marron, then Gateau would have been them.

Marron dropped down to the floor, then rolled over into a seated position against the tree he'd been leaning against prior to that. Quiet as this place was, hidden as it was, it'd be good enough for a hiding place, even if only for a little while.

"Marron..."

Marron's eyes flashed up, looking at nothing in particular.

".... I think... I think I love you."

Marron tucked his knees close to his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. He leant his chin on the tops of his knees, and rocked back and forth a little.

"... I love you..."

Three words that echoed through Marron's mind.

Just a little earlier, that was what Gateau had said to Marron. He'd told him he loved him!! He'd told him he loved him... Marron's rocking slowed a little. How was he supposed to react to that? How had Gateau wanted him to react? How should he have reacted?

He emitted a deep sigh, realising that perhaps his reaction hadn't been the best one. Looking, staring, almost glaring at Gateau as if he'd been speaking a different language and running into the depths of the night, looking back on it, had been something of a rash idea. A very rash idea indeed.

Tears sprung to Marron's eyes. He propped his head up on one hand, eyes shielded, not that anyone was there to see them, not that there was anyone to shield his eyes from. He violently sniffed, leaning down a little as tears came, near-unbidden.

He laughed a little nervously, looking at the moon bringing out tearstained highlights on his hand as he drew it away from him.

".... Why am I even crying?"

".... I love you..."

".... he said he loved me. Gateau Mocha said, to me, that, he loved me."

Again, Marron held his breath for a moment, pinching the top of his nose with one hand, and let it out.

He glanced around nervously. He wasn't sure why he kept looking around. Was he worried that someone was going to suddenly appear? Or was he scared that someone wouldn't?

Marron considered staying where he was; earlier on he'd been thinking of running further away, running as far as he could... now he'd actually run off, that idea didn't seem so attractive. There could be anything out there in the forests, and while Marron wasn't so worried about his personal security, he'd never forgive himself if he left camp, and came back to find that something had happened to his brother...

The more he tried to push the thought from his mind, the more it tried to force it's way in there.

Marron randomly focused his sight on a small patch of tall grass growing alongside a tree in his path of vision.

It wasn't as if Carrot was alone, where he was... Chocolat and Tira were with him, and Gateau might also be there too, if he wasn't out, looking... if disaster should strike, the combination of those four was probably enough to combat whatever evil it was...

Marron wondered if perhaps he should go back to camp.

If he was quiet enough, then perhaps when he went back, the others might be asleep, he could just sneak into the camp, and catch some sleep, and maybe in the morning, Gateau would have forgotten all of what he'd said the night before...

That thought made more tears well up in Marron's eyes. He looked away from the grass, confused out of his mind.

On one point, he felt a little creeped out. A little. It wasn't as if it was a totally random thing for Gateau to come out with; ever since the two had first met, Gateau had made it plain to everyone just how he felt about the young magic user. If it wasn't "LOOK AT MEEEE!!!!" then it was "Check out my muscles!" or "So, do you wanna sleep together?", or... whatever it was, it was always attention directed in Marron's direction. Most of the time, Marron had just treated it with careful rejection; a "..." was the most Gateau ever got out of Marron on most occasions. Like a jack-in-a-box, no matter how many times Gateau got whacked, he always sprung up again. Even after the nasty encounter with Sacher Torte, even after what happened then, Gateau somehow came out none the worse- it seemed- for the encounter.

Marron tucked himself up again.

Gateau always seemed to be on an endless quest to please those of a pretty face, much like Carrot, in fact. Gateau seemed to have a little more luck than Carrot, but Gateau tended to go at these things a little more tactfully than Carrot anyway. A little. But... while Gateau was always making comments to Marron... while he tended to wistfully glance after several of the gorgeous women their paths happened to cross with... had he ever said to them that he loved them?

He'd told Marron that.

Marron sighed, thinking back to the events that had lead up to that.

