Suikoden Fan Fiction ❯ Love's Just a Form of Insanity ❯ Chapter 11 ( Chapter 11 )

Chapter 11

The first thing Fred experienced when he finally managed to leave the dungeons was the usual sensation of temporary blindness. So blinded was he, that he managed to crush an unfortunate passerby. Or rather, it was he who had the misfortune of crashing into said passerby. “Uhm, excuse me sir or is it ma’am? I’m terribly sorry.” He really couldn’t see anything at the moment, stars flashing before my eyes.

“Argh! You clumsy oaf!” At the sound of the high pitched, angry female voice, Fred felt a shudder go through his spine. He looked downwards to see a smaller figure that looked a lot like Lily Pendragon.

“Oh… Uh… Miss Lily, I’m so very sorry. I…” His vision was clearing and the look on the young woman’s face wasn’t very pretty, not very pretty at all.

“You need to watch where you are going! Especially in that blasted armor of yours! You could kill someone if you are not careful.” Fred swallowed, nervously clenching his fists. Lily was really the last person he wanted to see right now. He had seen her with that ninja earlier after all… What was she doing with him anyways? Hit by inspiration, he suddenly grabbed her by her shoulders.

“Miss Lily, you are just the person I needed to see! I’ve been dying to talk to you?”

“Huh? What are you going on about?”

“I need to know what you and Master Watari were doing in the storage room.” The moment he had asked though, Lily had gotten bright red.

“First of all, unhand me, you oaf.” She removed his hands from her shoulders, looking disgusted. “Second of all, that’s a private matter between the two of us. It’s none of your business, so you needn’t worry about it.” She was still blushing, which Fred really didn’t like.

“I do to have a right to know what you and he were doing. Anything that concerns Watari concerns me.” She stared at him, now seemingly flabbergasted.

“Why?”

The knight swallowed, realizing that he hadn’t said it the right way. “It just is that’s all. Nothing for you to worry about. Besides, what do you have to hide anyways?”

“Why should you care if you don’t know? He was acting weird too, about you seeing us that morning, well, weird for him…” She scratched her chin, looking thoughtful, until a shocked look crossed her face. “You and he aren’t… Noooooooo way…” She seemed stunned and was looking over Fred carefully.

“We aren’t what?” He didn’t like the look on her face now, not one bit.

She began to circle him, looking him over. “I never thought you had it in you. You always seemed so… Upright, goody-two shoes and all that. Though, I got to say, I wouldn’t expect him to be your type. I’d have expected some pure innocent who was much shorter than you, not some scary quiet guy who’s actually a tiny bit taller than you.”

“What are you talking about?” Lily shrugged and smiled, then stepped up to him and stood up on her tip toes, looking him in the eyes. “W-what?”

Gently poking him in the nose, she then turned around and walked away. “You’re alright Maximillion… Well, more like you almost seem normal now.” She continued walking, leaving Fred still confused. “Oh and just so you know,” she looked back at him for a moment, “Me and him aren’t doing anything dirty at all. He may not act like it, but he’s quiet the gentleman, so you needn’t fear that he has betrayed you.”

As he watched her walk away, Fred was suddenly aware that something particularly important had just been said. Dammed if he knew what it was though. Sighing to himself, he decided that he had better continue his search and ignore Lily’s ramblings.

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Watari glanced around the room curiously. Rico had led him to her room, which shared a wall and door with Fred’s room, then run off telling him to not go anywhere. The room was orderly, with a feminine touch, but not girly. Of course, he was itching to look into Fred’s room on the other side, but such childish behavior was beneath him, wasn’t it?

Deciding that perhaps it wasn’t, he was about to step towards the door, when Rico came back in holding a tray with a tea kettle and some cups on it. She sat them down on the table in the middle of the room and gesture towards one of the chairs. After a moment’s hesitation, he sat down, but didn’t take one of the cups from the tray.

“Are you sure you don’t want some tea?” Rico said as she poured her own.

Watari merely shook his head, hoping she would stop wasting his time and reveal what kind of ‘help’ she was going to offer him or possibly could offer. After all, it was a known fact how little power Rico had when it came to Fred. How else could the man manage to run his squire so ragged?

“Alright then.” The girl said after she had had taken a few sips from her cup. “Let’s get down to business then, shall we?” She rested her arms on the table and looked him intently in the eyes. “Listen, I’m not saying I’ll help him fall in love with you. That’s out of my power, understand?” He nodded and she continued. “But, I figured at the very least, you like there to be no hard feelings between the two of you?”

