Disclaimer: I don't own Gunslinger Girl, or any of the characters in this fic.
A/N: This is my first attempt at a quick oneshot. Constructive criticism would be welcome. Additionally: I've decided to start using italics to indicate thoughts and flashbacks, something I hadn't allowed myself to do before; I was taught that it's lazy authoring. I now realize that I'm not, nor do I have any real desire to be, a professional author. So, screw 'em. All that rule was doing for me was promoting writer's block.
Thanks: to Sintendo, balade, and everyone else involved in making the scanlations that ADV wouldn't. Chapters 21 and 22 helped inspire this fic. To TK3997, as well, for helping dredge up old army memories in the 'Did you see that?' thread... Definitely helped in writing Jean.
Another Saturday at the Office
A Gunslinger Girl fanfiction by LoC978
Filtered sunlight streamed in through the window, and a young girl with short blond hair opened her eyes. Blinking away the ever-present morning tears, she sat up quickly.
It still works! My very own body, to move however I want...
Her brunette roommate stuck her head down from the top bunk to find the blonde studying her own hands with an expression of wonderment on her face, as per usual.
"Good morning, Rico!" an upside-down Henrietta said.
Rico looked up at her roommate's smiling face, "Good morning, Henrietta."
"Are you free today, Rico? José is going to be busy with paperwork..."
"I th..."
There was a single knock at the door, and then it opened, admitting a severe-looking man with blond hair. Both girls did a double-take. Instead of his usual black Armani suit, Jean was wearing a grey sweat suit, and carrying a much smaller black one with a blue patch on the shirt proclaiming 'graduate' in Hebrew. He threw the sweat suit at Rico.
"Get changed, and get to the gym. You have fifteen minutes," was all he said. The door slammed closed as he left.
Rico amended her answer: "That is... I have CQC training today."
Her lungs burning, the little blonde girl ran onward through the cold rain. She passed from muddy earth to a short wooden bridge, grasped a dangling rope with one hand. Leaping forward, she grabbed the next rope with her free hand, and tried to grip the knot at the bottom with her feet. It slipped out violently, arced upward, and hit her in the nose...
"You haven't learned a damned thing, have you?" Jean was furious. Yet again, she'd failed to live up to his expectations. She pushed herself off the floor, climbed to her feet... and his foot impacted her nose. She hit the ground again, this time among a smattering of red droplets.
"You didn't even see that coming?!? Obstacle course, NOW!"
... Recently healed blood vessels ruptured, and blood splattered into her eye. Startled, she let go of the second rope. Swinging back, she attempted to land feet-first on the wooden bridge. She managed to get a toe on it, but then slid down the slick rope, landing on her back in the shallow pit below. Rico closed her eyes, bracing herself to be stomped further into the mud by her infuriated handler.
"Back on your feet, Rico! Do it again!" Jean shouted, pacing her from just outside of the muddy course. His sweat suit was soaked through, but he was just running in place, waiting, albeit impatiently.
Her eyes snapped open, and she pulled herself onto the bridge. Rolling to her feet, she trotted to the base of it again. Rico took a deep, steadying breath. Three running steps to the top, and she leapt forward, skipping the first rope entirely. Gripping the second rope, she swung to the third. Scissoring that one between her feet, Rico let go of the second rope and pulled herself upright; she then began moving along the support beam, hand-over-hand.
Fearing that Jean would tell her to do it again, this time using all of the ropes correctly, she dropped quickly onto the bridge on the other side and sprinted to the next obstacle: a five meter high wall, with only sparse handholds. Without slowing down, Rico leapt into the wall, her foot catching the third handhold from the bottom, about a meter and a half from the ground. Launching herself upward, she managed to catch the top of the wall with her fingertips. With a gleeful smile, Rico heaved herself over the top, falling down the other side. She hit the bottom with a well-practiced combat roll. Springing to her feet, Rico started forward again. Her right knee buckled, and she was reacquainted with the ground yet again...