He'd been at a nearby stream, collecting water into canteens for the upcoming journey; it always paid to be prepared for any outcome, having water was a good thing to make a habit of. He'd been quietly there, gathering the water up... he'd heard the bushes rustle... he'd greeted Gateau with a distanced yet not unfriendly word or two... thinking back on it, Gateau had seemed preoccupied, though Marron hadn't really thought much on that at the time.

Gateau had asked Marron what he thought of Carrot, the way he always leapt after women, 'I love you! Let's do the funky thing! Come on, it'll be good!! Come on a date with me!!', things like Carrot always did. Marron had just lightly shrugged, saying something about how if his brother wanted to act like that then he wouldn't stop him, though his never-ending quest for pretty women could get a little tiresome at times. It didn't make Tira or Chocolat very happy, either.

Gateau had just nodded slightly at this.

Then he'd asked something like "How would you feel if someone told you they loved you?"... Marron had been a little put out by that, not sure where the conversation was going... he'd finished off filling the canteens, then stood up. Looking at Gateau, he'd been a little worried by the look in his eyes; there'd been a strange look there, a strange look that Marron couldn't quite make out... looking away from that strange glare, Marron had just mumbled out some kind of reply, he couldn't remember what he'd said. At that point, Marron had already been starting his way back to camp. He'd been stopped by Gateau's heavy hand, surprisingly soft against his shoulder. He'd instinctively stopped, and turned round to see why Gateau had done that. Gateau had stepped back, and he'd just stared at Marron, it might have only been for a few seconds, but to Marron, it'd seemed like a lot longer. Like time had suddenly dropped into slow motion, or something like that. Then Gateau had quietly said his name, "Marron.."... Marron just stood there, then "... I think... I think I love you."

There had been silence.

Silence while Gateau said that, and a more piercing silence as Gateau stopped speaking.

It took a few seconds for what Gateau had said to really sink in, once it had, that was when Marron's eyebrow had twitched, when his mouth had opened and closed without saying anything, that was when he turned tail and fled, hopping over the shallow river by way of stepping stones, and flying into the night. He'd never looked back to see if Gateau had been following; by this point, Marron wasn't sure that Gateau would find him even if he WAS looking.

Marron wasn't even entirely sure if he could find his way back to camp, though, come the morning, it probably wouldn't be so hard to find the path back. As long as he could find the river, then it wouldn't be hard to find the camp from there.

Marron uncurled from his ball a little.

Now that more practical worries had occurred to him, thoughts of Gateau could be dismissed for that little bit longer.

He stood up quietly, hearing the plants around him shift as he went. He idly dusted down his robe, and glanced around. Which way was the path back? He guessed that it was the path in front of him; he'd ran here, come across the tree, and sat down at it for a time... he nodded to himself, sure of this. Maybe if he did sneak back into camp, then the issue wouldn't be raised for a bit longer... Marron doubted that what had happened would be the kind of thing that Gateau would mention while in earshot of the others. Maybe if he left it a little longer, then he wouldn't have to worry about it for a while...

... But if Gateau had really, really meant what he'd said....

Marron paused, again.

Now that the Gateau thing occurred to him again... he wasn't sure he wanted to go back to the camp, and whatever that might bring. He wasn't sure what he was scared of, or if he was really scared of anything... thinking about it, he was uncertain.

If he went back to camp, what would happen? How would Gateau react? How would the others, how would his brother react? How would he react?

Marron felt a strange tightness in his chest at thinking about this.

The way Gateau had spoken, the look in his eyes, he'd sounded really serious, there wasn't any denying that. Had he really been serious? Did Gateau really, truly love Marron?

Marron sighed, deciding that he couldn't stay out in the woods all night.

Folding his arms and wandering without really looking at much more than the immediate path in front of him- not that he could see much else, through the cloud-set darkness- Marron slowly paced his way back in the direction he hoped the camp was.

