Hoodlums

"Milly, are you sure about this...?"

"Of course I am! Don't you trust me?"

"Yeah... but..."

"Sagi, to me, this is just another way to get inside Guillo's head. I'm curious, okay? Don't tell me you never thought about it either!"

"Well, yeah, sometimes I wondered... But I never wanted to try anything. This is just plain weird."

"Are you calling me weird?"

"Yes! I mean, no! No, you're right! A-about wondering! It's just..."

"Yes?"

"...I mean, do you think Guillo would be okay with this?"

Milly paused briefly to consider this. A moment later, "Why not?"

Sagi wanted to bury his head in his hands and bang his head on the desk at the same time, but instead settled for sighing and relenting to his new wife. They stood together in their bedroom, facing Milly's desk, where an empty magenta hood slept.

He moved closer to the desk, almost as if to protect the treasure there, and faced Milly. "Listen. Would you want someone crawling around in your head?"

"What would it matter? Guillo's... gone now, anyway." Flicking her bangs out of her eyes, Milly murmured, "I just thought we might be able to get to know him better this way. Who knows what we'll find inside?"

"But what if Guillo's private thoughts are in there?"

"That's silly, Sagi. His thoughts aren't going to be just bouncing around in there." She waved her hands. "'The wench was born in a bomb shelter!' 'Children are moppets!'"

He blinked. "It's funny, you actually sound kind of like him." When she smirked, he shook himself out of it. "Wait a minute! You don't know that Guillo's thoughts aren't in there! They could be..."

"Sagi, don't be so uptight about this. See my side of it for once! Please? Pleeeease?"

He wavered, his defenses weakened by the pout on her face. "...Well..."

"Great, it's all decided then! Oh, thank you, Sagi! You're the best! You won't regret it, I promise. We'll get to see all kinds of cool things that go on inside Guillo's head, and it'll be so exciting! Much more fun than sitting around here waiting for something to happen in this stuffy old mansion."

"Milly, Duke Calbren is letting us stay here for free..." he said uneasily.

"I know, but I like to have a little fun once in a while, you know?"

"Yeah, but... hey, stop distracting me! I didn't say 'yes!'"

"But you love me, don't you?"

"Th-that's... of course I do..."

"Then you'll go with me! That's all there is to it!"

Sagi frowned. Then he looked long and hard at Guillo's hood, which was almost red in the candlelight.

"Fine," he said at last. "But only on the condition that we don't snoop around for too long."

"Then you've got yourself a deal, partner!" Milly grinned and held out her hand. Sagi shook it weakly. Noticing the look of discomfort on his face, Milly said, "Oh, cheer up, Sagi. This'll be fun."

"Yeah, maybe... Let's hurry up and get in there, if we're really gonna do this."

"Right."

Sagi watched as the brunette went to the desk and leaned down over the chair to take Guillo's head in her hands. She focused on the vacant slit where Guillo's eyes had once glowed, and knotted her eyebrows together. She took a deep breath and in tense anticipation Sagi did the same.

Then she turned around. "How do we get in this thing again?"

"You mean you don't know?" he stammered.

She sniffed, tossing her head again. "Like I'm supposed to! I'm no wizard!"

Sagi felt a familiar urge to drop his head into his arms and bang his head on the wall.

"Listen, there's gotta be a way in here. All we have to do is find it!"

"That easy, huh?"

"That easy." She smiled.

Sagi was amazed by her utter confidence, and couldn't help but admire his wife a little, crazy though she was. He watched as she began to inspect the helmet, while he just shook his head. Thoughts of what Guillo would think tumbled through his mind. The results scared him so much that he suggested timidly, "Maybe we should just give up for now. Guillo's not going to be sad if we come back later."

"No, I got it!" She whirled toward him, clutching the hood in her hands, eyes sparkling. "Try this on!"

"What!? M-Milly...!"

"Just try it!"

"No!"

"Please!"

"NO!"

"Pleeeeeeease!"

Then she pulled the puppy-dog eyes on him again. The great suffering reflected in the depths of her chocolate eyes was apparently too much for young Sagi, and his head dropped.

"...Illdoit..." he whispered.

"What? Did you say something, Sagi?"

"...I said... illdoit."

"Can't quite hear yooou," she sang.

"I'll do it," he cried, feeling his control of the situation vanish completely. This sensation had become so familiar to him lately...

While Sagi practically wilted before her eyes, Milly was ecstatic. She threw an arm around him and attacked his cheek with kisses, waving the helmet over him.

He shivered as she drew away, and apologized mentally to Guillo.

Without another word, but with a huge, amused smile, Milly began to lower the mask down over him. He squeezed his eyes shut as the cold metal pressed his hair back and slid over his skin. The top of the hood weighed down on his head, and he felt the purple cloth pile up on his shoulders. It was surprisingly cold inside, but Sagi felt his cheeks heat up behind the cloth. He must look so ridiculous.

"Did it work?" Milly asked, her words a bit unclear.

He took a deep breath. "Not that I can tell."

"How does it feel, then?" she gurgled.

"Like... Guillo." He lifted his arms up and adjusted the helmet. It did feel like Guillo—heavy, serious, full of magic.

"C'mon, open your eyes! I want to see what you look like." She was clearly laughing now.

Slowly, nervously, he opened them... and instantly regretted it.

Milly burst out into the most violent of laughter, pumping all the air in her lungs, straining her vocal cords, and eventually she had to ease herself into the desk's chair because her legs wouldn't support her anymore. She keeled over in the seat, howling. Sagi stood in resignation beside her.

"Y-you... HAHAHA... look like... BAHAHAHA... Guillo's grandmother!"

Sagi recoiled.

...That... that wasn't even funny.

Besides, they both knew that Guillo didn't have a grandmother.

But that didn't matter. He knew that he would never live this down.


A/N: Last fic! Yay! Now I don't have to spam the Baten Kaitos section anymore. At least this one was fun.

Although I sure make Milly seem like a witch. :D Ah well. I imagine she has to do what she can to stay interesting.

Thanks for reading!