After landing a solid kick to Triela's belly, Rico put her foot back down, only to have it slip in between the mats underneath her (they were there to protect the floor, not the combatants). The taller blonde's answering kick threw Rico from her feet, twisting her knee painfully... but her foot popped out from between the mats. With a beautifully executed leg sweep, she took Triela to the floor... directly on top of herself. Soon after, Triela was straddling Rico's back with the smaller girl's arms twisted around her own neck. Helpless, with her face in the ground, Rico submitted. As soon as Hillshire and Triela were gone from the gym, Jean began his customary 'scolding'...
... Scrambling back to her feet, Rico ran onward. She was glad for the wall that blocked Jean's view of her clumsiness. She reached the final obstacle, a set of monkey-bars with the grips placed about a meter apart, just as Jean caught sight of her. Instead of negotiating them the traditional way, Rico leapt up and ran across the top. Finishing with a showy reverse vault she'd seen Olympic athletes use, Rico stood at the end of the course, trying to catch her breath.
Fully expecting another scolding for 'skipping' the last obstacle, Rico flinched slightly when Jean placed his hand atop her head.
"Much better. Now go get cleaned up. Hillshire's holding a literature class in half an hour. Do not be late."
"Yes sir."
As she ran back toward the dorms, Rico entertained the thought that perhaps Jean's quickly suppressed grin as he approached her at the finish line hadn't been her imagination... but only for a moment.
The door opened slowly, and Rico stopped trying to coax something resembling music out of Henrietta's violin. Its owner poked her head into the room once the screeching sounds had subsided.
"Hello, Rico!" she said, cheerful as usual, "How was your day?"
Rico set the violin on the table. "It was nice. I had a lot of fun in training today. How was yours?"
"It was okay, I guess. I helped Claes in her garden, we had tea and cakes with Angie in the hospital, and then, after the lesson, Hillshire took Triela and me out for ice cream."
There was a moment of awkward silence. Henrietta picked up her violin.
"Do you want me to tune it for you? You actually weren't doing too badly. It's just that I haven't played in a few days."
"Uh, sure! I thought I was just that bad at it..." Rico looked down at her feet.
"Oh, no... You were playing etudes perfectly last week, remember?" Henrietta said absently, while adjusting knobs and occasionally drawing the bow across a string.
Rico said nothing, as she had no recollection of playing the violin last week.
"Here, try it now," Henrietta handed the instrument back to her roommate, who surprised herself by playing some simple strains... with remarkable success.
Giuseppe walked along the dorm's open-sided hallway. It was past midnight when he'd finally finished his paperwork. Quietly opening the door to Henrietta's room, he entered. He then set a small package on the table, with a short note attached to it. With a sort of half-sad, fond smile, he gazed upon his little sister, sleeping peacefully on the top bunk. A rustling noise from the bottom bunk caught his attention, and he found himself being regarded by the bright blue eyes of his brother's poor little tool.
"Sorry for disturbing you, Rico," he whispered, slightly unnerved by her gaze. He began turning toward the door.
The little blonde spoke up quietly, nodding toward the table. "It's okay, sir. That will make Henrietta happy in the morning, and I was awake anyway."
Giuseppe tried to keep himself from inquiring, but his gentle nature overcame his professionalism.
"A... are you okay? I heard Jean was pretty hard on you today," he said, and flinched.
Rico's shoulders shook a little, and she covered her mouth. It took Giuseppe a moment to realize she was laughing, not crying.
"Oh, no. I had a lot of fun today, Mr. José," She replied, once she had control of her voice again.
Even more unnerved, Giuseppe quietly bade the little cyborg good night, and, shaking his head, started toward his waiting Porsche.
Supplementary titles for this fic: "A Storm o' Commas" and "Rico's Run-on Sentences" ...I was very high on caffeine when I wrote this... Leaving it as-is.