Clouds drifted through the sky, vaguely obscuring stars, and cancelling out the moonshine every so often. Whenever this happened, Marron looked up and reassessed his situation, hoping that he wasn't making any wrong turns; the worst thing would be to be totally split up from the group, unable to find them again... he didn't want to leave Carrot and the others alone for any longer than he had to.

"... So, this is where you are..."

The sound of a familiar voice stopped Marron in his tracks. He gasped as the clouds shifted, pouring moonlight on the small pathwaylike glade that he and the other figure stood in.

"Ga-Gateau!"

Gateau just nodded, a couple of meters away from Marron. Marron looked a little shocked, then he noticed Gateau's sad expression. Gateau wasn't looking at Marron, he was looking to some point below him to his right, but Marron still felt that tightness in his chest at seeing Gateau like that...

"... at least I've found you."

Gateau's gaze didn't move; Marron tried to keep his tone light and conversational.

"Were you, um, looking long?"

"More or less since you left. You dashed off so fast, I couldn't keep up with you... I thought about maybe telling Carrot and the others that you were gone, but when I went back to the main camp, Carrot and Chocolat were asleep, and Tira was just settling down... I didn't have the heart to tell them you'd gone missing, 'specially not Carrot, I wouldn't want to worry them so much like that, just as they were getting to sleep..."

Even though his tone wasn't angry, Marron had the slight feeling that Gateau was telling him off somehow. He put his hand to his chest, absently twisting one of the buttons of his robe with his fingers. He tried to catch Gateau's gaze, but the angle of it made it impossible.

"Gateau... I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, Carrot and the others don't even know you're gone yet. If we're quiet, they'll never know you were gone."

Gateau looked up for a moment, and then started turning back the way he'd presumably come, hardly looking at Marron as he did so.

Marron stood there for a moment, frowning.

Gateau was obviously avoiding the subject.

Marron twisted the button round a little more, then nodded to himself.

"Gateau!!"

Gateau stopped, but didn't turn round.

"What is it?"

Marron ran around to Gateau's front. Gateau was staring at the ground, while Marron stared straight at him.

"Gateau... look at me..."

Gateau was struck by Marron's near-forceful tone.

He looked up, slightly surprised.

"Hm?"

"You can try dodging the issue, but... we can't hide from it, else it'll end up driving us both insane, eventually..."

Gateau just carried on walking.

"What issue..."

Marron's look grew a little more determined as he ran in front of Gateau, stopping him from progressing. If he'd really wanted to, Gateau could have just pushed past, but something was obviously stopping him; that thing was Marron.

"You KNOW what I'm talking about."

Gateau just looked at Marron for a moment.

"I told you I loved you, and I meant it. You ran away... something like that doesn't just go away, Marron! You can't know how much it hurt to just have you run away like that!"

"I know, I've been thinking about it ever since I ran off... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intentionally hurt you, but... I just didn't know how to react. I'm sorry."

Gateau looked up at Marron, looking him in the eyes for the first time that night.

"Well..."

Seeing the near-angry look in Marron's eyes, Gateau looked away again, and started walking again. He walked past Marron, shrugging slightly.

"... that's that, then."

Marron made an exasperated noise as Gateau walked past him again.

"I could keep trying to stop you all night... Gateau, why are you DOING this?"

"You made it quite clear how you felt back then."

"Maybe I was stupid for doing that!"

"Maybe I was stupid for saying anything in the first place."

"Gateau!"

Marron had stopped by this point. Gateau was a few meters in front, slightly obscured by some overhanging trees. When Marron called his name, for whatever reason, he stopped.

"What? What is it?"

Gateau turned around. Marron was a little surprised; Gateau looked as if he was about to have an emotional outburst of some kind. The tone of his voice had been a little snappish, too....

Marron walked forward slowly a few paces, reaching out a little.

"Just... wait a moment. Don't keep walking off. We can't talk if you keep walking off..."

"What's there to talk about?"

"Things like this! Yes, I ran off, but that doesn't mean I suddenly hate you or anything!!"