Watari was silent for a while, trying to decide if it was really so bad that Fred hated him. Hatred aside, the knight was practically stalking him from what Watari had been able to figure out. That was more attention then he had ever gotten from the man or probably ever would. Did he really want to be just friends with the knight?

/ Then again, friends can eventually become much more./

The ninja slowly nodded, keeping himself calm and composed. As Rico then continued on, he began to formulate his own plan, while taking note of every little detail she mentioned.

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The next place Fred looked was the record room, which quickly turned up no Watari either. “Has anyone seen Watari?” Fred asked out loud, since it was a small room. Jefferson looked up from his desk and barked a loud, overly long no. Everyone else seemed to say the same, except for Mike, who seemed caught up in his cards. Fred didn’t bother to ask him anyways. The man had never seemed that bright in his opinion, always smiling no matter what.

As he left the room, trying to remember where he hadn’t looked, he felt a hand clasp on his shoulder. “Why are you so interested in looking for the ninja, eh?” He turned around to see Mike behind him, the smile even larger than it normally was.

“It is… a personal matter between us, something that needs to be straightened out.”

The gambler’s smile only seemed to grow, which caused Fred to feel uncomfortable for some reason he couldn’t name. “A personal matter? Must be quite personal, since you are chasing after him with such fury.” At the knight’s surprised look, Mike chuckled. “Oh, everyone’s been talking about it, the way you’re chasing after him like some rabid dog or love struck little pup.”

As the knight blushed, Mike only seemed to laugh louder. “I’ll have you know, it’s his doing, not mine.” Fred looked away, now afraid that the gambler might know more about the situation than he let on.

“Why, what did he do? Threaten you with one of his knives?”

“No, it wasn’t anything of the sort.”

“Well then, what could he have possibly done to have offended you so? It couldn’t have been an insult, as you being the captain of your order are far too mature to react to such a thing.” Fred mentally cringed. “Or did he take something from you? Or perhaps impart some sort of information he shouldn‘t have?” Mike’s disposition seemed to change suddenly. It seemed, colder, uglier. Then again, maybe Fred’s discomfort with the subject matter was getting to him.

“It’s none of that and it’s none of your business either. I must leave now. Good day.” The knight turned and left, hurrying as fast as he could. He could almost feel the cold gaze behind him penetrating his back.

/ Why is everyone in the castle so crazy? /

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In the time he had spent listening to Rico, Watari had learned a lot of things about Fred. Apparently, the knight was stupider than anyone had thought, if Rico’s tales were to be believed. The man loved blueberry pie, thunderstorms and stories of epic battles. And apparently, he hated dark, dank places with a passion.

By the time the ninja had left Rico, his brain was filled to the brim with such useless tidbits. Granted, the girl had tried to engage him in conversation, but the ninja had refused to be pulled in. Regardless of his current state of mind, he was still enough of a professional to not give away anything of himself, not to a mere squire anyway. Though, for a mere squire, Rico sure had a lot confidence to be talking about a superior like that.

At least now, he was ready to talk to Maximillion. If anything, he could keep the knight from making a bigger fool of himself than he already had. Not that there was much hope for that. Still, when it came right down to it, Watari hated the idea of the knight’s pride being hurt. At the very least, he could maybe get Fred to show some restraint.

Yes he‘d talk to Fred, as soon as he got done taking a nice, long bath. He wanted to at least be clean before he confronted the knight. He had the feeling that Fred thought of him as being an unclean ruffian.

Though considering the line to the bath house, it was obvious he had bad timing. A bunch of smelly soldiers in front of him, Zexen ones it seemed, no doubt fresh off their shifts, wanting a chance to get clean while they still had a chance. The ninja turned around and began to walk off only to himself facing an unusually tall, scrawny human.

“Damn… A line…” The boy muttered, scratching the back of his head. “You’d think they’d have more than one bath for situations like these.” Watari didn’t respond, merely moved to get around the man, only to have a hand on his shoulder. “Hey… Do I know you from somewhere?” The man said this as if he had just noticed the ninja.

Mustering his best blank stare, Watari tried to see if there was another route around the man. But, instead he felt two hands gripping his shoulders. “Wait… In highland… Watari?” The ninja blinked now. The voice did suddenly seem strangely familiar, but where had he heard it before? “It is you… Back from the war… Don’t you remember me?”

/ From the war… /

Suddenly there was a flash of recognition and Watari broke loose from the boy’s grip and was gone in a flash. He thought maybe his name was called, but he didn’t stop to check. His life had suddenly gone from bad to worse.

/ How did they find me? Shit! /

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To Be Continued…

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