I do not own magi or the characters. I do own my oc.

Chapter 1: Getting to Know You

—Leila's POV—

"I hate how messy this is," I whine to myself.

Today has not gone well. Then again most days don't go well for me, but today was particularly bad. Of course I would wake up later than usual, which guarantees running into Sinbad on his way into town. I've only been here a few days, but he's pushing to get to know me a lot. He's nice but he's way too talkative and I can't slip up. People like him make me nervous. And then when I'm nervous, I scare away anything decent that I'm hunting for. Eventually, I got a few rabbits only for a fox to come and swipe them all. So try for some birds, but no. Same result. The fox has had a much worse day now. Now I'm sitting by the river skinning and cleaning the animal and I'm a mess from all this. I need a bath, but I can't do that anywhere without putting myself at risk. Hence why I'm by the small creek doing this.

"What happened to you ," speaks up a familiar voice, filled with too much amusement for my liking. I shoot a glare at Sinbad only to find myself confused. He look like he maybe had a worse day than me. His shirts wrinkled and covered in dirt. The wrapping on his forearms are torn. His knuckles are cut and bruised.

"Could ask the same of you," I remark tersely. He shrugs only to hesitate slightly.

Is he hurt? He seemed kind of invincible usually.

"Bad day," he says with a smile, coming over casually. "Need a hand."

"With this mess," I say gesturing around me. "Forget it. It will only worry your mom if you come back with blood in you."

"And you coming back with leaves in your hair won't," he laughs reaching over. I just glare at him as he pulls a few leaves out of my messy hair. "I take it you had a bad day too."

"Whatever."

"The blood on your arm…is that just from the fox," he asks as I perk up. I glance at my right arm, groaning. I didn't even think about it, but the bandages are soaked in blood.

"No," I say a bit amused that he gets worried. "I also had two rabbits and three birds, but the fox stole them."

"I'm going to get cleaned up," he says walking towards the creek. "You're sure you don't need help?"

I nod as he goes over his back towards me. I quickly have to look away as he pulls his shirt off, feeling embarrassed. I shouldn't be looking, I can't even figure out why he ended up here.

"What happened," I ask noticing his shoulders tense.

"Got into a fight," he says with a shrug.

"And?"

"I won," he says looking at me confused.

"Why'd ya get into a fight then," I say turning back to the fox. I'll need to clean up the pelt to sell.

"Some ass was bothering me about my Father. I had enough, and didn't realize he had friends. Luckily, one of the other guys stepped in before things got worse."

"Sorry," I say, not really sure why.

"It's okay," he says standing up and starting to dust off his shirt. I look back at him, noticing there's some bruising on his side. "It does mean I didn't find any work today."

"The fox pelt is worth probably a good bit," I say as he turns to look at me. "This ones worth at least ten silver coins. I'll send it with you tomorrow to sell. You can keep the money."

"Nope," he says smiling at me. I just frown. "You killed him, so it's your money."

"Fine," I sigh. "Will you at least sell it for me? I don't like going into town. And could you pick something up for me?"

"Sure," he says standing up and putting his top back on. He actually needs a new tie for his hair and the wrapping redone. His knuckles are a little bruised and apparently the blood wasn't his. "What do you need?"

"The medicine you use for your mom," I say watching his smile fall. "That would actually give me some extras, so you can take what I don't need."

"You don't need any of that," he says rolling his eyes as I smile.

"Huh…your right. Guess it's all yours then."

"I can't take it," he says crossing his arms. "Why would you even do that for us?"

I mumble an answer focusing on getting the meat cleaned up. I start to divide it up, setting more aside for Sinbad and Esra than myself. I continue doing this, just ignoring him. I go over to the creek wiping my hands off a little before turning towards the pelt.

"I couldn't hear that," says Sinbad coming closer. I just ignore him, continuing my work. "You know I won't drop it."

"I kind of like you and Esra," I snap as him shooting him a glare. He hesitates before seeming embarrassed. "Forget it," I mumble standing up and grabbing the pelt and meat for them. "Here. I need to get cleaned up before I go back."

"You aren't seriously doing that here," he asks taking the items from me, probably realizing I won't give in. "You shouldn't be doing that by yourself out here. There could be thieves or an animal could attack."

"You just did," I point out as I finish cleaning up my supplies.

"Yeah, but…I'm just trying to look out for you. And I did that because of my mom. Plus you'll need help redoing the bandages on you arm."

"No," I say quickly, wishing I didn't sound so panicked. I look down watching and seeing Sinbad walk closer before crouching down in front of me.

"Why don't you want me to see your arm?"

"It's scarred," I say not looking at him. "It's really bad. I hate when people look at it because they always think someone must have done something horrible to me, but it was my fault. Please just let me keep it to myself."

"Okay," he says. I look up as he smiles at me. "I can respect that. I'm sure it isn't that bad, but I won't bring it up again. I'm still staying here while you clean up though. It wouldn't be right if a left a pretty girl out here by herself without protection."

"You do recall the fact that I killed six woodland creature today," I point out as he nods. "If anything, you might need my protection."

"Funny," he laughs standing up. "I won't look, just keep watch for anyone else."

"Okay," I say hesitantly. "I'm not going to convince you otherwise am I?"