Marron's voice dropped in volume a little.

"Just because I ran off doesn't mean that it's any problem with you, Gateau..."

Gateau watched Marron for a moment, as if he was a very delicate object under threat of breaking.

"How do you mean?"

"I don't even remember what I said when you asked me how I'd react if someone told me they loved me... how am I supposed to know how to react? I've never had to think about that eventuality before, so how am I supposed to know?"

Gateau folded his arms and spoke with a mock-chiding tone in his voice.

"And I'm supposed to believe that someone so beautiful's never had someone tell him that they love him before?"

"Asides from family, yes!!"

Gateau just raised an eyebrow.

"I always thought it was a little weird, but I guess no-one really notices you... they must be blind or mad, 'cause you're beautiful and anyone who says different deserves a punch in the head."

Marron looked away slightly.

"You always say things like that..."

Gateau smiled a soft smile.

"That's because it's true."

Marron looked back at Gateau, a pained look on his face.

"But you ALWAYS say things like that. How am I supposed to know when you actually truly mean them?"

"Would I lie about things like that?"

Marron sighed, and looked away. Now that Gateau was here, he had so much he wanted to say, but he wasn't sure how to say even one word... he'd never really had to talk like this before.

Gateau seemed to sense Marron's unease and sudden silence, this time, he didn't turn to make his way back to the campsite.

"Let's go sit down over here for a bit... it might be easier to talk when we're sat down."

Gateau walked back towards Marron. Marron looked up as he walked closer, Gateau smiled tenderly at him, and nudged his head towards another little path.

"Over there good enough?"

Marron silently nodded.

Seeing the path Gateau had indicated, Marron lead the way slightly. Gateau followed him. For a moment, the urge to put his hand on Marron's shoulder rose within Gateau. He put his hand out, then retracted it quickly. He blinked, and sighed slightly. Normally he wouldn't mind, normally he'd do things like that without thinking, but today was a little out of the ordinary....

The path went on for a little while, the two walked for a few minutes before the path trailed it's way out; the path went on until it reached a little cliffedge. A steep drop went down to more forest and more trees. Marron walked onto the cliffedge first, and sat himself down beside a tree that overhung the cliffedge. Gateau took Marron's lead and sat himself down next to him.

There was a silence for a moment. Gateau smiled kindly, a little hopefully.

"So... we were gonna talk?"

"Yes... it's just.... hard for me to find the words."

Gateau nodded a little.

"Doesn't matter... you take as long as you want, we're not really in any hurry."

"Mmmm..."

Marron idly took a blade of grass between his fingers, turning it and twisting it as he thought things over a little. He snapped it and discarded it, starting again on another. Five blades of grass were discarded before Marron said anything.

"It's just... you're always making comments, ever since we first met you've been doing it, but how can I know if you really mean it? Yes, you think I'm beautiful. And if we end up helping some doe-eyed demure beauty during our travels, you'll tell them that they're beautiful too... if I'm not the only one, then how can you say you love me?"

Gateau smirked a little, and ran his hand through his hair.

"You get that jealous?"

"It's n-not that, it's just, if you say you love me and then you turn around and say you love someone else, then-"

"Have I ever said I've loved anyone else?"

Another blade of grass.

"Well, n-no..."

"Do you think I'd be so quick to say something like that?"

"Perhaps..."

Gateau's voice was a little more serious now.

"Earlier, when I said that I loved you... did I sound like I was lying, or that I was making a joke out of it all?"

"No..."

"Then what makes you think I didn't mean any of it?"

Marron fell into silence again.

He knew what he wanted to say, now. But saying it... saying it was so hard...

"I..."

Marron pulled one knee to him, wrapping his arms around it.

Gateau glanced at him.

"What is it?"

Marron shook his head a little, closing his eyes. He opened them again, looking at some indefinite point in the distance.

"It's hard to say..."

He laughed a mirthless little laugh.

