Final Hikari: Another SO:TLH fan fiction! The genre is humor; the main characters will be Faize, Lymle, Meracle, and the girl from the Black Tribe. Since her official name of Amina isn't very well known, I will go with my original nickname for her in these author's notes/disclaimers: Faize's Girlfriend! XD XD (Even though it should be Faize's Dead Girlfriend, you get the idea. XD)

Friendly Tribeswoman: …

Final Hikari: As I was saying, this will be a short story set during the TLH timeline.

Friendly Tribeswoman (Faize's Girlfriend from here on out, because I can): …But of all the nicknames, why that?

Final Hikari: Well, I know the Japanese fans have been calling you "Amina" but that sounds like…well…Ameena. XD Anyway! I'm holding out until Star Ocean: The Last Hope -International- to give you a large roll in my fan fictions.

Faize's Girlfriend: Some of the readers have no idea what you're talking about though…

Final Hikari: :D Google it, SO fans! -enthusiastic nod- Right now! It's already on sale!

Faize's Girlfriend: The Final Hikari doesn't own anything from Star Ocean: The Last Hope.

Final Hikari: But I do own a copy of TLH International! -evil laugh- It'll be the first good RPG on the PS3! Huzzah!

Teenkeeper

Chapter I

The Request

The morning sunlight filtered in through the heavy drapes covering the window. A warm breeze blew in from the open window on the far side of the room, gently rustling the pages of an open book that had been left on the nightstand between the two beds. A faint scent of salt was carried in the breeze, undoubtedly originating from the ocean beyond the city's boundaries.

Lymle Lemuri Phi stared at the floor, expression slightly forlorn, ad Reimi Saionji finished adjusting her pigtails. The older girl smiled at her brightly, though she was secretly glad not to have to worry about babysitting that day. Instead, one of the most sensible and responsible member of their group, although possibly the least patient with children, would be given the cumbersome duty of looking after Lymle and Meracle for the day.

Meracle was notably intrigued by the abundance of people who were part of her race. Additionally, since she remembered next to nothing of her past, to her, it felt like her first time visiting the city. The subsequent effect was that she needed to be watched constantly, else she'd wander off and find herself in an incredible amount of trouble.

Unbeknownst to this plan for the day, Lymle thanked and said goodbye to Reimi, off to go see the victim babysitter himself; though she had no idea she'd be stuck with him for the entire day. If she had known further in advance, she would have planned and arranged an entire gauntlet of pranks to torment the poor Eldarian.

Reimi's smile faded as the door swung closed behind the young girl. She sat down in the chair, grimacing slightly as she moved her right leg. Though her left leg was succumbing to the disease as well, its progression on her right was far worse. Despite having slept relatively well, she was tired; she doubted she would have been able to join the group hunting for bunnies in the forest if they had decided to depart immediately. The plan was to go the following day, venturing into the forest with renewed energy and supplies.

Though…I'm not going to be of use to anyone at this rate…


The inn in Tatroi was lavishly decorated, and even out in the hallways and staircase, the walls were adorned with elegant, framed paintings of people or landscapes. She walked down the stairs, shoes clicking against the hard polished wooden surface as she did. She was warm in her dress, since the temperature on Roak was quite a bit hotter than what she was used to on Lemuris.

She stopped on the last step and peered around the room, gaze falling to the row of doors that lead to the first floor's rooms. The extremely elderly receptionist, "self proclaimed master hostess Catherine" seemed to be bothering some misfortunate young man who was trying to book a room.

The previous day, she had addressed Edge with names like "honey" and "sweet stuff," much to his horror and Reimi's irritation. It had turned it had turned into quite a mess, for after some less than child-friendly suggestions, Reimi canceled the reservation and dragged them all out.

A few hours later, they'd sent Faize in to book the rooms. But when she saw him, she simply squinted and asked if he ever ate anything, since he was "skinnier (and prettier) than the average teenage girl." Though disturbed by the comments, they weren't enough to shatter his unusually cheerful mood from meeting the young woman from the Black Tribe.

The group had decided to spend the night in Tatroi before going off into the forest to hunt for the "bunnies" required to cross the desert. It had been Reimi's suggestion, as she looked very tired. However, she answered in the negative when asked if something was wrong. Thus, it was still early in the morning when the prelude to a chaotic day began.

She walked over to the door to the room Faize and Bacchus were given, struggling to reach the unusually high doorknob. The thought of knocking never once crossed her mind. She leaned upon her tiptoes to turn the knob and push the door open, without even having the consideration to announce her presence.

As soon as the old wooden door creaked open, Faize glanced up to see who had suddenly entered. He was seated at the desk with the holographic screens of his portable computer on display, but his expression was unsurprised when he saw the small Lemurisian coming inside.

