Hello~
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Thank you so much!
Our daily training hasn't really started yet, but the sweat already forms itself on my forehead. It's an awfully hot day and the sun burns my skin with no mercy. I will have great fun with the sunburn the following night and when I look at my friends and comrades, who look pretty done, I know they think the same. The one hour lap we just ran was hard. Even for me. But nothing of this matters now.
I'm standing next to Captain Levi, who explains what exactly we're going to do today, a slim grin lies on my lips. Today I will ground this guy. I will send him to the dirt. I trained hard. Today I will win against him.
"I want to see bruises on either of you when the sun sets, so take this training serious, brats.", he says as unintrested as always, then he looks at us and starts to set up the teams. "Alert, Lenz, you go over there." I'm not really listening to his words, I focus on how I'm going to finish him… A heavy beat against the jaw, perhaps? No. When we team up for training, he always considers me to target his face first. Maybe we know our habits too well already. I could pretend to attack as usual and then hit him in an unexpected moment...
"And you team up with me, Kreid." I nod out of habit, a fast "yes!" lies on my tongue but then I notice it. Kreid…? It takes me a brief moment to realise that he didn't say my name. Instead, his words were turned to a petite red-haired girl, whose first name I don't know. She stands a few steps in front of us in the crowd and smiles like an idiot, showing a straight line of white teeth. I watch her saluting the midget and then the group splits into two-men-teams. And that's it. The actual training begins with no more words.
I almost lose control over my jaw. What the hell? I usuallytrain with the Captain. I'm the only one who can catch up with him, his strength. I…
"Mikasa, move it, otherwise Kirschtein won't stop staring at the ground any time soon.", I hear Levi saying when he passes me, the girl follows his steps closely. I know I already look exhausted by the sun, my sweaty hair sticks on my yet reddish face, but when I look at the girl at the Captain's side, the place I should be right now, I don't see anything of that. Her red hair flows in soft curls over her slim shoulders and her face is still as white as porcelain. She shouldn't be with him. Why is she with him at all?
"Captain!", my words come all of sudden and they sound strange in my own ears. Like I'm an offended child or something.
Levi turns around again and lifts an eyebrow. "Is there a problem?"
For a brief moment I don't know how to reply, but then I shake my head. "By no means, sir." I fastly turn away.
It's a good thing that my face is already red, because I would blush in embarrassment and there is no scarf to hide my face behind. Indeed, I behave like an offended child. And it confuses me. Well, then I don't train with the Captain today. What's the big deal? I clench my teeth and head to Jean.
I dodge Jean's guardedly attacks easily, he's always concerned that he might hurt me, even if he should be rather concerned about himself. With one good hit I send him to the ground. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it to be that hard...", I murmur when I help the boy to get back on his feet. Jean smiles but I can see that his fall to the ground hurted. "I was just startled. For a moment you looked really angry, Mikasa..."
I apologize again, then we go back in position and this time, I'm able to see the Captain and the other girl over Jeans shoulder. They don't even train yet, they just stand there and talk. Usually, I would hit the ground within a few seconds if I would dare to stand there as relaxed as this person in front of him. None of us is here to have a nice talk.
I watch the redhead. She's even shorter than the Captain, maybe that's why he chose her over me?
Her small hand touches Levi's upper arm without any for me visible reason and remains there. How can she go through our daily training and is still able to keep her nails that neatly? I'm sure, Levi approves the girl's cleanliness, while my constantly dirty hands must feel like a horrible nightmare to him. I frown. I never considered, that my touches might disgust him, I never considered, that he might feel anything by them at all. Does he even feel anything by them? And even if he does, it's just training, right? You do touch people there. And anyway, since when do I care what he likes and what not?
But why does this girl bother me that bad if I don't even know her...?
I bite my lip and suddenly, I understand. It's not the girl herself I cannot stand right now, it's her beauty. The petite but feminine body of her. Her bright appearance. Levi won't kick her in the dirt. She looks too precious, like someone who's worth protecting. Somebody you treat careful. Somebody you watch over. Maybe he teamed up with her, so that nobody would hurt her. She's the exact opposite of me.
I discern my partner's movement not fast enough and Jean's elbow meets my face hard. First, I try to hold my balance, but I hit the ground without being prepared for the pain that crawls up my spine immediately. Irritated I look into Jeans terrified face. "Are you okay?", he asks, his voice is thin and I feel sorry for him.
I look in the Captain's direction and I'm relieved that he didn't notice my little mishap, his eyes are still on the redhead. "Yes, I'm fine."
As the sun sets, the warmth of the day also fades. All of us are exhausted and I'm longing for a refreshing bath and dinner. I'm about to follow the all the time shrinking crowd of soilders back to the castle, but the well-known sharp words of my Captain hold me back.
"You stay for extra training. Regarding your knock-out by Kirschtein, you did more than shitty today. This was almost pitful." He sounds accusing, well, almost disappointed. I lift an eyebrow. So he actually saw me...
"How would you know about it? You seemed pretty distracted to me." I realise my words when it's too late and I fastly watch down at the ground. For a few moments I believe Levi won't talk again, but then I hear an amused sounding Tch.
"I'm always watching you, Mikasa.", he says and walks ahead. I follow him. I do, nobody else. No frail doll, no huge guy. Just me. I realise how much I really like training session.
A slight smile finds its way on my lips and this time, my blushing is visible.