"It's almost like I don't want to say it in case you thought less of me for it... even though I've acted so rashly tonight, I'm sure it'd be hard for you to think much less of me..."

Tones of wavering emotion crept into Marron's voice.

"You probably don't think much of me right now."

Gateau waved his hands around in a defensive way.

"How... could you say something like that? Of course I don't think less of you for what happened, I couldn't or wouldn't think less of you..."

Gateau now sounded totally serious.

"Marron, I love you, and I can't think of anything at the moment that would change that.."

At that, Marron let out a sharp sniff and laid his head to rest against his arms. He shifted a little so that his head was covered by his arms. The tears wouldn't stop.

Gateau was a little taken aback by this.

"Marron!!"

Marron didn't look up.

The urge to put his arm around Marron floated up inside of Gateau.

Marron looked so vulnerable there, curled up slightly, shoulders shaking with his emotions... from what had gone on before, Gateau figured that Marron might not mind if he just got a little bit closer to him...

Gateau shuffled a little closer, and tentatively slipped his arm around Marron's shoulders.

Marron didn't really respond, but he didn't try to leap away, so Gateau took that as a good sign.

Silence continued to reign for a little while longer.

Gateau leant his head down a little, and gently whispered to Marron.

"You okay now?"

Marron just sniffed.

"Marron?"

Marron's voice was barely audible, muffled as he was through his sleeves.

".... I'm... I'm just scared...."

Gateau blinked, pulling back a little.

"Scared?"

Marron looked up a little.

Unshed tears shook at the corners of his eyes, and his hair was a little mussed up. A blush between sadness and embarrassment had taken up residence on Marron's face.

He looked up at Gateau, a look the struck Gateau as being so lonely... his heart went out to Marron, he felt like if there was anything he could do to turn that beautiful yet so sad look into a glittering smile, then he would, no matter what it was...

".... yes.... I'm... scared...."

Gateau kept his tone as gentle as he could.

"Scared... of what?"

Marron sounded empty as he spoke.

"Scared... that you might end up forgetting about me..."

"... Forget about you? Why would I do that?"

"Whenever you see other beautiful people... you might... you might just... and I'd be..."

"You think I'd suddenly abandon you for someone else?"

"I... I don't know..."

Marron sighed, and wiped his eyes with one of his sleeves.

"All the time, I watch my brother, how he acts... he'll tell one girl he loves them then the next day he'll do it again to someone completely different, he's not affected, and the girls, they aren't affected either... though I suppose that that's because they never react the way he wants them to..."

Gateau shuffled a little closer to Marron.

"You're comparing me to your brother?"

Marron smiled a shy smile through his tears.

"There ARE similarities."

Gateau chuckled.

"You think so?"

"A little."

Gateau smiled, a little to himself, and then the silence came back.

Gateau felt he should say something. If Marron was scared that he'd suddenly leave him for any other pretty face that happened along the journey... he felt he had to say something to prove to Marron that that wasn't true.

"We laugh about that, but... I don't know, I'd just like you to believe me... if we were together, then I wouldn't want to be with anyone else. You're beautiful, you're..."

Gateau blushed a little.

"... you're like some kind of ethereal angel or something. Compared to you, most other things are ugly, why would I want to go off with someone else if I had you?"

Marron looked at Gateau, wide-eyed.

"... Ethereal angel?"

Gateau nodded a little.

"Yeah... yeah, you are."

Gateau pointed at Marron, indicating something on him.

"What with the moonlight on you and everything."

Marron gulped a little, looking back to the indefinite point on the horizon, blushing furiously.

"Y-yes, well..."

"Do you need proof that I wouldn't run off with someone else?"

"Proof?"

"Yeah. Like this."

Marron turned to face Gateau, about to ask him what he was talking about, and was taken aback to suddenly have Gateau meet his face, their lips joining in a kiss.

Gateau wrapped his other arm around Marron, effectively capturing Marron in his grasp; Marron wouldn't have been able to escape, even if he'd wanted to.