"Lymle, you're supposed to knock on the door before entering," he said, his tone patient as ever.

"Do you have calendars for other planets?" she asked, pointing at his computer as she left the door drift closed behind her. She didn't greet him, never mind acknowledge his comment. "I wanna know what day back home, 'kay?"

"Why?" he asked, sounding just a bit suspicious about her question.

"It's been a long time and I wanna know, 'kay?" she persisted as she walked over to him and peered over the edge of the desk, struggling to see what was displayed on the screen. "It's kinda hard to keep track of."

"Unless a person is aware of the different daily and annual rotation cycles a habitable planet undergoes in comparison to another, it's borderline impossible to know the specific date of a planet light years away," he explained as he opened the files shared with the Calnus' database that kept record of Lemuris' seasons, days, weather patterns, and similar facts.

"Can you do it or not?" she questioned, her expression and tone enigmatic.

"Of course, but it will take a few minutes to make the correct calculations."

She watched as his agile fingers sped across the keys. Numbers, odd mathematic symbols, and equations appeared on the screen; a small picture of Lemuris, taken from space, was shown on the upper corner of the screen. She waited patiently and remained at his side as he finished making the calculations. He lifted the small device off the desk, causing the keyboard to disappear, and held it out to show her.

"It's the twentieth day of the sixth month of the year on Lemuris. It was midnight roughly thirty-four minutes ago; the twenty eight hour day has over twenty-seven hours left and will end shortly before this day on Roak."

She stared at the text as she listened, her expression betraying the shadow of disappointment. "I thought so…," she trailed off, tone unhappy.

"Is it some sort of holiday there?" he asked, though more automatically rather than interestedly as he returned to the translation program he'd been doing before she interrupted his work.

"No…nothing big like that, 'kay?" she said, for some odd reason, thinking he'd ask something else.

He didn't; he appeared to be far more concerned with the archaic dialect displayed on the screen and translation of it he was attempting to make. Several smaller screens appeared around the main one with facts about how he was decoding the words. Before she could ask what it was, the sound of a knock on the door pierced the silence.

"It's Reimi, can I come in?" she inquired politely from the hallway.

"'Kay," Lymle called back.

Faize just shook his head, deciding not to tell her it was the occupant of the room who was supposed to give the response. She wouldn't listen either way. Reimi pushed the door open, her expression cheerful. He only distantly noticed she remained leaning against the door, almost as though for support, as she greeted them.

"Hello! I thought you two might be together."

"Good morning," he replied politely as Lymle simply waved. "Is there something going on?"

Reimi returned the small girl's wave then nodded, her ponytail and ribbon bouncing with the movement. "Do you think you could take care of the shopping today, Faize? We have to restock on supplies in the Tatroi stores before we move on."

"Certainly," he agreed. "Is there anything else that needs to be done?"

"Do you mind taking Meracle and Lymle with you?" she asked sweetly, disguising the true request as a technicality.

But it was quite obvious what she was really asking; as soon as she mentioned the children's names, he realized what his real duty was. With a slight frown, he nodded in response. Lymle glanced between them, not quite getting what was going on.

"All right," he said, doubting he really had a choice in the matter.

"Wonderful!" she exclaimed brightly. "Meracle has the shopping list. I believe she's still in the dining room eating breakfast."

"I suppose you want me to leave immediately?" he questioned, closing all the screens on his computer by pressing one button.

"You can take your time, but there are a lot of stores to visit, so you probably want to leave sooner than later."

"Right."

And so Faize Sheifa Beleth, known as a young genius engineer on Eldar, was stuck as the babysitter on Roak. To add to the situation, both of the 'children' he had to look after were technically both teenagers. He didn't want to know what that would make him. However, there was still one fact that was certain.

It was going to be a long day.


Final Hikari: Well, there you go. XD Faize is stuck as the babysitter…or rather, the Teenkeeper! :D Thanks and credit goes to MAY4 for helping with the title! -gives cookies to MAY- I really appreciate the help, my editor and I love the title! :D

Faize: -blank stare- …'Thinner (and prettier) than the average teenage girl'? -.- Why I get the feeling you have all sorts of evil planned…?

Final Hikari: Because this is the third fan fiction you've suffered through with me. :D Also, just to clarify the timeline, this is set after the group saves Sarah from the kidnappers in Tatroi and meet the Black Tribe; but before Reimi's collapse, as you probably guessed. Seeing as several months pass in TLH's timeline, it seems pretty likely there's plenty of layover time…

Lymle: You're using lots of very American words and phrases, 'kay?

Final Hikari: It's the sleep deprivation returning my vocabulary to factory defaults. Ignore it. XD -turns to readers- Thanks for reading and please review! I'll be updating every two weeks, and getting back on schedule with my other TLH fan fictions, Utopia and Aroma of Love.