"No," he laughs as I sigh.

I roll my eyes, digging through my bag for extra bandages. I'm running a little low, but have enough for a few more days as long as I'm careful.

"Here," I say tossing him one set of rolled up bandages, which he catches easily. "Your mom will worry if you don't have your forearms wrapped. I have an extra hair tie too. Your's is about to fall out."

"Thanks, Leila," he says offering me a warm smile. "You know for someone who acts all tough, you're really thoughtful."

"Shut up," I say blushing before going towards the creek.

"I'll pick you up some more tomorrow," he says calmly. "And I'm not letting you argue."

"Fine," I say rolling my eyes. "I just need one or two packs that size. I tend to reuse them."

I watch Sinbad moves and sits on a rock, not facing me. I continue to watch as I undo the bandages and take off my shirt now next to the creek. I'm still a little nervous about him sitting there, but start to clean up anyways.

"So anything interesting happened besides that fight?"

"Not really. Just a long day and now I'm kind of sore."

"Sorry."

"Eh. It's not your fault. I don't mind it. Plus it's not like I should expect it. There aren't a lot of open spots for fishermen, so I end up as a day laborer more often than not."

"You're always helping out other people in the Village though," I say watching him shrug as I start to wrap my arm back up. "Don't you get tired."

"I'm a heavy sleeper for a reason," he laughs. "I don't mind. When I was little they weren't very nice to me, but after everything happened they realized maybe they were quick to judge. They help a lot when it comes to Mom, so I want to help them."

"What happened before," I ask as he tenses. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"Not yet," he says as I start to get the dust and dirt off my top. "Maybe one day."

"Hm…"

"Do you think you'll stick around for a while?"

"I don't like answering that," I say feeling guilt in my chest as his shoulders slump. "I'm used to being on my own and just kind of go with it."

"Well you can stay for as long as you like," he says trying to sound upbeat. I just scoff. "What?"

"Don't be all weird," I say calmly. "You barely know me, so don't act like you actually care."

"We need to work on your trust issues and self-esteem," laughs Sinbad. I throw a small pebble, hitting him in the back of the head. "Hey!"

"Don't be all sappy," I say. "I don't do that."

"Sure," laughs Sinbad.

"Jerk," I mutter trying to get the stupid leaves out of my hair now that I'm dressed. It's not working. I spend some time trying to get all the debris out.

"You okay," asks Sinbad. "You got kind of quiet."

"I just can't get all the stupid leaves out of my hair," I mutter. "I'm dressed though."

"Do you have a brush," asks Sinbad searching through my bag.

"Stop that," I scold him. It only causes him to smirk. "And do I look like a girl who own one."

"Good point," he says with a laugh getting up. "Come on then."

"Come on then to where," I ask catching my bag as he tosses it my way.

"To see my Mother," he remarks like it's obvious. "She'll be happy to help you."

"It's a stupid thing to ask for help with," I point out, falling into step with him.

"Don't worry about it," he say grabbing another leaf from my hair and dropping it. "Do you have any other food for yourself," he asks glancing at the package I'm carrying.

"I have a few vegetables I found before," I say watching him nod thoughtfully. "Why?"

"Just curious," he says. I nod as we fall into a slightly awkward silence. Every once in a while he'll move to get some of the debris out of my hair.

"Stop it," I say finally smacking his hand as we get to his house.

"What's he doing now," says Esra. I turn towards her before quickly looking away as she laughs a little. "What happened?"

"Bad day," I mutter as Sinbad comes in. Without hesitating he goes and picks up the brush Esra and him own and hands it to me. "I just needed to borrow this," I say combing through my hair."

"Come here," instructs Esra. I do so as she takes the brush. "Let me fix this."

"You don't have to-"

"I don't mind," she insists starting to comb out the debris. "You're just a teen. Trust me when I say I want to help, as a Mother."

"Um…okay," I say noticing Sinbad laughs a little before going to clean up. "Thanks."

"It's no problem, Leila," answers Esra.

As Esra continues to help me, she starts to ask me questions about myself. It's a little uncomfortable, but I want to open up a bit to them. When I do I can tell that it makes Sinbad excited. I can tell because he constantly interjects into the conversation, whether to ask a question himself or tell me something funny.

"That should do it," says Esra setting the brush aside. "It looks good, don't you think, Sin?"

"I lot better than when it's filled with leaves," he jokes, amusement glittering in golden orbs. I shoot him a cold gray glare for that one.

"Thank you again," I say standing up and turning towards the woman. "I'll see you both tomorrow, probably."

"Why don't you stay," asks Esra. "It's been nice getting to know you. There's no reason to rush back. If it gets dark, Sin will be happy to take you."

"No really," I say feeling kind of shy. "I should get going. Thanks again. Have a nice evening."

Esra just nods with a smile as I go to exit. Sinbad waves and give me one of those big smiles.

I pause for just a moment.

"It was really nice talking to you both," I say feeling uncomfortable.

"Maybe tomorrow we can talk and get to know each other a little more," says Sinbad. I hesitate, but end up smiling.

"I think I'd like that," I say after taking a deep breath. With one final wave, I head over to the abandoned building.

I hope this isn't a mistake, but I might be okay with that.