Marron was caught by surprise, and had made a noise of surprise once he'd realised what was happening, but once the idea sank in, he didn't make any effort to fight back.

Still blushing madly, Marron immersed himself in the kiss. Gateau leant himself against Marron, being infinitely gentle with each movement. Marron pushed his arms up around Gateau's neck, and Gateau slipped his hands down around Marron's waist; Marron looped his arms around Gateau, holding on snugly.

Gateau pulled back a little, smiling at Marron. Marron smiled back.

"... Maybe I'm convinced..."

"Yeah?"

Marron sounded a little breathless, he smirked slightly.

"... Maybe you'll have to convince me a little more..."

Gateau smiled inwardly as Marron became a little more bolder, being the one to instigate the kiss this time. Gateau made sure his grip on Marron was protective enough, and he swiftly went from the half-kneeling half-lying position he'd been in before, still holding Marron, into a standing position; the way they stood meant that Marron's feet no longer touched the ground, but that had been Gateau's intention.

Both seemed to have some kind of inner power struggle going on for the moment. Gateau seemed eager to finally have what he'd wanted for so long, since the two had first met... Marron was eager to carry on experiencing all these new feelings... part of him, in the back of his mind, was still a little unsure. Gateau had sounded perfectly serious and convincing, but what if the unthinkable happened and he DID abandon him?

Pulling his head back a little, Gateau still administered smaller kisses to Marron's lips. Marron smiled, pushing his finger to Gateau's lips, holding him off a little.

"So... you're sure?"

Gateau made to playfully nip at Marron's finger before he smiled and replied.

"Sure about what?"

"Well, you know... things with you and me..."

"Sounds good to hear you say that. Why wouldn't I be? I've certainly been after you long enough, whether you've taken me seriously or not... why, aren't you sure?"

Marron dropped his hands out of the loop they were in, letting them hang over Gateau's shoulders. He smiled, a little wistful.

"It's not that... I suppose I'm just a bit surprised. Things have happened so fast..."

"You call that fast? How long have we known each other?"

Marron shook his head.

"Not like that. I mean, well... even though you act how you act, it still came out of the blue when you said what you said..."

Marron sighed, leaning his head beside Gateau's neck, his arms still hanging off a little.

"... everything seems like it's rushed by."

"Mmmm... perhaps it has, just a little."

"Nnn..."

The two stood there - well, Gateau stood there, and Marron was held there - for some more time, just staying silent. Marron closed his eyes, feeling safe in Gateau's tight hold. The night was a little chilly, but Marron felt warm in Gateau's embrace. Gateau enjoyed the feeling of Marron being so close to him, acting so close to him...

Gateau sighed, a happy sigh.

"I guess there's someone who wants to be loved in all of us, huh?"

No reply from Marron.

"Marron?"

"Nnn."

Marron shifted around in Gateau's arms, but didn't say anything coherent.

Gateau blinked, momentarily wondering what brought about Marron's change in mood.

"Oh... you're asleep, are you?"

Again, no reply.

Gateau just smiled to himself. It'd been an exhausting few hours, if not physically, then definitely emotionally. If Marron wanted to sleep, then Gateau wasn't going to stop him.

"And I guess the mad sex can come later."

Marron's eyes snapped open at the mention of this. He blinked, wondering if he should say anything to that... he decided against it, smiled, and closed his eyes again.

Gateau stared off the cliffedge for a few moments. The moon hung in the air as a bright disc; the clouds from before had gone, and the stars twinkled in the clear dark night. A breeze blew, but it was refreshing rather than discomforting.

Things were quiet, until a shout disturbed Gateau from whatever he was thinking.

"MARRON!!! GATEAU!!!"

"Huh?"

Gateau turned around, being careful not to disturb Marron too much. He walked back onto the main path, and glanced around, trying to place where the voice had come from. A figure ran almost past him; she noticed him, and stopped.

"... Gateau!! God, we've been so worried!!"

Gateau just smiled.

"No worries, Tira . Hey, does that mean the others are out too?"

"Carrot woke up about half an hour ago, only to find that you and Marron were gone... he woke us up immediately and got us looking..."

It seemed to occur to Tira at that point just where Marron was.

"Hey, what's happened to..."

She slowly pointed a finger to the snoozing Marron.

"Long story, I think he's a bit exhausted."

Tira raised an eyebrow.

".... What HAVE you two been up to?"

"Not what you think we've been up to!! Still..."

Gateau paused, wondering if he should tell Tira the prior events.

".... eh, I guess I can tell you on the way back to camp."

Tira just smiled a bemused smile. Gateau chuckled, and led the way back to camp, telling her about just what had happened that night. And Marron still slept.

Back at camp, the three returners were greeted by Chocolat and Carrot, the latter of which seemed to not know how to react.

"Where HAVE you two been?!"

Gateau knelt to the ground, setting Marron - a little regretfully - down near the still-warm embers of the fire. Marron shuffled a little, subconsciously aware that his surroundings had changed, but he was too far gone into sleep now to wake up and say anything about the change in situation.

Gateau stood up, and folded his arms.

"Out and about."

He looked up at the starry sky.

"It's late, we should get sleep."

Carrot opened his mouth, but Gateau spoke before Carrot could say anything.

"A-"

"Whatever it is, it can wait until morning. I sure as hell wouldn't want to say anything that Marron wouldn't want me to say. Tonight's tired him out I think, he'll probably sleep right through until morning."

"WHAT'S tired him out?"

Carrot sounded a little worried. Gateau smiled, glancing at Tira.

"As I said to Tira, not what you THINK'S tired him out."

He idly cracked his knuckles.

"I wouldn't write out the possibility of it happening in the future, though..."

Carrot fell back onto the floor, eyes shut.

"Whatever, as you said, it can wait until morning. I dunno if I even WANT to know.."

"Oh, you're not concerned about the well-being of your beautiful brother?"

"I didn't say that! Just... aw, leave it till the morning, okay? I wanna sleep."

Gateau laid himself down near to the fire, Marron in sight.

The last dying licks of flame played orange light onto Marron's sleeping face. His hair fell over his face a little, but he looked peaceful and calm enough as he slept.

Gateau smiled an almost sad-looking smile as he watched Marron through sleepy eyes.

"MmmmmI'msolucky."

Carrot grumbled.

"Did you say something, Gateau?"

"Not a thing. Night."

Carrot made an indistinct noise, and the camp fell quiet, save for the occasional snores of tired-out Sorcerer Hunters.

~Fin~

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AUTHOR'S RANTING

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w00t, random squishy bishiness XD

This story came about when I was talking with one of my friends, telling her about how I was a little worried and annoyed about how I hadn't been writing much recently, how I hadn't finished anything for years, all of that... then I opened up wordpad, and just kinda spontaneously wrote ^_^. It's not really a significant piece, just a scene that kinda came to me, but I think it works, don't you? I like it, it's good :). I started it on Saturday and it's Monday now... originally, I wanted to finish it in one sitting, but that didn't work ^_^.

Now I've finished this, I've got my Sleepless Nights fic to work on (not that that'll appear on FF.net, not until the NC17 thing is lifted, if it ever IS, grr), and I'm also thinking up some stuff involving everyone's favourite crossdresser, MILPHEY YU :D... or Mille Feuille, etc etc etc. Waiiii, he rocks, more people should love him XD

Anyway.... I mainly listened to "Turn Back Time" by Aqua while I was writing this. Actually, I only wrote this when I was listening to that song, I've listened to it a lot over the past few days XD. Sorcerer Hunters rocks so extremely much, but I'd better shut up now so I can upload this before I have to go to bed. Feh, schoolnights suck.

~Tabi~

(October 10th 2003 - Grrrr, why did I not date this one?! It was my very first finished SH fic, dammit!)